Evening star., 1945-11-27
Letters to The Star
Differs With Bishop Wesley on
Catholics of Argentina
TO the Editor of The Star

TO the Editor of The Star:
Bishop Wesley OF the Methodist juris-
diction OF Buenos Aires may be right in
saying, as he reputedly did to an Allan
ia reporter (Star, November %, pg. BID,
that the Argentine Catholic hieSarchy
works hand in glove with the Argen-
tine dictatorship" Yet looking at the
statement calmly, the informed layman
hardly knows what to make of it. 1t
is clear, think, that the bishop is no
partisan OF the present regime in Argen-
tina. and that he disapproves Of what
he considers to be the political activi-
ties of the Catholic Church. But even
admitting the truth of the bishops re-
marks, is there anything extraordinary
in them? Everybody knows that the
Argentine constitution of 1883 estab-
lished Catholicism as the state religion,
guaranteed to support it Gas 1t still does
to limited extent, and stipulated
that both the President and Vice Pres
ident Of the republic must be Roman
Catholics. Under the circumstances,
how can the church avoid a real con-.
nection with the government? Bishop
Wesley would probably welcome mani
festo on the part of the church con-
demning Senor Peron. She could con-
ceivably excommunicate him as Cath
olic, If valid reason existed. but she
cannot tell the government what to do
in purely political matters. The things
OF Caesar, after all, are Caesars, and
Bishop Wesley, through his blanket
condemnation Of the Argentine govern
ment, is guilty of the evil which he so
loudly proclaims, namely, the interfer-
ence OF the church in politics
The word Fascist" which the bishop
uses, is as overworked as democracy"
and even its propaganda value, to my
mind, has ceased. We continue to have
totalitarian regimes. but they exist I'M
der other names. 1t may be that Ar
gentina has such regime-I am in no
position to say-but the bishop will
nave to find some other word to de-
scribe 1t. Moreover, the inference that
the Catholic Church is in alliance with
fascist governments has been drawn
before, by the enemies of the church,
but surely no well-informed person
holds that view today. The attitude
not only Of the bishops OF Germany but
also OF the Holy See leave no doubt.
think, in that regard.
I am surprised that the bishop should
be opposed to the teaching of religion
IN the public schools of Argentina. II
religion is good enough to be taught
at all. 1t ought to find some place in
our schools, particularly in those of Ar
gentina, where the Catholic Church
enjoys peculiar juridical position. II
the bishop objects to the teaching of
the Catholic religion to nom Catholics,
he has valid objection, and agree
with him. But If he objects to the
teaching Of the Catholic religion to
Catholics, his objection is biased and
therefore untenable.
The bishop has been grossly misin-
formed If he believes that 80 per cent
OF the Argentine people ARE not church
members The recent Eucharistic
Congress in Buenos Aires must surely
have given him 4 very good idea of the
numerical strength OF the Catholic
Church. Contrary to what the bishop
says, Catholics are doing \ fine Job in
Argentina Of bringing evangelical
Christianity" to the people.
LATIN CATHOLIC