America's ideal : not war but peace


THE CATHOLIC HOUR

AMERICA'S IDEAL: NOT WAR
BUT PEACE

BY

REV. MSCR. T. JAMES McNAMARA
Superintendent of Schools in the Diocese of

Savannah-Atlanta

The last in a series of four addresses, delivered in the Catholic
Hour, broadcast by the National Broadcasting Company in coopera-
tion with the National Council of Catholic Men, on November 24

,
1946

,

by the Rt. Rev. Msgr, T. James McNamara, Superintendent of Schools in
the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta. After the series has been completed
on the radio, it will be made available in one pamphlet.

National Council of Catholic Men
Washinsrton, D. C.



’ /

AMERICAS IDEAL: NOT WAR BUT PEACE
Fellow Americans

,

The pattern for world peace

and peace within the nation was

formulated on July 4, 1776. In

their Declaration of Independ-

ence on that epoch-making day,

the Founding Fathers, as the

legally-constituted representa-

tives of a nation conceived in

suffering and born of conscience,

laid the groundwork on which

alone can be built a just and

durable peace. In the principles

they enunciated is found the

only secure prop for peace among

nations and within nations. In

committing themselves and fu-

ture generations of Americans

to an acknowledgment of God

as the Author of life, liberty and

human happiness, they put be-

yond the jarring self-interest of

men the welfare of the nation
and of individuals within the

nation. In so committing them-

selves and future generations of

Americans, they established the

United States of America as a

nation of believers. In the vir-

tue of Faith, they saw the way

to rise above the clashing in-

equalities of life and to save

men from the arbitrary enact-
ments of their fellows.

Amid the trials and tribula-
tions, the disappointments and

the sorrows of a subject people,

the Founders of this nation were

enabled to see with that clarity

which Faith alone, stimulated by

suffering, could engender. They

turned to nature and to nature's

God and found the principles for
a just and durable peace. The
Faith that was theirs, we of
this generation must re-kindle if

we are to retain our precious
heritage of freedom. The Faith
that was theirs, we must live if
our nation is to fulfill its high

destiny to a stricken world.

Strange as it may seem, with
educational opportunities within

the reach of all, we, as a people,

lack the science of Faith. Knowl-

edge we have, but unfortunately
for us and for the world that

looks to us today for leadership,

it is only a knowledge of thb

fruits of Faith but not of Faith

itself. We have all the self-
assurance which possession in-

spires, but we are at a loss to
explain the origin of our pos-

session. We revel in the fruits;
we are puzzled and confused
when others whom we would help
do not find these fruits as con-

vincing as we who have enjoyed
their sweet beneficence uncon-

testedly.

Nature has been most bounti-

ful and extremely prodigal in our

regard
;
we have used this bounty

and prodigality to build a na-

tion which is the envy of all



nations. In the spirit of our

traditions, we have offered to
share the good things which na-

ture has so generously provided

for us. We are annoyed and
angered when those less favored

than ourselves, receiving of our

bounty, refuse to accept as well

our concept of fundamentals in

government. Perplexed and dis-

illusioned, many amongst us
would have the nation withdraw

into isolation and leave the world

to suffer the canker of its own

wounds.

Little do such people realize

that it is not the gifts that are

questioned, but rather the mo-

tive which prompts the gifts.

Nations are not ungrateful; they

are suspicious, fearful of what

we expect in return. They can-
not understand why we would
share, since, to them, we are
interested chiefly in our strength.

Like individuals, nations resent

paternalism; we, as a people, are

as yet to declare that is not

paternalism but the Paternity of

God that prompts our sharing.

Emotionally we are moved by
this sublime truth of the Father-

hood of God; rationally we lack
its conviction which could con-

vince others of the sincerity of

our motives. We give of our
sustenance to sustain abroad the

meaning of Qur Bill of Rights;

we lack the courage to tell abroad
the religious background of our

country’s Declaration of Inde-

pendence, which alone makes

meaningful the liberties and

freedoms of that Bill of Rights.

Certainly we do not lack the
courage because the majority of

the American people have repudi-

ated that religious background.

Indeed, it is a valid assumption

that the majority still cling to

these major premises of our

country’s proud boast of liberty

and freedom since no successful

effort has been made ‘"to alter or

abolish” them.

We might ask ourselves in the
light^ of this supported assump-

tion, why, then, does the Educa-

tional System of America in its

totality fight shy of integrating

this religious background into

school curricula generally? Why,
then, does our country, in its

boast of liberty and freedom con-

tinue to state itself abortively,

stressing the fruits of belief in

God, and yet refusing to acknowl-

edge fully God, the Source of

these fruits?

