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Page 21 text:
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Catholic Education and the World War (Address delivered by John J. Bar- rett ' 91, at Public Meeting of Catholic Educational Association, Civic Audi- torium, San Francisco, July 25, 1918.) Ladies and Gentlemen: The convention which receives us in its public session tonight happened to assemble at the most novel hour in Am- erican history ; and the coincidence is suggestive. For the first time since this Republic began, every institution and every person in the land stands challenged for the credentials of his loyalty and service. It was high time, after a century and a half of unquestioning welcome to all classes, creeds and opinions, and unsus- pecting hospitality to all who came our way, that the roll of the faithful should be called. It was high time that a na- tion that was founded upon the most benign theories that were ever made the basis of a State ; that was sum- moned by its fundamental principles, its supreme ideals, its splendid past and its high future, into a mortal combat in which all these were challenged ; that was surprised in such a combat by un- expected disaffection among her own people and stunned by stark treason among her guests ; it was high time that such a nation should line up every per- son and institution in the land, search their hearts and scrutinize their activi- ties, and at the door of every home, at the threshold of every house of wor- ship, and in the inmost council-chamber of every institution, to demand the countersign — loyalty and service. The Question of the Hour. What response does the Catholic Ed- ucational Association make to that question of the hour? Church Behind the Flag. The answer of the convention of that association to the question as to where the Catholic Church in America stands, in this as well as every other depart- ment of her activities, at this supreme hour in our country ' s history, rings out clear and unequivocal — the loudest in the land — in the forthright pledge that she stands behind the Government and under the flag. That attitude has not waited for its proclamation upon any summons. It has been preached from our pulpits and shouted from our church-towers since the first moment of this evil hour ; and any one of us can answer for her. We pledge our country our single- hearted allegiance. We entertain no scruples about the justice of her parti- cipation in the conflict. We approve the course she has taken in the crisis, and we would h ave had her take no 13
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Page 22 text:
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14 THE REDWOOD other. We commend the sagacious and high-minded statesmanship with which heaven has blessed her counsels, and we see a mark of heaven ' s favor for our cause in the inspired leader, Woodrow Wilson, it gave us for the struggle. We stand ready to promote our country ' s fortunes at the sacrifice of all our re- sources of human life and earthly pos- sessions. With all our strength and mind and heart we pray for victory to the arms of our country and her gal- lant allies. We hold no allegiance that conflicts with our love of the flag, and wherever it leads we are prepared to follow. Definition of Loyalty. Chesterton says : Loyalty is probably best to be de- fined somewhat thus : It is the senti- ment due to those things to which our obligation is in a sense infinite — that is, cannot be calculated as for barter, and can only be expressed by a general and final dedication of the affections. Thus a man owes loyalty to his mother, because nothing short of seeing her through any of her troubles could be commensurate with a gift which is mystical and absolute ; the gift of life itself and of life at the risk of death. In the same way a man owes loyalty to his country, because he cannot, even in imagination, set any limits to what he owes to the corporate culture and or- der that has protected his cradle and informed his mind. I cannot tell how much I owe of all things to my country, and, through it, to having certain well- guarded traditions in my soul, certain deep-sunken habits in my body. There- fore, the ultimate act of deserting what I conceive to be her interests and pro- moting the interests of any other peo- ple, would still be the act of Modred and Ganelon and Judas Iscariot. This, then, is loyalty; loving something as one loves one ' s mother, with an infinite gratitude for an infinite gift. That is the quality of the loyalty we pledge to this anxious hour. And we entertain it as we were taught it — not as a mere sentiment but as a solemn duty — the sovereign duty of the citi- zen — an obligation binding in the forum of his conscience. And we hold him a blasphemer who is irreverent to the flag. Present War Against Our Flag Is a War Against Cross of Christ. Close beside the cross, the emblem of our faith, we have raised the flag, the emblem of our country. Belonging side by side in every crisis, there never was an hour since our State began when the flag belonged so near the cross and the cross so near the flag as now. For this war against that flag is a war against the cross, as well, in its highest and holiest signification. It is a war against fundamentals that the cross stands for. It is a war against elementary things that the cross sym- bolizes. It is a war against the very throne of God ; and the events that dragged us in — unwilling and resisting — were only incidents of the impious and sacrilegious enterprise. Emblaz-
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