The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1915-03-06
providence Visitor.)

providence Visitor.)
The writer of this brief article feels
he is laying himself open to the charge
of presumption in attempting to throw
into narrow compass the subject
1.-THE Roman Catholic Church-For
What Does She Stand?" The amplest
leisure of a lifetime and powers in
comparably greater than his own have
been for centuries unequal to the
task of doing justice to that great crea-
tion of Gods power, the Roman Catho-
lie Church. Hence the following re-
marks are mere outline, hasty
sketch of but very few things for
which the Roman Catholic Church
stands. The present list is by no
means exhaustive, and the reader is
gering in the vestibule of great SUBJ
ject.
The points herein to be considered
may roughly be grouped in six classes.
The Roman Catholic Church stands
for the Bible; for the authority of the
Church; for absolute certainty in re-
ligion; for the entirety of Christianity;
for the sanctity of the family, and for
religious education in the school.
She stands for all of it, not mere
fragment Of the sacred text. Roman
Catholics firmly believe and tenacious
ly hold that the Bible is the veritable
Word of God. Holy Scripture for them
is the inspired book of God, the Author
of the human race, speaking to His
people, and such has ever been the
belief of Catholics. The divine in
SEPARATION of Holy Scripture has been
an article of Catholic faith from the
days of the Apostles down to this
very hour, and it has been reiterated
and reaffirmed and corroborated and
insisted upon by the highest spiritual
authority on earth by Popes and gen.
eral councils, by saints and sages, by
priests and people, until it has come to
be a household word throughout the
whole of Christendom that the Catho.
lie Church is mighty bulwark, like a
strong, stubborn oak, standing rigid
against the storm, ready to break
rather than bend, before the diabolical
attacks of rationalism and higher criti.
cism which have for their sole object
the overthrow of the divine character
of the books of both the Old and New
Testaments.
Every Catholic priest is required to
read for an hour or more each day GER
tain portions of Holy Scripture. Many
of the prayers at Mass and in other
public services of the Church are
taken from the Bible; every Sunday
throughout the year the Gospel and
Epistle are read, explained and inter.
preted in the vernacular to the as
sembled congregations throughout the
Catholic world, and great spiritual
pie who, in response to the urgent ap'
peals Of priests, Bishops and Popes
read parts of Holy Scripture every
day with reverence and devotion. The
late Holy Father, Pope Plus x, made
his reign memorable by the foundation
of Pontifical Biblical Institute in
Rome for the purpose of encouraging
higher Scripture studies, thus enabling
Catholic scholars to more effectually
defend the inspired Word of God.
For 500 long years the Roman Cath
olic Church was the sole custodian OF
Holy Scripture, for she was practically
the only occupant in the field of Chris.
tianity. The Bible would have been
scattered to the winds, torn to shreds,
thrown into the sea, or given over into
the hands of infidels and the enemies
of religion these many centuries, did
not the Catholic Church with her
strong sheltering arm and her foster.
ing care jealously guard the divine de.
post entrusted to her. Unnumbered
millions of books have been written
throughout the vast 1900 years; yet
nearly all of them have persisted.
Amid the solitary wastes of ancient
literature, in spite Of the ravages
made by the barbarian hordes that
poured out in torrents from the frozen
north, amid the literary wrecks of an
tiquity strewn over the periods and
eras and the progresses and retrogres.
sions of the earth's history, the sacred
text stands out on the horizon of the
worlds vissitudes almost unique
solitary and alone, like some great cen.
trail sun, shedding religious warmth
and spiritual light on successive cen.
turtles. 1t has buffeted the storms Of
every age. and has overcome all its
enemies. Had not the Catholic Church
preserved the Bible from destruction,
it would perhaps be as little known to.
day as some Of the persisted Greek and
Latin classics that once delighted the
idling throngs under the stately por.
ticos of the Roman Forum.
When our Divine Lord established
His Church, He did not ordain that the
truths for which He came into the
world and suffered and died should be
brought to the knowledge of men by