274 ANDREW J. SHIPMAN MEMORIAL 



pices are spreading education and culture among all our peo- 

 ple, and in many cases sharply competing with educational 

 institutions endowed with the wealth and lavish expenditure 

 of the state, whilst the Church has commenced upon a large 

 scale to earnestly set forth her achievements in the domain 

 of human thought and progress affecting the world at large, 

 whether Catholic or not. An active, awakening Catholic press 

 is providing books of literature, science, philosophy, history 

 and art, imbued with the basic principles of Catholic thought, 

 and non-Catholic publishers have become so fully aware of 

 the excellence of these works that they are ready to place 

 upon their lists and thoroughly advertise the merits of the 

 writings of representative Catholic authors. A notable step 

 forward has been the creation and publication of the 

 voluminous Catholic Encyclopedia, a monument of and an 

 inspiration for Catholic endeavor in almost every line of ac- 

 tivity which touches the world at large. 



These things alone would be a fair measure of the impress 

 of Catholic thought and activity in the progress of our coun- 

 try. When we add to that the number of men of Catholic Faith 

 in the various branches of the different state and Federal gov- 

 ernmental bodies, and agencies for the uplifting and better- 

 ment of the people, men who have the opportunity of partici- 

 pating in and moulding the just and equitable powers of the 

 state in the treatment and conservation of the respective rights 

 of capital and labor, of the employer and employee, of the 

 great aggregations of capital and contractual interrelations 

 controlling the resources of this country, we may be glad that 

 we are enabled to take such part in the destinies of our 

 common land. 



But ought we rest content with the part already played by 

 Catholics in our civic relations? Is not more demanded of 

 us by the very reason of our own individual progress and 

 growth ? Let us remember in going over the history of Euro- 

 pean peoples and their civilization that there is no other move- 

 ment or organized system of morals and philosophy of life — 

 to say nothing of revelation and religion at all — which has 

 produced so great an impress upon mankind as the Catholic 

 Church and all it stands for. It saw the Caesars and defied 

 them ; it is to-day face to face with the French and Portuguese 

 Republics and will not yield its principles. Such a force in 



