The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-12-04
ABOUT THE PILGRIMS.

Every CltlZen IN America, III ludIeol
what may be his racial origin, is in
terested in the celebration this year
of the tercentenary celebration of the
landing of the Pilgrim Fathers. says
the +. o. I. F. Bulletin. For those who
went before us in this country we all
ought to have respect and yeneratlon,
but we should not allow the tercen-
tenary celebration to be turned into
rulsome magnifying of the Anglo-Sax.
on race to the minimizing OF the other
peoples who have contributed so long
and so we'll to the development of the
America of today.
The people here of pro-British ten
denotes have seemed to capture the
tercentenary celebration, with the re-
suit that VIC shall have TO listen for
the next month or so to the most sen.
timental accounts of the Pilgrims and
to the most unfounded statements as
to their being the pioneers in this
country of religious liberty, when, as
a matter of fact, religious liberty, as
we understand it, was utterly un.
known to the Pilgrims and to their
successors for many year in New
England
Let us get this fact clear in our
minds: That the Pilgrim Fathers, fine
and noble as we all admit them to be,
had the faults and failings of their
century. They are not to be blamed
for this and no more than we shall be
blamed in the years to come for be-
lieving and thinking and doing as the
world believes and thinks and does
now. The Pilgrims came here seeking
for freedom to worship as they want
ed to worship, untroubled by the off,
Gals of the State Church Of England,
but as for allowing any other body Of
Christians to worship as THEY de.
sired, there was no such thought in
the mind of any Pilgrim no matter
how noble.
So, then, when the good people who
are talking and writing lot about
the Pilgrims this year, begin to claim
for the Pilgrims the introduction into
America of religious freedom, the only
thing for citizens who love the truth
Is to challenge such statement.
And here is another fact to get into
the mind: The Pilgrims had to leave
England. They were not sent over
here by a philanthropic nation which
had in mind the civilization and Chris.
tianization of the New World. The
introduction of the blessings of civil
freedom was about the last thing they
thought about. Civil freedom existed
in the world long before the Pilgrims
sighted New England. The Compact
which they signed on the Mayflower
and which is now played up as sort
of second Magma Charta, and as being
the document from which the Declare.
ton Of Independence and the Consti
tuition emanated, was and is a very
worthy and interesting agreement;
but it was framed for themselves and
had no reference to mankind at large
Due reverence and honor to the Pill.
grims should not go so far as to make
us believe that they were the found
ers OF America as it stands today
Every race played its part in this
great development. Why cheat the
French, the Spaniards, the Portuguese
the Swedes and the Germans and all
the other peoples out of what their
fathers accomplished here in the early
days? Long before the Pilgrims land
ed at Plymouth, Spaniards on the Pa
cific Coast had already braved the
hardships of the desert, the noun
tains and the wilderness in order to
bring the light of civilization and re
ligion to the Indians of that part OF
the American continent.
Let us not forget this. The Pilgrims
were but a part. They were not the
be-all and the end-all of American life
And let us not forget also that they
were not sent hither as a benevoleni
scheme on the part of Great Britain
to benefit America. They were out Of
step with English ideas and were
driven forth. Let us cut out all this
silly sentimentality and try to SEE
America not as some would wish it tc
be, but as it is.