| OCR Text |
Show T ARCHBISHOP IRELAND AND BISHOP SPALDING. Last week two of the most prominent churchmen in the church in" America delivered notable addresses in the city of Chicago. On Monday evening Bishop Spalding: was the orator at the thirtieth convocation of the University of Chicago. Chi-cago. On Saturday evening Archbishop Ireland delivered, an address at the Marquette Club, in the presence of a gathering of noted Republicans. Those two addresses were remarkable in their way, and if the American people peo-ple will weigh each carefully, the inevitable inev-itable conclusion will force itself upon 1 hem that the Cn.thnUc eimmii I braces within itseif men whose beliefs on public questions are as wide as the poles. The address of Bishop Spalding was of a very high order of excellence. The learned Bishop of Peoria' was at his lost. from an oratorical point of view, while the subject matter of his address was fully equal to his best productions. The reception which was accorded, the scholarly Bishop was notable in many ways, but the most remarkable in the wild enthusiasm which greeted his guarded utterances against the imperialistic imper-ialistic policy of the present adminis- ; tration. Bishop Spalding's audience was composed of scholars and representative repre-sentative men of the entire West. It was not, so far as he knew, an audience audi-ence prod imposed to accept his views without question, but the manner in which they were received clearly shows that the scholarly Bishop was both master of his audience and his subject as well. Bishop Spalding chose for bis sub ject, "The University and the Teacher." fThe key note of his address was contained con-tained in the following; A university is not so much a place where all the faculties are represented, where- all knowledge is imparted, where original research is prosecuted, where men are prepared for the various professions pro-fessions which minister to human needs, as a place where great minds and generous hearts and noble souls are gathered to bring their wisdom their love and their faith to bear upon the young to develop and raise their whole being toward the ideal of right life of perfect manhood. The whole question of educational reform and progress is simply a question of employing "good and removing incompetent teachers And they who have experience best Vnow how extremely difficult this i n a university, at least, it should be " possible, for a university is a home of great teachers or it is not a university at all. Costly structures, rich endowments, endow-ments, well filled libraries, thoroughly equipped laboratories, many students, are but symbols of those delightful and luxuriant climates where all save the spirit of man is divine, if great teachers are lacking. The chief value of a university lies in its power to attract and hold such men, by giving them the fairest opportunity for the exercise of their high gifts. The hero of a brilliant naval exploit, but Just returned to his country, fills the whole land with the noise of acclaiming voices. It is a tribute 'of the popular heart to the worth of courage, skill and daring. It is a! privilege to be able to feel the thrill of genuine admiration in the presence of any high human quality, qual-ity, but the noblest hero is he whose achievements are wholly beneficent, who triumphs and scatters blessings without, bringing sorrow or death to any child of man. Such a hero is a great teacher, who lives from generation genera-tion to generation, in minds made lu- mino-js, in hearts made pure, in wills confirmed in the love and practice of truth. It was our pleasure to listen to Bishop Spalding on this occasion, and the effect which he produced on his hearers was the most remarkable that we. have ever witnessed from an American orator. So much for the Bishop, who is both scholar, orator, and above all, churchman. church-man. The address of Archbishop Ireland was, in its way, also notable. There was, however, a vast difference both in the matter and manner of the Archbishop's Arch-bishop's address, as well as a decided difference in the audiences which greeted greet-ed the respective prelates. Archbishop Ireland spoke to a gathering gath-ering of Republican politicians, distin guished and otherwise, in. which there was a commingling of citizens of Chicago, Chi-cago, who had assembled out of respect to the President of the United States, but taken altogether, it was much like the average -Republican convention, whose members are outwardly in thorough thor-ough accord with the policy 0 the administration, ad-ministration, no matter .what, their real convictions mav be. Of course, it was not to be expected that the address of the Archbishop should contain the polish and culture and high literary style that characterizes character-izes the every effort of the Bishop of icona, out, aner the Archbishop's style, it, of course, was received with tremendous applause by the politicians present. Archbishop Ireland's views, as enunciated at the Marquette Club, were in direct opposition to the views cnun- j ciated by the Bishop of Peoria at the convocation of the University of Chicago. Chi-cago. This, of course, was to be expected, ex-pected, for the Archbishop is loyalty itseif to Mr. McKinley and his administration. admin-istration. There was, however, in the Archbishop's address no victory for the I orator, no victory for thought, nothing but the commonplace,, uttered to men j whose business it was to wildly cheer. j These occasions furnish a striking contrast con-trast which our readers will be quick to grasp. That Bishop Spalding more correctly represented the Teal views of American Catholics than did Archbishop Ireland is obvious. Why it is that many American Amer-ican people conclude that Archbishop Ireland, in his pro-administration utterances, ut-terances, voices the sentiments of a considerable con-siderable body of American Catholics, is one of those ridiculous things which are conclusive only in establishing the stupidity of those who profess to believe be-lieve them. I |
