Importance of Maintaining a Sound Catholic Press

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 45, 16 November 1922, Page 17

Importance of Maintaining a Sound Catholic Press

Ibe existing Catholic papers do a, great amount of good, were it not for them the. lot of Catholics in this country Mould be hard and the Church might he crushed,” (says the Catholic: Press Association, of America). Even the few* hundreds in the different dioceses who do read these papers form a Catholic elite who are u credit to the Church and leaven the mass of humanity. The influence of .the Catholic paper indirectly extends far beyond the numbers of their subscribers. .

Apathy. / | 'There are Catholics who say that thev have been reading the secular dailies all their lives and thev have done them no harm. Others say that thev went to public schools and they took no harm. No one is capable or. judging in his own case, much less of holding himself up as a. model. The Vicars of Christ who have so-often urged the necessity of a powerful Catholic press• are safe guides. "The apathy- and - indifference of .so many Catholics is. a malady resulting from the reading of the past To win them oyer will bo the task of years.- The-shekels for maintaining a Catholic. press will not come from them. They, like their non-Catholic brethren, are to be the objects of the apostleship of the press.' And this--must be. built up ..and maintained, primarily on the sacrifices of those who have a Catholic mind and, indeed; a Catholic/ heart. ' . - • ' ,• •' . • '• ' . ' "There are very many Catholics. who are -utterly' disgusted with tho secular dailies because of' their sensationalism, mendacity, and irreligion. A Pope's Advice. "Pope Pius X., in.his letter of September S, 1912, to the Tertiaries, prescribes that they ( not only read what is-written in defence of religion, but work to have such writings spread among the people.' : In fact, all Catholics should be active in ' promoting "the Catholic press; ' If • our Holy Church is to hold its-'own in the midst of a world of enemies we must work heart and soul for the support of the Catholic press." • ; .'. : : .■..... ••