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Show ;! K p Chunk Universal r-;! j j - " . . faith." j A FIVE-MINUTE SERMON. ?. Srniivii for Pa.ion Sunday Preached at the Early . 1 . tfac in the Paulist Church, Wabash Ave- I j inj ;infl KMridpre CVuirt. I i IWioii Sunday, my dear brclhrcn, ought to he i j j' .r 1 v ry Chrislian heart a festival of thanksgiving J j 1, - ur Savior. Jesus Christ, because lie has loved n- v, shedding of His blood, to the opening of v.-in and to the breaking of His heart; be- . II-' is come between us and (jod's justice, that i, appeased and because He has suffered in :; Hi- .-inl''ss body the punishments intended for and I ,J, -.-vimI by us. NY all readily agree that Christ's Passion is a ! w.'ti'l' rf nl tc-stimnny to God's love for us, God's ; iuoxplicabb?, constant, tender jind pathetic j ..c . Hut what we seem not. to see, what we do not j jv.-dizc, is that the sufferings and blood-shedding f ;' "iir Lord have placed upon us the responsibility 1 : ;' loyally loving Him and manfully struggling for I i Mini iu return, and thai ihus loving Hini and thus -'inkling for Him constitute the crowning glory i ! I our human live. Christians and Catholics seem ! ; to realize that religi(n is simply the .paying of i j .! -I li of grraiitude i (iol, our Savior. They seem , ''. 510T 10 realize; ihat religion consists in solving tho I All-I.ovable who has first loved us, in fidelity to dear memory of One- who has died for us; in I t.r;ively ianding irue lo him who asks us from 1 G.-thsamane and Calvary to watch with Hini, to I -upport hini, pto defend Him. And surely this view i - I our ervi-e to Viiir Cod is a noble one and how iu f 1 1 1 face of it, can men treat religion lighlly; as an I miiMco:iry ihing altogether; or as something of, ; 1' inniK'diaie concern to them, or at best as sonie ' thing good enough -when -the time comes to have. i. ii- with the affairs of this world and prepare' to--- u before the face of Coil ( Fortunately, my breth ren, ibis is not our view of religion, nevertheless :i-e we all that we ought to ( Do we not some- iiii s make wmpromws with the world and sin 1 1- not our religion what ought to be nearest and ': l. .nvt 1.1 otir hearts oftentimes forgotten "in thc mad rush for what the world calls good iuid desir-alilef desir-alilef And surely this would not Ixj if we only vould realize that lhe faithful practice of our religion re-ligion is ibe noblesi and manliest, thing in this world. It is noble if a man perform his duty to ward his employer, toward his family or toward i his country, bul iu't it supremely glorious, isn't it j divinely beautiful, isn't, it mauly above all other s ' luauliness if in life and in death, in misfortune :iiid prosperity, in peace and in temptation, he per- form his duties toward the blessed God who died j for him f And how can we shut our eyes to this j royal dignity of serving God '. How can we deem j it a light thing to sin? Why do our minds not per- e.-ivo ihat to disobey God, to run away in carnal j cowardice from our blaster and to gain lhe unclean army of His enemies, to break our word with the Lord and to live in shameful and perpetual ingrati tude to His goodness is the very depth of dishonor, I lhe last refuge of degradation, the smallest, mean- : ct act that can disgrace a man. Let us learn from , ' ilx sc days of meditation on. Christ' sufferings and deaih the true malice of siu, and let us know that to I sin is to give lhe lie to Christ in His death, to dV- sort, Him in order to worship at. the horrid altars 1 of iincleanliness, to work the ruin of all honor and i to upset all our notions of responsibility and grati" I 1ud and let us make a resolution loyally, intclli- , gently and generously to serve Him forever more! The Xew World., ..... -'"' '' ST. PATRICK AS.AfECTARIANf; ; (Tor tile -ew World.) A' ' ' j St. Patrick was a IMethodistf .