Evening star., 1949-02-02
Catholic Union With State.

To the Editor of The Star:
1t seems to me to be proper that readers of
The Star, both Romanist and Protestant
should recognize that when Msgr. Spence and
the attorney, Mr. Collins, state that the Roman
Church does not wish separation of church
and state, they are merely expressing private
opinions. Further, they should admit that
they state opinions contrary to the official DO
sition OF the Roman Church If they will pub
Icly state that they repudiate the encvclical
letter OF Pope Leo XIII, Immortale Del and
the official explanation of the encyclical bv
Msgr. Ryan, commentary published over the
Official signature of Cardinal Spelman and
the president Of Catholic University, then we
Will know whether they want American citizens
to take their talk seriously
Between the devotion of good Roman Catho-
lies to the cause of the United States and the
official position Of the Roman state there is
a great gulf fixed. One can believe Mr.. Collins
when he says that he doesn't think his church
wants to change the traditional position of
church and state in this country. Most Roman
Catholics would think so, too. But his church
does not hold his position, and it is time that
the rank and file of Romanist citizens recognize
the jeopardy in which their liberty stands.
Reference to the official statement of the
church, found in Catholic Principles of Poll
TICS" published by the National Catholic We'll
fare Conference, with the authority and con-
sent of Cardinal Spellman, gives the official
position
Interpreting the encyclical, Immortale Del,
Cardinal Spellman approves this (page 3l3.
commenting on page 286): But Pope Leo goes
further. He declares that the state must not
only have care for religion but recognize the
true religion. This means the form of religion
professed by the Catholic Church" Gtalcs
theirs). Then quoting Pope Leo in another en-
cyclical, "Catholicity in the United States"
page 315: "Yet, though all this is true, it would
be very erroneous to draw the conclusion that
IN America is to be sought the type of the
most desirable status of the church" Further,
page 316, "All that is essentially comprised in
the union OF church and state can be thus for
mulated: The state should officially recognize
the Catholic religion as the religion of the
commonwealth, 1t should recognize and
sanction the laws of the church" Does state
recognition OF the Catholic religion necessarily
imply that no other religion should be toler-
ated? Much depends upon circumstances and
much depends upon what is meant by tolera-
ton" Should such persons be permitted to
practice their own form of worship? If these
are carried on within the family or in such an
inconspicuous manner as to be an occasion
neither of scandal nor Of perversion to the
faithful, they may be properly tolerated by the
state"
Page 800, Suppose the constitutional obstacle
to prescription of non-Catholics has been legiti-
mately removed and they themselves have
become numerically insignificant" that is, sup
pose the Catholics were to have the chance
numerically to be American citizens under
the same conditions that Protestants now
enjoy. Would the Catholics guarantee the free
doms that the Protestants now guarantee
them? Answer: 1T could not permit che Prot
estants) to carry on general propaganda nor
accord their organization certain privileges
that had formerly been extended to all religious
corporations, for example, exemption from
taxes" MORTON MELDRUM.