The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1912-09-28

the church, school and home, among |
SO many employers and employed.
must necessarily make for tranquility |
and industrial peace -
But few who do not recognize the
Catholic Church as the greatest
single moral force in the world. I'll
is the religion Of a puissant spiritual
power. which legislates, prohibits and
Furnishes. 1t appeals to the imag!na-
ton, the senses and the heart, with
out too great strain on the reason
and supplies the invigorating atmos-
phere which Is necessary to|
strengthen character and adapt it to|
the usages Of our present existence.
There Is no country where This
Church is not to be found, reWarding
the hospitality that receives her; ev-
cry field of the Old World finds her
defending the various flags of every
faith and upholding law and order.
Froude, the historian, says: Free
from all prejudices, in favor of any
nation or any political form of gov
ernment. she allies Asrself with all
the principles which successfully pre-
vail in the various organizations Of
society, accepts them all; but with
her faith and principles unchanged
and incapable Of change"
In every work of civic betterment,
in every expression Of patriotic ss-
piration, in whatever has been at
tempted for the well being and uplift
of the human race the Church and
its clergy have honorably and effec-
lively labored in the foremost fank.
! Unquestionably during the terrible
condition from the middle of the six
| teenth century to the middle Of :he
, seventeenth century, when Europe be-
| came drenched in human blood and
after the downfall of the Roman En-
i pire, and the so.called German Holv
Empire had broken into discordant
1 States, the Roman Church became
the most potential organ for enforc-
ing peace and Law. Seated on the
hills once occupied by the Caesars,
representing supreme spiritual au-
thority. great Pontiffs came, like the
early Gregortes, Leks Il IL III ..lnnucents;
who proclaimed at the various CEN
ters of Europe true and beneficial
law of nations, and the spirit of the
blessed Founder Of Christianity as
! serted itself in efforts to check the
medieval food Of cruelty and war.
Catholicism was the religion of
England's most glorious area, the re.
ligion of her most ennobled patriots
). The body of the Common Law was
given by the Catholic Alfred; he gave
the elective system and that great
bulWark of liberty, trial by jury. And
representative system, and the statute
) against constructive treason was en-
acted. All through the Middle Ages
) the Catholic Church was the main
stay of the weak and protector of the
oppressed. 1t has always been pre-.
disposed to look at the labor question
in light favorable to the laborer
For example in Germany. the Luth
eran clergy have held aloof, while thu
Catholic priests have taken a fore
most part in recent social discussions
The Church manifested Il remark
able genius in the development ant
reorganization Of public charities
charity in fact, is the triumph of th'
Catholic Church; but not chart!
. which is an encoura cement to i'm
providence and sclf-surrender. In tn
eloquent words of Judge O'Doherty
The Catholic Church is charity II
action; the tongue Of an angel woul'
be required to do even measura5l
justice to Catholic ideals of charity.
With American Catholics there ex
lists the most perfect harmony be
tween loyalty to country and loya!t
to Church; they are not only goo
Catholics in the Church sense, ou
broadly Catholic in the secular sens
of the world. Catholic primates illus
trate the perfect union of service t
the State and service to God: the
: are a bulwark against atheism an
anarchy; against tearing down G
u morality and government upon whic
the foundations Of a country depent
Catholicism makes way at grow
ing rate in the United States becaus
& the government lets it alone. Her
the enthusiasm which works mir;lclt
- finds free scope. Perfect accor'
without a concordat, exists betwee
the Church and State in free Amer
. lea, and in this fortunate country OF
2" liberty and religion are natural allie
and go forward hand in hand.