The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-06-24
R. G.. PATRIOTISM
Rev. James ]. Sheehan Flo
quently Defines the Duties
Of Citizens.
PLEA FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERALIYY
The Cross the Only Symbol
That Stands Above the Flag
Among the Churches.
FOR RELIGIOUS LIDERALITY

The full text of Rev. James ]. S~heehan's
eloquent and patriotic address to the
graduating class of Seton Hall follows:-
This day belongs to you. In your hon
or have come together this gathering of
p~relates and priests, this assemblage OF
kindly friends of the laity, and their
friendly voices and applauding smiles are
directed toward you. This is the crown
ing day of what might be called the sec
ond epoch of your life, the first OF Which
ended when you left the preparatory
school and entered college; the third will
complete when your life's work is done,
and the Father of us all calls you to
Himself.
There should be no mourning today,
no obtrusion of topics calculated to de-
press, and yet we would be doing an IN
Justice to the memory of a truly great
priest if our first words today were not
reminiscent of him. You had scarcely
commenced your scholastic year when
the beloved head of your institution was
compelled to lay aside his work and seek
a renewal of strength in a temporary
leave of absence. No enc who saw him
depart that autumn day could prop.et2
that the place he filled so efficiently
would never know him again; that the
office of which he was so bright an orna-
ment would pass to another. His ions
and tedious Illness brought out the manI-
ness of this true man, and better sermons
than even his eloquent tongue could
frame were preached to us. his brethren
in the ministry from his bed OF pain.
s.TWo years ago, on this very spot, the
Right Rev. Bishop proclaimed to the
crowds assembled here the elevation OF
DR.. Synnott to the presidency; two years
ago the student applauded, The people
approved and the clergy looked ofWaf
to a new impetus in the WORK OF the COZ
lege: today. with still moNraiul hearts,
we are recalling the honored mem9ry 81
tbe gifted scholar and sealous priest, Whe
died at his work among you. When the
blow fell the father of the diocese haa Iot
tho melancholy consolation of bringing TO
his faithful priest and member OF LIS ONT
cial family the farewell benedlctlpn. TOT
he himself was the object OF many years
thai a second and greater calamity might
be averted from us.
..Bnt the mantle of Elias was not
brought into heaven when the merry
chariot pierced the clouds; the shoulders
of Eliseus were made fit to receive II, ana
II became to him the same wonder-Work-
ing vestment as to the senior prophet.
So. today. while we deplore the loss OF
DIR Svnnott. we at the same time express
o1r gratitude for the wise choice that
gives to Seton Hall the efficient activity,
the administrative skill and the %love-in-
suiring personality that distinguishes his
=. - ,-Ocflona1- XNp Ia u nllT
tribute on the grave of DR.. S%ynnott with
one hand, while we reach out the otner
in hearty and hopeful welcome to the one
he himself would ave chosen, Father
Stafford.
It wish to remind you of the two-foid
dignity you enjoy, of your double citizen
ship. the one, in the land we call our own,
the other in the City of God. | wish TO
remind you the the most important du-
ties of your life, no matter within what
lines of activity that life may be placed,
consist principally of your relations to
God, and of your attitude to your eouql-
try. You are the salt of the earth in the
sense that right reasoning and correct
conduct will be expected from you from
the training o rave received; that when
men of feebler intellectual fibre shall fall
by the wayside. you shall proceed like
giants on their course; in fine, that not
only as American citizens. but as Catholic
American citizens, you have an apostolate
to carry on which will be the completion
and f~ruition of your college education.
You are to be an essential part of the
most stable, while almost the youngest
nation on cath. a nation that saw itself
great before it was a century old; a ma
ton that has the power of assimilating
the most heterogeneous elements and
moulding them into a compact and united
people.
This is a great land and it is only in
the initiative stage of its greatness. We
do not pretend that it is perfect, that
that there is no distemper or blemish on
the body polite or the body social; but
we have no patience with the pessimism
that sees future ruin of the republic in
every individual or party mistake; that
is ready to run up the danger signal
when the peril exists only in the magma
ton.
Gentlemen, there was no sign or senil-
ity or decay in the Senate that, forget
ting cliques n parties, rose as one man
to the support of the Chief Executive,
when the shadow of impending war loom
ed over us; there was no token of puer-
fifty in the lads that sprang together at
the first call for volunteer service. Then
political distinctions and religious differ
ences were forgotten; the Catholic SOL
der logged the elbows of a Protestant
on one side and of a Jew on the other.
Side by side they laid their length in
the deadly trenches; boulder to shoulder
they penetrated the pestilential recesses
of the Southern forests, or rushed to the
capture of the death-belching blockhouse;
back along the ambushed track the one
led the other, wounded, to security and
rest. or if it was so decreed that both
should fall, their hands met in a parting
grasp before the light went out of their
eyes, under the blazing sun of the trop-
les.
.Shame on the malicious spirit that
would bring enmity between these two
comrades! Shame on the lying sophistry
that speaks of a foreign allegiance, mill
tating against our civil duties to the
land we love, in which we hope to spend
our lives, and, please God, to lay our
bones! The day is going by, and hap-
PLY going, when pulpiteers can prate OF
this bugbear of a divided loyalty, and
find intelligent listeners.
ssIt is not from Catholic pulpits nor