The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1959-05-08
In Cincinnati:
BY JAMES IA. SHEA

elderly lady sitting near
me in the last row of
Ninth Street Baptist
Church, would you mind
telling me what paper
you're WITH"
"oh, dear" she said upon
learning l represented q ma
tionaI Catholic news service.
She gave me an embarrassed,
not v~nfriendIy smile.
Like the rest of the approx
mately 500 men and women at
tending the meeting sponsored
by POAU Protestants and
Other Americans United for
Separation of Church and
State), she had listened in
respectful silence to a 45-min-
ute attack on the Catholic
Church by DR.. Roy L. Laurin,
Baptist minister and head of
the Los Angeles POAU chap
ter.
Tall, dignified, urbsne, and
srfieuIafe, DR.. Laurin drew
gasps Of surprise and alarm
from his attentive audience
with references TO Roman
ISM" power conspiracy" and
raids on the public treasury"
To the respectable looking
solid citizens who turned out
to hear him and to fill the
collection plates with gener-
GUS contributions Ca woman in
front of me rolled up two five
dollar bills as, her offering),
he apparently was persuasive.
After the meeting I heard one
man murmur to another: IF
a Catholic gets in there the
presidency, we're sunk"
When | asked Or. Lsvrin
after the meeting If he would
clear up some misconceptions,
he gave me . stony look.
"RidicuIous!" he said. ~
know what ! know. The qves.
fion is closed" He turned
away and fiddIed with his
brief case.
Two lighted candles thanked
the open Bible in the center Of
the sanctuary of the modern
church. Above and behind the
sanctuary was an illuminated
stained glass window showing
Christ praying at Gethsemane.
From the pulpit came the
words of DR.. Laurin: "Reli-
gious freedom is the greatest
of all freedoms. Deny this, and
and you shackle the mind.
When this freedom is gone,
every other freedom goes"
But fhis freedom does not
belong to the Catholic Church,
Or. Lavrin went on to explain.
because the Church Is really
"a power conspiracy operating
behind fhe facade Of . spiri.
tUsl faith TO achieve certain
political aims"
DR.. Laurin fastened to as
sure his listeners that he was
not referring to the pastor Of
the parish church on the cor
ner, nor to the Zine Roman
Catholic family that lives
next door to you"
His shafts were intended,
he said, for "ths hierarchy"
which he described ss IAN in.
transisenf. immobils, mono
iithie system that pIvnges for
ward steadily"
As DR.. Laurin's address
plunged forward, however, it
became quite clear that it
would be down right foolhardy
to vote for any member of
that "fine family next door,
even for dogcatcher, since it
would simply advance the
"power conspiracy" OF "Ro-
manism," which already Is
making immense raids on the
public treasury"
A Roman Catholic presi-
dent, according to DR.. Laurin,
would be "a threat and a peril
to religious freedom"
He offered some questions
that 1--WE have a right to ask
anyone who would be a candi-
date under the banner OF
Rome. "Some of the questions
were:
Would no give his first o.
Iiesianes 10 Washington or n
Rome?
Would he bs guided by Con
ssitvtionaI law or by Canon
law2
Would he b. partial TO The
Roman Catholic Church or b
impartial TO oil ehvrehss7
Would he exert his infIv
snee 10 oppose union .,
church end state or would HI
follow The Roman csihoIi,
practice Of seeking The dss
frvction Of ihs principles o
separation Of church en-
sfste7"
At the some time, DR.. Lau
rim also made 1t clear that
Catholic candidate could no
possibly pass the test Of sucl
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