The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1916-10-05
GliElpses Of POpery a. Work
IDOLS AS AIDS TO CRIME.

IDOLS AS AIDS TO CRIME.
But want my Roman Catholic friends to meet
some of the charges being brought against them.
| don't want general defence of the Roman
Catholic faith but will give space in my columns
to any clear reply to the charges as to the effect Of
their religlo on the lives Of the priests, the
and ether members of their Church. There may
be a difficulty in supervising controlling and
cleansing such huge organization, which has its
branches in almost every part of the world. It
may also be that some of the charges can be re-
futed; but what are the charges?
Broadly speaking, the general charge is that in
order to gain nominal adherents to the Church the
Roman Catholics tolerate looseness of life and
reflect the ignorance and barbarism Of the people
rather than strive to elevate and instruct them
M. e. G. Barber, in the European Court in
stanced the of the worship of sacred pictures
and images in Spain. In one town a black idol
was Worshipped, and was regarded having such
power that before a sCoundrel set out to commit
robbery or murder he prayed to this image and
after accomplishing his crime brought tribute to
the shrine. Although it was known that this
idolatry and superstition associated with crime
Mr.. Barber said the Roman Church eventually de-
clared this image to be that Of SAINT, and there
fore entitled to generation.
[ can, however, imagine this being explained
away although the numerous fragments of the
Cross remind me of the toe-nails and other frag-
ments of Buddha which believed in Ceylon to
be possessed by thousands of Buddhist communi-
ties; and the miracles wrought at Lourdes and
elsewhere seem in line with the Christian Science
and other forms of faith-healing which we hear so
''yICTIMs OF THE PRIEST,
More serious, however, are the contents of a
booklet entitled Victims of the Priest a plea
for convent inmates by the Rev. Alex Roger issued
by the National Protestant Federation, a. I'M
perial Building, Ludgate Circus, London, &c
Here is the problem stated
People have asked, and still ask:
for ife?"
Are their friends denied access to them?"
DO they treat them cruelty in the Conyents?"
Are they sometimes forced to lead immoral
lives?'
lis their food poor in quality as to INSULT
GENTLY noursh them?"
Are the comforts of life valued by even the
poorest women denied to them?"
Are they as happy are sometimes asked
to believer"
chiefly from the experience and utterances of those
who are in position to know, either from past
bitter experience within Convent walls or per-
sonal knowledge Of the methods of the Roman
Church
'At the outset of our task, it is necessary to
distinguish clearly between two classes of CON
ventual institutions
$50 accustomed are the English people now to
the garb of the Nun, that the idea of perpetual i'm
prlsonment within Convent appears to many an
exploded fiction. It should be remem bered that
the nuns seen in our streets are known as isis
ters of Mercy" Sisters of Charity general
title, too often mistakenly applied to all wearers
of the COnventual garb
These nuns, with whose garb we are so ia
miliar, belong to what known as the "cActive
Orders, "a very different type from those desg-
mated the Enclosed Orders"
The former are supposed to devote their lives
to works Of mercy-such visiting the sick and
dying, feeding and clothing the poor, maintaining
orphanages, and other work which brings them
into contact with the world.
Put the enclosed nun" never leaves her con-
vent portals is literally ncarcerated life with
IN its walls and often, at death, her body lies
buried within the Convent precincts
1t is claimed that if enclosed nun" leaves
the monastery without permission she is punished: