The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-09-28

allfy should nave IN the eplScOpdle VI
the country to which they have emf
grated some Bishops of their own
race" While not definitely set forth
in this first memorial to Rome, it was
well understood that the election of
Bishops by nationality according to
population was meant. A national
unit which embraced one-tenth or one
fifth of the Catholic population would
have the same proportion of represen-
tatiYes in the hierarchy, speaking in
the ministrations of the episcopal
Office the language of the group of
which they were members. The Ca
henslyists asked aid for seminaries
established in Europe for the educa-'
ton of missionaries to be sent out to
work among emigrants in their new
homes.
Appeal to Rome.
A second memorial, presented in
June. 1891, emphasized, amplified, and
further explained the aims and desires
of the society, laying more stress upon
conditions in the United States. The
current which is carrying away to
America populations of different ma
tionalities" was declared to be for
midable and 'in the future it is likely
to become irresistible In 1889, it
was set forth, $4,000 Catholics had
left Europe for the North and South
Americas, of whom $4,000 settled in
the United States. Although the num-
Der of Catholics in the United States
did not exceed 100000 at that
time, according to the memorial, it
would have been 26,000,000 if all the
immigrants and their descendants had
| Church.
IF the episcopate be handed over
almost exclusively to one nationality
| to the detriment of others ran the
memorial, "a feeling of uneasiness, of
| general discomfort, is created among
these last--a feeling which assumes
| the proportion of disastrous interna-
| tional rivalries." The society in this
memorial went so far as to say that to
each nation should be given Bishops
of its own, who will represent their
respective nations in the episcopal
body, just as those nations are rep
resented among the parochial clergy
and among the faithful"
| Gibbons and Ireland.
| In such controversy, so far as it
| affected America, the influence of
Cardinal Gibbons was all important.
He was then the only Cardinal in the
United States and head of the Prima-
tial See of Baltimore, and to him all
| looked to speak with authority for
| the American hierarchy, the apostolic
| legation not having been permanent
/ " established in Washington as yet
| He had taken note of the Cahensly
agitation in it's beginnings and had
| seen clearly the immense possibili-
| ties of danger involved in its ambi-
tious designs. A divided America, in
or out of the Catholic Church, was alb.
4 horrent to him. He had felt it incum-
bent from the early days of his min
istry to inculcate love of country.
He was a deep student of the consti-
tuition and of the civic institutions OF
America, and in almost countless pub
lie addresses had expressed his fer
vent faith in them. In all this he was
ably seconded by Archbishop Ireland.
/ In Rome, a few days after Cardinal
Gibbons received the red hat, he had
run the risk of being proclaimed
radical of radicals by asserting in a
sermon at his installation in his titu-
lar church that the separation of
Church and State in America was
more to be desired than any other
plan, as giving the Church a freer
field in its mission than forms of po-
i litical compact which amounted in
reality to restriction. Thoroughly
identified with the spirit of Ameri-
canism, he saw in Cahenslyism the
antithesis of his own most cherished
aspiration as citizen.
Cardinal Gibbons sharply separated
the material from the spiritual aspect
in which Cahenslyism was presented
He fully realized the importance of
caring for the Catholic immigrants in
their own Church and of conducting
ministration in their own languages
as long as this was necessary. He
knew the characteristic virtues which
these people brought with them, but
was firmly opposed to any system
, which would perpetuate differences of
language or nationality. He had faith
in the assimilative power of his coun-
try to transform the foreigner into the
American by natural and compare
lively short process, and he was reso-
lutely set against the interposition of
any obstacle to the operation of this
change.
Strong Statement.
His views were expressed fully in
i communications to Leo XIII and to
his friends and co-workers, Arch
bishop Ireland and Bishop Keane,
who vigorously combatted in Rome
the work which the Cahenslyists were
carrying on with energy. In a me-
mortal to the Project of Propaganda
they made these significant declara-
tions:
The Church will never be. strong in
America, she will never be sure of