Conclusion (Cont.) (2)

The Protestantized system of public education, despite all efforts by Roman Catholicism to counter it through the establishment of specifically Catholic schools, continues to exert its Protestantizing influence on the Catholic population. Many of the latter, due to their poverty, cannot bear the double tax (for maintaining state schools and maintaining Catholic schools) and therefore are obliged by necessity to place their children in the secularized state schools. The result is not only individual conversions to Protestantism[1] but also the development of indifference, which prepares the ground for the reception and spread of Protestant ideas. Without question, dependent on such influence from the Protestant school is the fact that in recent times there have appeared with increasing frequency attempts at reform movements among the Catholic population and more often preachers of the “independent Catholic Church” have come forward. True, such attempts so far have proven unsuccessful and offer no guarantee of successful development, but the very fact of their appearance indicates the existence of soil more or less suitable for them.[2]

Finally, an element of weakness for Roman Catholicism is the fact that the Roman Catholic population, consisting predominantly of the lower classes and masses of immigrants, falls far short in comparison with the Protestant population regarding general development and education. The secularized state school, which according to its system is not recognized by Catholics, but which Protestants of all denominations freely utilize, stands high in educational terms. Directing all its efforts toward higher intellectual development, even if it errs in one-sidedness, it achieves its direct purpose with considerable success, and through it is developed that comparatively modest but universal level of intellectual development which, in terms of practical education and judgment, places Americans above all other peoples of the world. Catholics, meanwhile, cannot utilize such a school, and while their efforts in establishing their own schools are not entirely fruitless, these schools nevertheless cannot equal the state schools. Therefore the Catholic population as a whole stands far below the Protestant population,[3] and by this very fact Roman Catholicism is deprived of a considerable portion of its influence, since from the lower degree of intellectual development of its followers, judgment is transferred to the system itself, as if hostile to intellectual progress.

Thus from the foregoing it is evident that while Roman Catholicism has many advantages over Protestantism as a strong, historically developed, dogmatically principled system, which has enabled it to forge for itself a brilliant path of hundred-year historical development in the United States, at the same time it has its weak points, which completely paralyze the successful action of the system and give Protestantism advantages which it could not have by its own nature when encountering another system—historically strong and great, but lacking the defects of Roman Catholicism.

With the foregoing the essence of our subject is exhausted. If investigation must always be completed with a practical conclusion, it may consist in the following: the historical life of Roman Catholicism in the United States presents much evidence that suggests hope for the possibility of success on American soil for such a church as would, while possessing all the historical greatness, the strength of ecclesiastical organization, and the integrity of dogmatic system that places Roman Catholicism above Protestantism, at the same time be free from the weak points that completely paralyze the successful action of the Roman Catholic Church on American soil. We mean the holy Orthodox Catholic Church. In our deep conviction, the social and religious life of the American people presents much evidence upon which the Orthodox Church can rely with far greater confidence and hope than Roman Catholicism, as we have endeavored to show in the introduction.

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Footnotes

[2] In 1879 in New York two “independent Catholic churches” suddenly arose, of which one lasted only three months and proved to be a speculative scheme (See Church Herald 1880 no. 22 and 23 in our “American Notes”), while the other exists to the present day and in the person of its pastor, a former Catholic priest James O’Connor, conducts rather notable agitation. We have had many occasions to be in his church and listen to his sermons directed against Roman Catholicism. The audience usually numbers up to 1,000 people, who enthusiastically applaud him at pathetic moments, and many of them regard him with warm sympathy, generously helping him with money. We happened to witness O’Connor gather up to 100 dollars from his listeners in one evening after his sermon for the needs of the church. This year he published “The First Annual Report of the Independent Catholic Church,” from which it is evident that during the year he “admitted to his church more than 300 persons, who declared their conversion from the Roman Catholic Church,” See First Annual Report of the Independent Catholic Church, New York, 1881, p. 3. Less successful are the affairs of his other colleague “Bishop” McNamara. Recently after an anti-Catholic sermon in Hartford, in the state of Connecticut, upon leaving the hall he was met by a numerous crowd of Catholics who, after whistles and verbal insults, resorted to throwing stones, so that the “Bishop” was able to reach his hotel safely only under police protection, having suffered only minor bruises and damage to his hat, which was knocked off by a stone. Telegraph in N. Y. Herald, April 2, 1881.

Conclusion (Cont.) (2)

Заключение (продолжение) (2)