Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1913-12-27
RIDICULOUS
The Old Charge That Catholics
Have a Divided Allegi-
ance.
Originated in the Days of Per-
secution i'm England and
Ireland.
What the First Catholic Bishop
Wrote on This Subject
in 1907.
ISLANDER REFUTED MANY TIMES

Despite the friendly feeling ex-
listing between the different relig-
ious bodies in this country and the
conviction that the Catholics are
doing the best work for the uplift of
humanity, it seems to be necessary
to repeat every few years the answer
to the old charge that Catholics have
divided allegiance and that they
are subject in civil matters to a
foreign power, the Pope of Rome.
This charge goes back to the days
of persecution in England and Ire
land. The answer to it also dates
back to the same epoch. 1t is simple
and direct. In 1855 Arch bishop M.
j. Spalding, then of Baltimore,
wrote this memorable statement:
"But are not Catholics the sub
jects Of foreign prince, the Pope Z?
This slander-like almost everything
else said against us-has been re-
futed so many thousand times al
ready that we are almost afraid to
tire the patience or insult the under
standing of our readers by answer
ing it again. No man of common
intelligence or information need be
told, at this late day, that the
obedience we owe to the Pope is
confined entirely to religion and
spiritual. things; and that he neither
claims, nor we allow, any jurisdic-
tion over us in temporal matters
affecting our civil Allegiance. This
question has been so long settled
throughout the civilized world that
its revival at present appears to be
wholly useless, If not utterly absurd.
When 1t was a question, more than
sixty years ago, of removing some of
the penal laws under which the
Catholics of England had been so
long suffering, this very question in
regard to the nature and extent of
Papal jurisdiction was discussed;
and it was then settled to the entire
satisfaction of Mr.. Pitt and of the
whole British Parliament, which ac-
cordingly passed the Catholic relief
bill. The oath of allegiance freely
taken by Catholic Bishops, and mem
bers of Parliament and officers of
the Government in Great Britain
and ireland, with the sanction of the
Popes themselves, expressly dis
claims belief in any civil power or
jurisdiction over British subjects. as
inherent in the sovereign Pontiffs. :"
The first Catholic Bishop of the
country-the venerable Carroll, of
Baltimore-wrote as follows on this
subject, in a pastoral letter issued
February %, 1877:
''There would indeed be founda-
ton for the reproach intended by the
words, foreign Jurisdiction, If we
acknowledged in the successor of St.
Peter any power or prerogative
which clashed in the least degree
with the duty we owe to our coun-
try or it's laws. To our country
we owe allegiance and the tender of
our best services and property, when
they are necessary for its defense; to
the Vicar of Christ we owe obedience
in things purely spiritual. Happily
there is no competition in their re-
spective claims on us, nor any
difficulty in rendering to both the
submission which they have a right
to claim. Our country commands
and enforces by outward coercion the
services which tend to the preserya-
ton and defense of that personal
security. and of that property. for
the sake of which political societies
were formed and men agreed to live
under the protection of and in obedi-
ence to, civil government. The
Vicar OF Christ, as a visible head of
his church, watches over the integ-
rity and soundness of doctrine, and
makes use of means and weapons
that act only on the souls of men
to enforce the duties of religion, the
purity OF worship and ecclesiastical
discipline"