The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-06-29
ARCHB|sHOP'S LETTER
HIGHER EDUCATION-THE COL
LEGE OF ST. THOMAS.

| dressed by the Most Reverend Arch
bishop to the priests of the Diocese of
| st. Paul:
Reverend and Dear Father:
| write to you today in behalf of
the College of st. Thomas. It is my
earnest wish, towards the realization
of which I fain would labor with all
my might, that at the opening session,
in the coming month of September,
every parish in the Diocese shall have
its representation among the pupils
of the College. Larger parishes, of
course, are expected to have the larg-
er representation: but every parish,
without exception, is urgently invited
to have it's name on the list of patrons,
! were it only by the presence of the
one pupil.
The Church needs priests: the
Church needs educated men among its
laity: therefore students are needed
in ecclesiastical Colleges. No further
argument is required to enlist in the
cause of Catholic higher education, I
do not say, the sympathies, I say, the
plenitudes of activity of priests whose
ideals of work are the welfare and
honor of religion, whose souls quickly
Vibrate in response to the call to give
service in the furtherance of noble
and holy causes.
Something goes aWry in the Catho-
lie community, where vocations to the
priesthood fail to germinate, where
no aspiration springs leading to high
er and better things than an ordinary
school curriculum affords There is
there no power of uplift, no ambition
OF movement upward and onward.
There is there-so far as the situation
relates to vocations to the priesthood
"a distressing poverty of superna-
tural life. Or, may be, there is there
-quod Deus avertat alb hac alma do
cesi-a sluggishness on the part of
the leader in intelligence of the needs
of religion, or in effort to attune minds
and hearts in fit harmony with the
music of those needs.
The time is propitious, as it was
not in earlier years of colonization in
Minnesota, to sound loud in the ears
of Catholics the call of ecclesiastical
colleges in favor of higher education
and of vocations to the priesthood.
Heretofore, Catholics were poorer in
the possession of earthly goods; and
poorer, too, in their outlook of the
future afforded to the rising genera
tions of men and to the Church itself
in those Western regions of America
Today Catholics are more ambitious
of the higher life; they are more able
to spend of their means in the uplift
of their children. Now nought is lack
ing save the awakening of their souls
to the requirements of the moment
an awakening that must come through
the leadership of the priest, that will,
in large measure at least, come only
through this leadership.
My appeal, then, to the priests of
the Diocese of st. Paul, is that during
the coming months of July and August
they constitute themselves into active
and earnest solicitors of pupils for
the College of St. Thomas putting
themselves in readiness to report to
me during the Retreat the rich and
1attering results of their zeal and
good will.
Let there be at an early date we'll
prepared and warm discourse from
the pulpit on higher education and on
vocations to the priesthood. In ad-
dition to this, let there be the vista
ton from house to house, wherever
lives the family, from whose ranks
a pupil may be obtained. Catalogues
of the College, whenever called for,
will be sent from the College: those
should be placed in the hands of all
parents and children whom it seems
at all possible to influence, and the
perusal of the Catalogue should be
supplemented by seasonable and ur-
gent words of the priest himself
Priests should not ask that special
solicitors come to their aid. Special
whole Diocese: and, moreover, special
solicitors will never do as we'll as the
local pastor, and, at best, would only
be hindrance to the recognition of
zeal and efficiency I am desirous to
accord to the local pastor himself,
who, all things said, will be the chief
worker in the task of gathering i'm
the harvest am now looking forward
,to-a harvest that will crafty me as
few other priestly achievements can
do, that will be one of the most reli-
able tokens Of the high Catholic life
I should wish to see abundant and
strong among priests and people of
the Diocese.
I pray God, Reverend and dear
Father, to bless you and your people
in reward for the labor which you
will quickly give yourself response
to my appeal in favor of the College
of st. Thomas.
+JOHN IRELAND,
Archbishop of st. Paul.
st. Paul, June 27th, 1912.