- - The Methodists have two eyes, two hands, two feet and one nose. So had St. Patrick. Therefore, fct, Patrick was a. luVthodist. : St. Patrick was a Baptist '. lhe Paptits believe in baptism. St. Patrick believed in baptism. Therefore. St. Patrick was a Pairiisl. St. Patrick was a Presbyterian; The Presbyterians believe in some sort of a priesthood. St. Patrick boliood in some sort of a prieslhood; St. Patrick was a Presbyterian.. St. Patrick was an Episcopalian? Episcopalians believe in bishops. St, Patrick lif-lieved in bishops ; w was one Therefore, St. -J Pal rick wns an Episcopalian. ' St. Patrick wa an American? " Americans are good fellows; all round good ; fellows, you know. St., Patrick was an all round good man. St. Patrick was. an American. When Pope Ceh-sline, in the year of grace -J-'JiJ, I ehos.. Pairieius, the young priest, and made biro j a bishop, a Konian Catholic bishop, mark you, and s-iit him 1o Irelaial to try to convert that country io the faith of Christ, the wise Pontiff kuew that. Patricius, the new Konian Catholic bishop, about to . In .come an apostle, was all that we have said and ; :: great deal more. It is not. because he was as Catholic as fresh air. or sunshine, or good nature, : or kindness, 1 m t St. Patrick was sent, but because having' hands and head anointed with real oil, which jjavr real j ower from and by the blood of Christ, h- had real authority given him by a real apostle to consecrate oth'-r bishops and other prioi-ts, and because he did so and lhe real oil kept doing real $ work. uiK ttious as any good Methodist could wish, 5 ihat Ireland is still, after l.oOO years, Koman Cath-j Cath-j olic to .her heart's core, and out Jo the ends of the nniv r.se. rippling with joyous and multitudinous laughter at the amusing folly of the seels. I A headless chicken always behaves himself j i musingly. THOMAS AlacEWEX, . f : i k DAUGHTERS OF FAITH . J A movement of mere than ordinary importance j f ' : inl signiticHiK'e has arisen among the prominent "atholic women of Xew York, l lie object of which is the eorreciioii of certain evils ihat flourish in mod- , ern suciety. Woman has in European countries : freijuently exercised a well-defined influence in the f stiiipressioii of abuses that are too elusive to be I met by ibc criminal statute ami yet will yield read- I ily to social pressure. In France, for instance, the ; i' niinist movement has attained wide jroportions :Mid an unusual measure of influence. A remedy for trust exploitation has been sug gested i,v President Hadley tf Yale. It was the ijttstic remedy of social exclusion. And- tho 'iughier of the Faith"' are extending the application appli-cation of . principle of social ostracism. Observers are continually pointing to the Unit-' Unit-' ' (1 States as an example of the laxity that modern ' , ideas are producing. U( (.ritics, more eager lo ; pi-pie -uriosity i,a,i state facts, have declared that ' ' I in America ihe moral standard has been utterly de- ; basr-d and the world currency thrown into chaos. i here is a glirninei of truth in these remarks ihat spiritual aspiration has not been quenched ; ly our -ommercialized civilization is abundant.ly proved by ihe eagerness of tho acclaim with which this new society has bei n received. !' . Vl cquotc from ihe constitution of to.h newly loniied organization: "This society aims to unite 'Vhnlic women, more particularly those of position, posi-tion, culture and influence, in discountenancing the I'sagr-s and customs that are lhe evident' cause of 1 sj.ivad of moral evil in society, and in profess- 3"g a higher spiritual standard."' "I his is lo be done by means of united action 1 l"'i'nal influence, the use of the public press, ' ni( l 'i2s. rel reals and conferences."' . " Am'"!'? the organizers of the society are Miss Josephine Drexel, M!rs. Van Brugh Livingston, Ms. Thomas Welch. Mrs. Hugo de Fritsch, Mirs. Edward Ed-ward Townsend, Miss Clara Gilbert, Mrs. Henry La Marc-be, Mrs. Hermann Bosch, Mrs. John Bou-vier, Bou-vier, Mrs. Delancy Kane, Mrs. Lewis Quincy Jones, Miss EtSie Waddingtou, Miss Ella McMahon, Mrs. Schuyler Warren, Mrs. Thomas Wren Ward, Miss Lummis and Mrs. T. Delancy. "We do not expect to reform society, or to suppress sup-press decollate gowns altogether, but wc do aim to moderate these things. For instance, our members mem-bers do not pledge themselves never to wear low-ucked low-ucked gowns, but such toilettes will be designed with refinement and modesty and womanliness