Our Catlzolic Heritage in T e:xas
decided to make a statement to the public in regard to the country and its people. He declared that Texas had been a wilderness until the industrious colonists from the United States came. He boldly praised the English- speaking colonists by contrasting their security and prosperity with the poverty and insecurity of the Spanish settlements. He then denounced the Law of April 6, 1830, in terms bolder than Austin himself would ever have dared., He assured his readers that the colonists had no desire to separate from Mexico, that all they sought was separation from Coahuila. By pointing out that the walls of the pioneer homes were adorned, not with statues, but with guns and rifles, which in the hands of even the women had taught the Indians to respect them. Muldoon must have appeared to the Catholics of Mexico rather irreligious if not unpriestly. His idea on compulsion of religion may seem strange to those not conversant with the teaching of the Catholic Church that "Persecution does not produce converts but obstinacy in error." He went on to explain that "All the colonists in Texas are Christians, and like their brothers in the North, very zealous in the spread of Christianity. Among my parishioners the knowledge of the Bible is universal. ... Some preached the moral teachings of our Christian faith to their families and neigh- bors, preferable, no doubt, to living like atheists. . . . The prominent settlers and their large families are Catholics.... Empresario Austin, Williams, Lessassier, and John Austin have been my inseparable com- panions and have stood as sponsors for hundreds." 86 The editors of the Gazette made a formal reply to the imputations of Father Muldoon in June, 1833, questioning the motive for so eulogistic a picture of the colonists. They pointed out that the attempt to give a clean bill of health to the Texans was too evident; that the cleric in his enthusiasm had allowed himself to reflect upon the character of the Mexican settlers in Texas and the honor of the military garrisons; and that his description of the religious practices of the settlers smacked strongly of sectarianism. They wondered what his purpose was-whether he was courting the favor of his parishioners. His assertions as to their being good Catholics sounded too much like wishful thinking, the editors observed. 11 16 Miguel Muldoon, Comunicado. Tejas, Gacela del Gob;erno Swjremo del Estado de Coaliuila y Texas, May 27, 1833, Ministerio de Fom.ento, Colonizacion e Industria, Arcl:ivo General. (West Transcripts, Vol. 7 59, :27-35, University of Texas.) 17 Gaceta del Gobierno, June 3, 1833, in ibid., 45-48. Reference is to Muldoon's
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