The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-03-16
ARCHBISHOP OF SANTE FE ON
CHURCH EXTENSION.


Church Extension Society, which !
have before me, is of such character
that I cannot but write in apprecia-
ton of the marvellous success of the
society and it's remarkable achieve
ments.
The six years of it's existence is
nothing short of panegyric on the
generosity of the Catholics of our
country and on the originality, re-
sourcefulness, persistency and glow
ing zeal of those who have awakened
this generosity and are fostering and
broadening and intensifying it through
the Church Extension Society.
The society has been treading a
glorious path lined with monuments
erected to the glory of God and for
the salvation of souls; path of which
it may be said: IF man were silent,
the stones would cry OUT; the stones
of churches and chapels and schools,
reminding us of the hundreds and
thousands who are today giving
thanks for the awakening and enliv-
ening of Our Holy Faith in them.
But the reviewing of the past
should not become cushion of rest
and ease; rather should it be an in
centive to greater endeavors. AS
long as thousands of Catholic children
appeal for their sacred right to
Catholic education; as long as mis-
sionary priests are raising their voices
for the necessary means to provide
for the spiritual wants of those in
trusted to their care; as long as the
Catholics, living, as the Jews of old,
in the ''Diaspora," in the "Dispersion,"
for lack of opportunity to practice
their Holy Religion, just so long must
the work of the extension be contin-
ued.
In our Southwest the peril of losing
their faith is especially great for the
young generation, growing up with
out Catholic education. without ade-
quate religious instruction, or with
heretical instruction, impaired to
them in Protestant mission schools;
without sufficient opportunity to at
tend the religious services of our
Holy Church, without getting to feel
at home" in the practice of their Holy
Religion.
Only when every priest and every
pastor and every lay-apostle and the
Catholic press throughout the coun-
try unite to spread Church Extension
and to bring home to the hearts of all
the needs of those for whom Church
Extension has been established, only
then may we consider the society as
having reached the height of it's
aspirations.
And the sixth annual report shows
that the society is far advanced on
it's way towards this goal.
We greet with great pleasure and
much satisfaction the establishment
of the Child Apostolate," to awaken
the missionary spirit in the pliable,
mpressionable hearts of the young,
the children of today, but the men
of tomorrow
With even greater pleasure we
greet the establishment of the "Wo-
mans Auxiliary to the Society,"" which
sets hundreds of diligent hands in
motion to adorn the royal tent of the
Eucharistic God in far away and needy
places and to furnish the necessary
vestments for the levites of the sane
tuary, not to mention their annual
| contributions and the great interest
their devotion to this cause will
arouse in others. If the good women
of the country take up this work in
earnest, their efforts will prove ire
sistible, as in other things, so in
spreading the work of this society.
The new plan, mentioned under the
heading of "A Pastors Suggestion;
the Logical Solution of a Great Prob
lem," i. e., the school problem of our
great Southwest, fills us with great
consolation, since it gives fair prom
Use to provide the necessary educa-
tional facilities for the Catholic Span
lsh-American population-the only
means to save our little ones from
ity, the inevitable result of the num-
erous existing and contemplated free
Protestant Mission Schools for Cath
Ollie children, and Catholic children
only. God-speed to this movement
above all others
1t is unquestionably true, and we
know from our own personal expert.
ence that the missionary spirit
aroused by the society, and especial
ly by the Extension Magazine, has
greatly benefited other missionary
societies and missionary enterprises
Regarding the sentence in the re
port: THE only real criticism the
society has had to bear comes from
. the fact that we are obliged to spend
money to get money" we must say
that the 81 per cent for maintenance
and the SIS per cent for promotion
prove conclusively that this criticism
is without any foundation. If com
mon sense did not teach us, the ex
perience not only of this country, but