in mind. I believe many of the divorces of .this city are the result of improper and immodest attire. "Committees will be chosen for the .study of various problems and will invite the aid of prominent promi-nent men and women who are not members. The decisions of these committees will be submitted to the archbishop and when approved be communicated communicat-ed to all Catholic circles, and will form the standard of members in literature, the drama and other matters. mat-ters. "Our drama and literary committees will be ono of the most important branches of our work. Books and authors will be classified and catalogued under many headings. Plays will be considered, opinions given on every new production. The varied opinions opin-ions already given on 'Parsifal' will indicate, the j necessity of having some authorized criterion for j the public." WHY I AM A CATHOLIC. ftev. Charles A. Marnni in the Catholic Sentinel.) ; J.A friend of mine, told me that the present bishop 'pf-rXew York, Bishop'Potter, shortly after his consecration, con-secration, went, to administer confirmation in the ritualist church of St. Ignatius in that city. The rector, before the bishop came .had carried the consecrated con-secrated particles, my friend told me, into the sacristy sac-risty beic-ause his lordship did not believe- in the Keal Presence. I remember reading, . under Episcopal church notices, in' a church directory in Chicago during the fair year, something about week day masses, a 9 o'clock children's mass with choral service, and high mass at 11 o'clock on Sunday. And there, were notices, too, for confessions. Just below was the more familiar notice about "morning prayer" and "communion services once a month." We all know what a bitter war has been waged for some years past in this country in connection with the revision of the .Prayer Book concerning the title of the church. The. "advanced"' members have endeavored to drop the word "Protestant" and have themselves called "The Catholic. Church of America," but just as good Episcopalians as themselves, them-selves, and just as vigorous, insist upon being called Protetants. These instances may suffice for my purposes. I repeat, I do not bring them forth for controversial purposes. I simply give them as recent illustrations illustra-tions of facts of my own experience which I met with on cyery side when I set about trying to find an answer to my first, question: What does the ; Episcopal church teach? The facts themselves, I flunk,-nobody -will venture to quarrel with; they , iriayibe-abundantly verified any day by anyone who cares 4o do so. "...They bear out fully, I think, the conclusion I came to that the Episcopal church taught practically practi-cally uothing; that there was no such thing as a teaching of the church as a body. Consequently; I was. legitimately dispensed from investigating the second question, namely, By what authority does the Episcopal church teach? As her teaching (if one may so name it) is contrary on almost all points, it was perfectly obvious that she possessed no authority to teach which was worth covering. It was even hard to see in what sense she could be called the church of Christ, so I waived the sec-; ond question. The bishop from whom I just quoted speaks indeed of the "authoritative view of the Church of England," yet he ends the sentence in which these words occur by declaring that the solemn sol-emn letter put forth by the two archbishops of his church, a letter dealing expressly with a doctrinal matter, and addressed in consequence "to the. whole body of bishops of the Catholic church," can only be regarded " as an expression of their own private opinion." . -.