FATHER DAMEN' O LECTURE THE ANSWER TO POPULAR OBJJlQyiONS AGAINST THE CATHOLIC RELIGION. 3. !?ri'ci^^ A VERBATIM REPORT, .*>•• W . ir . WALLER. : (^ .J,^ ,., " OTTAWA : Printed by I. B. Taylor, 29, 31 and 33, Rideau Street, 187]. FATHER DAM EN'S LECTURE. TUESDAY EVENING "Ilf member my ,vore Innulred years sutfered a fearful perseeiiiidji for the religion of Jesus Christ. Hardly had the church hven ushered into existence when she was surrounded by a host of enemies, that all swore t.loud luir destruction, her annihilation. Home and Jerusalem ('ombined together to check her pi'ogress; all the powers of the I'agaii (Jiosars and the Jewish Church ; all the INlagistrates and Jewish Priests, all the Synod and the Jewish Synagogue, all cond)ined to- gether and swore aloml that they should leave nothing untouched, and no:hing iindone to smother in its very cradle the church of the ]Most High (jrod — the Holy Catholic and Apostolic ( 'hurch. For three hundrei years the sword of [)ersecution was lifted iij), and the earth was anointed with the l)lood of the Martyrs of the Church of Jesus. Rome, Jenisalem, Antiocli^ Lyons, and other cities w^ere covered with th«! bodies of her geneious and heroic sons ; her Martyrs that died for the faith of Jesus Christ. Even the tyrants and tie despots got tiivd with [>vitting them to death one by one, and llnally enveloped entire cities m one conflagration that thou.sands might ) erish at onc(?. I'hree hundred vears I have said of fearful i)ersecutiou was raised against the church, and during these three hundred years not less than eighty millions — that ia nearly three times the population qf the United 4 a:uted to us, which in reality we abhor, so that the objections of our separated brethren against the Catholic religion all proceed from ignorance, beer use they know jiot that religion which they defame. If they but saw the Catholic religion as it is, they v/ould admire it, would fall in lo\e with it, and become Cabholics indess they were cowards. Some are cowards ; they become convinced that the Catholic religion is the rcdigion of .Jesus ; but they rellect — "What will our friends say 1 what think ? and how will they look upon us?" Such a one tliinks he is a brave man; but no, he is a coward. *' I am a brave man," he says. No sir, you ai-e a coward, a slave, fettered and chained, and not free ; you are convinced that the Catholic religion is the religion of Jesus Christ, ])vit, "what will they ray, and how think?" and you dare not embrace the religion of your Saviour I because, by " what will they say," you are made a coward. Hundreds and tho\i - sands there are in a sj)ecial manner in the old Country, and in this Dominion,that are kept from endjracing the Catholic religion because their friends will fall out with them, and their business not be as successful as before — you are therefore cowards. Even in this Dominion I say there is a petty persecution against the Catholic Church. Our separated brethren, with all their good and kind feelings towards us, yet have objections against us ; but these objections are groinided in ignoi'ance. I have announced that I wotdd answer this evening these popular objections aigainut the Catholic religion and the first of these AOAiNRT TirK ( ATnoMf cnrRrn, n (tl)jectii»iis istliis: <.)iir riotrsliinl tVimtls hmv < 'iitliolicHurt' Jiot allowod toreadtlioliiMc. I'lns is false, this is a ciiluuiiiy, this istj sliinder. ( 'nth- olios not iillowed to roiultlu' liiljk'I ll:i\(> you cvorKeen iiC.'iitliolic IJil»l»>, my enighted people !- poor ignorant creatures I P>ut why do not they r<'ad the liible '. If tliey wo\dd read the Bibh; they would slet!i» like us Protestants until s(;\en and eight o'clock in tlu; )norning. Poor benighted ignorant peoph^ I what a pity they are not allowed to read the Bible ! Why, if tuey i-ead the Bible, they would turn Protestants at once ; a-id oh ! would not tliey make a zealous set of Protestants] For tliey are the [X'opie to make sacrifices for (Jod and their religion. But tho i»riei:t would not let them read tin* Bible; he wants to keep them in ignorance I he know.s if tliey read the Bible they would become Protestants." What I Catholics not allowed to read 'tlie Bible? (jlo among yunr Catholic neighbours, my Protestnnt friends, and you Avill I hardly tind a family but has a family Bibhv niul it is open to all. "But wh .