Do Roman Catholic Schools Teach Treason?

In France moral instruction is given in the State, or lay, schools. It is included in the text books, stated periods are arranged for it, and it extends through the whole course. Teachers are expected to devote such time to the study as may be necessary to carry out the schedules.

But, let it be carefully noted, this teaching is not sectarian religion, it is moral instruction. It is, doubtless, for this reason that "America," the New York Jesuit paper, speaks of M. Viviani, as "the extinguisher of God." This epithet may be applied to the member of the French Cabinet, whose speech we have printed, by way of sarcasm, or it may be an attempt at wit. In either case it seems to a layman to be in very bad taste.

The speech of M. Viviani is, in effect, a charge that the Roman Catholic Priesthood teach treason to the Republic of France in their schools.

It is the boast of Roman Catholics that their Church is semper eadem, always and everywhere the same. And the question, the important, the great, question arises, do the Roman Catholic Parochial Schools in this country, teach enmity to American institutions, to the American form of government or its subordination to the Papal System?

The population of France is some forty million souls and of the United States about ninety millions. There are comparatively few Sects of religion in France, but in this country there are more than one hundred and eighty "sects" or varieties of religion. The Roman Catholic "Sect" claims fourteen million three hundred and forty-nine thousand and twenty-seven, as its "population." In 1912 it is asserted there were enrolled in its parochial schools 1,237,251 pupils, and in Roman Catholic educational institutions of all kinds 1,450,488 scholars. There were 4,845 parochial schools, 4,004 parishes without schools, 31,000-teachers, and 264 Teaching Communities of Women.

It is a matter of vital importance to the State to know what is taught the multitudes of pupils in these schools. Are they like those of France? The Minister of Public Instruction, as we have seen, has denounced the Roman Catholic Schools of France.

Are they like those of Italy? That Kingdom is the home of the Roman Catholic Church. The Pope has his residence in Rome and it is stated that fiftytwo of the Cardinals, the "Princes of the Church," are Italians. It will be then not only of interest but of great importance to learn what the Italian Government, as well as the French Republic “thinks of the education which the Roman Catholic Church furnishes."

A recent writer speaking of the National (Public) School of Italy, says: "The instruction imparted is altogether truthful and wholesome. Instead of stunting and vitiating and depressing the mind it expands and purifies and enlightens it. The text books conveying that instruction are well written, well arranged and well illustrated, and they deal with all kinds of subjects, a knowledge of which is bound up in a liberal education. They all bear the imprimatur of the Central Government Commission for the Selection of Text Books. That Commission is prepared to examine all books written especially for the youth of Italy and to give its public approval of them if it finds them worthy of it. This has encouraged both authors and publishers to create such books and they form a very extensive school book literature. But there is one thing I am quite sure this Commission will never be found doing. It will never set its seal to a book that issues from the Church. Church books of all kinds are not only banished from the National Schools, but the State does what it can to prevent them from falling into the hands of Children." The State authorities would not even allow old Church text books to be given away as prizes at exhibitions.

The same

author also says, "The bulk of such books contain only trivialities, falsehoods, debilitating and debasing superstitions . . . and thus a child . . becomes the cringing slave and tool of the priest and the Church."

A historian of the Roman Catholic school system estimates the attendance of Roman Catholic children in the public schools of the United States during the year 1908-1909 at more than one million pupils. The author finds many reasons for this state of affairs, such as a lack of Parochial Schools in the country districts, or sparsely settled communities; want of Parochial Schools in communities where there are only a few Roman Catholics, the debts caused by building Churches thus leaving no funds for school purposes, etc., etc. One reason given is, however, startling, viz.: "When the Church is in the majority in the community the public schools are then under its control, the surroundings are Roman Catholic, so no separate schools are desired by priest or people.' But when the Protestants, or sects other than the Roman Catholic are in the majority then the schools are "Godless" and the Roman Catholic must have separate schools!!

The Roman Catholic Church strives everywhere, it seems, and in all ages, to create an imperium in imperio, a State within a State, an Empire within an Empire, and thus becomes a religion of isolation. It is looked upon by many thousands of the citizens of this country, who have no positive religious affiliations, as a foreign religion, ruled by foreigners, with a foreign Potentate at its head who is an alien to all the traditions and aspirations of the American people. And it may be that many thousands among the million pupils are sent to the Public Schools by Roman Catholic parents because they, too, know the kind of teaching given in the Church schools, are patriotic American citizens and do not wish their children to be educated in an un-American environment.

It may be contended that in the Parochial Schools the Vaticanists or Clericals can teach anything that seems proper to them under the guise of religion. But what if they teach in this country, as they teach in France, and in Italy, opposition to the government of the country?

Are the text books used in the Parochial or Roman Catholic Schools in this country of the same stamp as those used by them in France and Italy? We do not know. "Father" Crowley in his amazing book on the Parochial Schools of the Roman Catholic Church, which he declares are a menace to our country, does not discuss the text-book question.

