The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-10-07
JOURNALIST PROMOTERS.
The Propagation of the Faith and the
Newspaper Men of New York.

"Going-teach ye all nations; baptiz-
ing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
And behold I am with you all days,
even to the contamination of the
world"
This clarion call sounded b. Christ
to his apostles nineteen hundred
years ago, was used as a. text for a
sermon preached last Sunday at 2
I o'clock in the morning in the city Of
New York.
1t was d remarkable incident at a
most remarkable religious service. The
newspaper mems mass" was inaugu-
rated four years ago in st. Andrews
church, which is located in the center of
the newspaper district of the great me-
tropolis. and Immediately attracted the
interest Of church people all over the
United States. And truly it deserves all
the interest that is being given TO it.
One must be acquainted with the di-
veTs elements that form this peculiar
congregation in order to realize the at
/ mosphere that lervades this early
Sunday morning mass. There. at .
o clock, in one of the few churches
which have stood by q district in
which religious edifices are getting
i scarce. one will find Q congregation of
from 500 to 7G0 nnen-editors, reporters
printers, pressmen. policemen. post
office employees. reverently fulfilling
their religious duties whilst their fell
low citizens have given themselves into
the tender care Of Morpheus.
Ii was 10 this congregation that the
diocesan director of the Society for the
Propagation of the Faith. the Rev. John
j. Dunn, addressed an eloquent and
earnest aDpeal for sympathy and ma
terial help. And the appeal was not in
vain; at the end or the mass siXty-one
gentlemen. among them the editor of
one of our great dailies, offered their
/ services as promoters of the newly or
ganized branch, which is to be known
as the New York Newspaper Mems
| Branch of the Society for the Propaga-
ton Of the Faith. Any one acquainted
with newspaper workers might have
expected as much from such a class Of
earnest. practical. intelligent men.
1t has been said and repeated many
a time that the great fault of which
Catholics are guilty is their Indifference
toward the foreign missions and mis-
sionaries. The accusation is unjust,
for their apparent Indifference is due to
one cause only. namely: their ignorance
of that great and noble cause. How
many of the editors. reporters and 9TH
er newspaper men who heard the ap-
peal of Father Dunn last Sunday morn
ing knew anything of the ways and
means whereby Catholic priests, broth
ers and sisters are supported in heather
| lands? How many of them knew of
the arduous and often discouraging eff
forts made by our missionaries in the
North Polar seas, Manchuria, Alaska,
Iceland. etc? How many of them
would have been able to know that
heroic successors of Father Damien are
living in the Island of Molokai? How
many were acquainted with the work
of Catholic priests in the torrid zones
of Africa? In the land of the Rising
Sun? In the far-away islands of the
Oceanica and the snow-clad regions Of
the Canadian Northwest?
The Catholics of the United States
have a great duty to perform and they
are willing TO do it as soon as it is made
known to them. The enthusiasm and
earnestness with which Father Dunns
appeal was received by the newspaper
men of New York is only reflection
of the reception accorded the society by
all classes of people. The burden is
not heavy and the reward will be great.
a NEWSPAPER MAN.