Significant to the Man Who Sees.
It is mightily significant, the part that Roman Catholicism is now acting in events of almost national importance. St. Louis recently celebrated her founding as a city, and the great day of the celebration was church day, in which the Protestant churches offered to take part with the Catholic in honoring the “patron saint” of the city, but they were distinctly told that religiously this could not be. In other words, Rome would not even seem to compromise, but the Protestants yielded all in principle. Now the Portola festival of San Francisco, which is almost a national affair, is opened with a solemn high mass, held under the direction of the Knights of Columbus (Catholic), at which Archbishop Riordan presides and Bishop Dennis O’Connell is celebrant of the mass, the sermon to be delivered by a Catholic priest. These services will be attended by Governor Gillett, Mayor Taylor, and other state and municipal officers. A daily paper remarks that this service so attended “will invest the celebration with a significance to San Francisco similar to the big festivals held in many of the continental cities.” Exactly, but these continental cities are Catholic by law. American cities are supposed to be free. We are not blaming Roman Catholics. From their policy they could do no different; but where is the Americanism of our civil authorities?