No. 2.

An

|

Investigation
|

of the

Catholic

Religion

J
By the

|

Rev. John A. O’Brien, Ph. D. i

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INTRODUCTION

As I am a stranger to you, dear

friend, who read these lines, and am

one whom you shall probably never

know personally, perhaps it may be

permissable for me to mention that if

I were a narrow-minded zealot with-

out sympathy or love for those who

differ from me in their religious

views, I would scarcely be honored

with the repeated invitations which

have come to me to speak in the var-

ious Protestant churches in the com-

munity in which I live, on the prac-

tices and belief of the Catholic

Church. Neither would I have re-

ceived a gold Knights of Columbus

emblem in 1925 from the Acacia, a

fraternity composed exclusively of

Masonic students at the University

of llinois, as a token of appreciation

of the influence which they esteem I

have exerted in the interests of

friendship and good will between

Catholics and non-Catholics in the



community in which I minister. I

mention these facts in an objective

manner with no thought of personal

glory and even with some reluctance,

simply that you may believe me when

I say that this visit with you is

prompted by a heart full of love and

good will for you.

While all souls are equal in the

eyes of God, and all are infinitely

precious to Him, I must confess that

the task of spreading a knowledge of

Christ’s teachings among my own

countrymen makes a greater natural

appeal to me, and seems to have first

call upon my affections and my loy-

alty than even the apostolic work of

carrying it to the people of the Orient.

That is most important, indeed, and

I view with profound admiration the

heroic missionaries who wear out

their lives in foreign lands in break-

ing the bread of truth to the natives

there. With about sixty millions of

my fellow citizens, however, bound

to me by the strong ties of a common

love for my country, and a common

tongue, who are unaffiliated with any

(2 )



Christian Church, I feel the special

urgency of the obligation of sharing

my treasure with my own immediate

neighbors and countrymen—inviting
them first of all into full membership

in the household of the faith.

NOT PROPAGANDA

In so doing, my efforts are not to

be viewed as those of a propagandist

in the sense in which that term has

come to be used since the World War.

In those hectic days our country and

those of the Old World as well were

flooded with propaganda designed to

portray the opposing forces and all

their works in a wholly evil light.

The aim seemed to be to increase our

own morale by inducing us to hate

the enemy with a more intense ani-

mosity. We know now that much of
the propaganda consisted of lies, half-

truths, highly colored accounts of al-

leged atrocities, and a suppression of

the enemy’s version of all occurrences.

When we discovered after the armis-

tice, how much of the propaganda was

colored and distorted, and how many

(3 )



falsehoods had gained currency and

respectability under the camouflage of

patriotic propaganda, we rightly de-

veloped a distaste for the propagan-

dist who seeks to influence the belief

of people by a one-sided and unfair

representation of evidence.

I share that distaste. I would

never wish to lead a person into the

Catholic faith by a misrepresentation

of the credentials of either the Pro-

testant or the Catholic religion. No

Church, I think, has suffered more

from such misrepresentation than

my own. I have nothing but abhor-

rence for those who indulge in such

unscrupulous and dishonest tactics.

My appeal is to the intellect not to
the emotions. For the end desired is

not a temporary commitment arising

from an emotional appeal, but that

permanent loyalty that results only

from a true intellectual conviction.

It alone can weather the storms and

trials of a lifetime. There will be no

importuning, no high-pressure sales-

manship. Among the several hun-

dred whom I have been privileged to

( 4 )



receive into the Church, I have never

yet asked a single one to embrace the

faith. I explain it, and leave it to

the judgment of the individual to ac-

cept or to reject in accordance with

the dictates of his own conscience.

For faith implies the free assent of

the will after the intellect achieves

conviction. Without freedom and in-

ternal conviction there can be no real

faith, but merely its outward shell.

( 5 )



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An Investigation Of The

Catholic Religion

There is no subject so worthy of

investigation as the Catholic re-

ligion. It has exercised a profound

and enduring influence upon the

thought and the life of humanity.

