OCR Text |
Show Conversations of Father John, being accused by Wins- low of recommending Catholics to conform con-form to the spirit of the age, and thus favcring the "liberalism" which he himself condemns, launches off in a clear and concise statement of the I Catholic standpoint. lie- defines what is and what is not "liberalism." j CONVERSATION II. . I "I cannot understand Father John's 1 spite," remarked Winslow, "against Louis Yeuillot, the most intrepid de- i fender of : Catholicity in Europe.' I, should naturally suppose him a man after his own heart. He is a high- j toned papist, a bold and earnest ultra- montane, a fearless defender of those , very things in ecclesiastical histOFy 1 which timid Catholics seek to conceal 1 or to explain away a straightforward j journalist, who fixes his eye on the , right and pursues it steadily in spite of friend or foe." j "With Louis Yeuillot as a man, I have nothing to do," answered Father j John. "I owe him no spite and only ; wish him well. He is, as a Catholic ' journalist, a power, and a power for j evil as well as for good. His journal 1 has acquired an influence over the 1 I Catholic mind of France and elsewher?, that 1 believe injurious to the interests cf religion." "It seems to me. Father John," interposed inter-posed De Bonneville, "that if it were so, the French bishops and clergy, and especially the pope, would detect the fact, and caution the faithful against it Are you. likely to be better informed, to be sharper sighted, and more devoted de-voted to the interests of religion than they?" I "Your argumentum ad verecundiam," answered Father John, "admits no reply, re-ply, and if insisted on puts an end to I all discussion. The Univers is not a dogma of faith; it is not the holy see, nor an- integral institution of the church; and whether its policy is favorable favor-able or unfavorable to religion, I suppose sup-pose is an open question, on which I am free to express my honest opinions, without offending either the pope or the French bishops and clergy. To a great extent it leads the Catholic mind of Europe, Eu-rope, because it appeals to its fear of liberalism, its dread of socialism, and its traditional devotion to. absolute monarchy. It is on the winning side, and defends not a noble though a lost cause, but a triumphant despotism. It opposes, too, much that is really bad, really dangerous, both to society and the church, and so far really deserves the support of Catholics. But I do not like its spirit, which lacks breadth and discrimination. It is often able, and furnishes admirable essays on subjects of great importance; but it has a fanatical fanat-ical hatred of parliamentary government, govern-ment, and fails to be fair, honorable and just to its friends." "There is no doubt Jn my mind," interposed in-terposed Diefenbach, Mhat the Univers represents the popular' sentiment of the larger number of European Catholics. Catholics of Europe have suffered immensely im-mensely from revolutionists, and naturally nat-urally wedded to orden.and averse to all public agitation, they honestly conclude con-clude that the real interests of society and the church require them to rally around the government and strengthen the hands of power, -i In 184S the governments gov-ernments were too weak, and for the moment were obliged to yield to the mob. Order has been restored and peace maintained only by strengthening strengthen-ing the government and arraying ?t against the revolutionists." "Very true," replied Father John. "But the weakness of the governments in 1S48 arose precisely from the fact, that they had neglected to march with (the sentiment of their respectn-e nations, na-tions, and had failed to use their thirty years of peace to give the nations constitutions con-stitutions in harmony at once with the rights of the people and the stability of power. Their present policy is to render their power more absolute, and by more rigid measures'of repression to keep down all opposition. This policy may do in moments of actual rebellion, if it can be carried out, but it will not do for the governments of Europe to rely on it as their permanent policy. The system of repression will fail in the most critical moments, and no government govern-ment is stable that sustains itself only bv its army. The real and ever-growing public sentiment -of Europe is opposed op-posed to absolutism; and that sentiment you cannot change. Y'ou may suppress for a day. a month, a year, perhaps years, its expression; but it. exists, and is every day gathering strength, and at a moment when the governments least expect it, it will break out with resistless force, and fill the whole earth with terror. Certain that the-policy of repression cannot, in the long run, be a successful policy, I am opposed to those one-eyed and "short-sighted publicists pub-licists who would commit Catholicity to its keeping, and involve Catholic ! interests in its maintenance. The revolution revo-lution is not ended, and it is perfectly idle to dream of extinguishing it by j armed force. The Catholic should feel certain of this, and do his best to guard j against a new outbreak by removing the cause. Catholicity is not needed to j sustain Caesarism, and it cannot dp it effectually,- because between it and Caesarism there is an innate incompatibility, incom-patibility, and Catholics when they at- tempt to do it, do not and cannot carry ! with them the force of their religion, j They are as Samson shorn of his locks. i But it is needed by the liberals, be- j i cause an infidel republic, with or with- j I out monarchy, can never sustain itself