If we want to fix our country, our Catholic Church must return to teaching this about our country and how to hold on to it- or we will certainly loose it. Socialism and communism are just a heartbeat away.
I've highlighted some parts that stood out to me in light of our current trials+tribulations in America.
(The Catholic Instructor: An Educational Library of Ready Reference, published by The Office of Catholic Publications, 1910)
American Patriotism:
The Duty and Value of Patriotism
By The Most Rev. Archbishop Ireland
A History of the achievements of the church in America from
the great pens of John Gilmary Shea, LL. D. and the review of its progress and
growth by Richard H. Clark, LL. D. two native Catholic historians of recognized
pre-eminence in the field of Catholic History in the United States, may very
appropriately be accompanied by an extensive quotation from the celebrated
address on “The Duty and Value of Patriotism,” delivered by the Most Rev. JohnIreland, D. D., Archbishop of St. Paul, before the New York Commandery of the
Loyal Legion, and an authentic History of the origin and foundation of that
great Patriotic Catholic Organization, “The Knights of Columbus.”
No one has earned a better right to speak for American
Patriotism or Liberty, than the Archbishop of St. Paul. He served his country
in her hour of peril and speaks as one of her defenders.
The calumnies so frequently uttered against the Church, and
the Americanism of Catholic citizens, should need no other refutation than will
be found in the lofty patriotism breathed in this eloquent address to his
comrades in arms.
The following are pertinent selections from the Archbishop’s
address:
“I shall define
patriotism as you understand and feel it. Patriotism is love of country, and
loyalty to its life and weal-love, tender and strong; tender as the love of son
for mother, strong as the pillars of death; loyalty generous and disinterested
shrinking from no sacrifice, seeking no reward save country’s honor and country’s
triumph.
More than a century ago a trans-Atlantic poet and
philosopher, reading well the signs wrote:
“Westward the star of empire takes its way.
The first four acts already past,
A fifth shall close the drama with the day:
Time’s noblest offspring is the last.”
Berkeley’s prophetic eye had descried America. What shall I
say in brief discourse of my country’s value and beauty, of her claims to my
love and loyalty? I will pass by in silence her fields and forests, her rivers
and seas, the boundless riches hidden beneath her soil and amid the rocks of
her mountains, her pure and health-giving air, her transcendent wealth of
nature’s fairest and most precious gifts.
I will not speak of the noble
qualities and robust deeds of her sons, skilled in commerce and industry,
valorous in war, prosperous in peace. In all these things America is opulent
and great; but beyond them and above them is her singular grandeur, to which her
material splendor is only one fitting circumstance.
America born into the family of nations in these latter
times is the highest billow in humanity’s evolution, the crowning effort of
ages in the aggrandizement of man. Unless we take her in this altitude we do
not comprehend her; we belittle her towering stature, and conceal the singular design
of Providence in her creation.
America is a country of human dignity and human liberty.
When the fathers of the Republic declared: “That all men are
created equal; that they are endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable
rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” a
cardinal principle was enunciated, which in its truth was as old as the race,
but in practical realization almost unknown.
Slowly, amid sufferings and revolutions, humanity had been
reaching out toward a reign of the right of man. Ante-Christian paganism had
utterly denied such rights. It allowed nothing to man as man; he was what
wealth, place, or power made him. Even the wise Aristotle taught that some men
were intended by nature to be slaves and chattels. The sweet religion of Christ
proclaimed aloud the doctrines of the common fatherhood of God, and the
universal brotherhood of men. Eighteen not yet put its civil and political institutions
in accord with its spiritual faith. The Christian Church was all this time
leavening human society, and patiently awaiting the promised fermentation. This
came at last, and it came in America. It came in a first manifestation through
the Declaration of Independence; in came in a second and final manifestation
through President Lincoln’s proclamation of emancipation.
In America all men are civilly and politically equal; all
have the same rights; all wield the same arm of defence and of conquest, the
suffrage; and the sole condition of rights and of power is simple manhood.
Humanity, under the spell of heavenly memories, never ceased
to dream of liberty, and to aspire to its possession. Now and then, here and
there, its refreshing breezes caressed humanity’s brow. But not until the
Republic of the West was born, not until the star-spangled banner rose toward
the skies, was liberty caught up in humanity’s embrace, and embodied in a great
and abiding nation.
