The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-01-18


that religion will prevent you from
attaining. But religion, on the con-
trary, will carry you along, make you
the highest and noblest type of man.
You all admire the honest, the
truthful, the upright man, the clean
man of mind and of heart and Of lips.
These are merely the fruits of re-
ligion,-the virtues.
And so, what is true of the indi-
vidual is true of the nations. A ma
ton can never rise to it's greatest
heights unless it has the ennobling in
fluence of religion.
Evil of Today.
If today we survey the whole world
and if | ask what is the greatest evil
existing in the world today, what must
be our answer? Is it tnot-considering
the majority of the worlds it not
that irreligious spirit by which the
great majority scoff religion, or ridi-
cule it, minimize it, pity it, to speak
nothing of their neglect of it. Yes, |
think undoubtedly that the greatest
evil existing in the world today. May
the world nations now assembled in
council realize the value of religion!
and while they are talking of liberty,
let us pray to God that they may recog-
nize the liberty necessary for religion,
the liberty necessary that men and
that nations may rise to those ennob-
HI oh nn1v nt-
tain by the development of the spirit
ual sense that they have!
My dear men, we are proud Of you,
proud of you because you are Jealous
to give expression to that religious
sense. You recognize the spiritual ele-
ment of your nature; you recognize
that the religion is established be-
tween you and your Creator. You rec
ognize that your Creator is a personal
God; and you recognize in virtue
of that relationship that you have dut-
les and you realize that the perform
ance of those duties is nothing else
than religion.
AS | look at this vast assembly of
men, l am sure l can say to you that
your Archbishop is proud Of you, that
our Right Reverend Spiritual Direc-
tor is proud of you, because you are so
faithful to your religion. Continue
in that fidelity and never let any in
fluence come into your lives to make
you minimize the importance of relig-
ion for yourself. But be not satisfied
with merely being a unit in the spir-
itual life of the community and OF the
Holy Name Society.
There is not a man here tonight that
has not a missionary power and has
not a missionary influence. There is
not a man here that cannot help to
strengthen the religion of some man
with whom he associates. Undertake
that missionary work. l do not mean
in an offensive way No, show your
common sense in it, in sensible,
truly Christian spirit, exercise in every
| walk of life, in every position, some
religious influence. Then the Church
will have reason to continue being
proud of you. But in telling you that
the Church is proud of you, am tell
| ing you in other words that the Church
| is your friend. The Church is your
| friend under all conditions. Let it be
| distinctly understood that to be a
| friend does not mean to tell you that
you are always right.
Church Your Friend.
Who is it that raised the voice but a
| few years ago in favor OF the labOring
| man, in favor of the man who must
| earn his living by labor? Who was it
that raised his voice that resounded
throughout the whole world and said
to employers, you have placed labor
| ing men, in many cases, into positions
| that are little better than slavery?
Who was it said to capital, you are
| guilty of a crime that is crying to
heaven for Vengeance" Who is il
that said to beware of the labor agi
| tator, the men who were provoking
class hatred? Who was it that said
class hatred must stop? One might
have thought it was great socialist
1t was no other than Leo XIII. So
say tonight, the Church is your friend
your friend always, the friend who is
always sympathetic-and, to put il
completely to you here in this great
archdiocese, let me say to you that un
/ der all conditions you will find thai
the greatest friend yOu have in the
Archdiocese is your Archbishop.
Again, it does not mean that the
Archbishop will always tell you tha
you are right No, that would not bt
| true friendship. He will always bs
i sympathetic. His mission as a success
sor of the Apostles is to love ever,
soul, is to preach the Gospel of love
to destroy class hatred. But the com
mission of the Gospel in a very cleal
way must lead his heart out to the
men that earn their livelihood by
labor. He will tell you when you art
right, and he will fearlessly, too, tel
you when you are wrong. But. undel
all conditions, you must remember hi
is your trusted friend
| The Holy Name Society, in yer!
clear manner, fearlessly proclaims al
it's basic doctrine the divinity o
Il Christ. 1t says to the world, Il recOg
nize that the Son of God became Man
Man, as we are men, for our saliva
ton The Holy Name Society of tn,