The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-12-05

ing that it must ignore and deny
Almighty God, and insinuating
that any other concept of the
State would mean priestly domin-
alton, so, too, the same infdel
politicians say that the school
must be lay" meaning that the
pupils must be taught nothing
about Almighty God and our
Divine Lord except to deny and
to blaspheme them; and here, too,
the insinuation is that to allow
God into the school is to crowd
ont the lay teacher and to leave
the priests to form the mind Of
youth in accordance with the
Emaxims of "priestcraft." This
insult to public intelligence has
Ibecome familiar and commonplace
in some European countries; and
like the other doctrine Of State
Atheism, it has it's advocates in
this country. The persons who
protested against the President s
proclamation of Thanksgiving
Day belong to the same school as
the Performers" Of Mexico and
the Liberals" Of Portugal. They
have not, as yet, got control Of
the government Of the United
States.
There is no talk of "Clerical-
ISM when clergymen become the
tools, abject and obedient, Of the
ruling caste. Thus the clergy of
the State Church of Prussia are
not "Clericals," while the laymen
of the Centre Party are "Cleri-
Gals" precisely because they in
sist upon keeping religion above
the level Of political intrigue.
English Catholic laymen like Mr..
Wilfrid Ward, Of the Dublin Re-
view, Mr.. Snead-Cox of the Lon
don Tablet, Mr.. Cecil Chesterton
and Mr.. Hilaire Belloc are "Cler-
icals'' because they will not ad-
nit that religion is merely de-
partment Of politics; while the
political parsons Of all seets are
not "Clericals" just because they
are quite willing to stand in with
the gang. In a word, when and
where laymen as we'll as clergy
consent to the degradation of re-
ligion to the level Of mere
political tool, there is no talk of
'"Clericalism" except among the
people who have failed to corral
the parsons; and these disappoint-
ed ones, whether in England or
Prussia or the United States,
can think of nothing worse to say
Of their opponents than to accuse
them of "priestcraft.' - The thing
is all right so long as it is in your
own hands; when yonr opponent
gets hold of it, it becomes some
thing unutterably low and wicked.
This is the first stage Of the in
fidel tactics that uses the word
"Clericalism" as'q an insulting
epithet for it's opponents. The
next stage comes when goddess
education, cunnihgIy labelled
''lay education has made a gen
GRAFTON familiar with atheism in
theory and in practice. At this
stage, every man, every journal,
every political party that believes
in God and in Christian morality,
gets the name Of Clerical"
just because they refuse to be
drilled and bossed by atheists,
they are sneered at as the slaves
of the priests by Journalists who
dare not tell the truth, for in
stance, about Mexico, out of sheer
terror Of the abject slave who has
sworn to sell his soul to the I'M
known tyrants of the secret SO
cieties. A man who stands for re-
llgious freedom is nowadays
called Clerical" in order that
the way may be cleared for the
determination Of religious free
dom and Of religion itself. De-
cent men ought to make strenu-
Gus and constant protest against
this base and dishonest abuse of
language. Unchallenged repeti-
ton Of the most outrageous lie
is bound to pervert the public
mind. The word "Clericalism"
ought never be printed without
inverted commas.
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