PAGE THREE
rvrrs 1
Guy Fitch Phelps Answered by Father
HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES, HEPPNER, OREGON, THURSDAY, JAN. 20, 1927.
Cantwell
Mr. Phelps is gone. He has left his
slime upon everything and everybody. He
has a perennial fountain of rottenness. His
written article to Heppner Gazette only
, . proves what I said about him in my former
i.j article. As all looks yellow to the jaun
diced eye, so all looks evil to the diseased
mind of Mr. Phelps. Take away the Cath
olic Church and its members, and Mr.
Phelps would soon run out of a subject.
We Catholics of Heppner have been too
, ,v tame and too meek. We allow every bigot
, and radical to attack us on things that are
more sacred and dearer to us than our
very lives. All that is evil is spoken against
us. Even our patriotism is called into
. question. The Catholic soldiers in the
, , World's War, of the U. S. 'Army, were 35
per cent, of the navy, 40 per cent, of the
marines, 45 per cent. What was the per
..... centage of the Methodists? We Catholics
have human feelings and human hearts,
and it hurts us more than words can ex
press, that a very few people with whom
we daily live, converse, and do business,
could swallow the filth and slander of Mr.
Phelps. We all live here in Heppner and
we ought to live in peace, in harmony, in
good will, and brotherly love. The evil he
has done is great. 'He had no message
, from Our Divine Lord. He had a message
of hate and lies that find their origin and
source in His Satanic Majesty? the Devil.
If you will observe, Mr. Phelps is an old
hand at peddling lies and calumny. He
makes general assertions and indefinite
accusations. He throws out suspicions,
hints, suggestions. When he was chal
lenged to specify the particular crime, the
particular person, and the particular place,
he refused.
Mr. Phelps thinks that if a person is a
bachelor, he must necessarily be bad.
What about St. Paul, John the Baptist,
John the Evangelist, Our Lord Himself.
They were bachelors and unmarried. Our
Lord said, "For there are eunuchs, who
were born so from their mother's womb;
and there are eunuchs, who were made so
by men; and there are eunuchs, who have
made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom
of heaven. He that can take, let him take
it." Matt. 19-21. "I say, to the unmarried,
and to the widows, it is good for them to
continue even as I. (Paul was unmarried.)
But if they do not contain themselves, let
them marry." Cor. VI 1-8. "For he that
is without a wife is solicitious for the
. , things that belong to the Lord, how he
. . may please God." Cor. VII-32. Are your
own unmarried children, sisters, widowed
cousins, maidens, aunts, brothers, bachel
ors, impure? Is any husband separated
... from his wife for a time bound to commit
. adultery? The objection is a criminal li
bel on their pure character, and proceeds
from hearts full of lust, who judge others
are even as they. Will any man dare to
.. say that the married clergy, whether
Greek, Russian, or Protestant, have been
freer than the Catholic priesthood? Vol
taire, an infidel, no lover of Catholicity,
says, "The life of the secular men has al
ways been more vicious than that of
priests." De Maitland says, "It appears,
the monks and clergy, at all times and
places, were better than other people."
(Hodges, 1889.) "No man being a sol
. dier of God entangleth in secular busi
ness." (2 Tim., II-4.)
He sends all the popes to hell, and tells
. that Bishop Purcell admitted that there
were popes in Hell. I doubt very much
if a Catholic bishop ever made the state
ment. Oh, it is well for all of us, that our
Merciful God, and not Mr. Phelps, is to be
our Judge. Our Divine Lord said, "Judge
not, and you shall not be judged. With
what judgment you judge, you shall be
judged. With what measure you mete, it
... shall be measured to you, again." Matt.
VII-11.)
