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Show SOCIALISM OPPOSED TO CATHOLICISM Would found its Reign l'pon(a Denial of Spirit-uality Spirit-uality WduIfJ Annul the Influneace of the Church Latter !ust Csmbat ail Materialistic Tendencies. - The Pic-v. Dr. Kerby, in an able articl.- : published in the current number of tlir American Amer-ican Catholic Quarterly Keview, .-tart- out with .the frank adini-sion that a comparison , between Catholicity and Socialism is as difficult ;n the necessity of so doing is paramount. "'Ihe two systems of thought and policy." he says, "are i i - ,; posing forces for a contest, already well under way. and the world is not large enough for the su- ; premacy of both as they now stand.'' Det'endress though she be of the social order against the aggressive ag-gressive aspirations of Socialism militant, tlin Church stands alone in the arena, with the undisguised undis-guised antipathies of national and social organizations, organiza-tions, of modern education and science, tacitly tie- .'-sirous .'-sirous of her defeat. Alone, she invokes the Spirit; 1 of the Cross, the lesson of Calvary, as the onlv remedy which can withstand the encroachments of r that fell destroyer of ideals, the Socialist doctrinaire, doctrin-aire, with Atheism in his heart and Materialism ' in his mouth. An advocate simply of the material improvement of his fellow men and with a ili--avowal of authority, earthly or divine, the fundamental funda-mental basis of his creed, he enters the lists with an array on his side of every worldly influence ; that can appeal to the fleshly aspirations of man- ' ' kind. With him he has the bulk of the secular ,' press; the greater part of educationists; the ma- , jority of rescarchfui scientists and every political apostle of that baneful type of degeneration, modern mod-ern liberty, such as is exemplified, for instance, in the French Government of the day, for whom Liberty, Lib-erty, Equality and Fraternity are euphemisms for Intolerance, Prejudice and Oppression. Briniful'of enticements, be allures the poor of spirit and tho weak of faith with pledges, that promise the oppressed op-pressed the attainment of prosperity in the path ; that offers the least resistance to human weak- j nesses the path that knows no God but the flesh. It is hardly to be wondered at, then, that he gains J adherents by the million; that he is a mighty rival of the Church that works by, and with, the Spirit; that teaches her children that this life is but a preparation for an eternal one hereafter, that sorrow sor-row and suffering are the heritage of those who seek the everlasting. And yet, says Dr. Kerby: "Xot Socialism, but the age, favors Atheism, Ions-, ens the bonds of the family, challenges authority and teaches false economics. This philosophy phil-osophy is so close to the facts of life, so satisfying to one who looks at the present merely, and not at past or future, at individual or class and not at race; it is so soothing in the freedom from self- discipline which it promises that it is a real vital power to its believers' Modern evils, it is nor. ; hard to discern, spring from the paramountcy of Industrialism, the forcing to its furthest extreme of that supreme doctrine of selfishness the survival sur-vival of the fittest. The law of the modern in- j dustrial world is that weakness shall serve strength a law diametrically contrary to that of Christ's teaching, which is that strength shall serve weakness. weak-ness. In the pursuit of wealth and in its accumulation accumu-lation man is no longer a sentient being, but a machine, without heart or soul, working always and ! incessantly for the acquisition of that which is nowadays the principle of power and worldly aggrandizement, ag-grandizement, namely, money. Legislation, it is true, has attempted to improve the lot of the victims vic-tims of the Industrialist. To little avail, however, I and legislation iu all countries is forced to confess , I itself subsidiary to the aims and workings of the capitalist. Here the Socialist steps in with th revolutionary wand he claims to possess. He will. . . he declares, remodel the existing condition of things; he will establish equality, social as well as -industrial, by giving to the community the control of all capital. In his opinion not only legislative . bodies, but also the Church, is the slave of the capitalist. cap-italist. He will, therefore, raise his political structure struc-ture without reference to the word of God or to a j belief in Him. He will have no Church, which, to : ' - him, seems to embody the aristocratic principle ' ' j against which he is fighting tooth and nail. : I Dr. Kerby very justly finds that Industrialism I predominates the age and has given birth to So- cialism and its concomitant anti-Christian tendeu- : h cies, not because it was the natural evolution of ' f Industrialism to finally overcome the influence of the Church, but because "the Christian order and Christian