If
he had done no more than reassert the truth that the Church does have
enemies, William Thomas Walsh would be deserving of grateful
remembrance by American Catholics. But he did many times better than
that. With the patience of a thorough scholar, and the zeal of a
thorough Catholic, Dr. Walsh traced in several historical studies the
mainstreams of present opposition to the Church, from the headwaters
of the late Renaissance and the Reformation.
He
showed there was continuity and purpose in the plans of the Church’s
enemies, who, among themselves, maintained hierarchy and chain of
command. He said that if Catholics were to protect their Faith, they
must acknowledge these enemies, learning from the Church’s
experience with them in the past. He
said that we must do this despite the inimical atmosphere in which
the Church moves today, the atmosphere created by her enemies’
successes. He championed those methods by which the Church had for so
many centuries held off her enemies, methods that historical critics
have maliciously misrepresented, or ridiculed as “witch hunts.”
He took on these critics, too — the exalted Protestant historians —
and resoundingly showed them up, from Prescott and Hume to Merriman
and Lea.
