The Irish standard., 1914-03-07
Rev. John Belford Dis cusses Falla.
cies of Socialism Before KNIGHTS
of Columbus
Father BelfordWarns Brooklyn Cath
" olics of Dangerous Doctrines
and Tendencies
Socialism Arrayed Against God and
Church, Cannot be Accepted
by Catholics

The following extracts, taken from
address of FIR. Belford on Catholics
and Socialism," show the stand Of
the Church in regard to Socialistic
doctrines.
"The Socialist philosophy says that
God is dream, that Christ is not of
divine origin; it denies the virgin
birth of Christ and His resurrection;
says that the Church is fraud, that
it's doctrines were invented by men
for their aggrandizement; that there
is no life to come, no heaven but
pleasure, no hell but pain; that the
child is the property of the State and
that education consists only in train
ing, developing and amusing the child
that he may become a useful tool of
production"
This, in summary, was the answer
to the question, "Can a Catholic be a
Socialist" in lecture on 1.-THE
Church and Socialism" given last Sun
day evening in the Church of St.
John the Baptist by Rev. John l..
Belford. The address was delivered in
conjunction with the annual vesper
service of Morning Star Council No.
294, X. of c., which was attended by
congregation of about one thousand
men.
Father Belford's arInment was a
vigorous arraignment Of the false prin-
ciples underlying Socialism. He began
with the notion of private property,
arising from the primitive right of con-
quest. He continued: "Why do the
Socialists hold their system? It is
the result of the same greed that leads
a flock Of sparrows to leave the
crumbs they are eating and fight with
the one that has the largest piece.
The root Of Socialism is discomfort
and greed.
ITO justify their system, they must
argue and deduce a principle. This
they do as follows: The capitalist
(hated worldly has profited by the
work Of others. He has paid poor
wages and has pocketed all the profits
that were more than enough to pay
the laborer. Have we not as much
right to these profits as hep They
care not for the plant that is owned
by the capitalist, for the care that
he must take to market his product
and for the care he must take in over.
seeing, conducting, directing and or.
ganizing his business. Their greed
blinds them so that they can see moth
ing but the manual labor that enters
into the production of the article.
"Yet they claim that a Catholic can
be Socialist, and it is consequently
from religious aspect that Socialism
offers the greatest danger. In their
Ehrfurt program, adopted in 1891, they
said that religion was a private mat.
ter, and at their convention in Chi.
cago in 1908 they tried to ignore the
religious question until some of the
delegates denounced the hypocritical
policy and a stormy debate followed,
after which, by a majority of one
vote, 1t was decided to omit the plank
on religion. It was during this debate
that Liebnecht uttered the now famous
Let me make them Socialists first,
then we will make them atheists"
On the question of eugenics, which
Father Belford declared to be closely
allied with the principles of Socialist
philosophy, he said: IF we are 60
ing to make a stock farm Of the hu.
man race, what kind of morals may
we expect other than those of the
stock farm? And so, we have them
saying that marriage lasts only az
long as affection, and further, that
the satisfaction Of the sexual instinct
is private matter. That 1t is no
body's business what men and women
do as long as they are willing to
do it. Their catechism. taught to the
young children, says that adultery is
not sin because It 10 natural
Their zeal, energy, earnestness, and
devotion to the cause in which they are
engaged is such as to put opr Catholic
men to shame. They support eot
papers engaged in the spread Of theil
propaganda. one Of theT with circu
lation greater than the combined CDR
culation Of all the Catholic papers IL
the country. We could learn mucl
from them and the manner in whicl
they support the press that light
their battles. One point Of sxamina