• then," says my Protestants friends, 'Mo you Catholics make i such ix fuss and excitement al)out introducing theBibleinto the publicr I S(;hoois t" The reason is this. The Catholic will make no objection [ at all, provided you havis the right kind of a Bible. '" But what i Bible do you ])ro])0.se to introduce — the Pi'otcstant version?" And tlie Catholic says, '' Thist is mi Bible !it all, sir ; that is only a piece of the ]j;bh>" says th<( (".'atholic, " and a mighty bad })ieoo at lliat." N'ou have not tins two books of the Maccabees ; you have not all the Book of Esther, not all of Tobias, nor tlie history of Susannah, therefore, you have not all of the Bible, and the (catholic cannot in I Diiseinncc^ submit to a falsitication of Go -'s Holy Word. The Catholic says, ''if we must have a Bible, well, let ub have a whole one, and not a piece ; a real Bible, a faithful translation of God's Holy Book. The Catholic can never consent in conscience that his c'lild should be compelled to read a Bible which he knows is not a lUbh'. ' 'hat is one reason w^e have against the Bible now used in p\ib- Ue. I ic Jichools ; and we have aiiothev roa.son : — AVo Catholics have for ANSWER TO roPt'LAR OBJECTIONS the Bil»l«^ a voiv grout vonorfition ; wo look \ij>on it ns tlie Inngiinp;** of Go(i to man, ninl honce tlio (llimcli cominajKls tluit %vlienover tLo Itrient reads in the imblic service a j>ortion of tlid Bible, )w must kiss it with veneration ; and that whenever lie reads the Gos))el, nil th« eongregation must stand u]* out of respeet for (Jod's Holy Woid. Such is our venenition and respec.'t for the Word of Ood — for the Bible. Now, nchool l>ooks art; nevcu* i-espected by boys and girls ; they tenr them, blot them over Avith ink, throw '.hem about, stund upon them, ait upon them, and so on ; find we Catholics do not want the Bible to l>e treated in that manner, and therefore, object U. t]w Bible in the public schools." "Well, any how," says my Pr<;testant friend, " it cannot b(3 denied that the Catholic reliijior is opposed to education and the fine arts." 1 deny it, entphaticaily I deny it; anJ, moreover, I assert that there is m> religious denomination, th.it does as much for educaticii a.s the Catholic religion. Tiio Governiioit t.f England, some few } ears ago, appointed a eon\miPsion of gentlemeti, who were to travel ever the whole woi-ld, and talro statiaticf; every- where, and see in \k^ha'. country was the most done for education. And they came bad — and mind to\i these men wer« not (.'atholios, they were every th:.ng but Catholics, an■ What a strange contradiction in my Protestant friend**. Kxaniine all the ('oUeges, the Universities, Academies and Boarding Schools of this Dominion and the United States, and you will finfl that one third of the boarders in the Catholic Colleges, Univereities and Academies are Protestants I INIy dear Protestant friondH, wljy do you H(!nd your children to Catholic Schools? " Well, sir, because 1 am convinced that the Catholic education is more thorough and solid ; moreover," says the Protestant father, " I know that when I send my daughter to a CathoUc School or Nunnery, lier viituo is in perfect safety. If I sent her to a fashionable Protestant School sho might be married before 1 knew anything about it." **My boy," says the Protestant father, " is a wild fellow, and I want to keep him in. I send him to the Catholic (.'ollego because I know that the education is good, and the discipline is stricter there than anywhere else ; therefore," says he, " I send my boy to the Catholic School." And yet, with all that, you say the Catholics want to keep people in ignorance. Why, then, send your boy or your daughter to the (Jatholic institutions i AV'ith one eye you frown u])on the Catholic religion, and with the other smile upon it, and say it is, after all, the liest. The Catholic religion opposed to education and tine arts I If it had not been for the Catholic religion the fine arts would hav«! entirel^^ fallen into decay and ruin. What are the fine arts ? Music, Scul[)ture, Painting, Architecture, and Poetry. These are the tine arts. Well, now, the Catholic religion, you say, is opposed to the fine arts. Sculpture for instance. The moment Protestantism came into