THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC CENTENARY SERMON.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 42, 7 February 1890, Page 23

THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC CENTENARY SERMON.

(Concluded.)

BISHOP Cabboll was an American patriot, as well as a Christian bishop. Love of country and of race is a feeling planted by God in the human heart, and when properly directed becomes a natural virtue. Now there i 9 a pernicious tendency in some mind 9to so separate the natural from the supernatural as to make them appear antagonistic. As reason comes from God as well as Revelation, so also do all the great virtues — truthfulness, honour, courage, manliness, from which tha very name of virtue is der/ ved, and patriotism spring up under His fostering care. And as it would be wrong to regard the purely natural, ignoring the supernatural, so also is it wrong and narrow to regard exclusively the supernatural, without reference to that on which it must be based, and which like itself, is God's holy work, though in an inferior order. Bishop Carroll's patriotism never conflicted with his rdigion, for he always acted for God from a sense of duty, whether preaching the Gospel in Baltimore, or, with bis friend, Benjamin Franklin, acting as representative of the Colonial Government in his mission to Quebec.

The new Bishop thoroughly appreciated how important for the Church's progress as well as for the stability of the State was the diffusion of education. He knew that men must be educated in order to successfully govern themselves. Hence one of his first projects was to foster the now time-honoured institution, Georgetown College. Of all the false charges alleged against the Catholic Church, the most senseless and unfounded is that she fears science and is the enemy of education. Her opponents, almost in the same breath, charge her with being the foe at once and the monopoliser of education. They behold her great religious Orders of men and women devoted to the work of education ; making more sacrifices for it than any other body of men and women on earth ; vowing on God's altar that until they go down into their graves they shall devote themselves in poverty, chastity and obedience to the grent work of educating the human mind and heart. And the la9t man in the world to fear intellectual progress, whether popular or individual, is the Catholic. He well knows that truth is one, that God cannot contradict m the revelation of Scripture what he txhibits in the revelation of science. Hence a man's fearlessness of such science will be in proportion to the certainty of bis conviction of the truths of revelation. If I have only religious opinions, more or less certain, I may fear that some scientific truth will be ditcoveicd which will show them to be false ; but if I am absolutely certain of my religious faith, I feel perfectly secure. Now no one can question the fact of the certainty that exists in the mind of Caihohcs that they are dogmatically right. This certainty is sometimes re 'arded as a f inaticism by religious sceptics who have not the gift of faith. But whether it be founded on reason or fanaticism, the fact is there, and hence the Catholic Church has never feared and can never fear the progressof science and education, but has always been their active promoter. Hence Bishop Carroll Bimply acted in harmony with the spirit of the Church when he founded Georgetown College, and the Catholic bishops of the country are now but acting in the same spirit in the foundation of t&e Catholic University (f America in Washington. Its inauguration very appropriately follows this centennial celebration. As to pnrely ecclesiastical studies the Bishop lieemed himself most fortunate ni having the good Sulpician Fathers to direct them. Though loving intensely the Society of Jisus, he was too great and broad a man to have any of that exclusive order pride that would restiict peif-Ction to any organisation. Ho saw the great Kingdom of God on earth. His Church, with its wonderful unity and variety, moving onward iv its great mission. The pertect spirit of the secular priesthood was exhibited in the Sulpician ; that of the religious in the Jesuit ; the union of both was thown for^h in laying the great foundation of the Catholic Church in theM- Siatec.

The jumdiction ( f the new Bishop extended over the entire country, but he soon found it impossible because of the mcreHse of Catholics and the great distance of the plucos and difficulties of travel, as well as his advanced age, to faithfully guard 80 scattered a flock. The bishops who, in 1810, were appointed to aid him in the

