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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
(Continued from page 13.)
if I can hear the message which the Church gives to
her children, and I am trying to make myself believe
that I am listening to some one who saw our Lord suf
fer all these cruel punishments.”
He at last made his profession of faith and was con
ditionally baptized on the eve of our Blessed Lady’s As
sumption; and on the feast itself he made his first com
munion.
The Priceless Gift of Faith
I saw very little of him afterwards, for he went home
immediately after hin baptism. But he wrote me a
long letter expressing his thanks, and in it he said:
‘‘Ever day I thank God for the priceless gift of the
Catholic faith; and every day I ask myself the ques
tion: ‘Why was I so blind?’ The Mass grows on me,
and I am finding new beauties in it daily. Oh! if my
people could only see in the Church what I see, and
know her! I have two brothers, as I told you, who
are Methodist preachers. They are good men, and
they have felt very keenly what they call my ‘‘fatal
step”; but it has caused no break in our relations. We
seldom talk on religion; but when we do I find that
they have no real ground for what they believe. But
how can they have it? since they have only their own
private judgment to guide them, and though they are
old fashioned Me.hodists and believe firmly in heaven
and hell and in the Saviour, yet they have some queer
ideas about our Lo:d and think it dreadful that I ask
the Blessed Mother of Christ to pray for me. Why
can’t Protestants see that those who have turned
against the Mother will at least be in danger of deny
ing the Son? or how can they hope to please the Son
by refusing due honor to His Mother? We have no
church at R., but I go every Sunday to C., and on week
days at my home I try to join with those favored ones
who are hearing Mass all over the world. I often
think of what you told me of the story which the
very Church building and its contents tell to the ears
that will listen; and I am afraid that when I am in the
Church after Mass I don’t do much praying, but my
thoughts are with the wise men and Mary and the
Blessed Child, or in the Catacombs with the first
Christians, and I sometimes weave wondeiful stories
and pretend that I am listening to Peter as he tells of
his Master’s call and the many things he said to him;
or I talk to Mary Magdalene, and she tells me the won
derful story of Simon’s house and the washing of our
Lord’s feet, and how He appeared to her in the gar
den after He had risen from the dead. Am I wrong
in so doing? What a wonderful thing is our Catholic
Faith, and how good was God in bringing me to N.
and to you.”
Three years afterward he died. His wife and two
children had always been Catholics and doubtless their
example had much to do with his conversion. His
widow wired me and I went up to C. for the funeral.
The pastor of the Church said the Mass and asked me
to give the Absolution over the remains afterwards. I
said a few words before the Libera and toTd the simple
story of his conversion to the Church. The Gospel of
the preceding Sunday was the parable of the men
who were hired to work in the vineyard, and how
I applied it to his case, how that God had called him
in the eleventh hour to work in the vineyard, and how
promptly he had answered the call and how zealously
he had labored. I followed his remains to the ceme
tery and said there the last prayers for him, and as I
went back to his home his widow said to me: ‘‘You
will never know, Father, how grateful Will was to
you for what you did for him at N. We have all of
us been edified by his truly Catholic life; and no one
would have thought that he was a convert, for he fell
into our Catholic ways so readily and so easily, and
he could never understand why everybody couldn’t
see the Church as he saw it. We can hope for no
better end than to die as he did.”
Forty years have passed since Mr. W. came into the
Church and thirty-seven since he died, and I have a
firm trust that there in the Blessed Vision of Peace I
am remembered by my “First Convert.”
RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE
AMERICA’S GREAT GIFTS TO THE CAUSE OF
HUMAN PROGRESS
(From the Louisville Courier Journal)
Judea gave the world religion—the concept of unity
in the Godhead.
Greece gave the world philosophy “all philoso
phers are disciples either of Plato or of Aristotle.”
Rome gave the world institutionalism.
Spain inherited, and in the days of its power il
lustrated, the Roman idea of dominion.
France gave the world a sense of beauty unexcelled
since Attic days.
England gave the world a conception of orderly
liberty wisely regulated by law.
What distinct contribution has America made to
v/orld civilization?
Popular education? In a sense, yes. The democrat
ic ideal that “respects not merely what is thought to
be respectable, but only what is respectable”? In a
tense, yes. Other things thought to be peculiarly
American may come to mind.
America’s unique contribution to the net sum of
human progress, however, is religious tolerance.
The first amendment to the American Constitution
had this point in view.
Jefferson enforced the idea in his fight to dises
tablish the Church of England in the State of Vir
ginia. On his tombstone, his epitaph, written by him
self, includes “the statue of religious liberty in Vir
ginia,” as one of the three things he wished to be
known as the author of, the other two being the Dec
laration of Independence and the University of Vir
ginia.
Is this precious deposit of America faith religious
tolerance being properly safeguarded.
Are Americans as religiously tolerant as once they
were, or as men like Thomas Jefferson would have
them be?
Not religiously “liberal,” but religiously “tol
erant” ?
The American boast is that Jew, Catholic or Pro
testant may, in America, profess and practice without
restraint or criticism the religious faith that pleases
his conscience.
Is this boast justified by fact?
Propaganda aspersing various religious faiths is
abroad in the United States.
Basically, the purpose of this propaganda is poli
tical.
Through religious prejudice certain vicious men
reek power—power at the expensive sacrifice of Am
erican institutions and in clear violation of the Con
stitution of the United States each citizen is obliged to
obey and to defend.
The point needs not be either argued or demonstrat
ed. It is recognized by all sober-minded Americans.
The thing to do is to reckon with it promptly and
intelligently.
Enemies of the American spirit of religious toler
ance work covertly.
Friends of American institutions and of American
laws, to combat successfully this insidious propaganda,
need to work openly.
It is time to do so—time to reenforce throughout
the country the spirit, as well as the letter of the first
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
America was much interested in the laying of the
cornerstone of the new library for Louvain, Belgium.
Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler laid the cornerstone.
President Harding sent a message to Cardinal Mercier
which was read by Ambassador Whitlock. Represen
tatives of Princeton, Pennsylvania, Cornell, New York,
Clark, Wilberforce, Virginia, Missouri, Catholic and
other American universities journied to Europe for the
ceremony.