The Irish standard., 1919-01-25
Unfounded Charges

reference 10 the CatnOllc Cnurch. She
is and ever has been the opponent of
Absolutism. Prince Kropotkin, the
Russian Anarchist. whose views no one
will construe as being unduly favor
able to the Church, presents in his
book on Mutual Aid as factor in Evo-
luton, striking picture of the influ-
ence of the unfettered Church in the
struggle of the people against Absolut-
ism. He tells us that during the 10.
and IL. century rich and poor alike,
nobleman and peasant, took part in
certain elections. eat the same time,
he writes, "the tendency existed in
most of the cities of Western and
Southern Europe to take Bishop as
Protector, the city having itself elect.
ed him; and the number of Bishops
who thus led the cities when it was
necessary to protect their rights or to
defend their liberties, was so great
that many of them have been consider
ed saints and special protectors of
these cities after their death. st. Ethel
red of Winchester, st. Ulrich of Augs-
burg, st. Wolfgang, of Ratisbon, St..
Herbert of Cologne, st. Adalbert of
Prague and others, and likewise many
Abbots and Monks were all made COM
munity patron saints, because they
had conducted the defense of the
rights of the people. And under the
new protectors, lay and clerical, the
citizens obtained their own complete
judicial institutions and self-govern-
ment in their peoples assemblies. -
And just as in these instances Bishops
of the Church fought the encroach-
ments of Absolutism, the Church in
the Middle Ages fought the arbitrary
assumed power of rulers or ruling
classes. The famous Bishop -Ketteler
of Mayence very correctly says: "The
egotistical abuse of the power of the
State, whether it designates itself as
being derived from the GAGE of God or
from the grace of the people, whether
the Roman emperor says: "My
pleasure is the law of the world" or
the Protestant prince Declares: "Cujus
regio, ejus religiO"; =. whether the so.
called legitimate ruler says: II am the
State" or Robespierre says Liberty is
the despotism of Intelligence, 500.
all of this is the expression for the
same Absolutism of State power"
and consequently counter to the laws
of God and the spirit of the Church.
The "New Republic" also claims
that the churches have suffered the
secularization of human activities -
This accusation also does not hold
good as applied to the Catholic Church.
Even her constant opponents accuse
her increasingly of preventing this Sc
cularization, and in this instance their
contentious may serve to protect her
from the contrary aspersion. Flight
from the World, "Future-life Moral
ity", ."Unworldly Philosophy" these
are the very things she is accused by
her enemies of fostering. How, then,
can they, in the same breath, assail
her with the charge of permitting the
decentralization of mems activities",-
the very issue she has been fghting?!
In view of these facts it is utterly
unfair to hold the Church responsible
for not exercising that wholesome in
fluence which her opponents have
ever been seeking to curtail. From
a Luther, who sought to eradicate the
Church, to a Voltaire, who raised the
cry for her destruction, and from a
oner, down to the ruler who seized the
remnants of the Papal States, from a
Bismarck who tried to force her into
his absolutistic straight-jacket down to
those who would deny the Pope seat
at the peace-table,-from that remote
date to this everything has been done
to cripple the influence of the Church.
And in spite of it all, critics ask why
she has not made use of this influence!
A bit Of study of history and an en-
deavor to cultivate fairer judgment
would prove highly valuable to some
of those who are ever eager to call
the Church to task for occurrences
which meet with their disapproval. But
there is method in the endeavors Of
those who fain would erect temple of
Neo- Humanism on the ruins of st.
Peters.
G. B. of the C. V.
At last accounts in the cemetery of
Mt. Valerian, Paris, were buried $50
of our American soldiers who died in
k41~