In America the government takes from the liberty of the
citizen only so much as is necessary for the weal of the nation, which the
citizen by this own act freely concedes. In America there are no masters, who
govern in their own right, for their own interest, or at their own will. We
have over us no Louis XIV., saying: “L’etat c’est moi”; no Hohenzollern,
announcing that in his acts as sovereign he is responsible only to his
conscience and to God. Ours is the government of the people, by the people, and
for the people. The government is our own organized will.
THERE IS NO STATE ABOVE OR APART FROM THE PEOPLE
Rights begin with, and go upward from the people. In other
countries, even those apparently the most free, rights begin with and come downward
from the state. The rights of citizens, the rights of the people, are concessions
which have been painfully wrenched from the governing powers. With Americans,
whenever the organized government does not prove its grant, the liberty of the
individual citizen is sacred and inviolable. Elsewhere there are governments
called republics; universal suffrage constitutes the state; but once
constituted the state is tyrannous and arbitrary, and invades at will private
rights, and curtails at will individual liberty.
One Republic is liberty’s
native home- America.
The God-given mission of the Republic of America is not only
to its own people; it is to all the peoples of the earth, before whose eyes it
is the symbol of human rights and human liberty, toward whom its flag flutters
hopes of future happiness for themselves.
Is there not for Americans a meaning to the word, Country? Is
there not for Americans reason to live for country, and, if need there be, to
die for country? Whatever the country, patriotism is a duty; in America the
duty is thrice sacred.
Duty to country is a duty of conscience, a duty to God. For
country exists by natural divine right. It receives from God the authority
needful for its life and work; its authority to command is divine. The apostle
of Christ to the Gentiles writes: “There is no power but from God, and those
that are, are ordained of God. Therefore, he that resisteth the power,
resisteth the ordinance of God.” The religion of patriotism is not sufficiently
considered; and yet, it is this religion which gives to country its majesty,
and to patriotism its sacredness and force.
PATRIOTISM IN THE TIME OF PEACE
The days of peace have come upon our fair land; the days
when patriotism was a duty have not departed. What was saved by war must be
preserved.
A government of the people, by the people, and for the
people, as proposed by the founders of the Republic, was, in the light of the
facts of history, a stupendous experiment. The experiment has so far succeeded.
A French publicist, De Maistre, once dismissed with contempt the argument drawn
from the United States in favor of free institutions in Europe, remarking; “The
Republic of the United States is in its swathing-clothes; let it grow; wait a
century and you will see.”
The Republic has lived out a century, it has lived
out a mighty civil war, with no diminution, assuredly, of vigor and promise.
Can we say, however, that it is beyond all the stages of an experiment? The
world at large is not willing to grant this conclusion; it tells us, even, that
the Republic is but now entering upon its crucial crisis.
New conditions,
indeed, confront us; new perils menace us, in a population bordering on the hundredth
million and prepared quickly to leap beyond this figure, in plethoric unwieldy
urban conglomerations, in that unbridled luxury of living consequent on vast
material prosperity, which in all times is a dreaded foe to liberty. It were
reckless folly on our part to deny all force to the objections which are put to
us.
Meanwhile, the destinies of numerous peoples are in the balance.
They move toward liberty, as liberty is seen to reign undisturbed in America;
they recede toward absolution and hereditary régimes, as clouds are seen
darkening our sky.
Civil, political, social happenings of America are watched,
the world over, with intense anxiety, because of their supported bearings upon
the question of the practicability of popular government. A hundred times the
thought pressed itself upon me, as I discussed in foreign countries the modern
democracy, that, could Americans understand how much is made to depend upon the
outcome of republican and democratic institutions in their country, a new fire
of patriotism, a new zeal in the welfare of the Republic, would kindle within
their hearts.
For my part, I have unwavering faith in the Republic of
America. I have faith in the providence of God and the progress of humanity; I
will not believe that liberty is not a permanent gift, and it were not if
America fail. I have faith in the powerful and loyal heart of America, which clings
fast to liberty, and sooner or later rights wrongs and uproots evils. I have no
fears. Clouds cross the heavens; soon a burst of sunlight dispels them.
Different interests in society are out of joint with one another, and the
social organism is feverish; it is simply the effort toward new adjustments; in
a little while there will be order and peace. Threatening social and political
evils are near, and are seemingly gaining ground; the American people are conservatively
patient; but ere long the national heart is roused and the evils, however
formidable be their aspect, go down before the tread of an indignant people.