great work, were apostolic men, animated by his own spirit, like the sainted Bishop Flaget, of Bardstown, Egan, of Philadelphia, and Cheverus, of Boston. It would be, of course, impossible in this discourse to give you an adequate idea of the marvellous progress of religion during the twenty-five years of the episcopal life of Archbishop Carroll. Tlio results are thus summed up by our admirable Church historian, Dr. Gilmary Shea :—": — " When Archbishop Carroll resigned to the hands of his Maker his life and the office he had held for a quarter of a century, the Church, fifty years before so utterly unworthy of consideration to mere human eyes, had become a fairly organised body, instinct with life and hope, throbbing with all the freedom of a new country. An archbishopric and four suffragan sees, another diocese beyond the Mississippi, with no endowments from princes or nobles, were steadily advancing ; churches, institutions of learning and charity ; all arising by the spontaneous offerings of those who in most cases were manfully struggling to secure a livelihood or modest competence. The diocese of Baltimore had theological seminaries, a novitiate and scholasticate, colleges, convents, academies, schools, a community devoted to education and works of mercy ; the Press was open to diffuse Catholic truth and refute false or perverted representations. In Pennsylvania there were priests and churches through the mountain districts to Pittsburg ; and all was ripe for needed institutions. In New York Catholics were increasing west of Albany, and it had been shown that a college and aa academy for girls would find ready support at tha episcopal city, where a cathedral had been commenced before the arrival of the long-oxpected bishop. In New England the faith was steadily gaining under the wise rule of the pious and charitable Bishop Cheverup. In the West, the work of Badin and Nerinckx, seconded and extended by Bishop Flaget, was bearing its fruit. There was a seminary for priests, communities cf Sisters were forming, and north of the Ohio the faith had been revived in the old French settlements, and Catholic immigrants from Europe were visited and encouraged. Louisiana had been confided to the zealous and active Bishop dv Bourg, destined to effect so much for the Church in this country. Catholicity had her churches and priests in all the large cities from Boston to Augusta, and westward to St. Louis and New Orleans, with many in smaller towns, there being at least a hundred churches and as many priests exercising the ministry.

Catholics were fre3 ; the days of penal lawa had departed ; professions were open to them, and in most States the avenue to all public offices. In the late war with England they had shown their patriot-

ism on the field and on the waves."

For the seventy-five years that have passed since the death of the first American archbishop the hierarchy of the country, backed by devoted priests and faithful, generous people have continued the great woik. In the Hierarchy, during these years, appeared men who were

remarkable in a new and missionary country, and would have been

remarkable m any country and age — men like Archbishop Francis Patrick Kennrick, of this See, the greatest of our dead ecclesiastics, as his brother of St. Louis is the greatest among the living ones. There were Bishop England, Arohbishop Hughea, Bishop Michael O'Connor, Archbishops Spalding and Purcell, and the great Apostolic men, Bishops Brute, Cheverus, Flaget. Timon, Neumann, and Wood. Nor Bhould we forget the gentle, eloquent and prudent first American Cardinal, McCloskey, of New York.

If I speak of the Episcopate especially, it is only because this is the centennial celebration of its establishment, Otherwise I would not omit the great name of Monsignor Corcoran. I cannot, of course,

forget that as generals cannot gain victories unless sustained by able officers and soldiers, neither can the Episcopate of the country, unless the devoted priests, secular and regular, sustain them. The great religious Orders and congregations did their noble work here. The sons of St. Ignatius, St. Francis, St. Dominick, St. Benedict, St. Alphonsus and St. Augustine, St. Vincent of Paul, S. Paul of the Cross, ISt, Paul the Apostle, and others have bravely sustained the Episcopate, whilst the devoted secular clergy, who for years endured unto'd labour and poverty, were the most numerous and powerful of all the actors in the Church's progress We rejoice to behold here to-day so many representatives of these elements of power. But what could bishops and priests effect without you, " our joy and our crown," the devoted, generous, intelligent laity of the United States ?

To you and yours God sent us. For you and your 3 the Catholic ecclesiastic makes every sicrificeof human ambition aud human love. These sacrifices you have appreciated, and you have nobly sustained us.

We are glad to behold you here to-day in such vast numbers, and with so much genuine enthusiasm. And on this great historic occasion you must not be mere observers, but we trust your representatives will speak out freely and fearlessly in the Lay Congress which forms so interesting a feature in this cemennial celebration. You know how false is the charge of the enemies of the Church that you are prie e t-ri iden.

