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Show CONGREGATIONAL MINISTER PRAISES CATHOLIC CHURCH Rev. T. B. Thompson Gives Credit Where Credit Is Due Does Not Like Sectarian Sectar-ian Bias. "When Protestant ministers speak of the Roman Ro-man Catholic church it is perforce to speak in condemnation con-demnation of her. I propose to assume the uuprot-estant-likc attitude of saying-some things in this way of respect and veneration of her wonderful ministry to the centuries of human life. There are undoubtedly some facts about this church that we as Protestants cannot commend. But in all "fairness "fair-ness it must be admitted that popular ignorance, superficial knowledge, and malicious slander have misrepresented her teachings in many instances. "To contemplate her history js...to admire. Reformations, Ref-ormations, wars, empires and kingdoms have been arrayed against her. After all these centuries she. stands so strong and so firmly rooted in the lives of millions that she commands our highest respect. As an institution she is the most splendid the world has ever seen. Governments have arisen and gone to the grave of the nations since her advent. Peoples Peo-ples of every tongue have worshiped at Tier altars. "The Roman Catholic church has stood solid forH law and order. Her police power in controlling millions mil-lions untouched by the denominations has been great. When she speaks, legislators, statesmen, politicians and governments stop to listen, often to obey. - "In the realm of worship her ministry has been of the highest. In employing beads, statues, pictures pic-tures and music, she has 'made a wise and intelligent intelli-gent use of symbolism. Her use of the best of music and painting has been the greatest single inspiration to those arts, and her cathedrals are the shrines of all pilgrims. "The love and venegation of the Virgin JIary plays an important part in the ritual of the church. 1- find no difficulty in appreciating the attitude of the Catholic worshiper toward the mother of Jesus. Je-sus. Jesus is the love of God made manifest. But Christ himself has often been made so austere and so unapproachable that a mediator between him and mdn has become an insistent necessity. What is more natural than to worship him through the gra- ' cious influence of the father? If I felt myself com-, pelled to worship the Jesus of some creeds, I should feel that the only way of nearness to him would be through some mediatorship, of Mary or of some saint. j "Aside from this, one cannot help but feel that ! the enthronement of tle Virgin Mary has softened the heart of the world toward womanhood ; that it has done much' to give woman the place of honor ( she occupies today; that it has put the whole Catholic Cath-olic church behind the sanctity of the home. Ii the respect given to Mary, the Roman church has paid the world's finest and most delicate compliment to the grace, sweetness and beauty of' motherhood. "Nor do I discover any difficulty in understanding understand-ing the basis of the confessional.' The confessional appears everywhere in life. The erring child confesses con-fesses to its mother, the patient confesses to his physician, the accused confesses to his lawyer, the penitent confesses to his priest. It is most natural nat-ural for the penitent, burdened, doubting soul, to confide in his spiritual leader. ., " "Protestantism Jias wasted much of its force in a forced revivalism, which would have been unnecessary unnec-essary had we paid wise attention to religious education. edu-cation. We may rail against the parochial school system as being un-American. But the Roman church existed before there was a United States, and for many of these centuries she was the great agency of enlightenment, education and culture. The parochial school is the mot serious and successful suc-cessful attempt to hold people for the religious life. Our country has a magnificent system of public schools. She will teach the children history, science, sci-ence, art, languages; but they will not let the world's greatest literature be taught under heir guidance, nor vill they help to develop the noblest capacity of the human soul, the capacity for God. This task is assigned to the church. So be it, and let the church choose that method which in her wisdom seems the best. " ) "And so we stand in the presence of her history, her majestic worship, her universal ministry, and we confess that God must have moved mightily in all this. We think of her Loyolas, her Xaviers, her Fenelons, and her Marquettes; we look at her hospitals, hos-pitals, orphanages, schools, colleges, monasteries,, missions and we see a church ministering to the body, mind and soul of humanity. Her weakness is the common lot of every Jbuman organization'; her strength is of God." |