The Governor and the Cardinal by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 25, 1912

The Governor and the Cardinal

By C. M. S.

THE press of the country, daily and weekly, has had much to say concerning the attempt of Cardinal O'Connell to exalt himself above the governor of Massachusetts, mention of which incident is made in another column. We give on the next page some of these utterances which will doubtless be of interest. Zion's Herald, of Boston, in its issue of March 27, says:—

There was no personal feeling in the governor's refusal to accept the place assigned him. He simply felt that he could not permit the commonwealth which he represents, to be thus slighted; and we believe the people of the States as a whole, including many Catholics, will give his action their unqualified approval. . . . There is frequent complaint, on the part of Catholics, that they are unjustly discriminated against in public affairs, that an unreasonable prejudice against them exists. Such prejudice, if there is any, is founded on the feeling that the loyal Catholic, if called to choose between the two, would place allegiance to his church before allegiance to the state. Such incidents as the attempt to secure the participation of a regiment of militia in the welcome to the cardinal on his return home, and the placing of the cardinal before the governor at the banquet of the Charitable Irish Society, will tend only to strengthen that feeling. Cardinal O'Connell may be a prince in the Roman Catholic Church, but in the United States he is only a plain citizen, . . . most emphatically not entitled to precedence over the governor of a sovereign State.

Concerning the same incident the Christian Register (Unitarian) of March 28 says:—

Governor Foss deserves praise for maintaining the dignity of his office. At a recent banquet in Boston the President of the United States, Cardinal O'Connell, Mr. Denis McCarthy, and Governor Foss were to appear in that order. Governor Foss very properly objected, on the ground that his place was next to the President. The explanation given, and, so far as we know, never contradicted, was that the cardinal had commanded the committee to arrange the speakers in this order. As obedient Catholics, of course they could not disregard this command. Efforts were made to induce the governor to take the place assigned to him, and the explanation given was that the State was represented by the President, and therefore there was no slur cast upon it if the church came next. But in Massachusetts the explanation does not serve, for we do not recognize foreign princes as having higher rank than the chief magistrate of the commonwealth, and certainly no church of any creed or class is entitled to take precedence on such occasions. We believe that the governor's decision will be approved, not only by all Protestants, but by a majority of the members of the Catholic Church in this country. The Independent has cited a list of Catholic journals that look with disfavor upon the absurd pretensions of the new-made “princes” of the church.

In another column of the same issue of the Christian Register appears the following:—

A defender of Cardinal O'Connell says that the dinner at which the governor of Massachusetts was asked to take fourth place was an ecclesiastical dinner, at which the cardinal properly took precedence. This raises the question, How did it happen that an ecclesiastical dinner was arranged to commemorate the evacuation of Boston, which was certainly not an incident in the history of the Roman Church? The explanation makes the matter worse.

The demand of the cardinal that he be given the highest seat on this occasion is in direct antagonism to the specific instruction of the One whom the cardinal professes to represent. Our Lord instructed his followers thus, when bidden to a feast:—

“Sit not down in the chief seat. . . . But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest place. . . . For every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Luke 14: 8-11.

Our Lord also warns men to “beware” of those who desire the “chief places at feasts.” See Luke 20: 46, 47. That warning is always timely, and is particularly fitting just now, for such incidents as these referred to are full of meaning, and bode ill for the dearly bought liberties of American citizens. The spirit or the organization that would insist upon placing an ecclesiastical functionary above the governor of the State would just as quickly place its will and its commands above the law of the land, and trample upon the dearest liberties of the people, both civil and religious.

C. M. S.