No person can aspire to be truly

educated, who remains ignorant of

the one institution in the world to-

day which traces its origin directly

back to Jesus Christ. Founded by

our divine Lord in the year 33 A. D.,

the Catholic Church has continued

in existence throughout nineteen

centuries, carrying on her divinely-

appointed mission of preaching the

gospel of Christ to every nation

under the sun.

At the present time the Catholic

Church numbers over 325,000,000 of

human beings— 100,000,000 more
than the combined membership of all

Protestant religious organizations.

While her members are of every race



8 AN INVESTIGATION OP

and tongue, having different racial

temperaments and diverse national

traditions, they are all bound to-

gether by the strong bonds of a com-

mon faith. They believe the same

doctrines, receive the same sacra-

ments, and recognize the same spiri-

tual head. The unity is not merely

in name, but in reality. A Catholic
can hear Mass, receive the sacra-

ments, and assist at the devotions in

any Catholic church in the world,

and feel as much at home as if he

were worshipping in his own parish

church.

During the World War it was a

source of surprise for many of our

young men drawn into the army

from rural districts and small

towns, where there were few Catho-

lics, to discover that the one Church

they could be certain of finding in

practically every village and city in

Europe was the Catholic Church.

Other churches, familiar enough in

the United States, were found to be

almost unheard of in the countries

of Europe.

While it was a source of comfort



THE CATHOLIC RELIGION 9

for the Catholic soldiers to be able

thus to continue the practice of their

faith in any country in Europe, it

was also the occasion of affording

many hundreds of thousands of our

fellow-citizens a new insight into the

world-wide character of the Catho-

lic Church, which would have been

scarcely possible for them to have

secured within the narrow horizons

which bounded their previous out-

look. For the first time they got

glimmerings of a religion that was

truly international and interracial,

and which sank its roots deep into

the antiquity of the history of Chris-

tendom. In other words, they went

a long distance along the pathway

that leads to the discovery of that

most essential truth, that Catholi-

city and historical Christianity are

identical.

Catholicity Is Historical

Christianity

The only form of Christianity

—

save for a few sects which cut them-

selves off from the centre of unity

and for the most part subsequently



10 AN INVESTIGATION OF

withered away—which can be found
in the history of Christendom for

the first sixteen centuries is the

Catholic Church. Blot her from the

pages of history, and the Bible as

well as Christianity disappear from

the face of the earth. Without her

Protestantism would not exist, for

Protestantism is founded upon the

private interpretation of Holy Scrip-

ture. And since the books of the

Bible constituting both the Old and

the New Testament, were deter-

mined solely by the authority of the

Catholic Church, without the Church

there would have been no Bible, and

hence no Protestantism. The Catho-

lic Church is therefore the one cen-

tral fact in the religious history of

Christendom.

Not only is the Catholic Church

the largest religious organization in

the world today, but it is the only

institution that has survived the fall

of the Roman Empire. When that

great world empire fell beneath the

successive onslaughts of the vast

hordes of barbarians that poured in

upon her from the North and the



THE CATHOLIC RELIGION 11

East, the Church proceeded to

Christianize and civilize them. In

literal terms, she made the captor

captive. In so doing she clearly

showed that her mission was not

merely to the Jews, the Greeks, or

the Romans, but to all mankind. At

this early date she displayed the

Catholicity inherent within her very

nature by opening her arms as wide

to the barbarian Vandal, Visigoth,

or Hun as to the mighty Roman or

the cultured Greek. To that mark

of Catholicity or universality she

has always clung, as being the very

imprint of the Divine upon her.

How Can They Be Reputed
Educated?

How can one then justly claim to

be educated who is ignorant of the

history of the institution, which has

been the most potent single factor in

shaping the life and the thought of

Western civilization? It estab-

lished schools and universities

throughout the world, and inspired

painters, sculptors, and musicians

in the achievement of their mastey-



12 AN INVESTIGATION OF

pieces. It fostered a love of litera-

ture and encouraged investigation of

the secrets of nature, and thus laid

the foundations of modern science.'

