Excitement over a Catholic Bishop’s Sermon.
The N. Y. Times of the 4th ult., contains a dispatch from Cleveland, Ohio, stating that much excitement has been created there by the recent Lenten pastoral of the Right Rev. Dr. Gilmour, Roman Catholic Bishop of that diocese. The document is very bold and determined in tone and character, asserting the supremacy of the Church over the State, censuring the present system of public school education, which he claims is imperfect, insisting that Catholic families shall send their children to Catholic schools unless absolutely impracticable: directing that marriages shall not be contracted outside the Catholic church, and says if necessary Catholics must insist upon and demand their rights as citizens at the polls. Church property will not hereafter be controlled by trustees, but shall be transferred to the Bishop. The pastoral has elicited much comment from the press of the city, both editorially and through communications. Last Sunday evening, Rev. Mr. Toobush, a Unitarian minister, before a large audience, made the pastoral the subject of his discourse, and took strong grounds against it. Bishop Gilmour published a letter defending and explaining the pastoral at length, and concludes with this proposition to the school board: That the Catholics shall build their own school-houses, and place them, during school hours, under the entire control of the public school board, during which time no religious instruction shall be given; but before or after school hours religious instruction shall be permitted. The teachers of said school to be Catholics, and be paid by the school board.