The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-12-29
Why cannot Catholic belong to the

two reasons why Catholic may not
join the Masons; one is that the
Masons do not want him to join; and
the second is, that the Catholic Church
forbids him to join. These two rea-
sons should be sufficient for any SEN
sible, loyal Catholic. A Catholic can
not be a true, intelligent Catholic and
a true, intelligent Mason. The Cath
Ollie Church has creed and Masonry
has a philosophy, and the creed and
the philosophy mutually exclude each
other One might pretend to join the
Masons merely for social purposes;
but by that very fact, he becomes a
member of an organization that has
a philosophy, whether the member is
aware of it or not. Masonry in many
countries has been, and is today, an
enemy of the Catholic Church; the
experience of the Church has been,
he ceased to practice his religion. The
Church protects her children by for
bidding them to become associated
with Masonry.
Are there Greek Catholics among the
Italians?
The southern part of Italy and the
Island of Sicily have sheltered thou
sands of Greeks as far back as ante
Christian days. Three of the Popes
that have ruled the see of Peter have
been Greeks from this part of Italy.
When the Greek Church of the East
fell away from Rome in the eleventh
century the Greeks in Italy remained
faithful to their Roman allegiance.
They identified the Greek language in
some way with the Schism and they
soon abandoned it's use in their litur-
gy. Between the years 1850 and 1900
the Albanians from the Northeast re-
ccived permission from Pope Eugene
to settle in southern Italy that they
might avoid the terrible prosecutions
carried on by the Turks. These AL
banians were Catholics who used the
Greek rite and the Greek language.
They settled in Calabria and in Sicily
and they used the rites and the Gus
toms which they had followed in their
native land. Today they have become
entirely Italianized yet they still insist
upon retaining their former rite. All
the Italians of southern Italy that fol-
low the Greek rite are known as AL
banese. Some of them have emigrated
10 America and a census of them was
taken few years ago around New
York and Philadelphia and they num-
Thousand
represent rather low type of civiliza-
ton and attempts to assist them re-
ligiously have borne very little fruit
But these Albanians come from the
farther side of the Adriatic Sea and
if they practice any religion at all it
will be one of the Greek rites.
What is meant by a vicar-general?
The vicar-general of a diocese is, as
it were, the Bishops assistant. He
is the highest official in the diocese
next to the Bishop; with certain limi-
tations his authority extends to all
cases of the Bishops ordinary jurisdic-
ton, so that the vicar-general is called
'one person" with the Bishop. The
Office is established by the law of the
Church; but the Bishop selects his
own vicar-general.
Is it ever lawful to take human life,
to kill man?
1t is lawful sometimes to kill a
man, to take his life. 1t is lawful for
a man to kill an unjust aggressor if
he has no other means of escaping
from the assailant; it is lawful for the
supreme authority of the state to take
life for certain heinous crimes; it is
lawful for a woman to defend her
virtue at the cost of the life of the
man who assails it: it is lawful for
citizens to engage in just war and
in that war to take the lives of the
enemies. In all these instances, it is
lawful to take human life. The pre-
cept, not to kill, has reference to the
life of an innocent person, not to that
OF an unjust aggressor
Will the rest of the universe be
destroyed when the world is de-
stroyed?
The Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas
Aquinas, holds that only the surface
of the earth and the works of man
on it shall be destroyed at the end of
the world. In the Epistle of Saint
Peter we read; 1--WE look for new
heavens and a new earth" In an
other verse: THE earth and the works
which are in it shall be burned up
These texts may be interpreted in the
light of Saint Thomas Aquinas. There
will be new heavens and new earth
because time will then have ceased
and there will be no more change.
Please explain the meaning of the
letters &c. SIS. r." and similar abbre-
viations which we sometimes see after
the names of priests of religious or
ders?
The letters C. SIS. R. are an abbre-
Walton of the Latin words, Congrega-
tionis Sanctissimi Redemptoris, which
in English mean, "of the Congregation
of the Most Holy Redeemer.'' Thus
other religious indicate the order to
Which they belong by putting after
their names the initial letters of the