-. Indeed, my own conclusions are admitted by a clergyman from whom I have already quoted in language which is stronger than my own. "All kinds of different, doctrines," he says, writing of his own churcn. "have been tolerated m the Church of England. We have no living voice;, we are not. members of an ecclesia doceus like the Church of Pome: we are left to believe what we like. And this in an uncertain age, and in view of the progress of modern thought. I look on as the great glory of the Church of Eugland," (Tablet, 21 April, 1SD7.) In another letter he says: . T am able to give my allegiance to my church just 'because in her communion everyone beliovcs'and.dislxlicves what he likes. We live in'an 'age-of transition, when the old-moorings are dragged; jjind when-vo, don't know what the future will bring forth. They; therefore, who have felt the influence in the 'Zeitgeist are at home in a communion which has noi definite 'voice, which leaves us largely: to think what .wc Avill; we fool it well to be the' members of . an . uncertain church." (Ibid, 5 June, '97.) . ':" There is ihen in this, church admittedly no teaching and no authority- ' Here it may be asked; why' I did not rejoice in this fact which the writer, just quoted, rather than make it a cause for complaint. Since the' Episcopal church was broad enough in her toleration to embrace em-brace lhe widest extremes of contradictory doctrine, why did I not choose what suited me and stay where I was, as so many others have done. j CAESAR'S SUBSCRIPTION. Booker T. Washington is credited with telliug of a confab he had with the sexton of a negro chun-h in which he had interested, himself to the extent of starting a subscription list for a new meeting place. The sexton, who knew every raera-lxr raera-lxr of the congregation intimately, ran down the list of names, with Mr. Washington commenting as he went along: :"Mr. Smif he's good fo' a-dollah; a-dollah; Mr. Perkins, he's good fo' five dollahs at least; M r. Leedom Tory religious, Massa Washington, Wash-ington, but poor. . . . Mr. Washington made notes as he went along. Finally the sexton read: "Mr. . He am rich enough, but stingy as , Caesah stingy as Caesah!" "Why do you think Caesar was stingy V asked' Mr. Washington. ' . " "Cause, Massa Washington, when de Pharisees gale our Lord a penny he a.xcd dem, "Whose subscription sub-scription am dis?' an' dey answered, 'Caesah's.'" The Pilot. " CARDINAL ON THE NEGRO QUESTION. Cardinal Gibbons has come out vigorously against the "Jim Crow" car bill which the legislature legis-lature now proposes to make applicable to the Baltimore Bal-timore street railways as well as the steam railroads, on the Eastern Shore. The cardinal said: "I am opposed to the passage of the 'Jim Crow, bill because it will work an injustice on the colored race. It. was very distressing to me to see the measure introduced, and I do not .want to" sop it passed. If it does it will work many hardships on the colored people. It would be wrong to make the -. . 1 1 . : -. - whole race suffer for the sins of a few by compelling compel-ling them to ride in separate cars. If the bill passes it will mean a step backward, and it would engender very bitter feeling." ' .Regarding Cardinal Gibbons' -position on this question the Xew York Evening post thus editorially editor-ially says: "In a letter to a negro minister of Baltimore Bal-timore Cardinal Gibbons has again shown himself a wise and far-seeing prelate. Writing of these 'Jim Crow' bills now before the Maryland legislature, legisla-ture, tho cardinal expresses his strong opposition to them and to the spirit actuating them, rightly pointing' out that peace and harmony are impossible where such unjust, discrimination prevails. To make a whole race suffer for the delinquencies of a few individuals he considers preposterous; and he adds that it is the duty of every mpmber of a community to avoid any action calculated to create bad feeling and fo embitter tho lot of the less fortunate for-tunate race. But this danger of. racial hatreds, far deeper and more serious than any hitherto existing, ex-isting, is precisely what a cheap politician does not think about. , . "He is concerned only with his own. personal advantage. ad-vantage. What the future has in store he recks not. Still others, uikc Congressman Ilardwick of Georgia, calmly assume that our colored citizens, having been put in the inferior social, industrial and political status he considers their, due,, will make no effort to better themselves. There is nothing noth-ing further from the truth. The. negro race is rising, and rising rapidly, ami (here is but one way : that it can be kept down by slavery or force of