Protestant Reply

Scottish-born Dr. John A. Mackay (rhymes with reply), president of Princeton Theological Seminary, is usually a mild man. But last week his dander was up. A longtime missionary in Mexico, Peru and Uruguay, he well knew that the republics south of the Rio Grande still admit Protestant missionaries, educators and doctors, despite some wartime difficulties. Yet last month the U.S. Catholic hierarchy declared that these missions are "a disturbing factor in our international relations" and are "offensive to the dignity of our Southern brothers, their culture and their religion." Last fortnight the Catholic Digest made further charges (TIME, Dec. 14).

When U.S. Protestantism gathered in Cleveland last week (see p. 73), Dr. Mackay made reply. Said he, in a resolution passed almost unanimously:

"It is with deep concern ... that we have witnessed ah effort now publicly endorsed in the U.S. by the Archbishops and Bishops of a sister Christian communion, which constitutes a religious minority in this country, to set the relation of Protestant Christianity to Hispanic America in a perspective which does violence both to historical truth and contemporary fact. We deplore the pretension of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to circumscribe the religious freedom of Protestant Christians in the proclamation of their faith, while by implication reserving for themselves the right to the universal proclamation of their own. . . .

"The churches represented in this Council will . . . continue to avail themselves of the constitutional freedom which the republics of Hispanic America grant to the representatives of every faith. ..."