The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-01-18
Catholic Church First in Social Action Says Gov Gross

has been discovered by such non- Catholics as Newman, Brownson, Chesterton, Stoddard, and Moody. all of whom came into the church because they saw the need of an authority upon which to rest when reason ran into a blank wall. We might point out that Harvard is beginning to discover scholastic philosophy, and that although it brought Dr DeWulf from Louvain a decade or so ago by way of experi- ment, both DeWulf and his suc- cessor in that chair have reached some people who have pushed ex. perimental psychology to its nat ural pessimistic conclusions. And we might point. out that another Louvain scholastic, this time a Jew, has pretty much disrupted the faculty of philosophy at the Uni- versity of Chicago, where his popu- lar lectures have proved to be pro- foundly disturbing; and that Presi- dent Hutchins, who brought pr Adler to Chicago and defended him against his critics, now lectures at St Thomas Aquinas. Or we might refer to Harvey Wickham, another non Catholic, who found in scho- lastic philosophy the material for his brilliant and whitening refuta- tions of modern psychologists; or to F. W. Foerster, once jailed for his militant communism, who has found in Catholic doctrine the only solution to the problems of mar riage.
 It was when Emerson's Trencen- dentalism, which undermined Pro- testantism, was at it's height in New England, that Longfellow dis covered the beauties of the Cath olic church and the strength of Catholic philosophy and became your sweetest singer. Cram didn't exactly discover Catholic archi- lecture, but he has, by his lectures and writings as well as by his artis- tic skill, done more than any Cath olic to set Catholic architecture in it's proper place in this country. And if at Notre Dame we have one of the finest American collections of original paintings by the old masters, as well as of woodcarvings and tapestries of this same period, it is because three non-Catholic benefactors have seen fit to place their Catholic treasures in the Catholic setting that Notre Dame affords.
 wonder how many of you know how deeply Thomas Jefferson was indebted to St Robert Bellarmine for the political principles enun- ciated in the Constitution of the Y,it fof r . of you have read Devas' "The Key to the Worlds Progress" or the marvellous essays of Martin J. Spalding on Catholic contributions to culture and civilization. I won- der how many of you are familiar with the vital descriptions of pres- ent-day conditions which Cardinal Newman wrote fifty, sixty. seventy years ago, as he contemplated the false philosophies then current and drew from them their logical con- clusions.
 Frustrated Leadership
 My dear friends: Frustrated leadership has been the greatest obstacle to Catholic Action in this country. It has been of two kinds: those who were able to lead have had so few followers; so many who have had followers were not equipped to lead. When Edward Douglas White was chief justice of the supreme court of the United States, he continued to read his St Thomas every day, and more than one of his eminent colleagues learned from him to follow this master of justice and rights. Would that all of the statesmen and jur. ists of our faith were as wei | equipped as he for the work they have to do. Of what use is it tt
 have Catholics in high places i they know nothing of Catholic principles? They may be able men, conscientious citizens doing the best they can under difficult circumstances. But if they are un- aware of the Catholic answer to moral, economic, or political prob-