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Show -T OUR CHURCH AND COUNTRY. The Former Is More at Home in the United States Than Elsewhere. (Rev. Morgan M. Shoedy.) There is no place in the wide world where the Calholic Church rinds herself more at home than in the United States. If she has lost ground in the old world she has gained more than she ha?, bust, in ihe new. If the oldest daughter of the church ha;i proven recreant, anil unrilial in these latter days i the. youngest daughter the church in this republic is fair and beautiful to look upon, full of hope and promise. Nowhere on earth is the vitality of the church more strikingly manifested than here in the United States where she flourishes' without any aid or patronage of the state. Here she is no stranger; tor do not the rivers, mountains, valleys and settlements of our country boar witnes-; by their very names to ihe Catholic faith of the first di,-coverers di,-coverers and colonists Does not the name of this beautiful city of St. Louis to which we have come,v attracted by its splendid exhibition, tell of its Catholic founders '. Was not the foundamental principle of the American republic civil and religious relig-ious liberty first proclaimed and enforced in the Catholic Colony of Maryland.' Is not the Declaration Declara-tion of Independence an expansion of the Magna Charta which was wrested from a tyrannical king by Catholic priests and barons of England; Was not the sovereignty of the people, expounded and defended by St. Thomas Aquinas in the twelfth ..mifniv o it K,- IV,,. T VTIT I 1 ,,4-V no ii u. vj x vj'L J.A j ..viil hi. tut; lilSL. At the close of the revolution did not the Father of his country, in a public letter, thank the Catholics of the United States for their unswerving loyalty to ihe pal riot cause, and will not the name of the Catholic Carroll go down to posterity with the names of Jefferson and Hancock on the glorious roll of tho signers of the Declaration? In the United States today thinking men who but yesterday turned a deaf ear to her are quite ready to listen when she proclaims that she can: reach the heart of every problem that troubles humanity; hu-manity; because behind her stands the power of God and to her are pledged the promises of the Most High. "The ancient democracies perished," writes a distinguished Frenchman, "in corruption and cruel strife because they could not maintain a just social organization. Modern democracy will escape these perils if it succeeds in realizing the ideals proposed by Christ." The Catholic Church stands firmly for these ideals. The very first message of Pius X, to the Church and to the age was: "Let tis restore all things in Christ;" tkat is to say, it is tho religion of Christ that can alone save modern society; can restore a just social order, bringing peace, contentment, content-ment, and prosperity to the nation. We are safe. 1 think, in saying that the twentieth twen-tieth century will witness a far wider recognition of the conservative power of the Catholic Church and her priceless service to humanity; that her hold on the respect and confidence of even non-Catholics will grow and deepen with the coming years; t hut-wit hut-wit h her alone will be found an enduring and satisfactory satis-factory solution of the great problems that confront the age. And now by way of contrast, not that it pleases us to look on the picture, what is the religious condition con-dition outside of the GutlioUc d-mrcli ' Tt is frnnlv admitted by non-Catholics everywhere that Christianity Christ-ianity as they understand and practice it is disintegrating disin-tegrating into lifeless elements; that its creeds are being cast aside; that science has shattered the foundations of faith; that modern scholarship has shown the Bible "to be full of myths and errors;" that as a consequence, men and women no longer believe the old teachings; that many ministers are preaching the principles of scepticism and open infidelity. Xow, to this decay of religious faith is ascribed the unhealthy condition of our modern society; its gross and sensual materialism; the spirit of commercialism; com-mercialism; the prevalence of vice; thojuotable lack of civic virtue; the alarming increase of crime, , especially among juveniles; tho many scandals and frequency of divorce in what is called "fashionable life;" in short the revival of the spirit, and doings of Pairanism. So eminent rn authority as the Protestant Archbishop Arch-bishop of Canterbury at the opening of the Episcopal Episco-pal convention in Boston the other day spoke of "the decadence of religious life especially in Aemr-ican Aemr-ican homes." Aid he put his very finger on the prime cause of this decay of religion when he doubted "whether adequate provision is being made in America today for securing that the children shall nowhere grow up ignorant of the fulness and, the significance of their Christian heritage." , J know of no period in our history when the in-fl in-fl nonce of the church was more needed than today. It is needed in business, in social life, in public administration. It is needed to stay the tide of political corruption, winch according to so good a friend of America as' John Morlcy, "for the mo-' ment obscures the great democratic experiment." Ex-President Cleveland, some time ago, reviewed our many moral defects as a people and earnestly appealed for a revival of the virtues of good citizenship. citi-zenship. President, Roosevelt, is, as you know, a strenuous lay preacher of the civic virtues. There is.no form of government so much as a republic that demands wisdom and virtue in the, people. And it is part of the duty and mission of the Catholic Church to inculcate these lessons of wisdom wis-dom and virtue to the people. Nowhere in the world today is the Catholic Church in healthier condition and her future more promising than here in our own country. Her children are almost as numerous as the members of all the sects combined and she is every day enlarging the boundaries qf her Vastcmpirc. All hail, then, church and countrsl ' - : in. - Jvyt tr ill . ;CT) r f xWx x !: i r- n 1 a - X ! I-' 111 'Vsi t 5 - M I ' V 1 I - .,M I , v " A t t i ' ' ' i?-' 'L & X k :u vi? r4fifr'' k" I RT. REV. A. J. GLORIEUX, Bishop of Boise. The diocese of Boise, embracing an area of stations, three institutions of learning, two indus-84,200 indus-84,200 square miles, was erected a diocese by His trial schools and three hospitals. Plans were re-Holiness, re-Holiness, Pope Leo XIII, Aug. 2.", 180:). Since cently submitted to Bishop Glorieux for the erec-then erec-then Rt. Rev. Bishop Glorieux has guided and di-tiou of a fine cathedral. When ready for divine reefed the spiritual interests of the church in tho worship it will seat between 1.000 and 1,200 per-state per-state of Idaho, and the success attending his work sons. When completed it will be an ornament to is a testimony to his piety and zeal. Boise and a lasting tribute to the zeal of Idaho's Under his spiritual guidance at present are well-loved bishop and monument to the generosity twenty priests, fefKV'ur ' churches, ''seventy-five of the Catholics of Idaho. : , . , . |