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Show EVERY TUB ON ITS OWN BOTTOM. : , .; Between the Concordat of human origin and the ; Holy See of divine origin, no choice is left to him J who rules as the successor of. St. Peter. He must . and docs maintain the right io select the shepherds I of the faithful in France as elsewhere, despite coercion co-ercion in the name of the Concordat and rebellion of one of the bishops he of Laval. Recent events ' and"deelarations from the Leonine side of the Tiber 1 point to the conclusion that Pius is t-ired of the network net-work of- restrictions that Bonaparte's instrument' places about the Church, and .would regard the abolition abo-lition of the Concordat with equanimity. "Better to have no bishops than bad bishops' he is reported as saying one day last week. Suppose it does limit the number of bishops and priests. If we are to believe the current reports of religious indifference among the ncasantrv of France, there will be enough left "to' go around," as' we say in America. Perhaps if there were less of 'the Bourbon strain "among them, there would be a better showing of Catholics, at least practical Catholics. Cath-olics. Jacques and-Jean hate to part with their sous, but they would go far in the pockets of their blouses, before the cure should be denied his mutton mut-ton broth and garlic. Especially the good cure who baptized their children and prayed for soft rains on Rogation lay. The wisest of our aon:Catholic brethren exhibit much respect for the Holy Father as a conservative force and very little for the republic so unlike our own in dealing with liberty of conscience and worship. wor-ship. This is perceived on every hand, especially notable in the secular press. The progress of the Catholic church in this .republic, is an object lesson to our separated brethren, pointing out the fruits of zeal irrigated by tho apostolic spirit. They know' little of this Concordat so much talked about, and do not trouble themselves to study the delicate net- .work which Napoleon Boji'pari wove into it. ''Iheyi know there 3? no Concordat h(Jrcv,;jmd't'he'i'h,urcn' .seems to get along, very well without one. They arguo that if Bishop Scanlan nnd Father Kicly, for example, could live in a shack and cook their own victuals until God provided them means to hire a cook, a French bishop and priest ought not to complain com-plain because of the withdrawal of state aid. Our Protestant brethren are right. The principle of every tub standing on its own bottom should be applied to ecclesiastical as well as secular affairs. But what would be the effect of the abrogation of the Concordat? is asked by the timid Catholic and by those fearful of change. The Boston Republic answers : . The most fundamental change would be of a fiscal character the Church would be deprived of the revenues rev-enues which the state has hitherto given her. This will mean a revolution of far-reaching character but a revolution that will carry healing on its wings. The religious budget of the past year in France aggregated aggre-gated $8,500,000. Of course, this sum includes the salaries of administration of the officials in the religious re-ligious bureaus, expenses for repairs and maintenance mainte-nance of religious edifices. According to the statistics presented in the chamber of deputies, the apportionment apportion-ment of this sum, denominationally, was as follows: Catholics, $7,837,360; Protestants. $306,300; Hebrews, $31,106. To prudent Jean this seems a vast sum to devote to religious purposes, and he seeks some means by which it can be diverted into other channels. France is at the parting of the ways it is as modern as an automobile on one side, and on the other it is a complex leunai organization, paininny transtorm-ing transtorm-ing itself into one industrial and really democratic. The snapping of -the Concordat would be regarded merely as a prelude to a policy of secularization that would sever the conscience of France from Christianity Christian-ity and students of history may add, from progressive progres-sive civilization. The only direct beneficiary of the change, would be ,the Church which would become independent self-reliant and separated from the political po-litical maelstrom where peril lurks |