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Show Questions and Answers Q. Can a Roman Catholic be president presi-dent of the United States? And if not, why not? - A. Theoretically, a Roman Catholic can be president of the United States; practically, under present, conditions, he cannot. So far as the constitution goes, a Catholic is as eligible as any other citizen. But men are not chosen to political office simply because they meet the requirements of the law. Many other factors are to be considered. consid-ered. In the case of Catholics, the matter of prejudice and powerful ignorance ig-norance against them cannot be overlooked. over-looked. The day will come when the Catholics will be numerous and strong enough to prevail over prejudice and ignorance. The opposition to them was great formerly in city and hi state politics. pol-itics. They have become m?.yors of cities and governors of states. Still, there are cities and states where a Catholic would not be considered for high political preferment. Catholics are found in corgress, in the house and the senate, and upon the supreme bench of the United States. Progress requires time, and prejudices die slowly. slow-ly. The people scattered over the vast extent of the United States are not lacking in prejudices of race, color and religion. You cannot reason away a prejudice, but you can become strong enough to control it. Q. Is there any American Saint? A. St. Rose of Lima, Peru. Then there are some who. though not born in America, .performed here their great works of sanctity, and so are very dear to the church in America. And then, too, there is a movement in progress at present that is looking' to the canonization canon-ization of a few other saintly souls of our country. j . Q. I have heard it stated that a Catholic girl, even a graduate of a normal school, finds it hard to secure a position as a school teacher in certain cer-tain portions of New England. Is this true? A. . In the month of : August, this present year, 1902, a graduate of a Massachusetts normal school made application ap-plication to a leading agency in Boston, Bos-ton, that suDnlies - teachers to towns and villages in various districts of New England. Almost the first question was: "Your religion?" "Catholic." She was then informed that iA hi3 list of places, the agent -had no place for her, that in all of these places a Protestant Prot-estant was required, that there were localities where a Catholic school teacher would not be tolerated. If her name were colorless, there might be a hope. . But the name was positive. About ten years ago, in a town some forty miles from Boston, a young lady, graduate of a Massachusetts state normal nor-mal school, was teaching for soma weeks. Observant eyes noticed her attendance at-tendance orl Sundays at the Catholic church. The removal of the teacher was demanded of the school committee. commit-tee. These gentlemen refused to honor the request, because they found the teacher in every way most competent. Then the parents took their children from the school, subjected the teacher to annoyance, and made living so wretched for her that she could not remain. Some years ago a man named Wheelwright left a fund to the city of Newburyport, Mass., for the establishment establish-ment of an industrial school. The city has not established the school, but sends the applicants to the Massachusetts Massachu-setts institute of technology at Boston, paying all expenses. A young man, native na-tive of Newburyport, wishing to study architecture, sought to enter the institute insti-tute of technology on the Wheelwright fund. His religion was Catholic. Mr. Wheelwright had debarred Catholics from the benefits of his gift. There is an "Old Folks' Home" . in Maiden, Mass., but no Catholic may enter. Business men in Boston, applying for help at mercantile agencies, are often asked if they have any unwillingness to take Catholics. Donohoe's. |
