THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE NEW WORLD DEMOCRACY

New Zealand Tablet, 10 July 1919, Page 33

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE NEW WORLD DEMOCRACY

(By Archbishop ■ Redwood.)

|' ■ President;: Wilson has repeatedly stated that the great -war ; "was ;-fought to;make the world safe for democracy, and " many signs 'point to the establishment, in no remote future, of?democracy throughout the world. It has been asked how will the Catholic Church fare in ; the new world-democracy Some silly blatant folk have said that the Catholic Church, being an autocracy, is bound to disappear in the great cataclysm about" to overwhelm all the autocratic Governments of the world. Vain;hope, foolish surmise ! The argument contains two . statements First, the Catholic Church is an autocracy; second, the Catholic Church cannot live and thrive in a democray—both statements are false. ■.. I.—The Catholic Church is not- an -'. autocracy. According to the generally received definition, autocracy :is -: independent and selfderived .power. - .;An.., autocratic '" religion, therefore, is one that derives power from itself, depends on no source outside itself for its authority and the exercise thereof. Does the Catholic Church square with this . definition? Certainly not. Look at the things that, stand "out prominently in that Church—-her-constitution, her mission, -her doctrine'.; -her morality. These are certainly not self-derived. They were given to her by Jesus Christ, her Divine Founder. He said to Peter, and through Peter, to Peter's successors, the Popes of Christendom: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My. Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And 1 will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, shall be bound also in Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in Heaven. . . I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and thou being once converted confirm thy brethren. . . Feed My lambs, feed My sheep." Christ also said to His Apostles, and, through them, to their successors, the bishops of the Catholic Church: "Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gosnel to every creature. . ... -Going therefore teach ye all nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, behold, I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world. . . As the Father hath sent Me

I also send you. . . He that heareth you heareth Me, and he that despiseth you despiseth Me. And he that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent Me." The constitution, mission, doctrine, and morality of the Catholic Church-outlined- in these words are, therefore, not self-derived. They are divine. They come to the Church from God through Jesus Christ, His Divine Son. It, is no objection to say that the people had nothing to do with their making. Religion is essentially from God. Man-made religion is a contradiction in terms. Religion is God's gift to the worlda gift by which man may be sanctified here and saved hereafter. Who shall say that the recipient, and not the giver, has the right to determine the conditions of the gift? ,But, though the constitution, mission, doctrine, and morality of the Catholic Church are divine in their source, in their human application they are most democratic. The Founder of the Church and the Framer of

lier constitution :; was indeed" the' Son of God, - but to establish His Church among men He Himself did not disdain to become a man, and, that the Church might never forget its democratic origin, He chose for His mother a lowly virgin, for his foster-father a humble carpenter, and for most of his Apostles poor fishermen. The successors - of the Apostles, the bishops of the though .."appointed for men in the things of God," have nevertheless been : "taken from among men," oftentimes from poor and the lowly. Pope

Pius. X., for instance, was the son of the. postmaster of Riese. Cardinal Farley, of New York, Was tie "W>tg.. of a peasant, and the father of the late and ever?, iliisft trious Archbishop Ireland was a carpenter. Hear what President Wilson has to say of the democracy of the Catholic Church and of her hierarchy and priesthood during the day when government was monarchic and aristocratic:—"The only reason government did not suffer dry rot in the Middle Ages, under the aristocratic system which then prevailed, was that so many of the men who were efficient instruments of government were drawn from the Church, from that great religious body which was the only Church, that body which is now distinguished from other religious bodies as the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church was then,, as it is now, a great democracy. There was no peasant so humble that he might not become a priest, no priest so obscure that he might not become the? Pope of Christen doniy and every Chancellery in Europe was. ruled by those learned, trained, and accomplished men y the priesthood of that great and dominant body. What kept government alive during the Middle Ages was this constant rise of the sap from the root, from the rank and file of the great body of the people through the \ tree channels of the priesthood." '„• "v ? ...\v The mission of the Church is-from God, but it is a mission to "all nations," to "every creature." The' Church makes "no distinction between Jew and Greek barbarian and Scythian; bond and free, male and female. All are one with her in Jesus Christ:" Before the altar king and peasant, governor and governed, learned and ignorant, white or black— are equal : Chief Justice Taney of the United States was one Sat-' urday night awaiting his turn to go to confession in the Cathedral of Baltimore, when a laboring man aboutto enter the confessional came down the line and said • 'Take my place. It is not becoming that the Chief Justice should be kept waiting so long." Taney replied : Tam not Chief Justice here. I am only the criminal at, the. bar." *\ ~. •- : -.«*.?-.;.■ ■ ;" ■ The doctrine of the Church is divine,-but it proclaims that all men have the same origin], the same destiny, that all are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and that all will appear on a tooting of equality before the same: dread tribunal to give an account, of the deeds done in the flesh. The morality of the Church is the eternal law written in the hearts and consciences of all men, and contained in the Decalogue promulgated by ; Moses 'and adapted by Jesus Christ; but it is a law which obliges all men, without except the great as-well as the little ones of the earth, the wise as well as the illiterate, the rich as well as the poor, the Pope and the bishops and the priests as well as the layman, the State as well as the individual. The moral code L of the Church admits no double standard. It is founded;- on the democracy of the Ten Commandments. " : t The discipline and legislation of the Church, though based on the immutable principles of dogma; and morals, adapts itself to the genius of peoples, .to the manners, customs, and institutions, and to varying conditions of time and place. The celibacy of the clergy, modelled after Christ and-His Apostles, and /by-the; example of moral heroism predisposing the world 'to the acceptance of the Gospel, has not always been enjoined, nor ever imposed on all parts of the Church. ; Marriage laws, while never losing sight of the unity, sanctity, and indissolubility of Christian wedlock, have frequently been changed, and are not. the same in every country. Clandestinity,; for example, made a , diriment "impediment by the. Council of Trent, in the sixteenth never, enforced in all parts of the United (s%sm Js|»stralia, and New Zealand until Pius X. issued VhWWe Temcre Decree, which went into effect in 1908. Like-

