Note and Comment

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 21, 1912

“The Menace of Unchanging Catholicism”

We present herewith a reported interview with Bishop William Burt, of Buffalo, given to a reporter of the Standard, published in that paper of Sept. 28, 1912. Bishop Burt has spent twenty-six years as a representative of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Europe. He lived eighteen years in Italy, fourteen of which were spent in Rome. Some months ago Bishop Burt, together with Archbishop Ireland, wrote a series of articles regarding the Catholic question, which appeared in the columns of our leading magazines. His intimate knowledge enabled him to speak with authority with reference to the present outlook:—

Rome does not change. The Roman Catholic Church to-day, in Europe and in America, has at heart the same inflexible purpose and principles that it had centuries ago. While I am not at all alarmed, and believe we should all keep cool and be kind, yet I look on conditions to-day, in Europe and in America, and I ask myself, Can it be that some day the Roman Church will actually take control of the United States? The menace is a real one.

Thirty years before the French Revolution Sir Isaac Newton predicted that the Catholic Church was destined to be trampled underfoot by the infidelity generated by the Roman Church itself. The prophecy has been fulfilled. The people of Europe have become sick of the formalism of the Greek and Roman Catholic Churches.

Infidelity in religion and socialism in economics are the results of this situation. Socialism is gaining in Vienna; we shall soon have religious liberty in Austria. Our long struggle for the privilege and right of worshiping God freely, of singing and preaching according to our own consciences, has not been in vain. But it has been a slow process. The largest results have come where our people have been most persecuted.

All we ask of Rome is to give us an equal chance with her to reach the people; we do not want a monopoly. If Rome sincerely wants religious freedom in this country, let her give us religious freedom in Europe and elsewhere. But Rome does not change. I have attended services in this country, in Eastern cities, in which the favors to be asked of the saints, through the church, were graded according to the financial gifts of those who asked the favors. All was put on a mercenary basis, almost reminding us of Tetzel and the protest of Martin Luther.

The modernist movement in the Roman Church of Europe is now a thing of the past. Merry del Val has succeeded in smothering it. Some of its leaders have been subdued, others have found it more safe and convenient to confine their efforts solely to quiet study in monastic retreats than to continue preaching and writing for publication. The pressure has been too strong against these men.

No, the Roman Catholic capital will never be moved to America. Whatever the designs of Rome concerning America may be, she is shrewd enough to know that a Pope on the Tiber really has more power in America than he would have if he were brought nearer and if the enchantment of historic associations was given up. Rome plans to build up a world imperialism, with the city of Rome as the center. Such are the indications, judging by the fact that in recent years Catholic individuals have been acquiring millions of dollars' worth of property in and about Rome, under conditions which will be favorable to the church. Nor do I look for any change in the relations between the papal and Italian governments.

I look on and ask myself, Are the American people fools, that they can be so blind regarding certain conditions? Here in America are one million children a year being taught in Catholic schools that this country was discovered by Catholics, that it really has been built up by Catholics, and that some day it will be dominated by the Catholic Church. Their schools in most cases are conducted without state supervision, such as the public schools must accept by law. Even in the public schools, the Catholic influence is strongly felt in many cities because of the presence of many Catholic teachers and pupils. It will not be at all surprising if there is a serious issue joined in the near future over such questions as state support of parochial schools. That is the thing they are working toward.

Yes, the Catholic Church is consistent in opposing the socialistic or popular democratic movements. It naturally hates anything savoring of socialism. And it knows how to make friends of the wealthy classes, bringing them to believe that in the church they will find the solution of their present difficulties.

The trouble with Americans is that they are prone to seek the easy way out; they prefer to look on the bright side all the time. They do not like to admit the seriousness of these problems. Our people are lacking in some of that iron in the blood and steel in the convictions which our fathers had. What our religious leaders to-day in America need is a clear issue in which to put their whole strength.