Evening star., 1931-12-29
SOVIET TREATMENT
Of CATHOLICS HIT
Or. Walsh Scores Attacks on
Christian Church at
Minneapolis.
Hv4hn Associated Press

Blythe Associated Press.
MINNEAPOLIS, December 29.-Rev.
DR.. Edmund A. Walsh. vice president
OF Georgetown University, Washington,
D. c., today attacked the government
of Soviet Russia for its treatment of
the Roman Catholic Church before the
American Catholic Historical ASsocia-
ton.
He asserted that since the revolution
of 1917 it has confiscatad church prop
erty and imprisoned bishops, priests
and other church workers in defiance
of every law except its own, which Is
based on the theory that religion is
opium to the people"
Within the area now under Soviet
power the Roman Catholic Church in
1917 had 6l4 churches in operation,
58l chapels, $40 priests, Seminaries
and bishops, DR.. Walsh said Now,
he asserted, there are 1872 churches,
no chapelS, 10 seminaries, 10 priests
at liberty and 200 in prison, with 2
bishops at liberty and in prison.
200 Priests In Prison.
1.-TWO hundred priests languish in
priSon-the remainder of those for
nlerly in service have perished from
privation and starvation or have been
eXiled and executed" DR.. Walsh said,
explaining that he has been an eye
witness at trials in Russia involving
Catholic clergy.
THE Soviet government, by its de-
hberate choice" DR.. Walsh continued,
has transferred its belligerency to
every hearth and home and enlarged
q domestic policy into an international
menace which strikes at the very
foundation of Christian civilization
'fSOD1 nptIia1itiac
obscured by tourists returning from
Moscow and reporting they visited
churches and found religious services
being conducted as usual. Did the
visitor have an opportunity to inspect
SotovetSky Island or the cells or the
prison camps where so many are con-
fined under conditions Of actual
slavery?
Confident of Outcome.
What guarantee is given them the
ministers Of religion, whom the tourists
saw are at liberty now? They are dis
appearing daily. And the lay members
OF all churches who remain loyal to
their faith do so at peril of their lives,
liberties and happiness. Church laws
which have been set up are the essence
OF persecution.
"Serenely confident Of the outcome
OF this conflict between light and dark
ness, the church continues in prayer
and hope and suffering" DR.. Walsh
said. she has 19 centuries behind
her and all the future before her.
THE Roman Catholic Church will
not recoil, retreat nor compromise be-
fore the Soviet governments continued
invasion of the most sacred human
heritage"
DR.. James Francis Kenney Of Ot-
tawa, Ontario, was last night elected
president Of the American Catholic
Historical Association.
Other officers were: DR.. ConStatine
z. Mcguire, Washington, D. c., first
vice president; the Right Rev. Edward
j. McGorlick, Brooklyn, N. Y, second
vice president: the Rev. John Heating
Cartwright Washington, treasurer; DR..
Peter Gilday, secretary; the Rev.
George G.. Stratemeier, Catholic Uni
versity of America, Washington, D. c.,
assistant secretary, and Miss Josephine
Lyon, Catholic University of America,
archivist.
Members Of the Executive Council
are Rev. Robert Howard Lord, Boston,
Mass: DR.. Leo Francis Stock, Catholic
University Of America, Washington; DR..
Carlton J. H. Hayes, Columbia Uni
versity, New York; Rev. James M.
Reardon, Minneapolis, and Rev. Will
fred Parsons, New York.
Credited for U. S. Expansion.
One man, in the opinion of Prof
Julius w. Pratt of the University Of
Buffalo, deserves most of the credit for
the territorial expansion of the United
States.
That man, Prof Pratt said, was Capt.
A. L. Mahsn, naval officer, historian
and close friend of the late President
Roosevelt. The movement for expan-
sion, Pratt declared, was primarily one
of the intellectuals rather than the
business interests Of this country.
IF the new imperialism was eco
nomic," he said, there is no evidence
that it got its initial impulse from the
business world. 1t was only after the
victories in the Philippines and the
West Indies that business men awoke
to the apparent opportunities presented
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