We hope that the Roman Catholic text books in the United States do not teach treason, nor lead the children to despise the republican form of government, nor teach the union of Church and State, nor the subjection of the Civil Power to the control of Priests.

Some Roman Catholic Teaching About Freemasonry

We were led to these reflections and questions about the character of Roman Catholic Schools in our country not only from reading the speech of M. Viviani on the Priestly teaching in France, but from recent examples of Priestly intolerance toward Freemasonry in this country.

It seems that the United States of North America is really and truly becoming Roman Catholic, while Italy, the home of the Pope or Papal Court, has turned away from it. We read in the press dispatches of anticlerical riots in Italy on Easter Sunday where conflicting parties of Roman Catholics fought each other and where anti-clerical riots have disturbed the public. In one instance a canopy bearing a "sacred" image was riddled with pistol balls!

In this country, however, if the published accounts are true, public speakers are mobbed, riots are had because public lecturers express their opinions of the Roman Catholic Church, its government and its policies.

Protestant ministers are attacked by Roman Catholics for discussing the Roman Catholic Church before their own congregations, and in one instance a Knight of Columbus slapped the face of one man, a Protestant preacher, thinking him to be another man! The Court fined the preacher's assailant $25 which amounts to a premium for the commission of the offense.

Charges are freely made that the whole press of our great cities is muzzled by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy and dares not print anything to its detriment. Readers of this magazine will bear witness that our pages have never been filled with narrow or bigoted attacks on the Roman Catholic Church, much less on the members of that Church. The better element of Catholics have recognized that fact and we have abundant proof of it. The real men among the Roman Catholic Priesthood, and even Pope Leo XIII in his Bull "Humanum Genus," draw the line between abusing individual Masons and denouncing the Fraternity. And it is the system of the Roman Catholic Church to which thousands of Americans object and not to its creed, beliefs, or dogmas, nor to individual members of the Church.

But when we read the personal abuse which some Roman Catholic periodicals print which refer to individuals or individual action it compels a thoughtful man to wonder if such books as are described by the Minister of Public Instruction in France, M. Viviani, and such books as those described in the preceding editorial on the church books found in Italy are used in the Roman Catholic Schools in this country! We do not refer to such newspapers as the Catholic World or The Western Watchman, etc., etc., for while they are ostensibly Roman Catholic and "dyed in the wool" in that faith, they are doing great work in awakening our people to the real animus of the "Battle against Freemasonry” and are doing more to disgust Roman Catholic laymen and indifferent Protestants than the whole "Patriotic Press" on the other side. The American Citizen of East Orange, New Jersey, published in its issue of April 4, 1914, an article entitled "Masonry and Popery," the last four paragraphs of which are as folows:

"The Acacia (Lexington, Ky.), facetiously prints among other curiosities the following:

The Messenger of the Sacred Heart, Roman Catholic, publishes a catechism especially for women, in which appears the following question and

answer:

'Q. Is it a sin to keep company with a Freemason?

'A. No Catholic girl should keep company with a man she ought not to marry. She is putting herself in danger of committing many sins, and of having a most unhappy life and bad death.'"

We cannot "treat such a statement facetiously." Here are four charges made seriously by a Roman Catholic paper that:

I. A Roman Catholic woman ought not to marry a Freemason.

2. That by marrying a Freemason the Roman Catholic girl puts herself

in danger of committing many sins.

3. That she puts herself in danger of having a most unhappy life, and

4. That she puts herself in danger of having a bad death.

It seems to us that this statement is not only unworthy of any person who assumes the name "Christian," but that no decent pagan, heathen or heretic would be guilty of writing it.

Freemasons, who are men, have grown accustomed to the abuse and vilification heaped on the fraternity from sources such as the Messenger of the Sacred Heart, but it is another matter when thousands of good women devoted wives and mothers, are thus assailed by such teachers. Thousands

of Roman Catholic girls have married Freemasons and have lived just as happily and died in peace and in the hope of that heaven which their Church had taught them to expect. It is for this reason that such teaching seems to us a vile, infamous slander on the good women who have married Freemasons. If such a "Catechism" is prepared for the use of women by a Roman Catholic periodical using that most Holy Name-the Sacred Heart-it is not strange if it be asked, "What do your Parochial School books teach?"

Ritual Murder in the Philippines

Our contributor, David F. Morris, was one of the first, if not the first, white men who penetrated the region which is the scene of his story "Ritual Murder," appearing elsewhere in this number of THE NEW AGE MAGAZINE.

The account is gruesome but such recitals must always be revolting and yet the student of human nature as well as of religions finds them of value when well substantiated. The author of the article not only vouches for the truth of the facts, but Mr. William J. Platka has kindly sent us the following statement as to the accuracy of Mr. Morris' description of the sacrifice.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

April 9th, 1914.