As that penetrating student of the

history of human culture, Eugene

Savage, Professor of Art at Yale

University, aptly declared in a re-

cent lecture at which I was present:

“All that separates the white man

from barbarism is the history of the

Christian Church.” That Church, as

I have pointed out, is the Catholic

Church, since it was the only Chris-

tian Church in existence during

those ages of transition and for

many centuries afterward.

Is it not to be expected that a

Church which spans so many cen-

turies, which is so intimately inter-

woven into the daily life and thought

of hundreds of millions of people,

and which colors their whole out-

look and shapes their sense of

values, will be at times misunder-

stood and misrepresented? Not only

is it evident that at times her teach-

ings are misunderstood, but also

that at other times they are deliber-



THE CATHOLIC RELIGION 13

ately misrepresented by hostile

critics who wish to curtail her

growth and influence. It is so much

easier to set up a man of straw, and

with much gusto demolish him, than

it is to face a real foe. To this temp-

tation many critics of the Church,

seeking to refute her claim to the

universal allegiance of mankind,

have fallen easy victims.

Common Misrepresentations

As evidence of this, I would ask

my non-Catholic reader, if he has

not heard one or more of the follow-

ing widely-spread misrepresentations

of Catholic belief and practice?

1. The Cathoilc Church forbids her

members to read the Bible. 2. Priests

charge money for absolving peni-

tents in confession from their sins.

3. Priests claim that for certain

money payments they can secure

the release of departed souls from

purgatory. As one friendly narrator

explained it to me, “For a certain

fee, a priest will lift a soul from the

bottom pit of purgatory to a place

near the top. Then for a little more



14 AN INVESTIGATION OF

he will lift the soul out altogether.”

There are many more slanders of

this nature, widely circulated and

apparently believed by millions of

our separated brethren. But these

will suffice to indicate the general

derogatory nature of such misrepre-

sentations.

Of course, as every Catholic

knows, there is not a particle of

truth in any of the statements. And

yet, in my sixteen years of experi-

ence in conducting inquiry classes

for many hundreds of people, I have

never encountered a class in which

the majority had not been assured

of the truth of one or more of the

above mentioned falsehoods. These

inquirers were drawn largely from

a university constituency, and might

fairly be presumed to come from

homes somewhat better informed

than the average. The saddest part

is that some report hearing such

statements from the pulpits of Prot-

estant churches. Does it not seem

almost incredible that ministers

pledged to preach the gospel of the

Prince of peace and of truth, should



THE CATHOLIC RELIGION 15

so prostitute the pulpit of their

churches as to render it a vehicle

for the imparting of falsehoods and

calumnies against their Catholic

neighbors ?

Do you recall, my dear non-Cath-

olic reader, hearing such represen-

tations of Catholic belief from the

lips of a minister in a Christian

church? If you do, you can be sure

that he is an unreliable herald of the

gospel of Christ. For either he was

in good faith, and believed such pre-

posterous statements to be true, or

else he was in bad faith, and de-

liberately circulated a canard which

he knew to be false. Now if he was

in good faith, he was guilty of crim-

inal negligence in not using ordinary

prudence and diligence to ascertain

the truth or falsity of charges ser-

iously reflecting on the good name

of many millions of his fellow-citi-

zens. If he looked into any one of

the thousands of books approved by

the Church as containing a correct

exposition of her belief and prac-

tice, or if he consulted any Catholic,

he would speedily satisfy himself as



16 AN INVESTIGATION OF

to the complete falsity of such

charges.

On the other hand, if the minister

knew at the time that they were un-

founded and reflected merely the

hatred of her enemies, and used his

Christian pulpit for the further cir-

culation of such slanders, you can

see for yourself how far such an

individual has deviated from the

path of the true herald of Christ.

