The Irish standard., 1919-01-25
Accusations Raised Against "Church.
es" Do Not Apply to Catholic
Church.

Opponents Themselves Responsible
For Weakening Of Her
Influence.
When the Great War began there
we're many who spoke of the bank
ruptcy of Christianity and the
churches. Now that the war has come
to an end, the same cry is raised in
q different version. In the face of the
reconstruction problems which we
must meet. Harry Emerson Foswick,
in the Atlantic Monthly" (Jan. issue)
repeats the implication of the previ-
GUS ineficiency of the churches in a
lengthy article, and demands that the
leaders of religion must cease max
men suppose that religion is moth
ing more than a bride for protection
by benevolent Cod" Christianity,
the Churches, should do more than
this, he says, thus taking for granted
that the churches have not pursued
anything more positive or construc-
tive than merely negative policy of
cajoling the public into membership
in quasi soul-insurance association.
And the New Republic" in a recent
editorial c'The Greatest of These")
boldly accuses the churches of having
done nothing before or during the
war;" to diminish the social bankrupt
cy. They are charged with having
permitted the subordination of reli-
gious to political authority. 49," and
with having consented to the seoul
arization of all human activities. :"
These accusations are unjust, even
as applied to the non-Catholic
churches, and, as for the Catholic
Church, we deny them fatty. But even
if we concede that an awakening of
1.-THE churches" to the duties of their
broader religious and social mission
might be necessary, yet they should
not unqualifedly be held responsible
for inaction or inefficient action when
the sources and causes of their seem
ing dereliction can be so easily dis
cerned. Many who now assail the
churches are "de facto" opponents of
their spiritual work; they have per-
mitted or even encouraged their 'se-
cularization". Instead of being the
religious center, many churches have
been made the social center" in the
conventional sense, not in the socio-
economic sense; and the policies of the
ministers and of their congregated
bodies have been dragged down by the
secular thoughts and wishes of the
congregations; many of those who pat
ronize the churches and profess men,
bership in them are but the eager pu-
pills of masters who have been endeav-
oring for centuries to cripple the
churches,-and primarily the Church
=, to neutralize their influence, to
relegate them to the rank of agencies
for the providing of a one-time-weekly
spiritual recreation,-with an obliga-
tory two-months' vacation during the
summer season.
Individualism, exalted by Protestant
ism, and the newer Humanism have
cultivated an attitude of mind distinct
ly hostile to the Church-to any
church which represents spiritual au-
thority. And as the Catholic Church
is the foremost exponent of the author
ity which binds men to their Maker
and holds them responsible to Him
and to her, as their divinely appointed
spiritual guide-the opposition of men
is directed chiefly against her. And
against her are directed the efforts
to curtail her influence for the good Of
men. For the humanist, especially he
of the newer school, hates her most
sincerely. With the humanistic ideas,
says learned Dominican Professor at
the University of Fribourg in Switzer-
land, DR.. Weiss, belief in church,
in the means of salvation, in the means
of grace, is incompatible. Humanistic
man is his own lord. If he sins, he
merely exercises his own right, and If
he wishes to cleanse himself again
from sin, he is sufficient unto himself
to do so. He will not allow it to be
said of him that he is ever in need of
divine or, much less, of human media.
ton. go" The hatred of the Church
and of the spiritual authority she rep
resents is not confined to the mind of
the individual, but finds its express
sion through many channels, 'in scien-
tific works, in leaflets. 80" and in
many other ways. And the other fac
tor, 1ndividualism, urged and preached
in the literature Of the last three CEN
turtles, essentially denies the authority
of the Church, and consequently op-
poses it, How, then, can the descen-