CATHOLIC CONSISTENCY by W. N. Glenn

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 26, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 21.

CATHOLIC CONSISTENCY.

By W. N. Glenn

BY W. N. GLENN.

Whatever else may be said of the Roman Catholic religion, the structure is consistent with itself. If Protestants had been as consistent in practice as are the Catholics, there would now be far less cause for alarm at the Catholic influence in the politics of the country. There can be no doubt that the conditions of which Protestants so loudly complain have been largely brought about by Protestant support of Catholic institutions. Everywhere Protestant business men are liberal contributors to Catholic enterprises of all kinds. Protestants are quite liberal in their patronage of Catholic schools, and it has come to be deemed the very acme of Christian liberality on the part of Protestant ministers and prominent Protestant journals to portray the good things in modern Catholicism; this, too, in the face of the Catholic boast that “Rome never changes.”

Catholic domination in the United States, and the government indorsement and enforcement of religious dogma emphatically Catholic in its origin, may well be styled an “image” to the papal “beast,” for the reason that the consummation has been brought about not so much by means of Catholic effort as through Protestant encouragement. Protestants are to-day more persistently aggressive in the support and advancement of doctrines and institutions essentially Catholic, than in any other lines. From year to year they are falling more and more into line with Catholic festivals, forms, and methods generally.

But to the question of consistency. While Catholics persistently, even by means of threatened boycott, solicit aid and support from Protestants for their various enterprises, they very rarely reciprocate by aiding any Protestant institution. From the Converted Catholic of February, 1894, we take the following, as illustrative of the Catholic position:—

Bishop Watterson, of Columbus, Ohio, in a sermon delivered in his cathedral, December 27, 1891, said he had been severely criticised by Catholics as well as Protestants for refusing to allow Roman Catholics to take part in entertainments, the proceeds of which were to be applied in aid of Protestant institutions that spread heresy and irreligion. The institution in question was a Protestant Episcopal Church in Columbus, where a festival was being held at which a Roman Catholic lady had promised to sing, but was compelled to refuse when threatened with excommunication by Bishop Watterson. This action of the bishop was in accordance with the rule laid down by Gury, the Jesuit theologian, who says: “Excommunicationem incurrunt non hæretici tantum, sed etiam eorum fautores”—“Not only heretics incur excommunication, but they also who favor them.”—Theol. Moral., p. 903.

Bishop Watterson in the same sermon said he feared the Protestants of Columbus would cease to aid the Roman Catholic institutions of the city, because he, as bishop of the diocese, refused to allow Roman Catholics to assist in the spread of heresy. Then he continued to his own people: “You are not to say ‘Godspeed,’ or to salute him who enters your house to spread the doctrines of heresy or irreligion. How much more so are you enjoined from assisting by your labor or coöperation the religion that opposes truth and the enemy of the church of Christ. The position I have taken is founded on the teachings of the church in all ages.”—Catholic News.

In the Cincinnati Western Christian Advocate, Jan. 20, 1892, Rev. D. H. Moore, D.D., the editor of that paper, relates his experience when he applied to Mr. R. R. Springer, the wealthiest Roman Catholic of Cincinnati, for a subscription towards the payment of the debt on Wesleyan College. Dr. Moore had been told by his friends that “Catholics never aid a Protestant cause,” but as he knew that Roman Catholics persistently and successfully sought Protestant aid, he could not believe they would refuse him, until he tried. He sent a courteous and earnest appeal to Mr. Springer, and received the following reply:—

Dear Sir: Your favor of the 5th inst., asking aid for your college, received. I fully believe in the great advantages of a liberal education for both sexes; but being a member of the holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church, and believing that religious instruction should form an important part of education, I could not, with a clear conscience, aid in teaching what I did not believe in, thus confirming what you preface your letter with, “that Catholics never aid a Protestant cause.” This, from your standpoint, may be regarded as illiberal, but is right, nevertheless, as we view our duty. Yours truly, R. R. SPRINGER.