The Catholic School, part of

the American Educational Sys-

tem, is happy that it serves the

nation in these all-important

matters of Faith; it would be

happier if the nation would bring

the full force of these vitalizing

principles to bear on national

thinking. No one has ever
charged the Founding Fathers

with sectarianism because Of the



religious truths they incorpor-

ated into the Declaration of In-

dependence ; why then, should
such a charge be feared in re-

stating in textbooks, these re-

ligious truths and the reasons on

which they rest ?

More and more, events that

are challenging our concepts of

liberty and freedom are shaping

themselves at home and abroad.
More and more, these events

are shaping our country's neces-

sity to declare, as did the Found-

ing Fathers, the origin of liberty

and freedom, or suffer their loss.

The challenge and consequent

necessity surprisingly come, not

so much from events abroad, as
from events at home.

A changing economy has made
many of our citizens rank prag-
matists and earthly materialists.

They regard class warfare as in-

evitable, and look upon the qual-

ities of the Declaration as idle

speculations having no bearing

on the practicalities of life, Un-

fortunately, on the other hand,

there are many more fortuitously
placed in our country's economy,

who give lip service to these
equalities while using class con-

sciousness to serve their equally

pragmatic ends. Both blot out

American and religious values*

and make our country's boast of

liberty and freedom a hollow

sham. Both are prosaic, matter-

of-fact, critical, indeed blase and

‘^knowing." Knowing in the sense
of knowing-it-all, they find with-

in themselves the explanation of

all things. What excites and
occupies their thoughts is not

the background of their world,

but the foreground, the world of

phenomena, their own little sel-
fish world, its facts and events.

This is all they see and all they

contemplate. Inquiry into the

nature of these phenomena, into

the ultimate cause of their ef-

fects, all seem to them misguided

and sterile. They cannot carry
beyond the physical world be-

cause their metaphysical capacity

is stunted. Plato, the ancient

philosopher, would say that they

lacked an eye, the eye for the

invisible.

In a similar manner, their

sense of the supernatural and the

divine is weakened. They have

a secret antipathy towards any-

thing claiming to be divine, un-

conditioned, absolute. The world

of Faith makes no appeal what-

ever to them; indeed, they have

an aversion to it, if they are not

actually hostile. Consciously or

unconsciously, they have turned

from God, and to all intents and

purposes have become atheistical.

Deliberately and on principle

limiting their thoughts and opin-

ions to sensual experiences, in

the words of Chesterton, ‘‘they

have become most unnatural

while seeking to be natural."



They take the smallest section

of all reality to be the whole re-

ality. They ignore or deny the

ultimate roots of this reality, its

profoundest relations, its con-

nection with the invisible and

the divine. Divorcing their

thought from the totality of be-

ing, they have isolated them-

selves from the creative thought

of God. They have artificially

mapped out for themselves a par-

ticular field of reality and dare to

call it nature.

Unlike the Founding Fathers

of our country, they have di-

vorced nature from nature’s

God; thus they have secularized

their lives and seek the seculari-

zation of the nation’s life. Their

whole mentality warped. Faith

for them and for those who fall
under their infiuence is made
incomparably difficult. Concen-

trating on the mere visible world,

the world of phenomena, their

capacity to see God has been
weakened. Blinded by the things

of time, they regard life as a

struggle which will inevitably

blot out dignity, liberty and free-

dom for those not disposed to
battle.

They are the real threat to
our country’s determination to

perpetuate liberty and freedom

in the traditions of the nation’s

Declaration of Independence

;

they are the enemy threatening

to obscure our country's ideal

of peace.

We, the believers of America
—^Protestant, Jew and Catholic
—must re-assert our Faith in
our nation’s thinking. We must
so order our thought and action

that the world can identify our

Faith in our nation’s acts. We
must so demonstrate religion in

our living that the secularized

citizens within our midst will,

by sheer force of example, return

to their true selves, to their true

nature, to the child in them.

How charged with fate are the
words ot Jesus today: . . Un*
less you . . . become as little

children, you will not enter into

the kingdom of heaven” (Mat-

thew 18:3). Yes, others lacking

belief must be persuaded by the

sheer force of example to turn

to God as did the Founding Fa-

thers, the authors of true Amer-

icanism. They must be made
to realize that this does not mean
closing their eyes to the testi-

mony of nature ; but rather,
means opening their eye^ and

their ears, their hearts and their

minds to nature’s God, in Whom
alone nature and its works find

meaning.

Either the American Protes-

tant, the American Jew and the
American Catholic will stand

together in defense by word and

example of those religious prin-

ciples which give meaning to



traditional Americanism, or they

will suffer the drastic conse-

quences. These religious prin-

ciples, so vital to the way of life
of Protestantism, Judaism and

‘Catholicism are identically and

equally vital to the continuation

of the American way of life.
Eliminate them, and you may
soon have the Omnipotent State

and its arbitrary enactments,

circumscribing and dissipating

human dignity and human lib-
erty. Eliminate them, and you

may have persecution and even-
tual liquidation of the conscien-

tious Protestant, Jew and Cath-
olic. Eliminate these religious

principles, and you may well have
life with fear, liberty destroyed,

and happiness deteriorated.

