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The United States and the Roman Catholic Church

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 27, 1910

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 43.

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The United States and the Roman Catholic Church

By K. C. R.

The Washington Star of October 13 contains a partial report of an address given the previous day at Peoria, Ill., by Ex-President Roosevelt, in which he made reference to his correspondence with a certain Protestant clergyman concerning his reception of Cardinal Saltolli at the White House. He said:—
“I wrote him, saying that I had received the cardinal just as, for instance, I had received bodies of German Lutherans and Welsh Methodists, and as I was expected to receive the Archbishop of Canterbury; and that I would hold myself to be a poor representative of the people, and an unworthy president of the United States, if I failed to treat with good will and friendliness all good men, no matter what their religious faith might be; and I then added that I could best explain my position by saying that I believed our country would last a very long time; and that if it did, there would be many presidents, and some of these would be Catholics and some Protestants and that I, a Protestant, wished to act toward my Catholic fellow citizens exactly as I hoped that a Catholic president would act toward his Protestant fellow citizens. I think that expressed my views about as clearly as I could put them.”
The statement is substantially the same as he made in a letter bearing date of Nov. 6, 1908, in which he replied to the criticisms against President Taft’s holding the position of president of the United States, because of his being a Unitarian.
The theory, as expressed in the foregoing words by Mr. Roosevelt regarding the relation of the citizens of the United States to the Catholic Church, must appeal to all fair-minded persons as the only reasonable position that could be taken by a statesman. Nevertheless, it should be remembered by all that to elect a person to the position of president of the United States who has sworn eternal allegiance to another power, especially to one that is antagonistic, would be un-American and unsafe. The Roman Catholics will try in vain to place themselves on the basis of Protestant denominations in their efforts to secure official positions in this country. There is something of greater significance than to pose simply in name as a church. It is the principles that dominate and control an organization that should be considered, regardless of the name. K. C. R.