The Irish standard., 1915-03-20
THE CATHOLIC AMERICAN,
By Peter E. Dietz.
Real American Patriotism

i
Real American Patriotism.
The great social mission of the Cath
olic American is to lead other Ameri-
cans, sweetly and strongly, to believe
as he does, to be virtuous as he is and
to obey authority. If there is any
man who is able to enunciate higher
ideal of patriotism, now let him speak,
or forevermore hold his silence!
Church and State.
The relations between church and
democratic" governments have no.
where as yet been properly balanced.
In America democracy is still on trial
An essential feature of this trial is
the "modus vivendi" with the church
There are relations between the
church and the state that cannot and
that ought not to be ignored, relations
of soul to body. The state regards
first the temporal safety, protection
and prosperity of man; the church first
of all, his spiritual safety, protection
and prosperity.
The Catholic American Debtor to His
Country.
ITO the Greeks and to the bar
barians, to the wise and the unwise,
am a debtor, and so. I am
ready to preach the gospel to you
(Romans) also. For l am not
ashamed of the gospel; it is the power
of God unto salvation" 1 Rom. 14-16.
So might every Catholic American
speak with as much reason as st. Paul
and certainly with more and better
opportunity: II am not ashamed of my
Catholic religion, for it is power of
God unto salvation of the American
people"
Men and movements are adrift on
the high seas, knowing neither their
origins nor their destinations. The
iridescent light of superficial journal
ism and the political hope of redemp-
tive legislation, amid the storm of
secular passion lead forward to wreck
and ruin upon the shoal of half-heart-
ed measures.
Upon this scene comes the Catholic
American with his joy of mission, his
security of achievement, his cheerful
cry: "Dominus Vobiscum," "Sursum
Cordial" He is no shallow journalist,
no cropping professor, no hatcher of
problems, no false prophet. With a
fine appreciation Of the past, he stands
securely in this world of today, and
looks confidently into the future. His
vision is wide as the universe, high as
the heavens, deep as hell. Catholic
religion is in his blood and Catholic
blood will tell.
Whence this sovereign mastery?
Whence, if not, because he serves the
Christ, not the vague and charicatured
Christ of the Christian Socialist, of the
bloodless nationalist, of the senti-
mental Philanthropist, but the Christ
who is the Goldman, the Redeemer of
the world from evil and sin.
The Great American rieresy.
Unthinking men speak of the neces-
sity, aye, of the blessing of the separa-
ton of church and state, of religion
and politics, labor and civic move
merits, the separation of religion and
education, the divorce of religion from
the arts and sciences. This is the
great American heresy.
History has taught us no lesson and
all human labor has been vain If re-
ligion is not the DEMONSTRATING prin-
ciple of the economic, social, political
and spiritual aspirations of people.
Exclude the gospel of Christ from
politics and you have opportunistic log
rolling; from education and you have
atrophy of the heart; from Industrial
ism and you have economic brutality;
from social betterment and you have
pathetic quakery; from art and you
have miasmic sensuality; from litera-
ture and you have insipid realism.
The unfailing truth and the eternal
laws of God are required to give sub
stance, cohesion and beauty to every
human endeavor.
Authority Means Efficiency.
Those who do not understand speak
of these claims as the unbearable yoke
Of clericalism, the arrogant presump-
ton to interfere with private rights,
the program of arresting free develop
ment, the domineering pretensions of
priestcraft, the qualification of human
ity and what not?
Nothing of all this. with equal fair
ness might we chide the sun for domi-
neering the planetary system. Exile
the, sun and witness the collapse of
the universe! Give place to the sun
and the universe throbs with well.gov.
erned life.
The central authority of Catholic re-
ligion means efficiency and earnest
dealing with the elemental and essen
tial facts of life; 1t means also death
to secularism and materialism. What
right to life have these, since they are