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Show Clergy and the VVorkingman. Mitchell, ihe labor leader, knows the priests of the Catholic church sufficiently, well to pass upon their attitude toward the laborer in a way that entitles en-titles his words to respect. He writes: "With reference ref-erence to the sympathy of the Catholic clergy, you must bear in mind that over U0 per cent of ihe miners art Catholics, penetrated with a traditional fealty to the Church that is as chivalrously tender as the love which a son gives a devoted mother. This could not be unless the priest was an im- " portant factor in the life of the people. That he is, is unquestioned. Out of this large sentiment of helpfulness and spiritual guidance there issues a sympathy on the part of the Catholic clergy for the aspirations and the struggles for wider oppor tunities which have been the essential proposals of the labor movement. I have known only two priests in- my whole experience who were not friendly to the miners iu their, battle for better conditions. And these men were not representative of the type that spells widened influence for the Catholic conception con-ception of life. The priest knows the workingman. He does not look at him from the quiet, carpeted seclusion of a study where he browses over academic and anaemic discourses on the condition of labor. His sympathy is a wellspring of living waters. It is prompted by intimate contact. It is not a sterile devotion to an unreal workingman conjured up by the weaving of many phrases." : 4 |
