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Church and Politics

REV. JOSEPH HUSSLEIN, S. J.

Associate Editor of America

“The Catholic civil allegiance divided?

Why, look across the sea, to where all

Europe is in arms. Every Catholic is

fighting loyally, giving his very life for his

own country. And though some of these

countries have merited little gratitude from

any Catholic, still the very priests are in

the trenches, each a defender of his native

land.”

Cardinal O’Connell.

Second Edition

THE AMERICA PRESS

59 East 83d Street

NEW YORK



By the same Author

The Church and

Social Problems
*

A book of supreme interest for every reader

who would acquaint himself with the great

issues of the day.

Price $1.00. Weight, 22 ounces

Postage extra



Church and Politics



CONTENTS

I—The Church and Politics

II—A Political Nightmare

III

—

Union of Church and State

IV

—

Catholic Social Movements and Politics

V—Political Bigotry in America



The Church and Politics

I
T is a common accusation made in our day that the

Church is engaged in politics. Her very service to

mankind, her spiritual ministry, her ritual itself and her

Sacraments are transformed by the imagination of un-

scrupulous men into methods of cunning intended solely

to assure for her a temporal and political ascendency.

Leaving aside such extreme assertions in which Socialist

writers and many anti-Catholic journals freely indulge,

we may reasonably be called upon to answer the ques-

tion: “What is the attitude of the Church toward poli-

tics ?”

That the Church, in the first place, can never entertain

political ambition is certain. She clearly, and without

hesitation, acknowledges the sovereignty of the State in

temporal matters, reserving to herself the spiritual

sovereignty in things of the soul. To all the accusations

against her she has but one answer to make, the answer

of Christ when accused in precisely the same manner:

“My kingdom is not of this world.” That very kingdom

of which He then spoke, in as far as it exists here upon

earth, is the Catholic Church herself. She alone dates

back directly to Him, and the mission confided to her is

nothing else than the continuation of His own. It is a

spiritual mission. In his Encyclical Immortale Dei
,
on

the Christian Constitution of States, Pope Leo XIII

wrote

:

The Almighty has apportioned the charge of the human

race between two powers, the ecclesiastical and the civil, the

one being set over Divine, and the other over human things.

Each in its kind is supreme, each has fixed limits within which

1



2 THE CHURCH AND POLITICS

it is contained, limits that are defined by the nature and special

object of the province of each, so that there is, we may say,

for each a fixed orbit, within which the action of each is brought

into play by its own right.

What is contained within each of these two provinces

the Holy See defines no less accurately in the same En-

cyclical :

Whatever in things human is of sacred character, whatever

belongs, either of its own nature or by reason of the end to

which it is referred, to the salvation of souls, or to the wor-

ship of God, is subject to the power and judgment of the

Church. Whatever is to be ranged under the civil and political

order is rightly subject to civil authority.

The Church, therefore, according to the institution of

her Divine Founder and the declaration of her Sovereign

Pontiffs, is not concerned with purely civil and political

matters, so long as there is no violation of the laws of

God and no infringement of her own sacred rights.

Questions, however, arise which are neither spiritual

nor purely civil. It is necessary here that State and

Church should cooperate harmoniously, taking due ac-

count of the relative excellence and nobility of the re-

spective ends of Church and State. Thus for the Church

matrimony is a sacrament, for many States a purely civil

contract. The State may rightly make all due temporal

provision; but the Church must no less clearly maintain

her own spiritual jurisdiction; for its exercise her clergy

and hierarchy are responsible to Almighty God. Educa-

tion, in the same manner, may properly be insisted upon

by the State to the extent required for good citizenship

;

but the Church must not in any way be hampered in the

spiritual and moral training of her children, to fit them

to become faithful citizens both of the State and of

that spiritual Kingdom whose invisible head is Christ.



THE CHURCH AND POLITICS 3

It is her solemn duty to insist upon this right as it is the

sacred duty of the State to aid and not to hinder her in

its fulfilment.

The fact, therefore, that both powers, the secular and

the spiritual, have authority over the same citizen can

not of itself cause the slightest conflict, since all authority

in State and Church is alike derived from God, who has

perfectly coordinated them to work in harmony with one

another. “For the powers that are, are ordained of God,”

as St. Paul writes. The Church on her part has always

sought to restrict to the utmost her demands. It but

remains for the State equally to respect her rights in

order that the two powers may work together as soul and

body
;
the one securing the earthly, the other the spiritual

welfare of the citizen. This, we know, can perfectly be

realized among a Catholic people only, yet it is the ulti-

mate perfection of governments. So individual, domestic

and public rights will alike be safeguarded and hedged

about by natural and positive laws, Divine and human.

Two points have thus far been made clear. The first

is that the Church cannot entertain political ambitions.

The second, that she must safeguard the spiritual rights

of her children. The crucial question, therefore, is that

which regards her action in matters which are not only

political but likewise touch upon spiritual interests.

Here, too, her attitude has been perfectly defined. She

will not interfere except in so far as the moral and reli-

gious interests of souls may require such a course. Then

it becomes her sacred duty to do so within the limits

of her possibility. The power which she thus exercises

is not, however, political, but spiritual. Victor Cath-

rein, S
.J.,

in his “Moralphilosophie,” thus briefly explains

the important point at issue:



4 THE CHURCH AND POLITICS

The Church can never for earthly ends ordain or prescribe

anything in temporal matters. But she has the right to pro-

vide that her subjects be not seduced to commit sin or suffer

detriment to their spiritual welfare through the ordinations

of secular authority. It would be very wrong to call this

indirect power over temporal matters a secular power. It is

and remains a spiritual power, because it extends to temporal

matters only in so far as spiritual interests are concerned. Its

formal object is spiritual.

Should any political party, or should the State itself,

propose what is unjust and sinful, it is evident that the

voice of the Church must be heeded. The Church must

always protest against crime, the great enemy of the

State. Of two things, however, both Catholics and non-

Catholics may rest assured. The first is that the Church

will never interfere with any man’s economic or political

views unless those views are spiritually pernicious or

sinful. But against sin she is obliged to cry out. The

second is that loyalty to the Church will never stand in

the way of any genuinely patriotic interest. A true

Catholic must of necessity be a true patriot. If any

should be inclined to doubt this fact let them look to the

great modern battlefields of Europe and see the priests

and religious forgetful of all past injustice, persecution

and banishment, returning in undiminished numbers to

the flags of their native lands, offering freely their service

and their lives, and generously pouring forth their blood

for the countries that had rejected them. Whatever,

therefore, is beautiful, whatever is good, whatever is

just, whatever is ennobling in the patriotism of any land

will always be blessed and promoted by the Sovereign

Pontiff, whose kingdom is not of this world, but whose

voice is raised against sin and injustice wherever they lift

their head, in private life or public.



THE CHURCH AND POLITICS 5

The Church therefore can have no desire to enter the

field of politics. Such an action would be in open con-

tradiction of all her high ideals and her Divine mission.

But neither may Catholic voters for this reason permit

her to be shorn of her just rights by political intriguers

without exerting themselves to the utmost in her defense.

Their duty to God and country demands no less of them.

“Certainly,” said Pope Pius X in his letter regarding the

Sillonist movement in France, “it is not the Church which

has descended into the political arena
;
it has been dragged

there to be mutilated and despoiled. Is it not the duty

of every Catholic then to use the political weapons which

he has at hand to defend it, and to force politicians to

remain in their own domain and only occupy themselves

with the Church so far as to render to it its due ?” Cath-

olics who would fail to defend violated justice even in

the case of their own church would be unworthy of their

manhood and their rights of citizenship.



A Political Nightmare

T
HE question of the union between Church and State

has long been a storm-center of far more than or-

dinary disturbance. Few comprehend the right meaning

of this term. Fewer still understand its practical applica-

tion. Even intelligent and educated men, who are

amused, if not positively angered, at the ludicrous panics

to which this question has given rise, are often

themselves misled by interpretations palpably false. It

is necessary, therefore, to begin by setting aside the

wrong notions which have gathered about this idea in

the popular mind and which have led to the conclusion,

probably often heard by the reader, “I am opposed to

Catholicism because it favors the union of Church and

State.”

To avoid at the outset all possible misapprehension,

it may be well to premise that this union, as understood

by the Holy See, is not an issue agitated or promoted

on the part of Catholics, whether clerical or lay, in the

United States. The confusion which exists regarding

this subject is entirely due to error or must be attributed

to that ceaseless propaganda of calumny maliciously

carried on against the Catholic Church. Putting aside

this first misconception we are in a position to consider

impartially the false ideas connected in the minds of

many sincere and well-meaning men with the present

subject.

The most complete and ideal union of Church and

State, such as is possible in a thoroughly Catholic country,

would not imply, as is commonly supposed, any

6



A POLITICAL NIGHTMARE 7

elements prejudicial to democracy. There is no prefer-

ence expressed by the Church for one form of govern-

ment over another. Empire, monarchy, or republic, all

meet with her approval in so far as they keep in view

that common good for which social authority is con-

stituted. In his letter, Au Milieu des Sollicitudes

,

Pope Leo XIII thus defined the attitude of the Church:

In this order of speculative ideas, Catholics, like all other

citizens, are free to prefer one form of government to another,

precisely because no one of these social forms is, in itself, op-

posed to the principles of sound reason or to the maxims of

Christian doctrine. What amply justifies the wisdom of the

Church is that in her relations with political powers she abstracts

from the forms of government, which differentiate nations,

and treats with them concerning religious interests. To under-

take their instruction is her supreme duty in their regard.

So again in his Encyclical Sapientice Christiana, “On

the Chief Duties of Christians as Citizens/' the same

Pontiff writes:

The Church, the guardian always of her own rights and most

observant of that of others, holds that it is not her province

to decide what is the best amongst many diverse forms of

government and the civil institutions of Christian States. Amid

the various kinds of State-rule she does not disapprove of any,

provided the respect due to religion and the observance of

good morals be upheld.

From this it may already be evident that union between

Church and State is not rooted, as is commonly believed,

in the desire of the Church to dominate the State. It is

this constant suspicion which causes men to give an evil

construction to every defense of the Church's inherent

rights, on the part of Catholics. The doctrine of the

union between the Catholic Church and civil society as

the ideal condition of Christian civilization is interpreted



8 A POLITICAL NIGHTMARE

by them as a universal ambition for political power in

which the Catholics of every country are presumed to

share. In the letter already quoted, Au Milieu des Sollici-

tudes
,
Pope Leo writes

:

It is maintained that the vigor of action which Catholics are

taught to display in their defense of the Faith has for a secret

motive much less the safeguarding of their religious interests

than the ambition of securing to the Church political domination

over the State. Truly this is the revival of a very ancient

calumny, as its invention must be ascribed to the first enemies

of Christianity. Was it not first formulated against the ador-

able person of the Redeemer?

Nothing could be further from the mind of the Church

and more abhorrent to her than stirring up insurrection

and revolution, or even lessening by a grain in the balance

the loyalty due the State. Yet this is precisely the

crime of which she is accused, in spite of her constant

insistence upon obedience to all lawfully constituted au-

thority and her unvarying lesson of rendering to Caesar

the things that are Caesar’s. From a thousand forums

of public thought over the face of the earth, our own

country not excepted, there still rises that cry which nine-

teen centuries ago was first heard in the court of Pilate

:

“We have found this man perverting our nation, and for-

bidding to give tribute to Caesar.” And for those who

would see that justice is done us, without favor or par-

tiality, there comes the bitter warning : “If thou release

this man, thou art not Caesar’s friend!” So again and

again, century after century, the sentence of Pilate is

passed. Christ is crucified anew in His members. What

happened of old in the court of the Roman Governor has

taken place today in Portugal and Mexico, and will be

repeated tomorrow elsewhere. If Christ was condemned

to death on this specious charge, it was inevitable that His



A POLITICAL NIGHTMARE 9

followers would fare no better. “Dangerous citizens,

factionists, enemies of the Empire and the Emperors”

were the names given, we are told, to the early Christians

by their pagan contemporaries, the Roman “Guardians of

Liberty.”

All this is true
;
but it is likewise our greatest consola-

ation and our glory. Let the enemies of Christ inscribe

it at the head of their chapter of accusations against us:

“The Catholics of the twentieth century are one with

their brethren of the first.” We are one with them in

persecution as in fa'th.

The fact that the Church condemns the untenable

proposition, “The Church must be separated from the

State, and the State from the Church,” does not imply

even the slightest desire on her part, as is popularly sup-

posed, of interfering in secular matters from political

motives. Her right at any time or place is concerned with

the moral and religious interests that may be involved

in the issue. It is only because of the welfare of souls,

as the ultimate reason, that she can and must speak out,

counsel and command. Where souls are in danger there

is question no longer of purely political or economic

issues. Spiritual principles are at stake. In these she is

the ultimate authority. For this purpose Christ has in-

stituted her. “It was not to Caesar,” as Pope Leo XIII

so conclusively says, “but to Peter that Jesus Christ en-

trusted the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.” Union

between the Church and State, where such is possible,

merely simplifies and ensures the more perfect fulfilment

of the task Christ conferred upon her. Her attitude of

non-interference in purely civic matters, on the other

hand, is clearly expressed in the Encyclical of the same

Pontiff, on the “Chief Duties of Christians as Citizens”

:



10 A POLITICAL NIGHTMARE

It is plainly evident that the governing powers are wholly

free to carry out the business of the State
;
and this not only

not against the wish of the Church, but manifestly with her

cooperation, inasmuch as she strongly urges to the practice of

piety, which implies right feeling toward God, and by that very

fact inspires a right-mindedness toward the rulers of the State.