For all such heralds are charged by

Christ speaking through the solemn

words of St. Paul : “Carefully study

to present thyself approved unto

God a workman that needeth not to

be ashamed, rightly handling the

word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).

Campaign Slanders

The utilization of the machinery of

the various non-Catholic churches,

the Sunday-school, the church paper

and evangelistic organizations di-

rected by ministers, reached its cli-

max in the Presidential campaign of

1928 when for the first time a Cath-

olic was nominated by one of the

two major parties for the Presi-



THE CATHOLIC KELIGION 17

dency. The extent to which min-

isters and evangelists throughout

the country used their pulpits to de-

liver political tirades against Gov-

ernor Smith, not merely because he

was opposed to the Prohibition

Amendment, but because he was a

Catholic and “in league with the

Pope,” was reported in the press of

the nation at that time, and was

shown to be very widespread.

Especially in the churches of the

South, the traditional stronghold of

the Democratic party, were the de-

nunciations of Smith and his Cath-

olicism most scathing and vigorous.

Professor Schlesinger, of the De-

partment of History at Harvard

University, has collected a large

number of church papers, pamph-

lets, periodicals, and leaflets dis-

tributed by the millions, which are

teeming with vile cartoons of nuns,

priests, bishops, and the Pope, and

with vicious slanders of Catholic be-

lief and practice. These were ex-

hibited in a room at Harvard, known

as the “Hall of Horrors.” They will

be preserved to show future genera-



18 AN INVESTIGATION OF

tions the extent to which Christian

churches used their pulpits and

their official publications to poison

the minds of millions of people with

vile calumnies against twenty mil-

lions of their Catholic fellow-citi-

zens. A somewhat similar collection
of photostatic copies of such church

publications and cartoons is being

preserved at the Library of the Uni-

versity of Illinois, where it is avail-

able to all who wish to view it.

That there were many laymen as

well as ministers who discounte-

nanced such wholesale use of the

machinery of the church to spread

religious prejudice and foment hat-

red among the citizens of our coun-

try is undoubtedly true. Here and

there noble voices were upraised in

Protestant pulpits, by ministers who

refused to be swept away by the

wave of hysteria and emotional bit-

terness that was sweeping like wild-

fire across the land. Rising above

the din and tumult of the mob, they

proclaimed the duty of truthfulness

and denounced the widespread slan-

ders that were being circulated in



THE CATHOLIC RELIGION 19

the name of religion against Catho-

lic aspirants for public office.

Illustrations

The reaction of many high-minded

non-Catholic citizens is illustrated

by the following instance narrated

to me by an educator of note. “I

was the principal of a public high

school,” he said, “in a town in Illi-

nois at the time of the Smith-

Hoover campaign. From the pulpits

of the three Protestant churches in

that town there came tirades against

Mr. Smith. It was not merely,” he

said, “because he opposed the pre-

sent Prohibition law, but because he

was a Catholic and ‘would take his

orders from the Pope.’ The animus

against him as a Catholic was evi-

dent throughout the denunciations.

Besides the three Protestant

churches,” he said, “there is also a

small, struggling Catholic church.

About three months before the elec-

tion, the priest there read to his con-

gregation a lettei from the Bishop.

It stated that, ip accordance with



20 AN INVESTIGATION OF

the usual Catholic custom of sep-

arating religion from politics, no

single word was to be spoken in the

church concerning the political cam-

paign then in progress.

“The contrast was striking. The

temptation to fight back against

those who were calumniating his re-

ligion must have been great. He

took no notice, however, of them. He

used his time each Sunday morning

to preach to his people about Christ.

Never once did he urge his congrega-

tion to take sides in the campaign

that was then stirring the nation.

Never once did he attempt to dictate

or to indicate even by innuendo how

his people should vote. Father, he

said, I am a Protestant, and have

been active in the work of my

church. But I don’t know of any-

thing that has depressed me more

than the spectacle of our churches

rushing into the political campaign,

using their pulpits for the foment-

ing of religious prejudice. It has

robbed me of my enthusiasm for

them, and alienated almost all my

attachment for them. Whether I



THE CATHOLIC RELIGION 21

shall ever recover it, only time will

tell.”

