St. Paul daily globe., 1891-09-07
CHURCH AND CHARITY
Archbishop 1reland's Power
full Argument on Practi- :
cal Christianity.
Catholics Have Not Been ST.
lent as Regards Social
Matters.
Practical influence OF the
Church as Exerted in
the Past.
Interesting Sermon to a Ca
thedpal Audience Last
Evening.

1 IL is lnelr solemn religious uuty TO lake deep
and abiding interest in social matters, and it
teaches the world at large that social matters
| depend in their solutions very largely upon
the principles of religion. and the active in
! fuence of the church which officially ex-
/ pounds and enforces those principles. The
| general thesis of the Eneyclical is the close
and intimate reliance existing between re
| ligion and social welfare.
The duty of Christians to interest them
selves in social matters the Holy Father'illus-
| trates by his own example From the high
est and most authoritative pulpit in Christen-
] dom He sends forth His voice, bewaiiing the
evils which press upon modern society, and
proclaiming the principles which will
lead 10 its salvation. He urges
and commands that all may do
their utmost in conjunction with Him.
Every one" be says, must put his hand to
the work which falls to his share. and that
at once and immediately, lest the evil which
is already so great may by delay becomes ab-
soutely beyond remedy. Those who rule
the state must use the law and the iustitu-
tions of the country; masters and rich men
must remember their duty; the poor. whose
interests are at stake, must make every law
full ana proper effort. Every minister of
holy religion must throw into the conflict all
the energy OF his mind and all the strength
of his endurance. With your authority, ven
cradle brethren'-the Holy Father is address.
ing the bIshops-''and by your example they
must never cease to urge upon all men of
every class, upon the high as well as the
| lowly. the gospel doctrines of Christian life;
| by every means in their power they must
| strive for the good OF the people," Words.
could not we'll be more direct and more pos
| tive than these. and it is easy to foreteil the
| results that will come from them. They
mark new era III Catholic aud social studies
and oil hn aFafn ,asal
| Will be quickened throughout the whole
| church the leading chairs in seminaries and
| universities Will be devoted to discussing
| them and the best energies OF Catholic zeal
| Will be consecrated to the practical applIca-
| ton of the lessons sDokeu by wise masters
| Rich and poor, capitalists and laboreFs will
| hear the sacred aud eternal truths of charity
| and justice which upon all lasting social re
| lations must rest, and their souls, we should
| hope, will not be unyielding to the softening
| Influences wherewiJh they shall be sur
| rounded. In whatever light men view the
Catholic church ana the pronoancemeutso of
her supreme poutiff, they do not refuse 10
her the prestige and power of the most far
reaching moral teaching authority in the
world, and those having To heart the preser-
vation and progress of human society must in
consequence hail with joy and nope the let
ter of Leo XIII which. issuing from the
Vatican palace, hard by Peters tomb, is her
aided by living voices beneath the dome of
every temple of Peters universal church, and
around the whole circle of earth orb avoW
faith in Peter as the vicar of Christ During
the yet brief time of his sovereign puntificate
Leo XIII. has on manifold occasions ad-
dressed encyciical letters to the world touch
ing upon nearly all the great questions which
involve the destinieS temporal and eternal of
men. SO manv suns have been poised over
the regions of intellect and of morals, light
ing up and warming souls upon which were
pressing the darkening and death dealing
clouds of error On no other occasion, be-
lieve, has Leo spoken, when the subject was
more vital, the utterance more opportune,
ana the good results more abiding, than in
the publication of his encyciicai on the ''Con,
dition of Labor"
There Was Need of the EncycIieaI.
