Sistersville daily oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1902-1905, 1903-11-09
Why lam
ACathOliC

torlum, was on the subject "Why 1
am a Catholic" Father Kress said
In substance: Different reasons
are given by different persons for
Joining the Catholic church.
Frederick Lucas, a distinguished
convert from Quakerism, said he
Joined the Catholic fold In order 10
become better Quaker, for here
he would receive the Divine Spirit
In greater fullness. Cardinal New.
man said, THE fathers have made
me a Catholic,
Manning and Faber, and others
OF the Oxford movement, In spirit
among the martyrs and fathers,
| Joined the church of the early
christians. BrownsoD, a notable
philosopher, reasoned himself into
the church. He passed through a
halt dozen denominations and
found rest In the bosom of the
Catholic church. Father Hecker,
founder of the society of Paulists,
was brought into the church under
the direct guidance of the Holy
Ghost. A woman once presented
herself for admission into the
church, when I asked her what 1t
YVES that induced her to take this
step, she sad 1t was the Catholic
teaching on purgatory, she wanted
to pray for her dead.
A distinguished physician of St.
Louis, Mr.. Tyson, became Catho'
lie from reading the sixth chapter
of St. Johns gospel. There are
many converts to the Cathalic faith;
upwards Of zoo, 900 in tn United
States alone. They have entered
the church by different roads.
How Is 1t that all those, whose So
cial and mental antecedents differed
so widely, are yet happy In the
Catholic church? How can schol.
arly Newman and Sioux Indian,
a philosophic Brownson and a po-
etic Lathrop, Marion Crawford
and the emigrant of yesterday find
the fulfllment of their spiritual as
pirations In that one church, which
Is yet the same for all? There
must be something In this church
that Is more than human, a some.
thing divine, that belongs to all,
rich and poor, learned and illiterate
strong and weak, civilized and saw
age. What Is II? An old French
missionary spoke the truth when
be said What the people want
more than anything else is simply
this; they want Cod" Yes, the
soul Graves TOR God. The toys of
this world may amuse Us, but In a
little while we grow weary of them.
We are created tor something bet
ter than our eyes can see and our
fingers touch. We want God In
truth.
In the first place I want God to
teach me spiritual truth l will
have no man teach me his ideas OF
religion, for learned and earnest he
may be In the wrong, and | want
certainty. want to be established
In my faith, not believing one thing
today and rejecting 1t tomorrow.
They that follow Jesus In Galilee
did not hold one doctrine today and
It's opposite the next. they were
not harrassed by cruel doubts be-
cause they were taught God. Did
Christ mean Us to be less firm? VIII
you say that Scripture gives you
that certainty?
If 1t did, those that take Scrip
ture as their sole rule of faith would
be united In one religious body and
there would be no contentious on
questions Of doctrine. No the Scrip
ture Is In truth the word of God,
but 1t cannot still controversy. Be-
tween the Eyes" and mo" Of honest
men God must intervene and speak
now.
Controversy must be settled In
some external way, that will make
everyone secure. Christ could have
given us nothing less than this.
He gave US this In his Church,
which Is the church of the living
God. the pillar and ground Of
truth.
Christ's church must speak with
authority, must be- infallible and
| 1t Is that church which Is built up.
on the rock OF Peter.
The Catholics faith Is not based
upon any infallible construction by
some human agency of a divine rev.
citation; he holds that divine In
strument must have divine inter