DANGERS TO A GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE
The safety of the
Republic lies in the vigilant and active patriotism of the American people.
There is a danger of ignorant voters. As a rule, the man who
does not read and write intelligently, cannot vote intelligently. Americans
understand the necessity of popular instruction, and spare no expense at
spreading it. They cannot be too zealous in the matter. They need to have laws
in every State which will punish, as guilty of crimes against the country, the
parent who neglects to send his children to school.
There is a danger-and a most serious one-in corrupt morals.
A people without good morals is incapable of self-government. At the basis of
the proper exercise of the suffrage lie unselfishness and the spirit of
sacrifice. A corrupt man is selfish; an appeal to duty finds no response in his
conscience; he is incapable of the high-mindedness and generous acts which are
the elements of patriotism; he is ready to sell the country for pelf or
pleasure.
Patriotism takes alarm at the spread of intemperance, lasciviousness,
dishonesty, perjury; for country’s sake it should arm against those dire evils
all the country’s forces, its legislatures, its courts, and above all else,
public opinion.
Materialism and the denial of a living, supreme God annihilate
conscience, and break down the barriers to sensuality; they sow broadcast the
seeds of moral death; they are fatal to liberty and social order. A people
without a belief in God and a future life of soul will not remain a free people.
The age of the democracy must, for its own protection, be an age of religion.
AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP-THE SOLE STANDARD
Storms are passing over the land, arising from sectarian
hatred, and nativist or foreign prejudices. These are scarcely to be heeded;
they cannot last. Day by day the spirit of Americanism waxes strong; narrowness
of thought and unreasoning strife cannot resist its influences.
The country is America; only they who are loyal to her can
be allowed to live under her flag; and they who are loyal to her may enjoy all
her liberties and rights. Freedom of religion is accorded by the Constitution;
religion is put outside the state action, and most wisely so; therefore, the
religion of a citizen must not be considered by voter or executive officer. The
oath of allegiance to the country makes the man a citizen; if that allegiance
is not plenary and supreme, he is false to his profession; if it is, he is an
American.
Discriminations and segregations, in civil or political matters, on
lines of religion, of birth-place, or of race, or of language-and, I add, or of
color- is un-American, and wrong. Compel all to be Americans, in soul as well
as in name: and then, let the standard of all value be their American
citizenship.
AMERICAN PATRIOTISM NEEDED
American patriotism is needed-patriotism intense, which
speaks out in noble pride, with beating heart; Civis Americanus-I am an
American citizen; patriotism active, which shows itself in deed and in
sacrifice; patriotism public-spirited, which cares for the public weal as for the
apple of the eye. Private personal civic virtue is not uncommon among us; more
uncommon is public civic virtue, which watches the ballot and all approaches to
it, which demands that public officials do their duty, which purifies public
opinion on all matters where country is concerned. This patriotism will save
the Republic.
From whom primarily does the Republic expect this patriotism?
From her veteran soldiers.
This patriotism, America, thou shalt have. I speak for
veterans. I speak for their brother-citizens.
Noblest ship of state, sail thou on over billows, and
through storms, undaunted, imperishable! Of thee I do not say: “Caesarem
vehis-thou carriest Caesar.” But of thee I say: “Libertatem vehis-thou carriest Liberty.” Within thy bulwarks the
fair goddess is enthroned, holding in her hands the dreams and hopes of
humanity. Oh! For her sake, guard well thyself. Sail thou on, peerless ship;
safe from shoals and malign winds, ever strong in keel, ever beauteous in prow
and canvas, ever guided by heaven’s polar star! Sail thou on, I pray thee,
undaunted and imperishable!" --end--
If we do nothing our country will continue to destroy itself from the inside. We must be a properly educated and moral people. Our Catholic Church today is mostly failing us. Our Catholic Church of yesterday will never fail us, as we can always find solid teachings with Her.
I have many of these old Catholic teaching books and I will continue to share the treasures they hold. Please share this writing with other Catholics who may not have such books or good solid priests to instruct them in our beautiful Faith. Perhaps you know a priest who might be interested in this writing from 1910? Please share - I think our country really needs this now. Thank you.
God bless you all and God bless America.
In Christ,
Julie
More on Most Rev. Archbishop Ireland: https://www.archspm.org/leadership/past-bishops/most-reverend-john-ireland/
