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Show THE ONlTYOf FAITH Christ Is Not Divided Christ Founded a Church Its Essential Characteristic Is Unity of Faith Outside Catholic j Church Diversity of Doctrine Multiplicity cf Creeds No Living Voice Protestantism Protest-antism as a Force Is Dead. The S o'clock Mass was celebrated by Rev. W. K. Hyr.n. who thanked the congregation for the active pin 'aken in the bazar. Bishop Scanlan officiated ' at the S o'clock, and in his instruction referred to the great feast of the Immaculate Conception, p which will be celebrated next Wednesday. At the I lLrh Mass, Father Kiely was celebrant. Father r.n-iinan preached on the "Unity of Faith," tak-I tak-I inir for his text: "Is Christ divided?" 1st EpLs- th of St. Paul to the Corinthians, 1st chapter, 13th ! w r-e. St. Paul, Dearly Beloved Brethren, hearing of the schisms and divisions that rent the Church at Corinth, wrote at once to the people there and csk-il them this question, "Is Christ divided?" In that ame Epistle he answers the same question, 'Tcr as the body is one and has many members, ami all the members of the body whereas they jii'c many yet are one body so also is Christ, for in one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free; uyA in one spirit we have all been made to drink." Writing to the Ephesians, that same Apostle, fired I v the spirit and the zeal of God, commands them to be "careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, one body, one spirit, one Lord, one baptism, one God and Father of all." The Catholic Church stands before the world today, before those who love her and before those who hate her, and to all she puts the same question ques-tion which St. Paul put to the people of olden Corinth, "Is Christ divided?" and to all she says with God-given truth, strength and sweetness, Christ is one and His truth is one. He is the same vesterday, today and forever. Everyone who believes in Christ, His divinity, divin-ity, the purpose for which He came on earth, His words as we find them in the Sacred Scriptures will, aye, must, concede that He formed a church, .and the object of that church was to teach His doctrine.. His truths to men and to point out to them the way that leads to God. "Go teach all nations, na-tions, and behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world. He that heareth you heareth Me, and he that heareth Me heareth Him Who sent me." These words, this mandate, this promise of Christ, are so plain to the bricklayer brick-layer on the street as to the most eminent theologian theo-logian in the university. As Christ is one, the same yesterday, today to-day and forever, the Church which He hath founded found-ed must be one, one in truth, one in belief, and, moreover, that truth that belief must never change. He tells us Himself that the Heavens alone shall totter to annihilation, the earth on which we live shall vanish as a vapor of the night, but His truth shall stand ever beautiful, ever new. What church today possesses this unity of faith, this unity of truth? The Catholic Church alone possfsscs it, and every cultured, every fair-minded person outside her fold must concede this fact From farthest India to sea-swept Seattle from Scandinavia's snow-capped heights to Cape Horn ef the gales, her children are one in faith, one in sacrifice. The Catholic king upon his throne, the r -ucant in his humble cottage, the Catholic states-TA?.n states-TA?.n in the senate, the Catholic theologian in the school all these bow their heads to the words of P'tor; all recognize the voice of Christ speaking through him, and all gladly sing their credo, Tar-iLians Tar-iLians and Medes and Elamites, and the inhabit inhab-it ;ur at Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia. iV.tus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphilia, Egypt !! 'he parts of Lybia about Cyrene, and the s' -.::. -or of Rome, Jew .and also proselyte, Cretes and Arabians, we have heard them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God." So out St. Paul bravely, strongly and joyously in th'- Acts of the Apostles. Twenty centuries have almost passed since then t'vci.ty centuries of revolution and change t-A ;.-y centuries of going down of nations into the 3'i-h' and the coming forth of nations to the h'v.n ..f today twenty centuries of progress and 'f ' lasted hopes twenty centuries of birth and l h twenty centuries of every change except r-in the eternal word, the eternal truth of c . ;. ; -e olden tribes, of which St. Paul gladly 's. rejoiced and believed in the truth of God, i ' ih;.t day beautiful and bright with the glory ' '! ." Insurrection and the triumph of the Ascen-fd'-'V shining upon it and their descendents in thl- our own day proclaim the truth, the same t.- . the same God. Catholic Church holds unity of faith, and ou'-ido her fold Christ is divided. Outside her f( i i here is divergence of doctrine a multitude :. ds. Outside her fold there is no dogma, no -liorhative voice, no totality of truth. There are today in the world, outside of the Catholic Church, "i"'- than three hundred Christian denominations, :,nd. mark you, each one of these claims to be the exponent of truth, and each one of these denies Mil" donna held to be fundamental by at least one ef it- competitors. What is the natural result of this division, this dissension? It is a disgust a P'-'jIexity in the inquiring adolescent mind, and a ;, consequence large sections of the working, professional and commercial classes, and a still larger portion of the plutocratic classes, have drifted or deliberately moved outside the saving