The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-03-31
FALSE IDEAS OF THE REFoRMA-
TloN-NATURAL RELIGION AND
DoGMA-ERRoNEoUs BELIEFS.
written for The Catholic Bulletin by
Rev. j. C. Harrington.)

The year 1917 will be memorable in
history on many accounts. During
the year occurs the fourth centenary
of Luther's apOstacy from the Catho-
lie Church Much will be spoken and
written in praise and Justification of
this great religious revolt msnamed
the Reformation. Professionalism will
be called the mighty intellectual up
heaval of the sixteenth century that
purged the religious atmosphere of
the oppressive vapours still clinging
to it from primitive paganism and the
accretionS Of medieval superstition.
Popular preachers will be responsible
for effusiOns of OratOry even more
hOmbastic still, and in spite Of the
fact that everybody gets an education
nowadays great many people will
he found TO believe that this is all
gospel truth. A perusal of the Mon
day morning papers though, in these
United States at least, makes one not
a little sceptical about the value of
the contribution of Protestant princi-
pies towards strengthening the intel
lectual basis upon which Faith and
Morality must ultimately rest. DR..
MacCaffrey of MaynOoth in the jan
uary Ecclesiastical Record gives a
list of Protestant sermon headings
which were really delivered by min
listers of religion in America in the
twentieth century. The selection is
as follows: Are we a nation of
Dough-Faces ?" Is. Neutrality a
Farce National Preparedness" Get
ting Home from Third "HYphens and
Adiectives," Charlie Chaplins Half
Million,' etc. Such a list of sermon
topics needs no comment. Is it any
wonder that Jones doesn't care to go
to church any more while he can read
the funny paper in a comfortable bed
on Sunday morning?
But these are only ministers. The
real intellectual lights of contempo-
rary Professionalism are more serious
minded individuals. Such a onerI
would be the Rev. S. d. Mcconnell,
Ii. D., D. d. He was rector sue
cessively of st. Stephens, Philadel
phia; Holy Trinity Church, Brooklyn,
and All Souls Church, New York. He
is a well-known writer on Church
literature, and some of his more IA
miIiar hooks are, History of the
American Episcopal Church." Essays
Practical and Speculative The Evo-
mtion of Immortality, and Christ"
That is what the editor Of such high
class review as the North American
has to say about DR.. Mcconnell.
Now, let us see what the learned
doctor thinks about Protestant the
o!ogy, if there is such thing. He
has given us his concept of what the
Protestant churches must do with re-
gard to their dogmatic teaching if
they are to maintain their hold on in
tellectual and respectable citizens of
the United States. This is to be found
in an article which he has contributed
to the March number of the North
American Review entitled, What Are
the Churches TO Do? The fifth line
of the article aforementioned begins
with q little verse that appeared in
Punch nearly half century ago:
There was a bishop of Natal,
Who had a Zulu for a pal,
Said the Zulu, look here,
Amt the Pentateuch queer?
And converted my lord of Natal.
This Protestant divine does not tell
lis where the up-to-date Zulu got his
modernistic higher criticism from;
but it would be safe to say that he
probably got his Pentateuch from the
Protestant Bible Society. In these
days DR.. Mcconnell tells us the Church
had been living within ring fence OF
dogma. People then used to believe
the doctrine of the Inspiration and In
fallibility of the Bible. This was only
forty years ago. Nobody would be so
silly as to maintain such an unschol-
arly attitude now. What about the
more central dogmas of Christianity?
Can the Church afford to insist upon
these and at the same time retain the
aIlegiance of intelligent men? The
central dogmas are the existence OF
\ personal God, the divinity of Jesus
Christ. the fall of Adam, the Redemp-
tion. OF lesser importance are the