430 



HUGHES, JOHN. 



he coon took his place at the head of the Phila- 

 delphia clergy. The Eev. John Breckiuridge, 

 of the Presbyterian denomination, having pub- 

 lished a general challenge to "priests and bish- 

 ops " to discuss with him the chief points of 

 difference between the Catholic and Protestant 

 churches, Mr. Hughes accepted the invitation, 

 and a controversy on the Rule of Faith and the 

 principles of Protestantism was accordingly 

 carried on for several months, in 1835, through 

 the columns of the " Catholic Herald " and the 

 " Presbyterian." Mr. Hughes afterwards pub- 

 lished the letters on both sides in a volume. 

 He met the same adversary, in 1836, in a pub- 

 lic oral debate, of the questions, " Is the Eo- 

 man Catholic religion, in any or in all its prin- 

 ciples or doctrines, opposed to civil or religious 

 liberty ? " and " Is the Presbyterian religion," 

 &c. A volume of the speeches on each side 

 was published by the literary society before 

 which they were delivered, but it was not com- 

 plete. 



In January, 1838, having narrowly escaped 

 a bishopric on two or three previous occasions, 

 he was consecrated coadjutor to Bishop Dubois 

 of New York. The diocese then embraced 

 the whole State of New York and a part of 

 New Jersey : it contained nearly two hundred 

 thousand Catholics, with only forty priests, 

 scattered over an area of fifty thousand square 

 miles. Bishop Hughes, though nominally only 

 coadjutor, had the whole charge of ecclesiasti- 

 cal affairs in this vast district, in which there 

 are now five separate sees ; almost immediately 

 after his arrival in New York, Bishop Dubois 

 was stricken with paralysis, and though he 

 lived until 1842 he took no further part in the 

 government of the church. The first care of 

 Bishop Hughes was to effect a reform in the 

 management of church property. The titles 

 to the churches had hitherto been vested in 

 lay trustees, and as many of these were incom- 

 petent and some of them bad men, scandalous 

 conflicts had arisen between them and the 

 bishop ; clergymen, silenced for misconduct, 

 had been incited by the trustees to rebel against 

 their ecclesiastical superiors ; and the money 

 affairs of the church had been almost hopelessly 

 involved. Bishop Hughes called a meeting of 

 Catholics at the cathedral, and announced his 

 intention to close the churches if the trustees 

 persisted in interfering in spiritual concerns. 

 He soon afterwards delivered a course of lec- 

 tures on the evils of the trustee system, and 

 took measures to have the deeds of all church 

 property acquired thereafter made out in the 

 bishop's name. As for the few churches which 

 the city then contained, he made no effort to 

 take them out of the hands of their incor- 

 porators, but he reduced the trustees to perfect 

 obedience a task which no other bishop had 

 yet been able to accomplish. He next turned 

 his attention to education, and purchased prop- 

 erty at Fordham, near New York, for a college ; 

 but, before going further, he visited Europe to 

 collect money, and engage some religious com- 



munities to found establishments in his diocese, 

 He was reasonably successful, and returned in 

 the summer of 1840. During bis absence a 

 movement had been made among the Catholics 

 of New York for a change in the school sys- 

 tem. They complained that although they 

 paid taxes for the support of the public schools, 

 they could not send their children to them, 

 first because the school-books were sectarian 

 in their character, and secondly because the 

 natural fruit of an education in Avhich positive 

 religious teaching had not a place was infidel- 

 ity. Weekly meetings were held for the set- 

 ting forth of their claims, and discussing meas- 

 ures of relief. These meetings began to wear 

 a political complexion, when Bishop Hughes 

 put himself at the head of the movement, took 

 it out of the political arena, and drew up a pe- 

 tion to the Common Council in the name of 

 the Catholics of the city, praying that a por- 

 tion of the school fund might be given to cer- 

 tain designated C&tholic schools. The Public 

 School Society presented a remonstrance, and 

 on October 29th and 30th, 1840, both parties de- 

 bated the question before the Common Council. 

 Theodore Sedgwick and Hiram Ketchum ap- 

 peared as council for the Public School Society, 

 and the Eev. Drs. Bond, Bangs, Eeese, Knox, 

 and Spring spoke on the same side. Bishop 

 Hughes appeared alone for the petitioners. 

 The petition was rejected, and the matter was 

 then carried before the Legislature, where a 

 bill to effect a change in the system passed , 

 one house but was lost in the other. An elec- 

 tion for members of the Legislature occurred 

 while the bill was under consideration, and as 

 it became known that most of the candidates 

 of both parties had pledged themselves before- 

 hand to vote against it, Bishop Hughes advised 

 the Catholics to nominate an independent 

 ticket. By this step, although they did not 

 elect their candidates, they acquired political 

 consideration, and a modification of the school 

 system was before long effected. Bishop 

 Hughes, however, had resolved to discoun- 

 tenance the public schools, and urged upon his 

 clergy the importance of establishing a com 

 plete system of parochial education. St. John' ? 

 College at Fordham was opened in June, 1841, 

 and the foundation of a theological seminary 

 was laid adjoining it in 1845. In 1842 the 

 bishop convoked a diocesan synod, in which 

 stringent regulations were enacted in relation 

 to church property and secret societies. He 

 organized a "church debt society," which, 

 during the single year that it continued in op- 

 eration, collected and expended about $17,000, 

 but he was not able to cure immediately the 

 evils resulting from years of mismanagement. 

 Five of the eight city churches became bank- 

 rupt, and were assigned and sold by the sheriff. 

 This, upon the whole, was an advantage ; the 

 property was thereby transferred from the 

 trustees to the bishop, and in time the debts 

 were paid. In 1843 Bishop Hughes went to 

 Europe to negotiate a loan in Belgium for the 



