THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH By Chester J. Padgett, Th.M. Member of the faculty of Bible Institute of Los Angeles The Contemporary Rise of Romanism
labor, agriculture, health and social wel fare; in city, state and national politics and in international diplomacy; among old-stock Americans, immigrant groups and racial minorities. Through a vast organization and by means of the press, radio and motion pictures, as well as through the patient work of the parish priest and the innumerable orders of nuns in schools and hospitals, the church is working night and day, year in and year out, in almost every community, toward an end which only the hierarchy sees clearly but which is of profound im portance to every Catholic and every American. That end involves a funda mental revision of the Constitution of the United States and a radical change in the character of American culture. “Today America includes Catholicism with other faiths and makes them equally at home. It includes them all, however, on Protestant terms. Protestants claim religious liberty for themselves and grant it to others, including Catholics. This element of religious liberty is funda mental to all other freedoms in Amer ican democracy. Roman Catholic doctrine and the Roman Catholic organization of power are committed to the radical mod ification of this basic freedom. The Ro man Catholic hierarchy has launched a program which will, if it succeeds, in clude other faiths in American culture only on Catholic terms. It is mobilizing powerful forces to move this nation toward a cultural unity in which the Roman Catholic Church will be dominant. No comparable unity of effort is visible in Protestantism to recover and maintain the responsibility which it once carried
P ROBABLY one of the momentous publishing events of the century is that of The Fathers of the Church, a proposed set of seventy-two volumes now in the process of translation and edition. An imposing array of Roman Catholic scholars are giving to the English-speak ing world the writings of approximately three hundred Fathers of the ancient Church. Many of these writings have never before been translated. Hoping to publish at least one volume a month for the next five years, the editors of The Fathers of the Church are making available to the interested student many of the most important patristic works, including writings of all the Apostolic Fathers (Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna, Hermas of Rome, and frag ments from Papias). These works, to gether with the pen productions of most of the important authors in the Chris tian Church of the first seven centuries, will compose the completed project. Present Church leaders, Protestant as well as Roman Catholic, are loud in their praise of the proposed publications. Several of the volumes, already in print, have received wide-spread approval, and promise general enthusiastic reception. Critics commend the editors for their scholarly translations and the publishers for the excellent print and beautiful bindings. That the new translations are of tremendous value there can be little doubt. Historically the patristic writings will cast a flood of light on the internal and external condition of the ancient Church : they will indicate the formation of Christian doctrine; the development of non-conformist movements; the trans formation of the original Christian Sac raments (The Eucharist and Baptism) into something other than the original, and the addition of five other Sacra ments; the changes in the inner life and discipline of the Church from a demo cratic institution to a hierarchically con trolled spiritual despotism; and the inherent vitality of the Church to over come all odds and perpetuate itself in the face of seemingly insurmountable ob stacles. But the question comes, Is there any specific meaning attached to the new translations? Undoubtedly it is not mere chance that has made coincident the pub lication of The Fathers of the Church and the contemporary advance of Roman ism in the United States. One of the most important ecclesiastical historians of the present day intimates that just as the nineteenth century was a “ Prot estant century,” the twentieth century could very probably be a Roman Catholic century I1 O C T O B E R , 1 9 4 9
That Romanism is making rapid strides in her ambition to capture Amer ican culture is the thesis of a series of articles by Harold E. Fey, printed in The Christian Century ,2 and reprinted in pamphlet form under the title “Can Catholicism Win America?” In the in troduction of his study the author states: “All the forces which unite to create a cultural unity are capable of being diverted to serve the ends of the Roman Catholic Church- Many of them are being so used today.” After dealing with such subjects as “ Catholicism and the Worker,” “ Catholicism and the Press,” “ Catholicism and the Negro,” “ Catholicism Invades Rural America,” Mr. Fey concludes: “Here then stands the Roman Catholic Church, centered in Washington and covering the nation. Through its officially sponsored teaching it has avowed its intention to win Amer ica to obedience to Rome. Through the National Catholic Welfare Conference and in other ways the hierarchy has or ganized its forces in every important area of American life to achieve that purpose. From its center in the nation’s capital it is steadily carrying out its aims for family life, education, industry,
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