Evening star., 1960-10-19
Catholic Doctrine

c. Stanley Lowell's recent
letter, supporting his state
ments and those by Protes-
tants and Other Americans
United for Separation of
Church and State. regarding
the Catholic Church, con-
tains wholly inaccurate docu-
mentation.
To prove" his charge that
e.. the solid acceptance of
Hitler by Roman Catholics
=. enabled him to come to
power" Mr.. Lowell uses the
"concordat argument" i'm
plying that the Pope ap-
proves Of or is morally re-
sponsible for the actions per-
formed by q nation with
which q concordat haS been
signed.
What Is . concordat? "A
concordat is an agreement
or treaty between the Holy
See and q civil government
concerning rights of the
Church. These treaties
have been diplomatic at
tempts by the Holy See, to
safeguard the freedom of the
Church against infringement
by civil rulers" (The 1858
National Catholic Almanac.
p. 36D Actually, concordats
with totalitarian regimes have
been attempts to avoid re-
ligious conflicts with the
State. to give way wherever
possible, to remove the pre-
texts for prosecutions.
The agreement which Car
dinal Wyszynski signed with
Communist Poland in no way
substantiates Mr.. Lowell's
charges but rather empha-
sizes the terrible situations
In which the Church, for the
protection Of her people, has
found it necessary to nego-
tiate q halt to religious per-
secutions.
Mr.. Lowell further assumes
that whatever is distasteful
to Americans in Spain, Mex
leo or South America is to be
attributed to the influence of
the Catholic Church in these
countries.
Mr.. Lowell's Identification
Of the eminent Protestant
clergyman" who would rath-
er be =. in any country be-
hind the iron curtain than
in Spain" in no way supports
his allegations that existent
intolerances In Spain are
"the Roman Catholic ideal"
or that ProtestantS there "are
treated exactly as the Pope
likes to see them treated .
driven into the ghetto"
Mr.. Lowell should know
that most Of the matters of
which he disapproves in those
lands are also emphatically
diSapproved Of by most Cath
olics in the United States and
throughout the world and
that similar practices are not
found in other predominantly
Catholic countries, such as
Ireland, Belgium, and France.
Countries such as Spain
do restrict religious minori-
ties, but not because of any
must" in Catholic doctrine.
Catholics everywhere would
like to see every country
adopt the principles embodied
In the constitutions Of Fire
and of the United States.
In regard to Catholic sup
port of the public schools,
Mr.. Lowell and POAU know
full well that Catholics ac-
lively and faithfully support
the schools, serve on school
boards, vote for school bonds
and pay their school taxes.
More than half of our Catho-
lie children attend public
schools and thousands of
Catholics teach in the public
school systems.
The quotation attributed to
Father Blakely is an example
Of q favorite device of POAU,
namely, the presentation of
some statement made by a
priest as off1cial Church doc
trine. POAU never makes the
distinction between opinion
and doctrine. The statement
Of the priest regarding pub
lie schools is his own opinion.
: Catholics are able to distin-
guish such opinion from the
essentials of the Faith.
The fact that a publication
bears an imprimatur does
not mean that it Is "official,
authentic Catholic doctrine"
An imprimatur means that in