THE CONTENT OF PROTESTANT TENSIONS:

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AND

"KNOWN FACTS"*

I

This paper makes no pretense of being anything approaching a definitive treatment of the subject of Catholic-Protestant tensions. It differs from earlier studies in this general area in its principal focus of interest. Kane,1 it will be recalled, demonstrated that Catholic-Protestant tensions do exist and were evidenced in material found in leading Catholic and Protestant publications; and he then proceeded to analyze these in terms of variations over a period of time. Fahey2 sought to discover to what extent such tensions were observable in opinions expressed by a selected segment of America's Protestant clergy. The present study deals with what is assumed to be a body of "tense Protestants" and seeks to describe the content of their tensions to the extent indicated by their relating of personal experiences or otherwise "known facts" concerning the Roman Catholic Church and Catholics whether considered as individual members of the Church or as personifications of the Church and "all it implies."

The treatment is descriptive and frankly impressionistic, employing the broadest definitions of the two most critical terms involved. "Tensions" refers to any expression of adverse feeling toward or concerning Catholics or the Church. "Protestants," for the purposes of this paper, are all non-Catholics who give some indication of a positive rejection of the Roman

*Paper read at the Sixteenth Annual Convention of the American Catholic Sociological Society held at Loyola University, Chicago, December 28-30, 1954. This is a preliminary report on research conducted under a Social Science Research Council post-doctoral research training fellowship.

1

1 John J. Kane, "Protestant-Catholic Tensions," American Sociological Review, October 1951, pp. 663–672. Dr. Kane's paper was first presented at the 12th Annual Convention of the American Catholic Sociological Society (1950) under the title, "Sociological Analysis of Growing ProtestantCatholic Tensions."

2 Frank Fahey, "Some Protestant Opinions on Protestant-Catholic Tensions," unpublished paper presented at the 14th Annual Convention of the American Catholic Sociological Society (1952).

Catholic Church, whether as an institution or as a body of religious dogma and beliefs. "Catholic," of course, refers to the Roman Catholic Church, its organization, and its membership. This admittedly loose usage of the term, "Protestant," is made necessary by the fact that the sole source of data on which this report is based consisted of letters written by persons who, in most cases, did not make a point of stating their own religious preference or affiliation, if any.

These letters were spontaneous expressions of support and approval addressed to the author and publishers of a best-selling non-fictional treatment of the Roman Catholic Church in America and the "threat" it represents to the American form of government and democratic traditions. The publisher estimated the total number of letters received as somewhat in excess of four thousand; of these, less than fifty were written in opposition to the book. One hundred and eighty-three of these letters contained unmistakable evidence of some degree of tension and from these "significant quotes" were abstracted for this analysis.

There is no way of knowing to what extent the content of the letters was influenced or determined by the book. Some writers praised the author for his bravery and patriotism in exposing a situation of which they had long been aware; others wrote in terms of the surprise and shock produced by his revelations (not a few used the word, "terror"). The present writer's impression is that the widespread popularity and principal effect of the book is reflected in the statement made by a man who identified himself as a "doctor": "I have always been antiRoman hierarchy and anti-Roman policy but I have never had many facts, as I have now that I have read your book." The tone of such contributions would indicate that Kane's hypothesis concerning the influence of the situational factors may require some modification, at least as far as the "tense Protestants" involved in this review are concerned. The present data suggest that these tensions are more of a continuing current and that the

3 "The hypothesis proposed here is that situational factors and their definitions by leaders and members of the respective groups cause shifts in their [Catholic-Protestant] relationships." Kane, "Protestant-Catholic Tensions," p. 663. Obviously, the present data do not contradict or disprove this hypothesis. They do, however, furnish rather clear evidence that at least the extremes of Protestant tensions concerning Catholics and Catholic influence do not depend upon situational factors and their definition, but represent a continuing undercurrent of suspicions, resentment, and fears which need not have situational support.

situational element enters in by offering points of specific focu for the generalized tensions and by providing occasions in whic the expression of these tensions gains some "respectability."

In the preliminary organization of the data, certain pro visional categories were arbitrarily established with the point i view of indicating the essential direction of the tension conten The categories thus developed are not exclusive, some items be ing included under two or more headings in the actual analysis It was felt that this would not seriously jeopardize the result since the data do not lend themselves to numerical or statistica interpretation. A total of 695 items of tension content wer drawn from the 183 letters selected for consideration. Th majority of these fell into three principal categories: Value charged Terms and Epithets; Stated Fears of Catholic Inten tions and Influence; and Personal Experiences and "Know Facts" Concerning Catholics. It is entirely possible that furthe organization and interpretation of these data will result in revision of these provisional categories. The present report however, is limited to those items relating personal experience or advancing "facts" known to the letter-writer and addressed to the author of the expose book "to contribute to your fund of information about the Roman Catholic Church in the United States" and, by so doing, to assist him in preparing future ex poses.