j arms. Meanwhile the words of Cardinal Gibbons, I that peace and harmony cannot prevail where there j is discrimination, constitute a solemn warning."' WHERE TO HEAR A GOOD SERMON. (From the Sacred Heart Boview.) Some ignorant people outside, the Church imagine im-agine fiat as Latin is the language of the Catholic church, even the sermons of the priests to the people, peo-ple, are delivered in that longue! Air. George T. I Angell, the veteran humanitarian,, was in a Prof- j estant- church recently where the sermon might just, j as well have been preached in Ltd in for all the good it was to tho majority of the preacher's hearers. He says that the clergyman spoke of "ethics" and "economics," "encyclopedic man," "speculative orthodoxy," or-thodoxy," "psychology," "isoscleles triangle," "unifying "uni-fying force from the great. Universal Self," "elaborate scheme of social organization," "Anti-nous "Anti-nous and Apollo," "complex realism," "sociological expansion" and "the old skeleton of a .defunct philosophy," phi-losophy," etc., etc. all of wlu'ch. while doubtless intelligent in-telligent to the Lord, was an unknown language to nine-tenths of the congregation. "We contrasted it," says Mr. Angell, "with the plain talk of Christ and the apostles 'Christ and Him crucified,' "Our Father who art in heaven' and we wondered what headway lawyers would make if they talked to juries ju-ries as- this educated clergyman talked to his no more intelligent congregation." If Mr. Angell wishes to hear a good practical sermon delivered in language "understanded of the people." he should attend mass hi a Catholic church some Sunday. Almost any church on any Sunday will do. , . . " - THOUGHTS . FOR LENT. Upon serious reflection we all become convinced of the necessity of doing penance for the sins we have committed, but few-of us carry out this conviction con-viction in practice. In this, as in all other things that we find disagreeable, we are given to temporizing, temporiz-ing, and thus suffer the golden opportunity of the present holy season to pass by unprofited of. Will this half-hearted application of God's goodness avail us for salvation? 'Here is a very pertinent question. Lent is unquestionably a time of God's extraordinary extraor-dinary grace over and above the. ordinary grace sufficiently given to all men. And surely it-is God's right to demand,a corporation ;witb it on the' part of man. What co-operation does man give'when he makes no effort to enter into the spirit of these days of grace, and supinely continues. on in the same indifferent in-different life God's mercy Would now arouse him from ? Western Watchman. PIUS X AND THE CONCORDAT. The Roman correspondent of the -Paris Figaro professes tcv have learned the Holy -Father's -opinion upon the concordat in France between the Church and the state. According to t,his informant the Tope views the concordat as little more, than bonds and a gag upon the limbs and lips of the Church. But he will do .nothing on his part to cause the government to abolish-the present arrangements, ar-rangements, conscious that a new state of things would inflict unspeakable harm upon religion. Yet, should the concordat be denounced, he would accept ac-cept the position with equanimity, believing that, after a few years of acute distress, the church in France would be found to be all the stronger for her liberty and freedom of action. True Voice. JACK TAR'S "HAIL MARY." Edmund Waterton relates that at Trafalgar, when the. English fleet was going into action, two Catholic bluejackets were serving at the same gim to which eleven hands were told off.' Whilst they were waiting for orders to open fire, one of them sang out to the other: "Bill, let's kneel down and say a 'Hail Mary.' We shall do our duty none the worse for it," "Aye, aye," Bill replied. "Let's' do so." And amidst the jeers and scoffs of their messmates mess-mates the gallant tars knelt down and greeted the Blessed Virgin with her favorite praypr. Twice during the action was that gun unmanned, and each time every soul was .sent into eternity with' the exception of Our Lady's two clients, who came out unscathed. Union and Times. - : : : ' . - 1 |