The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-06
LETTERS TO EDITOR
Virgin Mary and Relationship

To the Editor of The Age Herald:
 I naturally read with much interest
 the letter of the Rev. MT. Reuter-, reply
 ing to MT. John Meyer of Columbus, O.,
 which appeared in your issue of Novem-
 Der 27. As the Rev. MT. Reuter- prolessed
 himself satisfied with the explanation
 given in my letter. l feel some hesitancy
 in coming forward again. Indeed, to be
 quite frank, 1t is with extreme reluctance
 that 1 enter the arena once more, nd I
 hasten to say that I do sos not for the
 purpose of keeping open indefinitely this
 matter already pretty we'll threshed out.
 but solely for the purpose of explaining
 briefly a few points that the Rev. -Ar.
 Reuter- brought forward and laid em-
 phasis on in his last interesting communi-
 cation. I was in hopes that temperate
 reply from Mir Meyer explaining these points would have obviated the necessity of my appearing again, but such not appearing, as I was. through my sermon, the first cause of the tempest CD, and
 as MT. Meyer in the past, believing, suppose, that I would not reply to the Rev. MT. Reuters first letter, chamI toned my cause, and thereby brought down
 some thunderbolts on his devoted head
 feel that there is some slight excuse
 indeed a certain kind of necessity, for this. which l hope will positively be my
 last appearance.
 So much promised, MT. Editor, I will
 take up the Rev MT. Reuters state
 ment that the Blessed Virgin Mary is a
 mediator in the sense in which Christ is
 mediator. In support of this he brings
 forward many extracts from ''The Glores of Mary" Now, these quotations are
 strong. l do not deny the fact, bu, still must insist that the Catholic church
 makes a positive, clear cut ds..nction, which think l explained in my former
 letter, between mediator of justice"
 Christ, and ''medators of intercession," Mary and the saints. This distinction, al-
 ways present in the mind of Catholics, always insisted on in the official author
 ized expostions of Catholic faith, is at
 times in devotional treatises, such as ''I he
 Glories of Mary" and in the familiar
 warm language of Catholic piety, blurred
 and merged and seemingly disregarded,
 and hence, as in the present case such
 language Is liable to misconception by
 those outside the fold, and naturally enough indeed non Catholics accuse us,
 who no less than they adore one God
 and serve and worship l1im and Him alone with supreme adoraton, of trans- | ferring this worship that alone should be given the Diety, to creatures who, how ever holy, however exalted in virtue and | sanctity, yet are but creatures, and owe
 their sanctity and their holiness to 1im alone the all Aholy God
 Here you will observe, Mir Editor draw distinction between theological ex- positions of the faith and devotional | treatises. It Is from the former that we would ask our non- Catholic friends to judge our faith; by the former it will
 stand or fall. We do not vouch for the theological accuracy of this or that ex-
 pression of devotion. The language of devotion is the language of love. It is l betinfes- extravagant, betimes 1t observes not the propreties that govern the exact use of the parts of speech Terms of endearment must not always be taken at | their face value, or subjected to strict rules of cold blooded logic. Is there any
 thing sadder, more out of place than the | reading of love letters in a police court, and yet this in sense, is what our non- l Catholic friends do when they take up and dssect the warm expressions of an Italian or Spanish author, writing for | peflefNlu, devotional LatlnS, ana hyper | critically examine them and subject them
 to matter of fact Teutonic or Anglo Saxon analysis.
 l The Rev. MT. Reuter- and Mir Never | recognize the source of their difference | the reason why there is such diversity in | their faiths. The non- Catholic accepts | the Bible and the Bible only as the rule of faith. whereas the Catholic, having in- deed the highest esteem and veneration l for he sacred hook a ba of God, as treasure of unique value
 on account of the vivid picture of Christ s 1 life and character which it presents. on
 account of the rich spiritual suggestive ness of it's writings. on account of its be- | ing a precious storehouse of dogmatic and
 moral instruction; yet at the same time holds that Christ established an infallible 1 teaching society to perpetuate and con- tinue His mission till the consummation of the world: that He intended that His gospel should be disseminated, not by the circulation of the Bible, but by the llv- | ing voice of the disciples. For proof of this the Catholic will appeal to tbe l fact that faith cometh by hearing" moi l by reading, that Christ commissioned the apostles not to write but to .'teach the nations" ito preach to every creature. l to the fact that only eight of the 12 apostles and 72 disciples have left us any sacred writings, and even these were written on the occasioneof some emer eercy, to the fact that the apostles did
 not circulate any volumes of Holy writ,