It is not the purpose of the present chapter to describe

in detail the true nature of the union between Church

and State. One thing alone has been made clear, that

the accusations directed against Catholics because of the

principles supposed to be involved in this union are

entirely unfounded, in fact and in theory. They are all

summed up in the charges on which Christ was con-

demned to death: for “saying that He is Christ, the

King.” That kingship, as He fully but vainly explained,

is spiritual and not earthly. “Render to Caesar the

things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are

God’s.” Such was the doctrine of Christ, and such is

the doctrine of His Church for individuals and for

society alike. That the things of God may be more com-

pletely given to God is the only reason why she has

ever called upon the State for assistance. She in turn

urges that the things of Caesar should be given to

Caesar. This is the only principle involved in the union

of Church and State, the principle laid down by Christ.



Union of Church and State

I
T has been shown in what the union of Church and

State does not consist. It is equally important to

make clear the true meaning of this union according to

the mind of the Church in order to answer the objections

urged against Catholics and invariably based upon a false

understanding of this question. The union spoken of

here is the ideal union only.

For a civilization largely non-Catholic and even non-

Christian the true conception of the ideal union between

Church and State has become almost unintelligible.

Catholics themselves have often been imbued with cur-

rent notions concerning its scope and nature. It is looked

upon as a condition violently imposed from without.

Yet in reality it is something as obvious and natural in a

truly Catholic country as it is unthought of and impos-

sible today in lands like England or the United States.

It is not a contract of patches and compromises, such as

men now have in mind; but a mutually helpful and

desirable cooperation of the spiritual and temporal power

that can be compared only to the intimate relation exist-

ing between soul and body.

The intrinsic reason for the perfect union of Church

and State in a “civil society of Catholics” arises from the

fact that the same men are at the same time citizens of

the State and members of God's visible Kingdom upon

earth, the Catholic Church. Under such conditions they

do not, as citizens
,
forfeit either their civic rights or the

full, free and reasonable exercise of them. But as sub-

jects of Christ's Kingdom

,

they must obviously likewise

11



12 UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE

bear in mind the spiritual interests of the Church, the

salvation and sanctification of souls. These, however,

are not things foreign either to their own good or to the

welfare of the State. Consequently there is no violence

done to the most complete personal freedom in this union

of a Catholic State and the Catholic Church. Rulers and

subjects, by their voluntary acceptance of Catholicism,

openly acknowledge, as a first truth of their holy Faith,

that the last and supreme end of man is eternal life. To

give this, and to give it to us more abundantly, Christ

came into this world. To it the temporal interests must,

therefore, be subordinated, whether in man's private,

domestic or civic capacity. Such precisely was the mean-

ing of Our Divine Lord when He taught that but one

thing is necessary, the attainment of eternal life. The

individual, therefore, in thus subordinating his temporal

to his eternal interests makes no enforced surrender of

any personal liberties, since both interests are equally

his own.

The duties enjoined are incumbent on the same person, and

between them there exists neither contradiction nor confusion;

for some of these duties have relation to the prosperity of the

State, others refer to the general good of the Church, and

both have as their object to train men to perfection .—Encyclical
on the Chief Duties of Christians as Citizens.

“Seek ye, therefore, first the kingdom of God and his

justice, and all these things shall be added unto you."

Such is the commandment and the promise of Our Lord.

A civil society which regulates its civic actions and

institutions in conformity with the teachings of Christ,

authentically interpreted by the one Divinely com-

missioned authority upon earth, will have little need to

fear for its temporal order and happiness. The splendid



UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE 13

argument of St. Augustine, quoted by Pope Leo XIII, is

in place here :

Let those who proclaim that the teaching of Christ is hurtful

to the State, produce such armies as the maxims of Jesus have

enjoined soldiers to bring into being, such governors of prov-

inces, such husbands and wives, such parents and children, such

masters and servants, such kings, such judges, and such payers

and collectors of revenue, as the Christian teachers instruct

them to become, and then let them dare say that such teaching

is hurtful to the State. Nay, rather let us ask, can they hesitate

to own that such discipline if duly acted upon, is the very main-

stay of the commonwealth? Epist. 138.

True Christianity, therefore, as St. Augustine implies,

must be interfused through our domestic, economic, so-

cial and civil life. It cannot be dispensed with even in

our international relations without prejudice to the com-

mon welfare. Apostrophizing the Catholic Church, St.

Augustine exclaims

:

Thou joinest together, not in society only, but in a sort of

brotherhood, citizen with citizen, nation with nation, and the

whole race of men, by reminding them of their common parent-

age.