Every apostate priest is a model of per
fection, according to Mr. Phelps. Judas
was the first apostate priest. Father Chin
iquy was another.. If you believe and fol
low Father Chiniquy, believe and follow
Judas. . Chiniquy was born in the town of
Kamorouski, Canada, studied at the sem
inary of Quebec, and was ordained a priest
in 1843. He was distinguished by his tal
ents, as also by his great zeal as a teeto
taler. His successes and the consequent
honors, elated him and caused his fall. He
became careless in his duties, and soon fell :
into many irregularities. His trial follow-
ed, and on September 20, 1851, he waa ;
suspended and deposed. He then left Can
ada, and for several years loomed up at 1
various places in Illinois, until the Bishop
of Chicago, having learned who Chiniquy
was, suspended and deposed him again, '
November 20, 1856. Subsequently, Chin
iquy traveled to Europe, collected money '
for a pretended seminary in Chicago and
his thirsty promising pupils. He was ac-
cused of fraud and gross swindling, and ;
rejected and expelled by the Protestant '
Synod of Chicago. For a few years, the ;
Presbyterians managed to get along with
him, but soon he was accused of having 1
squandered great sums of money entrusted '
to his care. He was consequently rejected
by the Presbyterians and wandered about
giving vent to his anger to the Catholic
Church that expelled him. In recent years
he has lectured under the auspices of the '
Orangemen and the A. P. A. He has since
died. (I. World, March 2, 1895). So much '
for Chiniquy, and now for Maria Monk.
Maria Monk, the imposter, born at Mon
treal, Canada, abuot the year 1816. When
about seven years old, she broke a slate
pencil on her head, and had been strange
ever since. At the age of eight she fre
quented a convent school. When about :
fourteen, she left her mother's roof, and
is found successively in the service of sev
eral persons, a hotelkeeper, a farmer, a
tradesman, and others. And then for a
time was dependent on charity. From one
of her mistresses she absconded with a
quantity of fine linen. She was discharged
by two others for her bad conduct, and
was generally looked upon as a person of
doubtful character. Then she made her
appearance in Montreal itself, declaring
she was a daughter of Doctor Robinson,
a magistrate of the city, who had kept her
chained in the cellar for four years. This
attempt failing, she next went offff to the
United States, appeared at New York, and
there began a second and more successful
tale against one of the convents of the
city she had left, from which she said she
had escaped. She was taken up by a party
of New York protestants, who thoroughly
believed her, and reduced her story to
writing. In this book she gives the minute
description of her imaginary convent in
Montreal, and of some of the nuns and
others she professed to have known there.
On the slander making its way to Montreal
protestants carefully went over the calum-'
niated convent and they reported after mi
nute inspection, that it in no way answered
to her account of it. Indeed, it was cer-.
tain, that she had never been within it. It
was proved, on the other hand, that her
description did distinctly answer to a peni
tentiary of which she had lately been an
inmate, and that her accounts she gave of
alleged nuns in the convent, answered to
some of her fellow penitents. Moreover,
there is something about the book more
remarkable still. It is the old lie brought
up again and again. This is more singu
larly exemplified in the infamous work I
am speaking of. On its appearance, the
newspapers asserted without contradiction,
that it was in a great measure a mere re
publication of a work of 1731, "The Gates
of Hell Opened, or a Development of the
Secrets of Nunneries." Maria Monk's
Pamphlet, says a Liverpool paper, is a ver
batim copy of that work, the only differ-1
ence being a change of name. The editor
of a Boston paper pledged himself that this
was a fact, and the editor of another was
ready to make an affidavit that the original
work was in his possession a few months
previously, when it had been lent to the
publishers of Maria Monk's disclosures.
(Newman.) See also Appleton's Ency-.
clopedia of Biography, Page 357, Vol. 2,
and "A Complete Refutation of Maria
Monk's Atrocious Plot," by R. W. Wilson.
The Catholic Church makes matrimonial
laws only for its members. It leaves oth
ers severely alone. It does not say that
marriage between Protestants is null and
void because it is not performed by a
priest. The contracting parties are the
ministers of matrimony, and not the priest.
And the Catholic priest has enough to do
to attend to his own business and his own
people. The Catholic Church also teaches
that all validly baptized, (Protestants, etc.)
truly and really received the sacrament of
matrimony and its graces, provided there
is no impediment. Do not bring up the
Vanderbilt case. There was force, duress,
and fear, that took away the liberty of one
of the contracting parties. As in the civil
law, where there is no liberty, there is no
valid contract. Where there is no valid
contract, there is no marriage. The un
baptized have a natural contract of mar
riage. ' It may be new to Mr. Phelps to
hear that three-fourths of all the Christ
ians believe in and practice confession.
Not directly and immediately to God, but
to God's representatives. Not only do all
Catholics, not only do all Greeks, but sev
eral Christian sects in Asia, go to con
fession, which antedates Protestantism by
a thousand years.
I have studied moral theology for years.