II

It was no surprise to find frequent references to the rol ascribed to the Church throughout the full scope of post-Re formation history. The "known facts" about what one write termed "the vile past of the heirarchy" revealed three principa themes: persecution; totalitarianism; and the toleration (if no outright encouragement) of illiterary and vice. The persecution theme was developed not only in references to the Inquisition but also took into account more recent history in Italy, Spain and Argentina. More detailed charges stated that the Church put to death 100,000 Protestants and martyrs by such means a the axe and burning at the stake. Occasional comparisons wer made with current Communist practices, and at least one mar declared that only Dachau and Belsen exceeded in horror th punishments practiced by Catholics for centuries. The second

Lesser categories were established for: Designated Catholic Object of Tensions; Doctrinal Objections; Proposed Solutions [of "the Catholi Problem]; and Personal Activities [Reported by the "Tense Protestants"]

theme, totalitarianism, referred to the Church's association with current and recent dictatorships.5 Franco, Peron, Salazar, Hitler, and Mussolini all received mention in connection with the Pope. Some writers regarded these totalitarians as agents of the Pope and the Church, but the customary reference merely stated the association and drew the conclusion (included in the "Fears" category) that the extension of Catholic influence would almost necessarily lead to the establishment of a totalitarian form of government in this country. Charges associating Catholic dominance with illiteracy and vice followed in part from the belief that the clergy and heirarchy place a positive value upon keeping the laity at an intellectual disadvantage. The allegedly inferior quality of parochial school education supported the confident assumption stated by several writers that full support of public education would be one means of freeing the "duped devotees" of the Church and making it possible for young Roman Catholics to hear both sides and thus avoid becoming new "victims of the hierarchy." In its printed letterhead, an organization called "The Protestant Embassy" brought this theme to its fullest expression:

The Roman Catholic Way-of-life has been tried for 1624 years. Every country which has permitted it by means of war and politics to become its national religion is today afflicted with disease, insanity, poverty, crime, gambling, illiteracy, and legalized female prostitution and is "On Relief" of Protestant United States.

These general charges are necessarily broad in their expression, but another group of "known facts" is more specific in focus, even though they frequently play upon the same themes. Thus, we learn of the inferior quality of parochial education, not in terms of the priests' desire to preserve their status by perpetuating the ignorance of the laity, but through the “factual" assertion that children in parochial schools do not read "a straight paragraph" because they are able to manage only three words at a time. Catholic influence in world affairs is brought down to specific cases by writers who advance the information that Catholics advocate "jamming Catholicism down the throats of the Northern Irish" and that the Pope "took Jeru

In the present context, this theme does not involve the Church's own , authoritarian structure as an evidence of totalitarianism. This did come in for frequent criticism, but such items were included in the category covering Doctrinal Objections.

salem from the Jews" through the offices of the UN. Frequent criticism is made of the display of pomp, splendor and wealth in widely publicized ceremonies, and caustic references are made to the "bishops who live like kings" or to the Pope as "the Prince of Poverty who lives in a palace" and who "never sends one thin dime to suffering Catholic countries." Some of these latter "facts" are supported by personal recollections of contrasts observed between lavish churches and the intense poverty of the people in Mexico and Italy.

Other "known facts" concern more limited manifestations of Catholic influence. Catholic nurses exploit unfair advantages to attempt death-bed conversions of Protestant patients; Protestant patients in Catholic hospitals are denied visits from their own clergymen outside of regular visiting hours; Catholics are indifferent to the production of morons and imbeciles; Jesuits practice hypnosis; Catholics (and Jews) order their children to burn the New Testament. The more familiar "horrors" associated with Catholicism appear in these letters through references to the infamous "Knights of Columbus Oath" and crude references to sexual misbehavior on the part of the Catholic clergy and religious. Shades of "Maria Monk" are found in assertions that there are many insane nuns in convents and that nuns are required to travel in pairs to prevent their escape and informing on one another.

6

"Facts" specifically concerned with Catholic operations in the United States carry the essential note of insidious infiltration by what one correspondent terms "a political machine masquerading as a Church." A teacher-minister, prefacing his remarks with the assurance that "I do not want to appear hysterical," expanded upon the danger he saw in the

... spread of this old-world, foreign-dominated, totalitarian medievalism. Like a cancer its arms are stealthily, sometimes arrogantly, reaching into our Protestant homes, institutions, and government to drag us all down to the level of primitive magic and ignorant, helpless subservience to a ruthlessly priestly system. . . . In a short time our Protes+ant voices will be throttled by Catholic-made laws ruthlessly enforced by Catholic officials.

6 It is interesting to note that in replying to one correspondent who mentioned "the Bloody Oath," the publishers advised him that they and the author of the expose book considered the “oath” spurious and without foundation. However, like the "Protocols of Zion," the "oath" continues to receive widespread circulation and, apparently in some quarters at least, acceptance.