trc\iACv^ ^ Uov~f ~ Ca‘H\oiio Chv/V'c^— Catholic Church Never Persecuted Protestants / •. jf /. « 'MWi LON FRANCIS Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/catholicchurchneOOfran Catholic Church Never Persecuted Protestants Printed and distributed by Our Sunday Visitor Huntington, Indiana Nihil Obstat: VERY REV. MSGR. T. E. DILLON Censor Librorum Imprimatur: 4- JOHN FRANCIS NOLL, D.D. Bishop of Fort Wayne DsackfFffed Catholic Church Never Persecuted Protestants ‘The Blood Of Martyrs— The Seed Of Christians’ “THE words of the heading of this article are credited to Ter- tullian, of the second century, and they have been verified all through history. May it not be reasonably supposed, therefore, that in some future day the countries now behind the Iron Curtain will contain the most loyal Christians in the world? Poland—The martyrs and the blood have been chiefly Cath- olic. We have before us a report on the losses of Catholic diocesan priests in Poland, during the Nazi persecution. They numbered 1811, but in addition there were many others belonging to Re- ligious Orders. The report was published by a professor at the Warsaw University. He had made a thorough investigation in the 17 dioceses of Poland. In the year 1939, the report reads, “there were 10,017 diocesan priests in Poland. The Nazis murdered 1263 in concentration camps, and 548 on the spot.” The professor further observes: “The blood of the Polish priests, persecuted because they were both priests and Poles, flowed freely. In Polpin, immediately following the arrival of the invading forces, all members of the Cathedral Chapter and all professors of the Religious Seminary, as well as hundreds of other priests, were shot.” In the Concentration Camp at Dachau there were herded 1640 secular and regular priests from that country. The Hungarian “Research and Information Center,” in March, 1952—only a month ago—released statistics on the treatment of the clergy in countries behind the Iron Curtain of Russia. Under- stand the figures above relate to what the Nazis did. Lithuania—In Lithuania of the 2,000 Catholic priests living before the Hitler-Stalin Pact only 200 are now alive. All Lithu- anian Bishops were deported or imprisoned. 4 CATHOLIC CHURCH NEVER PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS East Poland—In East Poland the United Greek Catholic Church had 4,000,000 members, but all were forced to join the Bolshevized Pravoslav Church. Those who refused were deported to Siberia. All seven Greek Catholic Bishops died martyrs in the Soviet Union. Latvia—It might be said in passing that in Latvia, which was Lutheran, about 100 pastors have been jailed or murdered, and that Jewish Rabbis were deported from East Poland. Estonia—Also Lutheran was nearly destroyed by Commun- ists. Carpatho-Ukraine—As soon as Russia moved into Carpatho- Ukraine, a drive was begun to force all Greek Catholics connect- ed with Rome to join the Bolshevized Pravoslav Church. All churches and their properties were confiscated, priests arrested, schools, institutions and Catholic printing plants closed. In 1948, of the 345 Greek Catholic priests of the Carpatho- Ukraine 210 were detained in prisons or concentration camps. The fidelity of the clergy to Christ is proved by the fact that only one priest joined the Communized Orthodox Church. But all who re- sisted were deported to Siberia except the few who were able to escape. At this time 900 Catholic priests, monks and nuns are lan- guishing in prison in Poland; also some Bishops. But in Poland up to the present time the churches have not been confiscated, while all Catholic schools have been closed, and Communism is taught in the place of religion in state schools. Hungary— In Hungary 5,000 elementary and more than 120 high schools were confiscated from the Catholic and Protestant bodies, and all church property was appropriated. In that country, where there were formerly 400 Catholic periodicals printed and published, there are now only two, and they are under strict Communist control. About 1,000 priests have been imprisoned or put into concentration camps. Every- one knows what happened to Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary. In 1949, 67 religious orders were dissolved in Hungary and all the members either sent back to their homes or to concentra- tion camps. No religious books are permitted to circulate in Hungary, and Bishops who are not now in prison are under police sur- veillance. More recently a drive against the Jews and more par- ticularly the Zionists, has begun in Hungary. Czechoslovakia — In Czechoslovakia, the Archbishop of Prague was carried off to an unknown destination in 1950 and CATHOLIC CHURCH NEVER PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS 5 a number of other Bishops were confined to prison. Three hun- dred fifty priests and monks are in concentration camps and another 50 in jail. The Greek Catholics in Czechoslovakia have been