The dream of international peace, of the universal

brotherhood of man, of the golden millennium upon earth,

so far as this is possible, can be realized only in the

entirely voluntary return of the world to his solicitous

care who is the Father of Christendom, the Vicar of the

Prince of Peace, the one universal Pastor to whom alone

Christ committed His lambs and His sheep, that there

might be one Fold and one Shepherd: 'Teed my lambs.

Feed my sheep.”

That a perfect obedience to the Divine will can only

be fruitful of a nation's highest good, even from a tem-

poral point of view, all must admit, and history bears



14 UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE

witness to the fact. It is no exaggeration to say that all

we most highly prize today is in a manner to be ac-

credited to the union of the Catholic State with the

Catholic Church in an age when barbarism was still con-

tending with civilization. In his Encyclical, Immortale

Dei

,

Pope Leo XIII writes:

There was once a time when States were governed by the

principles of the Gospel teaching. Then it was that the power

and Divine virtue of Christian wisdom had diffused itself

throughout the laws, institutions and morals of the people;

permeating all ranks and relations of society. Then, too, the

religion instituted by Jesus Christ, established firmly in befitting

dignity, flourished everywhere by the favor of princes and the

legitimate protection of magistrates
;

and Church and State

were happily united in concord and friendly interchange of

good offices.

The blessings which in such an order accrued to the

State surpass all estimation. They can never, as the

Pontiff says, be blotted out, or even obscured, by the

craft of any enemies of the Church of Christ:

Christian Europe has subdued barbarous nations, and changed

them from a savage to a civilized condition, from superstition

to true worship. It victoriously rolled back the tide of Moham-

medan conquest; retained the headship of civilization; stood

forth in the front rank as the leader and teacher of all, in every

branch of national culture; bestowed on the world the gift of

true and many-sided liberty; and most wisely founded every-

where numerous institutions for the solace of human suffering.

It was under the auspices of religion that these great

undertakings were set on foot, and by its aid that they

were accomplished. They would have been impossible

for the State alone. Neither could the Church have

achieved entire success without assistance from the civil

power. The evidence of the confusion which since then



UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE 15

has followed owing to the loss of this supreme ideal,

the perfect union of the Catholic Church and the Cath-

olic State, is only too apparent. We behold it in the uni-
versality of economic disorder which, even amid the

changing industrial conditions of today, the Church

could have prevented by acting in cooperation with a

Catholic State. We see it in the darkness of rationalistic
error and ignorance that has fallen upon the nations de-

prived of all true knowledge of a Divine Christ, of an

eternal sanction, of a redemption from sin that must be

applied to their souls. We witness it in the flames of
war that now envelop the earth in an almost universal

conflagration, because the plea for peace from the Throne

of Peter is no longer heard or heeded. It is doubtless

true that no union of Church and State could ever en-

tirely hold in check the passions of men; but it could

abate their violence, could convince them of error and

sin, could, in fine, as of old it did, lead them back from

disorder and violence to repentance and love.

Such was, in its ideal at least, the perfect union of

Church and State as it existed during certain periods of

the Middle Ages, when the Church was free and un-

hampered. We have said nothing of those partial unions
in more recent days, which have often proved helpful to

the State and its citizens; but at times, too, were used

to make the Church the vassal of the State. The former

has not tyrannized over the State at any period
;
but the

latter has often tyrannized over the Church, has arro-

gated to itself her power, and has even used her name

for its own political ends.

The description here given of the ideal union between

Church and State makes clear how far is this issue from

the politics into which it has been dragged.



Social Movements and Politics

4 4 /CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY” is a term employed
' V-4 in two important Papal documents to designate

the Catholic social movement. It is made to alternate

with another current expression, “Christian Popular Ac-

tion.” The former title, adopted by Catholics in various

countries, was attacked by “many excellent men” who

considered it ambiguous and open to misconception. The

chief danger apparently lay in confounding it with politi-

cal agitation. In his Encyclical now known under the

name of “Christian Democracy,” Pope Leo XIII sought

to dispel these fears and allay the dissensions caused by

the word. He himself did not hesitate to adopt it after

giving its orthodox explanation. Later we find it recurring

again in the famous Encyclical of Pope Pius X on
“Christian Popular Action.”

One of the main questions necessarily touched upon in

this connection is the relation of Christian Democracy,

or Catholic social action, to the political movements of

any country. The accusation that the Church is seeking

for political power was never, perhaps, more seriously

and persistently made than at the present hour. It will

be well, therefore, to quote at some length the answers of

Pope Leo XIII and his successor, Pope Pius X, upon this

question. They afford us the final and authentic docu-

mentary evidence to show that Christian Democracy, or

Catholic popular action, can in nowise be identified with

politics and may never even be perverted to serve politi-

cal ends.

