The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-06-14
Continued from page ~
THE TRAIL OF THE SERPENT.

! nFAbG vt
ITO illustrate, Mr.. Sims said that
the Catholics were held in bondage
by the Bishops and priests and that
no Catholic dared do anything that
would bring about his excommunica-
ton from the Church, for if he did he
would take his life in his own hands
and after that he would not dare ap-
pear on the streets, lest he would be
murdered by the Catholics. Men
have fallen away from the Church
and have been communicated and
we would like to have Prof. Sims
or any one else show us of single
instance where any such have per-
ished at the hands of the Catholics
again, he said that the Bishops
and the priests decreed what laws of
the state Catholic laymen should
obey and those they should not obey
He also said that the taking of an
oath meant nothing to a Catholic;
that they could take an oath with a
mental reservation and lie as much
as they pleased and still be absolved
by the Church. He did not explain,
however, why all the Catholics we're
not in Jail if his contention was cor
rect. This certainly sounds ridicu-
lous in the extreme when it is so we'll
an established fact that one of the
cardinal principles of the Catholic
Church is strict obedience to the
laws of the land. If law is obnox-
ious to the Catholic Church, (and it
cannot be obnoxious unless 1t is con-
trary to the spirit of our Democratic
form of government and religious
toleration) the Catholics surely have
right to seek repeal of the law
through the ballot box. This is what
happened to the Wisconsin Bennett
law. The old law regarding educa-
ton provided that a child of school
age shall attend a public or paro-
chial school at least certain num-
Der of weeks each year but the Ben
net law provided that such child
must attend a PUBLIC school at
least twelve weeks in each year, pro-
hibiting parochial school education
as a matter of complying with the
law. This was in 1890.
"The Catholics took stand to re-
peal the law and the Lutherans
throughout the state took even a more
firm stand against this law. The re-
suit was that state with a Repub-
lican majority of sixty to seventy-fve
thousand was turned into a Demo
cratic victory of forty thousand. Gov.
Peck was elected and the Bennett law
was repealed. Both Lutherans and
Catholics went about their business
as good citizens and no further diff
Guilty has arisen there along that line
since
"Just how Mr.. Sims got the title of
professor we are unable to say nor
what connection he has with educa-
tional features of Michigan, but we
are inclined to believe that if the as
tronomers took him seriously they
would figure out that he is a comet
with a twenty-five year period, one
that every time he appears causes
certain people to go about in abject
fear of the world coming to an end,
and after he has passed, fear vanishes
and the sun shines again as bright
as ever. But there is some difference
between Sims and a comet While
he works the same rule in the same
way he gives it a different name A
quarter century or so ago it was the
American Protective Association that
was to save the country and today
it is the Guardians of Liberty
However, as we stated above, we are
blaming no man for Authorizations he
might have or might appear to have
no matter how absurd they are
"Mr. Sims, after all his fiery and
irresponsible thrusts of immoral ten
denotes against men of the Catholic
faith wound up his so-called address
with: DO unto others as you would
have them do unto you,' and Love
thy neighbor as myself Can you
blame people for pointing to their
foreheads when speaking of Simmer
ing Sims?'
''The world will go on in the even
tenor of it's way, the Catholic Church
will continue to teach morality and
manhood and humble submission to
the laws of our land, to protect and
defend the Stars and Stripes and to
go forth as united people with the
God-given gifts of free and glorious
country, regardless of race, color,
religious belief or previous condition
of servitude."