The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-03-08
written for The Catholic Bulletin
by c. F. NJ

IWritten for The Catholic Bulletin
by C. r. M
From time immemorial virtue and
faith have ever been exposed to the
Vaccinations of vice and incredulity
1t seems to be an integral part of cor
rupt human nature vigorously to op-
pose any and every semblance of vir-
tue and innocence, let alone real Vlr-
tue. The arrant knave will prey on
the defenceless; the criminal will up
braid his Judge; the lower stratum or
society will turn frenzied eyes towards
the higher and more fortunate mem
bers: the Socialist, livid and ignorant,
will rant about the millennium; the
atheist denies the existence of the God
who called him forth from nothing.
The Catholic Church, ever the bull
wark of virtue and the vice-gerent OF
God upon earth. could not expect to
be above her Master. Nor has she
ever looked for such an exemption.
Her entire history is a beautiful eX-
emplification of the truth of the words
of her Founder, who averred that she
should suffer everywhere for the sake
of His name. She did, indeed, suffer
from the very beginning. Every kind
of suffering that human malice and in
genuity could devise has been poured
upon her devoted head The fury of
the unregrenerate pagan of the old
Empire was centered about her august
person. The blind hatred of gloating
savagery has done it's utmost to de-
stroy her influence among the uncouth
denizens of remote regions. The ia
natical priesthood of barbarous and
semi-barbarous lands has stopped at
nothing short of blood-the blood of
converts and missionaries-to wipe
out the hated name of Christian.
Modern Tactics of 6igotry.
A more subtle form of persecution
was vented upon the Church from the
earliest times. Enthusiasm and re-
ligious fervor can combat physical
violence, and glory in the subsequent
martyrdom More insinuating, how
ever, is the vitriolic poison that seeks
to enter the veins of the body OF
Christ's Spouse. This was often at
tempted by those who wrought not
upon the bodies but through the chan
mel of the intellect in order to vitiate
the goodness of the members oi
Christ The early heresies aimed al
the destruction of some tenet of be
lief They dared not deny the genera
hot 20 N
atheism. Their attack was centered
upon some particular point of doc
trine Later heretics went even fur
ther, and soon developed into full
fiedged atheists.
OF late, we in America, have wit
messed the very un-American spectacle
of a certain coterie of men, whom
courtesy compels us to call fellow-citi
zens, acting before high heaven in
all the antics of the hippodrome. 1
life is a stage, we presume that clowns
are not entirely out of order. Out o.
the depths have we heard voice,
"'Menacing Appeal to Reason" voice
Out of the depths of Missouri-the
State that furnishes the mules fol
Uncle Sans army-has the voice
arisen. 1t is pathetic appeal, tingeC
with bitterness, fraught with invec
tive, despairful of the future prophetic
of disaster, a veritable wall of sym
phonic cacophany, interpreted to the
unframed ear as the plain bray o
the wild ass yearning for oats. We
are told that the Catholic Church il
the great, the dangerous enemy of the
Republic Forsooth! also, Avauntl
We can respect the sincerity of al
enemy; we can understand the posi-
ton of the bitterest antagonist; but
we pity the imbecillity of the degen
crate and the weakling. Someone has
lately written a diatribe on "The Ap
peal to Treason" 1t is we'll put.
The Church Will Weather the Storm
That such things should be possible
in our so-called enlightened age al
most surpasses belief. The Church o
Christ faced the fury of the Caesars
and the Caesars are now no more
She grappled with the early heretics
and she saw their ships go to pieces
on the Scylla and Charybdis of doc
trinal differences. She saw the rise
of the pseudo-reformers in a later day
and now she witnesses their pitifu
and irreconcilable ramification:
throughout the countless vagaries O
hundreds of sects. All these she car
view without bitterness or alarm. Blu
with the later, yea, the latest mani
festation of disbelief, her alarm i:
simply for the salvation of these un
regenerate enemies of all decency
She has hoped to lead all men tt
Christ: these men place themselves
outside the possibility of religion OF
religious influence The harm they
hope to do will simply recoil upor
themselves. Their appeal can be
fruitful of no good results. Nor car
it harm any but themselves, for sucf
an appeal is not hardened to but BY
the lowest offal in the moral anC
mental cesspool of the day. The aver
age citizen Of our country is mar
of intelligence: the day of the bigot
of the witch-burner, of the image
smasher is gone forever in our Repub
lie Education and higher intelligence
have brushed aside the cobwebs of re
hgious myopia from the clear vaul
of heaven The rock that has with