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Show WHAT IS DEMANDED OF THE CATHOLIC LAITY ! In This Age and Country a Thousand Things Are to be Done which Bishops and Priests Can ot do. In St. Patrick's church, Nashville, Tctin.. there was preached,, on the 4th instant, a sermon that made a deep impression upon the large congregation congrega-tion assembled to hear it. Admirable in tone, practical prac-tical in scope and application, and based upon a thorough knowledge and appreciation of Catholic strength and Catholic weakness, the discourse hes nothing of force and impressirencss when placed in cold type; indeed, it rather gains in those respects and the reading and re-reading of it cannot can-not fail to produce results most valuable to the Catholic cause. The preacher was Rev. William D. Hickey, pastor of St. Joseplrs church. Dayton, O.. ami the occasion the silver jubilee of Rev. T. C. Abbott, pastor of the church at Nashville. Father Hickey said in part : The speakers who have preceded me have dwelt upon the sacred office of the priesthood, which is honored in this celebration. Let it be my privilege privi-lege to speak of. the work of the church's laity m this age and country, of the high duties which de- volve upon them to extend God's kingdom on this earth. In our late war with Spain we heard much of the men behind the guns, and the marvelous success suc-cess of the Japanese forces just now is ascribed nor so much to skilful generals as to the ability and steadiness of purpose of the common soldier. The same truth may be applied to the Catholic church, which has often been compared to an army. Little will it avail to have skilful generals and .lieutenants .lieuten-ants unless we have regiments of well drilled soldiers sol-diers behind then;, and neither will the church put forth its best efforts nor accomplish its full work in 1 his country unless we have an active laity, enthusiastic, en-thusiastic, zealous' and aggressive in the best sense of the word. There is work to be done that cannot be done within the four walls of the church, and the laity must do a large share of it. A thousand things are to be done which the bishops and priests cannot do. and which can be done by an intelligent and zealous laity I. A man need not wear a cassock to bca tractive trac-tive servant of God and a vigorous promoter of His glory. The field of activity lies in the home, in the street, in the railway car, in the shop in fact, wherever men 'meet to exchange ideas; for there is scarcely a topic that possesses human interest in-terest into which religion does not somehow or other find entrance. "I Don't Know; Ask the Priest." Intelligence always precedes action, and the first requisite of a Catholic is an intelligent knowledge knowl-edge of his religion. His growth in the knowledge of the sacred truths committed to the church, her practices and her history should keep pace with his development in other branches of knowledge. Is this always the case? Do ve not sometimes find men whose acquaintance with their faith is limited to a somewhat hazy recollection of what they learned when preparing for their First' Communion!' Com-munion!' In other fields of learning they are men; in t'.iat of their faith and its teachings they are still children. Worse still, one may find those who glory in their ignorance, who seem -to think that, the priest alone should be able to set forth Catholic doctrine, and that no layman was expected to discuss dis-cuss religious teachings or answer current objections. objec-tions. Strangely like the manners of' a thousand years ago, when the mailed warrior despised learning learn-ing as fit only for a cowled monk, and who signed a t barter by running his sword through it -and looked down upon the cleric who had education enrugh to read it. ....... It is all very well to say to inquiring non-Catholics, non-Catholics, "I don't know: ask the priest," but they wi'l not ask the priest ; they ask you and expect you to be able to give a reason for the faith that is in you. and if you cannot satisfy their questionings, they have been denied the first step in their approach ap-proach to the church. I do not mean to say that each Catholic should become a trained controversialist and go around with a theological chip on his shoulders, seeking a fight. This in to be deprecated. It .is Father Faber.who has somewhere said that controversy js only the twentieth part of the us to which Catholic truth' may be applied, and it is certainly something of a drawback to us that ever since the days of the so-called Reformation our presentation ot our church's teachings is so often made from an entirely en-tirely defensive standpoint. How much better to show forth the teachings of the church from the positive side, and to convince our fellow-citizens that our country needs Catholic truth to maintain and strengthen the social fabric. What a splendid opportunity to show that ju a