em conscious obedience of Christianity altogether. . Jt is a fact that st3res us in the face, and every nit'llitront and every hard-headed man in the world today raust admit it. The parsons complain of "npty churches, the increase in vice, the growing devotion to materialistic interest; in fine, an in- f I ' creasing irritation against the prohibition of Christian doctrine and ethics. It is no wonder that such is the case when you consider the constitution and analyze the teachings of the principal churches outside of the Catholic Church. All lack an authoritative voice, a voice that carries with it the love and obedience of their members, and then there is lacking the totality of that precious deposit of truth which Christ gave to the Apostles. What the Reformation sowed the Protestant churches are reaping today. The Protestant Pro-testant revolt of the sixteenth century was in the beginning schismatical. It established the right of private judgment in the interpretation of the Scriptures. It substituted the supremacy of the state for the supremacy of the Pope in matters spiritual. It rejected the teaching authority of the Church, and yet carried out a great body of Chris-tion Chris-tion truths, which, formulated into creeds, gave a certain motive power to the lives of their followers. fol-lowers. In the course of time, doctrines once held to be essential were eliminated until in this our day nothing is left in a large body of Protestant denominations de-nominations to differentiate them from the rationalistic ration-alistic schools of thought. If you read the sermons ser-mons and lectures of the leaders of Protestant thought, you will find them all one string of generalities gen-eralities without one single cut and dry doctrine which their followers can say with absolute certainty, cer-tainty, "This we believe." One denies the existence of hell, another holds that faith alone is sufficient for salvation; some deny the inspiration of the Scriptures and other ministers go so far as. to reject re-ject the divinity of Christ. Then you have a number of minor denominations who borrow one doctrine from the Scriptures and around it pile up doctrines doc-trines of their own making, doctrines which cater to the base appetites of men. This so-called church is launched forth to swell the number of existing creeds. It flourishes for a time in a certain place, takes hold of certain peoples and then, after a time, fades into the night of oblivion, fades before be-fore the scorn of the upright, the thinking mind, fades as Dowism of Zion did. Yes, in this our age men want dogma; men want the simplicity, the truth, the justice, the love of Christ, preached to them; men want the church that can put before them in a bold, a certain voice, God's teachings. The inquiring Protestant mind is tired of generalities. gen-eralities. Men do not want to hear from pulpits about the beauty of art, the advance of science, the winding paths of politics, the lives of the in-. in-. habitants of the Gold Coast. No, no. They want to hear from the pulpit the living truths and doc-trines"of doc-trines"of Christ, and the Protestant pulpits, bereft be-reft of an authoritative voice, bereft of cut and dry doctrines, ' cannot command the love, respect and obedience of their followers. The consequence is that men turn away in disgust and, exclaiming, exclaim-ing, "A plague upon all your houses," they drift into religious indifference, which ends in pure rationalism. Protestantism as a force is dead, and the enemies ene-mies of religion recognize this fact; direct not their strength against the three hundred and one odd bodies, but against the only barrier that blocks their way the Catholic Church. In her God-given unity of faith, her God-given strength and power, she stands before the world today bearing upon her the scars of her successful victorious battles for Christ. In the old days she withstood the conflicts con-flicts of Elionite, Arian and Nestorian, conflicts waged with dialectic skill and a backing of civil power from one end of Christendom to the other. She triumphantly withstood the mighty upheaval of the Reformation. In the words of Ranke, "She henceforth confronted the Protestant world in renovated ren-ovated collected vigor." And today she stands the one bulwark of truth, justice nnd order against the unchristian forces that would devastate the nations and reduce them to paganism. Yes, yes; she stands today before the world, and her voice is one of truth, one of self-restraint, one of obedience to the lawfully constituted authority, one of charity and peace. She will triumph, for God is with her. "I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." She is as firm and immovable now as she was in the days when she looked down upon the ruins of the Western Empire and rolled back the barbaric waves of the North. She is as firm and immovable now as when the Eighth Henry raged against her, and Napoleon poured his troops into Rome. She will not' compromise; she will not flinch; she will affirm now what she affirmed in the days of Peter, Boniface VIII and Pius IX. The unity of faith is with her, the promise of her Divine Founder is sealed upon her, intelligent study of her checkered history is voucher for its fulfillment in the past and cheering guarantee of His protection forever. Call the forces that wage war against her what you will. Call it the sword of king or emperor or republic, call it the advancing light of science, call it those new religions that make men God; Call it the powers of darkness the very gates of hell it shall never prevail against the Church of Christ. |
