The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-05-04
CATHOLIC YOUTH.

The Catholic youth in our country
today may well congratulate them
selves that they have fallen upon
goodly times. They have come into
the possession of grand Inheritance,
built up at terrible cost by the long
and painful struggles of those who
have gone before.
Catholic youth were never more
blessed than at present. They have
their cathedrals, churches, colleges,
and schools, and these they have prac-
tically without any effort or struggle
of their own.
The danger is, however, that having
come into such wondrous possession,
our young people will sit idly by,
proud Of their heritage, and content
to enjoy it's advantages without any
endeavor to enlarge it's bounds and
strengthen it's position.
The fruits of their Catholic fore
fathers labor have been given to them
in trust. 1t is for them to enrich them
still more and to defend them against
the insidious poisons of the world and
it's votaries.
It may be true that the Catholics of
today are not the victims of violent
prosecutions as were their ancestors a
half century ago. They are no longer
forced away from their fellows and
made to bear the taunts and Bullets
of prejudiced and unprincipled men.
Fl But they are not without dangerous
and destructive foes. The world they
live in is hotbed of irreligion and
infidelity. Professionalism is losing
ground It's children are fast swelling
the ranks of irreligion and indiffer-
ence. Non.C Catholic schools are god
less; the non-Catholic press is re-echo-
ing the teachings of infidel professors,
and the non-Catholic pulpit is preach
ing theology without God and
Christianity without Christ.
AS a result religion has ceased to
influence and direct the lives of many,
especially Of the young. Morality.
public and private, is at low ebb; the
loosest ideas concerning the marriage
bond prevail with corresponding dis
regard for the sanctity of the home
and for the mutual obligations of hus-
band and wife, children and parents.
On all sides faith is being weakened,
and the ideas of God and religion are
being laughed out of the world.
In such an environment Catholic
young men and women are forced to
live today, and around them the battle
for religion, and morality is being
waged. 1t is they who move about
daily in this irreligious world. 1t is
they who most frequently are thrown
in with the Indifferent and the in
fidel.
There is no question but that the
external strength or weakness of the
Catholic Church depends and will de-
pend upon the struggle, silent but mo-
mentous, now taking place.
The enemies of the Church fully
realize this fact, else why their per-.
sistent efforts to instill their deceptive
doctrines into youthful minds?
But what does all this mean? 1t
means that Catholic young men and
WOu16H u1uSI NC Wei SIOu1lOICu III CI1C1l
faith, and, with all the safeguards of
religion thrown about them, they must
be sent out to battle successfully with
irreligion and Indifference.
1t means that our young people
must be brought within the influence
of religion not alone on Sundays but
through the entire week by the instru-
mentality of sodalities, clubs, lectures,
etc.
Catholic youth can be made the
Church's greatest missionary power in
world that is irreligious. We must
utilize this great force by forming a
young Catholic world that will come
boldly forward and proclaim openly
and without hesitation it's deep faith
in the Catholic Church and all she
teaches and stands for
In this way the Church shall be
strong in the faith of her own mem
bers and thus shall she win over
many from the ranks of Indifference
and infdelity.
Catholic Temperance Advocate.