USA > Indiana > History of the Catholic church in Indiana, Volume I > Part 58
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Isaias, prophetically speaking of the Church of Christ, refers to it as a mountain upon the top of mountains, exposed to the gaze of all nations, and impossible to be hidden. The prophet's figurative idea holds respecting that same Church of Christ to-day in the limited territory of the commonwealth of Indiana. It can- not be overlooked or hidden It is the most important and prom- inent institution in the state. It is older than the state. It is above the state. It conserves the state. It loves the state. The oneness of the Catholic church makes it specially distinct from the diversified and discordant organizations which assume to be Christian churches, but which are exotics in the vine- yard. Its teachings are singularly in contrast with those of the sects touching not only the mysteries and sacraments, but also the question of divorce, which glaring immorality would appear to be epidemic in our midst. The court records afford the proofs.
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An instance of unusual note is the case of a prominent Indian- apolis wholesale merchant who was divorced from his wife; having procured a new one, he went to his church the following Sunday, only to find that his former wife had likewise remarried and become the wife of a prominent physician, also a member of the congregation. The children of these divorced parents were not present to complete the scene, but the preacher who united and reunited them in the " holy bonds of matrimony " was in the prayer-box, Bible in hand, as if anxious to furnish material for the back-ground. There is no
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record going to show that this minister selected for his text the words, " He that marrieth her that is put away also committeth adultery."
Some people find it easy enough to forgive Martin Luther for fighting the Pope and the Catholic church in an effort to make religion easier to practice, and therefore to bring heaven just out- side the garden gate. There are those, too, who do not find it difficult to overlook the intensity, severity and unchristian bitter- ness, even to the point of no mercy, that characterized John Cal- vin and his Scotch disciple, John Knox. Others also are numer- ous who overlook doctrine and truth and reason while contemplat- · ing the long-facedness of John Wesley and the sanctimoniousness of all the old " Reformers," and those of their modern representatives. But when men come to regard the terrible effects, traceable to the "Reformnation " and the reformers as their cause-effects seen in the throwing of the reins on passion's neck; in the granting of divorce by courts and the sanctioning of it by society; in the prevalence of irreligion and the grossest immorality and dishonesty --- they begin to look up to the " Mountain on the top of mount- ains"-to the church which cannot be hidden, and against which the gates of hell cannot prevail. It is under such circumstances that the mother church, the teacher of all truth, looms grandly into view.
But passing by the doctrinal feature and regarding it some- what in the tangible order, the Catholic church in Indiana has still strong claims upon the attention of our fellow-citizens. Its 319 church-edifices have spires that lift high before the gaze of the people the venerated sign of salvation, the Cross of the Redeemer. And what is most remarkable about these edifices, these spires and this cross, is the fact that they are never mistaken even by non- Catholics. In recent years Protestant meeting-houses, in many instances, have a cross on tower or spire; but there is something that somehow tells of inharmony and the unfitness of its being there. When Protestantism in England and on the continent abolished the mass it abolished the cross with it, and that abolish- ment was, until recently, in force even among our own New Eng- land colonists. [See Chapter II. ]
In the temporalities the Catholic church is a very important (676)
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and prominent institution in Indiana. It has a membership of not less than 225,000 souls, with two bishops, each presiding in his own diocese. It has 331 priests, 319 churches, 174 schools, thirty academies for young ladies, one university, four orphan asylums and fully 30,000 Catholic youths under the tutelage and guidance of over 1, 500 religious teachers in both schools and colleges.
Its educational work is not confined to the head or the heart, but includes both, for it is impossible to make good men and women, good fathers and mothers-good citizens-by educating the head alone. The heart, also, must be attended to. Virtue must be cultivated lest the intellect be a power for evil rather than good. The swindler, the defaulting bank official and the faithless manager of this or that large interest, are untrue to their trusts only in so far as the supernatural virtues have not been cultivated by them. Catholic education aims to draw out the mental powers of the individual at the same time that it instills into the heart those virtues which retain and correct evil tendencies. Even non-Cath- olics freely admit this to be one among the great labors and achievements of the Catholic church. It has made remarkable material progress during the past sixty-four years, and it is daily pressing onward, one might say irresistibly, in the work of the Master, in the active charities which appeal to men and of which it has been the real parent in every age and clime. The higher charity, of which St. Paul speaks, is the very essence of the teach- ings and practice of the Catholic church.
Its members constitute the only united and consistent body of Christians in the state, because they acknowledge one head whom they obey, and because they have the same doctrines and practices touching faith and worship. While they may possibly be disunited in other respects and be separated or even opposed to one another through diversity of interests or other considerations, yet, in regard to the church and its teachings they are of one mind-a unit in the faith.
