Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1901-12-14
IMPOSSIBLE
To Be a Good Catholic and
Not Be a Good
Citizen.
Archbishop Elders Words of
Counsel to Young Mems
Institute.
Benefits of Membership Therein
Are Simply Beyond
Calculation.
ADVICE FROM SUPREME CHAPLAIN

Most Reverend Archbishop William
Henry Elder, of Cincinnati, Supreme
Chaplain of the Young Mems Institute,
who succeeded Most Reverend Arch
bishop Keane, has issued his first address
of counsel and advice to the order. The
Young Mems Institute has reason to feel
grateful for his words of Endorsement and
encouragement, and that every young
man may receive the benefit thereof we
publish the letter in full:
To the Members of the Young Mems
Institute--My Dear Children in Christ:
AS your Supreme Spiritual Director it
behooves me. at the close of the year, to
address you few words of counsel and
encouragement. The mottoinscribed on
the banner of the Young Mems Institute,
"For God and For Country indicates
the two-fold work of your Organization
work that constitutes your proudest boast
and entities you to the gratitude of the
church and of society. Unlike the foolish
man who built his house upon the sand,
you have laid the foundation of your in
stitute upon the rock of ages-God him
self, without whose assistance they who
build the house build but in vain. Recog-
nizing that to Him alone belong the first
fruits of whatever is good in man-be it
body, will or intellect-you proudly yet
humbly proclaim that obedience to Him
and to his holy law is the principle near
est and dearest to the heart of every
member of the Young Mems Institute.
On the other hand, as Catholics you
know that the cause of God and the cause
of the church are identical. In the church
you recognize the living organ and
mouth-piece of God. To be faithful to
God you feel that you must be faithful to
the church. God. then, speaking to man
through the church, and the church re-
vealing God and his holy will to man,
are the cardinal principles to which every
member of your order pledges his allie
glance.
But the crying needs of modern society,
in which God is relegated to the realms
of the unknown, is not unknowable, can
not fully be met by mere individual ac-
ton, however exalted that action may be.
When an organized army invades coun-
try mere guerrilla warefare is not enough;
organized forces must be opposed by
other organized forces before the invader
can be repealed. Hence the necessity
among Catholics Of associations like your
own, to meet on equal terms the banded
foes of God and his church. The asso-
Citations, moreover, herald to the world
those cardinal religious principles, treas
ured indeed in the individual Catholic
conscience, but less liable to be known
and appreciated than when put forth by
an organized society. Further still the
benefits conferred upon the individual
member by an organization like the
Young Mems Institute are simply beyond
calculation. Each member acts upon
other members and their action affects
him in turn. To the less enthusiastic the
more enthusiastic impart their enthusi-
asm. TO the less gifted the more gifted
communicate their higher aspirations.
The man of action instilis some of his
own energy into the man Of counsel,
whilst the man of counsel infuses some
of his own caution into the man of ac-
ton. Thus even the natural effect OF
Catholic associations will be to raise each
member above his own individual level,
whilst God himself, who has promised to
be in she,midst Of two or three gathered