CATHOLICS AND EVOLUTION 103 



of evolution may be, the Christian cosmogony re- 

 mains as firmly established as ever. 13 



Surely there is no need of trembling for the 

 Rock on which Christ built His Church. True 

 science will ever prove the strongest natural de- 

 fense of religion. It is the breakwater on which 

 every wave of false theory must eventually be 

 dashed to foam and idle spray. 



Before beginning, with the following chapter, 

 our special consideration of the book of Genesis, 

 it may be well to quote here in conclusion the 

 words of that eminent Scripture scholar, Father 

 Knabenbauer, S.J., as given in the "Catholic En- 

 cyclopedia." "In jwhat particular manner the 

 plant and animal kingdom received their exist- 

 ence," he writes, "whether all species were cre- 

 ated simultaneously, or a few only, which were 

 destined to give life to others; whether only one 

 fruitful seed was placed in mother earth, which 

 under the influence of natural causes developed 

 into the first plants, and another infused into the 

 waters gave birth to the first animals all this the 

 book of Genesis leaves to our own investigation 

 and to the revelations of science, if indeed sci- 

 ence is able to give a final and unquestionable 

 decision. In other worcls, the article of Faith 

 contained in Genesis remains firm and intact, even 

 if one explains the manner in which the different 



"See Wasmann, "Modern Biology," pp. 296-302. 



