The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1912-09-28
Students of Catholicism Seek Infor-
nation About Religion From
Source of Authority.
A Catholic Cannot Serve Two Mas
tiers at the Same Time-the
Church and Socialism.
A Letter From a Catholic Socialist
and a Reply to His Very
False Assumptions.

The Catholic Church will have
none Of Socialism. There is nothing
in common between Catholicism and
Socialism. They are entirely foreign
to each other; they cannot be recon-
ciled to each other. The real Cath
Ollie knows what Socialism is and the
real Socialist knows what Catholi-
cism is. Both the one and the other
understand and accept the position
as stated above. The student of
Catholicism will not seek his inform
alton about the Catholic Church in
the street. nor will the student Of
, Socialism accept as Socialism the
effusions of the soap-box orator. In
both cases the honest, inquiring mind
will seek the sources of authority;
that is, the utterances, written Or
spoken, of those who are qualified
and commissioned to speak for the
cause they represent.
No Arguing With Ignorance.
1t is sometimes very difficult to
discuss these matters with the untn-
tellisent Catholic and the unintel!i-
gent Socialist. Both of them have
good will on their side; both of them
may have grievances, real or inaag-
mary, against the Church or against
Socialism. They both confound the
DRY and practice, profession and per-
Torrance; they both are ignorant of
philosophy and theology; they both
fail to grasp the meaning of heaven,
OF growth, of evolution, Of the strug-
giles Of history. Yet all of this will
not prevent them from sitting in
judgment over Pope and Emperor,
over governments and churches, over
religion and civilization.
What 10 q Catholic?
I am now combining myself to the
Catholic. The practical Catholic is
not required to be a theologian ort,i-
narily, nor a student of history. His
essential qualification is faith. This
faith ought to be as enlightened as
possible, but even the most enlight-
ened faith will always have its mys-
teries. In this twilight realm of mys-
terry faith kneels down to adore and
infidelity SCOTS. Faith is an inner
sense Of the soul-a sentire cum &C.
clesia-a feeling of harmony with the
Church. Faith is not an acquisition
Of man but gift of God; it is crown
ed not with reason but with love.
The practical Catholic has faith: it
is a wholesome thing; it fills him
with reverence; it is the very thing
that makes him Catholic ana by
virtue of THE feels, even if he does
not understand, that which is I'M
Catholic, and spontaneously he
shrinks from it. He cannot serve two
masters; he cannot love the Church
and the enemies Of the Church; he
cannot have his head in Socialism
and his heart in the Church.
The Pride Of Perversion.
agine they are the prophets and the
Christs of the impossible; and very
seriously they assert that Cath
Ole may be and should be a Social
list. In fact they are themselves nei-
Their the one or the other, and because
they are neither warm nor cold one
way or the other they are wanted by
neither and they are spat out. The
following extracts from a letter of g.
Catholic Socialist; they are repro
duced not "argumentatively," but
that the reader may feel" how and
If there is any Catholic faith in the
writer:
Letter Extract.
II see that the Federation has a So
cial Service Commission with Bishop
Muldoon at the head. The avowed
purpose is to combat Socialism. Now,
Mr.. Editor, this thing Socialism must
be a terrible ,bug-bear, or nightmare,
since it has started SO much slo-
quence, logic, denunciation, ridicule
and even lies to meet it. I cannot see
how this name should be so detcst-
able since it simply stands for eco.
Monies in political evolution, so that
after two thousand years Of Chris
tianity so-called, the laboring class
might be uplifted to that status where
they should always have been by d.
vine right. H..
How dare any priest or prophet
undertake or assume to deny them
what their Creator commanded that
they should get? This is all that
Socialists and Socialism demands.
wants and must have and will take
nothing less. He must be q knave or
coward or both or worse. be he
bishop. priest or layman, who will
deny It to the man with the shovel.