wise, laws of fasting and abstinence have not,;jbjegn?i£te same always and everywhere. In a word, while to yield one iota of the divine deposit of faitii and

; dHot|.°"iiSVJ ; :'-i}.SfiT' ■ .''.VNKUvI -30' XOSMxmQT m'.3 :w-. S;'--^- : .-- morals; f ;the Church varies her i discipline to suit the needs-; of a the times i, and ; the temper of the people, remembering that her mission is to save the people- not to. destroy them. £/ k<xotei<:- eisj -«:.0. :•;/.; ; ? j... Finally,, : the 9 government Fof i the Church ; has; many points, of i resemblance with the American Republican form, of ~ government. Ci The Pope, like the President; is elected. Bishops :; , are ; appointed.. by \ the Pope, but only afterthe priests and* bishops of the territory concerned are heard, r just as justices of the; Supreme Court in the .United States,. and Federal judges are appointed by the President, but. not without the approval of the United States Senate. The Ecumenical Council, the supreme lawmaking body in the Church, made up of the. Pope and the bishops, resembles the American Congress composed of the delegates from the various States; with the President at their head. The Pope's College of Cardinals is like the President's Cabinet. The members of the Cabinet are the. heads of various departments ..of. the . administration, just: as the Cardinals in the Roman Curia are heads of the various congregations which transact the business of the Universal Church. Every American citizen has access to the supreme tribunal at Washington. So the humblest child of the Church has the right- of appeal to the highest court in Rome, and no question is decided until it has been given the fullest consideration. ,: Whether we consider, therefore, its government and disciplinary legislation, or its constitution, mission, doctrine, and morality in their human applications, we find that the Catholic Church, far from being an autocracy, is in fact a great religious democracy.

: ll.—What about the second statement—namely, that - the Catholic Church cannot live or thrive in a democracy? . ~,..

. : The Catholic Church can live under any form of government, because she carries in her hand the promise of, her Divine Founder; “Teach all nations . . . and, behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” Her life, therefore, is independent of all forms of government. .Still, she thrives best in ..a r, democracy. . . The conditions most favorable to the growth and prosperity of the Church are freedom and peace, and these are more likely to be guaranteed in a democracy than under any other form of political rule. > She lived and made converts during the hundred years of Roman persecution, but with the freedom granted by Constantine -she extended her conquest to the ends of the Roman Empire. Still, peace was not complete under Roman domination. Peace presupposes order. ; St. Augustine defined it to be the tranquility of order. Order in civil government requires the presence of authority and liberty. In Rome there was authority, but no liberty. The authority of the State was : absolute, and thus absorbed the liberty of the individual. The doctrine of the Church regarding the dignity and rights of all men and their equality before God could not but create in time a feeling of unrest and a spirit of revolt against the absolutism of Roman authority. This disturbed the so-called “Roman Peace,” and necessarily hampered the free action of the Church. Then came the barbarians -who destroyed the Roman Empire and with it Roman autocratic power. But the barbarians went to the other extreme. They indeed substituted individual liberty for the 'tyranny of the "Roman ’ absolutism, but the spirit of liberty was too strong -"arid it frequently degenerated" into anarchy. Thus. The order and peace ■of society were again disturbed. Pope Leo 111. restored, authority to its rightful plac^’ when he revived the imperial dignity in the person of Charlemagne. ; All the;elements;of a peaceful society were now present. The Emperor represented a authority, the barons or feudal lords represented liberty, and the Church mediated between them. But the;elements were not properly adjusted. The freedom of the barons was not Extended to the peasants, burghers, ? and, serfs who constituted the 3 great ’ mass 4 of the ' people.,/., Hence, according as their interests swayed them, the) people united now- with the barons against the Emperor ‘ and now|with the Emperor .against, the barons. Finally, fron® the thirteenth- to tH c- rnsteenth ev«vV»iyj vno ww

