The Irish standard., 1911-05-20
THE CHURCH AND
SOCIAL QUESTIONS
Mission of Church is First That
Souls May be Saved, Says Arch
bishop Glennon.
In This She is Right and Properly
Accords With the Spirit of
the Age.
Philanthropy Without a Soul Can
Neither Repair Nor Create a
Civilization.

In a recent sermon on the Church's
attitude toward educational and So
cial work, Archbishop Glennon of ST.
Louis pointed out the absolute need
Of Christian ideals in these undertake
ings. He said in part:
Yesterday dedicated chapel un-
der the title Our Lady of Ransom.
The title is somewhat new in our city,
but though new in the city, 1t is old
in the Church. AS a title the thought
OF Ransom is based upon the life work
of our Blessed Lord himself, for he,
the Blessed Savior, set before him
self the sublime mission of ransoming
the world, and the price of the ransom
was his precious blood Greater love
no one hath than this, that he lay
down his life for his friends The
love of Christ for the world prompted
him to offer his life for the redemp-
ton or the ransoming of the world.
Before our Lords time we have
evidences of individual sacrifices: sac
rifices made for country. for an in
Widual. for a friend or for home;
but the only one whose sacrifice was
as wide as the worlds sorrow, and
whose love was as extensive, was our
BLESSED Lord. He, the Blessed Savior
rnn1d tho hp
captivity of sin, from the exile that
the race had been driven into by the
sin of our first parents; from death
that awaited the race; death with
out promise, a death without hope.
"And the ransom that the Savior in
tended was not the ransom Of the
body from its sufferings. nor of & race
from it's exile from the land of its
origin. No, it was more: it was the
ransom Of souls from eternal death.
1t was the ransom of souls from the
captivity where sin had bound them;
it was the restoration Of these souls to
God who created them; it was the re-
storation of humanity to the Father,
and to the fatherland up above.
"The Church. following in the foot
steps of the Master, would seek to
bring his ransom to the souls of those
| who would listen to its gospel or ask
| it's ministration. 1t would lift up
those who had fallen. 1t would bring
back the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. And so the position of the
Church today can be clearly discerncd
ments; namely Of education and so
cial service. In the field of education
she would impart all sound doctrine
! and teach the truth whereby the souls
Of men may be tutored that will ever
remain the first dominant note Of her
educational work; and in the field Of
the purpose of ransoming will at once
be the dominant note Of her service
there, and the incentive of her ever
increasing activity
"'Give me SOULS Is her cry, and
that souls may be ransOncd she is
willing to go herself into exile and de-
mand that her children shall offer
their bodies to be bound and their lib
critics to be forfeited, If thereby she
may ransom the souls of those who
otherwise were lost. And this ex-
plains the accusation sometimes made
against her, that the Church is for
getful Of the poor and turns a deaf ear
to their feelings. The accusation is
not true, though it may be that there
is an apparent coldness to their phys
ical needs, while the energy that she
would cxpend may be directed to the
souls that are suffering, relieving them
first and then turning to the one whose
physical ills appeal to her mercy.
"The priest will pass In the night
time the door on which are the marks
of poverty and neglect, to go far be-
yond it, and into the darker night,
where a soul is suffering, and in agony
of doubt and fear, because it needs the
ministration of the priest; because 1t
is calling for the viaticum to accom-
pany it on it's journey beyond.
1T is quite true there are the cor
poral works Of mercy-to feed the