The menace., 1916-12-02
HOW ROMAN PRESS
SEEKS TO INcTTE RIOT
pSttiag Pep In Catholicism By
Prsising Muscular Christianity
While r. Of c. Committee
Soothes koa-catholies

gaTbling thls Time By rcprupng an
cntirc article from that organ Of
popcD which reveals the true spirit
Of the papal system and is In strik-
ing contrast with the hypoeritical
prcaehmcnts and prct-nse Of Col.
Callahan and his ffty-thouand-
dollar committee on religious
prejudice" Rcsl and reflect on
this from the Tablet Of Nov. Is,
1916, page 5, column 2:
Put Pep In Your Catholicity
That the continued progress Of Cathol.
icity IN this country u srriuusly retarded
hy the apathy and indifference Of the
laity, nobody who takrs an intelligent In.
tcrest In the subject will attempt 20
deny. And how hard 10 is 10 siir then
INTO action! A correspondent q New
York contemporary furnishes a few con
crctc evidences u tb. evils which result
from such hlamcworthy "laissez fairo -
conduit ~ i've" be wntcs, "in =
parish, once a great Irish Catholic strung
hold, which sim has over fftecn hundred
male parishioncrs. A Socialist holds
forth nightly on a corner Adloining the
parish church, and In absolute safety de.
rides the Catholic faith and the Catholic
priesthood. Aged Catholics say that this
would not have been tolerated by the
Catholics of fifty years ago, that they
would have arisen and effectively used
physical force. Tho healthy and virile
Catholic spirit Of those days has evidently
departed. Stage and motion picture, cK.
plotted by men upon whom a ray OF
Christianity has never fallen are de.
hauching the faith and morals Of our
Catholic children and young men and
wumcn. We DO not unite 90 fight this
evil, though Il il undoing the work Of
Catholic education. A sort Of sleeping
sickness has possession Of us. "
Why do YOU suppose the Tablet
prints such stuff as this. il not 10
incgc riot and foster the mob spirit
that is already prevalent among the
pope's childrcn!" "1he healthy
'and virile Catholic spirit Of those
days" has departed. OF what days.?
OF the days when papists arose and
used physical force 10 silence eriti-
ciSm Of their so-cdiicd church and
its priests.
The Tablet evidently longs for
those good old days when papists
proved the quality Of their religion
by tearing up the pavement and
heaving it at heretics. 1t must
therefore rejoice at such re-appear-
ances Of the good old days as were
witnessed in Chicago and Haver-
hill, and in many other places
within the last year.
Which is the real Romish doc
trine: this counsel to violence, or
the soft soap spread by the Callahan
and Scott variety of knightly SPELL
binders! Papist preachment and
practice warrant the conclusion that
there are two doctrines: one for the
pope's roughnecks who are expected
to promote popery by acts Of in
timldation, and the other for nom
Catholics who are soft enough to
assimilate the soothing syrup which
Callahan and his kind offer them.
But back Of all is the arrogant
intolerance that has characterized
this ecclesiastical graft for CEN
turies. 1t is too coarse TO Justify
itself in open discussion or by any
fair means. II feeds upon the ig-
norance and brutality Of its dupes,
and escapes Just censure by pretense
OF a tolerance which il has never
practiced.
The truth is that these dcspised
Socialist soap-boxers are tearing
the mask from this harlot of the
seven hills, and are exposing the
murderous hag in all her hideous-
ness to the victims of clerical ras-
cality. The parish mentioned as
at one time an lrish-Catholic
stronghold is typical Of many such
communities where the plain people
are getting from under the control
and influence Of arrogant priests. IL
is a welcome change which will be
more marked in the future than IN
the past.
Fifty years ago this exodus Of
papist dupcs was impossible be-
cause Of the power welded by the
priests through the fanatieism Of
their parishioners; but self respect is
asserting itself as never before, with
the inevitable result that the better
class Of papists are leaving the
priests TO fight their own battles
and maintain their graft as they
can.
There is a strike on. The plain
papist who has always done the pay
ing and obeying is striking for the
freedom to be had only by thinking
for himself; and the priests are try
ing to break this strike by melting
those vet under their control to
deeds Of violence in the hope of in
timidating the disaffected. But it