Omaha daily bee., 1889-01-10
THE CAUSE OF CATHOLICISM.
A Banquet Given by the Mutual Benc
fit Association,

At the Willard hotel Tuesday night st.
Joseph Branch No. l of the Catholic Mutual
Benefit association and its friends banquetted
sumptuOusly.
There were present about one hundred
persons, and IL could not be said that either
sex was in the majority. The v~ivacity and
brilliancy of the life and color assembled
were inspiring.
After the serving of the banquet the presi-
dent of the society, Major j. b. Furay, in
welcoming the society, said:
fright Reverend Bishop, Ladies and Gen
tlemen: The Catholic Mutual Benefit asso.
citation comes into your midst this evening rs
an infant lacking n day OF being ten months
old. We hope that YOU will find il a very
lively child. 1t is the design of this organi-
IL was created. 1t will be com.
posed Of good men who are perfect
Catholics. Its memuers will not forget the
obligation resting upon them, beyond the
the burying Of the dead, TO look
to the welfare OF the living, making
their lives rs comfortable and happy as pos
sible in this vale of tears. And the best
method of procedure for that END, it appears
TO me, is a constant mingling together. |
am glad TO sec before me such an amply
illed hall, and bid you all right welcome
Mr.. r. j. Mahonoy, in the absence of Mr..
John Rush, responded to The c.. NJ. b.. A."
graphically depicting the history of the assoc
citation, and prophesying its future great
usefulness. The speaker referred TO the
title of the association as a sufficient explain
ton of its objects.
The Right Rev. Bishop O'Connor treated
1.-THE Church IL America TO an exposition
as follows:
The sentiment, gentlemen, on which | have
been asked to speak this evening is one sug-
costing thoughts innumcrable, and some Of
them are too profound for utterance on oc-
casions like the present. Nevertheless
you will permit me to invite your attention
to just one or two of the many claims which
our national church has upon our regard.
We venerate the church for her great an
tiquity. 1t is not, as too many are often led
TO suppose, an organization of recent date or
importation IN this country. If early settle
ments can give n claim to the name Ameri-
can, then this national church of ours is emi.
nently an American institution. She was the
first church to place a mark-the first christ
ian symbol raised above the soil
of this continent was the cross.
Long before the puritans landed ut
plymouth the church had her missionaries
and her martyrs in this country. In the sew
entcenth and eighteenth centuries she could
count numerous congregations of native
Christians in many parts of the territory
now under the dominion of the United States,
and the historian, Bancroft, speaking of the
progress made here by the French Jesuits as
- ~ 90 WV, "a ihN viz a lohkIA
the cross TO the faces of the inhabitants of
st. Mary, of the confines of Lake Superior,
and to the homes of the Sioux in the valley
of the Mississippi five years before the New
England zealot had addressed the tribes of
Indians living within six miles of Boston har-
Dor. Then we would feel a deep interest in
the welfare of our national church because of
the salutary influence she is like to have
on the nation we love so well and
of which we Catholics form a by no means
in INSIGNIFICANT mart God my friends hnc
stamped this country with the interest of
unity and material greatness. Its noun
tains, its valleys, its rivers, traversing, as
many of them do, its whole extent, the won
derful fertility of its soil and the variety of
its products, the people of its different parts
and their dependence upon each other, all
proclaim that from the beginning the AL
mighty intended it to become the home Of
one great and prosperous people, and in the
fullness of time that the people and prosper
lty enter into possession of the inheritance
prepared for them. They come from ulyers
lands, bringing with them different customs
and laws, speaking different languages, and
in the lapse of a couple of centuries we see
them united inio one nation, governed by
the same laws, speaking one language and
forgetting almost in a few generations the
different nations from which they sprung.
Such a country, such a people, ladies and
gentlemen, has need of n great church to en-
able it to fulfil the destiny which God has in
store for it; it needs a church that is one in
faith, one in dicipllne, one the same at the
north and at the south, in the east and in the
west. 1t has need of a church that is able to
take care of nations, preserve, elevate and
guide them. Give this country such a church
and history has no record of such things as
it will do for God and mankind. But where
is that church to be foundl She Is and can
only be the Catholic church. The Catholic
church is the author of modern civilization.
She alone fully comprehends it, she alone is
able to perfect and guide it. She
found all the civilized nations of
to-day barbarous and enabled them
to become what they are at present; and she
would have done much more for them had
not her work been hindered by the objections
Of men and the powers of this world. This,
then, my friends, is the great and only
church that can safely guide this young
giant republic on the path of its destiny, will
it but recognize the claims of our church and
itself to her guidance. When that
may happen no man now can tell, but our be-
United States brings to Is the conviction
that happen it will sooner or later.
Catholic Laymen" was the theme of
Hon. M. V. Cannon, who was followed by
Rev. M. p. Bowling on "Chrlstian Educa- |
tion.n This gentleman maintained that the
Catholic educators should be compensated TO
the extent that they reduce the cost of gen |
eral education. In taking up "Our Guests
Hon. J. h. Riley regretted that he had not
mad time in which TO prepare suitable words
on behalf Of this ''infant lacking a day of
ten months DID," but that he would express
it's gratefulnes for the presence at its levee
of the fathers and mothers, sons and beauti-
full daughters. Mr.. jules Lombard then
sang a Scotch composition, 'Say, Are You |
Sleeping, Maggie" with spirit and the pow
ers of his magnificent voice. While the
singpr'S voice vet Vjbrated. Major Furay. in |