The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-01-27
CONTINUED from pageI.l
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

successors were to teach; but the
prime, the responsible teacher at all
times was Jesus Himself: Going,
therefore, teach We all nations .
and behold am with you all days even
to the contamination of the world"
Were the Church mere human in
stitution, she were subject to the Ills
of forgetfulness or misapprehension
to which human authority now and
then must bend. But while human in
its outward elements, the Church is
divine in the spirit that animates and
WHITES it: it is in the keeping OF one
who never errs, who never fails.
The Apostles of Jesus were teachers
teachers of truths that Jesus had
taught. The purport of their preach
ing was to bring Into captivity every
understanding unto the obedience OF
Christ" What they taught was what
they had received, "the deposit" CON-
mitted to their trust" this, they in
sisted, was to be kept intact, to the
avoidance of "the profane novelties OF
words, and oppositions of knowledge
falsely SO called" Were any one to
teach differently from what had been
once declared, we're this one IAN an
geP' from Heaven, he was accursed.
Whoever departed from the doctrines,
received from the Master, transmitted
in his name, continuing not in the
doctrine of Christ" was to be avoided,
not even noticed with friendly sa-
lutte.
And as it was in the more immedl-
ate years of the Christian aposto1ate,
so it was in subsequent years. No other
fact is so clearly visible in the annals
of the early centuries of the Christian
religion than that there existed mes
sage to be preached, creed or symbol
of doctrines to be guarded inviolate,
and that acceptance of the message
was the ineluctable condition OF COM
munion with the universal church.
So it was in olden times: so 1t
must be, so it is in present times.
The commission of Jesus is absolute:
Going, therefore, teach We all nations
teaching them all things what
soever l have commanded you: and
behold I am with you all days, even
INTO the contamination of the world.
Today, Only the Catholic Church
Teachers.
Bishops and priests of the Catho:
lie Church, shall I, in this year OF
grace, 1912, bid you set before the
world the credentials of your success
sion to the apostles of Olivet proving
that you preach today "the faith once
delivered to the saints" that listening
to your teaching, men listen to the
revelation of the supernatural made to
men nineteen hundred years ago!
This your answer: The bearers Of
the message given out by Jesus live
and speak today: so Jesus did ordaln
and what he did ordain endures even
unto today. But whence today, we
fearlessly ask, goes forth a message
such as might be that of Jesus, II not
from the lips Of those who teach in the
name of the Catholic Church?
Hearken to pulpits of other com
munions, still purporting to re-echc
the message Of Jesus. The basic prin
ciples, the web and wool of the form
of sound words" insisted upon by the
early apostles, and rung out by
the oracles of christian teaching along
the passing centuries, either are open
~ denied or are interpreted as vague
and meaningless figures of speech
Where in those communions the clear
positive enunciation of the dogmas
held as vital in olden Christian ages
the Godhead of Jesus, the virgin-birtE
of Christmas morning, the resurrec
ton of Easter day, the malice of sin
the salvation from sin through the
Cross of Calvary, the duration into
eternity of rewards and penalties, the
charge sounded upon Olivet to preach
the Gospel unto the end of time
What, today, are churches outside the
Catholic? Schools of ethics, of knowI
edge, such as it is, purely naturalistic
The supernatural is gone, or is going
fast. Perhap s, here and there for
mulas of pristine. doctrines are still
repeated. But the speech of the speak
er Is that of hesitation and inquirins
doubt, tinged, maybe, with regret thai
all is over with legends" that once
thrilled Christendom, and evoked frou
it's bosom heroisms that told OF tho
vigor of the skies. Still, here and
there,-I honor the Christian sense
wherever discoverable - individual
preachers rel main loyal to the founda
tion-stones of Christianity and SOUND
aloud many Of it's trumpet-calls: but
for themselves alone do they speak
The church, or communion, to which
they belong, tolerates them, as 1t toll
crates others whose preaching is mos
discordant to theirs. Today, outside tht
Catholic, there is not single com
munion in Christendom, that dares t
put forth creed, which it would cal
the message of Jesus, chart Of un
deviating belief, sound form d
words" to which it must bind inflexi
bly, it's preachers and people. To thii
mo havo como that officials of thS