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NOVEMBER 23, 1957.
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
ELEVEN
(Continued from Page 10)
tation assumes that the Church
as a whole was deluded in doc
trine for centuries. But Christ
promised to be with Her teaching
“always, even unto the end of
the ■world.”
(7) Civil Authority and Other
Denominations:
Mar. has two distinct interests,
the eternal and the temporal. For
each sphere there is a distinct
society. supreme and perfect
within itself. All power is from
God, both spiritual 'and temporal
but He has not vested both pow
ers in the same subject.
The Church recognizes that the
State is supreme and perfect
within its own sphere. The
Church of all nations is not di
vided by national frontiers. All
Her members come under one
authority in spiritual matters,
just as they' share the one Faith
and worship. But all are con
stantly reminded of the supreme
loyalty they owe to their State in
temporal affairs.
The ideal is that nations should
pay the fullest honor to Christ by
honoring His Church publicly as
well as privately. In such a set
ting fine Church’s spiritual au
thority would be explicitly writ
ten into the constitution of sov
ereign states. There was a time
when the ideal was almost uni
versal. Those days have passed.
The Church is not slow to recog
nize the fact..
In nations where the majority
are still Catholics, Catholic in
terest; may be safeguarded, not
because the Church Herself en
joys political power but because
the people who aae Catholics are
also the people who return the
national representatives. In such
c o u it tries non-Catholics may
claim their own form of worship
according to their conscience. I
do net know of any Catholic
country in which this is denied
them. Protestants, in Spain “over
whelmingly testify that their re
ligious worship is not interfered
with.' (CL James P. Richard (a
Protestant) Representative for S.
Carolina: Congressional Record
116, p. 8677-8680, Vol. 96).
You will have gathered from
the outline I made of the Church
as we see Her that Her supreme
preoccupation must be to safe
guard the truth, revealed by Jes
us Christ. A Christian commun
ity which abandons this concern
is net the one outlined in the
New Testament — not the legiti
mate successor of the Apostolic
Church as shown in the Acts and
tiie Epistles.
In Catholic countries, therefore,
dissidents may well find them
selves denied facilities for prop
aganda. Whether this is wise on
purely religious, grounds, not all
Catholics will agree. It may be
not only wise but necessary on
social grounds.
Frees, the nature of the case the
propaganda which dissidents will
put cut is mainly attack. Protes
tantism: naturally protests: it is a
gesture of rejection in religious
terms. All that Protestants affirm
—the Divinity of Our Lord, the
Blessed Trinity, the salvation of
man Through the, Sacred Passion
and Death of Christ, etc., — all
continues to be preached as of
yore by the Catholic Church.
What Protestants deny is their
distinctive contribution to relig
ious teaching. They deny the doc
trines of the Catholic Church.
Their denials are no doubt sin
cere. “hey are not made with the
same erudition or courtesy.
Britain, where I am at the
moment, is regarded as a tolerant
country. There are Christian
sects canned in „the British com
monwealth because of danger to
publ: c order. Some time ago a
young man -in ''London was de
tained by the police for using
whap hg. would call freedom of
speech during a royal procession.
The British judged his idea of
freedom mere licence: it damag
ed the right of others to public
order.
Your letters are courteous doc
uments but I assure you they con
tain enough matter to start a riot
in certain countries. I can well
understand the authorities cur
tailing your liberty to speak
about “the other children” of
Our Blessed Lady — not on re
ligious grounds but in the inter
ests of the peace.
You reproach me with the suf
fering of Protestants in Spain,
Italy, and Colombia. In Spain and
Italy Protestants enjoy the right
to worship as they will in their
own places of worship. They may
be restricted outside for reasons
I have explained.
In Colombia you allege far
more sinister things. You assume
I am on the defensive.
I am surprised to find you on
the offensive. The Calmunies
about the Catholic Church in Co
lombia are traceable to an organ
ization called CEDEC. They pub
lished bulletins of events during
the years 1948-53 with lightning
rapidity for world consumption.
The Baptists, along with Episco
palians and others, refused to
join CEDEC; they had no part,
therefore, in this melancholy
campaign. I am sorry you should
be associated with it at this date.
The facts are known. CEDEC’s
bulletins should have been treat
ed with caution from the begin
ning. E. g. one bulletin stated the
number of Protestants in Colom
bia as 12,000; three weeks later
100.000 was the figure! No won
der U. N. O. took no notice.
CEDEC bulletins did not ex
plain that the period, of alleged
“persecution,” November 1948-
June 1953, was the period of
Bandolerismo — a time of inde
scribable political outlawry and
carnage when 60,000 Liberals
were up in arms against the Gov
ernment. By the lowest estimate
50.000 people were slain. Protes
tants publicly associated them
selves with one side.
How many Protestants died?
CEDEC at last agreed (August,
1953) to 51. I quote from the let
ter of a man who went to Colom
bia after the facts: “The total
population of Colombia is about
11,000,000 so the proportion of
death (50,000) would be 1 in 220.