existonct!, and where^'er it had the power of doing it, it did uway with the statuary in the House of God; broke the statues of the Saints and the Blessed Virgin, and did not even i-espect the image of the Saviour, but broke it asundei*, and took the bread out of the mouth of the sculptor. The Catholic religion has always encouraged the scwlptor by her statuary in the churches. The same in regard to painting. The ]taintings were torn from the walls of the churches that Protestants stole from us; they tore them from the walls and effaced the frescoes because they looked upon them as violations of the first law of God. 8 • ANSWER TO POPULAR OBJECTIONS And so with regard to music — that beautiful art that stirs up the soul ; lifts it up to Jieaven, takes \is away from earth as it were. MuRi<^ — where has it found enconragement if not in the Catholic Church t Who are the great masters of music ? Mozart, Beethoven, Merca- dante, Rossini, and a number of others, all of whom were Catholics, The gi'andest mnsic, most masterly and soul-stirring now in ex- istence comes fi'om the Catholic brain and pen. Protestantism has been in existence 350 years or so, and duriug all that time it has nsver produced a musician that can be compared with Mozart or Beethoven or Mercadanti?. So well convinced are Protestants of this now in the United States, that in all the great and fashionable churches in New York and Boston and otaer large citie , they are all adopting the Catholic music, because they know that there is nothing in their own music but something like Yankee Doodle — nothing to stir up the soul and lift it up to GDd and to heaven; and, therefore, they are adopting the composition i of the great masters of the Catholic Church. And so again with r(!gard to architecture, my dear peo])le. Have Protes- tants, for the la-jt 350 years, with all the wealth that they have in England, and other countries, produced such architecture as the Catholic Church has given to the woi-ld 1 Tne great architects of England, of Canada, and the United States, when they travel through Europe stand wrapped in wonder before the grand Catholic Churches and Basilics, they see in Rome, and every where else ; stand before them perfectly amazed — taken out of tlieii- senses as it were, as they contemplate the grandeur and architectiual beauty of those magnifi- cent edifices — b?fore St. Peter's in Rome, St. John Latteral, St. Maj'v Major ; before ohe Cathedral of Cologne and Notre Daine of Paris and Antwerp. All these grand productions of the brain of the archi- tect were of Cat hoi ic. conception and idea, conceived by architectsfull of Catholic faith and sublime ideas of the beauty and grandeur that should adorn the tem])le constructed for the worship of the Living God that dwells upoii our altars. And the generous Catholics come forward with open hands and purses in order to build those grand Cathedrals and Basilics. London, in England, made an attempt to throw St. Peter's into the shade by building St. Paul's. Ha ! Ha ! St. Paul's in Lcndon is nothing but a ginger bread compared to St. Peter's in Rome ! And in the United States, where among our separated brefchi-en, there is so much affluence and wealth, have tliey don«2 anything c r built anything that would be a monument of giniid and sublime ideis in the shape of a temple for thiiest," says ho, " do you think because I have tfeoso ,^l pictures hanging up there that I break the commandments of Gtoit;^." j "No," my friend, "J do not; butyou say that v/e Catholics break it by '^^ having the pictures in theCiiurch." "There is no harm to make them" he says, " but you adore them." "Here you slander us, we do not adore any of the images in the Church." " Why have you them then? Why have you the portrait of your mother]" "Because" f.ays he. '* wjienever 1 look at it, I remember how good a woman she was, it seems to say to me. — ' Be good, be a Christian I ' When I look at that picture, I feel myself excited to practice all the virtues of which she has given mo the example. 