archy r ' triumphed; *; Then came ' the '' so-called Reformation, which, nationalising religion, made it the slave of 1 the State, and this weakened the only power which could successfully champion the liberties of the people. The old autocracy of the Roman Caesars, who arrogated to themselves' : ] the ; double '' title of King and ' Pontiff, was brought back again to earth-—an autocracy which the Church had banished from the world autocracy, which was destined to haunt the political and religious peace of mankind until it was finally destroyed in the world's greatest war, with the aid of the world's youngest and" ; greatest democracy, the United i States" of America. " 1 ' '/'■' '"•--'/':;•' : s>as i»rsiV9ii3tC«« In the meantime, Providence opened up a new. world beyond the' Atlantic which became the haven of the downtrodden and persecuted peoples of Europe. These in time set up a" real democracy where authority and liberty are equally balanced. ; The people under God are the source of all political power. . This they transmit to their rulers. And lest the rulers should become despotic, a wise constitution defines. the limits of their authority, and, in case of dispute, a court of final appeal interprets the constitution. Liberty and authority aro thus permanently safeguarded. Free from the age-long struggles of liberty against despotism, and of authority against anarchy, the Church has enjoyed the peace necessary to " work out. her destiny. '-' Is it any wonder that, in less than 150 years, the Church has made more progress in America than in any previous equal period in the history of any other country in the world? •■ -•""-" ■'-'''- ■■"- : "■--■ ■• '•-■•■■<-•-•■ : - -■' '•;•-■• ;' - , '~-- ••-•--'■•

Now, if the democracy of America is" going to spread to all the peoples of the world, the Catholic Church may reasonably expect, in the world at large, what she has achieved in America. She has therefore nothing to fear from the new-world democracy. She welcomes it with radiant brow and a heart full of confidence. "' '. '

lII.But what kind -of democracies are going to be born out of the world’s travail ? That is the question which is filling with misgivings the members of the .Peace Conference and statesmen and Christians the world over. In countries where the old order has disappeared license and anarchy are showing their head. Bolshevism has overrun Russia, entered Poland and Germany, and is appearing in the United States. What is the remedy for this alarming condition of things? “Food for the starving and the unemployed,” say some. “The strong hand of the Government,” say others. What says the Catholic Church? Why, ‘justice” ! First of all, international justice-justice to all nations, great and small—justice to all nations, whether hostile or friendly during the late war. “Nationalities do not die,” said Pope Benedict XV. in one of his first public statements after his accession to the chair of St. Peter, “and any attempt to crush a nation can only leave a legacy of hate which will be the fruitful seed of future war.” “International aspirations must be respected”—said he again, when addressing the heads of States regarding the terms of peace. Finally in his message to the American people, last New Year’s Eve, he uttered these solemn words: “On the eve of the New Year in which humanity is at last to enjoy the blessings of peace, we are glad to send cordial greetings to the American people as the champions of those same principles which have been proclaimed by President Wilson and the Holy See, insuring for the world justice, peace,' and Christian love. In this solemn moment, -i: when a ■ new era in the history of the world is about to begin, we pray that the Almighty, may shed His light s Air: the delegates'!who are meeting Paris :to settle the fate of mankind, and especially upon President Wil--son, as the head of the noble nation which has written such glorious pages in the annals of human progress. May the Conference be of such a nature a to remove & any resentment, abolish for ever wars! among brother’s, v establish t harmony ; and concord, and promote useful tj labor: Out pf .the Peace Conference may there be born the League ,of Nations, which, by abolishing conscription, will reduce armaments; which, by., establishing tribunals, will guarantee to everyone independence and

equality of- rights.'' If these admonitions-'are" heeded," if the 4 remedy of the Holy Father is accepted by the members of the Peace Confernce, —then will there be lasting peace among the new democracies of the world, because it will be founded the solid rock of international' justice. V : '/,/--7 RSfriofl iixEr icvosv:,-:;,.; hU- trfT

"''Z'.C Secondly", if Bolshevism and /anarchy, would be •banished from the new democracies, the .Catholic Church teaches.'that there must be social justice within the nations affected. '.'..'... - ..,, ~,-*,, ifxt't i>ri >■.-. : -'. ttrwvfcs.