There was, in che Catholic body. need of
the encyclical. Catholics were not entirely
silen. and inactive as regards social matters
We have had our Catholic social congresses
in several European Countries; we have
noted Catholic social writers Ca holic associ
ations for promotion OF social interests have
been formed and prosper; illustrious Catho-
lie ch1efta1nS on both sides of the Atlantic
have been always ready with voice and hand
to ward off social tempests and bring calm
| upon agitated seas. But, withal, the Catho-
| lie Social workers, up to the present time.
whether in Europe or America, have been
| the far-seeing and vigilant senlinels on Is
| raels towers, whose range of vision covers
advancing dangers which are hidden to the
| llstless multitude; they have been the cour-
| ageous discoYeTers and pioneers i'll Catholic
| thought and action, whom the timid
| crowd fear and rebuke: aud far-seeing
! sentinels and courageous pioneers are always
| few i'll number. The social questions of the
| day arise from the modern CONF plications of
| Industry and trade; they are necessarily new.
| The data upon which conclusions must be
based are, in these early stages OF the move
ment. obscure and i'll defined, and the task
of reaching out to conclusions is arduous
| and beset with difficulties. These difficulties
nR inn cnd i
| presence of doctrinaries and men of
| passion, who profit by all social agitations
| TO PROFOUND wild and revolutionary theories
| and demolish III hatred and lust where they
| are poweriess to build up in peace and love
| We need not, perhaps, wonder oyermueh
! that Catholics have held aloof from the
| social field. and were led to believe that the
| timely moment had not come for the barring
| of arm, and the unsheathing of sword But
| another reason for their social inactivity am
| not so willing to excuse or pardon
| 1t Is the pernicious and wide
| spread belief, born of timidity aud
! shortsightedness, that the arena for re-
ligious work of priests and people is in chan
| Gel and church aisle. and that the big world
| outside church walls must be left to itself. to
| heaye and to sink from its own forces for life
| or death, untouched by Christian hand or
| unstirred by Christian inspiration. Passing
| strange this mode OF piety toward God and
| His CHRIST which does not understand that
| the whole world is the creation of God that
4 OllIlSt lONcQ anu uiGu lOr luS NlCl6 WOrlQ.
| and that the narrow precincts of the temple
! are simply the storehouse of arms and cour.
| age wherewith the soldier fits himself for
that victory of grace and truth which in
| Gods calling awaits him on the broad battle
| ground of the open and living world Leo
| XIII. has administered needed and severe
rebuke TO pusillanimous and self-satisfied
| sanctuary religion.
| The Betterment of the Present Life.
| The church primarily exists for the souI:
/ its first and chief aim is the supernatural life
| ana the future world. If a comparison be
| instituted between heaven and earth she
| promptly decides in favor of the former and
! If there is menace Of conflict between one
and the other. she hesitates not to repeat !:
What doth it profit a man to gain the whole
| world and lose his own souIr But it is yet
the truth that she cannot forget this present
| life. nor omit to labor for its bctterment.
| She is the offspring and the representative of
| the Lord, Who made earth and heaven, Whose
gift to men this present life is. no less than
the future. God made the world in love, and
| in love He preserves it, He has not foreor
dained that men live in 1t amid misery
and suffering. The vernal freshness and
beauty OF the fields, and their golden
autumnal harvests mark His bounteous
| designs; His sun shines in the skies.
| diffusing generous light upon ali
! the children OF men, and inciting in all the
| gladness and hope; When man first ap-
| peare6 on earth. God placed him in a garden
of delights, and only mans own SHINING exl
lied him from Paradise The ideal life. even
| upon earth, still is Paradise-an ideal never
attained, but ever exciting our ambition.
How near to its gates we should be if sin no
| longer fettered usl How better and brighter
| LIE becomes for man as he develops his tai
ents and energies to their full growth and as
ne aWakens into his service the latent pow
| ers OF nature! And are we to imagine that 1t
| is not God S will that all hidden sources of
happiness be revealed, and the potencies of
His creation be actualized? 1t is, most as
/ suredly, doing Gods will and honoring Him
| in bis works, TO make earth team with fsvors
! for men. to spread the smile of love over its
| countenance, TO advance men to the fuIlness
| OF their manhood, and grant them to rejoice
In the possession of Gods gifts. We worship
and obey God in prayer and sacrifice: EA
worship and obey Him. too, in the achieve
ments Of industry and civilization, In the
| spread Of education aud culture. in the tri.
umphs OF art, in the moral and social uplift-
ing OF humanity. Along ali those lines,
encouraging, aiding, blessing, the church
| hnds her work, ana She were not the renra-