THE CATHOLIC PART IN CIVIC 

 PROGRESS 



WHEN we consider that the discovery of America 

 by that great navigator whose name we have 

 chosen for our Order, was made not merely for 

 discovery, but for the spread of the Catholic faith, and that 

 during the succeeding century the greatest explorers, discov- 

 erers, colonizers and civilizers of this western world of ours 

 were men of Catholic Faith and ideals, we should be keenly 

 alive to the part which Catholic culture, training and ideals 

 should play in the present development of our country. If 

 men of our faith started with the country in the gift to it of 

 European development and expansion, men of our faith 

 should at all times be ready to do their part in the common 

 weal and advancement to the very latest moment of passing 

 time. 



When men of Catholic Faith and lineage were first on the 

 field and made a goodly record for themselves in every walk 

 of life, it must not be imagined that they failed to keep pace 

 with the growth of our country in succeeding centuries. What 

 chiefly happened was that their deeds and influence were not 

 felt or recorded in any fitting degree after the settlement 

 of North America by those nations which had broken away 

 from allegiance to the old historic faith of Christendom. 

 Then, too, when persecution, contempt and slander, so rife in 

 those rancorous times, had done their work, little wonder was 

 it that it should be thought and generally reputed that Catho- 

 lics had but slight share in the civic progress and wonderful 

 blossoming of our great American Republic. The current of 

 the then public opinion set strongly against the Church and 

 its teachings, its philosophy and ideals, and those who repre- 

 sented Catholic belief and practice were mainly poor and de- 

 spised. It was the time when the supreme effort among Catho- 

 lics was to keep alive the Faith itself in the hearts and minds 



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