republic such as ours the highest well-being of the community is to be found in the application of the ideas insisted upon by the Catholic church; such as sanctify of marriage and the impossibility of divorce for the preservation of the home, and' the need of religious education for the child. Socialism and anarchy find their greatest foe in the church, and our government has no stronger basis of support sup-port than the principle of obedience to authority for God's sake, which the church so jealously requires re-quires from its members in all matters of faith and morals. . Wanted of Our People. We want on the part of our people a greater eagerness to hear sermons, more interest in our Catholic papers and magazines and a deeper enthusiasm en-thusiasm in the dissemination of the work of the Catholic. Truth society. This is necessary, not only to preserve your own faith, exposed as it is to the skeptical spirit. of the age, but also for the great work of bringing -out non-Catholic brethren into the one true fold. What a magnificent opportunity this country offers.! We breathe the air of freedom,-we are protected in the exercise of our religious religi-ous rights by the state, which unlike" some of the European governments does not harass and. assail the Catholic church under the hypocritical plea of prbtectingit..; rWe dwill among a people who rever- ence religion, even amid the thousand vagaries tha I masquerade under its hallowed name. The bafin I j spirit of fierce hatred of priests and religion is nn- I known among us. and everywhere people are ;ii.vi"i'sj j to bear the teaehings of the church on almost every j question that vexes men's minds. f -Nor should we in our diffidence think that i!ih j work of onliuhteniug others ean he done only l.y j the highly educated, for that were an additional f clement, of guilt. "You are the light, of the world."' I applies to the Catholic layman as well as to the f priest. Sometimes there is a timidity about us. .i reluctance to speak out when God" honor demands it, a kind of "am I my brother's keeper" attitude toward to-ward our fellowtnan. When we realize that God admits no divided allegiance to his service, for his words are clear-cut and ringing. "He that is rot with me is against me." we will he more anxious to promote bis glory, not only by avoiding sin ourselves our-selves but by doing our utmost to lessen it in other-. To take a roncretc example, how much :in conld. be prevented if Catholics set their faces resolutely and firmly against swearing and cursiiitt: if they spoke out boldly to the man addicted to this habit and said to him. "It is painful for me to hear tho I name of God taken in vain. He is my Father, ami j a faithful child is ever anxious to defend the good I name of his parents, else be is not a filial child." I You may be snubbed sometimes, hut "blessed arn j ye when they shall revile you and persecute you and I speak all that is evil against you untruly for my j sake." One cannot long remain in the attitude of I silent toleration of this repeated sin in others with- 1 out weakening his own respect for his maker's name. I An enthusiastic follower of a political parry will not sit idly by and allow the name of his chosen leader to be assailed without protest. If there Ui a mission to which the laity are called, it is to make good the prayer which they recite every day of their lives. "Hallowed by thy name." There is another sin to which Catholics can offer no cowardly toleration, and you will .pardon me for alluding to it. It is the sin of indecent conversation, of telling filthy stories. Father Pbe-lau Pbe-lau of St. Louis once said that the sense of humor seemed to he confined to the Irish race, remarking remark-ing that if they saw two or three Irishmen standing stand-ing on the street corner laughing at a story told by one of them it was fun pure and simple; hut when'you see the same number of persons of another an-other race, the chances are that it is a suggestive and indecent story that excites their mirth. A young officer, starting to tell a story of this kind in the presence of General Grant, prefaced it by saying. "I believe ihe re are no ladies present." "Xo," said the general, "but ihere are gentlemen present." and the story wasn't, told. Would that all Catholic gentlemen had the same moral courage. Preaching fey Example. But there is one form of ihe apostolate open to all of the laity, to the ignorant as well as the learned it is that of good works and a well-ordered life. "By their fruits you shall know them" was the test laid down by Divine Wisdom, and it is by this test that the majority of men outside the church judge the religion ot Catholics. They may not be satisfied with the texts of Scripture which you quote nor understand the passages from the fathers nor your explanation of vexed historical histori-cal questions, but they do interpret your daily lives as the index of your belief, nor can they