attributed to the fecundity
with which God has endowed His Church--But she would bring
forth more abundant fruits if, in addition to liberty, she
enjoyed the favor of the laws and patronage of the public
authority.

Accordingly, here is Father Phelan of St. Louis, addressing his flock
in the "Western Watchman", June 27,1913:

Tell us we are Catholics first and Americans or Englishmen
afterwards; of course we are. Tell us, in the conflict
between the church and the civil government we take the side
of the church; of course we do. Why, if the government of
the United States were at war with the church, we would say
tomorrow, To hell with the government of the United States;
and if the church and all the governments of the world were
at war, we would say, To hell with all the governments of
the world....Why is it that in this country, where we have
only seven per cent of the population, the Catholic church
is so much feared? She is loved by all her children and
feared by everybody. Why is it that the Pope has such
tremendous power? Why, the Pope is the ruler of the world.
All the emperors, all the kings, all the princes, all the
presidents of the world, are as these altar boys of mine.
The Pope is the ruler of the world.

You recall what I said at the outset about Power; the ability to
control the lives of other men, to give laws and moral codes, to shape
fashions and tastes, to be revered and regarded. Here is a man swollen
to bursting with this Power. Dressed in his holy robes, with his holy
incense in his nostrils, and the faces of the faithful gazing up at
him awe-stricken, hear him proclaim:

The Church gives no bonds for her good behavior. She is the
judge of her own rights and duties, and of the rights and
duties of the state.

And lest you think that an extreme example of ultramontanist
arrogance, listen to the Boston "Pilot", April 6, 1912, speaking for
Cardinal O'Connell, whose official organ it is:

It must be borne in mind that even though Cardinals Farley,
O'Connell and Gibbons are at heart patriotic Americans and
members of an American hierarchy, yet they are as cardinals
foreign princes of the blood, to whom the United States, as
one of the great powers of the world, is under an obligation
to concede the same honors that they receive abroad.

Thus, w