The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-12-04
CATHOLICS ARE
WELL SUPPLIED
Father Coyle in These Days of World
liness Urges Preaching Return
TO Supernatural
By THE REV. JAMES Il. COYLEr
Pastor of st. PauI's Catholic Church

The question propounded is In my Wow
somewhat vague, and anything like a
full and complete answer to 1t would,
it seems to me, lead us far .afield The
scholastic philosophers despised by the
thinkers of today, could, nevertheless,
give pointers to the heirs or ali the ages,
and the long result OF time In many
things, and in this especially that they
never entered controversy or eXpounded
argument without first of all clearing
the terms, without defining clearly status
Questions. Being a scholastic, there
fore, l shall, for my own guidance. Z i
to prevent misconception on the part OF
those who may be curious enough to read
what the Catholic priest has to say
on this matter, first of all lay down
that by churches l understand ecclesias-
teal edidces, not denominations; we have,
unfortunately, but too many Of these lat
ter, and Christian unity, the one fold and
one shepherd is still, alas, a deslderatum.
Church, then, meaning church edifce,
I shall still further limit myself to Cath
Ole church edif1ce, as, Of course, it would
be manlfestly impossible for me to do
more than hazard an opinion as to
whether the various non-Catholc denom-
nations have or have not q sufficient
number, and whether the same are or are
not properly distributed. The minister
of each denomination, being fully conver-
SAINT with the subject. and having in
his possession facts and figures lnacces-
sible to others, will, | take it, answer for
his own charge as l shall answer for
mine.
The Catholics of Greater Birmingham
are, on the whole, well supplied with
churches properly distributed. These
churches are not grand, architecturally
considered; indeed. they are in many
cases rather the reverse, but every begin
ming must be humble. and as the city
grows, as grow it will, and as it pros
pers, as prosper 1t must, the material
church edifce will keep pace with the
business development of its environment.
Spiritually, of course, the church cannot
develop, each church, however humble, Is
the house of God and gate of heaven,
each church, however small and lowly,
has all that the grandest cathedral has,
the sacraments, the channels of God 8
grace. the renewal of Calvary's sacrifice
in holy mass, Emmanuel, God with us III
sthe adorable sacrament of the altar.
In the last division of the question, how
to develop real religion in the district,
again 1 confine myself to my own do
mains. BY the priests, officers in the
army of the Lord, Loyalty pursuing the
path marked out by our commandments
chief, the supreme pontiff, Piux x, now
gloriously reigning whom heaven defend
His motto is, "Renoyare Omnia IN
Christie" and he orders us, his subordi-
mates, to preach in these days of worldli-
ness, in season and out of season, the re-
turn of supernatural, the return to the
practice Of primitive Christianity when
the faithful daily partook of the bread
of the strong, and invigorated and re-
freshed leavened the Pagan mass, and
won the world for God. The task Is DIFF
ficult, the labor hard, but bye and bye
will be a glorious harvest time. Dieu le
vent