The Catholic church, as a teaching body, concerns itself not alone about the spiritual welfare of its children, and, indeed, like- wise about that of the whole human family, but it also teaches sound doctrine touching the permanency and justness of govern-
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ments and their institutions. Hence with St. Paul it holds that all legitimate authority and power are from God. The state is the handiwork of God, and, therefore, the church, which is His mouth- piece, keeps its children steadfast in their duty toward the state, teaching them the necessity and duty of obeying all properly con- stituted authority. In view of these facts the occupation of all bigots and bearers of false witness against the church and their Catholic fellow-citizens is gone-gone in every department of human society, except where ignorance predominates. It is only the ignorant man who will proscribe his Catholic neighbor, and it is only the ignorant community that will discriminate against the Catholic church.
In the state of Indiana, as, indeed, everywhere else, the status of the Catholic church is the very highest. And how it could be otherwise is mysterious only among the uninformed and prejudiced. To that church, not alone locally, but generally, the citizen may look for wise counsel on those questions regarding which both indi- viduals and political parties are most likely to go astray. In thus looking to this great teacher for light and direction men are not likely to be deceived. The church that cannot err in matters of faith and morals is also possessed of such a degree of wisdom respecting temporal things that confidence in her guidance and judgment is at all times wise.
The Catholic church the world over conserves all rights of both individuals and states and allows for all peculiarities of times, countries and races. The throb of her pure spiritual life and light is felt by every nation and tribe and tongue under heaven. She knows them all; and if some do not know her fully, the fault is their inattention. Hence that great church knows what breeds anarchy and what anarchy feeds upon. She knows human weakness and is well acquainted with the promptings of the human heart. Touching the temporalities that hold and sway men, she is eter- nally and unalterably fixed in her rulings. She rules on all ques- tions without fear or favor, desiring only that justice be done. The rights of property, the right to rule and the corresponding duty on the part of the people to obey are all within the scope of her wisdom and her teachings. The Catholic church is always in favor (678)
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of law and good order, and, consequently, she is the enemy to anarchy and all approaches to lawlessness.
Government among men being essential, and the best interests of society demanding that governments be stable and just, of neces- sity it is a part of the mission of the church to concern itself with these important affairs, at least indirectly. Not alone, therefore, on the high ground of God's law and of morals does the Catholic church oppose the sin of divorce in Indiana and elsewhere; she is also against the bad practice for the sufficient temporal reason that it disrupts the family. And since the state rests upon the family as upon its corner-stone, the church would preserve the unity of the family that the state might be maintained in its security and strength. When a blow is aimed at the family-the hearthstone-it is directed also against the state and in favor of anarchy. The wisdom of the church in temporal things being happily united with its sound teach- ings on the sacrament of matrimony and the sacredness of the home, enables it to sound a warning note to the people and to point out the dangers which beset them and the state.
Along this line of thought the men of America who have attained to any great degree of eminence in statecraft have not been slow to express their approval of the status and influence of the Catholic church. It is, as it has ever been, a great conserva- tive force-a power for good in the estimation of men who can and do think. The community in which the church has a strong hold and a wide field is always the better for its presence there. Virtues of all kinds are practiced more generally and attentively, especially those of purity and honesty.
Good order and good morals may be occasionally disturbed and shocked locally by the antics of some few unfortunates who have become the victims of the vice of intemperance, and who with all their imperfections will still claim a child's relationship with the holy mother church. In thus clinging to the church these weak ones do well, for they have been taught that the Master came not to call the just, but sinners, to repentance. The church, however, is not to be charged with their sins, nor should she be at all discredited on account of their imperfections. Obeying her, these persons might lead pure and holy lives, but disobeying her
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commands they unfortunately are paving the way for their own ultimate destruction by scandalizing others and by giving the ignorant and the prejudiced an opportunity to almost assert that the spouse of Christ encourages the sin of drunkenness.
The few individual Catholics in Catholic communities who are a discredit to the church are noticeable only because the church is pure, and Catholics are expected to be pure also. Those of other denominations, overcome by such imperfections, are never charged up to the discredit of their so-called churches. The reason for this is that it were to no purpose to do so. Where nothing is expected no anxiety is present and nothing is done.
But the church needs no defense among the intelligent because some few of her children will wander from the path of duty. Her mission is to deal with sinners, and those who charge this to her discredit are of the same ilk as those who, in the sense of accusa- tion, found fault with her Divine Founder for associating with publicans and sinners. The work of the Catholic church is man- ifest in every community. The labors and good example of her teachers and religious orders are as beacon lights to the people of all denominations. Ever active, always doing, never deviating from the course marked out for her, the Catholic church in Indi- ana, as well as in every country of the earth, merits the confidence, support and respect of governments and peoples as well as of indi- viduals.
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