"You Hear Strange Things About Catholics"
Through metropolitan magazines, daily newspapers, and virtually every other medium of dissemination known to the printing industry, an article of the above appellative, written by the Knights of Columbus, has been paraded before the public throughout the world in behalf of the advancement of Roman Catholicism. In this ad the Knights unequivocally deny (1) that Catholics teach that all non-Catholics are headed for hell and (2) that they oppose public education. The article reads, in the part pertinent to our present investigation, as follows: "It is said that Catholics want religious freedom only for themselves ....that they oppose public schools .... You hear it said that Catholics believe all non-Catholics are headed for Hell . . . . If all these things — or any of them — were true, it would be a pity."
We stand prepared to meet the Catholic world, or any part of it, in affirmation of the undeniable fact that Catholics MOST CERTAINLY DO both believe that all non-Catholics are headed for Hell, and that they oppose public education which, to them, except under extreme circumstances, is A MORTAL SIN! I am thoroughly acquainted with the ground I occupy in this matter; it is neither untraversed nor unexplored. I am predicting, therefore, that neither Bishop, Priest, nor Cardinal will call me in question concerning it. That the above mentioned ad is a complete misrepresentation of Catholic dogma is my contention; that the propaganda proffered therein is not Catholic doctrine AT ALL, I now engage to show. By Catholic witnesses alone we propose to divest Romanism of her deceitful smoke-screen, now under consideration, that she might stand nude and unrobed — in her true colors and under her real banner — to the piercing, penetrating, and perforating; and, we trust, discerning gaze of the inquiring public!
Catholic Witness Number One:
(1) "Now, therefore, we declare, say, determine, and pronounce that for every human creature it is necessary for salvation to be subject to the authority of the Roman Pontiff." (Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 15, Page 126.)
1. Major Premise: Only those subject to the Roman Pontiff will be saved. (Catholic Encyclopedia.)
2. Minor Premise: But, only Catholics are subject to the Roman Pontiff (Pope). (Recognized.)
3. Therefore, only Catholics will be saved! (Per Catholicism.)
Catholic Witness Number Two:
(2) The LIGUORIAN, a monthly Catholic Publication, "published with ecclesiastical approval" at Liguori Missouri made the following statement concerning the EDUCATION OF CHILDREN:
"There are certain clear-cut mortal sins that parents can commit. The chief ones are:
(1) Refusing to send their child to a Catholic School, when there is no good reason for not doing so If the parish to which Catholics belong has a school it is not for them to decide whether or not their children shall go there. If, without consulting their pastor, and for subjective reasons of their own, they send their child to a public school, they are guilty of a mortal sin, and ordinarily cannot be absolved in confession until they have placed their child in the Catholic school or obtained the permission of their pastor or bishop not to do so."
Catholic propaganda says that Catholics are in favor of public education; Catholic doctrine says that unless an emergency obtains in which extraordinary circumstances prevail, it is a MORTAL SIN. The Bible teaches that sin — any sin — is simply "transgression of the law," but Catholics have divided sin into two divisions — venial and mortal — and have built a partition between them. A venial sin, in Catholic theology, is a sin of little gravity while a mortal sin is defined as: "a grievous offense against the law of God." (Advanced Catechism of Catholic Faith and Practice, by Thos. J. O'Brien, Page 27.) The QUESTION BOX by Conway places mortal sins in the category of murder and adultery. (Page 275.) Public education, therefore, to the Catholic, void of the exceptions and emergencies previously cited, being a MORTAL SIN, is in the same category as MURDER AND ADULTERY.
I have an abundance of material on Romanism. I feel that in virtually everything she writes I can show her to be in conflict with herself. Send me your questions. It will be a pleasure to share my material with you FREE OF CHARGE OR OBLIGATION. Ask your priest about it and show him this article. Your soul is my concern.