forced to join the Orthodox Church. In this country also church schools and other religious properties have been confiscated. The Lutheran Church in this country has come under con- trol of two of its Bishops being subordinated to a Communist Bishop-General. East Germany—The Communist tactic in Czechoslovakia is being now applied in East Germany where under Communist domination there is a “Patriotic Priests’ Movement.” Sisters of Mercy have been sent to work in coal mines while the heads of Catholic and Lutheran Youth Organizations have been jailed. Roumania—In Roumania there were 13 Greek and Roman Catholic Bishops, but all have been deported from the country, or are now serving sentences ranging from 15 to 20 years in jail. All religious orders have been dissolved and most of the monks and nuns have been sent to forced labor. Those Orthodox Prelates who were unwilling to join the Moscow-controlled Orthodox Church were sent to prison. Alto- gether there are about 700 priests in jail, besides one Lutheran Bishop, one Armenian Bishop, the head of the Mohammedan Church, and several Rabbis. Bulgaria—In Bulgaria, where there were about a quarter of a million Greek Catholics and about 100,000 Roman Catholics, all were expected to join the Soviet-controlled Orthodox Church. All priests who did not submit were imprisoned. Whatever Metho- dist, Presbyterian, and Lutheran clergymen there were in the country were also jailed on the charge of “espionage activities.” Mohammedan priests were imprisoned as “Turkish spies.” Albania—In Albania, the Catholic Church has been prac- tically annihilated. Her clergy have been liquidated and their par- ishioners forced to join the Orthodox Church. There is only one left among the seven Bishops who governed the people of this country spiritually before 1945. Yugoslavia—In Yugoslavia, which is not Soviet-controlled, but which is as Communist—against the will of the people—as the other countries mentioned, there are five Bishoprics vacant. Three hundred seventy-eight Catholic priests and two Bishops have been sentenced to death or murdered. One hundred mona- steries and 600 convents have been closed. All church schools and theological seminaries have been confiscated. Of the 456 6 CATHOLIC CHURCH NEVER PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS Catholic papers and periodicals published in this country there is not one left. Red China—The picture is the same in Red China, North Korea and Communist-controlled Viet Nam—Bishops, priests, monks and nuns tortured or imprisoned or expelled; parishioners branded as reactionary and liquidated ; church property ap- propriated. Here Buddhists and Mohammedans are treated in a manner similar to that of Catholics and Protestants. As of January 19 of this year 51 Bishops, Archbishops and Apostolic Prefects were detained in prisons and 30 others ex- pelled from the country. In 1951 China expelled 1374 Catholic missionaries, including 583 priests, 60 lay brothers and 731 nuns. There were 21 Bishops in prison in China in January of this year. We might ask again “Who are the victims of persecution, and who are the persecutors?” There is no sympathy for the perse- cuted among the supporters of the POAU. Oh the contrary they are following the Communist line. The American who does not approve of the Communist attitude towards all religion cannot approve of the organized Protestant movement against the Cath- olic Church in the United States to which Protestantism owes so much—even its Bible, and its doctrines. CATHOLIC CHURCH NEVER PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS 7 Many ‘Pink’ Clergymen Among Church’s Enemies IN the year 1948 the House Committee on Un-American Activities issued a pamphlet in which it was observed: Having failed to destroy religion during the past thirty years in the Soviet Union, Communism is now trying to use religion from the inside. It issued another pamphlet entitled “100 Things You Should Know About Communism in Religion.” After observing that the Communist Party strength in the United States was in the neigh- borhood of 80,000, and, in great measure, “within the professional classes,” it listed “preachers” as one of the professional classes on which the Party depends for strength. It notes further that one of the activities of the Party membership was “to work their way into key positions in the churches.” Many persons among the organizers of a campaign of hatred against the Catholic Church have had records not only for anti- Catholicism, but for pro-Communism. Amj 'person with even a spark of true Christianity in his heart would be sympathetic towards those clergymen, of what- ever faith, who have been murdered or imprisoned, or tortured, or exiled in the countries behind the Iron Curtain, or presently in China; yet never have we heard that any of those who direct the anti-Catholic movement “Protestants and Other Americans United” have expressed any such sympathy. It is