It would be a crime, says Pope Leo XIII, to distort this name

of Christian Democracy to politics, for although democracy,

16



SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND POLITICS 17

both in its philological and philosophical significations, implies

popular government, yet in its present application it is so to be

employed that, removing from it all political significance, it is to

mean nothing else than a benevolent and Christian movement in

behalf of the people. For the laws of nature and of the Gospel,

which by right are superior to all human contingencies, are

necessarily independent of all modifications of civil government,

while at the same time they are in concord with everything that

is not repugnant to morality and justice. They are, therefore,

and they must remain absolutely free from all political parties,

and have nothing to do with the various changes of administra-

tion which may occur in a nation; so that Catholics may and

ought to be citizens according to the constitution of any State,

guided as they are by those laws which command them to love

God above all things, and their neighbor as themselves.

—

Encyclical on Christian Democracy.

Such we are told has always been the discipline of the

Church. To the same effect Pope Pius X wrote in his

Motu Proprio on “Christian Popular Action,” dealing

with the same subject:

Christian Democracy ought never to mix in politics, and

ought never to be made use of for party purposes, or political

objects; that is not its province; but it should be a beneficent

activity in favor of the people, founded on the natural laws,

and the precepts of the Gospel.

Since this, as we have seen, is a vital question and a

point upon which we are constantly attacked at the

present day, it will not be superfluous to quote another

document which has the sanction and expresses the doc-

trine of the Holy See. We refer to the instruction of

the Sacred Congregation of Ecclesiastical Affairs on

“Christian Popular Action or Christian Democratic

Action in Italy.” It bears the signature of Cardinal

Rampolla. We read:

Christian democratic institutions, whatever be their character,



18 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND POLITICS

should be looked upon as manifestations of Christian popular

action, based on the natural law and on the precepts of the

Gospel. They must, therefore, not be regarded as means for

the attainment of political ends, or for changing any form of

government.

Catholics as citizens have the duty of sharing in the

political life of their city and their country; but Chris-

tian Democracy itself, the Catholic social movement of

any country, must never be confused with politics. Much

less, may it ever be implicated in seditions and revolu-

tions, or in “the preference and preparation,” as Pope

Leo wrote, “of one form of government rather than

another,” for “it is not lawful to give a political mean-

ing to Christian Democracy.”

These clear statements, which are directive for all

Catholic popular action, should be sufficient to silence

the enemies of the Church who accuse her of political

aspirations or intrigues. They show how in the one

work which brings the Church into close contact not

only with the spiritual but likewise with the social life

of the people, no taint of suspicion should be cast upon

the purity of her motives.

But Christian Democracy, it is urged, has turned aside

from its positive work for the welfare of the masses in

order to combat Socialism. This is true. It has done

so persistently and in every country. Christian Democ-

racy, as both Pope Leo XIII and Pope Pius X strongly

insist, is the very opposite of Social Democracy or So-

cialism. “Christian Democracy,” wrote Pope Pius,

“ought to be understood in the sense already determined

by authority, which is far removed from that of Social

Democracy and is based on the principles of the

Catholic Faith and morality, especially on that of never



SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND POLITICS 19

attacking in any way the inviolable right of private prop-

erty.” The reason for this opposition is not, therefore,

political, as Socialists would make men believe, but

purely moral and religious. The actual political Socialist

movement is a menace to religion, to religious educa-

tion, to justice and morality. It is on these grounds, and

on no other, that the great body of Catholic working men

is opposed to it, and that Christian Democracy cannot

avoid answering the challenge of Social Democracy.

The one teaches that man’s supreme good must be

sought in the life to come, but for this very reason it

would secure for even the poorest here below the enjoy-

ment of the earthly rights and privileges which are im-

plied in his sublime destiny. The other, on the contrary,

would turn away his mind from the things of eternity

to absorb them in the things of time, hazarding the loss

of both.

To guard, however, against the final misconception

that Catholics,, as individuals, are hampered in the exer-

cise of full political liberty, so long as this does not

interfere with the laws of God or the precepts of the

Church, it may be well to quote the directions given on

this subject by Pope Pius X:

It is certain, he says, that the present constitution of States

offers to all without distinction the power of influencing public

opinion, and Catholics, while recognizing the obligations imposed

by the law of God and the precepts of the Church, may with

safe conscience enjoy this liberty, and prove themselves capable,

as much, and even more than others, of cooperating in the

material and civil well-being of the people, thus acquiring that

authority and respect which may make it even possible for

them to defend and promote a higher good, namely, that of the

soul. These civil rights are many and various, going so far

as directly to share in the political life of the country by repre-



20 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND POLITICS

senting the people in the legislature .—Encyclical on Christian
Social Action.

