The menace. [volume] (Aurora, Mo.) 1911-1920, 1914-08-22
.R JOHN FAvILLE, Of the
ID Congregational Church Of

Appleton, Wis, preached a
sermon some months since so full
Of affection for Rome and things
Roman that the Knights Of Co
lumbus made Il into a pamphlet
and are circulating il Eealously.
Though lovely in text terminol'
ogy and treatment, the Doctor 3
effort belongs 90 that class Of ex.
hortations which preach peace
after war has actually begun, and
bid soldiers ground arms in the
presence Of the enemy lest some
one perchance might be hurt.
Taking for his text Matthew
23;s, lone is your Master,
Christ, and all ye are brethren,
he preached on the theme, "Why
] believed in the Roman Catholic
Church" and touched incident.
ally on why he does not believe
I'm The Menace. We are not 90.
ing TO accuse DIR. Faville Of gar.
bling in detaching his text from
the context; but would recon.
mend the rest Of Matthew % "a
the thoughtful attention Of our
readers. And with the precedent
set by him we detach a few para,
graphs from his sermon as the
basis for comment thereon. Says
he:
"My taking up this topic az thi,
time grows out Of the fact that some
months ago In a sermon l denounced
the anti-Catholic paper known as The
Menace. had read this paper, NOR,
or less. for months, Il having been sent
TO me by someone, and ! had read q
number Of the Anti-Cstholie books II
advertises.
IL DIR. Faville had read The
Menace, and. the books il adver.
tises, with understanding, his re.
joinder would have been far
diffrent from that in his sermon.
He seems, like many other read.
ers, 10 have gotten the idea that
The Menace is opposed to the Ro.
man Catholic religion. We give
him credit for sincerity, but are
compelled TO question the intelli.
gence of an educated man who
can't distinguish between reli.
gious Catholicism and political
Romanism.
IL is a matter Of comparative
indifference TO us whether a citi.
zen accepts a Protestant theolO-
gian or the pope of Rome as his
interpreter of religion; but it is a
matter of grave concern when a
large body OF nominal Amer.
leans, exercising the privileges OF
citizenship, subject themselves Ia
a foreign monarch and so vote as
to give him political power in
this country.
For centuries the popes of
Rome were temporal rulers, and
they have never abandoned their
claim to temporal power. Only
by the revolt of their subjects has
that power been wrested from
them. So late a pope as Leo
XIII, in his encyclical Of Jan. 6
1895, on Catholicity in the United
States, declares the desirability
of the union Of Church and State
and says of the Catholic church
in the United States, "She would
bring forth more abundant fruits
if, in addition to liberty, she en-
joyed the favor of the laws and
the patronage Of public author
ity."
The pope is not satisfied with
religious liberty in the United
States; he seeks political power
He is not content that his follow,
ing stand on a footing Of equality
with the Protestant denomina.
tons; he desires favor and pat.
ronage. He would control
education, build up his parochial
school system, tear down the pub
lie school, and replace American
ideals with his own Italian, mon.
archial teachings.
II is not a question of religion