only during the last couple of years that Protestant churchmen generally have denounced Communism with any ve- hemence. Therefore one has every reason to believe that their change of face towards Communism is due to the fact that it has, since the end of World War II, become quite unpopular. Only recently a Presbyterian minister from Kansas wrote us that we had treated Blanshard too mildly. He says he has followed his activities and speeches for years; that, in the year 1928, he heard “Paul Blanshard deliver the ablest plea for Marxist So- cialistic thought I have every heard.” The forum was the Midwest Student Council at K.U. and the K.U. Y.M.C.A. ... I heard Blan- shard back in 1926 when he was preaching Pacifism, as well as Socialism; in 1928 I heard him three times: at a noon luncheon, under the auspices of the YMCA, he attacked General Chiang and 8 CATHOLIC CHURCH NEVER PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS praised the new order of Socialism evinced by General Mao and again that evening when he attacked the American form of gov- ernment and capitalism/' Practically all of Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam's books betray a strong Socialist slant. Poteat revealed his animus towards Catholicism during the Spanish Civil War, 16 years ago. One would suppose that an organization formed by Christian ministers would at least be somewhat Christian in its character, but the fact is that any one outspokingly anti-Catholic, whether he has any faith or not is invited to become an apostle for it. The present officers of this organization have seen conclusive proof that the Catholic Church does not try to control the public schools or seek full support for parochial schools; that the Cath- olic Hierarchy—whatever that means to these men—^has never once meddled in politics or advocated a union of Church and State in this country. But because they prefer to believe as they have believed, their minds are not amenable to correction. Do they not seriously violate a Commandment of God when they continue to circulate such slanders? Do they not offend against the very essence of Christ’s message of charity when they conduct a campaign of hatred? It is quite common for non-Catholic religious organizations to pick up renegades, or those who are actually put out of the Catholic Church—if they be clergymen—and receive them as clergymen in good standing in their respective denominations. The Catholic Church would never receive into the ranks of her clergy one who had an unsavory record as a Protestant min- ister. And, of course, the Catholic Church would never exploit these men to promote a defamation crusade. We doubt if a single American could recall ever having heard of a Catholic organization sending men or even one individual out over the country to attack and malign Protestantism in any of its forms. Hence persecution is one-sided. It has been wholesale on the part of those who charge the Catholic Church with persecuting. Under another heading we shall list for our readers—for their scrapbook, if they keep one—the number of Bishops, priests, nuns who, during the past few years, have been the victims of bitter persecution, while neither they nor the Catholic Church in their countries persecuted anybody. CATHOLIC CHURCH NEVER PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS 9 Our Record Infinitely Better Than Theirs Christ Was Accused Of Perverting His Nation \WE are reading much today about persecution. But enemies of the Catholic Church who are organized to persecute the Catholic religion are too blind to note that it is She, and not Pro- testantism, which is and has for centuries been the object of per- secution. Christ Himself foretold She would be persecuted in speaking to the Apostles just before He ascended into Heaven. He noted that His followers would be treated just as He Himself, innocence itself, was treated. (John 15:20). It can he said without fear of successful refutation that the Catholic Church has never 'persecuted Protestants. Ene- mies go far hack into histor'y to find three instances, namely, (1) the persecution under Queen Mary of England; (2) the persecution under the Spanish Inquisition; and (3) the Mass- acre in France on St. Bartholomew's Day. (1) Queen Mary did not persecute Protestants. She perse- cuted those apostate Catholics who had induced Henry Vlll and his successor, the nine year old boy Edward VI, to rob the people of England of their faith against their will, and who had enriched themselves by the spoliation of the art treasures contained in a thousand monasteries and churches. We can prove this by the testimony of a dozen Protestant historians of note. What Mary did to these robbers was nothing comparable to what Elizabeth, who actually completed the so-called Reformation in England, did. And Elizabeth persecuted as head of^ the Protestant church. The Spanish inquisition (2) The Spanish Inquisition did not persecute