The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-08-11
Catholic Thought And Opinion
 pv DEW TAMEc CHI IVAN

We may watch now for cam
 paign to discredit religion. The
 Catholic religion, in particular, will
 be the target, but all Christian
 sects will be included. The cam
 paign will be carried on with in-
 creasing vigor and abandon. It will
 consist of the personal vilification of outstanding men and women ot
 religion; it will heap ridicule on all
 they may say or do; it will hold up to scorn the teachings of Christ. Fantastic you say? Watch.
 Remember back when it appeared
 that the Germans might win the war? Remember when the Allies were snatching at every crumb of consolation that, fell their way? What stirring headlines the Ger man Bishops at Fulda got in return for their outspoken attacks on Nazl racism. How the press acclaimed their bravery = and it was bravery! Spoke "Rudely"
 Last week the staid New York Times carried, of all things, a little playlet in its news columns. Stage setting, directions and conversation were complete. The villain was some Catholic clergyman, apparently a secretary to a Bishop. We saw him hemming and having, and hiding his head for shame. And shaken under his nose was a quotation from a letter of the Bishops in which they tried to hold out some conso- lation to the German people. More over (and this is the punch hne) these same Bishops spoke rudely of Bolshevism!
 Remember Pastor Niemoeller? The words of this staunch Lutheran were heralded on all sides as the stirring example of 8 man who dared to stand up for what his con- science told him was right. We re- leased Pastor Niemoeller from Hit ler's concentration camp, and im- mediately detained him. He is being held because he could no more con- promise his nationality before the world than he could compromise his religion.
 FaIsity Admitted
 Did you read about the Catholic Sisters who were running a medical experimental station for Hitler, and murdering of humans? You prob- ably did, and were properly horri- fled. You didn't read the correction of that story which admitted it was all 8 fabrication. But that's not what counts. The truth is not, ap- parently, the important thing. Its the success of the campaign that counts.
 And so the air-wave raiders are back over Europe with new targets in their sights. Risking their all over the microphone. as they did so dauntlessly all during the war, they will try to 'blitz' religion of the map. These phony hawkers of pa- triotism. who are willing to give their Hfe's breath Cat so much a over the radio) are charg- ing in for the kill.
 Why such campaign, you may say? Whats the point to it? Well, the idea is to turn the victory of the Allies into victory over re- ligion. God wiling say the Des- troyers, with a smile, we shall des- troy Him.
 Now this campaign is not an- nounced over the air-waves, or in the daily press. We just get the | playlets there, and the horror stories | about the murderous sisters, and the | treachery of the Pastor Niemoellers. But pick up one of the fake intel actual quarterlies and you get the ow-down. Now is the time, they tell | IS, to sweep away all the clap-trap md clutter of morals and religion. Now is the time to tear out all the and fear from the hearts of men. Now is the time to land ourselves over to the Destroy ITS. For there is no more appropri- Ite name for the vicious gang who Ire quite ready and willing to take ,ver.'
 They know that the time is as acceptable as 1t Is ever likely to be gain. They know that the tradi- ional philosophy of Christianity is weak and mute in the face of what las happened. They know that the ,atholic Church alone Is the only ulwark against the spread of gorldliness. They know that the norai code of Christianity has been oftened up by the beating 1t has eceived for the last century. They re shrewd enough to see the fomise of triumph when 6 city llch as Waterbury shows a sccord { over two hundred diyoEees since