The Irish standard., 1904-10-22
CORNER STONE
OF New Church of St. Barnabas
at Barry, Mimi. Laid.
Scholarly and Convincing Ser
-. mon by Rev. h. Gallagher.

The foundation stone of st. Barna.
bas church, Barry. Mimi, was blessed
and laid last Sunday. Rev. NJ Gala.
CHER preached the following sermon on
the occasion:
GO and say to my servant David:
Thus saith the Lord: Shalt thou build
me IL house to live ill.," > Kings VII, 5.
King David seeing that the Ark of
the Covenant was without Il proper
shelter desired to build IL house for it
and God encouraged his resolution
through the prophet Nathan. But yet
on account of the bloodShed Of his
reign God WAS not pleased that he
should have the glory Of building the
temple. When his death was APP
proaching he charged Solomon, his son
and successor, to accomplish the great
work. The work is great for Il house
is prepared not for man, but for God"
Solomon was faithful to the trust re-
posed i'll him and with great labor
and ut great expense built. adorned
and dedicated the temple which occu-
pics such Il prominent place in the
history of the Jews as we'll as in the
annals of the world.
| We are ut present engaged in IL
similar work. In laying the founda-
| ton stone of this church today we are
taking the first step in the work of
consecrating ii TO the worship of God.
| Afterwards when the dedication takes
place that work will be complete. BY
your numbers here today as well us
by your efforts to erect !; worthy tcm-
| pie to the Living God you show how
you are actuatcd by zeal for His honor
and glory, and it is wholly for His hon
or and glory. Some may say that Il
| church is erected here for conven-
icncc, that you may with more ease
attend to your religious Duties That
| also rebounds to the glory OF God be-
| cause you want as far as possible to
| remove the obstacles that would stand
in the way of your practising your
holy religion. You want to be present
as often as you can at the holy sac
rilice Of the mass, and to have an op-
portunity Of frequently receiving the
sacraments of penance and the holy
eucharist, all of which distance COM
bineu with climatic conditions would
make difficult for you if you had not
been fortunate enough to secure a
| church here. The church and the
sacramcnts are the great means of
keeping the kingdom of God alive in
our souls and to lead us to eternal life.
Hence those who are Jealous for the
glory Of God are also Jealous for the
salvation Of souls, which rebounds to
His glory, as we'll as for the exalta-
ton of the church which contributes
to both.
The word church is employed in
different senses. 1t is used at one
time to signify Il society; ut another
to denote the ediiice in which branch
Of that society assemblies for the
worship of God.
Taken to mean a society it is de-
fined by Bellarmine to be 1.-The society
of people who are bound together by
the profession of the same Christian
faith, the communion of the same
saclaments under the government Of
legitimate pastors, especially of the
vicar of Christ on earth, the Roman
Pontiff."
1t is Il society bound together by
different bonds. We are acquainted
with many societies in this country
which are bound together by their own
ties, and distinct from all other So
cieties us such. For instance, we have
the knights Of Columbus, the For
esters and Ancient Order Of Hibern-
ians, and the members Of any Of these
societies, though scattered over the
states, are yet bound together in one
society by the bonds that keep that
society together. In like manner the
members Of the Catholic church
spread all over the world from one
perfect society linked together, banded
and compacted by protesting the same
faith, partaking Of the same sacra-
ments and being subject to one govern
ment under the Pope as the visible
heo1 with JaSllS Christ whom Ia RON
sents, as their invisible head. This
i is what is meant by the church in its
proper Catholic sense. In a trans
| ferred sense it is applied to the editice
| in which the members of the church
assemble for the purpose of worship
! Ding God. st. Paul so uses it in writ
! ing to the Corinthians to upbraid them
! for their dlsagreements. "For first of
all l hear that when you come to-
gether in the church there are schisns
among you" l Cor. NJ, IS. In this
sense we use it today when we per-
form the ceremony Of laying the
foundation stone of this church.
I When temple is raised for the wor-
ship Of God the observance Of certain
ceremonies is prescribed. The first of
these is the blessing and laying of the
foundation stone. In doing this the
officiating ecclesiastic comes forward
clothed in the vestments of his office,
and prays that God though not con-