Protestants be- cause there were no Protestants in that day. It was the State, more than the Church, which wished to rid itself of those who created a great deal of trouble for it. The Jews, as religionists, were not subject to the Spanish In- quisition, but only as baptized Christians, known as Marranos. Jews who practiced their own religion were not molested. Jewish historians themselves agree that many Jews, of their own free will, embraced the Catholic faith, were baptized, followed Catholic prac- tices, but did not change their hearts towards Christianity. The 10 CATHOLIC CHURCH NEVER PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS B^nai B’rith Magazine (August, 1929) referred to them as those who “took Christianity on their lips, but kept Judaism in their hearts.” But why should even these have been disturbed? The answer is quite easy for one who knows anything about the Moorish prob- lem which Spain had for six centuries. Both they and the Jews had come from North Africa, and had conquered a number of cities in Spain. They were fought, therefore, as political enemies, rather than as religionists of any kind. This is acknowledged in the Jewish Encyclopedia (Vol. XI, p. U85): It remains a fact that the Jews, either directly or through their coreligionists in Africa, encouraged the Mohammedans to conquer Spain, and that they greeted them as deliverers. After the battle of Jarez (711) in which African Jews fought brave- ly under Kaula al-Yahudi, and in which the last Gothic King Rodigo and his nobles were slain, the conquerors Musa and Tarik were everywhere victorious. The conquered cities, Cor- dova, Malagra, Granada, Seville, and Toledo, were placed in charge of Jewish inhabitants, who had been armed by the Arabs. (3) The case of St. Bartholomew’s Massacre is unwarranted- ly misrepresented. Prejudiced historians of a minor rank have charged it to the Pope and have claimed that Pope Gregory XII had a Te Deum sung in Rome, and struck a medal in commemora- tion of it. The facts are, according to the very best historians, that the Church had absolutely nothing to do with that massacre, and the Te Deum which was sung, was sung in thanksgiving for escape from death of the King and the royal family. It must be remembered that means of communication at that time were very slow. There was no radio nor telegraph nor tele- phone, nor railroad, nor airplanes. The first word that the Pope received was that in an uprising against the King he escaped with his life. The Pope’s action was not different from that of any political sovereign today who might send a cable or wireless mess- age of congratulations to another civil ruler who escaped with his life after it was threatened by plotters. Catherine de Medicis was wholly to blame. She was hardly en- titled even to the name Catholic, for she was an agnostic of the school of Machiavelli. She had the ambition to govern France personally or through her sons, or to place the latter on the thrones of England, Spain and Portugal. She actually played Catholics against the Huguenot princes in order to gain her ends. Her real CATHOLIC CHURCH NEVER PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS 11 fight was with Coligny who, before the people, was becoming more popular than she was. Conflicting Stories That massacre happened so quickly that it is difficult for the historians to place the blame because on the very day of the mass- acre Charles IX wrote to his Ambassador in England that it was due to a faction fight between the Duke of Guise and the friends of Coligny, whom he blamed for having murdered his father. When the Duke of Guise resented the charge, the King wrote the follow- ing day that he would assume the responsibility for all that had happened, that he had striven to frustrate a conspiracy of Coligny and his followers to kill himself and all the royal family. But this second letter of the King was accepted by the rulers of the several countries of that day. Prejudiced historians charged French Bishops with having attended a meeting at which the massacre was planned. There is no evidence whatsoever for this. The Cardinal of Lorraine, of whom it is said that he blessed the daggers of the murderers, was actually in Rome when the Massacre occurred. Van Dycke, in his work “Catherine de Medicis” (Vol. II, 88), writes: “Upon Catherine de Medicis the chief responsibility for the deed must always rest ... No one who knows anything of her character through her letters, or who had carefully studied her tortuous state policy, could suspect for one moment that there was in her an3d:hing resembling religious fanaticism.’" Untrustworthy historians even claim that as many as 100,000 Huguenots were victims of the massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day, while the “Huguenot Martyrology,” published in 1581, lists 786. Brantome, in his “Memoirs,” observes that when the Pope learned the real facts, he shed bitter tears and denounced the massacre as “unlawful and forbidden by God.” But if people must go back into history 500 years in order to discover a case of Catholic persecution, they evince that they lack arguments to sustain their accusation as of today. The late President Cleveland said he had reason to be proud of the kind of enemies he had made. You know the kind of ene- mies Christ had. The Church’s opponents in this country are, in large part, enemies of Christ. 