New Britain herald., 1929-11-25
DISCUSSES
 FAITHS PITFALLS
Father DOnahue'S Lecture Deals
 With "PopuIar Catholicism"

Speaking very strongly against "popular Catholics" Rev. George J. bonahue Of Pomfret a former cur ate at St. Mary's church. lecturcd last night on "The Spirit Of Cath olic;sm" at Y. NJ. T. A. E. hall un- der the auspices of the Mt. St, Jo- scph's Alumnae association. The lecture Was for the benefit Of church missionary work.
 He spoke for an hour. He liliened the Catholic church to q mustard seed which. planted. grew into an immense tree spreading it's branches over a wide area and with it's roots so deeply imbodded that nothing could disturb il.
 He said that this tree was planted by Christ and hence ii had ever aboundinG life and was IS youthful now as it vas when it vas first started 1900 years ago.
 Commcnd@ Aumuac
 In his introduction Father Dona- hue said "'Thc Spirit Of Catholic ism to my mind is q perfect title with which to crown your activity. You are not only Of the true faith but the scope and extent of your annual mission effort is just red olent of Catholicity
 Your relief begins here and vet it i3 pointed for far-aWay China. Your faith goes skipping over the hills. scars over the highest moun- tains. sails the seven seas. and even scales the Chinese Wall in order to deepen and extend the roots of that divine Christmas tree, the Catholic church.
 AS in thc dim. distant day Of saint Augustine, you and still have q whole world for our parish, a whole Bible for our text. and q whole Christ for our Saviour And it is all refreshing at this moment when Protestant women seem preoccupied with birth control, the tightening of the feminine waist, 1 and the brevity Of skirts. It is so refreshing not because it seems rare, but because it is dclightfully Catho- i lie in root, branch and flower, Tt is very difficult 10 tell what is l neat exactly hy the spirit Of the 1 Catholic church," said tho speaker,
 but the French expression 'Lcsprit' { seems to contain the meaning best 1 of all, II bctokcns life and youth" He referred to in" fact that Cath ! oiciSm was very popular saying it 1 lis still the most popular thing in ] the world. To he popular is not eX- 1 actlY the same as being loved. Even | with the memory of the immeasur- 1 able filth thrown at the church in ! the recent campaign, fl is still true l that Catholicism is the most popular
 thing in the world When boy
 used to sample the Orcna rds we 1 passed returning from an afternoon 1 spent at the old swimming hole. We 1 knew naught of pomology and could
 not tell a Mackintosh from a Bald win and vet We invariably and easily
 found the sweetest apple tree! How | By always eating Of the tree that , had the most clubs under it, If my i little experience is not mcaty or | philo5Ophic enough for you, here is
 the same thing from the pen ot Cardinal Newman: TO abuse is the | next best thing, or rather abuse is 1 the necessary shadow of praise All
 of which proves that Catholicism is
 still the most popular thing in the
 Land of the Trce'
 Father Donahue reiterated that
 the filth thrown against the church i helped make it popular. "Whon one
 gets 10 be popular.' said he" then , your troubles begin. But nothing was ever attacked unless it was something really big and the bigger it was the more vicious the attack.
 He referred to the abuse thrown a1
 the faith and said that it helped uni. iy the Catholics.
 Compares Church and state The Roman empire was once very 1 mighty when the church was started
 but now it's ruins arc covered Witl
 dirt and nothing remains Of if. The Catholic church onCc so small was
 so deeply rooted that even if all tho
 officers Of the church should be