The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-01-10

ARCHBISHOP eLENNoN SUGGESTS
POSSIBLE MOTIVES OF DE-
FAMERs OF THE CATHOLIC
CHURCH AND DECLARES THAT
THE BEST ANSWER TO THESE
ISLANDERS Is THE UPRIGHT
| LIVES OF HER CHILDREN.
In the course of confirmation SER
mon preached at Troy, Mo-, Arch
bishop Glennon of ST. Louis COM
mented as follows on the wave of
America:
There is another reason, and
very special one, why / wish to en-
phasize your confirmation and your
subsequent duties as devoted and in
telligent Catholics. I have spoken to
you of the general decline of faith,
but there is another characteristic of
today which, whether correlated to
this decline of faith or not, is very
much in evidence, and it is the grow
ing hostility to the Catholic Church.
"It is true that in every age the
Church has been prosecuted. All the
centuries have been stained with the
blood of Catholic martyrs. The
prisons still remain where priests and
Bishops were incarcerated There is
scarcely city or town in all Chris
tendon that has not the record of
i Catholic devotion written on it's walls.
In some instances the record is of
wholesale expulsion of Catholic peo-
pie from the land of their fathers,
while in others the persecution was so
successful that few were left for ex-
pulsion. But this persecution, lasting
so long and pressed forward so
fercely, had at least this in it's favor,
that it was in the open. Our enemies
in some instances thought that in so
doing they were doing the work of
God, but now conditions have changed
persecution of another form-not as
bloody, but more degrading; not so
successful, but more insidious.
! ''The form it takes today is to pro-
: mote falsehood and calumny against
!, the Catholic people-the priesthood
and the Sisterhood-and to blaspheme
every element of Catholic sacramental
u life. a
: "The printing press is their great
agency. Through it they issue thou
sands of papers, magazines and
pamphlets filled with attacks on the
; Catholic Church. In the main their
attacks are falsehoods, and where
there is an element of truth they so
enlarge and expatiate on the supposed
crime of infamy, and write as of Cath
olic doctrine and practice, that the
Universal Church is condemned for
the unworthy act of some one who, a
member in name, may not be such in
reality. They will tell of the crime of
some one now fifty years dead, and
write it up as though he were living
today.
: while the daily newspaper is filled
with the evidence of human frailty in
the n-Catholic world, these are
passed aside, but every fault in any
way associated with the Catholic name
is held up as horrible example and
spread out before a receptive public
as complete history of Catholic life.
J Possible Explanations.
Il have often wondered why this
condition prevails What is the phi
losophy of it? 1t cannot be personal
grudge, because our Catholic people
do not even know these defamers of
the Church. We do not know their
name nor their history, and we are
Indifferent, but not hostile to their
political or social aspirations. We
are not holding up as a horrible
example individual Protestants,
Why, then, should they, our defamers,
go out of their way and spend their
days and nights in collating and utter
ing unjust and malicious attacks upon
the Catholic Church?
1T occurs to me as if these might
be some of the reasons: First, jeal-
) ousy. Jealousy is strong passion,
and it is hard to conquer it. Religious
jealousy is the worst of all. They do
not like to see the Catholic people
grow in number nor power. They do
not like to see churches builded nor
, schools erected that have cross
, above them. Consequently they show
) their jealousy by attacking us.
4 Another reason may be that their
best apology for indecent living is to
J attack and defame decent people.
: Cowards always brag when under
: cover, and try to belittle the prowess
and character of those who are willing
) to fight in the open. This reason is
, not a fattering one to those who at
tack us, but the evident dishonesty
that is back of their attacks suggests
it as a consistent motive for their un-
worthy methods.
Is It For Gain?
There is another reason, and it is
: the commercial one. Nearly every
thing today is becoming commercial
lied. We have commercial vice, and