12 CATHOLIC CHURCH NEVER PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS How About Alleged Persecution Today? ^ANY uninformed persons ask, “How about the persecution of Protestants in Spain, Italy^ South America?'' The answer is that there has been no persecution in any of these countries either by the Church or by the State. There have been incidents in which individuals, unauthorized, attacked missionaries who were not teaching their Protestantism, but attacking the Church of 99% of the population. In other words, it was for preaching anti-Cath- olicism and not Protestantism, that even a small horde attacked missionaries. Jose Lopez, of Bogota, Colombia, South America, explains the alleged attacks on a Protestant church by boys, by noting that “Protestant ministers and the Protestant minority in this country, on many occasions in different places in this country" have at- tacked Catholic processions honoring the Blessed Virgin on one or more of her feasts. Lopez claims that he knows that he speaks for all Colombian Catholics when he observes that the latter deeply regret any “guer- rilla attacks by outlaw groups." He notes that “Catholics have been attacked as well as Protestants from the same sources." Then he would have Americans take into account the follow- ing eight points: 1 — Colombia has been more than 99% Catholic for four centuries. Its people resent proselytizing missioners who treat them as a backward, pagan land. 2 — Most Protestant proselytizing is aggressive and vigor- ously anti-Catholic, a direct attack on the Catholic re- ligion. 3 — Some Protestant pastors and their followers have been guilty of repeated attacks on Catholics. 4 — The Colombian Constitution establishes freedom of re- ligion “when this is not contrary to Christian spirit or in violation of the law." Protestant vilifications have been considered contrary to moral decency. 5 — Protestant missionaries driven out of other countries are concentrating their efforts on Latin America. 6 — Catholics have been blamed for some violence that is actually the work of Leftist revolutionaries. 7 — Protestants are known to have given help to opposition groups, even to guerrilla bands. g—Both government and Church authorities have at all CATHOLIC CHURCH NEVER PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS 13 times condemned any violence against Protestants, and Protestant ministers here have publicly recognized this fact. AdverHsing A Libel The National Association for Evangelicals sponsored an adver- tisement in a leading Washington, D.C., paper and possibly in other papers, which represented that the Bishop of Santa Rosa, Colombia, South America, has been persecuting Protestants and even order- ing their extermination. When interviewed on this subject, the Bishop charged that the paper which made that accusation was a political party organ and anti-Catholic. The fact is that a few months ago the Colombian Bishops is- sued an earnest appeal against violence towards non-Catholics. All that the Bishop of Santa Rosa did was to issue a pastoral letter outlining the history of Protestantism, and some of the errors to which it is committed, from the Catholic viewpoint. No fault is ever found over here when Protestant Bishops and hundreds of ministers speak to mass meetings on Reformation Day to denounce the Catholic Church and to give the Protestant version of the Reformation. In that pastoral letter it was noted: ''Some Protestant Evan- gelicals are inviting a religious struggle because they are, in fact, using money to buy converts among the poor and less instructed.” "That pastoral was written four years ago,” the Bishop stated, "and I have not written anything since either in circular or in pastoral letter.” The whole matter is political. For several years bitter strife has prevailed between religious groups and the Conservative Pow- er no win power, and the Liberal Party, or Opposition Party. This political rivalry has resulted in bloodshed and violence, and Pro- testant missionaries whose sympathies are with the Liberal Party have suffered much at the hands of the opposing party. The editorial, in which the "persecution” charge was made first appeared in the Bananquilla daily, El Nacional, a Liberal Party paper, which has frequently attacked the Colombia Hier- archy because its sympathies seemed to be with the Conservatives. The Liberal Party has been charged with secretly encourag- ing the hundreds of criminals who escaped from prisons during the Bogota