The Pope therefore desires that Catholics, like other

citizens, should “prudently and seriously
,,

prepare them-

selves for their electoral duties wherever such are in-

cumbent upon them, in order that so they may con-

tribute their own share to the common good and aid

to lift up civic and national morality to the high plane

of Gospel principles.



Political Bigotry in America

A PETTY host, filled with malice, has long been busystriving to overturn the pillars of our national
Constitution and to shake its foundations. Small in

spirit, cowardly in method, poor in all that goes to make

a man, they have nevertheless often been potent for evil

by their united efforts. For the liberty of our native

land they would substitute the tyranny of bigotry; for

fraternity, civic hatred; for justice, religious persecu-

tion. Though the Church which they assail is raised

above their Lilliputian efforts, and the white radiance

of its beauty can never be soiled by them, yet its mem-

bers and institutions may be made to suffer from their

fanaticism. Like Middleton’s witches, they frequently

bring about their immediate object: to “raise jars,

jealousies, strifes and heart-burning disagreements, like

a thick scurf o’er life.” There are besides greater dan-

gers than these to be apprehended. A glance at the

past may be a warning for the future.

When the War of the Revolution had been fought, and

Catholics and Protestants in common had cemented with

their blood the foundations of the new Republic, it might

reasonably have been hoped that bigotry would be for-

gotten and Catholic patriotism receive from all the just

meed of recognition which the Father of his Country so

unreservedly bestowed upon it. The same might have

been looked for even more assuredly after the War of

1812. Yet a renewal of the spirit of intolerance was to

be witnessed before a score of years had passed, and in

1831 an organized press-propaganda of slander was be-

21



22 POLITICAL BIGOTRY IN AMERICA

gun against the Church, after the first severe outbreak

of fanaticism had already taken place.

The bigotry incited by pulpit and press, and stimulated

by public placards, found its complete expression in the

destruction of the Ursuline Convent at Charlestown,

Massachusetts, in 1834. Not only was the Blessed Sac-

rament dishonored, but everything within the building

was destroyed before the torch was set to it. The en-

gines that arrived at the scene of conflagration stood

idly by and the firemen watched the drunken rabble

dancing in glee about the burning pile and then retired.

The magistrates did not move a finger. Such are some

of the details given by John Gilmary Shea. “The mob/’

he writes, “did not even spare the graves of the dead.

The coffins were torn open and the bodies exposed.”

A farcical trial, with the set purpose of acquitting the

rioters, completed the incident. The charges made

against the Sisters were disproved by a Protestant com-

mittee, but the harm had been done. Such was the first

result of the campaign of slanderous accusations car-

ried on against Catholic institutions. The churches in

Boston were threatened and could rely for their pro-

tection only on the strong arm of Catholics themselves.

The Pope was shot in effigy by the Washington Artillery.

The work of the father of lies now continued. The

spirit of Benedict Arnold was abroad in the land. Men

were to be found then, as now, willing to betray the peace

and welfare of their country in order to satisfy their

bigotry or promote their own private interests. Political

associations having such purposes in view arose and

passed away and were supplanted by new organizations

with the same scope and nature. Each worked in turn

upon the ignorance or prejudice of the men whom it



POLITICAL BIGOTRY IN AMERICA 23

deceived. Unscrupulous politicians were not unwilling

to use them as political tools.

The angel of darkness is a gentleman, Shakespeare

tells us; he is a patriot, he can even be the purest bf

pure evangelicals. All these forms he must assume,

singly or together, if he would succeed in deceiving a

people who, though they desire fair-play, yet can readily

enough be deluded for a time and betrayed into acts of

injustice and tyranny against the victims of calumny.

The Native American party arose in 1844, when the

American Protestant Association, founded in 1831, had

been repudiated as an organized falsehood by American

Protestants.

It was the Bible which was now in danger at the hands

of the “foreign Papists.” They had preserved it to the

world for all these centuries, they had guarded it as one

of their greatest treasures, and were willing to lay down

their lives for the least of the truths it contained. For

this very reason they insisted so strongly upon the ex-

clusive use of an approved Catholic version for the chil-

dren of the Church. But reason obtains scant hearing

from fanatic bigotry. It were easier to argue with poor,

distraught and raving Lear, bidding the cataracts and

hurricanes spout, and heaven’s lightning singe his white

head, than to convince blind prejudice. Worse than all

is the wilful malice or base political intrigue that under-

lies such movements. The noble work accomplished by

the Native American party during the first five months

of its existence was thus summarized by the Rev. M.

