Bishop Buddy Scrapbook 1938-1940

Bish

Buddy Lauds Lo ola

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"And yet materialism is not a theory that uplifts man nor recog- nizes his dignity, It gives him neither a flattering origin nor an honorable ending. Once the spark of faith is' extinguished and he cannot see the light shining in the darkness, the materialist., like the darkness that does not compre- hend, is left helpless to take his chances in deep waters anywhere between the tadpole and the phi- losopher. It leaves him to sink or swim in the endless changes of oxygen, hydrogen, iron, lime, phosphorus, salt and sugar. "And so an occasion like this rejoices the Church of God be- cause of the possibilities for moral and cultural leadership in the graduates with a background where neither intellect nor will has been neglected. Let me ex- press the hope that Loyola grad- uates will use all the powers of gifted leadership, the lack of which is so keenly felt in every walk of life. May this Class of '38 put the welfare of govern- ment above selfish interest. The cause is greater than any indi- vidual. But surely you understand that the Catholic Church is not in pol- itics nor is the Church interested in the promotion of any particu- lar party, but every Catholic must be vitally interested in the sta- bility of our beloved country. Why is it that the personnel of so many of our state and city ad- ministrations presents a spectacle of low-grade intelligence-hang- ers on, makeshifts, who have failed in everything? The ans- wer is obvious-because abler men of high talent and finer intelli- gence have selfishly kept aloof. But when their interests are tram- pled on they start the hue and cry of dirty politics. Their belat- ed protest comes from an arm chair at a safe distance on the sidelines. You have often heard the ad- vice to keep out of politics because it is c01TUpt. If it is corrupt: men who have had the advan-1 tages that you have had are to blame. If you find politics cor- rupt, go in and clean it up. Take an interest in every phase of government. Give freely of your time for the committee meetings and when the unscrupulous poli- tician lifts his ugly head, step on it or say with the referee on the ball field, "You can't do that." At least get in the scrimmage. Show . what is back of the colors in the· collegiate hood you received to- day. Let your manhood assert itself. There is too much pussy- footing. You must demand that the crooked be made straight. politics is more important than any man's businses, You could take the best organized business into Mexico or Russia or into Communistic Spain and have it wrecked overnight. Would that the same calibre of men who pro- mote the Community Chests in our cities took an equal interest in the welfare of the government. You graduates know what you think of the fellow who is too yellow to· p~ay the game. Is the integrity of your government worth anything to you? Then what about the game of -politics-- what of the game of life?

"Indeed religion is the highest I of all sciences. . The excellence of a science rests upon the certainty of its conclusions, for certainty alone can 52,tisfy the mind of man. The science of religion af- fords the highest certainty-the wisdom and truthfulness of God Himself. "The excellence of a science de- pends upon the dignity of its sub- ject matter. The subject matter of religion and all that relates to it is God Who unfolds truttis be- yond the finite intellect. The ex- cellence of a science depends upon the importance of its object. Re- ligion, most important of all pur- suits, leads man to the beatific vision, eternal happiness, the pos- session of everlasting love. There- fore, the Church and her great Universities have nothing to fear from the discoveries of science be- cause she possesses all truth. She is still animated by th.e Para- clete, the Spirit of Tnlth. She lives and acts and speaks through Him. 'In vain do the heathen rage and the peoples plot vain things'. Even amid the storms of persecution the Church never for- gets her divine mission nor teach- ing office. In season and out of season she harkens to the divine command: 'Go, therefore, teach ye all nations-teaching them to observe ·all things whatsoever I have commanded you'. . Aye, go forth and transform men from the bondage of sin into the lib- erty and glory of the children. of God. Contrast Is Shown "Now contrast this with the re- action that materialism is making in the world today, and behold the results. The fallacy of the materialist lies in the narrow lim- its he makes for himself. He says 'As far as the microscope and scalpel go, we go; where the mi- croscope and scalpel stop, we stop'. It is the one tract mind, the outer c-dgr of the only world lle knows,

(Continued from page 3) a power and influence that liars become truth lm·ers, heroes are made out of cowards, noble-mind- ed and generous men emerge from mean and mi.<:erly skeletons. "In a University which has the courage to give the Crucifix of our Lord Jesus Christ th e place of honor in every lecture hall, where the lives of the profes- scrs are shining exalllples of cul- ture, self-abasement and humil- ity, the students soon learn by the dynamic force of the lives they conta.ct that virtue is strength and power, wisdom and knowl- edge, sympathy and blessedness; that to be reverent, to be respect- ful, humble and obedient, gentle and considerate are but the corol- laries of a cultivated mind. They learn what the nation is begin- nin~ to learn from the law-craze of futile legislation that you can- not i;,ubstitute man-made laws for the laws of God. You cannot legislate honesty into politic~ nor justice into courts any more than you can legislate employers into paying a fair and decent wage. If not the moral law, what s-anction shall stress that no one has the right to batten on the unrequitted labors of his fellow man. This great University staffed by the sons of Loyola-intrepid sol- diers first and last - challenges the hlasphemy of godless schools in rejecting the decalogue. Jesuit educators have embraced, for their pprtion, the three arms of the cross-poverty, chastity and obedience. They teach with au- thority. Students of Loyola un- derstand that social peace and or- der depend on the observance of the Commandments of God- which after all form the basic conditions of good citizenship. My dear friends, from an economic standpoint have you -considered the cost of crime? Do you know that even the observance of only one Commandment--ihe Seventh -would be sufficient to lift• all federal, .county, state. and. city taxes. Do you see the relation- ship between ethics and economy? Religion and Science "Recently an article appeared in an educational review i;tatinb' that 'the signs of a closer friend- ship between religion and science are everywhere apparent'. But there was never any conflict be- tween faith and real science be- cause they are the 'twin daughters of the one Heavenly Father'. They, move in parallel lines, between them the zone of metaphysics. To be sure faith and science often treat the same subject but alwiiys under diferent aspects. In the words of our Holy Father 'the Church bleses every healthy initiative and has no fear of prog- ress, even the most daring prog- ress of science, if only it be true science'.

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