j ! in Catholic Europe. It would lack the i essential element of order, and degen-i degen-i erato at once into de'magogie and anarchy. an-archy. The true policy of the Catholic who looks to the real interests of both religion and society, is to labor to detach de-tach liberty from its present unnatural alliance with infidelity, and the Catholic Catho-lic cause from its present forced alliance alli-ance with' Caesarism. so as to prove to the world that it is possible to maintain social order jvithout despotism, and liberty lib-erty without infidelity or rejection of the church. The liberals of Europe cannot can-not be brought back to the church so long as they suppose returning to her communion involves their submission to Caesarism, or political absolutism-except absolutism-except by a miracle of divine grace, which.no man. has a right to expect. Humanly speaking, the tiling is impossible." impos-sible." , "You would have Catholics join the opposition and get up a revolution then?" asked Winslow. , "By no means." replied Father John; "yet they might as consistently make common cause with the liberals as with the despots. I am no revolutionist, but I have great confidence in the power of Catholocity, though given solely in reference to spiritual good, to work out all needed social and political reforms, re-forms, when Catholics will take their cue from the Church instead of the secular order, and be Willing to apply the principles of their religion to the state and society. All I ask of my European brethren is not to sustain despotism, or to condemn . liberty or free government in the name of Catholicity; Cathol-icity; not to attack in season and out of season constitutional or representative representa-tive government: not to decry and do thir bPBt to rende" odious ""'v prom- I inent man among its friends, and finally, fin-ally, not to labor to form a public opin-j opin-j Ion favorable only to absolutism. To a fearful extent Catholocity has lost its hold on the population, even of j Catholic- countries, and Europe is, I was 1 about to say. more Voltarian than Catholic. What may be called public opinion it at least un-Catholic, and I nowhere is the Catholic cause the pop-, pop-, ular cause or that which kindles the i enthusiasm and calls forth the energetic ener-getic activity of the mass of the people. peo-ple. It never will be the popular cause so long as the more influential Catholics Cath-olics in Catholic countries exert them-i them-i selves only in behalf of authority. The reason why the European liberals are ; almost universally anti-Catholic is not to he set down exclusively to their : wickedeness and licentiousness. Cath-: Cath-: olics not Catholocity themselves are to some extent responsible for it. and might, without proving in any degree unfaithful to their religion or deficient 1 in true loyalty, do much to render them I less hostile to the Church. They have j some truth and justice or their side, or ; else they could not sustain themselves j as they do, though they certainly have, ; at the same time, great and most mis-i mis-i chievous errors.- Yet Catholics in their controversies with them and opposition , to them have not. it seems to me, been ! always disposed to concede them the truth and justice they really have, and have not shown themselves as ready to accept and defend their cause, so far as true and just, as they were bound in the sound policy and by their religion to have done. They have sometimes some-times denounced where they should have reasoned, and silenced their arguments argu-ments by authority instead of solid reasons. This has driven them farther than they originally intended, and provoked pro-voked a hostility towards Catholocity they did not in the beginning entertain. enter-tain. I respect and uphold legitimate authority with my whole heart and strength, but I have observed that holy popes and saintly prelates never bring forward their authority till the appeal ! to reason and conscience has failed. I am not willing to abandon all European Eu-ropean liberals to Satan, and to despair de-spair of all efforts to recall them, or at least the larger portion of them, to milder and juster feelings toward the Church. I would even stretch a point and go out of may way to convince con-vince them that Catholocity treats them with more forbearance than does a certain class of Catholic publicits, and that her sympathies are with the poor and oppressed and her predilections predilec-tions are for freedom." "But you seem to me. Father John." said De Bonneville, "to be merely advocating the movement commenced in France by La Mennais and which you are aware was condemned by Pope Gregory XVI." "I am not aware that I am advocating advo-cating anything the Church has condemned con-demned in La Mennais. Not all that La Mennais said was false, or all he proposed was wrong. His philosophy was unsound, and I do not hold it; he required the Church to place herself her-self on the side of the revolutionary party in opposition to the sovereigns, and raise, as it were, democracy to an article. of faith. I do no such thing. I ask neither the Church nor the people, peo-ple, Catholic or non-Catholic, to make war on the kings and emperors of Europe. Eu-rope. I do not ask her to break her concordats with the sovereigns and to cut herself loose from all connections with the state. I am not myself a democrat in the ordinary acceptation of the term, or opposed to monarchy where it is the legitimate order. There is no government in Europe which, in my judgment, its subjects. Catholic or non-Catholic, are not bound to obey, and defend if