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Show j i " : z j J Pfl L.i' Olil I : : - : . ' ' ' . I : Bishop McFaul of New Jersey Urges That Catholic Societies j Unite "More Strongly the Rising Generation in the . Pursuit of Truth and Virtue' Proposed Federation is Non-Political, But Aims For the Upbuilding and Protection Pro-tection of Catholic Interests in This Country Injustice of Congress Toward Our Indian Schools in the Great West Prefer That They Should Grow Up in Savagery Rather Than to Have a Catholic Education. M j New York, June IS. With a view to j present action, a project that has for J its object the federation of all the so- ! cieties in the United States composed I 4 of Roman Catholic laymen is being dis- j cussed in Catholic circles throughout the country. Some influential clergy- men and laymen are interested. I By the plan all Catholic societies are I I to become affiliated, although each sep- t arate organization is to setain its in- j, j dividuality. The idea is to ime all the f members of the societies subject to a central direction, so that all may work J together whenever necessary for any ; special purpose. I ' It is argued that Roman Catholics in this country are unfairly treated in some respects. The projectors of this union hold that Catholic voters would be able to right whatever wrongs are now declared to exist. Because of the possibility of the pro-' pro-' jected federation getting into politics, the idea is opposed in some quarters. The advocates of the plan deny that it would have anything to do directly with politics. It is confidently predicted predict-ed that the great union will be formed, and that it will comprise Catholic so- ' ; cieties of all nationalities. ' Bishop McFaul of Trenton. N. J., is i j a warm supporter of the project. He j has prepared an address on "The In- ii fluence of Catholic Societies" that is II ' being circulated extensively in support i of the federation idea. The bishop ' , says, in his address: j ' j j "Catholic societies have engaged my ji attention ever since the early days of i my priesthood. I J "Owing to reasons which it is not j f necessary now to discuss they hae I ' not realized our hopes. It is true, they j ; have not been altogether wanting in i j ; good results; we had, however, a right to expect them to wield greater power, to cover a wider field, to unite more ; strongly the rising generation in the I. pursuit of truth and virtue, and the at- !; tainment as well as the protection of '4 our religious rights. "No one, at all events, will be dis- I, .posed to deny that our societies need J new life. They must be roused to ac- I tivity. One means to accomplish this is to improve the material of which i they are composed. Let us then grant It the members the benefits of night. ' sc hls and as they advance, let them I ? have lectures on such subjects as will ; , be useful in a practical way as well as i i : irtr-lleetually and morally. ! f' "Why cannot the professors in our !: Catholic colleges organize themselves ? into a body which shall be prepared to 1 give all our Catholic societies the ben- ! efits of the university extension plan? ) In this way the tastes of the young . would be elevated, the avenues to ) knowledge would be opened up. enthu- i siasm in the work created which, in due time, would bear ample fruit. L TO DEPRIVE US OF OUR RIGHTS. "S. "In a recent letter to the national f convention of the A. O. H.. I suggested ! a union of our societies, saying: It I seems to me that our societies com-posed com-posed of Catholics should endeavor to I touch at certain points, so that while f " each retains its identity and pursues 1 its own aims independently of other i organizations, there may be a bond of ' I " union, enabling them in given circum- r . stances, to exert a concerted influence. 1 This influence should be felt in our L States Legislatures and in the Nation- , al Congress wherever bigots attempt j : the invasion of our rights. I was care- ful to state that it was not my inten- ji ' tion to advocate a Catholic political . party. This, I think, would be unwise for many reasons; neither do I think jl that we should unreasonably empha- ' size our claims for justice. We are j, American citizens entitled to certain r rights, and these we must possess. Big- i otry shall not be allowed to deprive us (; of the exercise and enjoyment of any I of them. We ask no favors, we beg for no privileges, but we insist that U our religion shall not be made an ob- stacle to the attainment of our consti-tutional consti-tutional rights. ' OUR SMALL INFLUENCE. "We are 12.000.000 in America, yet I how small is our influence. What rep resentation have we in State and Na-m Na-m tional affairs when we measure it with the proportion we bear to the whole population of the country? I was about to say that we are almost a. nonentity so far as exerting any influence in eon-I eon-I nection with National politics. Would it not be better to be divided between the two great political parties? For generations we have been casting our , votes for our fellow citizens, never asking what a man's religion was, and, as a rule, simply requiring that he belong be-long to a certain political party. It has not been with this impartiality that f we have been treated. If a Catholic frtBumes to stand for any political of fice that same individual who has enjoyed en-joyed the benefit of our suffrages, may perhaps be the first to cry out: 'Don't ) vote for him, he is a Catholic.' j "It is, of course, to be understood that we must be guided by principles, that our ballots must be cast conscientiously consci-entiously anyother vote is unworthy of a freeman. This, however, will not prevent us from so overwhelming ignorant, ig-norant, presumptuous bigotry, when found in either party, that not one of its candidates