The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-05-24
AN INSULT TO CATHOLICS.

Clubs held convention at Clin-
ton, Mimi, last week which was
attended by a large number of
delegates, among whom were
many Catholic women represent
ing affiliated societies.
There was an unfortunate Incl
dent connected with this conven-
ton to which we wish to call at
tention. Among the papers read
was one furnished by the Literary
Club of Morris, MINI, which
dealt with Religion in South
America. From the brief refer
ence to the contents of this paper
which appeared in the public
press we have no hesitation in
characterizing it as an insult not
only to the Catholic delegates, but
to every intelligent and fair
minded non-Catholic who heard
it.
The paper stated that Cathol-
icism was the peril Of South Am
erica, that all the evils existing
in that country were due to the
dishonesty and immortality Of the
Catholic priests and missionaries.
The author Of the paper accepted
as true all the malicious calumnies
of anti-Catholic writer's and all
the unfounded assertions of GER
tain ministers of the gospel who
have not scrupled to malign the
Catholic priesthood of South
America for selfish purposes. 1t
is very evident that she took no
pains to ascertain the truth in
regard to the matter. Whatever
would tend to discredit the Cath
Ollie Church in South America was
utilized in blissful ignorance, let
us hope, of the fact that it had
been refuted time and again by
unprejudiced Protestant writer's
who have borne testimony to the
piety, zeal and holiness of life as
well as to eminently successful
labors of the Catholic missionaries
in South America. These Prot
estant witnesses knew from actual
observation that there was not a
word of truth in the statements
made by bigoted writer's, who
viewed the work Of the Catholic
missionaries in South America
through the spectacles of the mar
rowest sectarianism; and they did
not hesitate to speak out boldly
in defence of the Church. In
this connection we may cite the
names of men like the Honorable
John Barrett, Director of the In
ternational Bureau of the Ameri-
can Republics; General Sampson,
former Minister to Ecuador; and
Winfield S. Bird, United States
Consul in Venezuela, all of whom
with a host of others equally COM
petent to judge Of the conditions
in South America, have borne tes-
timony to the splendid work done
by the Catholic clergy of that
country.
During the reading of this
paper protests were made by the
Catholic delegates and by some of
the more intelligent Protestant
women, and, when no attention
was paid to these protests, the
Catholic delegations and others
left the hall. Later on, they re-
turned to the meeting and an
apology was offered by the Presi-
dent of the State Federation, who
declared that no offence was in
tended, as they met in conven-
ton, not as Catholics, nor as
Protestants, but as women who
are working for the good of all.
It is a difficult matter to place
the blame for this objectionable
breach of etiquette upon the
shoulders of those who were re-
sponsible for it. But it would
seem to be a very simple matter
for the committee In charge of the
program to have eliminated such
an offensive paper. The Fedora
ton processes to be non-sectarian
but this incident serves to
throw discredit upon its state
ment. That such an insult to
Catholics, as that implied in the
reading of this paper, was posi-
BILE, Notwithstanding their pro-
tests, seems to prove beyond a
doubt that the Federation is not
animated with so broad a spirit
of non-sectarianism as it would
have the public believe. One
thing is certain, however. Since
this paper was offered by the Lit
erary Club of Morris as sample
of its work, it proves that the Lit
erary Club of Morris is too avow-
edly anti Catholic to be a consist
emf member Of a n0n-sectarian
federation We cannot agree