The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1958-11-21

nous society, one whose con-
stitution is altogether indie
pendent of the state. If the
Church were not allowed to
teach she would be bereft of
one of her basic functions.
she would be condemned, as
under communist totalitarian-
ism today, to a twilight exist
ence, and, by every human
augury, to gradual extinction.
The right of the church to ex-
list implies and demands her
full competence to teach.
Now it is certainly true that
faith alone, a supernatural
gift, enables the individual
soul to acknowledge and ac-
cept the Church as the au-
thentic herald of Gods revela-
ton to mankind. This is emf
nently a judgment and a de-
cision based upon the creden-
tials of the divinity of her
Founder and the indefectibili-
ty of His word. Faith is that
mysterious union of human
freedom and the grace of God
which results in the highest
act of the mind: Credo, l be-
lieve.
But it is also true that in
the natural order the Church's
right to exist and to teach has
its roots in mans freedom, an
essential attribute of his ma
ture, the sanctity and inviola-
bility of which has long been
recognized as a fundamental
of western civilization. If man
is truly free, he is free to ac-
cept the revelation of our
Lord and to embrace the So
ciety He established. II is this
freedom, essentially, which is
attacked and denied by mod
ern secularism.
RIGHTS GUARANTEED
Can it be said that our coun-
try is historically committed
to the s%ecularist view of mans
nature and human society? To
the contrary, our American
founders, throwing off the
bonds of tyranny, postulated
as a right for themselves and
their posterity, life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.
BY the very terms of our Con-
stitution, particularly as. ex-
pressed in the first and ninth
Amendments those rights are
guaranteed not only to citi-
zens as individuals, but also
to the associations and the re-
ligious societies to which they
belong.
But life for the Church is
dependent upon her freedom
to teach; liberty for her must
be broad enough to encompass
her unfettered competence to
proclaim the truth of her mis-
sion: and happiness, which
for her is the fulfillment of
Gods will to redeem man.
kind, is no more than a mock
cry unless she is free to work
for that end. II is an enduring
tribute to the wisdom of the
men who framed American
freedom that they placed no
hindrance in the way of the
Church as teacher. Fidelity to
their restraint is a proof of
our national greatness.
The sanctity of the right of
the Church to teach involves
all other rights asserted for
individuals and institutions.
For this there is the uniform
testimony of history. Under
whatever form of tyranny,
from Caesarism to Sovietism,
the subversion of human free
dom has almost invariably be-
gun with the restriction or de-
NAL of the right of the Church
to teach. The record extends
from the imperialism of Rome
to our contemporary exam
Piles of state socialism with
wearisome repetition. o e
the Church has been muzzled
then other freedoms fall
ready prey to those powers
which would darken the mind
and control the will of man.
The irony, indeed, of many of
the modern regimes which
have passed as liberal Is that
thew have yitiated their claim.