It is now time that an active, educated laity should take and express inte-est in the gre it questions of the day affecting the Church and society. I believe there is not in the world a more devoted laity

than we have in the Church ot the?e State?. I find, too, that the best educated amongst them, and notably the converts, are sound on the great questions of the day and loyal to the Church. We should be ir in mini, too, the great work done by the laity as publicists and cditi rs dming the past century, done by men like the great Dr. Brownson, for great he certainly was ; by the disinterested, impul-t-ive, and talented McMaster, the poh-hed Dr. Huntingdon, by that most devoted martyr, as 1 may term him, to Catholic journalism, Pat iick Vincent Hickey, of the Catholic Review, and others whom time will not permit me to mention in detail. By the united acion of bisb.ips, priests, and laymen we have results of progress in the last century, and statistics which are truly astonishing. And what is particularly remarkable is the fact that in the section of trie country where opposition to the Church wns most deep and vio'ent *he progress was greatest. I allude to the New England States.

Within tbe memory of the present metropolitan of Boston, that is, about sixty years ago, New England had but one bishop, two priests, and two public places of worship. She has now one archbishop, six bishops, 942 priests, and 619 churches, with private chapele, colleges, schools and benevolent institutions and population in proportion. Those who do not desire the progress of the Catholic Church should never persecute her. The general statistics of the Church during the century are, briefly, as follows :

When Bishop Carroll was consecrated in 1790, the entire population of the United States was a little less than four millions— the Catholic population was estimated at about forty thousand ; thirty priests ministered to this scattered flock. There was not a single hospital or asylum throughout the land. The churches were only the few modest bouses of worship erected in Catholic settlements, chiefly in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Georgetown College, just then founded, was tbe only Catholic seat of learning in the country.

Glance at the present. The population of the United Stateß has grown within a century from four to sixty-five millions of people ; the progress of the Church has more than kept pace with the material development of the country. There is now embraced within the territory of the United States a Catholic population of about nine millions. There are 13 archbishops and 71 bishops, 8,000 priests, 10,500 churches and chapels, 27 seminaries, exclusively devoted to training candidates for the sacred ministry ; there are 650 colleges and academies for tbe higher education of the youth of both sexes, and 3,100 parish echoools. There are 520 hospitals and orphan asylums. What is of immense importance is that her spirit has in nothing degenerated. She is alive to-day with a divine energy and fecundity that will continue to multiply these great results.

The remarkable statistics quoted become marvellous when we consider the antagonism of the great majority of the people to the Catholic Church. The objections to it were those urged by the pagans in the first century of Christianity — first, its supposed exorbitant claims and exclusiveness. Christianity was not content to have its God occupy a place among the deities of the Pantheon, but declared that He, and He alone, was the true God. This was deemed an insult to the gods of the empire. Here was the Catholic Church, so few in numbers and so weak iv influence, boldly claiming that Christ established but one Church, and that all others were simply human institutions, more or less true in their teachings, as they agreed or disagreed with her own. She indeed wished freedom for all, but did not for one instant concede that all could be true. Again, as in pagan days, her perfect organisation was feared as possibly dangerous to the State, and the extraordinary spectacle was exhibited to the world of a great and numerous oolitical party, afraid to act in open day, and entering into a secret society against a handful of their fellow-citizens. But God brought good out of evil. Few people realise how much indirect benefit this cowardly opposition was to the Church during the brief inglorious existence of the party prophetically named at its birth " Knownothing."

The thoughtful men of the nation who opposed this party were dri»en into the ranks of the Church's defenders. They studied her history and doctrines. Important conversions and the clearing away of much ignorance and prejudice were the results.

