The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-09-09
A SERMON BY THE MOST REV.
EREND ARCHBISHOP.

In his sermon in the Cathedral on
Sunday last, the Most Reverend Arch
bishop remarked that some Catholics
take a rather narrow view of their
concern in, and of their duty towards,
the Catholic education of childhood
and youth. Those there are who be-
lieve that the whole matter rests eX-
clusively with the parents of children
who are to be educated, and that
Catholics who have no such parental
responsibilities need give themselves
little anxiety with regard to schools
and colleges. The Catholic education
of childhood and youth, however is
matter in which all Catholics are
deeply interested for the sake of the
Catholic Church itself, from whose
welfare they should never dissociate
themselves. The Church of Christ, the
Archbishop continued, is established
by the Incarnate God to last until the
end Of ages in the pursuit of the sal
Vation of souls. 1t is the spokesman
of the truths brought by the Incarnate
to earth, the treasure-hOuse of the
graces merited in favor of souls on
the Cross Of Calvary. AS Christ loves
the Church which is His creation, as
He loves souls for whose salvation He
died, so He wishes the Church to grow
and to prosper; to widen out it's taber-
nacles amid people and nations. Co"
He said, Teach all nations''-"Preach
the Gospel to every creature" He
could have made the growth and wild
ening of the Church His own eXclu-
sive work; but, in the mysteriousness
of love, He calls for our cooperation
and RENTS much to our own doing.
Whatever each one of us may do or
may refuse to do, the Church will last
and reign: for He has hidden it to last
and reign until the end of ages. New
ertheless, it is a fact in the divine
dispensation that the more we do for
the Church, the wider it's Catholicity,
the greater it's prosperity. Here and
there the Church witheFs and decays
because men do little for it: here and
there it spreads out its overwhelming
branches, blossoms and bears fruit
because men do their duty towards it.
The question, then, before us is what
we may, what we should do, to aid
the Church in it's mission in America
Several are the ways by which we may
cooperate with it and give it help.
But, let me say it, the verdict of argu-
ment and of experience is that the
Church is best served by works tend
ing to preserve the faith of our chill
dren, in so fortifying their minds and
hearts in it's teachings and practices
that later no storm shall eradicate it
from their soul. In other words, the
means of assuring to the Church in
America a hopeful and brilliant future,
is the Catholic school, the Catholic
college.
We move amid dangers to our faith.
We, the adults, must daily and hourly
battle with those dangers. The world
around us is the slave of religious er-
ror: it is militant in defense OF relig-
ious error. The atmosphere it COM
pels us to breathe is charged with ma
terialism, with indifference towards
God. Difficult it is even for ourselves
whom years of loyalty have strength
ened in the faith to withstand the at
tack: heroic the struggle in which we
must engage. What then will 1t be
with the children of today who shall
he the men and the women of tomor'
row, if they grow up without the salu'
tary training which sweetly compels
them to be valiant Catholics, what
ever the war waged against their
faith? The men and the women OF
the future will be what the boy or the
girl of today is made to be. Theirs
is the waXen age: impressions easily
sit upon them and become their per
manent inheritance. To make them
the valiant Catholics of the future
they must be fully drilled, fully pre-
pared in infancy and in youth
Now, as things are in America, the
school, practically, is the sole means
by which childhood and youth are
formed for the future duties and fu
ture battles. 1t is absolute futility tc
speak of parental care in homes, Of
of hurried hours in the so-called Sun
day school, Not to homes, not t.
sparse hours in the week is the ply
Slcal or COHlmerCldl 6uuCdtlOn Vi Chllu
rem entrusted The school is the al
in all: and the school, even more SO
is the all in all in that most Difficult
of formations-religion and morals
Day by day the child should hear tn
lessons of divine truth. Hour by hou
the child should breathe the atmC
sphere that will bring into its relig
fous life-blood vitality and strength
Put the child in the school wher
wrong principles and wrong practice
are taught, where wrong principle
and wrong practices are intimated b
word, by sign, by lowest whispering
the child will not be the armed so
dier to defend the truth. The mer
silence in the school-room, FIVE or si
days in the week, on divine faitf
soon stills and kills its vigor. Fol
bid the mention of God and of tn
Saviour in the school-room-in tn
thoughts of the child God and Saviou
become unimportant. Religious indi
ference, agnosticism, positivism-a
the forms of modern irreligion-ar
impressed indelihly upon the mind an
the heart Of the child.