forces are, greatly weakened' because man's susceptibility to Christianizing influences j , has not kept pace with his desire for material i ' j progress. In support of his contention the doc- i , tor adduces the following results of his experience ; and observation. He finds that '.'the spiritual senso J ! is becoming dull;" that men in their good actions, H or beneficent measures, are influenced by no con- . u siderations of a "soul"; that mind is recognized r everywhere to the total exclusion of emotions or j impulses arising from the soul. Again, he sees that the sense of sin is becoming dull: that conscience, ! only exists in remnant form; that there are no sins ! of omission, but of commission only, and that ) these are fewer. He finds in society an increasing j tendency to choose the line of least resistance: he . j sees that there is little regard for self-discipline, ; ; self-denial, penance: that indifference and neglect : , overwhelm us on all hands. The sense of per- j sonal responsibility he also finds a diminishing l quantity, individualism having developed wonder- j fully strong men. but produced many weak ones; ; that men throw the blame on "environment," cry- ; ing out that circumstances have shaped them. j Finally, he is conscious of a dulling of the sense ; of duty one social class believing in its own ! ritrhts and in the duties of the other classes. The j absenJe of these five spiritual senses, which are tha ! s I i ' realization of the foul's existence, in the world of today demount rates eleaily the fjoitiinatioii of materi;ilisl:e ton-denciep: ton-denciep: and nince the Churrh exists be-cnu.se be-cnu.se there is a soul, Phe cannot but condemn the present condition of things and urge drastic measures of reform, conceived on an obedivnc; -ta the five senses of that soul. "Here, shvs Doctor Kerby, finally, "Catholicity "Catholi-city enters judgment of Fcm ialifm. "Whatever error in doctrine, ignorance of fac t, fault in method, distortion of emphasis, malice in propaganda we may charge against Socialism, undeniably unde-niably it is in the main a protest against the supremacy of the industrial indus-trial order in life and an effort to equalize conditions of life for all men. Its essential tenet is" collective ownership owner-ship of capital a certain, unfailing means, it is claimed, of social salvation. salva-tion. We may take the most extreme and hopeful form of the proposition, such, fur instance, as the words of fid ward Everett Hale at the world's parliament of religions in ChioapK 'The twentieth century will give to every man according to his necessities." necessi-ties." Tt will receive from every man according to his opportunity,' or aC-i-opt the most generally adopted term socialization of capital and still, as It j stands historically, attractive as it is j in many ways. Catholicity mistrusts it deeply, and I think must do so. Catholicity Catho-licity represents a spiritual philosophy . -which is to' discipline and fhape life. Socialism in its least offensive form is philosophy based on life; and the two T'hilosophi'es are. here and now. to a preaf extent, exclusive. Socialism's philosophy certainly tends to eliminate the spiritual senses by diminishing emphasis, if not always by exclusion-Vhat exclusion-Vhat Catholicity regrets and con-"emti(t con-"emti(t as sn accident and an abuse in Ihe present order isi found in Socialism enthroned as a principle and sanctioned sanc-tioned as a law. Socialism comes with no sense of the soul's reality, no sense of sin. of discipline and penance, of individual in-dividual re.aponsibiliiy. Its analysis of social wrongs omits sin as a factor, its constructive reform contemplates no spiritual power, no reassert ion of the supremacy of God and the sanctity of His law. "Catholicity believes that man's hart is chiefly to blame for social vrongs: Sociab'sm blames our institutions, institu-tions, our environment. Catholicity looks on the social question as mainly one of sin. Socialism fee; no sin. sees only socia l quest ion. The Socialist takes advantage of class hate and appeals ap-peals to it. Catholicity would extinguish extingu-ish it bv the charity of God. Thus Socialism presents an analysis of social ouestions- which includes no clement of in: it proposes a plan of reform which makes no note of grace. Catholicity Catholi-city sees sin omnipresent, and the re-deendng re-deendng power of 'hrist intended to conq;ior it. She looks to conscience in her final hope conscience whose torch 1 lighted by the hand of God. but in Socialism she bears only of institutions to replace it, nd these built on an un-f un-f pi ritualized humanity. Catholicity looks for repentance in the heart, contrition con-trition on the lips and love in the' eves of all r'oforn. but she finds in Socialism Social-ism the heart unmoved to feel its guilt, lips sneaking only words of spiritual forcet fulness and eyes brilliant only with the hone of present conquest." The New York Freeman's Journal. |