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The Catholic Democracy of America, 74
tened to his counsel in manner unprecedented. But the Cardinal,
in his fearless independence, is a faithful spokesman of
the millions of his fellow-citizens, who in matters of faith
regard him as their national chief, though the immigrant
priests and people sometimes lag behind their bold leader.
The handsome volume which commemorates the proceedings
of the Catholic Congress last November, in celebration of the
centenary of the hierarchy, is filled mainly with the sermons
and addresses of bishops and laymen assembled at Baltimore
and Washington on that occasion. The festival was one of
such pomp and magnitude that it would not have been surprising
if in the great gathering of Catholics from all corners
of the Union there had been uttered words of defiance or of
self-satisfied exclusiveness, but we have sought in vain for
any utterance which might even wound the feelings of Protestant
America. On the contrary, though no expression was
wanting of devotion to the Church and of pride in its progress
in the land, of which the imposing assembly was a symbol,
throughout the orations and discourses there rang clear
above all other sounds the note of ardent love of country.
This is the secret of the strength of Catholicism in the United
States.
Cardinal Gibbons does not stand alone among his brethren
of the episcopate in carrying on the tradition of Archbishop
Carroll. Among the fathers of the Church who rallied round
their head when he went forth three years ago to instruct the
Sacred Congregation in American economics there are some
who are as eloquent in their patriotism aa he. Of all the
utterances recorded in the commemoration volume of the centenary
nothing approaches in power and boldness the sermon
preached in Baltimore Cathedral by Archbishop Ireland of
St. Paul, Minnesota. A few of his sentences, transcribed
without commentary, will give a better idea of the mission
and destiny of the Catholic Church in the United States than
many pages of dissertation :—