Fithian, a Protestant minister:

Two Catholic churches burned, one thrice fired and dese-

crated
;
a Catholic seminary and retreat consumed by the torches

of an incendiary mob; two rectories and a most valuable



24 POLITICAL BIGOTRY IN AMERICA

library destroyed; forty dwellings in ruins, about forty human

lives sacrificed and sixty of our fellow citizens wounded; riot

and rebellion and treason rampant
;

the laws boldly set at

defiance, and peace and order prostrated by ruffian violence.

To picture in detail the scenes of bigotry and fanati-

cism, of anarchy and treason which now followed with

the appearance of the American Protective Association,

founded in 1852, were a long and dismal task. In

“Loyalty of Catholics,” from which the above extract is

quoted, a brief enumeration may be found. The “pro-

tective” act of the fanatics was an attack upon a convent

of helpless and inoffensive nuns in Providence, R. I.

Next followed outbreaks of civic hatred from press and

platform in the cities of Boston, Baltimore, Wheeling,

Pittsburgh, and many other places. The agitation reached

a climax in the mob attack upon the Cathedral of Cin-

cinnati, resulting in the loss of several lives. The

patriotic work now continued with the bloody riots of

St. Louis; with the tarring and feathering of a Jesuit

priest at Ellsworth, Maine; with the attempted destruc-

tion of churches in Newark, N.
J. ;

Williamsburg, N. Y.

and Manchester, N. H., and with the successful burning

or wrecking by gunpowder of Catholic churches in Bath,

Maine
;
Dorchester, Mass.

;
and Sydney and Massillon,

Ohio. The supreme triumph of the movement was the

murder of a hundred poor Irish and Germans on “Bloody

Monday” in Louisville, Ky. Here, surely, is an honor-

able record of achievements in the service of the powers

of darkness, for a period extending only from 1852 to

August 6, 1855, for the latter is the date of the massacre

referred to of which Bishop Spalding wrote:

We have just passed through a reign of terror, surpassed
only by the Philadelphia riots. Nearly a hundred poor Irish



POLITICAL BIGOTRY IN AMERICA 25

and Germans have been butchered or burned and some twenty-

houses have been fired and burned to the ground. The city

authorities, all Know-Nothings, looked calmly on, and they

are now endeavoring to lay the blame on Catholics. (“The

Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky,” Hon. Ben. J. Webb

j

p. 484 .)

This last incident, indeed, was a refinement worthy

of Nero himself. There is no need of continuing the

sickening recital. Every rope and wheel and pulley of

political intrigue was now set in motion to destroy the

religious liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. Petty,

spiteful Lilliputian efforts; but dangerous because of

their very persistence.

We are only too well aware of the constant and in-

sidious attempts which have since then been made to

discredit the Church. The associations which have

been founded and the papers which have been issued

with the sole purpose of compassing the financial and

political ruin of her children by every foul and treason-

able means are sufficiently familiar. “We are endeavor-

ing to tabulate and run to corner all Romanists running

for office on State and Congressional tickets/’ thus runs

the confidential message sent out from a paper whose

editor professes to be a minister of the Gospel. “Let

it be understood that no Catholic need apply on election

day, or any other day,” is the announcement made in

another place. There is no need of multiplying instances.

Yet under all these outrages Catholics have displayed

nothing but the most scrupulous loyalty to their country,

fighting and falling in the foremost ranks wherever

there was a call for patriots and heroes. “Instead of

offering the most remote insult, it is our duty to address

public thanks to these our brethren,” are the memorable

words of Washington (Nov. 5, 1775).



26 POLITICAL BIGOTRY IN AMERICA

Catholics ask for no favors, but they are bound, by

their sacred duty of citizenship, to secure justice for

the Church, as for every other rightfully established

institution in these free States of ours. And they are

bound to secure this justice even at the ballot-bopc.

“Liberty and Justice for All,” is the first principle of

true Americanism, and the Catholic Church is not ex-

cluded.

Let our great “puissant,” American Catholic Church

then be alert in the defense of her rights. To bring

about her ruin, our foes are ever wakeful, ever watch-

ful, ever traitorously intent upon the subversion of the

principle of true Americanism. Their weapons of

calumny and slander may appear in the sight of honest

men no better than children's toys, but it is well to

recall the fable of the giant, who once fell asleep, so

the story goes, and woke to find himself helplessly

bound by a thousand cords securely fastened by a host

of despicable little creatures. There is a lesson for us

in the Gulliver of fiction.

For non-Catholics the facts are likewise sufficiently

plain. They show that nothing is further from the mind

of the Church than the thought of meddling with purely

political issues. To repeat once more the words of

Pope Pius X : “It is not the Church that has descended

into the political arena; she has been dragged there to be

mutilated and despoiled.”



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