The Civil War, which ao retarded the progress of the nation and all religious institutions including, our own, and split up all nonCatholic denominations into Northern aDd Southern organisations, showed forth, as I have already said, the united power of the Catholic Church. The war also exhibited her marvellous and well-regulated chanty. Sis-ers of Chanty and of Mtrcy ministered to the sick and wounded, irrespective of party. Sisters of Northern birth and principles nursed the Southern soliders, and Sisters of Southern birth and principles, whose brohers were fighting in therenks of the Confederate army, were found nursing their Northern foes. These Sisters acted as silent evangelists of the old Church. They qui3tly revolutionised popular opinion concerning her. I speak from experience, for during the war one of the largest prisons of the country, known as " McDowell's Col ege," was in my parish in St. Louis, and I acted as chaplain to it and to the hospital attached. Tbere were from l,oooto 1,200 inmatss frequently imprisoned there, and I know how deeply these Southern soldiers were affec ed by the self-sacrific-ing devotion of the Sister?, who every day came to minister to and console them. Very few of these men were Catholic-, and many of them were deeply hostile to the Church, yet the vast majority who died in that hospital and a large proportion of those wno left the prison (600 has been considered a low euimate), received Catholic baptism. They believed, they said, that the Church of these Sisters must be the Church of God, and so commenced their examinations of its doctrines. Tbe same was true of Southern prisons containing Northern soldiers. The brave men on both sides who survived could never afterwards bear these Sisterhoods insalted by ignorant bigotry. Hence, since the war, there is a great change in popular sentiment in relation to the Catholic Chnrch. In addition to this, it mu^t be remembered, that Catholics .md Protestants now associate more frequently and intimately and underscan 1 each o.ber better. Intelligent Protestants are gradually disabused of the old notion that the Catholics exalt the Blessed Virgin to a position equal to that of her Sop, that priests can forgive sins according to their pleasure, that images may be adored after the fashion of the pagans, that (he Bible should not be read, and other absurd supposed doctrine 3 t»nd practices of the Church. Because of the eulightenment and \ ecau&e of the high character of Ameiican converts in the past, men like Dr. Brownson, Dr. Ives, Father Heckerj and many, many others, it is possible that some of the ablest defenders of the Cburch in this coming century will be men who are at present in tho ranks of her opponents.

But, Fathers and brethren whilst we are grateful for the bLsBiogd bestowed by Almighty God oa the young Church of these States darin? the glorious " Ie Deum " of gratitude, we must also bear in mind thai there are/tatistics of losses knownlonly to the mind of God, that many have fallen away by wilful neglect of God's grace, thatmany have been lost by mixed marriages, that many converts would have entered tbe Cburch if Catholics bad been individually more temperate

and more edifying. To-day we should add to our "Te Deums " our acts of contrition. I believe also that in the last century we could have done more for the coloured people of the South and the Indian tribes. lam not unmindful of the zeal, with limited resources for its exercise, of the Southern bishops, nor the graat self -sacrifice of Indian missionaries, who, in the spirit of primitive Christianity, gave their lives for the noble but most unjustly-treated Indian tribes. But as I believe that negro slavery and the unjust treatment of the Indians are the two great blots upon the American civilisation, so I feel that in the Church also the most reasonable cause for regret in the past century is tbe fact that more could have been done for the same dependent classes. Let us now, in the name of God, resolve to make reparation for these shoitcomings of the past. A magnificent future is before the Church in this country, if we are only true to her, to the country and to ourselves. She has demonstrated that she can live and more onwards without State influence, that the atmosphere of liberty is most congenial to her constitution and most conducive to her progress. Let us be cordially American in our feeling, and sentiments, and, above all, let each individual act out in his personal life and character the spirit of his Catholic faith. On ourselves depends the future of the Church in these States. We have an organisation perfectly united. We have dogmas of religion that give motives for restraint of human passion, appeal* ing to tbe fear, love and gratitude of the human soul. These dogmas are fixed and certain, and hence so powerful. The Cburch is alive with the spirit of God at its very soul. As she enters on tno secoad century of her great mission here, let us renew our spiritual allegiance to her, let us ever glory in being her children and endeavour to prove ourselves worthy of the name. And do Thou, O Eternal aad Mast Sacred God 1 who a century ago blessed this infant Church, then persecuted, " this poor little one tossed with tempest and without all comfort and placed her stones in order and her foundations in sapphire," Ob, blees her again tc-day, as she enters on her second century of apostolic mission I Send down Wisdom that sitteth by Thy throne to illuminate the intellects of her pontiff?, priests and people 1 Send forth Thy spirit that it may brood over tbe troubled waters and the moral chaos of this age, and restore peace and order in human hearts and human society. Oh. give to this fresh young Church the spirit of primitive Christianity, its courage, its mortification, its indifference to money, and cause it to conquer the bold, aggressive paganism of the nineteenth century as its prototype crushed the paganism of the first. Through Jesus Christ our Lord . Amen.