XXXIX. The Catholic and Politics
1. ON SEEING the title of the present chapter you may perhaps shake your head thoughtfully and say: "What! is the author of a book of this nature going to treat of politics?" Yes, I am certainly about to do so I And why should I not, since very weighty reasons impel me to take this course?
You, my youthful reader, are already, or will be sooner or later, of an age to exercise the suffrage, to vote in municipal, state, and national elections, and will therefore enter the realm of so-called politics. Therefore it is for you, as a Catholic, a matter of conscience to learn what are the real, the true Catholic principles which are to be followed in reference to politics. And it is these principles which I now desire briefly to explain.
2. The Catholic should, before all things, in his relation to politics, never lose sight of the exhortation addressed by St. Paul to the Romans: "If it be possible, as much as is in you, have peace with all men" (Rom. xii. 18). That should be the first principle of a Catholic in his intercourse with his fellowmen in general, and more especially in regard to politics. It is certainly his duty to have peace with all men, but not under all circumstances, not at any price, but only so far as in us lies, as it depends
