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Show ' FEDERATION OP CATHOLIC SOCIETIES, Bishop 3IcFanTs Address at National Convention, Explaining Its Origin and Aims. Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen It is gratifying to observe the interest manifested mani-fested in the movement which has tailed top-ether this convention. This 1 may be attributed to an assurance that it " ill proceed along conservative lines. . The at-iuiin which it has received even from those who are not in sympathy M with it demonstrates its importance. , Its friends are not unmindful of the j ; opposition which has arisen, yet they '. remain undisturbed, because they feel that unfavorable criticism has proeeed-j proeeed-j rd from a misconception of the scope 9 nnd aims, as well as of the progress which it has made. They have, indeed, j invited criticism so that they might be thoroughly informed as to the best j methods to be pursued. ' Federation is still in its infancy. It j lias scarcely acquired "a habitation and I a name." and tis constitution has not vet assumed definite shane. Unfavor able comment, however, is not premature, prema-ture, except when coming from a source : fully as weli disposed as ourselves and just as anxious to attain, if possible, the objects proposed, but by other methods. It may not be out of place to state that before .acting as an adviser to the organizers of this movement, I was careful to seek advice. The approbation approba-tion of federation by the hierarchy was not requested because such approbation would have given to federation the character of a church movement, "whereas it has originated with the laity and must live or die by their inter's, inter-'s, est in it. The mistaken notion has gone abroad that the idea of federation is of recent origin. It has occupied the attention of laymen for over ten years. AA'haf has helped to keep it alive is the ex--f cellent result to be expected from a f large body, engaged in work which ; individual organizations, owing to lim- : ited territory and resources, could not presume to undertake, much less accomplish. ac-complish. The leaders are laymen. They are the organizers; by their efforts ef-forts alone can it succeed, and be introduced in-troduced into the different states, and. then only, as in the case of other societies, so-cieties, with the consent of the bishop of the diocese. It could easily happen that laymen, filled with enthusiasm in what they considered a worthy underiaking, j .might go beyond the bounds of pru- denee where religious interests are eon- i oerned, and it is for this reason that j Bishop Messmer and myself have acted as your advisers. We feared that the federation might assume the character 1 of a religious movement, instead of ' a union of American citizens seeking ? the promotion of social, fraternal and I benevolent interests. j It is hardly necessary to say that as i Catholic bishops and loyal Americans, ue are adverse to whatever might ' cause dissension or arouse prejudice. It is difficult to understand why the pro- 'j motion of the social, fraternal and I other interests of Catholics, as Amer- j ican citizens, should excite animosity, except in the minds of bigots: and they are in the minority and not likely to be appeased by any action of ours. Nnn-Catholio Nnn-Catholio Americans are.1 as a rule. m-' m-' telligent, liberal-minded and anxious : that the welfare of the citizen should be promoted by every legitimate means. It is apparent to anyone acquainted with the political conditions existing in the United States that our people are dividing between the two great political po-litical parties, and that any attempt to subject even individual societies to the .sway of partisanship would lie suicidal i to any organisation. The opposition lias, therefore, sounded an alarm which j is quite unnecessary, as we are in per- ; feet agreement as to the necessity of i avoiding the domain of partisan poli tics. The scope of federation is wide f enough t embrace all the benefits r which can be conferred by such an or ganization either upon the societies entering en-tering into it or upon their individual members. These benefits need not be enumerated at length, as they will be j presented in your constitution. An ex- j cellent Minima ry of them has been given by the committee on invitation to the clerpy. I shall briefly allude to ; tome of them: Catholics of different national;:!.'-, and of various sections of the country win become acquainted with the sentiments and the aspirations 01 all. n.i,,- iirejudi.-es will be broken iown. and all Catholics will be brought into sympathy with . :io another by two most iowerful motives which will guide them onward and upward: love t'f faith and of country. At the same time they -will realize that "in union there is strength"; that one organization acting alone can ac complish but little, whereas all united veil" be irresistible. An opportunity, toe, win i,e offered at the annual convention con-vention to discus the status and th-; needs of (he entire Catholic body t throughout the t'nit-d States, and to supg.st mean. for Improvement. Federation will likewise assist in forming correct Catholic opinions on 'he prominent subjects of the day, by th.ii disc ussion in our assemblies, in th . xi-n-ive dissemination of Catholic Catho-lic thought and of the christian