D. S. Phelan as a Catholic and an Editor
By M. C. W.
THE Western Watchman of December 16, 1915, is a "Golden Jubilee Edition" in honor of its late editor and founder, the Rev. D. S. Phelan, LL. D., commonly known as "Father Phelan," who died a few weeks ago. The most of his life was given to his paper. He was no diplomat. You always knew where he stood,—for the papacy in all its traditions and work and history, and against Protestantism. He hated the latter with an unrelenting, implacable, intense, persistent hatred, and said so as strongly as his virile pen could write it. He was a fighter, and one priest said of him that in "his armory you will find everything from Krupp guns to sledge hammers." When he could not fight Protestants, he fought "some belligerent on his own side." He has been compared to a lion, a mad bull, an eagle, a fox, a tiger, a war horse. Yet it is declared that in all he said, he held no resentments. He seemed to love honest Protestants. He said recently that they were Catholics, but did not know it. We hope that Father Phelan was a better Christian than Roman Catholic. Some passages in his sermons were deeply spiritual, and at times he castigated his own people so severely that they must have sympathized with Protestants. He was a great editor, and he will be greatly missed.
M. C. W.