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{"id":1690,"date":"2009-03-01T06:25:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-01T06:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2009\/03\/%e2%80%9ci-thought-catholics-were-the-worst-people-on-earth-%e2%80%9d\/"},"modified":"2009-03-01T06:25:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-01T06:25:00","slug":"%e2%80%9ci-thought-catholics-were-the-worst-people-on-earth-%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2009\/03\/%e2%80%9ci-thought-catholics-were-the-worst-people-on-earth-%e2%80%9d.html","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI thought Catholics were the worst people on earth.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>This story seems like a good way to start Women\u2019s History Month. For all four years of the American Civil War, the French-born Jesuit Louis-Hipployte Gache (1817-1907) served as a Chaplain with the Confederate Army. His letters, written between May 1861 and July 1865, describe his experiences with the Tenth Louisiana Infantry. In 1981 Father Cornelius M. Buckley, S.J., collected Father Gache\u2019s wartime letters together in a book titled A Frenchman, A Chaplain, A Rebel<\/em><\/a>. During the Civil War some six hundred women religious served as nurses<\/a> in the both the Union and Confederate armies. This excerpt is from a letter dated November 18, 1862. It shows the positive effect they had on the largely Protestant populace to whom they ministered:<\/p>\n

The presence of nuns working long hours in the midst of the sick, and the care and attention they lavish on them is a constant sermon which, if it does not enlighten the understanding of men, touches at any rate and wins their hearts, and disposes them in a wonderful way to be receptive to a priest\u2019s instruction and receive the faith. Normally it is enough for the sick to see these saintly women at work for a period of three or four days; then they are willing to believe in the \u2018sisters\u2019 church.\u2019 For these men the proof of the Catholic Church is the life of the sisters. I have asked some men in the hospitals conducted by the nuns if they would like to be baptized Catholics. \u2018Oh, no,\u2019 they\u2019d reply. \u2018I don\u2019t like that church a bit! I\u2019ve never seen a Catholic, but I\u2019ve heard a lot about them. The sisters\u2019 church is the church for me!\u2019
\u2018But the sisters\u2019 church is the Catholic Church,\u2019 I\u2019d say.
\u2018Oh, I don\u2019t think so. At least nobody has ever said that.\u2019
\u2018All right, then,\u2019 I\u2019d add. \u2018Let\u2019s ask one of the sisters.,\u2019 and I\u2019d call one of the nuns over to the bed.
\u2018Sister,\u2019 I\u2019d ask, \u2018is it true that you belong to the Catholic Church?\u2019
\u2018Yes, sir, it\u2019s true,\u2019 she\u2019d reply. \u2018And that\u2019s the source of the greatest happiness I have in this life.\u2019
\u2018Well, I declare,\u2019 the patient would say. \u2018I\u2019d never have suspected it. I\u2019ve heard so many things\u2026 I thought Catholics were the worst people on earth.\u2019
\u2018I hope you don\u2019t think so now.\u2019
\u2018Well, sister\u2026 I\u2019ll tell you. If you say you\u2019re a Catholic, I\u2019ll certainly have a better opinion of Catholics from now on.\u2019 And the next thing you\u2019d know they\u2019d be asking on their death beds to be baptized into the Catholic Church.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"