Accepting Ryecroft’s (a Protes
tant’s) figure for the sake of ar
gument, we find that in 20,000
Protestants 51 violent deaths are
recorded in this period of Band
olerismo i.e., a proportion of
roughly 1 in 400 as compared
with 1 in 220 of the general pop
ulation. Even taking, the lowest
estimate of Protestants in Colom
bia, 12,000, it is clear that Protes
tants have not suffered more than
Catholics. When one realizes that
of 50,000 dead 51 are Protestants
one begins to see the villany of
the world wide press campaign
crying to heaven) about persecu
tion.” One sample , of the cam
paign is Svenska Morgen Bladet’s
article (6-10-50) on the persecu
tion of Protestants: 15,000 Prot
estants are stated to have been
killed! ■ ■ ...
Protestants have since had the
grace to investigate for them
selves. E.g. Hans. U. Bretscher af
ter a year’s stay in Colombia
wrote in “Young Church” (organ
of the Swiss Calvanist Youth
Movement): “I have never been
maltreated or discriminated
against because * 6f my religion.”
He personally examined charges
that 51 Protestants had been mar
tyred, 40 Protestant Chapels de
stroyed and 160 Protestant
Schools closed. He did not find
them substantiated.
The letter quoted above de
scribes on-the-spot investigations
| of charges in which priests were
involved (about 30% of the
charges reported by CEDEC). At
the time of writing, the facts
showed that “charges of violence
made against priests have been
100% false.”
CEDEC bulletins were not pub
lished in Colombia: Mr. Frank
Hall of the NCWC News Service
found the charges of persecution
unknown there. The Catholic an
swer was therefore slow; but it
was effective. Father E. Ospina’s
book “ The Protestant Denomi
nations in Colombia” (Bogota.
National Press, 1954) was sent
to the Evangelical Secretariat for
comment. No comment came.
More significantly CEDEC sud
denly ceased to make charges of
persecution of Protestants. I am
[ sorry to find you still on the of
fensive.
Finally, your question about
public funds and Catholic activi
ties. Along with other citizens,
Catholics are taxed to maintain
public services. Education is now
one of them, though the prior
rights of the parent over the
child remain unimpaired. If Cath
olic Parents find what the State
provides inadequate or unac-
j ceptable, they erect their own
schools. But they are paying
twice for the same service. If they
seek relief from the State, they
do no injustice to their fellow-
! citizens: they claim money they
jhave themselves contributed. Hol
land fully recognizes the princi
ple; so, to a lesser degree, do
Great Britain and other non-
Catholic countries.
Catholics in America would
be within their rights to press for
State assistance for efficient
schools. Rights can, however, be
waived for a greater good. In
! any hypothesis, I assure you
j American Catholics do not seek
changes in the Constitution.
You seem to suspect Catholic
majority of automatic injustice.
Why no mention of Erie? The
Catholic majority there is over
whelming. Yet the tiny Protes
tant minority are the staunchest
supporters of the education set
tlement. The State supports, from
public funds, all schools equally.
Where there are as few as 10
Protestant children in a village,
and the nearest Protestant school
is too far for them to travel, the
Local Authority is obliged by
law to provide a school and staff
it with a Protestant teacher.
(8) Salvation and kindred mat
ters:
Here is a crucial point where
we use the same terms but mean
very different things. For you,
Salvation is a subjective experi
ence giving those who have it
automatic membership of the
Church and infallible certitude of
gaining eternal life. The logical
consequences are obvious: the
Church becomes a phantom; Bap
tism and good works drop out of
the picture.
For us Sanctifying Grace is the
essential factor in the process of
salvation. It is a physical reality,
not a psychological experience. It
changes the possessor to the roots
of his being; he becomes a new
creature. The change is supernat
ural and does not come under nat
ural observation. No one can say
with infallible certainty he has
sanctifying grace.
Of itself grace is permanent
and carries with it the pledge of
eternal life of which it is the
seed. Unhappily it can be lost
through the fraility of the posses
sor: we carry out treasure in
earthen vessels. Concupiscence
tempts us; our adversary goes
around like a roaring lion; we
wrestle against principalities and
powers. Hence the need for dili
gence “to make our calling and
election sure” (2 Peter 1: 10) and
care “to maintain good works
(Titus 3: 8).
You say good works are “the
effect of salvation.” We hold they
are of no value for eternal life
unless they are the effect of di
vine grace. But'we would not
say that everyone who has divine
grace and performs supernatural
acts is infallibly saved. Our Lord
has redeemed all mankind. Every
man can be saved: the graces
necessary for his salvation have
all been won and are available
for him. From God’s side nothing
is lacking. The reasons for mis
trust are on our side, not His.
He knows His elect and their
salvation is certain (John 11: 28).
But the elect do not know them
selves. No good work can merit in
strict justice the great grace of
final perseverance in grace. Yet
even so, the crown of glory is a
crown of justice: we are reward
ed according to our works (Mat
thew 16: 27). But God, in crown
ing our good works, only crowns
His own gifts.