solution so-lution ,,f ;he important problems at-tra.ting at-tra.ting the minds of the age. More- over ail its energies will be employed towards the encouragement of the Catholic press and the support of our parochial schools and colleges. I Gentlemen, we have been too long rrntent with remaining in the background. back-ground. We allow ourselves to be put Bside ten asi!y on t'he plea that it is useless to state our rights and explain our position. It has taken time, but we have discovered our mistake. He-certly He-certly the injustice of taxing Catholics Catho-lics for a system of education which they cannot patronize has been clearly stated; the attention of thinking men lia? been repeatedly called to the fact , that education without religion and nif iality is dangerous to the welfare of t'he individual and of society. As ft consequence you have observed a growing change in public opinion on this very question. The public utter- : anc.es of non-Catholics show that they ore slowly but surely discovering that Cai holies have all along been in the right when they contended for religious education. This organization should arouse a FPirit of enthusiasm in favor of Christian Chris-tian education. 'Whenever I visit Princeton the generosity which has established, equipped and adorned its historic university compels my admiration. admir-ation. At the same time I ask myself, what have wealthy Catholics done to compare with the work of non-Catho-lie.n in the establishment and support of the great educational institutions of the United States? Many of you have enjoyed the benefits of Catholic academic acad-emic training and appreciate its true value. Let your little ones be sent to the parochial schools and your sons and daughters to Catholic institutions I of learning. j Allow me to say a word in behalf of Catholic literature and to hope that this Federation will foster and advance its interests. The press is perhaps the mightiest engine of our day and it can be employed to immense advantage in the spread of truth. Yet how many atholic families subscribe for a Catho- lie newspaper, a Catholic periodical, or J possess a small library of useful, en-I en-I tertaining, instructive and religious works? If you desire to keep the at- ; mopsdiere of your homes pure and Catholic, you must keep yourselves and youi children in touch with Catholic thought and abreast of Catholic progress. prog-ress. 1 repeat what I have said on other occasions, that the support given to the Catholic press is a disgrace to the Catholics of America. These are the thoughts lhat are in my mind on this occasion. Take them under your patronage! Someone has said that we need an apostolate of the laity, under the guidance guid-ance and inspiration, of course, of the Church. No truer words were ever uttered. The propagation of truth, i the promotion of our interests, must not be left to the clergy alone. We 1 are powerless without t'he strong, loyal arm of the laity. Remember the spirit of fortitude, religion and piety which enabled your heroic ancestors to cross I th trackless ocean and unite them-! them-! selves to the destinies of this great republic re-public of the west. Emulate their devotion to the cause of truth and justice; it enabled them to conquer adversity ad-versity and to triumph over persecution. persecu-tion. Strong in the profession of Catholic Cath-olic principles, go forward courageously, courageous-ly, and the cause in which you are engaged must command success. The American Federation of Catholic Societies, after a session of three days, : adjourned to meet in Chicago on July j . 15. 1902. The following is a list of the officers elected: I President T. B. Minahan, Columbus, ; Ohio. ! Vice Presidents T. J. Kaufmann. ! New York: T. H. Cannon, Chicago, and Daniel Duffy. Pottsville. Pa. i Secretary Anthony Matre, Cincin-I Cincin-I nati, O. j Treasurer H. J. Fries, Erie, Pa. i - j Marshal Christopher O'Brien, Chi- i cago, 111. , Executive Committee Nicholas Gon- ner, Iowa; Gabriel Franchere, Illinois; 1 E. O. Reardon, Indiana : George W. Gibbons, Gib-bons, Pennsylvania; P. H. McGuire, I Pennsylvania; M. P. Mooney, Ohio, and Mr. Fabackle. Louisiana. All of the officers and members of the committees are laymen. The only exception ex-ception is that of the spiritual adviser and all Catholic orders make this exception, ex-ception, even the amateur literary societies. so-cieties. In framing the constitution some trouble was experienced with those representing rep-resenting other than English-speaking societies. The Irish and German orders or-ders are well represented among the officers. of-ficers. Gabriel. Franchere of Chicago was elected on the executive board as a representative Frenchman, and other nationalities were represented on the committees. The headquarters, at least until next July, will be in Cincinnati. President Minahan of Columbus and Secretary Matre are situated only a little over three hours' ride apart and expect to be in conference frequently. The executive board organized with M. P. Mooney as chairman and Anthony An-thony Matre as secretary. It is believed by members of the ex- I ST. JOSEPH'S CHURCH, OGDEN, NEAR COMPLETION. 4 4 ecutive board that the federation will have over a million members in its affiliating af-filiating organization before the national na-tional convention is held in- Chicago next July. |