Eventually there is no alterna-

tive. Either men are creatures
of God, or they become creatures

of the State. Either men enjoy
equally from the Omnipotent God
rights to life, liberty and the

pursuit of happiness, or they be-

come simply pawns to be used
by an Omnipotent State for pow-

er. Either the State is their

servant or the State becomes

their master. Either they are

free or they will be slaves. Either

man seeks his own welfare and
the welfare of others through

cooperation and understanding,

or he becomes a creature bent on

survival at the expense of his fel-

lows. Cooperation and under-

standing mean liberty and free-
dom; survival means force and

subjugation. Liberty and free-

dom require God; force and sub-
jugation require brute energy.

God is peace
;

brute energy is

war.

Long since our country placed

itself on the side of God. In its

birth certificate it is written,

‘'When in the course of human
events, it becomes necessary for

one people ... to assume among
the powers of the earth, the sep-

arate and equal station to which

the Laws of Nature and of Na-

ture's God entitle them . . • We
hold these truths to be self evi-

dent, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by

their Creator with certain in-

alienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the

Pursuit of Happiness." Too long

since the nation has allowed the

process which has progressively

obscured this Declaration. Too

often has the American Protes-

tant, the American Jew, and the

American Catholic allowed an

extremely volatile compound of

sneers, assumptions and disdain-

ful phrases to shame them into

silence.

New and unusual storms have
gathered threateningly on the

horizon of man's dignity and

man's liberty. While we know

that the conflict between God and

evil, between God and His ene-



mies, will not end until the time

when, to the field of mingled

wheat and tares, the sickle and

torch shall be applied; neverthe-

less, as keepers in the tower of

Israel, we must be ever alert.
The ocean of religious faith in

God, has, like terrestrial seas,

its rising and refulgent tides.

For many years its waters have
been steadily receding; and it

looks as though the ebb has well

nigh reached its limit. The tide

is turning and the flood will once

more break upon our shores. If

we are to be spared crucifixion

at the turning of this tide, then

it behooves us to quicken the

flood of Faith in the minds and

the hearts of our own and of

generations to come.

Today that civilization which

brought forth its finest flowering

in the fertile soil of the New
World of Columbus’ discovery, is

threatened as never before in its

long history of achievement and

accomplishment for the benefit

of mankind. It is said that the

mouthpiece of the Archconspira-

tor against progress made the

boast that he and his hellish co-

horts would slam the door of

civilization so hard it would re-

main closed for generations. The

Archconspirator was defeated.

His fight on God continues. It

is well, then, that we re-dedicate
our selves to those eternal prin-

ciples which have found their

noblest political expression in

this, our land—to those eternal
principles which divide the na-

tions of the world into opposing

camps, but which are the only

promise of a just and durable

peace.

When this New World, born
of the ''Santa Maria” and bear-

ing first the name of Mary’s Son,
became known to the peoples of
the Old World, they, in turn,

looked to it as a refuge from

tyrants and a haven for con-

science. When those who came
elected to establish a nation,

they wrote their political ex-

pression in terms of the tradi-

tion that was signified by such

holy and hallowed names as San-

ta Maria, San Salvador and La

Navidad. They wrote in terms

of the truths that are set down

in the pages of history in the

Sacred Blood that was shed on

Calvary.

It would seem that our land

is in a very literal sense, a child

of Providence; and our history

clearly demonstrates that the

greatness of our nation has not

been apart from God ; on the

contrary, it has been with God.

In the Declaration of Independ-

ence, our land gave to the world

one of the highest and most com-

plete political expressions of the

teaching of Him, Who alone
rightfully bears the sacred title.

Prince of Peace.



That we might not fail the
world and the nation in this hour

of crisis, let us re-dedicate our-

selves in the spirit of our coun-

try's Founders to the eternal

principles of peace: 1) That God

in His wisdom, without distinc-

tion of race, color or creed,

created all men equal; 2) that
governments are established to

protect men in the exercise of
God-given rights, which in the

aggregate add up to human hap-

piness and prosperity; 3) that

the only successful economy is

that expressed tersely on the

coinage of our nation, trust and

confidence in God; 4) that grati-

tude to God is a patriotic as well
as a religious duty. So dedicat-

ing ourselves, our spirit will be

the spirit of the great navigator,

Columbus; the spirit of high ro-

mance and adventure; the spirit

that leads men on, ever upward,

ever onward. Then and only

then can we, the people of the

United States, say to the peo-

ples of the world, as did Colum-

bus to a mutinous crew, ‘'Sail on;

sail on!"