The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-08-04
DANGERS TO FAITH AT OUR
SECULAR UNIVERSITIES.

1t is generally understood that
Catholic students attending state and
secular colleges and universities en-
counter grave danger to their religious
faith. 1t is unfortunate that so
many Catholic students who are poor
ly instructed in their religion attend
these institutions. These students
have no adequate comprehension of
their religious beliefs. Consequently
it takes little to upset them, to make
them doubt. One of the chief sources
of religious doubt is obscurity of
faith. Persons who are poorly in
structed in religion do not perceive
how vain and superficial are the cur
rent attacks upon religion. They fail
to realize that for every difficulty
advanced against the Catholic faith
there is a complete and satisfying an
swer, that unbiased history, true
science and sound philosophy splen-
didly support the teaching of the
Church.
At all secular universities the stu
dents will encounter instructors who
go out of their way to make sarcastic
and sensational attacks upon religion
in general and upon the Catholic
Church in particular Perhaps they
protesting odd and sensational opin-
ions. At any rate, the poorly in
structed student, who doesn't know
enough to read the Catholic Encyclo-
pedia or to consult a priest intelli-
gently, is apt to conclude that such an
instructor has grasped the absolute
by the hair, that he has uttered the
| final word on the subject and that al
last after 1900 years the Church to-
gether with her great theologians and
philosophers and scientists must be
| relegated to the fossils of the past
Another spiritual danger for oul
students is the irreligious, materia
listic environment. An atmosphere OF
religious Indifference prevails among
the majority of students. The Prot
estant Reformation of the sixteenth
century has nearly reached its logica
outcome, the complete disintegratioT
of the Christian religion and the sub
stitution of talk about humanity fol
the worship of God. Outside the Cath
Ollie Church and even among would-bt
Catholics there is widespread indif
ference to religion. Everything il
important except that which reall.
matters and transcends this dream
world: God, Christ, and the Church.
Religious indifference is not the re
suit of thought and study. 1t is thu
result of thoughtlessness and cras
ignorance of sound philosophy. Nor
frequently is religious Indifference tn
result of a corrupt heart. The hea'
has nothing to do with it, until tn
heart has yielded to the line of leas
resistance, indulgence of the passions
Thereupon the head sometimes seek
to justify the hearts surrender to re
} ligious doubt and Indifference. Hav
you ever noticed how prone atheist
, and agnostics are to talk against re
ligion? They are strangely anxiou
} to win converts to their way of think
ing. This fact proves that it is TO
) them a matter of the heart rathe
than of the head. They doubt thei
own doubts and wish to confirm theI
by the experience of as many other
as possible.
Il Catholic students will do we'll t
avoid or at least to neutralize b
prayer and study the irreligious a.
mosphere of secular university TIL
; writer speaks from an experience c
ten years as spiritual guide to Catf
olic students placed in such an a
mosphere.
! Rep H. C. Hen0eH.