The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1894-07-07


p IltIS ]. Nd Ar !
] NoN-EssRNTIALS IN RELIGION.
. Under the alliterative title Of Christie
pentris Chris ttisnity = Rev. John Conway,
professor of English literature at Mer-
Ram Park College, has recently contrib.
uted very interesting article on q sub
iect Of more than ordinary interest to the
Catholics Of the United States. Father
Conway is man Of progressive ideas
who has evidently imbibed the advanced
views which Archbishop Ireland ex-
pressed in his celebrated address on
sThe Church and the Age" andin his no
less famous address at the first Catholic
Congress in Baltimore when he declared
that the mission Of the Catholic Church
in this country is to make America Cath
Ole. To accomplish that happy consum-
nation Archbishop Ireland encouraged
the formation of Catholic Truth 6oci-
ETY. of laymen in Minnesota whose duty
it was to correct Misrepresentation OF
Catholic doctrine through the medium
Of the daily press. For two years the
society performed noble work in defeld-
ing the Church from ISLANDERS and calum
MES, and disseminated pamphlets among
the Catholic laity to instruct them in
the articles of their creed; but SO far as
Professionals were concerned little was
accomplished in the way of conversions,
and the -ciety fell into innocuous des.
uetude for lack of appreciation. It is
evident to thoughtful men who are so
licitous for the propagation of Catholic
doctrine among American Proteetants
that something more eficacious than
tracts and controversies is necessary to
bring them within the fold of the Church
which is 'sthe pillar and the ground OF
truth" Father Conveys idea of bring.
ing knowledge of the principles and
tenets of the Catholic Church within the
grasp of the American MIND appears to
ms to deserve consideration. The ancient
church must be modernized as far az
possible to meet the requirements oil
this age of skepticisn and religious in.
difference. Father Conway is q man OF
the world whose journalistic experience
enables him to speak intelligently on the
subject, and this is what he says:
It is we'll to bring the Church to the
age. It is good thing if Catholic prin-
ciples be in harmony with the American
constitution, as Cardinal Gibbons con
tends. It is still better if such strong
organization as the Church has special
fitness for the needs of the age. BY des
cending to particulars we get within
close range and we put ourselves in q
position to examine precisely these OBJ
stacles which hinder an honestly inquir.
ing mind from seeing what is quite clear
to the initiated. ~
George Parsons Lathrop, whose family
has given evangelical ministers to Prot.
estantism for more than two centuries
and half, ought to be good authority
on the state of the American mind to-
ward religious truths. Since Mr.. Lathrop
Joined the Catholic Church he has writ.
ten that the non Catholic American mind
is cropping for religious truth and has not
yet found it. I should go further and
say that the tendency of young America
is towards more light Of every kind.
There is no disposition on the part of the
American people to discriminate against
religious truth and to build up a barrier
against it.
1.-The opponents of Catholic thought
have been making narrow the way to the
Catholic Church in the United States.
I speak not of the dying antagonism to
our public school system. Ny plant
comes from within the very lines of
Christianity itself. It is a platitude to
say that the essentials of Christianity are
the same in every land; tits useful to re-
member that the coloring of Christianity
comes from the characteristics OF the
people among whom it Aourishes. Eng
land of the olden days was conspicuous
for it's guilds of workmen. English
Catholics Of today, particularly in those
parts where the faith of A'Becket and
Augustine was never interrupted. insist
upon the formation Of Catholic guilds.
The Catholics Of Germany and of Bo-
hernia like to pray as we'll as to parade in
societies; the Catholics of France are
fond Of shrines; almost every village in
Italy has it's miraculous statue; Spa nish
maidens love to pour forth their fervid
souls in warm prayer to the Virgin; in
Ireland Catholics are content with any
form Of devotion that is offered, for a