Trench and camp., 1919-05-08
CARDINAL PRAISES THE
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS
Archbishop Of Baltimore Ufgss|
That Society Maintain
Its Quality

pa -
Cardinal Gibbons, discussing th9
Knights of Columbus, laid particular
stress on the orders war relief activ@
tiles in these words.
Your organization Is looked upon
with the greatest favor in France
where thousands upon thousands Of
the young men of this country who
went to fight for America and de-
mocracy still remain. The reason lies
not only in the fact that the work of
your organization was along efficientS
practical lines, but because of the
manner in which the work itself was
done and the human. personal touch
that was put into 1t.
American soldiers were made to
feel that the cigarettes, candies, food
and the many cOnvenienceS that wnr0
furnished by the knights Of Coluin=
bus really came from homA--wefe
brothers and sisters. All that was
furnished to the boys by the knights
of Columbus was furnished without
charge. Nothing was sold to them
They appreciated this and that ap@
probation will make itself felt keen
ly when those boys return.
Existence of Order Opportuns.
1T was indeed fort anate for the
Catholic Church and for America that
such an organization as the knights 7
of Columbus existed when the war
came to America. Otherwise the work
OF looking after the Catholic boys
who Joined the colors would have
been most perplexing TASK.
"As 1t was, the knights stepped ilat0
the Opening. Their Organization
formed the basis for the machinery
necessary to accomplish that Important
work -
THE American bishops were meeting
at Washington about the time Presi-
dent Wilson's declaration of war was
issued. Immediately the bishaps pre-
pared a declaration of loyalty to the
United States and it's cause and sent
copy to the White House. The
benefits that America as a nation
reaped from this action cannot be
overestimated. In the great body OF
Catholics in America there were
many who were of German parent-
age or descent; there were many
Irish who were not inclined to sym
pathy with England, and there were
thousands of other men and womem4
who were literally on the fence.
Heart and Soul in the Work
when the church spoke. however.
it decided the question for them. They
threw themselves heart and soul into
Americas cause: so by timely action
on the part of the church, material
assistance was given in organizing
America as unit to win the war.
"And the Knights of Columbus
throughout the war continued this
work. The Knights of Columbus are
now seeking to increase their mem-
bership, to 1000, 900. / hope and be-
lieve the effort will be a success.
for greater. stronger organizations
of Catholic laymen will mean greater
accomplishments for the good not
oply of the Catholic Church, but OF
America.
But 1 want to urge that in seek
ing this great membership, the ut
most care be taken not to destroy
the quality of the organization. This
is a point that should be kept In
mind constantly. 1t is not/a secret
organization, any more than a corr
poration-one of your large depart-
ment stores, for instance-is. The
corporation has certain secrets-or-
ganization secrets-which 1t With
holds from the. public. So have the
Knights of Columbus, but no more.
Both the knights and the corpora
tion would reveal and have revealed
those secrets to any properly consti-
tuted authority, civil of otherwise, IL
occasion arose that made it advis-
able .8