THE sixth annual convention of the American Federation of Catholic Societies was held in Indianapolis, Ind., July 14 to 17, inclusive. The convention was opened by solemn pontifical high mass in the church of Saints Peter and Paul, and a sermon by Most Rev. James H. Blenk, Archbishop of New Orleans. The other meeting of the day was a mass meeting in Tomlinson Hall, where an audience of about 3,000 was gathered. The hall was beautifully decorated with the American and papal colors, and everything was done that could be done to impress the beholder with the magnificence, the pageantry, and the power of the Catholic Church.
This first mass meeting of the convention was attended by the highest dignitaries of the Catholic Church in the United States, and was presided over by Rt. Rev. F. S. Chatard, bishop of Indianapolis, who was clad in the vestments of his rank, and seated at his right hand was the Rt. Rev. Diomede Falconio, apostolic delegate of Pope Pius X to the United States, clad in a gorgeous robe of silk.
At the entrance of these dignitaries, leading a procession of Fathers, Right Reverends, and Most Reverends, the whole audience arose to do them honor, and remained standing until the apostolic delegate from Rome gave the signal to be seated.
After the opening preliminaries, Mayor Bookwalter of Indianapolis gave the welcoming address, in which he, tho professing himself a non-believer, paid the highest praise to the great religious organization known as the Catholic Church and to the great federation of Catholic societies under its auspices. Loud applause interrupted the mayor as he declared the Catholic Church in this country to be second to none, and denounced as know-nothings and infidels those who took any other view. He was vociferously applauded.
The president of the federation replied to the address of welcome, following which the pope's special delegate to the convention, Diomede Falconio, pronounced upon the federation and its aims and purposes the blessing which the pope had sent him to Indianapolis to give in person. It was plain, from the words of blessing and praise spoken by the papal delegate, that the work of federating the Catholic societies of the whole world will be one of the chief purposes of that church from now on. Last year the papal blessing was sent by telegraph. This year so important had the work grown in the eyes of the Vatican that it seemed expedient to send a personal representative of the pope over sea and land to speak that blessing.
A Significant Address.
The principal address of the evening was delivered by Mgr. Joseph Shrembs, Vicar General of Grand Rapids, Mich. The subject of the address was “Christ and the Twentieth Century.” There was no question from the beginning of the long address that the speaker was pleasing his audience. It was a powerful address from a Catholic standpoint, and well calculated to win to the Catholic faith many a man and woman uncertain in their belief or the foundation of their faith.
The bishop set forth in strong light the work that the Gospel of Jesus Christ had done in changing the hearts of men, in putting civilization in the place of barbarism, Christianity in the place of heathenism; but the agency to which he attributed all this was the Catholic Church. He showed clearly what the world would be without Christ; but the Catholic Church was His only legitimate representative on earth, and to that church he gave the glory for all that had been accomplished in the betterment of the world during the Christian era. In conclusion the bishop said: “Friends, we are the children of that blessed Catholic Church which has not surrendered the faith, and to which the longing eyes and weary hearts of the earnest believers of disintegrating Protestantism are turning.”
Catholics have not been slow to see the downward trend in Protestant belief that has come about thru a lack of devotion to the sacred word, and a spirit to criticize that word out of the field of belief and practise. It is true that because of this tendency among so many professed Protestant churches, Catholicism is winning many recruits.
The first business session of the federation was held at the headquarters of the convention, Claypool Hotel, at 10:30 A. M., Monday, July 15. The two most interesting features of this meeting11were the annual report of the president of the federation and the annual report of the national secretary.
The president of the federation declared in his report that federation had passed out of the experimental stage, and must now be recognized as one of the great forces of the nation, and that the unity of the whole Catholic body in this country would soon be realized. They were planning to take up energetically the work of forming new federations and of strengthening those already organized that they might make themselves a power in the land. He stated that as a result of the banding together of Catholic societies in this country to stand for their rights, there was only the remotest possibility that religion (by which he meant the Catholic Church) would ever be interfered with. This was, of course, an allusion to the experience thru which the church has been passing in France. The federation of Catholic societies would be able to wield such an influence in this country and be able to bring such pressure to bear in its organized capacity that no such condition could ever be brought about here. “We ask,” said he, “no favors of any man, but only that our rights before the law in equity be recognized;” and the federation is that power which is to make the demand for “rights” so powerful as to insure the obtaining of those “rights.” “Federation,” he said, “is bigger than any Catholic society. It is working hand in hand with the clergy for the advancement of the Catholic Church.”
Protestants have long been bidding for Catholic support along various lines, and an assurance that they have not been bidding in vain was given in these words of the federation’s president:
“We propose to cooperate with our separated brethren in advancing any cause that is for the good of the people. We have already done so in more than one instance. Our friends who differ with us in religion have appreciated the grand work in which we are engaged, and welcome our cooperation in improving the moral tone of our citizens.”
Here is the forecast of the federation of the world under one head; for be it known that when Protestant and Catholic join, the Catholic will take no second place. Thus we see clearly the welding of the first links in that chain which is to bind the people of this world to the throne of St. Peter; for the federation idea is not confined to this country. It is actively going on in all the principal nations. Thru that arrangement a power is developed which will be able to say “to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast that hath the stroke of the sword and lived.” See Rev. 13:11-18.
Claypool Hotel, Headquarters of the Convention.
Official Delegates to the Sixth Annual Convention of the American
War Monument Circle, Near Headquarters, Where Picture of Delegates Was Taken
