The morning times., 1896-10-12

The customary crowded house was
present last night Ut Gonzaga Hall, where
KEY ID. j. STAFFORD, ID. D., OF st. Patrick's
church, delivered an address on the Re
lation OF the Catholic Church to Our Age
and Country" ...--t. $40
IDe ilrst part of the address, made to
SHOW that as the material world is com
posed oil n multiplicity of elements, which
were uuit IN the last syntbesis the same
is true or the rational or Intellectual world
The Catholic Church is not an exception to
the~ruie, with all its complex relations to
morals, the social orders, literature. royal
or popular prerogatves, the arts aud
PHILOSOPHERS.
As all things must be considered in re-
lation to time and space, the Catholic
church must be So considered, the time
being the age in which we live and the
place, our Country. The church was So
considered in the time OF the fathers
the same problem copfronts it today. The
church accepts the age, and deals with
It, us 1t finds it, its rights and its wrongs,
ana OF all ages there was, perhaps, none
with more of the right and less OF the
wrong in 1t than the present.
THECHURCH'S TEACHINGS.
The church teaches the acceptance OF
the age, which, in intellectual daring
A'S 's'pl'NN hs htiiiilfs, thS
fact that there have been schools Of
philosophy Which taught what the
church would not accept. The speaker
cuntended that the promises Of the ma
terialists had not been kept, that they
were gradually rccediug frcni tie atbeis-
tic and anti-religiuus claims they had
made less than decade ago.
The acknowledgement OF living geolocistS
and natural philosophers generally was that
hpltnH raj nj. gtfagyI
cause which was the God OF the Christian
religion. DR.. Stafford held that the age
must not be condemned for the lcaven of
evils in it,
The best hope of the age. he cont tended,
was the wide pcrvading sense OF dissatis-
faction with the moral and social order.
Romans. Greeks and mcdiaevaIists even,
found life pleasure, and there was once,
too, merry England. Today life is a
serious fact, German philosophy is Icssi-
miStic, among the leaders being Schopcn-
haurer. Contemporary literatu ure deals moi
with the present. but with the remote past.
| or with dreams of a remote future. Art no
longer rcvels In man and nature. except to
emphasize their nnpleas ant aspects. Cal
this spirit anarchy. or socialism, or unrest
| or what you will. they are all phases of the
condition of dissatisfaction with the
| present. which is Emphasized in the qucs
| e'b 7NiiohSis iIs WIN
| living?'' gsa
Herte the material is not sufficient to
satisfy the discomfort, the cry of the
| heart OF tie nineteenth century. Nothing
| can satisfy this except the church, which
| lives not in tie past nor tie present mol
the future, hut accepts what is true in al
times in the light of reason and OF nature.
LOVES THIS COUNTRY.
So, as she accepts the age she accepts
| the country. AS 10 this country, she lives
for it, she labors, for it, she loves it, and
| If need be, her chiidren would die for it
| That, in a few words, lie said, is tht
| duty of the church towards the country
| The church is indifferent to the form o
| government, and the real Oh lection To thai
| church, the real difficulty in the mind ol
| the non-Catholic citizen in apprehendint
| and understanding the relation of the
| Catholic church 10 the government, is
| that the non-Catholic mind has failed
TO grasp the idea of u universal church.
The pagan could not understand 1t. there
| fore, he opposed Christianity, because
| Christianity wolld not become part Of hi:
| state but insisted on the independence o
| both. lie failed to grasp the idea of IN,
| divine founder Of Christianity, who came I,
| establish universal spiritual kingdom
| The poliCv ct independence In the churci
| he contendedi. W as taught by st. Augustine
| Bellarmne, SuarcZ and Gregory the Great
| Iiy them ii aaS taught that wn'n govern
| mcnt was established, 1t was the dut,
| OF the church To abide by 1t at all hazards
all coat, all sacrifice, just as the Saviou
| had taught the policy OF rendering unt,
| Caesar the things that were Caesars
| Follow ing this command the church obeyet
| the Emperor OF Rome, who butchered he
| children. She has supported all govern
| Incnts under which she lived.
| With what enthusiasm then, how NOR,
| enthusiastically aud Loyalty then shoult
she support the government of the Unite.
| States, which is a government after he
| own heart, a government which has beel
| founded on principles for which she ha
/ conteuded for nearly 1000 years. Th,
declaration of this government he con
| trasted with the teaching of thesFhilos
| ophers of the seventeenth century, VIII
| Eeld the total depravity of man, Lnnie'
| him free will and otherwise degraded hin
il the socia; order While false pllosophie
stood for the slavish dependence of man
and even when Anglican orders laugh
the tiivipe right of kings, the American
Declaration OF independence asserted &
government based on the eternal prin
cipIes of natural justice aud equity. t-
And that is the keynote of the policy O
the Catholic Church and has been its polio
through all its existence. The development
OF that idea, which was unknown TO Plato
Socrarcs, Numa or Cicero. .meapsthep proGres
| of the world. The terms Catholic, Chris
and American convey the same idea.
INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM.
Freedom, individual freedom. indeed la
been taught but never Before the America
government was formed had universal free
dom been taught elsewhere than in tn
Catholic Church. By prcclaiming that TIL
United States OF America inaugurated
new civilization, new era Of progress
IL is, therefore. the duty of every Amer
lean citizen to maintain it and to conccd
its blessings and privileges to his neighbol
and then, and not till then. viii that idea
cop;ainedin tue declaration of independents
be attained So, then. the better the Catl
ole the better the Americans; the better tn
American, tile better the Catholic.
Closing, Dr. Stafford said: II there
one thing mofc than another for which
love the Catholic Church, that emotion
spriugs from this, that, in all times, undc
I all circumstances, and against tyrants G
every degree, she has everywhere asserte
the rights of the individual man"
IF there is one thing more than anOthe
for which / love my country 1t is this
We're she as barren as the Sahara, or a
bleak as thei. inaccessible stepss "f tn
north; were she as small as Andorra, FAINT
less and unknown to the nations of tn
earth, yet world love her for all that
| ,,roat in bar htstnry. by all it'ctntainS th;