To the pure, all is pure. I know St. Lig
ouri's works. In the confession, no name
should be mentioned, of the penitent, of
the companion in sin, of the place. If a
person was guilty of murder, he tells, simp
ly, that I broke the fifth commandment, by
taking the life of my fellow man. It is not
' necessary to say how he took it away, by
shooting, by stabbing, by poison, by hang
ing, by drowning, etc. Never mention the
name of the place, or the person. Confes
sion is a bugbear and a ghost, to some non-
' Catholic mind, because that mind- pictures
it as something it is not. In the same with
sins against the sixth commandment. Tell
the sin and nothing else adultery, forni
cation, bad desire, bad thought. Some be
nighted and befogged people may think
that the priest receives a fee in the con
fession. This would be Simony. And the
Church would degrade such a priest, and
take away the functions of his priesthood.
The Greek Church does not help Mr.
Phelps. It has confession. The priest is
bound to secrecy, that cannot be violated
even to save his life. Confession is nat
ural. The child confesses to his parents.
The client to his lawyer, the patient to his
doctor, the accused to the judge, the peni
tent to the priests of the one true church,
the lawful successors of the Apostles to
whom it was said, "Whose sins you shall
forgive, they are forgiven them, whose sins
you shall retain, they are retained." John
XX 22-23. We do not send God on a va
cation in the sacrament of penance. Nor
do the Protestant ministers, when they
have administered the sacrament of bap
tism. "I baptize you in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost." So also in the sacrament of pen-
ance. "I absolve thee in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost." The priest does not forgive sins
in his own name or by his own power, but
in the name of God and by the power of
. God. See my former article in the Ga
zette. Eery person that has come to the
age of reason, and is capable of committ
ing sin, child and adult, man and woman,
layman and clergy, priest, hishop, and
pope, goes to confession. The pope goes
to confession and strikes his breast like the
Prodigal Son, saying, "I have sinned be-
1 fore Heaven, and therefore Thee, I am
not worthy to be called Thy Son." Or
with the poor publican that went into the
temple to pray, and did not dare raise his
eyes to heaven, but cried out, "The Lord
be merciful to me a sinner." This is the
cry of the humble Catholic heart. But the
Pharisee, like Mr. Phelps, cries out, "I am
not as the rest of men, an extortioner, un
just, an adulterer, as this poor Catholic."
But we are told by our Divine Lord that
the publican went down into his house jus
tified rather than the other. Luke XVIII,
10-15. In the Lord's Prayer, we say, "Give
us this day our daily bread, and forgive us
our trespasses as we forgive those who
trespass against us." We do not go di
rectly to God for our daily corporeal food,
but we must use the ordinary ways that
. God has ordained to get that food. Thus,
the soil must be plowed and harrowed, the
seed sown, and if this seed is to grow, it
must have light, heat, and moisture. When
ripe, the grain must be cut, and threshed,
, and ground into flour, and the flour knead
ed with yeast, and baked, before it is bread
and fit to eat. In the same way we must
use the ordinary way God instituted to ob
tain forgiveness of sin. He is Lord and
Sovereign Master and Ruler. His will
must be our wifi, His way must be our
way. His rule our rule. We cannot dic
tate to God Almighty. If we are to obtain
remission of sins, we must use the sacra
ment of penance, instituted by Our Lord,
Our Redeemer, Savior and Judge, when
He said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost,
. whose sins you forgive, etc." John XX, 22
23. But mere confession is not sufficient
to obtain forgiveness of sin. We must
plow our hearts with supernatural sorrow.
We must harrow them with self-denial.
, We must water them with the tears of re
Paid Advertisement by St. Patrick's Parish
pentance. We must strengthen them with
the resolution of sinning no more. We
must give them light by prayer, and heat by
loving God and our neighbor. We must
restore ill-gotten goods to the rightful own
er. We must pay our just debts, we must
forgive our enemies, and avoid the occa
sion of sin, otherwise, the sin will not be
forgiven.' The priest and bishops, the law
ful successors, forgive sins by the power
conferred upon them by Christ when he
said to the Apostles, "Receive ye the Holy
Ghost, whose sins you shall forgive, they
are forgiven them, whose sins you shall
retain, they are retained." John XX 22-23.
This power remains in the Church as long
as there is sin, that is, unto the end of the
world.
