The Irish standard., 1898-05-14
HENRY AUSTIN ADAMS, THE NOTED
CONVERT, SPEAKS FOR IN
IN AN ABLE ADDRESS he TELLS OF
THE WORK DONE AND OF AMERI-
CAS- DEBT TO THE CHURCH.
REFERENCE TO WHAT CATHOLICS Old
IN THE CRITICAL MOMENT OF THE
NATIONS BIRTH.

Henry Austin Adams. M. A., editor
of Donohue's Magazine, delivered an ad-
dress in Utica recently on Americas
Debt to the Catholic Church. He spoke
in part as follows:
About five years ago became Cath
olic and I noticed just after that many
or my Protestant friends did not seem
to care to catch my eye when we
passed on the street. not that they had
any bitter feeling toward me, of that l
am sure. AS time sped on I found that
| they were little more willing to speak
| to me; year or to later they We're
| even anxious to talk to me. They would,
l noticed, sit next to me in street cars
I could see them bracing themselves and
| getting ready. Then they would say, "Nr.
Adams, as an old friend, how in the
| name of God did you do it?" l would
ask them what is "it' that seems strange
They would bring up the subject Of
dogma or doctrine, and I would say: II
| am not priest; go and ask my pastor"
They never went. l found that what
was troubling them was this; They
would ask how I, as a progressive man,
with his eyes open, could submit my
| self to the dictation of religion that
was not American, to foreign church
tury, but to an old effete monarchy.
| They believed, in Short that one could
| not be a good Catholic and good Amer
lean citizen. When 1 find this is trouD-
olic must be somehow disloyal, then l
take eff my coat and go at them, meta
phorically speaking. l am compelled to
take up the cudgel, not in defense of
the Catholic church, but in defense cf
myself. This led me to frame lecture on
this subject. l found that the Catholics
of this country were evidently not aware
of the enormous debt which this conn
eign church, an alien church, church,
essentially the enemy of America: If that
is true it is a serious charge. The popil-
lar idea is that from every Catholic
there is wire which runs under the
sea to the vatican and that at the other
end there is a masked Jesuit.
Where did the country come from
Who arrived first? l am not here 10
apologize for the Catholic church. or Ia
to take weak, apolegetic position;
neither am here to attack the Protest
ants. Nor am l here to do what ex-
priests do, to go about the country Will
flying their old friends and associates
No one would try to maintain that
America does not also owe a large debt
to those other faiths. Not only is it pos
sible to be a good Catholic and
good American, but in the
last analysis you can't be perfect Amer
ican in the fullest sense of that noble
name unless you are also a good ant
faithful member of the one holy Catholic
the proposition ! am here to prove. Po
litical economists with no faith are nov
telling the world that the great cemen
that is to hold the world together il
the Catholic church. The Catholic churcl
alone is maintaining the ind ssoiubilt,
Of marriage and the permanencc of 9th
er things OH which society depends. !
Catholic discovered this country His
: torically that was a great mistake. II
should have waited for some gentleman
5 from Black Bay or Boston to discovc
J it. America mad to wait until a late
5 period, or it could not be discovers
? in 1892, for it was sometime after tha
before there were any Protestants 1t i
we'll known that Columbus went to al
the universities Of learning and knocke
in vain. But when he began to get gray
!; he Rocked at the last. place in the wor
| that the president of Harvard univers
= ity would tell him to go, and that was
= monastry. The door was opened by
monk who had a rope around his was
/, After supper the abbot, who was ais
. the queens confcssor, promised to al
t him. He did this not to add to the king
4 dom Of this world but to add to the king
= dom Of heaven. It was a heart OF loys
: Catholic woman who gave aid to til
k scheme. God knows that most every
: ching worth doing has been done b
!, loyal Catholic women. They bull
:, churches and hospitals and populat
s heaven. just before the start the me
!. oil partook of holy communion. On the
=. arrival in America, according to NJ
g Brooks, those who first set foot on shol
f were John Moran and John McGuir
s 1t seems that II of the SO sailors wer
Irishmen. They were plenty in every Sc:
port, bound for adventure. 1t so happer
: ed then that the first foot that trod til
S new soil had learned to walk on tt
:, "ould sod." America then was dicovere
e by Catholics and not by accident.
may be said that this is external and a.