346 ANDREW J. SHIPMAN MEMORIAL 



will enter the soul, and the ill-trained mind will think in dol- 

 lars and cents, will become so utilitarian that the only test of 

 all things will be : "What is there in it for me ; what can I 

 get out of it for myself?" It is this attitude of mind, perhaps 

 not so frankly exhibited, which the CathoUc college woman 

 will meet on leaving the halls where she received her learning. 



There is consequently always a need for a lay apostolate of 

 learning which the college graduate can fill. Young women 

 who know the position and attitude of the Catholic Church 

 upon the countless questions of the day, or who have the 

 means of ascertaining with ease and exactness such attitude, 

 have a duty cast upon them of championing the truth of what 

 they have learned. It is incredible that, even from a historical 

 standpoint, an organization which has lasted for two thou- 

 sand years, like the Catholic Church, and which has pro- 

 foundly stamped her impress upon the history, literature, laws 

 and customs of every civilized people, should be ignored and 

 misunderstood by those who are not of her. If we were con- 

 sidering merely the history and art of ancient Egypt, as re- 

 vealed in the papyrus, the hieroglyphic and the temple, a 

 scholar would blush not to set aright erroneous impressions 

 and mistaken ideas if he had the knowledge and the means of 

 doing so. And a scholar who loved the subject he studied 

 would be proud to add whatever he could to set human knowl- 

 edge aright in that regard. If such an attitude can be main- 

 tained toward a civilization which was dead ages ago, what 

 shall we say should be the attitude of a Catholic graduate 

 toward the living, pulsing personality of the Catholic Church 

 which has dominated the civilization of twenty centuries? 



This century is the century of expansion, and you must be 

 factors in the growth and expansion. Our material growth 

 as Catholics is approaching a climax, very much as a tree or a 

 flower assumes its maximum growth. But now has come the 

 time when the growth of the Church, like that of the tree or 

 flower, must result in blossom and fruit. Aside from the 

 spiritual and moral fruits of perfection in God's law, there is 

 no greater fruit than that of intellectual development. It is to 

 this task that you, as graduates of this College of New Ro- 

 chelle, should address yourselves. You are a part of this era 

 of expansion ; you must have some glorious part in the devel- 

 opment of this great "City of God" during the present century, 



