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Show , , t- FRENCH CATH0L0CITY. The .anti-Papal attitude in the French chamber of deputies when Premier Combes announced the protest from the Vatican against the action of the French -president was made manifest by the large vote of 427 out of .r22 given in favor of. the minister. This strong backing did not enthuse Premier Combes, who opposed all questions of entire en-tire separation of Church and State. Whilst, '.the measure recalling the French ambassador to the- Vatican was overwhelmingly sustained, the strange part, at least to-'outsiders, was that when a proposal to abolish the Concordat was made it was rejected . by a still greater majority 507 to IS of these sainq deputies. Had the government withdrawn its patronage from the. clergy they would be free, and could be no longer expected to do' police work for the government. This freedom free-dom would give the Church an open field and fair play. That is all she needs to insure victor'. Unfortunately Un-fortunately French Catholics faihxl to respond to the call of -the late Supreme Pontiff to unite and vote only for such men. as would defend the rights of Catholics, especially, in regard to education. Disloyalty to the Holy. See and a crouching, cringing cring-ing attitude Mo the State has been, jrfnee the day of Philip the Fair, the attitude of French Catholics. Cath-olics. The French government is, and has been for the last hundred years, more Voltarian than Christian, more infidel than Catholic. The young, active intelligence, and the rulers of France today, to-day, are exclusively anti-Papal and anti-Christian. These w'ere all born of Catholic parents, educated from infancy in Catholic schools, but as they reach maturity, and their reason begins to unfold, their religious views are changed, they lose all affection for the Church and become her sworn enemies. Wrhat is the cause? Or are the Frencfh bishops and clergy disturbed over the situation ? . It is easy to, ascribe the cause to Satan, and say that Christ predicted that "the world would hate his followers." But France, a Catholic nation, does not come "within the category of "wonder not if the world fyate you." Those who hate and suppress sup-press religious communities are their own product. This fact is undeniable, and the answer to the question : ' WThy are the French people so hostile to the Church and opposed to the very seats of learning where they and their forefathers for a thousand years have been educated? has not yet been answered. The French bishops have protested, pro-tested, but their formal protest was riot heeded. Does the government wish the separation of Church and State? 'The action of the deputies in sustaining the Concordat would lead' one to conclude con-clude the case is otherwise. There must be some cause for this persecution and hatred. Premier Combes knows that the French people endorse his actions, and the endorsement of a Catholic people must be backed by some reasonable motive. mo-tive. Have the teaching institutions been loyal to the Republic? If so, why do their graduates, who now distrust and persecute them, change the entire policy of the government in regard to education? edu-cation? These and many' other similar questions have bceen asked, but no satisfactory answer is given. Catholicity in France has had its tips and downs, the Church has had many setbacks, but the great majority of the people are Catholic. 11ns is shown by their numerous pilgrimages to shrines,, but they lack that true, vigorous, fresh faith which should unite them to the Chair of Peter, and, through Peter, to Christ. Real Catholic faith does not consist in mere outward display or ccremonyybut in l6yalty to the successors of Peter and. the, other apostles. In any country where this spirit s lacking, and the Church is run indc-pcDdehtly' indc-pcDdehtly' of.'tKos'e divinly. appointed to rule and : ' - - - - regulate and unite all the faithful with their Supreme Su-preme Pastor, disorder, and, as a necessary consequence, conse-quence, nothing but the outward forms of religion are manifested. In France there must have been a great defect in the ducation given to the youth. All of the present ministers have been educated in the Church and trained in Catholic schools. Many of them, we arc informed, showed great signs of pious feelings in their youth; nay, some were destined des-tined to become priests, and even received minor ordrs. Is not this sufficient proof that the educational educa-tional system in France in the past has been defective? de-fective? Had they beeen thoroughly indoctrinated in the principles of their religion, understood thu true sense and real meaning of the Little Catechism, Cate-chism, which probably they knew bv heart, they would not today be making war on the Church and the Vicar of Christ. The religious census of Paris, in 1872, showed, out of a population of 1,800,000. that 1,700,000 registered themselves at Catholics,, who, the year previous, participated in the great scandal of the commune and martyred their saintly archbishop. No doubt most of these communards were baptized in their infancy and were educated in French Catholic schools. But the ducation they received must have been sorely defective, when, instead in-stead of loving and revering their divinely appointed ap-pointed spiritual ruler, they, with hatred and mal- j ice, sacrificed his life in the guillotine. The child I should be taught that, individually, his chief con- j corn is the salvation ot ins own soul; also that, as a membor of society, he has social relations and duties to perform. The latter, which are the offspring off-spring of the former, are inseparable from his duties du-ties to God as a man, and on their faithful observance, observ-ance, to the best of his ability, depends his salvation. salva-tion. These are Catholic principles which should be instilled into youthful minds and their necessity deeply implanted in the heart. To attach the child to the Church, he must be taught to have an affectionate affec-tionate regard for its true representative. Divided allegiance leads many innocent souls away from the Church. If this has not been the real cause of the many troubles in France in the past and at present, pres-ent, Ave are at a loss to explain the real difficulties. diffi-culties. Religion, at present, has received a setback by the action of the French deputies, but it is by no means dead. Like in the past, a reactio is sure to set in. Another Lacordairc is sure to arise, who will make the youthful hearts of the future Frenchmen French-men palpitate with love and devotion to the successor suc-cessor of Peter. At present, God knows what is best, and, whilst His Providence permits what the Catholic world deplores, we may safely possess our souls in peace', and look upon the present state of affairs as a necessary adjunct to carry out the present illustrious Pontiff's motto, "to restore all things in Christ." A . '. |