Listen to Mr. Phelps, "Whenever a man
stands teaching with a Bible in his hand,
that man has the keys which bind and loose
in all worlds." Now, get up! "Stand
teaching with the Bible in your hands, and
you have the keys that bind and loose in
all the worlds." But can you trace your
mission, your authority, back to the Apos
tles without a break, to whom it was said,
"Go ye therefore, teach all nations, I am
with you all days, even to the consumma
tion of the world." Matt XXVI. There
would be a big gap of twenty centuries be
tween you and the apostles, that you can
not bridge over. Only the Catholic Church
can trace back its mission, its authority,
without a break, to the Apostles, and thus
to Christ. We hear much about the Bible.
Our Lord never had written a word of the
Bible. He instituted his Church. He did
not say, "Go spread Bibles, and read the
Bibles." He never wrote anything that we
know of except what he had written on the
sand. And then he wrote the sins of the
Pharisees. The Church itself existed for
centuries before the New Testament was
written, and its different books pronounced
canonical by the Catholic Church. Many
Catholics in the meantime died and went
to heaven, and they never read a word of
the New Testament. Printing is not so
long discovered. Does Mr. Phelps know
he has the true Bible ? How does he know
it? Does he know it is inspired? Mr.
Phelps talked about the infallible book.
A book is a lifeless, dead and dumb thing.
Does our law books give judgment in dis
puted cases. Why have we judges? Why
have we a supreme court? You can take
your meaning, whim, fancy, opinion, pre
conceived notion, judgment, out of any
book, even out of the Bible. ' The book
cannot speak up and tell you you are
wrong. The Church is the living body of
the Living Christ, who abides with itsfor
ever, even to the consummation of the
world. The Church does not change the
revelation of Christ. It does not add to
or take away from it. The faith which was
given to the Apostles is the same unchang
able faith which has come down to us thru
the centuries. It is the faith which we
hold today. There can be no change in
revelation. Yet, its knowledge may be
come more widespread and more com
plete. Its understandings more full and
more scientific. Iits expression more clear
and accurate. When God speaks, man
must be silent. Christ is not dead, but
living, is not dumb, but speaking. Christ
lives in the actual life of His Church and
speaks through her actual teaching. It is
the Old Church that has a living mission.
It is the old faith that is a living fact.
"Wherefore, even if an angel from heaven
preach a doctrine contrary to the doctrine
of Christ, let him be anathema," said St.
Paul. We can listen to no new prophets.
We must simply and absolutely, remorse
lessly, and at once brand as false any
teaching that denies the old faith, chal
lenges the old church, reforms God's work, .
or corrects his word. This is the reason
of that stern unbending law, universal, on
every spot of Catholic worship, perpetual
in every page of Catholic history, impass
ible, unchangeable, inexorable, yielding to
no pity, flinching from no sacrifice, re
lenting from no appeal, this law that drives
forth from our communion whoever will
not accept the reality of our faith, because
our Faith is not a whim, or an opinion, or
a creature of our own choice, or a child of
our own fancy. Our faith is the revela
tion of Christ. Our Faith is the truth of
God. Two and two will make four in
Washington, Idaho, Chicago, London, Ed
inboro, Paris, Berlin. The Catholic Faith
is the same through all the centuries.
I could exchange sermons with the Cure
of Ars, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Bernard,
St. Agustine, St. Paul, St. Peter.
Mr. Phelps' comment about the rock
which Christ spoke of is puerile. I knftw
Greek. I have the Bible in Greek. I read
the Bible in Greek. Petros and Petra
mean rock. Our Lord spoke in the Syriac
Chaldaic. Kepa is used in both places,
and Kepa means rock. That is confirmed
from John I, 42. Thou art Simon the son
of John, Thou shalt be called Kepa which
is interpreted Peter. The promise was ful
filled when Christ said to St. Peter, "Feed
my lambs, feed my sheep." In other words,
"Be Shepherd over my flock." Did you
ever see a builder building a house upon
himself.
Impeccability and infallibility are two
distinct things. No Catholic holds any
pope to be impeccable. The pope can sin,
may sin, and perhaps does sin. He goes to
confession the same as the humblest mem
ber of the Church. Infallibility is not
about sin, but is immunity from error in
teaching matters of faith or morals. The
pope may be considered in two-fold ca
pacity. As a private teacher, and as a
supreme teacher or pastor of the universal
church. He is not infallible as a private
theologian, preacher, author, or local bish
op, archbishop, legislator, judge, or ruler.
