The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-12-21
THE CATHOLIC BULLETIN, DEC. 81, 1912.

in no other country, today, is the
need of this deep and all-permeat-
ing instruction so pressing in its
demands, as it is in our own Amer
lea. Today, in America, the war
against the faith is violent and in
sidious. Opponents OF the faith
Catholics meet at every step. The
atmosphere they breathe is
charged with the poisonous eff
fuvia of unbelief and irreligion.
Within their ranks there is no Sc
curity for the timid and the i'll
equipped. The soldier, the hero,
each one must be if he would at all
survive. Each one must stand on
his own feet, upheld by his own
courage. This the Catholic will
never do who is not thoroughly
well grounded in the teachings of
his religion.
From whom will come the in
struction so sorely needed? From
the priest in the Sunday pulpit.
"The priest has the divine COM
mission to preach, to teach. To
the apostolic ancestry Of the priest
was the injunction spoken:
Preach the Gospel to every crea-
ture Teach all nations, teaching
them to observe all things what
soever | have commanded unto
you The priest who fails to
preach, to teach, betrays the trust
put into his charge by the Saviour
Of men: he fails in the first, the
most important of his duties that
imposed upon him as the successor
of the apostles, the herald of
Christ's message to humanity.
'FThe measure of the preaching,
the teaching, Of the priest, is the
measure of the faith of the people,
the measure of their frmness in
their religion and of their ability
to overcome it's enemies. Where
the preaching, the teaching, is
null, or next to null, through in
dolence or ineficiency on the part
of the priest, there is spiritual
famine and with it spiritual de-
bility and death. 'The little ones
have asked for bread, and there
was none to break it unto them.
The health giving waters Of the
sacred pool await the sick and the
weary: but none there are to bear
them to it. Lord, say the sick
and the weary, L have no man,
when the water is stirred, to put
me into the pool Today, in Amer
lea, the responsibility to preach, to
teach, worthily and efficiently, lies
heavy upon the soul of the priest.
Woe to him, woe to souls, woe to
the Church, if this responsibility
is put lightly aside!"
The subjects prescribed for SER
mons in the Archdiocese Of St.
Paul during the next six months
deal with the fundamental ques-
tions Of religion, namely, Super
natural Revelation, It's Necessity,
Scope and Content; The Life Of
Christ; His Divine Mission and
the Proofs Upon Which It Is
Based; The Church of Christ and
the Obligation of Belonging to It !;
The Catholic Church and It's Mem
bership.
Of the Importance Of the themes
indicated in this list no one can
have the smallest doubt. They
deal with the fundamental doc
trines Of the Christian faith
against which irreligion and indif-
ference are waging war at the
present time. There is an impera-
tive need that Catholics be made
to realize how solid and unyield-
ing is the foundation upon which
their religion stands and be pre-
pared, by a knowledge Of the doc
trines Of the Church, to repel the
attacks of the enemy. No Catholic
is exempt from the obligation Of
fortifying himself with such a
knowledge Of Christian truth as
will enable him to make known
the teaching Of the Catholic
Church to those who are not of
the household of the Faith and to
solve at least the ordinary objec-
lions brought against it by non
Catholics. This knowledge can be
cleaned from the Instructions CIV
en- in church by the recognized
teachers of religion and each one
should make an effort to profit by
it. instruction in the teachings
of the faith is the imperative need
of the day. It must be given as
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