The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-01-24
POPULAR APOLOGE TICS.
ADAPTED FROM THE GERMAN OF
REV. PETER MIKES, S. j., BY
REV. JAMES WATCHER.
~. Bad Catholics - UNCONVENTIONAL
Balance,


objection: The Catholic Church is
no better than other churches; it. t
were how could there be no many
bad Catholics? Indeed, know many
Protestants who are better than some
Catholics.
Answer: /. If Catholic is good,
he is good because he lives accord
ing to his religion; if Protestant is
good, he is good because he is bet
ter than his religion, because in spite
of Luther's doctrine and example he
practices good works, and in spite OF
Luther and Calvin he holds ana be-
heves the freedom Of the will and
consequently mans responsibility, etc.
The doctrine OF Luther that good
works were not necessary, was, &C
cording to Harnack (Wesen des Chris.
tentums, p. 1901, the cause that from
the beginning of the German Ike
formed Church there was complaint OF
moral laXity and want Of earnestneSs
in sanctifying oneself
>. That besides the good there
would also De Udu tdLNolCo Nhi~ ot
had foretold when He compared His
Church to a field on which there
would grow besides the wheat also
weeds
Certainly, bad Catholics have q
greater responsibility, first, because
they abuse more graces, and second,
because by their bad example they
tarnish the fair name Of the Church
in the eyes of non-Catholics.
8. The UNCONVENTIONAL balance in
the matter of morality is, however
in favor of Catholics. One of the
most prominent Protestant statisti-
clans, Won Autingen, writes: III
seems evident that where Protestants
are in the majority more than where
Catholics are in the majority there
is a tendency to sexual eXtraVa,
gance." (Moralstatistik, p. $500.
The we'll known statistician, H. A
Krose, S. j., after careful investiga
ton, arrives at the same conclusion
I'VE can say that everywhere, where
there is a possibility to compare the
Protestant and Catholic population;
living under similar conditions, in re
gard to illegitimate births, that the
Protestant part is never better but
as rule much worse, so that the
claim Of the moral inferiority of Cath
olics, as far as illegitimate births arc
concerned, is without foundation
(Religion und Moralstatistik, p. 52).
His general verdict on the inf1u,
ence Of religion on morality he sum
up as follows: The investigation
has shown that the reproach of mora
inferiority, which is raised against
Catholics, is absolutely without foun
dation. We see indeed from the sta
tistics that also among Catholics
there is much vice, crime, and i'm
morality, but if we compare Catholic
groups of population with those OF
other faiths, especially with Protes
tant, the comparison is neVe
in disfavor of Catholics. This
is especially the case if we compare
Catholic and Protestant groups liv
ing in similar circumstances. In re
gard to illegitimate births, suicides
preference must always be given tC
Catholics. In criminal statistics We
cannot prove such an advantage III
favor of Catholics; on the contrary,
in the majority Of cases, as far as
observed, there is an advantage in IA
vor of Professionals Though compared
with their very unfavorable moral
statistics, trifling one) But since
such transgressions against the law
are mostly not brought to court, they
cannot be the correct norm of the
criminality Of a people. Not taking
into account the otherwise great hin
drance to comparisons, such official
criminal statistics can for this rea-
son not be taken as a ground for pass
ing judgment on the moral condition
of people.
The general result of our investiga-
ton must therefore be called an al
together favorable one for Catholics"
a. C. n. 92l