Annual Dudleian Lecture Delivered

Rev. Arthur C. McGiffert, Ph.D., D.D., of Union Theological Seminary, last night delivered the Dudleian lecture for the current year on "The Genius of Catholicism as Illustrated in the Controversy with Modernism."

Not since the sixteenth century has there been such an admirable chance to study Catholicism as illustrated in the Roman Catholic Church. The Modernists of that church are allied in many ways to Protestant liberalists. The fa- mous papal bull of 1907 defined Modernism with adequate correctness. The Modernists lay emphasis on biblical criticism, relativity of dogma, immanence of God, and the social element in religion. The absolute authority of the pope is questioned. They consider that the authority of the bishops rests on the people and not on their succession to the Apostles. The conception of the Catholic Church is opposed to all these views.

In spite of these theories the Modernists remain in the Roman Catholic Church because in it they find collectivism as opposed to Protestant individualism. What the Modernists desire is world-wide unity of purpose and effort for a common cause. The genius of catholicism is union and co-operation, and this is why it holds even the most extreme Modernists