The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-08-16
BISHOP SHAHAN'S SERMON.
Continued from page H.

conditions are being cast and the cir
cumstances are being shaped which
threaten the religion of Jesus Christ,
! first with utter public impotence and
consequent social humiliation and
shame, and then with rapid decay
and inevitable death.
Face to Face With Perilous Theory.
From the morals and habits and
the informing spirit of paganism it
could not be a long way to it's prin-
ciples and it's institutions, and with
these we are now brought face to face
in new and perilous theories of the
state, its origin, nature and relations
to the individual citizen; in a growing
| disregard for the rights of parents
respecting their offspring and the
correlated invasion of the peculiarly
American domain of personal free
dom; in the purely secular and often
anti-religious temper of social legis-
| lation; in the waning respect for the
| family as the true root of society and
an increasing sympathy with social
| istic and materialistic projects whose
ultimate aim is an un-Christian or
even anti-Christian order Of life; in
| Christian ideas and institutions,
Christian social convictions and hab-
| it's, and in general an outspoken
resolution to de-Christianize our So
clal order as whole and SO recon
struct the bases of human life and
! the new social edifice that no genu-
inc Christian can find a home therein,
all the laws and institutions, the very
| atmosphere Of this new life, being
saturated with hostility to and perse-
cution Of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
and His Catholic Church.
By their fruits, however, We shall
know them. Long ago, in pagan
Carthage, a great Christian bishop
pointed out to the enemies OF his peo-
PIE the true difference between
paganism and Christianity. You talk
great things he said to them, but
| the Christians live them. Even SO,
| Paganism had once an immemorial
span OF life, and it wrecked humanity
SO thoroughly that only the Goodman
| could save the world it had broken
and ruined. Listen now to the words
of the English statesman, John Nor
| ley, foremost apostle of secularism
! ii. e., paganism), particularly in edu-
cation, and judge of it's vitality, it's
hopes of triumph over the Galilean.
| 1--WE have held the world for two Or
| three generations in the hollow of
our hand-the whole civilized world
on both sides Of the Atlantic. We
could do what we would, and what
| did we accomplish? Has secularism
done as much for this country eng
land) as Christianity?' Had he sur
| vived this war he would have had a
more complete failure to chronicle in
the total collapse Of all civilization,
| the richest and most populous lands
of Europe, and the response of death
| from 100000 men slaughtered in the
name. Of pagan science, pagan educa-
| ton, pagan state worship, pagan lust
| of conquest, pagan submissivenesS to
| irresponsible chiefs whose own proud
will was their deity, and who sought
in material conquests pardon and the
sanction of their long and cruel de-
spotism, both civil and intellectual.
Dear brother knights, it is not yes
| terday that began the conflict of pa
ganism, letter and spirit, with the
Redeemer of mankind. In one shape
or another it runs through 20 centur-
| nf ST in
sanguinary repression of the new re-
| ligion and again in invidious attacks
upon its teachings or it's administra-
| ton, now in vicious and fatal philoso-
phies and again in helpful sympathy
with every enemy of Catholicism, now
in great heresies and schisms and
again in robbery and confscation and
cynical oppression and tyranny. Only
the temporary issues, the words and
| forms of the conflict are new, while
! the heart of the war, it's inner core,
is identical through the ages, the
irreducible pride and deep corruption
of the natural man, and his immemo-
| rial antagonism to the supernatural as
| life or thought Or ideal But the Cath
| OiiC cuu1Cu Has always L11ulupuou
over paganism in all it's forms,
through the fidelity of her people, the
! greatest miracle of all history, and a
running commentary through time on
! the promise of Christ that He would
| be with her to the end The memory
| of the people is both long and CRATE
| full and it can never forget the depths
Of moral degradation, the sad lot of
! all the humble and friendless, from
/ which they emerged in every century
/ through the aid of Holy Church.
J Religious and Social Leader.
She has been ever their religious
and social leader, and in proportion to
! her independence and influence was
their condition happy or otherwise. It
1 is she who softened the lot of the
slave and eventually raised him to the
| level of freedom, she who exalted
! woman in the person of the Blessed
! Virgin and then created the chivalry
which idealized woman, she who
1 sanctifed the cradle and surrounded
/ the child with the hottest safeguard
| OF the sacraments, she who rescued
j the poor amid endless wars and fam
ines by the help she threw about
/ q Inc oiuin0 Tboro ic T,,1,c11 Iicconrco