The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-06-20
GETTING RID OF PERN1CIOUS
LITERATURE.

The "Renacimento Filipino, =
published at Manila, is self-styled
can Independent Morning
Daily" The independence to
which it lays claim is not that all
embracing freedom from bias OF
any kind which would entitle ii
to the respect and confidence OF
intelligent men. This is evidenced
by the fact that it's attitude to-
wards the Catholic Church leaves
much to be desired in the way OF
an honest effort to view her Doc
trines and activity from the
standpoint of an earnest desire to
know the truth and an unpreju-
diced attempt to state it.
In proof Of this it suffices to re.
fer to an article which appeared
in it some time ago and which is
copied with evident approval by
"The New Age Magazine" a Ma.
sonic organ published in New
York and referred to by the
christian Herald" Of that city.
The article opens with a refer
ence to the oft-refuted fallacy
which charges the Catholic Church
with kindling the fires that
burned the living martyrs Of the
Inquisition. This is cited as an
evidence Of the Church s hostility
to religious freedom. 1t then goes
ON to show that the Church is
still opposed to liberty Of con-
science by describing an incident
which, it says, took place in the
public plaza of Vigan in Northern
Luzon, some time ago, when rep
resentatives of the Catholic
Church burned $500 Bibles pub
lished by the American Bible So
ciety and distributed by Prot
estant missionaries. The "Rena-
cimento Filipino" brands this act
as "a remnant Of religious barbar-
ism, " lone of the most Ubiquitous
and uncalled-for acts ever done in
the name Of worldwide religious
belief" and "the last word in in
tolerance in this age Of religious
enlightenment "
The affair assumes a less serious
character when we know the facts
Of the case. 1t seems that these
Bibles printed in the languages of
the natives, were given as pre-
miums by the American Bible As
ISOLATION to all who bought
tickets of admission to the scrip
tural cinematograph picture show
given by it's travelling agent. Any
one who bought a Bible received
free ticket. Naturally, the show
attracted the natives and thus
several thousand Bibles were dis
tributed.
It is not to be wondered at that
the Catholic priests did not
view with unconcern this whole
sale distribution of Protestant
literature among the Catholic PEG.
pie, and, not to be outdone In in.
genuity by the agent Of the Asso.
citation, they gave a moving pic.
tllre performance to which the
ticket of admission was Protes
tant Bible. In this way, they col
lected large number of Bibles
which, according to the "Renaci
mento Filipino" were publicly
burned.
There is nothing wrong about
this act when we remember that
the Protestant versions of the
Bible do not contain the entire
and unadulterated Word of God
but only a portion of it, together
with the changes introduced into
the text since the Reformation
These Bibles, therefore, convey ar
altogether false idea of Christ I
teaching and, since the Catholic
Church is the custodian and inter
prefer of the deposit of Divine
Revelation, it is her duty tc
safeguard the eternal interests Of
her Filipino children by remov
ing from them the corrupt version
of the Sacred Text which the
American Bible Association has
scattered so abundantly among
them in an effort to wean them
from their allegiance to her. This
was a very effective method Of
getting rid of a book which was
likely to do incalculable harm tx
these simple people.
This is one Of the principa
proselytizing methods which Prot
estantism employs in all Catholic
countries In an effort to gain re
cruits for the different sects. II
does not make any real CONVEX
sions from Catholicism but only
weakens allegiance to the Catholic