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Show i CATHOLIC CHURCH EXTENSION. In another part of this paper is recorded a meeting of prominent churchmen and laymen in Chicago, which terminated in the formation of the j tauiouc v jiurcu extension ooeiety ot tne Lnitet! States. The object of the movement is '"the elevel-opment elevel-opment of . the missionary spirit in the Catholic population of the United States by aiding the building of churches in needy places, or any other missionary work that may be deemed advisable by the board of governors." The Rev. Francis C. Kelly of Lapeer, Mich., wps elected president and invested with executive power under the control of the board of governors, the president to appoint field secretaries for the collection of funds and to direct their work. Father Lapeer is the priest who inspired the movement and brought it to prominence through articles pub lished in the "Ecclesiastical Review.' The forees back of it are strong, and through its help many struggling pastors and poor congregations will be put upon their feet. The fact that laymen arc-numbered arc-numbered among the advisers indicates that such will not be ignored but encouraged to bear the burden which priest and pcwholder should share cheerfully. The reverend president , selects the Michigan Catholic, his diocesan organ, to outline the plan? and explain the general scope of the extension society. so-ciety. Already, he says, there has been much misunderstanding mis-understanding of the founders' intentions, though that should be no great surprise, considering the newness of the work. A Chicago paper, for instance, in-stance, supposed that Catholics wished to cultivate the idea of spreading their religion among . the negroes of the Soutli.v . "We elo, but indirectly," says ; Fa liter Kdlyv 'A letter from a'meimber of the ejityXof.-Xhen-opagation of the faith coneratu-ratod coneratu-ratod the priest, for the writer welcomed themove- merit as one intended" for' the eoViver.-ion of the American Indian. Father' Lapeer explains that the extension society contemplates that labor, too, but again f only indirectly. The fact is that Church Extension js intended for every field of missionary i en dc aver in the Catholic Clntrch of 'America, be- j cause it us on a foundation that helps them all. j "The map who builds a strong wall upon which a j large anef magnificent palace is to be erected, may ' not be, and usually is not. a good plasterer; but ho shares indirectly in the. plasterer's work. We are to work on foundations," says the priest. To put the case more clearly, it is best to quote Father Kelly in his own language. "A little church," he says, "is the best nucleus around which to build a parish, and parish organizations hiive been the time-honored centers from the Apostolic days, from which radiate the saving power of the sae-raments, from which the work of the Church is done. All other arrangements for carrying on that work have been but temporary strivings to reach the parish ideal. There are, in our western and southern country especially, many little places with a few Catholics, poor iu this world's goods, and yet fairly rich in faith. The Catholic pioneers went to the new country in its early days. They woro obliged to borrow money to buy their farms, borrow bor-row again to secure machinery, and borrow again to build a modest home. They were not numerous enough to make, their small religious contributions count in a material way, so they struggled on without with-out a church, having a priest visit them occasionally occasion-ally and offer Mass in. their houses. In this prim- ri ? , . t.. mu cojiuuiuii trie vnurcu iuaiiu jiu pioyiess. jj.) and by came the mixedirriage with a conse-quent conse-quent weakness of the s-T generation, and about this time, too, cnteivd the Protestant Church Extension Ex-tension Society; so amongst these people arose the steeple of a church not the Church but yet a temple of religion. ' 'The old people who had kept the Faith never went to the new temple, but still waited for the oc-cnsional oc-cnsional visits of the priest. 'The second genera-. ,tion, however, did not sec it that way, for though still Catholie4, they were more or less 'liberal.' It does net take much guessing to tell what the third generation will do. It is this second generation that we are meeting today, a generation with the Faith not so strong as in their fathers, but yet a plant sturely enough for cultivation. Its quality is best seen from the fact that its possessors are willing will-ing to make sacrifices for it and that they still cling to their Catholic name. The Church Extension Exten-sion Society proposes to foster this plant; proposes to place side by siele with, the other steeple one surmounted sur-mounted by a cross; proposes to give these few anef scattered people that center from which flows God's sr.ving grace through the Sacraments of His Church; proposes to awaken in the few a pride in their heritage of religion that will mean better things for the future, and be a magnet to draw others to the fold of Christ. We seek to make the parishes upon which -every other missionary work depends. We build foundations." That has the right, ring to it. The Catholic press ought to be and undoubtedly is enlisted in such an apostolic enterprise. As the plan develops, more lcnowleelge of .it will be diffused through these columns. r |