The Roman Catholic Program
By W. W. P.
It is the avowed purpose of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in this country “to make America Catholic.” Instead of making any attempt to conceal this purpose, the leaders of the Roman Church have publicly announced it, and sound it abroad as their watchword. In confirmation of these statements, we shall quote at some length from Catholic publications some representative utterances upon this subject. The official report of the third Washington conference of Catholic missionaries to non-Catholics was issued from the Catholic University of America, at Washington, with the title “The Mission Movement in America.” The aim of this movement is clearly set forth in an explanatory paragraph, which occupies a page just preceding the table of contents:— The spirit of this mission movement in America is the spirit of St. Francis de Sales. It excludes all controversy, and it condemns all rancorous religious discussion. At the same time, it devotes itself to showing forth the inner beauty of Catholic doctrine and practise, believing that if the non-Catholic people of America only knew the mother church of Christendom as well as we do they would love her as ardently. Our motto is, We come not to conquer, but to win. Our purpose is to make America dominantly Catholic. [In the pamphlet the words here italicized were printed in full-face capitals.] There is no occasion for misunderstanding these frank statements. The representatives of Rome have planned a campaign, and will carry it on vigorously. From this time on they will work untiringly to capture America for the Catholic Church. Among the leading addresses reported in this pamphlet is one on “Church Extension and Convert Making,” by Rev. F. C. Kelley, president of the Church Extension Society. We quote some significant paragraphs bearing upon the conversion of America to the true faith:— Without a doubt, if American Protestantism were blotted off the religious map of the world, the work of the so-called Reformers of the fifteenth [sixteenth] century, within fifty years, might well be called dead. Protestantism in the United States is a great source of missionary activity in foreign countries. The different Protestant organizations in the United States spend seven millions of dollars per annum in foreign missions, or almost half the spendings of all the rest of the non-Catholic world. Protestantism, then, really may be said to stand or fall on American effort.—Page 72. From a strategic point of view, America—the United States of America—is our best missionary field.—Page 73. Again, how many are fond of calling this a Protestant country! Is it? We deny!—Page 77. We who hope for a Catholic America have as yet come only to the end of the desert. . . . Only has it been given to some among us to enter [the land of Canaan] and gather souls, grapes so sweet and beautiful as to fill us with hunger for other fruits that await the coming of our successors. They will go, Joshuas, to the Jordan, to Jericho, to Hai, and to Jerusalem, and then only will the details of the work become clear. The little chapels the Church Extension movement will build shall be their fortified camps, and the men whom you fathers of the apostolate will send shall be advance-guards to point the way to the new and fertile fields that abound in the promised land. Quite in harmony with the view set forth in the first paragraph quoted above is an extract from a letter written by a Roman Catholic, and printed, with the approval of the editor, in the Missionary (Roman Catholic) for May, 1910:— It seems to me that the main support of Protestantism comes from the United States and England. The millions subscribed in these two countries keep Protestantism alive. . . . So far as converting to Christianity the heathen is concerned, it is true that the Protestant missionaries accomplish nothing; but they do interfere with and retard the work of our missionaries, and they sow seeds of discord, strife, and irreligion in Catholic countries. If we put an end to this effort in England and the United States by making these nations predominantly Catholic, we shall have removed the chief obstacle to the conversion of the whole world to the true faith. . . . A vigorous effort in the United States at this time will reduce the opposition to an insignificant condition. . . . In the course of another century, the [Protestant] sects will be a study for the historian and antiquarian, along with Arianism. Since these utterances were put into print, there has been no abatement on the part of the Roman clergy of their purpose “to make America Catholic.” On the contrary, the enthusiasm in this mission movement is increasing. This is shown in the sentiments expressed in the columns of various Roman Catholic publications, and in the vigor with which the work itself is pushed forward. As a representative utterance, we take a paragraph from an article entitled “Success to Missions for Non-Catholics,” which appeared in the Missionary (Roman Catholic) for October, 1911:— “To make America Catholic” is the watchword of this general apostolate, on the part of religious and secular priests combined. The well-disposed non-Catholics can not but be favorably influenced by these efforts made so specially in their behalf. . . . Prejudice, born of misunderstanding the spirit and teachings of the Catholic Church, is fast disappearing, and there is a readiness on the part of a large number of Christians, and of those of no religious belief, to listen to the church’s teaching on matters of religion, as well as to learn of her position on the great social problems that agitate the world at the present time. This aggressive policy on the part of Rome, her well-planned campaign, and her well-organized efforts to win non-Catholics8to her standard have not escaped the notice of some thinking Protestants who are evidently impressed with the threatening danger. The controversy with Rome has received an unusual amount of attention of late in current publications of nearly all classes, and many articles have appeared treating upon various phases of the subject. Among the contributions to the discussion is one entitled “The Attitude of Baptists to Catholicism, Roman and Greek,” written by Dr. John Clifford, a noted Baptist preacher of London, and printed in the Review and Expositor (Baptist) for July, 1911. Citing some facts which give special importance to his theme, Dr. Clifford includes among them the present aggressiveness of Rome. To quote:— The second fact is not less significant. It is the invasion of Protestant lands by Rome in a spirit of fierce aggressiveness, resolute determination, infinite craft, rigid exclusiveness, and uncompromising intolerance. Since 1870 the classical land of Italy has been in revolt against the venerable church. Portugal is expectant of release from its grip. Spain seethes with distrust and hatred of its sway. Crowds have left “the faith” in Austria. “Modernism” is eating like a canker at the heart of Rome, and taxing all the skill and patience of the curia and of the Pope to limit its ravages. Therefore the forces of Roman Catholicism are now directed to the conversion of the Anglo-Saxon race. That is the goal of the policy of the Pope. With absolute devotion and splendid zeal, the leaders and representatives of Rome are dedicated to the capture of the progressive peoples. Enormous sacrifices are being made. Nothing is held back. No effort is too great. No expenditure of time and money is regarded as too costly to win the young men from their allegiance to Protestantism. The machinery of education is worked with sleepless vigilance. Superstition is welcomed. The arts of magic are employed to win the unreflecting, and a low morality follows in their track; for as Lecky says, “When credulity is inculcated as a virtue, falsehood will not long be stigmatized as a vice.” It is an hour of special danger to the gospel of Jesus Christ, a menace to the spirituality and power of religion. With what keenness of discernment and accuracy of description does this writer analyze and hold up to our view Rome’s present program! He states, with an entire absence of bitterness or abusive epithets, facts which ought to quicken the pulse of every lover of the truth, and revive the flagging missionary zeal of any who have grown weary in the work of disseminating the pure principles of the gospel. But the situation that has been set forth in this whole article ought to appeal more strongly to Seventh-day Adventists than to any other class of people. As a result of their study of the prophecies, they have believed for many years that the Papacy would exercise a great power in this country in the closing years of human history. They have looked forward to that time as a period of special and thrilling interest. They have tried to prepare others for that experience by warning them of what was foretold in the prophetic word. And now what has been a matter of faith is facing them as an actual fact. Let us ask then:— Shall we continue to talk of these things just as we have for a quarter of a century as still being in the somewhat indefinite future? Shall we make any special effort to bring the present situation to the attention of all the people? Shall we give the message against the beast and his image as a teaching now needed to save the Protestant world from the snare being laid for it? Shall we embrace the opportunity now offered, and meet the situation presented to us in the providence of God? These questions are worthy of the serious consideration of all who are connected with this great second advent movement. W. W. P.