be made to feel that Catholics in whom the natural virtues of truthfulness, honesty and purity are wanting are animated by the supernatural spirit they claim for their religion. Alany non-Catholics will not hear us nor listen to the voice of the priest in the pulpit; but if they see in you the faithful employe, em-ploye, the honest merchant, the sober mechanic, they, will say there is something in this Catholic religion after all. for it is doing some good for tho individual. There arc Catholics of whom their neighbor say. "Why, I have been associated with him in business for years, and I never knew that he wa- a Catholic." I wouldn't give much for this colorless color-less non-committal kind of Catholicity. One need not be shouting his religious belief to the world, but his religion should be -.tamped in bis everyday every-day life, for Catholicity is not a religion that wa made to be concealed. It would be a great mistake to think that w Cathvlics are doing our full duty if we are as good as our fellowmen. for the world pays this unconscious uncon-scious tribute to the holiness of our faith, that it expects better things of a man precisely because be is a Catholic. How oftentimes when one of "our members yields to sudden temptation or commit some serious crime one bears the qualifying statement. state-ment. "And be was a Catholic, you know." as jf he who knows his cathechistn knows all the essential essen-tial truths of r'digion and can give accurate in- -formation to an honest inquirer. A few years go a young man in my parish, posssessod of a common school education only, was the means of converting convert-ing three of bis fellow workers in the foundry, and when he met a sudden death I could think of nothing more consoling to say to his parents than to remind them of God's promise, ''They who instruct in-struct others unto justice shall shine as the stars." Do you ever invite your Protestant friends to accompany you to church t Do you ever put a Catholic paper or magazine in their hands? Do you ever greet a -stranger who moves into your neighborhood and show a friendly interest in hint by asking him to come to your church? All the? thing sand more our separated brethren do, and have we less zeal for the spread of God's kingdom; have we less interest in souls or less responsibility for those, redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ? It is not enough to say thy kingdom. come; we must do something to bring that king- dom to our neighbor. It is very good to suggest i to the priest that this or the other thing might be done; but it is better still to" do it yourself and then report to the priest that it has beeen done. More Catholics in Public Life. Archbishop Ireland has said that, the country needs more Catholics in public life. When Catho- lies arc more honest and conscientious than thejr fellow citizens, when it may be said of a Catholic f in the legislature or city council: "There is no use j to try to fix him, to try to bribe him. because ho is a Catholic," then we will have more Catholics in public life. Already the people are growing sick j - at heart of the constant revelations of municipal corruption, of the spirft of theft and perjury and violation of oath of office which, like a cancer, is : j (Continued on Fase 4.) f ' WHU IS DEMANDED Of THE CATHOLIC LAITV (Continued from Page I.) eating into the vitals of the body politic, and s..on there will come an imperative demand for men ot integrity, for men faithful to their conscience ' for men who walk always in the presence of their ' God. When this time comes, Catholic lavm. n who live up to their religion will be called inf.. public life, and their influence and good example will react for good upon the whole community. It does not require a new religious order i. accomplish all these thing?, for Catholics have all the necessary supernatural helps in the keeping of the church. Xo matter how urgent the temptation, tempta-tion, how seductive the evil forces, how pressing t,. influence of bad associates, the man of pravcAvh.. goes frequently to confession and communion cau . overcome them all. 'T can do all things in bin, l who strengthened me." (Phil, iv., VI.) We have tlw-same tlw-same means of salvation that the saints had within our reach; we have the living presence' of Jcmh Christ on our altars; all the day long we mav ome and speak to him, heart to heart, and lk-ten to tins inspiration of his divine snirit. 1V L.vd tL ness of . the church, not merely as a beautiful theory, but a a living fact exemplified in the lives of those who have conquered their flesh and despised, de-spised, the world, the religious of both sexes, who like the apostle, of old, "leaving all things, followed' lum' We have the heritage of sanctity in the church ; it courses in our veins, it runs in the familv, so ti speak, for to the church have belong.! the great saints of every age, whose names have become household words. |