The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-06-07
DISCOURSE DELlVlE BY
BISHOP OF LEAD AT DEDlCA-
TIoN OF ST. THOMAS COLLEGE
CHAPEL ON MAY 20,

At the dedication of the new chapel
at st. Thomas College, this city, on
May 20, Right Reverend John ]. Law
Ter, d. D., Bishop of Lead, South
Dakota, spoke as follows:
Il have loved, o Lord, the beauty of
Thy house and the place where Thy
glory dwelleth."
There is one building on earth which
can never be too we'll constructed nor
too richly adorned, and that building
is the house of God, the Church, the
dwelling place of Jesus Christ among
men.
Unbelief and utilitarianism may
claim that there is no need of so much
beauty and grandeur in our churches,
but Christianity answers that nothing
can be too good, nothing can be too
beautiful nothing can be too precious
for the Creator and Master of the
universe.
God has no need of our gifts. He is
rich without them beyond the dreams
of human fancy. ''The earth is the
Lords and the fulness thereof" but
He is willing to accept our gifts as
in other days He accepted the gifts
Of the Magi. God has no need of the
works of our hands, however artistic
they may be, yet He is pleased with
the magnificent houses of worship we
build in His honor as of old He was
pleased with the splendors of Solo
mons temple.
1t is the creatures highest privilege
to be allowed TO erect temples to the
Creator and to adorn them with the
choicest gifts of His own creation and
with the noblest productions of human
genius. God is unspeakably worthy
of it all, worthy of all the magnificence
that man can shed around His house
| on earth.
A beautiful church in a community
| is q visible expression of the impOr-
| tance of Christ's mission on earth
| Increasingly and impressively does it
tell of the life beyond and of man s
duties toward his heavenly Father
| And such reminder is always timely
In the mad rush for worldly prizes in
our age and country people are apt to
| become forgetful of the claims of God
upon their lives, unmindful of His
right to all that they are and to al
that they have The thought of God
is often postponed for that of the
body; the interests of eternity are
made secondary to those of time. In
such materialistic surroundings there
! is danger that mans all-important
everlasting destiny may become
clouded to his view. In such an at
mosphere of worldliness the idea OF
the supernatural slowly fades out OF
the human mind. 1t is true that Goo
has no need of the churches we build
in His honor, but it is likewise true
that man sorely needs them. Man
must have places of reunion; sanctu
aries of worship in which he may
learn his duties to the Almighty anC
perform them. His complex nature
demands them. The philosophy of il
is at hand. Ecclesiastical structures
like other external things, are required
to strike the senses and through then
to direct weak mortals to the cOntem
plation of the truths of the higher
world
Mission of the Church..
The Church is on earth to lead peo
pie to God. In the accomplishment
i of her mission she utilizes all that il
beautiful in nature and all that il
noble in art Her purpose is to Absorb
the whole human being, body and soul
intellect and emotions and to elevate
him to the consideration of heavenl.
themes. She realizes that man.
senses are the avenues through whicl
his soul is reached and that religious
edifices, and paintings and statues ant
music-all the arts-under her guid
ance can be made to lift human beings