"A CATHOLIC COUNTRY WITHOUT RELIGION."
This is the testimony of a Catholic priest concerning Porto Rico. It is the testimony of "Father" Sherman (son of the famous general), who was appointed chaplain of a Missouri regiment at the beginning of the war with Spain. In a Jesuit magazine, the Messenger of the Sacred Heart, for December, he has an article entitled "A Month in Porto Rico," in which occurs this admission:— "Porto Rico is a Catholic country without religion. The clergy do not seem to have any hold of the people. They are part of the Spanish establishment. The Spaniards here are Catholics, some Porto Rican women are Catholics, the men are legally Catholic, which means they are baptized, married, and buried Catholics." Supposing, of course, that he means they are without the Christian religion, his statement may be taken as fact. He might go farther, and say the same of Cuba and the Philippines, and every other Rome-ruled country. But the admission is decidedly damaging to the claims of Romanism as a Christianizing influence. In this connection we are reminded of the statement of a certain Catholic dignitary who, in emphasizing the pope's solicitude for this country, said that what "the church" had done for other countries, she would gladly do for the United States.