1 remember all the good lessons she used to give me." " Why, yon are a Catholic my friend! This is precisely tlie use Catholics make of the [lictures and statues, in the Church. When the Catholic looks at the imag(! of Christ crucified, he ways, * See what the Saviour has suffered for me, — how he has shed out his precious blood to save my soul, I must, therefore, love Jesus.' Whenever the Catholic looks at the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he says, ' How pure, how holy, and how chaste was Mary, the Mother of Jesus ; I must endeavour to imitate her ]>urity in the service of God.' When we look at the statue of St. Joseph, or any other saint, we say, ' These saints were men as wo are; they lived in this worM, had the same ]>assions and the same diliiculties to contend with, as we have, but in spite of all these they were faithful to God. I can do the same,' says the Catholic, ' I must, thei-efore, make an effort to imitate their virtues and copy their exumple in human conduct." " But," says my Protestant friend "yon bow down before them. Have I not seen Catholics in this < 'hurch, during this mission, bowing to that image over the alter V "No! not to the image, but to Jesus, whom they believe to be in the Jlolv Tabernacle. Tlie Cat! olic bows not to the image, but bends his knee in homage to Jesus CJiiist. Is thf t wrong, my dear friend?" '• No," says the Protestant, " for at the name of Jesus the Bible tells us that extxy knee .shall bo^^- in iieaven and earth, and even in Iiell." " But you bow also to tlie Rta:ue of the Blessed Virgin," says he. " No, not to the sttitue, but to the one i-epresented by the statue — the iUessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Go I." " Is not Mary a crea- ture / " " Yes, a creature, hv t an ex! Iteil i ,nd holy creature." " Well," says the Protestant, "you nust not bow to any creature." " Why, my dear man, when I first came to Ottawa, I Uiot you in the street one day — you were ])oiuted out to me wa the minister of sucli-and- such a church ; 1 watched you as you went along, and you met a li'iend, a lady, an I in a moment you had youi hit in your hand, anrl bowed politely to her." ■' Yes, sir, but sho s such a nice creature, she is such a good and ]>i jus pei>on, aid a\ 3 should respect virtiu* and piety, and therefore J bowed to her.' " .vnd is not the Blessed ' v^irgin Mary good and holy, and siiould not I b>w to hei- and honor her exalted dignity as the mother (jf Gou ?" " Well, yes, that, after .v> -vV^^, ^t^ S.M.E. \ \ 1964 / I AGAINST THE CATIIOLIC CIU'RCn. 11 i,'^>-_Slir-^^N^8 to be pretty reasouublo ; l)ul. you Cailiolios ovtn-do the . ^■^e tA^^jj^oii make too mu^h fuss about the Blessed Virgin ; you can- "'WJLmid a Catliolic Church with an altai- to (Jod in it, in which then* is not one to the Blessed Virgin also. I think that is w: -ng, sir." " Well," my dear Pre t stint friend, ''suj>i>ose for a moment that the mother of George Washington v/as to come to New Yoik on a visit ; what excitement and fuss thero would be there — roaring of cannon, and firing of pistols, \\\\ bands of music marching through the streets, and bon-tires and illuminations ; and the hflies of New York dressed up in the grandest possible style, and in beautiful carriages, rolling through the streets of New York. Shoidd I say. ' liadies, what is all this fuss ar.d excitement about? Where are you going ? ' They would answer, ' 3ir, we go t(j pay our respects to the mother of Washington ; she his pu*^ up at the Aster House, and we go to see her." ' Well, ladies,' 1 would say, • why is the mother of Washijigton more thai any other woman, that you should thus honor herl' ' Oh, sir,' they would. say, 'it is easy to see you are a Dutchman ! What, .-lir I yoi; say not honor the mother of Wash- ington, who has given is so great a son ; a son who has made us a free, independent, glorious, and prosperous [)eople 1 And you say we should not honor the mother of Washington 1 ' ' All right,' say I, ' go and honor the mother of Washington ; I love to see gratitude in the hearts of the people.' " But tell me, my friends, has not Mary given us a gi eater .son than Washiugtc.n \ Has not Jesus done more for us than Wishington ? Has not he delivei-ed us from the slavery of hell, and made us heirs knew they would have a hard time ol' it to get to Hi iUfii, And you, my dear fashionable people, do niit wt:nt tr bo iunong lIk! (!ath(dicH, because they are poor; but i' you had lived in the (hiys of the Apostles, you would h?ve loolul)iic through fear ; hut when the Holy Chost came down on them in