UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE.
What Cardinal Gibbons Has to Say.
CARDINAL GIBBONS, popularly, and doubtless correctly, regarded as the most liberal of the "princes" of "the church," does not believe in the separation of church and state as a universal principle. He professes to indorse it in this country, but he does not approve of it in France. In a recent interview secured for the New York World by Miss Helen Jerome, traveling correspondent of the Melbourne (Australia) Age, which interview is said to have been authorized and revised by the cardinal, he had the following to say in answer to an inquiry as to his "feelings with regard to the separation of church and state in France:" The separation of church and state in America I entirely approve, because, whilst there is a separation, the government of America does not antagonize Christianity. Moreover, there is this additional feature about it,—that, whilst the government of this country in no way interferes with the missions of the Catholic Church to preach the Gospel, it also holds over us the egis of its protection. If the French people were situated as we are, which unhappily they are not, I would wish the same state of things to exist among them. But as things are—and I feel very deeply about the question—I am sure that the separation of church and state in France, whatever may be the result in the near future, will involve the church in miserable perplexity and unhappiness. The separation of church and state in such a country as France is so much less desirable because there is absolutely no hope that the French Government will treat the Catholic Church with the same consideration as the American Government. I feel that all the old antagonisms will continue, and the vagaries of the human heart are sufficient for the church to cope with in themselves without any additional antagonist in the shape of the government. The cardinal "seemed to feel very pessimistic about the outlook for France; the subject seemed to sadden him much." And all because there is "no hope that the French Government will treat the Catholic Church with the same consideration as the American Government." What is the consideration with which the Catholic Church is treated by the American Government which causes the cardinal to say that in addition to not interfering "with the mission of the Catholic Church to preach the Gospel" the government of this country "also holds over us the egis of its protection"? What more consideration or protection should the Catholic Church have from the government of this country than protection from interference in its mission "to preach the Gospel"? Elsewhere in the interview the cardinal declared that "we have a fair field in this country and no favor, and we don't want favor," but that "the government of the United States is entirely friendly to the Catholic Church." In answer to the question, "Is not your eminence an American?" "the love of Cardinal Gibbons for his country was manifest in the pride of his voice" as he said: I am, indeed, and I have this to say—that the government of the United States is entirely friendly to the Catholic Church. We have a fair field in this country and no favor, and we don't want favor. With Dryden, I firmly believe that— "Truth has such a face and such a mein, That to be loved needs only to be seen." If "we don't want favor" and are not receiving favor, why is it necessary to keep saying, "We don't want favor?" The thing has the aspect of too much protestation, which generally accompanies the sense of guilt and the fear of detection. The declarations that the Catholic Church is receiving no favor in this country, and that "the government of the United States is entirely friendly to the Catholic Church," are not without a suggestion of incongruity. The last thirteen years are full of evidence that the Catholic Church is receiving favor. In answer to the question, "Does your eminence think that America will ever be a Catholic country?" the cardinal "said sadly:" "Ah! I can not give an expression of opinion as to that, seeing the big discrepancy existing between the 80,000,000 of people in the United States and the 14,000,000 of the Catholics, but it is permitted me to cherish such a hope." With regard to the condition of the Catholic Church in this country he said: The condition of the Catholic Church in America is most favorable. We have, of course, to contend with various forms of Protestantism, but I do not think that the animosity of these sects is half as acute as it is in your country of Australia, where I believe sectarianism has largely crept into the world of politics. The Protestants of Australia bring with them all the bitterness of the Old World, and it long remains fresh in their minds. With us here the great majority, or at any rate a substantial proportion, of the United States people are not attached to any particular form of religion, so that their hostility, if, indeed, they have any, is not so accentuated as it would be were there a strong sectarian impulse. I might go as far as to say that in this country, as far as my experience goes, we are received and treated very fairly by the non-Catholic laity, who are decidedly disposed to be just. Some of them, of course, have imbibed anti-Catholic prejudices from their youth; but, as a rule, the American spirit is entirely disposed to examine every side of a question and is, moreover, always open to conviction. The same is even true of many of the Protestant ministers. There are some, however, hopelessly unrelenting in their hostility. The cardinal referred to the favorable results from Catholic missions which are held for non-Catholics. He further said: Then at the present moment the Catholic population of the United States of America numbers about 14,000,000. If we add to these figures the Catholic population of the Philippines and Porto Rico, the Catholic population under the American Government would exceed 20,000,000. In the hierarchy of the United States the bishops number about one hundred, and these include one cardinal, thirteen archbishops, and eighty-six bishops, and every year we are adding new sees in the country, and I am happy to say that conversions are occurring in every direction. And all this advancement of Roman Catholicism is because Protestantism has lost its power to protest. There ought to be enmity, not against a single Roman Catholic, but against the fearful, soul-destroying errors of Roman Catholicism. But this is impossible with the little faith which a dying Protestantism has in the Bible.