r The Catholic Democracy of America,64 - Digital Repository Services

18 Romani Catholicism in America.
people to assist them in finding a remedy for the dangers with
which civilization and social order are menaced by avarice,
oppression, and corruption." Association, he says, is " in harmony
with the| genius of our country," and he discards as
" neither possible nor necessary in our country" the idea of
fraternities under the supervision of priests taking the place of
purely industrial organizations wherein Catholics and Protestants
meet on a common footing, which intermingling constitutes
no danger to religion; " the only grave danger would
arise from the alienation of her children from the Church,
which nothing would occasion more certainly than imprudent
condemnation." After some remarks on the ethics of strikes
and the uselessness of hoping that violence can always be
avoided in them, the Cardinal proceeds:—
It is the part of Christian prudence to convert into a legitimate, peaceful,
and beneficial competition that which a course of repellent severity would
turn into a latent volcano such as society fears and the Church deplores in
Europe. On this point I strongly insist because my intimate acquaintance
with the social condition of our country profoundly convinces me that we
are face to face with a question which not only concerns the rights of the
working classes, who ought to be specially dear to the Church sent by our
Divine Master to preach the gospel to the poor, but one which involves the
most fundamental interests of the Church and of human society in the future.
Every one who ponders well the ways along which Divine Providence is
guiding contemporary history must recognize the important part which the
power of the people is playing and will play. . . . Hitherto our country
has presented the picture of true democracy seeking the general prosperity
by means of sound principles and social order. To preserve this admirable
state of things it is absolutely necessary for religion to remain in possession
of the affections of the multitude. As Cardinal Manning has well said,
" In the future era the Church will have to deal not with Princes and Parliaments
but with the masses." ... Of all the glorious titles earned by the
Church there is none which gives it greater influence than that of Friend
of the People. Surely in our democratic nation this is the title which is
winning for the Catholic Church not only the enthusiastic devotion of millions
of her children, but the respect and admiration of all our citizens
whatever their religious belief. ... As the great questions of the future
will not be those of war, of commerce, or of finance, but social questions
which relate to the bettering of the condition of the masses, it is of sovereign
importance for the Church to be found invariably and firmly ranged on the
side of humanity.