Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1919-10-18
RABBI
Declares Cardinal Mercier's Visit
VIII Awaken New Spirit
in Men.
Adds His Voice in Praise of the
Visiting Belgian
Prelate.
Like Hearing Moses Calling With
Flaming Voice Unto
Pharo.
ALL oREEDs REVERENCE HIM.

WlIn an acclaim Such as seldom
has been vouchsafed any dis.
tinguished guest Philadelphia greet
ed Cardinal MERCER. At luncheon
in the Bellevue-Stratford there was
the intimate exchange of greetings
between distinguished citizens, city
and State officials and churchmen
of all denominations. After the re-
past the Cardinal was introduced by
the Most Rev. Archbishop ID j.
Dougherty, Of Philadelphia, with
these words:
"In the past 1t has fallen to the
lot of this Commonwealth of Penn
sylvania and of this city of Phila-
delphia to welcome and acclaim men
of high station, of valor in arms, of
pre-eminent distinction in the arts of
peace. Among these were George
Washington, Gen. Lafayette, Benja-
min Franklin and Abraham Lincoln
In paying them tribute of admir-
alton our citizens manifested their
own love of right, justice and free
dom. Today we welcome to our
State and to this city a man who,
not by brute force, but by fearless
ness. heroic patriotism, sublime trust
in God, stood his ground before the
hosts of an empire, whilst his native
land smoked with burning ruins and
it's inhabitants were shot to death
Tor defending their rights. Cardinal
MERCER is the Leonidas OF modern
times. He and his little nation threw
themselves in the path of the de-
stroyer. They gave the world time
to prepare and save it from the
juggeranut military machine"
Among the post prandial addresses
none were received with more
spontaneous enthusiasm and ap-
plause than the warm hearted and
sincere voicing of brotherly tribute
from Joseph Krauskopf, a Jewfss
rabbi. to Roman Catholic dignitary,
who said:
IT trust that l shall not be ac-
cused of INDUCING in fulsome flat
terry when l say that, in the presence
of His Eminence Cardinal MERCER,
I feel as If standing on holy ground.
One might indulge in batteries in
the presence of gilded tops and
titled fools-never in the presende
of the greatest apostle of righteous
ness of modern times. AS / look
upon his face, a face that bears the
Imprint of Gods celestial workshop,
do no longer wonder what the
prophets of ancient Israel or the
martyr saints of the church looked
like. When I think of him facing
the brutal and insolent invader
burning with righteous indignation:
1T is not only war against Belgium
you are waging; you are attacking
all humanity Right violated by
wrongs is still right; injustice sup
ported by force is still Injustice
IF you will not obey the law of man
you shall obey the law of Cod
You may slay me If you will, but
you can not slay the spirit of God
that is within me, and that bids me
to say to my people, "You must not
and shall not bend your necks to the
invader of your land; to the desc
orator of your rights, to the
murderer of your helpless wives and
innocent Children When of these
words of Cardinal MERCER I think,
1 seem 20 hear at the same time the
ancient prophets bitter denunciation
of the tyrants of their day. l seem
to hear Moses calling with flaming
voice unto Pharo, Remove thy cruel
hand from off my people. 1t Is the
will of God that Israel shall be freel'
I seem to see the prophet Nathan
pointing his finger of scorn at King
David. the perpetrator of heinous
crime, and saying unto him: Thou
art the man who has done this
wicked deed seem to hear the
prophet Elijah saying unto King
Ahab: Thou art he who troubleth
Israel I seem to see the prophet
Daniel facing King Belshazzar and
saying unto him Thou hast been
weighed and found wanting. Thy
days are numbered. Thy kingdom
will be divided and given to the
Modes and Persians. Oh, the courage
II took to say these words when and
where they were said The. merest
word or sign of them whom these
tribunes of the people denounced
would have sufficed to cause dozen
executioners to rush upon them, and
TO silence them forever. What better
illustration of the fear which the
courage of God-inspired men strikes
In the hearts of malefactors? What
general dared to touch hair on
Cardinal Mercier's head? Armed
with right, he was mightier than the
whole invading army. Armed with
right he was mightier than emperor,
sultan and king. They could destroy
the beautiful cathedral in Rheims;
they could lay the university and
library of Louvain in ashes; they
could not silence the hero-priest OF
Malines
Cardinal MERCER lives because he
was not afraid to die. Cardinal Mer-
cier finds a world smiling upon him
today because he was not ashamed
to weep with his people in the days
Of their sorest trials. Cardinal
Mercier is one Of the most honored
men today, because he did not
shrink from draining, with his bleed
lng and downtrodden people, the cup
Z. nl,o.,a1 and hmm LIZ allan Gardin nj