The Irish standard., 1891-04-18
CATHOLIC BENEv OLEN CE.
Cardinal Gibbons Writes On the Cath
olic View Of Wealth and Its
Obligations.
THE RICH HERE INTERESTED
Children Of the Catholic Church Give
Not Wealth Alone But
Themselves,

Themselves,
In the North American Review fo
. April His Eminence Cardinal Gibbon
continues the discussion on "Wealtl
and Its Obligations" begun in tn
pages of the Review by Mr.. Andrew
Carnegie, and continued by MIR. Glad
stone, Cardinal Manning, DR.. Adle
and Rev. Mr.. Hughes. He presents tn,
Catholic view Of wealth and it's ad
minisrration as follows:
The Church claims to be the fulfil
menJ and the completion of the Judias
dispensatiOn. She asserts, With th,
great apostle of the Gentiles, that al
the rites, ordinances and precepts OF tina
dispensation were huS the shadow OF
the substance to oome. With astonisll
ing fidelity she reproduces all the mali
and many of the minute features O.
that law, but heightened, frightened
intensified into sharper and bolder out
line. Whatever is good there is here
better; whatever in shadow OF old is
now in the fulness of substance. Grace
doth now more abound, and with it the
charity which constraineth it, IF. then
as Rev. Hermann Adler so well and
clearly shows, the law of charity as
sumed che form OF tities, and, among
the Jews, it was enacted into specific
legislation, should naturally expect thai
an obligation so rejecting the love ot
! God in and towards man should reach
a higher and nobler development in
these days OF Christianity. And, as q
matter of fact, the individual Christian
or the body Of Christians who cannot
stand this test may we'll seriously doubt
the sincerity of his or their professions
of faith.
| Those familiar with the daily lives
! and sentiments of the IabOring classes
know what stumbling block to their
faith is pious penuriousness, the char
ity that begins and ends at home. They
! cannot reconcile godliness and greed.
| For most other TOrms OF human weak
| ness there is tolerance, even at times
compassion; but FOR the man who acK-
nowledges cur common faCherhood and
brotherhood with his hands tightly
closed upon his purse string, there is a
fierce contempt, courses not loud but
deep" 1t may safely be affirmed that
one Sanctimoni0us, miserlY millionaire
in a community works more deadly
harm to Christianity than a dozen iso~
lated cases OF burglary OF drunkenness.
In Europe, We are told by competent
authorities, the desperation OF the poor
is fast driving men into atheism. MY
distinguished townsman, Professor Ely.
in a most suggestive lecture, inquiries
into the alienation OF wage workers
from Christianity, proving that in most
denominations such alienation un-
doubtedly exists.
In this view it is most melancholy to
consider the estimates of such thor
oughly informed public men as Mr..
| Gladstone and Cardinal Manning upon
the shrinkage of private charity going
on c0ntempOraneOusly with the enOr
NOUS increasa Of wealth in England.
| Among Catholics here, while there
are doubtless instances of avarice and
OF utter iorgetfuIness of the law of fra
ternity or charity, vet, taking them as
body. make no doubt they fulfil the
whole law in the broad Christian man
ner so eloquentlY expounded by the
cardinal archbishop of Westminster.
Those who give more than is required
by any law far 0utnumber those who
give less. They are not, as class,
wealthy. They c0u2t among their
number few millionatres. The great
majority rely for livelihood upon the
labor of the brain or Of the hands, on
the tillage OF the farm, the sale of the
produce; and vet glance at the list of
annual collections with their amounts
at Onoe convinces us that the law OF
charity still standing on the divine sta
tute book has not been by them rem
dered obsolete. They have the heart
and the spirit Of sacrifice to give their
tithes. and often more than their tithes,
unto the Lord.
In the archdiocese of Baltimore, as in
all other di0ceses of this country, the
temples in which they worship are al
most invariably erected Dy their volun-
tArv contributions, unless, as happened
occasionally, one individual or one
family undertakes the whole expense.
When the church is erected, those who
can afford to do so pay yearly rental
averaging say $50 each family-the
average ofertorY collection being about
half that sum. In addition to all this
there are in most parts Of the country