Revolt in April, 1948, "the object being to create diffi- culties for the present government.” Only a few months ago the Colombian Bishops made a special 14 CATHOLIC CHURCH NEVER PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS appeal through the clergy to do what they can to “end such tragic events, and to work towards the re-establishment of harmony among the Colombian people.” Bishop Builes, in his interview said : “It is my duty and that of all the Colombian Bishops to defend the lives of our poor chil- dren, who are being crushed by the thousands under the blows of criminal bandits.” The government officials were also interviewed, and their answer was that the President of Colombia, in 1950, sent instruc- tion to all governors of Provinces charging them that “all Protest- ant ministers and their followers be given due protection in the exercise of their religious activities, and that all violators of their religious freedom be punished.” Robert W. Lazear, Executive Secretary of the Presbyterian Mission in Colombia, should know the truth, and he expressed his conviction in a letter to the Colombian Minister of Justice in which he wrote : “I am convinced that the present government is vigilant over the great freedom of democracy ... I believe very sincerely that the action of the government in the present case (referring to an ancient at Tolima) is proof of its democratic judgment.” What would be true of Colombia, South America, would also be true of Italy and Spain. Not even naughty boys would molest Protestant missionaries unless they were found attacking some devotion deeply cherished by the Catholic people. The Church itself would never molest them. CATHOLIC CHURCH NEVER PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS 15 Organized Persecution In U. S. Since Colonial Days IN the early life of this nation nine out of twelve colonies were formed for the one purpose of trying to protect their own brand of Protestantism from being persecuted by another brand. In the Catholic colony of Maryland there was no persecution. The Pilgrims and Puritans came to this country because, as dissenters, they were persecuted by the Protestant State-Church in England. Periodically from George Washington’s day enemies of the Catholic Church have actually organized to wage a persecu- tion against the Mother Church, and that is being done at this time more than at any other, in a day when they are gi\ing great encouragement to Stalin and his Communists, by dhiding the cit- izenry throughout our country. There has been no retaliation on the part of Catholics, but only exposure by a few papers, such as our own, in order that Americans might know the character of the persecutors, their un- Christian and un-American tactics. Such persons and groups were rebuked by Presidents Washington, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding and others. Protestant clergymen throughout the country are being fed with malicious falsehoods from the headquarters of an organized movement, emanating from Washington. The officers of this organization act on the theory that the end justifies any means, and they have, therefore, invited men who are completely lacking in religious faith, to spread venom over this country. Paul Blanshard has been exposed by us as one who is unquali- fied to talk on Democracy, because he was very active in fighting it some years back; unqualified to speak on the subject of Com- munism, because he voiced Communistic sympathy. Those who will read Dr. James O’Neill’s recent work entitled “Catholicism and American Freedom,” (Harpers, $3.50) written coolheadedly, will be convinced that Blanshard’s books are wholly untrustworthy. The next rally of “Protestants and Other Americans United,” the organized anti-Catholic movement to which we refer, will be held this month, and as further evidence of the dishonest methods to which it resorts, we should note that they have engaged Thomas Sugrue to be a principal speaker. Sugrue claims to be a Catholic, but from everything he has 16 CATHOLIC CHURCH NEVER PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS written in a work titled “A Catholic Speaks His Mind on Americans Religious Conflicts/’ he proves conclusively that he is not a Cath- olic except theoretically. A Catholic is one who believes that Christ actually established a Church, gave it authority to teach, and promised to be with it until the end of the world, to send His Holy Spirit to it, to keep it in truth. Sugrue may claim nominal connection with the Catholic Church, but he automatically put himself out of it when he denied its divine institution as a visible body, its divinely imposed mission. He could not even be an orthodox Protestant because he holds that all religious bodies are equally inadequate and unnecessary, because he says in effect that the sincere religious man must reject all de- nominations. He believes that the individual should be left alone by his