shall ever dare raise his head for political office in America. All honor to the Protestants for the courage with which they stand in defense de-fense of their rights! They are faithful faith-ful to the maxim: "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." We are bo accustomed ac-customed to suffering that we readily resign ourselves to it .and utter only a feeble cry when it has become unbearable. un-bearable. Let the national administra- , tion or the state legislatures attempt to interfere with the smallest claim of j the sects, and immediately their voice is heard in clarion tones throughout the length and breadth of the land; and delegation after delegation of their representative laymen besiege the leg- islative halls. The result of this has j been that the most unscrupulous poli-I poli-I ticians, in very few instances, have dared oppose their interests or their demands. OUTRAGEOUS TREATMENT. "The treatment we have received from the present national administration administra-tion is simply outrageous. Should not the commissions of our new. oosses-t oosses-t sions have had several Catholic mem-; mem-; bers? They alone could intelligently weigh and appreciate the religious con- dition of those countries, and suggest . measures suitable for the adjustment of new civil conditions so as to enlist the strong assistance of the religious element in the interest of peace, order and good government. "Instead of approaching the problem in a broad, statesmanlike manner, the I prejudices against our government sown by the Spaniards were given the semblance of truth by the disgraceful conduct of our soldiers, their disregard of the religion and the sacred edifices where the solemn rites so dear to every Catholic heart were daily performed. CATHOLIC INDIAN SCHOOLS. It is scarcely possible to speak .yllm-ly .yllm-ly of the injustice done our Indian schoJs. Cardinal Gibbons and Archbishops Archbish-ops Ryan and Kaln employ the following follow-ing language in an appeal for funds: "Despite the faet that religious orders and other ' catholic bodies have equipped schools for the education of Indian children in full confidence that the government would not reverse its recognized and successful policy of subsidizing sub-sidizing their schools yet in the height of their success and notwithstanding notwith-standing that they were doing the work cheaper and better than it could be done by the government, the greater part of the subsidy has been withdrawn and eventually will be withdrawn entirely, en-tirely, and these well founded sood works of Catholic benevolence, begun in good faith and 'with great expenditure of time and money, are to be abandon aban-don J to their fate."-The cry. of course, is tne usual one: "The schools are sec- rian." Thus do, bigots strive to cover up their hatred of the church to show their preference for unbelief, when there is question of the Catholic church. Thev would rather have the Indians grow up without religion than to be educated as Catholics. In their blind hatred they place themselves in opposition opposi-tion to all Christianity and attempt to dignify a form of Christianity so di- luted that it is reduced to a sort of re- lined paganism with the title "Unsec- . tarian." OTHER GRIEVANCES. "There are many other grievances to -which I might refer, but these are suf- j -ficient to show the necessity of arous- j , ing ourselves from the lethrgy which has been creering over us during several sev-eral years. We have been sile;it while -our enemies were pushing us to the wall, and the impression has been . gradually gaining ground that any- . thing was good enough for us; and we ourselves were beginning to clasp the hand offering us the slightest recogni- " tion. "We should not be content with re- maining in the background; we must push to the front. We stand not alone, -although we are able to do so. There . are many intelligent, large-hearted, or, as the politicians say, "wide-gauged," liberal-minded men, such as Senator Vest, who in eloquent and pathetic " language will lend assistance in behalf -of a just and honorable cause. "We allow ourselves to be put aside . too easily, on the plea that it is useless to assert our rights. Even if we should fail betimes to obtain what is our due, let us not create a false impression by -silence and permit our American fel- -low countrymen to conclude that we -are satisfied. Remember that the Gos- . pel injunction is applicable here: 'Ask and you shall receive.' "My contention is that Catholics be- " longing to societies, indeed, all Catho- " lies, should endeavor to correct the condition of torpor into which we have fallen. A CATHOLIC PECULIARITY. "Let me proceed a step further. Not only is there apathy among the laity when there is question of their religious relig-ious rights; many also fail to support the Catholic interests as they should. Take, for instance, our Catholic colleges col-leges and convent schools. Is it not a shame, with such seats of learning as we now possess, that Catholics should patronize sectarian institutions to the imminent danger of the faith of their offspring? "Everyone knows that the religious and moral as well as the educational life of our higher institutions of learning learn-ing are much superior to that of the very best sectarian institutions. Let it be the duty of the Knights of Columbus, Colum-bus, many of whom have enjoyed the benefits of Catholic academic training, to advance the welfare of Catholic institutions. in-stitutions. Your little ones should be sent to the parochial schools and your boys and girls to Catholic colleges. Whenever I visit Princeton, the generosity gen-erosity which has established, equipped and adorned its historic university compels my admiration; at the same time I ask myself what have our wealthy Catholics done to compare with the