The human sacrifice described in this story entitled "Ritual Murder" is a matter of record. At the trial of Datto Ansig and his accomplices, before Judge Springer, in Davao the facts of the case were set forth in the testimony of numerous witnesses.

At the time the human sacrifice was made, I was Senior Inspector, commanding the Constabulary forces in the District of Davao, Mindanao. When rumors of what had been done reached Davao, I went with Governor Walker into the Mount Apo region to investigate. Neither Datto Ansig nor the other old men denied the deed. On the contrary, they asserted that the sacrifice, being proper and necessary, was conducted according to the Bagobo custom from time immemorial.

Of my personal knowledge and from information obtained officially, I can certify that the account of the killing of Sacum, as written by David F. Morris, is a fair and truthful depiction of what occurred.

Very respectfully,

W. J. PLATKA.

Mr. William J. Platka is now Assistant Secretary of the Philippine Society. The most valuable thing which man can offer to the gods to win their favor is human life. In the South Sea Islands and among the Negroes of Africa such sacrifices, or "Ritual Murders," were common not many years ago. While Montezuma reigned in Mexico, human sacrifices were made to the gods and that monarch refused to conquer a province which was easy to be won because he wished to retain victims for his sacrifices.

Human sacrifices and the Ritual which accompanied them were well developed among the Kondhs of India before they had come into contact with the European races. Their great divinity was the earth-god, and twice in each year, at sowing-time and at harvest and in all times of great calamity, the earth-god required a human sacrifice. The low class men of the villages were required to kidnap victims from the plains. The prisoners were welcomed and kindly treated until the day for the sacrifice. The man or boy was solemnly sacrificed, the Kondhs shouting in his ear while death seized him, "We bought you with a price, no sin rests on us." (Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religion To-day.) The victim, if the sacrifice was not voluntary on his part "died for all mankind." (Reclus, Primitive Folk, 312), and the entire community was responsible for the act.

The similarity of this sacrifice in India with that described in the Philppines by Mr. Morris is close. When the Kondhs were forced to give up their sacrifices of human beings they substituted a buffalo.

It is claimed by some scholars that there has been a regular course of evolution in sacrifices. First human beings, then animals, then fruits and grains, and finally meat and drink. There is an Altar in Freemasonry on which sacrifices are offered and incense burned. It is the baser passions and the lower nature of man which is laid on the Altar as a Sacrifice to God and incense is burned as a symbol of adoration and praise to the Grand Architect of the Universe.

A Lutheran Preacher's Book on Freemasonry.

The Editor of this magazine received many years ago, along with some friends, what purported to be a complete revelation of the initiation into the Mysteries of the Druses of Mount Lebanon. The symbols and the ceremonies as the Revelator described them were distinctly Phallic. But we soon became satisfied that the Druses had not initiated our Revelator into their true Mysteries. We thought, and still think, that by using the phallic symbols they had merely tested his fitness for initiation, that he had failed in the test, and had thus missed his way to the real initiation.

We believe the Druses of Mount Lebanon had employed the phallic symbols and the ceremonies as a test which candidates for initiation were required to undergo for two purposes.

1. If the aspirant yielded to temptation it was conclusive evidence of the fact that he was unworthy of initiation and could not be admitted as a member of their society.

2. If the aspirant or candidate was so foolish as to believe THAT THE SYMBOLS COULD ONLY BE INTERPRETED AS PHALLIC it was also conclusive evidence that he was a man of a base, vulgar and depraved mind, utterly unworthy of initiation and unfit to associate with the other members of the Society.

In this issue of this magazine there will be found a part of a Review of a book written by a Lutheran preacher, which seems to insist that the symbols of Freemasonry bear only a phallic interpretation. The reviewer, Dr. Thomas M. Stewart, who is known in many States as a Mason of learning and ability, has written an elaborate review of the preacher's book, in which he shows that if the symbols of Freemasonry can be interpreted as phallic, those of Christianity will bear the same interpretation. We print a part of Dr. Stewart's review because of his own rendering of some of the symbols and not because it is a review of the book he mentions.

The book we regard as utterly unworthy of notice.

The review is interesting, for it shows how symbols can be distorted by a certain class of mind to base uses. There is, of course, nothing new in an attempt to give a Phallic Interpretation to the symbols of Freemasonry. It is a part of the stock in trade of that class of clerical mind which loves to dwell on such subjects.

Archbishop Meurin, of the Roman Catholic Church, a Jesuit, published a large volume containing some five hundred and fifty pages which he labeled “La Francmaconnerie, Synagogue de Satan," "Freemasonry, Synagogue of Satan." The book was published twenty years ago and the Jesuit maintained the same theory that the Lutheran preacher maintains, according to Dr. Stewart's quotations from the latter's work. The Lutheran, perhaps, borrowed his ideas of Freemasonry from Archbishop Meurin or some of his associates of the Society of Jesus.