The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-03-22
CATHOLIC HIGHER EDUCATION
kEANE OF DU-
BUQUE APPEALS TO THE CATH
OLIc LAITY IN BEHALF OF THE
DIOCESAN COLLEGE - MORE
EDUCATED CATHOLICS NEEDED
TO ADVANCE THE INTERESTS
OF THE CHURCH.

Archbishop Keane of Dubuque has
issued a pastoral letter appealing for
aid from the Catholics of the Arch
diocese for st. Joseph's College. In
the letter he says:
The Archdiocese Of Dubuque has
sufficient equipment of institutions
for the care of the afflicted, the err
ing, the orphans, the sick, the aged.
Homes and asylums for those unfor-
tunates have been established by our
deserving Sisterhoods, with the aid of
those who were devoted to such
charities. And these institutions are
now sufficiently endowed or self sup
porting; henceforth they will need no
more than an annual offering for the
orphans. or little help occasionally
for the work of the Good Shepherd.
"Our great and urgent need now is
to provide for the development of our
active, positive forces. While We were
building up institutions for the af-
f1icted, our non-Catholic neighbors
have been establishing great institu-
tions of higher education in which to
prepare their young men for leader
ship and large influence. They have
within the territorial limits of the
archdiocese a half dozen large col
leges thoroughly equipped and rich
ly endowed through the generosity of
non-Catholic philanthropists. They
can give without cost to them the ad-
vantages of the best secular educa-
tion to boys without means. Many
of our most talented boys see in these
their only opportunity to prepare
and honor. Some of them, and the
number is growing, accepted the prof
fered boon, and thus come under in
f1uences most destructive of their
faith. What shall we do to save the
future to the true faith of Christ?
The church can never have the in
fluence upon the thought and life Of
the country which it should exercise,
until we have a large number of truly
educated men. Very many of the too
few Catholics who have secured ad-
vantageous position realize that their
power for good would be much great
er if they could have had a more thor
ough training without jeopardizing
their faith.
1--WE have talent, we have virtues,
we have ambition. But these quail
| ties are found mostly where resources
in money are too limited. We have
been providing, as l pointed out, for
the care of those who can help us only
by their prayers. We must now make
provision to secure the services of the
best talent and highest virtue, intensi-
fed by the best intellectual and moral
development. We must educate; and
until this is done, the position of the
Church in our country must be weak.
Our people whose thought and SYM
pathy and help have been with the
asylums, need now to be concerned
largely with the work of higher edu-
cation. Our college and our teaching
Sisterhoods, which are poor, can save
the cause in this crisis. But they must
have the support of the laity, their
sympathy, their help.
Our college, for which l now plead,
has attained a position of prominence
among Catholic colleges. But it must
develop If it is to hold it's own against
the aggressiveness of we'll equipped
and richly endowed n-Catholic col
leges about it. 1t sorely needs ad-
ditional buildings, better equipment,
and such endowment as will enable it
to educate, almost without cost to
them, the large number of exception
ally talented but poor boys who knock
at its door annually, begging for an op-
portunity to qualify themselves for
the best service of God and country" !"