work of non-Catholics in the establishment of great educational Institutions In-stitutions of the United States? Our poor people deserve all honor. Their liberality deserves the very highest high-est commendation. How nobly they have helped the Church in her sublime mission! No doubt some of our wealthy Catholics have set laudable examples of generosity, and we are proud of them. But, how many there are who are far from doing their duty! Think of Catholic men and women whose fortunes count up into, the millions, mil-lions, and not a mention in their wills of a single educational or charitable institution. Their ready reply will be "They are always giving." Let me say, I know by experience how much they give, and they are aware that it bearg no comparison whatsoever with the gifts of the poor. WHAT COULD BE DONE. "What others bestow for human motives, mo-tives, for the perpetuation of the family fam-ily name, some of our people will not even part with for supernatural motives. mo-tives. The only reasonable explanation of this 'phenomenon,' which now occurs oc-curs to me, is that many of our people have had so severe a struggle in the acquisition of wealth that the very tenacity which has been the cause of their success prevents them from disposing dis-posing of their goods with the liberality liberal-ity and thoughtfulness which becomes the Christian, who must be convinced that his wealth belongs not to him is that mere intellectual training without with-out the education of the heart, without the dictates of religion and morals to curb and direct, to strengthen and to guide is indeed very dangerous, not only to the individual, but to society as well. All experience bears out this position; po-sition; and the fact is that in our country coun-try crime is out of proportion with the population as a result of the pernicious perni-cious system of education. "The Catholic views the present religious relig-ious condition of our country with the greatest alarm, and is convinced that since his fellow-citizens are not educated edu-cated up to the point of conceding our rights, that the present parochial school must be continued as a bulwark against a system which is so rapidly dechristianizing and demoralizing America. ' CATHOLIC LITERATURE. "Allow me to dwell for a moment on a subject which must interest every Knight, viz., the support of Catholic literature. The press has become the mightiest engine of the nineteenth century. cen-tury. It can be employed to immense advantage in the dissemination of truth. Yet how many Catholic families subscribe for a Catholic newspaper, a Catholic periodical, or possess even a 4- t : Iff . , Jtsh x - Mmm ' mill KiliMiw Z t- WILLIAM M'KINLEY, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. Mr. McXinley vras unanimously nominated for a seconc term by the Republican national convention. r at Philadelphia, June 21. Governor Theodore Roosevelt of New York was nominated for the Vice Presi- alone, since he is but the steward of God's gifts and will be held responsible for their use and distribution. What magnificent work our Institutions could perform if all our people would come forward with requisite pecuniary assistance. as-sistance. " "Cardinal Manning has well said: 'It, 'is a bad will thai has not the name of our dear Lord among the heirs.' We may be more explicit and add: 'A will wherein neither educational nor charitable char-itable work is duly remembered is unworthy un-worthy of a Catholic.' There is another question in which I would like to engage your attention. I mean our parochial schools. Why are we obliged to maintain a system of public schools in which we can have no part? Why are we compelled to bear the burden of double taxation? Clearly because the state disregards the rights of conscience, and maintains only schools to which we cannot, as Catholics, send our children. What a cruel injustice is this! This educational education-al difficulty has been adjusted in other countries. Why can not it be satisfactorily satisfac-torily settled here in America? INJUSTICE DONE. "There has grown up here a class of people, mainly the product of the public pub-lic schools, whose chief characteristic is illogical, superficial, but very loud thinking. The constant cry of these fanatics fa-natics is: "Our public school system is the safeguard of the nation." The truth i . ' i small library of Catholic books? The atmosphere of the heart cannot be kept Catholic in our day without Catholic Cath-olic literature. I do not hesitate to say that the support given to the Catholic press is a disgrace to the Catholics of America. APOSTOLATE OF THE LAITY. "These are the thoughts which come up prominently in my mind on this occasion. I beseech for them the patronage pat-ronage of the Knights of Columbus. Someone has said that we need an "Apostolate of the Laity." - No truer words were ever uttered. You must not leave the burden to be borne altogether alto-gether by the clergy. We are powerless power-less without the strong arm of the laity. Remember the spirit of fortitude, forti-tude, religion and piety which inspired Columbus, the heroic figure whose name you bear; cultivate the enthusiasm enthusi-asm in a holy cause which enabled him to triumph over adversity and persecution. perse-cution. As you venerate his name, let his magnanimity characterize your organization. or-ganization. Convinced of the' truth of Catholic principles, go forward - courageously cour-ageously and your efforts will command success. Form a connecting link in the chain of societies composed of .Catholics .Catho-lics and assist in formulating some plan whereby the interests to which I have referred may be advanced by concerted action and the forming' of public opinion. Thus will you eliminate injustice and propagate religion, truth and virtue by word and example." - |
