The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-04-07
BRILLIANT AFFAIR.
Banquet and Recep-
ton of Knights
of Columbus.
LADY FRIENDS THERE
About 400 Covers Laid and
the After Dinner Speak
ing Was Very Good.

in Horticultural Hail. with a banquet
and reception, and for the first time
since its organization invited its lady
friends.
About 400 covers were laid and, al
though the officers of the council who
composed the committee of arrange
ments We're disappointed by the en-
forced absence Of Supreme Grand
Knight Edward L. Hearn, the head of
the knights of Columbus in America,
Mayor Dodge and James E. Cavanaugh,
state deputy, the affair was a success
socially beyond the expectations of the
committee in charge
Supreme Grand Knight Hearn was
delayed on account of attending the
meeting Of the national board of di-
rectors in New Haven yesterday, and
sent his regrets. State Deputy Cava-
naugh is laid up at his home, sick, and
sent a letter of regret.
4 After a first-class spread by Marshall,
which occupied the early part OF the
evening on account of the large num-
Der of courses, Grand Knight stephen
J. Horgan, of Alhambra Council, pre-
siding officer of the evening, introduced
postmaster and he did his part well
enough to keep his listeners continually
/ interested and never missed an oppor-
tunity to bring the speakers before the
audience in an enjoyable manner.
/ The first toast The city of WOrces-
/ ter" was down on the program for
/ Mayor Dodge, if he happened to be able
/ to get away from his duties to attend,
but in his absence it was well replied
to by Daniel F. Regain, who reviewed
/ it's history and told of the doings of it's
sons in all calls of life that need true
men, and also spoke of the metrOp-
oitan strides made by it since its in
corporation as a municipality.
The national anthem, America" was
sung by the entire assembly at the
I close of Mr.. Regans address and was
appropriate, as he had stirred up the
patriotism of his listeners by his adj
dress
Rev. Michael T. O'Brien, spiritual di-
rector Of the council, was the next
speaker, and he responded to the toast,
The church" He said in part;
The subject which has been assigned
to me this evening is the most sublime
and comprehensive of all subjects, be-
cause the church has for her end to
unite man with his God, for her scope
the whole world, and for her field of
labor the peoples of every nation that
inhabit the broad eXpanse of the uni
verse since the birth of Christ. 1t can
therefore be readily seen how, during
the few moments which are allotted
to me. it will be impossible to deal
Justly with this great and most i'm
portant subject.
Were I to speak of the church as
the guardian and interpreter of Gods
holy law, volumes would be required
and words would fail to give adequate
/ ax 70 mis-
1 might speak of her stability and
we will see her at the close of this 18th
century, with the diadem of truth and
the light of heaven upon her brow, the
seal of wisdom and the blessings of re.
demption upon her lips, as spotless and
as immaculate as when she first re-
ceived them from her divine founder,
the author and source of all truth. Ma
lions there were, vast and mighty, and
empires, too, which knew no limit to
their power and extent, dynasties and
republics had their rise and fall, but
Of all these, what remains today save
the record that they once existed and
are now no more?
Whilst she. the church, alone among
them all, despite the tempests and
surging waves of infidelity and perse-
cutiOn, despite the sophisms and spe-
cious arguments of her rationalistic OPP
p0nents, stands as firm and as stead
fast as the rock upon which she was
built
Nor shall I delay to dilate upon her
inherent and wondrous beauty, for glO-
riOus as are the lilies of the field fair
as is the face of mother earth, grand
as is the over-arching armament be-
spangled with its dazzling gems, they
all present but an imperfect expression
of that sublime beauty with which she
7 has been adorned, for her beauty is the
/ hac nf ,;ta17
= EYE hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor
2 hath it entered into the heart of man
5 to conceive" To what then shall
I turn my thoughts except to the work
/ which the church is to accomplish
2 among mankind, and here at the very
2 outstart am l confronted with the would
. be friends of social progress. who would
l feign proclaim that the church is the
great obstacle in the paths of real pro
< gress.
2 Time will not permit me to do justic;
? in reply to this calUmniOus reproach
7 1 can only say in brief, turn to tbs
l pages of the impartial historian ant
/ read, and the voice of history will attes
= and loudly proclaim that amid the
= growth and decay of nations, in the rise
= and overthrow of goddess empires, a.
every stage of the worlds history, thl
church has proved herself the devotel
friend and champion of true progress
And to you, my friends, who have
been guided by the benign influence oil
that holy church, let me say a closing
word. II you bear the name of Catho
Tic, then be all that that name implies
| Fear not the taunts and ridicule of the
unbeliever. You have an altar, the
foundation of faith, the pillar Of hope
and the throne of love. As you gaze
upon that altar remember thai the di-
vine victim which is thereon Inundated
was a 1So subject to ridicule and treated
| with scOrn. BE doors of the word ol
| God and not hearers only" Stand by
! your church. her teachings and her re-
/ personalities, and the church thai
| shall last as long as God is God will
| stand by you and as when first we
| were made children of God and heirs
| to heaven in holy baptism she received
| US as her own. SO, too, will she stand
| by US throughout our journey of life
and when our eyes shall have beer
| closed in death she will stand by Us
| still until we have reached our des-
/ tined end in Gods own eternal king
! dom.
The song Friends" by Michael A.
/ O'Rourlze, followed with an encore and
/ Mark n Skerret. in the absence OF
I State Deputy Cavanaugh, responded to
the toast. Massachusetts and the
Knights" in which he told of the
/ formation of the councils in this state
and incidentally of its growth.
| Something" was the next toast on
the program, and il was responded 10
ably by W. Levi Bousquet, lecturer OF
the local council. He kept his audience
in laughter from the beginning to the
end Of his address. A song. an Sac
ramento valley" followed, by John A.
Keauey.
Thomas 3. Lawler, past grand knight