Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-12-04
MGR. FRANCIS KELLEY and /
REV. R. H. TIERNEY ANSWER
PRES, WILSON'S SECRETARY
ON THE CRIMES IN Mexico
If Files of State Department Are without Off,
cial Records to Prove Outrages Committed
upon Nuns It Is Not Because Copies Have Not
Been Offered, They Declare

Chicago, Dec. 3.-Statements in re-
ply to the recent letter in which
Joseph P. Tumulty, secretary to Presi-
dent Wilson, explained from an ad-
ministration viewpoint the situation in
Mexico as regards the Roman Catho-
lie church, are made public here. One
is by Mgr. Francis c. Kelley, presi-
dent of the Catholic Church Extension
Society, and the other by the Rev. r.
II. Tierney, editor of the Catholic
| weekly america and both renew
| criticism of President Wilson in
recognizing the CarranZa government
under which, says Mgr. Kelley, re-
| ligious liberty is being denied to the
people of Mexico.
The statement by Mgr. Kelley fol-
| lows:
| If the files Of the Department of
State are without official records to
prove the "dastardly crime" of out
RACES committed upon nuns by MeXi-
can Revolutionists, there are Official
records in other places copies of which
have been offered to the Department
of State. l happen to have some of
them myself, given under oath.
| have one in particular that has never
/ seen the light of day. But is Mr..
Tumulty perfectly safe in trying to
disprove all the outrages against re-
| ligion through denying one? Even if
we grant all his contentious, there still
remains a great burden of crime abb
solutely unexplained. One thing, how
ever he may be certain of: the worst
/ of the affidavits will never be given
out for it stands to reason that no
names are going to be mentioned; not
for the Revolutionistss sake. or for Mr.
Tumultys sake, but rather for the
sake of the poor victims. The muir
ders, the Iooting, the stealing, the clos
| ing of churches, etc, etc, have been
admitted over and over again by the
Revolutionists themselves. 1t is most
extraordinary that Mr.. Tumulty could
make the statement seriously that the
officers of the American Army never
heard a single report of outrage having
been committed The fact of the
matter is that the story first came tt
my knowledge through one who re.
ceived it from officers of both the army
land navy. l afterwards converset
with one of these officers, and he no
only corroborated what l had heard
but gave me additional facts. How
ever, his case Is about the same as tha
of the nuns. While l have his name
and his signature, / do not propose tt
have him dismissed from the army
or have his life made burden by re-
vealing it, Mr.. Tumulty may not per-
haps have heard that nuns were forci-
bly, taken from trains and sent into the
Revolutionist army. The number OF
nuns who reached Cuba or the United
States safely is negligible. How many
of them will never be heard from?
A rather strange thing it is that Mr.
Tumulty should use as an authority
the Very Rev Antonio J. Paroles
Roman Catholic Vicar General. the
Archbishopric of Mexico City" When
Mr.. Bryan was Secretary of State, he
communicated to me a copy of the
statment of Canon Paroles. and in
formed me that he was going to give
it to the press. Through Dudley Field
Malone of New York. I gave Mr.. Bryan
information as to who this Antonio j
Paroles was. | told him that he was
Nicar-General of Mexico City only be-
cause he had been appointed by Car
rama to that office despite the fact
that the Constitution of Mexico pro-
claims that there is no union in that
country between Church and State
The Venerable Archbishop of Mexico
City, however, as Father Tierney says
in order to avoid further scandal. al
lowed Paroles to act: but as a matter
of fact, very few of the clergy Q.
Mexico City pay any attention to him
but recognize the authority of another
Vicar General, whose appointment wa!
mot made by General Carranza. An.
tonic j. Paroles is today knocking
around Mexico City with a Revolu
tionary uniform on. 1t was he who
taken, as a nominal prisoner to Vera
Cruz with a number of other priests
from Mexico City, worked on the pool
prisoners to have them sign docu-
ment favorable to Carranza. This is
The sort of an authority" Antonio j
Paredes is. 1t is a matter of interest
in this connection to know that Mr.
Bryan, when he learned about Canon
Paroles, did not give his statement tt
the public press, as he had intended
This fact, of course, must have beer
known to Mr.. Tumulty.
Surely Mr.. Tumulty is not innocent
enough to really believe that the prom
Uses made by Carranza We're intended