We need sure guidance here to
avoid dangerous errors: the full
vision and the guaranteed judg
ment of Christ’s official teachers
keep the conflicting elements of
the problem in their right place.
In the matter of salvation, all
the initiative is God’s; all the
graces and means are His free
gift: we have neither the will nor
the deed without His grace. But
His grace raises us to the dignity
of fellow-workers. God Who free
ly chooses His elect from eternity,
gives them the crown as a reward
for work done in time through
His grace.
Of course He will accept the
will for the deed. You cite me the
Good Thief. He had no chance to
do all that his sorrow entailed.
But already he had the most im
portant thing of all. He had love:
he desired therefore to do all that
God wanted of him for salvation.
So, as I have explained else
where, a man may have baptism,
membership of the Church and
whatever else is necessary for
salvation in genuine desire with
out explicit knowledge of what
his desire entails.
Grace does not exclude our co
operation but makes it possible:
and the Sacred Passion and Death
of Christ still leaves a place for
us in satisfying for sin. St. Paul
claims to fill up that which is
behind of the afflictions of Christ
in my flesh for his body’s sake,
which is the Church” (Col. 1: 24)!
Did Our Lord fall short in any
way? Neither Paul nor the holy
people who have made repara
tion for sin in every age thought
so for a moment. What they saw
was the gracious mystery of
Christ’s completion in and
through the Church. Ele has will
ed to realize His fullness and
grow to His full stature by mak
ing the treasures of His wisdom
and knowledge and the super
abundant merits of His Passion
and Death active in another di
mension. He continues to teach, ex
hort, suffer in His members. His
Spirit identifies His members
with Him, the Head, in one body.
Since it is His grace which works
in them, their works do not rival
His or add to them. They com
plete Him as the playing of the
instrument completes the master
musician, if I may use a homely
analogy.
Purgatory, Indulgences, Pray
ers, and Masses for the Dead, all
relate to these great principles of
our unity with Christ in one body
and our privilege, in fact our
need, to co-operate with Him and
“know the fellowship of his suf
fering” (Phil. 3: 10). Our Lord’s
blood directly wipes out the in
finite offence to God in sin and
the eternal punishment which
that deserves. But sin does not
only turn us from God; sin turns
us wrongly to His creatures and
erects something into God’s'
place. The sinner in fact indulges
his will at the expense of the
harmony of creation which re
quires that all creatures be in
their right place. To restore true
order and balance, the erring will
should accept a penalty: not now
an eternal penalty — the creature
in finite — but a temporal one.
Our Lord requires us to clear
these debts of temporal punish
ment. Of course it is through the
merits of His Passion and Death
we are able to do that. We have
to be in the state of grace.
If the debts are not cleared in
this world, they remain for the
next. Hence Purgatory. (By the
way Purgatory does not rest on
one text only: the Fathers, bet
ter Scripture scholars than our
selves, find it in several).
Since we are one body in
Christ, the Church, through her
power of “binding and loosing,”
can apply in our favor the treas
ury of merits acquired by Our
Lord and by those who have gen
erously joined themselves with
Him in the fellowship of His suf
ferings far beyond any needs of
their own. The Church does this
through Indulgences. They have
nothing to do with unforgiven
sin: they deal entirely with an
effect of forgiven sin — the debt
of temporal punishment which
remains.
The Church cannot “sell” these
remissions: Popes have not “con
ducted campaigns” in what would
be nothing but simony. Indulg
ences are offered to the faithful
who perform good works -— the
classical good works of Christen
dom: prayer, fasting and alsm-
deeds — as an incentive and re
ward.
Certain theologians at the be
ginning of the sixteenth century
held that people could gain in
dulgences for the faithful depart
ed without themselves being in
the state of grace. It was this
false opinion in the mouth, of
the popular preacher which gave
rise to regrettable misunderstand
ings.
Catholic prelates effectively
combatted the scandal before Lu
ther e. g., Cardinal Ximenez in
Spain in 1513. Cardinal Cajetan
denounced it in Germany (1517-
19). No Pope was involved in the
private opinion of the theologians
I have mentioned. Luther’s main
attack, by the way, was not on
popular abuses in the matter of
indulgences. As even Tetzel
pointed out, Luther attacked the
whole penitential system of the
Church and her power to forgive
sins in the name of Christ.
The Church always remembers
those who suffer the pains of
Purgatory (which they do with
supreme joy since God’s will is
now all-in-all and they are pie
paring to enter into His bliss).
She commemorates them special
ly on the second of November;
but every Mass is offered for the
living and the dead every day
of the year. The Church has no
jurisdiction over the dead: the
stream of prayer and sacrifice
She directs to God on their behalf
is one of suppliant recommenda
tion. She sees it constantly main
tained.
St. Paul promulgated Our
Lord’s rule: “They which preach
the gospel should live by the
gospel” (1 Col. 9:14) and applied
it repeatedly e. g. 1 Tim. 5: 18;
Rom. 15: 27. There is nothing
amiss therefore in accepting ma
terial support for spiritual mini
strations.
A priest has the personal direc-
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