the shape of tongues of lire they were tilled with the tS[)iiit of (jlod, and vent forth and planted the Church all over the earth. Now, this hi ize of the candle is the emblem of the Holy Gnost coming down on he Apostles, and says, "Christian remember that thou art the ciiild of \ C'hurch not established l)y )nan— by Martin Liither, Henry the Ylil, Calvin or Wesley— but a child of the Church established by Jesus and the Holy Ghost, there- fore," says that candle upon the altar, " let your hearts expand with joy and hapjiiness that you are a cliihi of tiie » Jhurch not established by man but by Cod." "There is iuiother queer thing" says my Protestant friend, " I see everyone wJio eom_^s here si)rinkks him- self with water; this appears to me vei-y nonsensical." And do you read the Bible, and never read that Cod eomm.jided that in the temi>le there shoidd be a fountain of water, and t/iat all should wash their hands in it before entering the tempJ(», i-'i or jer to admonish them that they should come to the temjde of (t it shows your ignoi-ance of the Bible. In the Bible Goil commands that incense should ))e burned before Him. It is burned in order to reeogiuse ( Jod's suju'cme dominion over all things and )nan's de[)endence on Clod. The burning of the incense is emblematio that oiu- pi-ayers may ascend before the throne of Cod. " Well," says my Protestant friend, " that is in the Old Testa- ment, and that is done away with." It is in i.he Gospel too. When the Saviour was Ijorn in the stable at Bethleluni, the wise men eune and otleieil incense, gold, frankincence and myrrh. 1'hey otll'red incense to recognize Him as a God, and so v/e burn it on the altar in order to adore Him and worship Him as our God. "Why is it, among A(iAINST TlIK ( ATIIOI.K- (lirKClJ. IT) you Cntliolics, tluit tJifit'.iicM) iniuiy l);iil ])eo]iU';'' usks my ProtestMut iVit'iid. Arc all my s(']iaiate(l ln'(;tlievii ,>s;iiiits ? I lu'vcr heard of a Prott'HtiUit Saint. Jiave you uuo at ail ! 1 don't l)ulie^(' the r*!'-)- testKuts know it' tlipy lia\" a siu^cle saiji' ; and tlioy object to l)ad ])eople among Ciitlio.ics. 'i'beie is a ;^ooad priests." If there never liad been a Ik d priost tlitifre never wuidd lia\'e been ji Protestant in the ^vor.d. There Mre .snme bad priests jiut tliey are miglity few. Thoie av.'stmi ' ]);id j)reac]ier.s too. Wo read, from time to time, in the paneiis, o" che Uev. Hr. S<.' and So. fallhi!.; in love with hi;; iieighbor'fi wife, and they skedr.ddle. Sure, my dear peo[)le, that i;; not nice to run away \\ith his nei_i>;hbor's wife. So you see you have your shars of the bale. There are good and bad people amouj^- all denominations. Bid Ca Jiolic. and bad Prote.stants, and so it will be to the end of time. As long as vhe Church is composed of humar. beings, there shall be good and bad. Is tlie Chtircli to be blamed for that'{ Is it the Cluireh teaches them to be bad { The Church do«;i all she can to n»ake tier chiMren good, mcral, honest, pure, chaste an(. sober. I^oes not she A\ork idl the time, priests constantly preaching and missions continual'y gi'cn f(;r the reformation of the people ( The Chur^^h is not to blame if son e of her children do not obey her, and be guided by lioi' instructions and admonitions. Are parents to be blamed when they havi' a bad son, notwithstanding, having done everything to biing Lin- \i[) in a Christian like manner and nuike a gooti man of him? Xo ; so the '.yhureh is nor to l»lanie if some of h(!r children do not obey her in;itru(!tions and admonitions. The Church spares no })a ins : it makes eveiy lossihle ertbit to make her children good. But where do you se>', out ni' the (.'atholie Cluu'ch, .such h«M'oic chaiity as you see in it. l.,ook at the Grey^ Sisters of Charity, going to the huts of the poor, an o.' luxury and ease — young ladies of wealthy iamilies, but who have le- nounced the world, and given their heart and handto.fesus Christ and to the poor. My dearly beloved people, 1 ha\(' been sjieaking to you now for nearly two horns. 1 am delighted with all of you, my dearly beloved people of Ottawa. To-moiTow evening I will speak to you again, and to-morrow night bid you fai'ewell, meantime let me assure you that Ottawa has made a favorable hnpression upon me; that I have fallen in love with the people of Ottawa.