In that capacity his writings or works will
have no more weight than the arguments.
Four conditions are required for the pope
to be infallible. This is important. Notice
them. I. The pope must speak as the su
preme pastor or teacher of all the faithful
of the universal church. 2. The Doctrine
must be of faith or morals. 3. In defining
only, is he infallible, and he must have the
intention to define. Thus, when he gives
an absolute and final decision on questions
of faith or morals. 4. When he clearly
manifests his intention to bind the univer
sal church. . !
The objections of Mr. Phelps about the
popes are irrelevant. He drives them all
to hell. The Catholic theologians and his
torians candidly tell the faults of some
popes. Impartial historians admit that the
popes taken as a body, are holy men, but
infallibility does not depend upon the holi
ness of any pope, or upon his knowledge,
but it depends upon the promise of God,
whose words are without repentance.
Would the decision of the Judge of the Su
preme Court of the United States regard
ing some clause of the Constitution be void
because of his immoral life? Did not Ba
laam (Num. XXII. 38) and Caiphas (John
XI, 49-51) although wicked men, prophesy
infallibly?
I take up one of the puny objections of
Mr. Phelps. It is his first of a series. "The
29th pope (or Marcellinus) became an
apostate to save his life, offered incense to
idols in the Temple of Vesta and Isis."
Petilianus, a Donatest Bishop, and thus a
heretic, and naturally an enemy of the
pope, spread this rumor, and it was be
lieved for awhile. But St. Augustine says,
"Petilianus accuses Marcellinus of being
a traditor, and a wicked and sacriligious
man. I declare him innocent. It is not
necessary for me to weary myself to prove
his innocence.- He does not prove his
guilt.". Eusebius, a contemporary histor
ian, does not even hint at it. Theodoret,
another contemporary historian, says,
"Marcellinus had been prominent in the
persecution." If Marcellnius did do what
Mr. Phelps says, it would not affect in the
least the infallibility of the pope. He
would be doing this in his private capacity,
not teaching ex cathedra with the four
conditions given above.
We do not mind Mr. Phelps when he
called the priests drunken, adulterers, etc.
His blame is praise. The Pharisees called
Our Lord a wine bibber, and a friend of
publicans, and sinners. In the early church
the mass was offered, confessions were
heard, there were prayers for the dead, ex
treme unction was given, and the Catholic
Church does these things today. "The
Catholic Church meddles not with Caesar,
or the things of Caesar. She obeys him in
his place. She is independent of him. He
did not make or can he unmake her. Her
strength is in Her God. Her rule is over
the souls of men. Her glory is in their
willing subjection, in their loving loyalty.
She hopes and fears nothing from the
world. She may be persecuted,. but she
thrives on persecution. Calumniate her
and her influence grows. Ridicule her, she
does but smile upon you more awfully, and
persuasively. What shall you do with her,
you sons of men? Let the last 1900 years
reply. Let her alone, refrain from her, if
her doctrine or her work be of men it will
come to naught, but if it be from God you
cannot overthrow it, lest perhaps ye be
found even to fight against God."
Mr. Phelps asserts too much, therefore
he is not a safe witness for anything.
There is a principle in Philosophy: "He
who proves too much, proves nothing."
He sends all Catholics to hell. There have
been 260 popes from Peter to Pious XI.
Of these 33 were martyred for the faith,
and 82 are venerated as saints. All im
partial historians, (infidel, agnostic, prot
estant, and catholic) admit the popes, as
a body, were good and holy men. It may
take away some of the crust of Mr. Phelps
prejudice to inform him that Jesus
Christ was a Catholic, or universal teach
er of divine revelation. His gospel is for
all times and places, and all people. The
Church that represents Him must be
Catholic or a universal teacher of divine
revelation. She is Catholic in time. "Be
hold I am with you all days even to the
consummation of the world." Matt. XXV,
20. She is Catholic territorially. "Teach
ye all nations." (Matt. XXVIII, 19.) She
is Catholic in unity of all doctrines: "Teach
them to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded." Our Divine Lord did
organize the twelve apostles into a living
corporate body to teach and profess His
Revelation.
FATHER CANTWELL.