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Show I THE WAR ON THE 5 I CHURCH H FRANCE ; I Cardinal Richard's Earnest and Eloquent Letter of Protest to President Loubet. 1S 1(- -Xranflated for the Freeman's Journal ) J'o To the President ot the French Re- piih'i .-Pir: A profound and painful .-sum has been created throush-dUt throush-dUt a'l France by the decree which has 10 eloped 12n schools and by the minis- ! t-iiyi circular which has shut up 2,500 arldiiinal schools. - It duty to communicate to the i rtTi'ial head of the state the solicitude I ye fr1 on this orcasVn. on religious I tl-pll aS Patriot nr.inniic IL The nrsl- question which suggests n?etf is: What aie the 'motives which 1 jl3V called frr this sudden and violent 1 K,pisi:re? There has been no scandal, 3 j,,, disorder in these educational estab-l estab-l i;-ii!i;etits. which are under the direc-N direc-N "f teachers holding certificates as I ti,p hv requires. The only reason tl'vn-e I ,;,?! be advanced is that the instruction 1 " in. these schools is in keeping i vuh the principles of the Catholic 1 fcih; and that th teachers belong to I j litmus congregations. An additional I t-a "n is that the Freemasons openly I declare that every Christian idea shah j .liniinated from the education of th . j y.ning. I 1 his is a violent attack upon 0011- I s, i. nee directed against families s a 1 hi simp, it is our duty and our right to I- protest in the name of these families iicainst this sort of tyranny which is 1'ie most cruel of all tyrannies. It is m be noted that these attacks have 1-n systematically planned bv the anii-Chnstian sects. In 1SS6 a law'deal-insr law'deal-insr with s, hor.is eliminated religions ins! met ion from the school curriculum Four years later teachers who were ni. -rubers of religious congregations1 were excluded from the public schools I on tne grounds that these teachers hn-inc hn-inc ""atholics. taught things the state f could not permit teachers in its pay to J-ftP!" to. Families by way of reply to these lavs, established schools at the con' of many sacrifices frequentlv renewed Gveat crowds of children flocked into tnese schools. As a counter stroke to this continuous manifestation of the wishes of families, the Freemasons n.nted the law of association, which aims at making the establishment of iree schools impossible. The simultaneous simul-taneous closing of about 3.000 schools , has no other object in view than the I coins: away with religious instruction j m the free schools after it had been . excluded from the public schools After the statement of the seir.a..i . eb m facts, we deem it useless to stop tn d:scuss m detail the measures adoni-, adoni-, 7 he cloflinS of the schoools. After -10 declaration made by Premier Wal-flw-k-Rousfeau, a great number of the directors of these schools felt thev ' , e safe. Their sincerity cannot be y a.ied in question. The ministerial eir- f ( ular closing 2.r00 schools had not made I i's appearance, and. besides, a minis- I terial circular cannot'order the closing I o. educational establishments. If the I authorities desired to afford, we shall ; r nt say in a spirit of kindliness, but in ;, Jn a spirit of equity, to the teachers i who had not done so an opportunity i of. complying with legal formalities, tney could have manifested this desire by granting reasonable delays. The granting of such delays was rendered raore necessary by the fact that persons per-sons versed in -knowledge' of .the -laws snd of administrative regulations question the necessity and the legality of the formalities required of the teachers. teach-ers. The measures - adopted manifest ;;n evident desire to close the schools atter every means had been employed t brine- this nhra-t .- . . . . I These measures are the more regret-able regret-able because France needs an era of food feeling. You yourself, Mr. President, Presi-dent, have given expression to this view on more than one occasion. We " 1 1 share it. Xow, thre can be no har-imony har-imony of feeling-unless due regard be had for religious and civil liberty. The history of the past teaches this lesson. .1; the dawn of the century just closed France denjanded a cessation of the t.wanny which the anti-Christian sects had imposed upon her. Very instructive is the spectacle of the legislative Assemblies As-semblies studying in 1S02 the essentia 1 editions on which social ordr depends. de-pends. j The first cry, so to speak, that went j up from all parts of France was that religion was absolutely necessary. M Poitallis, a man of eminence, who was 1 entrusted with the task of presenting I to the legislative body the grave ques- tions involved in the restoration of so-j so-j cial order to the country, declared: The laws and morality will not suf- ; ;e. the law can only stay the up- : Ulted arm: religion rules the heart." I The conscience of the nation mani-lested mani-lested itself in a most unmistakable manner, especially in respect to the vital question of education. M. Por-talis Por-talis asserts that the voice of all good citizens was heard in the departmental assemblies proclaiming: "The time has come when theories must give way to -acts. There can be no ' instruction without education; there can be no education without morality and religion." reli-gion." Then, resiling the marvelous works accomplished by the Catholic church among us, M. Portalis adds: "Catholic piety has founded and sustained sus-tained our charitable institutions. What have we done? After the general gen-eral devastation, when we desired to re-establish our hospitals, we recalled those Christian virgins known as Sisters Sis-ters of Charity, who generously devote their lives to the service of distressed, suffering and infirm humanity." M. Portalis. summing up the situa- j tion. concludes that "France cannot deliberately abjure Christianity without effacing the monuments of her own glory. He then adds: "There is no religion better adapted to the prevailing prevail-ing conditions in-311 well governed countries, nor more suited to the political po-litical life of . all governments. It is not the religion of a people, but of man; it is not a national, but a worldwide, world-wide, religion." Pius VII came to us, and, through the Concordat, sealed the religious peace. France resumed her centuried national traditions, which had been swept away by the tempest of the revolution. revo-lution. Today Leo XIII comes to us in the same spirit of love for our fatherland. father-land. "We have omitted no effort," says Leo XIII, "to accomplish for France t he- ix-nr-l.- ...u:,.i. will secure for her incalculable advantages, advan-tages, not only in the religious, but likewise in the civil and political order." or-der." The French bishops share Leo XIII's desire to bring about harmony. Thus do we respond, Mr. President, to the wish you recently expressed in reference ref-erence to the subsidance of animosities and the union of our dearly beloved France. Respect for, religious and civil liberty will bind nvind to mind, and heart to heart. If France is attached to existing political institutions, and we unhesitatingly recognize that she is, she does not desire religious persecution. perse-cution. The Free Masons are unceasingly at work trying to create division by attacking at-tacking Christian institutions. As for us, Mr. President, we will continue, with God's aid. to fulfill the duty of a bishop of a French bishop. We will defend religious liberty; we will defend the liberty of the family ' in matters touching the education of children; we will defend all legitimate liberties to which, as citizens, we are entitled. We ask no privileges, but we demand that Catholics, shall not.be deprived of rights which they share in common with all French citizens. We are con-: vinced that In acting in this way, we shall be working for the general pacification. In closing this letter,-we express, as our venerable predecessor Cardinal Guilbert, beforexus expressed, the hope that France will never permit herself to ,be despoiled, of .the sacred beliefs .which were the source of her strength, and of her glory in the past, and which placed her in the first rank among nations.. na-tions.. I commend, Mr. President, these grave considerations to your wisdom, and beg of you to accept the expression of my most respectful consideration FRANCIS CARDINAL RICHARD, Archbishop of Paris. Paris, July 19, 1902. , |
