The President and Roman Catholics by William Warren Prescott

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 22, 1909

The President and Roman Catholics

By William Warren Prescott

Much is being made in Roman Catholic publications of some recent utterances by President W. H. Taft. Under the display heading, “President Taft Praises Friars,” The New World, of Chicago (Roman Catholic), publishes a report opening with these words:—

Wednesday [July 7] was a notable day at the Catholic Summer School, Cliff Haven, N. Y. Before thousands of people President Taft declared the country was becoming more tolerant, and that the narrow prejudices of the past were being abandoned. He praised Pope Leo XIII, and commended the Spaniards who converted the Philippines to Christianity.

In the same article there is a report of President Taft’s speech, of which it is said that he “devoted his address mainly to his dealings with the Catholic Church in the Philippines.” We quote a part of the address:—

I am not a Catholic, but I have had in the last ten years a great deal to do with the Catholic Church. My lot did not carry me into a part of the world that made me as familiar with the French explorers, the French leaders of civilization, like Champlain, as it did into the regions of those leaders that came from Spain—into the Philippines, where the same influence that carried Champlain here, and that same influence that controlled him, controlled men equally brave and in certain respects more successful. Legaspi, who came out to the Philippines with four or five Augustinian monks, converted to Christianity that entire archipelago, now having some seven or eight million souls, and then perhaps five hundred thousand—the only community of people in the entire Orient that to-day as a people are Christians.

I think we are reaching a point in this country where we are very much more tolerant of everything and everybody than in the past, and where we are giving justice where justice ought to be given. We are no longer cherishing these narrow prejudices that come from denominational bigotry, and we are able to recognize in these great heroes in religion and Christian faith, and appreciate, the virtues that they exhibited, and follow the examples they have set for us.

It is perfectly obvious that to the Roman Catholic mind the statement that the narrow prejudices of the past are being abandoned means that opposition to the teaching and the methods of the Roman Catholic Church is becoming much less pronounced, and this is evidently the fact. To the unprejudiced observer, it appears

plain that the Roman Catholic authorities are weaving a net around President Taft, with the hope of making good use of his official position for the advancement of the interests of their church. The representatives of Rome know how to employ every opportunity to glorify the Catholic Church, and under soft words and beautiful phrases to hide an ugly record. It is perfectly clear that they are now putting forth every effort to reinterpret all history in such a way as to make the Roman Catholic Church the conserver of true religion and civil liberty in all ages. Will leading Protestants aid them in this campaign?

W. W. P.