Church, should not be forced to believe anything in particu- lar. If he were a true Catholic he would not take issue with Christ Who, in His last words to the Apostles, told them to “go, teach all nations” (Matt. 28:19) ; to preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). He criticizes the condemnation of “Modernism” by the late Pope Pius X as tantamount to “heading the Church back towards the Middle Ages.” It was not “Modernism” in the sense of modern inventions or progress that the Pope denounced, but that spirit which called practically every revealed doctrine into question. If a Catholic is expected to keep the Ten Commandments, evi- dently the Church must be with God in her effort to enforce them. It was God Who said : “Thou shalt not kill ; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness.” It was He, therefore. Who does not leave the individual alone. He made the acquisition of salvation dependent on the observance of His Commandments. There Is A Diyine Plan Christ and those of His Apostles who wrote what is now regarded as New Testament Scripture emphasized the same thing. Paul was always demanding that the people of the congregations to which he wrote, whether they were Romans or Corinthians, or Galatians, must seek their salvation only according to a divine plan. Sugrue, like Blanshard, has expressed the belief that the outer world must be governed not by God, not by His Church, but by Democracy. Now Democracy is a good thing as a political polity, and the Catholic Church has defended it more than any other. CATHOLIC CHURCH NEVER PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS 17 If you will read the three volumes on Thomas Jefferson by Claude Bowers, you will discover that Thomas Jefferson had read the works of Cardinal Bellarmine — they were found in his library — who, two centuries before Jefferson, credits the democratic polity with being the best. If you will read the work of St. Thomas, who lived three centuries before Bellarmine, you will find that he taught the same thing. While Democracy is an excellent human polity, it is consti- tuted of frail intellectuals and morally weak individuals who are not competent to determine by vote what man must believe and do in order to attain salvation. The people of every religion be- lieve that salvation consists in life with God in His own home throughout eternity; that Heaven is not a gift to man, but a re- ward for service — and evidently this service must be in keeping with God's demands. Like Blanshard, Sugrue finds fault with the Church's opposi- tion to re-marriage after divorce, censorship of books and movies. But the position of the Church is in perfect keeping with God's Commandments and with Christ's instructions on divorce and re-marriage. No popular vote can nullify these dictates of divine authority. About political Catholicism, neither the officers of the POAU, nor Blanshard, nor Sugrue, point out a single instance where the Catholic Hierarchy of the United States, as such, has ever done any meddling in politics. Individual Bishops may do as they please, just as may any individual layman, but what he does isn't official. If Sugrue wanted to be helpful to Catholics, why did he not write his story for a Catholic periodical instead of for a Protest- ant journal. The Christian Herald? Says He's Nof 'Catholic Writer' In a letter addressed to James M. O’Neill, the author of “Catholicism and American Freedom,” Sugrue avows that he does not write as a Catholic, and, therefore, it is unfair to publicize him as a Catholic writer. He wrote: “First and most important of all, I am not a Catholic writer. I am a Catholic who happens to be a writer. I have never written for Catholic publications. I have never written from a Catholic point of view. . . . Any reference to me as a Catholic writer is erroneous.” Some of those who lecture under the auspices of the POAU declare that they do not find fault with Catholics because of their faith, but with their Church itself as a political organization. Sugrue seems to find fault with both the Catholic faith and the alleged political activities and ambitions of Catholic prelates. 18 CATHOLIC CHURCH NEVER PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS As a matter of fact there is nothing substantially different between the Catholic faith today and that of Apostolic times. The latter is told quite concisely in the Apostles^ Creed, in the Nicene Creed, and is defined by a number of General Councils in the Primitive Church. As to political activity on the part of prelates, it is non- existent. If it were existent nine out of ten Catholics in every community in this country should certainly know about it, but they tell quite a contrary story. They tell you that a Catholic candidate for office never gets any encouragement from his Church, and that he is often defeated by members of his own faith, while preachers oppose him chiefly because he is a Catholic. i ^