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Show J 4-f -f 44 t ANACONDA. I CATHOLIC SOCIETIES. It should be the duty of every Catholic Catho-lic who has the interests of the Church at heart to take, an active part in the Avork of Catholic societies. But there is ' no denying the fact thai there is a woe- ! ful lack of Catholic spirit among our Catholic laity of the present day. I What is specially needed at the present pres-ent time in this country is greater ac tivity among our laymen in Catholic and Church affairs. The Church today to-day depends on lay activity. A distinguished distin-guished American prelate lately, speaking speak-ing on this very subject, declared, "that j the Catholic layman of today In this country can do more among the laity than any Catholic priest can do." There are duties which the laity can best perform and certainly the ranks of Catholic societies should supply those j who are competent to perform them. The Catholic men of today have a i grand and noble mission to perform in ! this country if they would only realize it. When our Catholic men work together to-gether in society, then shall we count J for something. When outsiders see J Catholic men .interested in the work of j the Church, when they hear them, not , criticising and carping, but praising the i efforts of their brethren, then shall we j gain the attention and "respect we de- serve. If a day of necessity and persecution should come, and come it may, upon whom could the Church rely, but on the Catholic laity. When the Catholics of Germany found their bishops imprisoned, and their priests exiled, the laity of that country coun-try arose to a man and brought the iron chancellor, Bismarck, to a halt and putting a stop to religious persecutions. Take the pages of Irish history and see what the sons of Ireland have done in defense of their religion and native na-tive land. For over seven hundred years have they striven to keep ap-pression, ap-pression, ruin and devastation from their doors, fighting their common enemy ene-my on many bloody battle fields, gloriously glo-riously giving up their lives, home and friends in defense of their holy religion relig-ion and motherland. What is especially especial-ly neded in these United States at the close of the present century and opening open-ing of the twentieth century, is a bet ter grade of Catholic lawmen. We need manly men, who are not ashamed of their religion men wha place character charac-ter and integrity above gain and popularitymen pop-ularitymen of courage and energy, and above all, men of intelligence and learning, who by mixing among their J fellow-men can advance the cause of truth, virtue and religion. or it is in the present age, more than any other time in the history of the Church, when the Catholic needs to know. When men inquire of him his creed and his reasons for it,, he must know not only how to defend,' but how to expound ex-pound it. He must know its origin, its history, its dosmas. its effect on the ' individual and destinies of the human race. i In many places Catholicism is as much misunderstood today as was Christianity in the time of Nero. The i practices and precepts which serve to j impress and enforce the dogmas of the j Church are regarded as the lame and i decrepit curvivals of the age of superstition. su-perstition. It is the duty of the Cath- . olic to explain these things, and to do so, he must not only believe, but he must know. Let our Catholic societies be made up of earnest, intelligent, Godfearing, God-fearing, upright men, and we shall have the greatest model agency for good the world has ever seen. The possibilities before us are inspiring inspir-ing as they are vast, and if the Catholic Catho-lic young men of this country would awake to their responsibilities and realize real-ize to their opportunities in a short time the blessedness of God's Catholic would find an abiding place in the hearts of the fair-minded people of this free and happy land. In connection with the above remarks the Intermountain Catholic notes 'with pleasure that Catholics of Anaconda have established in their midst a very flourishing Catholic club, having for its objects the social, moral and intellectual intellec-tual improvement of its members. The club was orfanized about eight months ago, and has now a membership of 150 in good standing. he headquarters of the club is located in the old library building, which the members have fitted up in excellent style. On the ground floor is the amusement amuse-ment hall, which contains two fine billiard bil-liard tables, card tables, besides a well equipped gymnasium. On theflffifffizxffl equipped gymnasium. On the upper floor Is the meeting room, also reading and writing rooms. The club holds regular weekly meetings. meet-ings. Much of the sucsess of the club is to be attributed to Rev. Father Fol-lect, Fol-lect, the esteemed and popular pastor of St. Paul's Church, who taes a deep personal interest in its affairs, and has done everything within his power to promote the welfare of the club since its organization. At the late election of officers, Joseph Jo-seph A. Hughes was elected pdesident for the ensuing term. President Hughes has had considerable experience in the management and control of Catholic societies, and the club Is fortunate in having at its head such an able, efficient effi-cient officer as President Hughes. The members of the club will always find their presiding officer dignified and courteous, but at the same time firm in his rulings from he chair, and if any of the "smart Alegs" of the club in their colloquial tilts with the chair, should ever attempt to "rattle" the president they will find themselves badly bad-ly sat upon. At the semi-annual election of the club, held the 1st of July, the following follow-ing officers were chosen: President, Joseph' A. Hughes; first vice president, Peter Towey; second vice president, H. S. Tabor: recording secretary, Frank E. McDonald (reelected); (reelect-ed); financial secretary, W. H. Mahoney Maho-ney (re-elected) r'-treasurer, L. F. Ver-berkmoes Ver-berkmoes (re-elected). Finance committee IT. T. Van Ells, E. C. Malone, P. A. Tobin; House committee, com-mittee, Jl. T. Flannagan, Thomas Kelly, Kel-ly, Joseph Dezell, L. F. Verberkmoes, W. H. Mahoney, James Cuddihy, Joseph Jo-seph Sullivan, G. J. O'Connor, James O'Measa. H. T. Van Ells, F. E. McDonald. Mc-Donald. H. S. Tabor. J. W. Dezell, Joseph Jo-seph McCaffrey, P. A. Tobin. F. CAMPION. |