"I have in my heart pity"

"Not even the most bigoted Catholic, not even a Spanish Bishop, could deny that the letter is a ringing call to arms . . ."

"Few political orators could nave equaled the indignantly patriotic messages which pilloried General Franco and the Bishops not only as disturbers in Spain, but even as enemies of American ideals and the Star Spangled Banner."

October 12 , 1937 | Letter from William Green, managing editor of "The Witness," to Reverend Jesse Halsey

"open hostility toward popular government, freedom of worship and separation of church and State"

from "Waking to Danger: Americans and Nazi Germany,1933-1941" by Robert A. Rosenbaum

In September 1937 the Spanish bishops issued a pastoral letter justifying Franco’s insurgency. They described the “Spanish Communist Revolution” as anti-Spanish and anti-Christian. Appealing to the just war doctrine of Thomas Aquinas, they argued: “. . . Spain had no other alternative but this: either to perish in the definite assault of destructive communism . . . or to attempt . . . to save the fundamental principles of her social life and of her national characteristics.”

American Protestants were not persuaded. On October 4, 1937, the New York Times published an “open letter” signed by 150 prominent Protestant clergy and laymen rebutting the Spanish prelates’ justification for war. The Protestants accused the Spanish bishops of “open hostility toward popular government, freedom of worship and separation of church and State—principles that we, as Americans, deeply cherish . . .”

….

A response to the Protestants’ “open letter” signed by 175 Catholic clergy and laymen, appeared in the Times on October 14. “The publication of [the Protestants’] letter has not only misrepresented the facts and the issues of Spain,” the Catholics asserted, “but it has also tended to create a species of religious war in the United States . . . Do American Protestants accept and endorse a governmental regime that has carried on a ruthless persecution of the Christian religion since February 1936? Does American Protestantism endorse a regime that is composed predominantly of radical Socialists, Communists, Syndicalists and Anarchists? Does American Protestantism championed a regime that has consistently violated in theory and in practice the fundamental principles of liberty and democracy guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States?”

Spanish Hierarchy Is Denounced Here

October 4, 1937 | New York Times


"Bishop Paddock said that the letter was 'a responsible and friendly' attempt to induce the leaders of the Catholic Church in the United States to set forth their own political views. Many of the signers, he said, felt confident that American Catholics did not share the opinions of the Spanish hierarchy."

"The letter said its signers were 'disturbed by the fact that no leaders of the Catholic Church in America have raised their voices in repudiation of the position taken by the Spanish hierarchy' and added that 'they too seem to have given their blessing to General Franco and his Fascist allies.'"

Open Letter in Reply to Spanish Hierarchy’s Recent Views of War

October 4, 1937
New York Times

The text of the open letter issued by 150 Protestant clergymen and educators and laymen on the recent pastoral letter of the Spanish hierarchy follows:

The pastoral letter issued by the prelates of the Catholic Church in Spain stirs our anxieties. The Spanish hierarchy’s attempt to justify a military rebellion against a legally elected government is alarming, as is its display of open hostility toward popular government, freedom of worship and separation of church and State—principles that we, as Americans, deeply cherish.

Its apparent unwillingness to recognize the social and economic evils that have sickened Spain for generations is disquieting to those who feel that there can be no stability in the peninsula until these evils are eliminated; that resort again to force, repression and dictatorship can only be futile. IN this respect the Spanish hierarchy will not admit what leading Catholics here and abroad have long discussed and deplored.

It is noteworthy that this pastoral letter was issued to answer criticism abroad of the Spanish hierarchy’s position, criticism voiced not by the secular but by the Catholic press.

We are amazed to find the pastoral letter 1) approving of resort to violence and military insurrection as a means of settling political controversies; 20 rejecting not merely the present Popular Front Government of Spain but the republic itself and the Constitution of 1931 on which it was founded; 3) stigmatizing any form of parliamentary government, presumably even if under a constitutional monarchy, as “irresponsible autocracy”; and 4) condemning in principle the democratic institutions, the freedom of worship and the separation of church and State established by the Constitution of 1931. It is hard to believe that this pastoral letter was written in the twentieth century . . .

Letter from Jesse Halsey to Father Reardon

1937