The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-30
PAUL|ST MISSION ENDED LAST NIGHT Course Marked Epoch in
 Catholic Church FAITH QUICKENED Visiting Paulists Will Organize an Enquiry Class" at the Parish
 Hall Tonight-Lecture
 Last Night

The Paulist mission which has been In progress at St. Paul's church for two weeks closed last night. All the masses were attended by large crowds yesterday and the evening services drew consre- gation that filled tho church to overflow ing.
 It was generally said that this course Of lectures has marked an epoch in the Catholic church in Birmingham, poth from within and without, for as one Of the clergy remarked, Catholics have had their faith quckened, non-Catholics have had the doctrines and practices of the old historic church explained clearly plain ly and authoritativey, with Christian courtesy which has left no sting, no scar. Catholics have had as their guests Protes- tants at the services. They have heard a Catholic priest standing at the foot of his altar ask the prayers of his Protes- tant friends. They have seen Protestants take the hand of a Catholic missionary and wish him Godspeed; and if the net result of all this is not an increase of Christian charity and good will, then l confess to a serious delusion,"
 The visiting Paulists will organize an Inquiry Glass; at the Parish hall tonight immediately after the october devotions which begin at 7:3O and which will be brief.
 The points covered by the lecture last night were substantially as follows:
 Why I Am a Catholic
 T have an immortal soul created by God and for God, to which God has given a capacity to enjoy a higher life than the life of this world l can not, therefore, satisfy this higher longing, I can not satisfy the end for which God has created me, unless I lead a truly religious life, I am created to be something more than naturally good, upright honest man. In short I am called to a supernatural life. know that Christ is my divine teacher; that He has taught men their duties and obligations to God, to neIghbor and to self. His law is more than human 1t is divine, ana commands my obedience. am conscious of my obligations to ac- knowledge Christ, and to accept His teachings in their integrity and entirety. But I can not come to a satisfactory knowledge of Christ's teachings by mere ly reading the scriptures. They have not been the sole means of information in the past; for Christianity existed be- fore the written word, and every nation which today is Christian was Christian ized through a medium other than the Bible. Nor are the scriptures alone to- ba scriptures contain the word of God. but they do not of themselves prove their authority; for l need an outside witness to the fact that they contain the word of God. And even as Christ was called upon, among His other teachings, to ex- pound and explain the scriptures of the Old Testament, so must l look for a teacher to whom He delegated the con- tinuance of His teaching misson-the equivalent of His teaching authority. In short, Christ owed 1t to me to provide me with a teacher as definite. as author itative, as infallible as Himself. and noth- ing can be more certain than that the Bible is not such teacher.
 Christ Founded a Church
 "Christ established living teaching or Ranization. Of all the teachers of Chris tianity there can be but one true teach CT. Christ was not many voiced: He preached absolute unity of doctrine: and He prayed His Father that unity might abide with His disciples. Nothing can be more certain than that he established church, and promised to be with it, .r lao. all the Christian churches, which Is that church? I find that the Catholic church is the only teacher whose method is like Christ Hers has ever been the infallible authority hers the absolute unity throughout the ages and throughout the world. Both scripture and history tell me that she Is the only one that has been sent
 But as God has called me to a su- pornatural life, and as he must have pro- vided teacher like unto himself, so must he also have provided a helper. Christ left on earth an institution, which was and is both teacher and helper. That in- stitution is found only in the Catholic church. She has her sacrament of pen- ance. L as a sinner, want to hear Christ speak the word of pardon to me, even that power, the power to forgive sins, to his apostles, and unless the promise of Christ has failed, that power has con- tinued to their successors, together with the power to preach and baptize In giv- ing his commission to his apostles God ilas provided a tribunal for the forgive ness of sins in His name, for that com mission Is, according to Christs promise to the successors of the apostles as well as to item, through the ministry of recon- ciliatlon. In confessing my sins and seek ing pardon, why should I ignore the in- stitution--the tribunal of penance which Christ has ordained?
 .Whosoever heareth you, heareth me, and whosoever despiseth you, despiseth me-
 But my soul needs it's food, It's spiritual nourishment, even as the body needs its corporal food. If we are not spiritually fed we shall spiritually starve. Christ, very God Is the food of my soul for He said: T am the Bread of Life' Except ye eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink of His blood, ye shall not have a life in you In order that he might truly be the bread of life to all men, He left an institution on earth to breal, to them the bread of life. Take ye, and eat, this is my body Only in the Cath ollie church is the body and blood of Christ given to men. just as truly as Christ gave Himself to the apostles at the last supper; only in the Catholic church can the soul be fed, for there alone is the bread of life broken to me, in the blessed eucharist, the Catholic communion.