The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-10-21
hat have the fewegt Catholics.

that have the fewest Catholics.
Will these missionaries remove the
blot of illiteracy from Latin America
Again it might be asked: Why not
remain at home? The States which
show the most illiteracy in the United
States are: Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ala
bama, mississippi, Louisiana, Arkan-
sas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arizona
and New Mexico. OF these States only
three-Louisiana, Arizona and New
Mexico-have considerable Catholic
population, at least 100 Catholics for
| 1000 of the population. The other ten
States, Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama,
Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and
Kentucky, comprise the sections where
Catholics are less numerous than
elsewhere in the United States-not
10 per 1000. So that it may nbe said
that the illiterate section of our coun-.
try is also that section in which Cath
olicity least abounds. Is the Catholic
religion responsible for this? (See
SPECIAL Reports of the Bureau of the
Census Religious Bodies-vol. |, p.
Ga, also Chap. XIII, p. 1900 of vol.
of the 18th Census Reports.)
Will these jealous missionaries
transport the morality of our home
life to Latin America? We had in
the United States in 1906 one divorce
for every twelve marriages. During
1901, among seventy-fiVe million Amer
leans, there were twice as many di-
vorces as among the four hundred
million Christians in the rest of the
world. We rank next to Japan in
legalized immortality in the home.
From 1907 to 1906 the increase in
divorces has been 80 per cent. every
five years. Since 1880 the population
has increased eight-fold, while divorces
have increased eighty-fold. Over one
hundred and ten thousand divorces
were granted in 1914. Ninety thou
sand orphans were created by divorce
women, one third were for desertion,
and only per cent. for drunkenness.
How far the Catholic Church is re-
sponsible for this may be seen from
the report of the Commissioner of
Labor-a PrOtestant-who compiled
these divorce statistics in 1886. He
says, page 112: Large and increas-
ing as the number of divorces in the
United States is, it is an undeniable
fact that were it not for the wide
spread influence of the Roman Catho-
lie Church, the number would be much
greater. The loyalty of Catholics to
the teachings and doctrines of their
Church, and the fact that one of the
cardinal doctrines of the Church is
that Christian marriage is holy
Sacrament, which, when consum-
mated, can be dissolved for no cause
and in no manner save by death, has
unquestionably served as barrier to
the volume of divorce which, except
among members of that Church, is
and during the past twenty years has
been assuming ever-increasing proper
tons throughout the country"
Again we may ask: Will these mis-
sionaries carry prohibition into Latin
America? Alas Before teaching pro-
hibition they will have to prove it's
need by introducing our American
vice of drunkenness Intoxication
seems to thrive under the influence of
the English language, but it is hardly
known in Latin nations.
10 hnx iO11
these missionaries can boast of. We
are the richest nation on earth.
refrain from asking whether Christ
came to teach money-getting, but |
suggest that, instead of Boosting, we
should rather apologize for our wealth,
when it is remembered that our dis
tinction is purchased by blood money.
If we mention only the faults of our
country it is not because we are un-
mindful of it's virtues. 1t is because
we love it above the nations of the
world, that we resent the pharasaical
and un-American methods of those
who would draw attention from our
own wants to the fancied needs of for
eign peoples. The information herein
quoted from unprejudiced sources, in
reference to illiteracy and divorce, will
not deter bigots from slandering the
Church, but it will appeal to people
of fair minds. We cannot expect the
world to take us for it's mentor and
physicians, until we have made honest
and successful efforts to eradicate the
evils peculiarly our own, and which
cannot but prove a source of regret
to Americans possessed of the spirit
of Christians and patriots.