OCR Text |
Show Food for Thought. Two facts, of late years, have greatly impressed Catholic public opinion in the United States: 1. Italian immigration and the indifference which the immigrants show toward the 'Church and religion; the failure of Italian priests to follow their people into the dangers of the new migration. These facts indicating something of the status of Christianity in Italy. 2. The spectacle presented by France, a countrywide country-wide nine-tenths of the people are at least nominal Catholics; the anti-clericalism of the French politics, poli-tics, the suppression of the religious orders and the constant friction between the Church and State. , All thinking American Catholics derive as a conclusion from these facts, that however short Church and State relations in the country may fall of the theocratic ideal, wc are at least better situated situ-ated so far as the Catholic spirit of the people and the Church are concerned, than are the Catholics in countries where the relations of Church and State approach more to the theocratic ideal. After all, practical results and actual working conditions are most important. And when it comes to the suggestion of any change in the status of Church and State relations in this country even in the matter of pubjic education wp' are very much inclined to prefer to bear the ills we have than to take on even in a limited degree, those conditions and points of friction which render matters mat-ters so unfortunate in France, and which' in-Italy give us a Catholicity such as exhibited in Italian immigration. Catholic Citizen, Milwaukee. |