recognized and accepted by the Catholic Church, separate us from the world, consecrate us to a life different from that of other members of our Church, and subject us to the canon law of the Church which strictly forbids priests and religious men, who have taken these vows, from taking up arms in any cause whatsoever. We are ministers of peace, and in all ages this sacred character has been regarded as opposed to war and bloodshed. Such is the law of the Church, and this law binds our consciences. We cannot violate it without doing violence to our duty to God; and therefore we cannot obey any law which would require us to violate that duty. You perceive the predicament in which this places us at the present moment, and from which I desire your Advice to enable us to extricate ourselves.
As to the remedy of paying $300 for each member that may be subject to the draft, I must say that it is scarcely fair to require this of us, who are really not subject to military service, by reason of the life we have embraced and of the conscientious obligations it imposes upon us. And besides this, such a sum paid for all those who might be called upon among us, would prostrate all our establishments and leave us destitute of the means for carrying on the works we have undertaken for the good of our countrymen. V6 'e are struggling hard to keep these up; the war has inflicted severe losses upon us, as upon many others; and if we cannot escape the conscription without paying what the act prescribes, I do not see how we shall be able to continue our exertions.
Please give this matter your serious consideration, and if you can suggest any means of extricating ourselves from this perplexity, you will confer an infinite obligation upon me, by informing me of it. We have here a conflict of duties; we desire as far as possible to comply with both; but we cannot sacrifice our conscience, and our resources are too limited to allow us to comply with that condition on which alone the act of Congress will recognize our exemption.