The Irish standard., 1913-08-16

ericanism In regard to religious free
DOM? answer with an emphatic no.
Common sense Is ours. Common Jus
tice is ours: regard to our own well
fare and safety is also ours. The broad
fact Is that the American people are
divided in matters Of religious belief
to the American people, to the whole
people, does the country belong. What
else. then. could the trainers Of the
constitution have done, what else since
their time could the legislators of the
land have done. in equity towards all,
IN equity to the country as one nation.
to Its people as one people, but SOL
emnly decree, as they did, as they con-
tinue to do, equal rights to all. priv
tleges to none? Necessarily religious
freedom is the basic life Of America,
the cement running through all its
walls and battlements, the safeguard
OF Its peace and prosperity. Violate re-
ligtous freedom against Catholics: our
swords are at once unsheathed. vio-
late it in favor of Catholics, against
non-Catholics: no less readily do they
leap from the scabbard.
Does Catholicism in America suffer
from religious freedom, allowed
equally to Catholics and to non-Catho-
lies? Compare the lot of Catholicism
in America to that Of Catholicism in
30 many Transatlantic lands, where
the tenets Of pagan Caesarism, as to
the supremacy Of the state over the
conscience of its subjects do still pre-
vail. There inanacles bind hand and
limb the bride of Christ: here she
walks in queenly nien, free and un-
fettered, putting forth, without let or
hindrance, the full exuberance Of her
native force and beauty. proving at
every stepping that her life is all her
own. since she lives it without OUT
ward help or prop; that her blossom
and fruit are all her own, since they
spring exclusively from her bosom,
and Of their own vigor defy trium-
phantly darkening clouds and battling
tempests.
Had the Catholic church not lived
and thriven In freedom, truth were
not it's armor. grace from Heaven were
not the comeliness Of its countenance.
They know US little who accuse US
Of coveting civil and political power.
that we may dim the splendor Of the
fairest flower in the garden Of Ameri-
canism. + Our conbats. il combats
there be. are never against the liber-
ties of America, but in defense of
them; never against Americanisn, but
against such Of it's sons. whose souls
never yet have thrilled In full response
to its teachings and inspirations.
..Is Catholicism in America an Alien
Institution.
The charge is made: If not anti
American, the Catholic church is un-
American-lt is. in America an alien
institution. More definitely the charge
is, this: Tho Catholic church does
not bear the stamp-''Made In Ameri-
ca" 1t Is un-American to go across
the Atlantic or the Pacific for aught
that America uses or needs-even for
its religion. Now the head of the
Catholic church ia the Bishop of
Rome, a foreigner: its general coun-
ellis, composed of men of all nations
foreigners In the majority. Europe
ans, Asiatics, Africans-legislate in
faith and morals for America. Why
not a pope. strictly American? Why
not councils, as those of other religi-
GUS bodies. exclusively made up of
Americans-capable. as only Ameri-
cans may be supposed to be, Of inter-
preting the American mind and guild
ing the American aspiration?
The late Bishop Doane Of Albany
once wrote: ''It is hard to find any
other word (than that of 'alien')
which describes the whole communion
of church which owes its highest al
legiance to a single head, who is a
foreigner across the sea- A few
weeks ago, In the yale Review" the
secretary general Of the university.
while treating of what he Is willing
to call the helpful influence Of the
Catholic church over recently arrived
immigrants. complains: But 1t (the
Catholic church) links them (the inn
migrants) with their own past rather
than with that of the United States.
It has been outside the main currents
Of the Anglo-saxon progress. 1ts
emphasis is neither on freedom, nor
on democracy: SO unless it proves un.
true to Its own ideal 1t will not satisfy
the American people" To Bishop
Doane, Catholicism Is IAN alien" In