36o ANDREW J. SHIPMAN MEMORIAL 



Canards of all kinds in regard to the Church and her clergy 

 and members in all parts of the world are freely reported in 

 the press. These could be instantly corrected through such an 

 organization. Grave calumnies affecting important persons can 

 be refuted by it. Statements of fact inaccessible to ordinary 

 readers because of their un familiarity with foreign tongues 

 and their remoteness from the scene can be readily obtained 

 through this association. Inquiries for specified purposes and 

 for special information on particular subjects can likewise be 

 pursued through its officials and members. Any one here in 

 New York with limited means of information can thus set in 

 motion the machinery to obtain exact knowledge upon any one 

 of the subjects of the day touching the relations of the Church 

 and churchmen to civil affairs. 



The same method can be employed relative to matters ex- 

 clusively confined to this country. The association could main- 

 tain correspondents at every important centre in the United 

 States, and obtain and preserve current reports upon all mat- 

 ters affecting the interests of the Church. Such matters as 

 legislation and the trend of public thought affecting the rights 

 of the Church in the family, the child, the school, secular prop- 

 erty, the Indians, the poor and afflicted, charitable institutions, 

 the welfare of Catholics in the army, the navy and the general 

 government service, can be fully investigated and the results 

 tabulated and preserved. The relations of the government 

 with, as well as the internal relations of, our annexed depend- 

 encies, like Porto Rico, the Philippines, Panama; the rights, 

 freedom and exercise of the teachings and worship of the 

 Catholic Church, and its growth and progress in these coun- 

 tries, can be fully obtained and recorded, as well as all ques- 

 tions affecting Catholic interests in the United States. Data 

 and facts thus obtained may be published from time to time in 

 the public prints, or made the subjects of the lecture platform, 

 the pulpit and the public meeting, as the case may require, or 

 brought to the attention of the public in other convenient ways. 



The American press is eager to get news. Why not utilize 

 this great instrument of publicity to disseminate Catholic news, 

 based upon ascertained and authentic facts, and demonstrate 

 to the world that Catholics are bending their energies for the 

 welfare of their country and seeking to establish the Kingdom 

 of God on earth ? We need not insist that this is the work of 



