The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-04-04

FOpe PluS All. Elevation or Bishop
 Schrembs was first major promo
 tion of an American prelate by the
 new Pope.
 be nothing ennobling about a work shop"
 Church's Activities
 Faithful to these principles, the Church has given new life to hu- man society. Under her influence arose prodigious charitable organ nations, great guilds of artisans and workmen of every type. These guilds, ridiculed as Medieval" by the liberalism of the last century, are today claiming the admiration of our contemporaries in many coun- tries who are endeavoring to re- vive them in some modern form. And when other systems hindered her work and raised obstacles 70 the salutary influence of the Church, she was never done warning them of their error."
 But in spite of the warnings there came the blackest days of our Christian era, the years from TITO to 1918. The machine came and was regarded as much more important than the human body which science had already decided had no soul. There arose an agnostic contempt for human beings. Dickens paints a ghastly picture with his starved workmen, his puny children, four- teen-hour day and starvation wages. In the mill towns of New England, in the mines of Pennsylvania, on the plantations of the South, every where there was selfishness and ex- ploitation of the weak and helpless. And then out of this welter of self1shness, corruption, atheism and greed came Communism. And may we repeat-a just protest!
 Infamous Thing"
 Why didn't the Church stop this? Prevent all this horror? Voltaire at the opening of this era mad laid down the principle, Crush the in- famous thing" The infamous thing 
 Church. The influence of the Church was to be destroyed in all the rela- tions that really mattered for so- ciety. Her teachings were to have no place in government, business or commerce. Time and again the Church sounded her warnings but they were scorned by world that started by denying the Church and ended by denying God. Plus XI said: There would be today neither Socialism nor Communism if the rulers of the nations had not scorn- ed the teachings and maternal warnings of the Church. On the basis of materialism and laicism they wished to build other social edif1ces which powerful and impos- ing as they seemed at first, all too soon revealed the weakness of their foundations, and today are crum- bling one after another before our eyes, as everything must crumble that is not grounded on the one corner stone which is Christ Jesus"
 The Catholic agrees with the Communist in the fervent hope of correcting the abuses between rich and poor, between the few and the many. The Communist demands a decent livelihood and a decent wage for all men, but it has always been an age-old truism in the Church; "There are three crimes that cry to heaven for vengeance, murder, adultery and the defrauding a la borer of his just wage" The Com munist demands classless society," but the Catholic must go further. He must hold in the doctrine of the Church that men are not alike mere ly in features, in frame, in essential rights,-they are not merely 'com- rades." but brothers with Christ and sons of God.
 God Excluded
 Communism born in an age when agnostism was 8 fad and atheism the fashion insists that the Com munistic state must exclude God, drive out religion and exile Jesus Christ. But the Catholic cannot look at the plan and order in the world and deny the Planner. He cannot listen to the voice of Christ and re- ject Father in Heaven. The Com munist sees mans life bound by this world; the Catholic sees him des- tined for another world. The Con- munist follows the leadership of Marx, Lenin and Stalin; the Cath olic has accepted the divine leader ship of Jesus Christ. The Commun- ist insists on a political and eco homie revolution: the Catholic goes further, he insists that the revolu- ton be also individual and per- sonal. If it remains only political and economical it makes the masters slaves and the slaves masters-but the hates remain unless the revolu- tionists follow Christ's call to revo- lution of the heart, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
 Revolutionary? The trouble is that Christianity is so terrible revolu-. tionary that 1t takes saint to live 1t to the full. Any loose-living scamp can be stirred by table-pounding orators into accepting the easy principles of the Communist. Not so the difficult principles of Christ! A Christian revoluntioniSt must be ready not only to blow up the evil in the world, but to blow Up the evil in his own heart. It is an easy job to revolutionize a country; it is a tremendous task to reyolutionize ones soul. It is not terribly hard to divide the wealth of the world among men, but it is terribly diffi- cult to go sell what thou hast and