People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 September 1893 — WORK OF CATHOLICS. [ARTICLE]

WORK OF CATHOLICS.

Result of Church Congress Submitted Through Resolution*. Chicago, Sept IL —The Catholics have closed their congress at the Art institute. Before final adjournment a series of resolutions were adopted, of which the following is a synopsis: The resolutions of the Catholio congress held in Baltimore tn November, 1889, declaring unalterable attachment to the pope and thanking him for sending an apostolic delegate to America were affirmed. The resolutions also congratulated the hierarchy on the wondrous growth of the church and pledged their bishops and priests to unfaltering devotion and fidelity. There were J dangers .too the church requiring earnest consideration, the most obvious of which was the growing discontent ot those earning their living by manual labor. All the remedies proposed would fail if they clashed with the principles of truth and justice. The encyclical of Leo XIII on tbe condition of labor was endorsed as expressive of the views of the congress on this question. The principle of arbitration and conciliation was also strongly endorsed,and the appointment of a committee was recommended to consider some suitable method of arbitration which could be widely adopted. True principles of Christian morality must be applied to all social problems, and the formation of societies tor the distribution of sound economic literature was recommended. The helpless condition ot Catholic working girls in large cities was deplored, and the formation of societies for their protection and assistance warmly urged. The work of Catholic life insurance associations was eulogized; the massing of people in an indiscriminate manner in large cities was touched upon. Appropriate measures should be adopted to encourage and assist families to settle in agricultural districts. The vice of intemperance, to which many of the sorrows of the people could be traced was deeply deplored. The temperance and abstinence societies already formed had done much to abate this evil, and legislation looking to the restriction and regulation of the sale of intoxicants was recommended. Catholics were everywhere implored to keep out ot the saloon business. The framers of the resolution then proceeded to extend to the secular clergy, religious orders and the laity who were devoting their lives to the work of educating the Indian and the negro the hearty sympathy and cooperation of the members of the congress. Touching upon the question of education continued efforts must be made to strengthen the Catholic parochial schools and Catholic colleges, and to bring all educational institutions to the highest standard of excellence. It was the sense of the congress that the decrees of the council of Baltimore should be and the decrees of the holy sec upheld in this particular. A scathing denunciation of immoral literature followed and a decided stand against those who would secularize Sunday was taken. The recommendation of international arbitration paved the way to the unequivocal indorsement Of Mgr. Satolli's now famous phrase: “Let our watchword be Forward! In one hand tbe Gospel of Christ, and in the other the constitution of the United States.” After an interesting address by Cardinal Gibbons the congress adjourned sine die. After the cardinal’s address and before the adjournment took place a set of resolutions was presented by Thomas P. Fenton, of Lawrence, Kan., sympathizing with the Irish home rulers over the set-back given them by the English house of lords when the Gladstonian bill was defeated by a vote of 419 to 41. Mr. Fenion’s resolution brought up a score of protests, the point made being that this congress should steer clear of politics, and that therefore the resolution washout of place. Finally an amendment was presented which included a vote of sympathy to the oppressed Catholics of Poland, the Jews of Russia and the oppressed of all nations. This was adopted as the action of a mass meeting, and not that of the Catholic congress.