The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-04-28

mons might be used at the present moment,
II they could be had, in works of the most
practical utility and even necessity. When
a city or nation is in straits through the
caiamities of war, pestilence or famine, oil
us clt'zens are expected to strain every
nerve and to make sacrifices for its relief:
NO city or ration has thousandth part OF
the claim to devotion from it's citizens
winch the church possesses. And the
church, always militant, is always IN
straits, at least in some part of her great
empire, always suffering from the effects
OF the perpetual warfare waged against
her, from pestilental vices aud sins among
the children, from n famine of the word
and sacraments of Christ among the
most neglected and abandoned of her peo-
pie. God alone can help her efficiently.
But men must struggle to help themselves,
Lord demanded of his disciples to feed the
hungry multitude, aud ordered them to
set before them the whole of their scanty
provisions. "He himself knew what he
would do" and he did it by multiplying
miraculously the loaves and fishes Of his
fishing and perishing multitudes of Chris.
tendon and heathendom from the abyss OF
temporal and spiritual ruin and death
which yawns under their feet. Society
must be reconstructed on Christian basis,
and by mighty, organic movements, In
which the Church and the State, the hier.
archy, both ecclesiastical and civil, and all
the powers contained in the bosom of 30
ciety, in harmonious concert OF action,
labor together for . common end, it must
work out its own regeneration anu the
Christian civilization OF the human race; or
the work will remain for ever incomplete:
Chrstendop is full of deadly disorders and
wounds, inflicted on it by the fell power OF
schism, heresy and infdelity. Only Cath
Ollie unity can heal it, and combine its
members in the work assigned to it by
divine Providence, and only a miracle of
| and disorganized parts, close up the deadly
gashes in the living body, and reanimate 1t
| with complete health. The zeal, activity
and wealth of the whole community, col
| lected in the communion of the Catholic
Church, would be sufficient for as thorough
a regeneration of New York, and of the
whole United States, as the most san guine
optimist could ever expect to see brought
about in any country in the world. CHRIS
tendon, united in itself and governed on
Christian principles, would absorb into
itself, in century, the entire world. i bue
of the Church must do what they can, and
await the time for God to do what he has
determined, and to great extent made
conditional in the efforts of men. The
most of our Catholic people in the United
States have, on the whole, fulfilled the
DUTY OF contributing Iuo AuuuS Ic4NA Ou Iva
carrying on the works of the Church re-
markably we'll. Whether the richer por-
ton of them have done their fair share, is
a question not so easy to answer. Instances
of princely generosity have not been want
ing. and to q considerable extent there has
been a creditable liberality manifested by
the Weather classes of Catholics when
thew have been publicly or privately
solicited to aid in religious or other chart
table works. That there are some who are
niggardly in their disposition, and many
who are more sparing and moderate in their
charities than they ought to be, caa hardly
be doubted. The comparatively small
community has necessarily thrown the
great burden of supporting the institutions
of the Church upon the mass of the people
who are not rich. There is nothing IN this
to complain of. If the rich do their fair
share, it is no disgrace to them that they
enjoy the benefits which have been chiefly
purchased by the money of the laboring
classes, But if they fall behind their pro-
portion, it is a real disgrace to them, be-
cause they receive in that case for nothing,
and as an aims from the poor, something
which they ought to have paid for.
i The Church demands something more
than portion of the surplus of the wealth
of the rich. She demands the conservation
and devotion of the minds, the wills, the
time, the efforts of all the elite Of her laity,
of those who are rich In intellectual gnIs
end accusations, as we'll as of those who
are rich in gold and silver. The principal
medium of the operation of this devotion at
the present time are voluntary associations
under the sanction and direction OF the
hierarchy. These associations have for
their scope the organization of charitable
works, the diffusion of knowledge, resist
ance to the enemies of tue Church, the de-
fence of the Holy See, and general CO.
operation with the clergy in the extension
large on this theme, at present, as we have
promised to make our articles very brief,
and an essay on the subject has already ap,,
peared in our pages. What we have said
will be sufficient, we trust, to stimulate all
those who are imbued with the spirit of
Catholic faith to greater zeal and effort in
the sacred cause of the Church, in which
the laity have as great an interest as the
clergy.-Catholic World.