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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
9
olics would be bound to accept it. Considering that
the “deposit of faith,” by which term we mean the
Revelation made by Christ, is complete and closed,
and that Papal Infallibility is confined to declaring
what is the faith delivered by Christ and contained in
that deposit, the minister’s assertion recalls a remark
I often heard from the lips of my good mother: “Pigs
might fly, but they are unlikely birds.”
With regard to the claim that it was a new doc
trine only defined and proposed in 1870, jt brings me
back to the question: Where is the box? As already
stated, the Catholic Church always and of necessity
claimed that she was infallible in teaching, else she
could not demand that all should hear her. The
only question was: Where does the Infallibility re
side? Was it in the Bishops assembled in a General
Council? But there was great difficulty in assembling
the Bishops from every land. Suppose the Great War
came on after a call had been issued this would en
tail a great delay at a time when a prompt and de
cisive reply was necessary. On the other hand, as no
Council could be held without the approval and sanc
tion of the Pope and no Act or Decrees of a Council
were of any force or value unless approved by him,
it seemed as though the seat of infallible authority
was in the Pope. And so to settle this question Pope
Pius IX. summoned the Bishops from all parts of the
world to meet and advise with him on December 8,
1869. It was a great and memorable occasion when
Prelates from every land met in Rome, and recalled
the Pentecostal scene: “How we heard every man
in his own tongue wherein we were born, Parthians
and Medes and Elamites, and inhabitants of Mesopo
tamia, Judea and Cappodocia, Pontus and Asia,
Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the part of Lybia
about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and Pros
elytes, Cretes and Arabians; we have heard them
speak in our own tongue the wonderful works of God
(Acts II-8-1 1).
Every country in the world sent its Bishops to
Rome. Nearly every tongue spoken by men was
heard in Rome, but all voiced in different tongues the
same Faith, and in the Council Hall one language
only was heard, the language of our dear Mother the
Church in Rome. There were many Bishops there
old and broken by hard labor for God and His
Church. Some who in Eastern lands had suffered
for the Faith. From East and West, from North and
South they came at Peter’s voice to tell him what
their fathers had handed down as the heritage of
Faith from the very days of the Apostles. Jerusalem
was there and Antioch, Babylon and Alexandria. From
Syria, the cradle of Christianity, came Bishops who
told a story of almost unbroken tradition of what had
been taught about Peter and his successors. Constan
tinople and Cilicia, Ancyra and Aleppo, Armenia and
Tyre and Sidon were all there; and Jaffa and Damas
cus were there. Yes, and New York, Philadelphia,
Boston, Baltimore, New Orleans, Cincinnati, St. Louis,
and San Francisco were there. And Montreal and
Quebec and Halifax were there. London and Liver
pool, Dublin and Armagh, Edinboro and Glasgow
were in Rome. Paris* and Lyons, Orleans and Mar
seilles, Mechlin and Bruges, Utrecht, Aix-la-Chapelle,
Munich, Milan, Florence were there. Every land in
Eu rope sent its Bishops. The great colonies of Eng
land and the Isles of the Pacific, Mexico and South
America were represented in Rome that 8th of De
cember, 1870. And when they gathered around
Peter’s Chair, Pius, the successor of Peter, asked them
what had always been the teaching of their churches
on Peter’s office of Shepherd and Teacher. And this
was the answfer these men gave: “Faithfully adher
ing to the tradition received from the beginning of
the Christian Faith, for the glory of God, our Saviour,
for the exaltation of the Catholic religion and the
salvation of Christian people, the Sacred Council ap
proving, we teach and define that it is a dogma
divinely revealed that the Roman Pontiff when he
speaks ex Cathedra,’ that is, when in discharge of
the office of pastor and doctor of all Christians, by
virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines
a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the
universal church, by the divine assistance promised to
him in Blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility
with which the Divine Redeemer willed that His
Church should be endowed for defining doctrines re
garding faith and morals, and that, therefore, such
definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreformable of
themselves and not from the consent of the Church.”
It is fifty years since this definition was made.
Scripture and reason proved its truth. Time and cir
cumstance have justified its expression.
INFORMATION FREE.
A Plea for Peace.
Catholics in Georgia.
Catholics in American History.
Catholic Belief.
Catholics and Marriage.
Catholics and the Bible.
The Pope and the War.
Catholicism and Politics.
Catholics and The Pope.
Catholics and the Public Schools.
The above booklets giving information about Cath
olics and their attitude towards questions of the day
will be sent you gratis upon request.
All questions about Catholics and their belief an
swered. Address, The Catholic Laymen’s Association
of Georgia, 409 Herald Building, Augusta, Ga.
Bishop Keiley’s letter against lynching, as published
in The Atlanta Constitution, drew warm commenda
tion from its editor. This is most certainly one point
whereon every denomination in Georgia can whole
heartedly unite. The notoriety of leading the whole
country in the number of lynchings is not creditable
to Georgia, nor to any of us living in the state, no
matter where we go to church.