'' The great charter of social justice is the Decalogue —the Ten' Commandments of God which Our Lord reduced to the' love of God and the love of neighbor. Bolshevism and anarchy, which are only socialism carried to its logical conclusions, would eliminate all love, all authority, whether;it;find expression in God, the Church, or the State, and ; make selfishness the law of life. Thus the first four Commandments lose their binding force. Greed \ and pleasure then become the norm of existence. Private ownership of the means and instruments of production, and distribution, and even of land itself is condemned, and all proporty is transferred to the State for the use of the multitude. In this creed "direct action" is advocated, and life and limb and reputation must not stand in the way. The Commandments "Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt /not covet thy neighbor's goods, thou shalt not Bear false witness against thy neighbor," are declared to be obsolete. Woman, likewise, becomes common property, and family obligations cease, and children are a charge on the State. Thus the sixth- and ninth Commandments are stricken from the Decalogue. Authority, property, family gone, what is left to keep men from becoming a herd of brutes and red revolutions from devastating the earth The prime remedy, therefore, of Bolshevism and anarchy is the observance of the Ten Commandments. Hence, there should be earnest inculcation of the love of God and the love "of neighbor, the preaching, in season and out of season of the divine law—of the sacredness of authority, first of all, in God who is its source, then of authority in the home, the Church, and the State, because it is from God— the dignity of woman, and the unity, sanctity, and indissolubility of Christian marriageof the inviolability of private property. The Church preached these doctrines to the barbarians who destroyed the Roman Empire, and thus laid the foundations of Christian civilisation throughout the length and breadth of Europe. By using all the energies of her great world organisation, to bring that doctrine home to the minds and hearts of the newly . liberated peoples, she will stay the tide of Bolshevism and anarchy, and direct the forces of democracy into the channels of true liberty, .order, and

peace. /,/ , *... But, while the Church preaches the Commandments to the proletariate, she does not intend that capital shall be exempt from their observance. In fact, she feels that Bolshevism and anarchy, while often due to the envy and cupidity of the workers which unscrupulous .agitators have fanned into flame, are nevertheless not unfrequently traceable to the greed, injustice, and cruelty of the rich and powerful. Leo XIII. did not hesitate to say that "a, number of very rich men had laid on the teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself And he further declared that "a remedy. for this misery must be found, and found quickly,. if - society itself would. be saved." He himself outlined the remedy in his famous Ency-

clical"""oh"the condition of labor."- That was about 28 years; ago. In the light of the developments which have, since occurred in the industrial -and > particularly in j.the't light of the conditions brought "about by the late world-war, the bishops of- Germany, Holland, ; England, f and the United r States have-recently emphasised? the remedy of Leo, ,: and j laid down specific programmes of social reconstruction. The programme' of i the bishops' i■ of > the Catholic National War 'Council of the -United i States * included a ! legal minimum ;! w£|e s which shall be sufficient for the decent maintenance of; a family; • insurance i against sickness, accidents, Unem--' ployment, and old age, to be a charge on industry Until' wages are raised sufficiently to become adequate"' 'for r these purposes; maintenance of the war scale of wages '■r Labor participation in industrial management; co-part-nership in i industry ; co-operative stores;*. abolition of profiteering and of child labor; equal pay for man and/ woman; national and State aid in the solution of : the ® unemployment problem; better housing. - ■ In other 1 words, the bishops insist that the redressing of the just grievances. of Labor is necessary for the preservation'' of the present social order. The capitalists must'"'reX; member that the laborer is a human being, not a mere instrument of production ; that he is entitled to a living', wage; that profitmaking must be subordinated to the laborer's rights; that wealth is after all only a stewardship. ■ • ; .' '--<~r ' ■• ; -' : ;' ;f '.1..; : ' r -' In a word, the Catholic Church holds that the . nightmare of Bolshevism and anarchy cannot be broken' unless social justice prevail; and that social justice is impossible unless both employer and employed live up to the Ten Commandments. The spirit of religion'and Christian morality, therefore, must be at the bottom of any scheme of social and economic betterment that would aim to make democracy safe for the world. ! '-;■'' As America, represented by her President, is leading in the peace settlement, it behoves her to lead on the work, of social .reconstruction. And, indeed, the Catholic Church, grown strong with the strength ofdemocracy, must breathe her spirit and put her heart into the work which America is striving'to do. : p-^T" It is a turning-point in the history of the world, and the Catholic Church in America would be false to

her opportunity, false to her history, if she did not make use of it to lead men to a higher plane of Christian thinking and Christian living. Her bishops are applying the old principles to the new conditions. Her laity too must lend their time,. their energy, and their resources to carry out the directions of their spiritual leaders. The war was a holy crusade to win back liberty to the world. Let all the efforts of clergy and laity be a nobler crusade for Christian social reconstruction. And what is said—in so broad a scale—for the Catholic Church in America can be said, and must be said, 'hi a narrower scale, for the same Church" in Australia and New Zealand, nay, in every other land. ; "■=•'