Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1913-07-26
Are Welcomed by Vicar General
Cronin i'm an Eloquent
Sermon.
Hundreds Atten Afternoon Ses-
sion and Hear Thomas
Walsh.
FATHER DEPPEN'S SUGGESTION

st. Patrick's church, Thirteenth
and Market, has been the scene oi
many notable religious events, but
none which should make deeper i'm
preston then that last Sunday morn
ing, when the Vincentians of Louis
vile almost filled that edifice and
observed the feast Of their patron by
receiving holy communion from the
hands of Vicar General Cronin, the
pastor. Father Cronin was the cele-
brant of the mass and extended the
Vincentians a most hearty welcome in
his sermon, which was brief but
forceful, and in which he said:
"Such body of men who so un-
selfishly work for the glory of God
and the benefit of their distressed
neighbors, who so piously and de-
Soutly approach the holy table, needs
little sermonizing. To see you men
of business, men from the shops and
the mills, men of the law, doctors,
all classes and kinds of men, coming
with the faith of little children to
the Eucharistic banquet, is the best
sermon / know. You can not realize
what good you are doing by your ex-
ample. What a consolation it Is to
know that in this time Of scepticism,
of denial of God and his Divine Son.
of contempt for religion and disre-
gard for the moral law, the men OF
the Catholic church still are faith
ful What a rebuke it is to those
who would proclaim that Christianity ~
Is dying out, what tremendous proof
that the Catholic church possess les
the solid truth, for otherwise she
could not hold her men, surrounded
as they are by world gone mad With
unbelief, world reeking with moral
teprosy. Such a sight as this is Icon-
ISOLATION to the priest to do mole to
save souls, but greatest of aK It is
the loyalty of Catholic meT, espe-
eially in the matter of frequent holy
communion, that encourages Plus X.
t. go on with his glorious battle
against the enemies of the church and
of God, to restore, as he promised,
all things in Christ"
The regular quarterly meeting
was held in the afternoon in the
Knights Of Columbus Hall on Fourth
street, President John ]. Caffrey oc-
cupying the ehair. After the reading
OF the confidence reports and the en-
rollment OF new members Attorney
Thomas Walsh delivered the principal
address. 1T is surely a pleasure to
b. asked To address you men, for you
are the Kind that we must admire,
said the fattorney. "You practice
What you preach; you reduce your re-
ilgion toiyour daily lives; you exem-
piify to ne non-believing world what
the rive spirit of the Catholic church
Is. If we wish to repel every as
sault, to confound every lie directed
against the church, we need but say,
Look at the st. Vincent de Paul So
ciety,' and then ask, Does the Cath
ole church develop the true practice
OF the gospel counsels?' The enemies
OF the church have no answer. You
constitute the real bulwark of the
Iaity OF the church. The work which
the st. Vincent de Paul Society does
iJ not like that of so many so-called
charitable organizations. / do not
wish to be unkind, and am thank
full for what good those organizations
do, but, gentlemen, we must admit
that the charity which is ever seek
ing public applause and self-glory is
hardly the charity of Jesus Christ.
Why, the motto of some of these or
.ganizations seems to be Hurrah for
us!' On the other hand, your work
is an expression of that spirit OF
brotherly love which runs all through
the Catholic church, and you men
are engaged in II solely for love OF
our Divine Lord and your fellow men.
God in his inscrutable ways has
OF dained that man should be alsooial
creature. Whether we will II or not,
we are all working for each other
The farmer Is raising wheat and po-
tatoes and chickens for his city
neighbor, and the city man is toiling
to make boots or wagons or plows for
the farmer. The more society devel-
ops, the more dependent do we be-
come upon each other. But these
mutual services are done because OF
the hope OF mutual benefit. It's
quite another story when We are
asked to give OF our means 10 one
from whom we can expect nothing.
This Is where Christ's gospel comes
In; this Is the chance for the Chris
tian to prove himself. This is where
50 much OF the so-called Christianity
stops short. There is one truth
which we can not get away from. and
that is death. All the deeds and
minutes of our lives will pass before
US as a panorama In that fatal hour.
What will II profit us, then, II we
have built great buildings, learned
much OF science and history and Lam
guage? What will II matter how
beautiful we may have been, how
much men may have courted our
favor or heralded our deedsf What
aill all this avail us II we have lived
selfishly, II we have denied Christ by
denying his poor? The most terrible
words spoken In the whole word OF