attacked by violence. The point with me is not thc're. I wish Catholics, as politicians and statesmen, I to accept the great principles of justice jus-tice and equity recognized by their religion, re-ligion, insisted on by the great doctors doc-tors of the Church, and labor in a legal le-gal and loyal way to restrict the temporal tem-poral authorities within their limits, and to recover for the nation the rights which monarchy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, during the great religious wars, usurped. Monarchy has concentrated in itself powers once held by the papacy, the nobility and the commons, and has thus become too strong for freedom, and I would -gradually, by the force of public sentiment, restore these . powers to the rightful owner. What I ask of Catholics everywhere every-where is to aid in the growth and efficiency ef-ficiency of this public sentiment: that they discriminate in the demands and theories of libera'. what is true, just and practicable. - -vl frankly accept It. and use their innu.nce in a loyal way to grain it a legal recognition and gur-anty. gur-anty. . "No one can have studied history and comprehend the present state of the world without perceiving that society so-ciety in Europe is undergoing, nay, since the epoch of Luther's rebellion, has been undergoing, a deep and radical radi-cal transformation. The old order of the middle ages has been demolished, and the absolute monarchy which succeeded suc-ceeded it and which maintains by its army only a fitful and even artificial existence, cannot endue, unless Europe is doomed to followed the example of the Asiatic world and lapse into a state of senii-barbarism. A radical social so-cial change Is taking place, which renders ren-ders the permanent and healthy existence ex-istence of the old order impracticable, if not undesirable. I say not that this change is a progress; f say not that it promises us anything better for the world than we before had; but I do say that it is too late to oppose it with permanent success, and by opposing it Catholics practically place themselves them-selves in the attitude, tinder a temporal tem-poral point of view, toward the new order springing up assumed by the old pagan world of Rome toward the new Christian world that was forming in its bosom, and will inevitably undergo under-go a defeat. What I ask is that Eu-pean Eu-pean Catholics take pains not to involve in-volve the interests of their relieion in the fate of that old and superannuated order, and prepare themselves to accent ac-cent the new state of things that is springing up and to turn it to the advantage ad-vantage of religion." "It seems to me," replied Winslow, "that Father John is recommending Catholics to compromise with the spirit of the world. The Church is immutable and immovable. It is for her to govern gov-ern the spirit of the world, not to succumb suc-cumb to it. or to be governed by it. She cannot change as the world changes, but must always be the same in all times and places. She represents the divine element in human society and is established to maintain the supremacy su-premacy of the divine law in human affairs. She can make no compromise with the world." "Very true," rejoined Father John, "but I am asking for no change in the church, in her dogmas, her morals, mor-als, her constitution, her policy or her mode of dealins- with individuals or nations. She is infallible and holy, and never errs in hr policy any more than in her dogmas. God forbid that I should 3?k of her any modification of her principles prin-ciples or policy, or any eomoromise to the spiri tof the age. I am not, in my remarks. ?pe? king-of the Church, nor even of Catholics under their spiritual relations. I- am sneaking of Catholics only under their temporal relations, of their conduct only in relation' to the secular order. Tn most Catholic states I find the.m wedded to what Is called in the language of the day "the party of the past," and losing their Catholicity in proportion as they approach the party of the future. You find them, if not affected more or less by unbelief, poring over the dead past, living on their traditions, exploring catacombs, deciphering half-obliterated inscriptions, inscrip-tions, and writing history, as if they had no sense of the present , no hope of the future. They seem to give up the present and the future to Caesar and the enemies of the Church, and to feel that the most glorious epoch of Catholocity has passed away. They are without influence in affairs. France, with her 3.",000.000 of nominal Catholics, is governed by the non-Catholic mind as much so as our own country, ln Naples the monarchical rather than than the Catholic mind governs. In Austria the emperor would seem to have a regard for Catholic interest, but the Austrian bureaucracy is Voltarian, and Catholics as such have very little lit-tle if any weight in the administration. administra-tion. So in all Catholic countries. The governing mind is non-Catholic. Even in Belgium, where the great majority are Catholic, the effective power is in the hands of the non-Catholic or anti-Catholic anti-Catholic minority. These are facts which are, no doubt, unpleasant to Catholic ears, but facts they are, and it is idle for us to seek to conceal them or to explain them away. The non-Catholic world know them better than we do and find in them their only effective argument against us. Count Cavour the elder is pious, said to be a good Catholic, but without talent, force or energy. His younger brother is prime minister of Sardinia an able statesman nut u sorry Catholic." (To Be Continued.) |