Monseignor Conaty Preached In The Evening

Monseignor Conaty Preached

in the Evening.

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THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

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To show that Its Religion was the only Religion Pleasing to God Himself.

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"For other foundation can no man lay than that is aid. which is Jesus Christ" Cor. 2:11.1

Mgr. Conaty, as if by some prearrangement with Archbishop Ireland, took up the thread of logical argument and presented a fine sequel to the latters' sermon at St. Thomas' church yesterday morning. Most Reverend Archbishop Ireland had shown that there was an absolute necessity of a religion and that all men, by their own consciousness, acknowledged that there was a religion, whatever the form. There he stopped, and right there is where Mgr. Conaty took it up and proceeded to show that some religion being of necessity, the Catholic religion was the only true one, the only commissioned one, the only one acceptable to God.

Said he in substance:

Reason tells us that religion is the tie that binds us to God, He demanding religion from us. He must, therefore, have shown us how we can offer to Him religion that would be acceptable to Him. It has never been demonstrated in history that God allowed men to choose for themselves their forms of religion. Consequently we must look to God as to what is true religion. There can be but one great truth, and therefore there can be but one great religion, and there can only be one great religion that is acceptable to God.

We immediately strike against the assertion that positive religion is a thing of the past - that it matters not what we believe. But if we read right, we will find that religion always bore the marks of positiveness. It is but an expression of what God demands. God would not be the God of Truth if He did not affirm the positive laws which would be pleasing to Him. We hear much against dogmatic religion. They go as far as to say that the dogma is beneath the dignity of religion. Yet, in their assertion, they are the most dogmatic of men, for they assume an infallibility when saying that dogma is not needed in religion.

What is dogma? It is nothing more or less than the affirmation of principles underlying truth They say that it is enough for a man to be good. What is goodness? What is right? What is wrong? Underneath right and wrong are principles that dogmatic elements make into dogma, pure and simple. A dogma is the elucidation of truth that underlies all thinking.

God has the character of a teacher or one who sends His servants with His massage. He established how man should worship Him. Read your Old Testament. You will find in it a religion with a dogma. Was there any freedom of choice? No, it was to believe and to act according to that belief. All is subservient to a great positive teacher, a great dogma of religion. They say that with Christ came a freedom from the old ceremonials. Yes, but with Christ came more dogma. The old ceremonial prepared for His coming. He came to perfect the religion of the old law. He came with a positive doctrine to believe - and with a positive action to follow that belief. Believe and practice. Worship with submission. Look at His malediction on the Scribes and Pharisees. That was dogmatic. He did appeal to one thing, however. It was to His resurrection. He pointed to His tomb and said: "The third day I will rise again. " The resurrection day followed. The tomb opened and Christ stood among His followers. The truth was asserted. He had redeemed mankind from their sins. His doctrine was the only doctrine. His salvation was the only salvation. Read those chapters of Christ's life, believing there to be the word of God, and how can you hesitate to concede that Christ was the leader of a positive religion? The apostles came with a message, and to teach that message - not to argue. The authority under which they taught it was Christ Himself. They bade men confess their sins and they gave absolution. When others said that none could give pardon but God, they replied that they had heard the commission They preached the one gospel as it had been received from Christ. They established the Church of Christ upon the foundation built by Christ that it might stand till the end of time.

What, then, can we think of a religion without a dogma. Sift it down and there is still a dogma. When they say that true religion is a religion without a creed they assert an absurdity.

A creedless Christianity is a Christless Christianity. Religion is not dependent. We are only one part in religion. God is the other, and religion only becomes ours when we make the objective part a portion of our actions and life. If anything stands out in religion, it is positiveness. To believe is to do.

Men ask why we today blessed these walls, why the smoking incense is rising from the altar. Is it sentiment'? No, it is simply following the apostolic teachings. This pulpit is to be the place of teaching a positive religion. What authority has this church to stand in the community as a Christian church and assert that it alone has the true religion? Look at its commission. Dig down to its foundation and examine its principles. Look at the pontiff and read his right, traced through twenty centuries of succession to dedicate it in the manner in which he did. You will find the warrant for the commission of the Catholic church in its teachings.

There is one unchangeable truth - the same as was taught by Peter in Judea, the same that we have been preaching for twenty centuries of changing time, and our church remains always the same. Truth is God ; it is eternal ; it is unchangeable. This church is not a church of today, but its growth is of today. There is not a discordant note in its teachings. Its traditions are not of today, but are of that old Catholic church founded by Christ. There is a dearness in the instincts of Catholicity. She stands demanding no excuse for remaining. Her truth comes from Christ. Heed not men who tell you that the Catholic church is the church of emotions - that it is for the common people alone. The church is based upon an intellectual truth. It is for everybody. Tell the cultured mind to study its history, its doctrine, its commission, and see if the Teacher has become silent. Education falsely leads men to think that they can do away with God, but, thanks, the pendulum is swinging back, and the cultured mind is yearning for a great positive religion.

Mgr. Conaty closed with a most eloquent passage of fealty to Catholicism and America; to the mother church, which was the only truth and which had become all the more beautiful because of its persecutions,and to America because it has taught all mankind to leave it unpersecuted.

"You, mother church, and America, are the sweetest things in life. May you both rule everything according to your own missions, ' ' said he.