The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-06-15

ize the duty he owed his subjects.
When the secular power succeed
ed in debauching a portion of the
clergy and many Of the. laity, to
the detriment of morals and social
welfare, Henry " of Germany
was7o forced to go to, Canossa,
Many another powerful autocrat
has also learned his lesson at Can
oSsa. y f.s 5a g3ttal
Many customs Of the middle
ages, like the Truce of God, were
enforced in the interests Of the
people. Surely, the Peasants
War, and such like uprisings, can
not be attributed to the Catholic
Church.
The Catholic Church gave to
the world the great religious Or
ders Of the Middle Ages which
professedly ~ehampioned the rights
and the dignity of the people.
Noted Saints and orators travers-
ed Europe in every direction in
the cause of peace and the rights
of the people. Boast is made of
the power of working mems
unions today, and rightfully so.
But it was the Catholic Church
of the Middle Ages which showed
the working man his own power
when banded together with his
fellows: and the world upheld the
famous Guilds, the greatest, most
efficient, and most powerful aegis
ever held over the Workingman
in the history Of the world.
\ One Of the most terrible forms
Of oppression practiced upon the
people, an inheritance of pagan
times, was the blight of slavery.
Balmes, in his European Civiliza-
ton, proves in the most brilliant
manner the wonderful part play
ed by the Catholic Church in
softening the rigors of servitude,
and in endeavoring to establish
social equality among all men.
We would respectfully recommend
to Mr. Lindbergh a careful peru
sal of that work.
Again, the greatest document,
without doubt, issued in recent
times in defense of the rights of
the workingman, as opposed to
the usurped privileges Of autoc-
racy, is the Encyclical ON labor
published by the late Pope Leo
XIII. When the Knights of La
Dor stood before the American ma
ton with their demands for JUS
tice, it was the leading prelates
Of the Catholic Church in the
United. States who came. out bold
ly and defended the rights Of the
working class: rights that were
upheld by the highest authority in
the Catholic Church, the authority
of Pope Leo XIII.
That there may have been ex-
ceptions to this general rule, that
certain individual prelates may
have allied themselves with
wealth and power in the long his
tory of the Catholic Church, is
quite possible. But surely Mr..
Lindbergh is too good a logician,
if not a historian, to admit that
an organization or a nation right
fully can be assailed as a body
for the shortcomings Of a few I'M
worthy members. As well might
one impugn the patriotism Of the
American people because certain
American citizens are today
found to be recreant in their 10y
atty to American institutions.
Mr.. Lindbergh insinuates fur
Their that the Catholic Church and
big business are in close alli-
ance. Mr.. Lindbergh is no doubt
an estimable gentleman, but he
seems, like Lot s wife, to have. in
advertently looked around in an
unguarded moment. For he says,
in substance, that 9big business"
is lavish in its gifts to the Church,
and that the high church digni-
taries get busy securing jobs,
political and other, for the infu-
entail of the lay MEMBERS" all
this, resulting, it is claimed, in
more political and other patron
age going to the membership of
the Church, than is justified" Up
to the present we had thought the
Hon. Charles A. Lindbergh to be
a statesman, even if a misguided
one: this last statement. however,
would seem to show the earmarks
Of a disappointed politician.
Summing up, it is not, as we
said in the beginning, the ordina-
ry duty of Catholic paper to
enter the political field for. the
purpose Of breaking lances. When.
however, we are asked as citizens
to, support gentleman who has
given such unmistakable evidence
of anti Catholic prejudice, based,
as usual, upon neutrality-suspicious.
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