Shortly after the close of the

Smith-Hoover campaign, I was hon-

ored with an invitation to address a

large Methodist congregation on

“Papal Infallibility and Its Bearing

Upon the Rights of the State.” In

the period for answering questions

that followed the lecture, a young

man arose and made the following

contribution to the discussion: “In

the small rural community in which

I live,” he said, “the feeling ran high

that if Smith were elected, America

would be subject to papal domina-

tion. I recall one citizen telling an-

other of the woes that would befall

us. ‘Why,’ he said, ‘the Pope will be

the real ruler. He will dictate all

the appointments to Smith. He will

even try to get control of the Su-

preme Court. Things will be so bad,’

he concluded, ‘that before we know

it, we won’t be able to get our mail

until it has first been censored by the

Pope.’
”

Such were the apprehensions

which prevailed among millions of



22 * AN INVESTIGATION OF

our fellow citizens in the event of

Smith’s election to the presidency.

This in spite of the fact that in the

century and a half of our national

existence there has never been a sin-

gle instance of a Catholic proving

false to his civic duties because of

any pull exerted upon him by his

religious faith. No matter how

much men like Charles Marshall

and H. L. Mencken may speculate

about a theoretical conflict of civil

and spiritual loyalties on the part

of Catholics, the stark fact remains

that no Catholic incumbent has ever

yet discovered any obligation aris-

ing from his Catholic faith other

than that which presses inexorably

upon his conscience to discharge to

the full the duties of his civil office.

Far from finding any impediment to

the fulfillment of his civic duties, the

Catholic office-holder has found in

the teachings of his Catholic faith

the strongest incentive to their faith-

ful and conscientious discharge.

And it is to be noted that Catholics

have held every important office in

the land, being Governors of States,



THE CATHOLIC RELIGION 23

Congressmen, Senators, and Chief

Justices of the Supreme Court

—

every office save that only of the

Presidency. Surely if there were

any incompatibility between their

civil allegiance and their spiritual

loyalty, some one of the multitudes

of Catholics who have held office in

the course of our national existence,

would have discovered that fact by

now.

They Need the Light

In the light of the performances

of so many ministers and evange-

lists who leaped into the limelight

with their blood curdling recital of

the secret machinations of Rome to

control and capture America, mis-

representing the simplest tenets of

the Catholic faith, one can see more

clearly the foundation of the frank

and courageous statement of Nicho-

las Murray Butler, President of Co-

lumbia University, in calling atten-

tion to the woeful lack of proper

educational attainments of a con-

siderable portion of the Protestant

ministry and its bearing upon “the



24 AN INVESTIGATION OF

widespread intolerance which has

recently had so many unhappy man-

ifestations throughout the United

States.” In referring to the educa-

tional background of students for

the Protestant ministry, he says

:

“Many of these theological students

have no college training whatever,

and many more have had a college

training in whole or in part, which

would not differ greatly from that

offered by an average secondary

school. In other words, the standard

of intellectual and scholarly attain-

ment is low. Not a few of the most

distressing and widely-heralded of

present-day happenings in the Unit-

ed States are traceable directly to

this fact. Unhappily that ‘illiterate

ministry’ which it was the purpose

of the pious founders of Harvard

College to forfend, is now, after

three hundred years, in ample evi-

dence on every side. . . If the full

truth were said, it would probably

be that the greatest obstacle at pre-

sent to religious faith, religious con-

viction, and religious worship is the

attitude and influence of a very



THE CATHOLIC RELIGION 25

large proportion of the poorly en-

dowed and poorly educated Prot-

estant clergy” (Nicholas Murray

Butler, Annual Report of the Presi-

dent of Columbia University, 1925,

pp. 50 and 51. Columbia University

Press, N. Y.).

The Fair-Minded Are Many

In citing the statement of President

Butler, and in pointing out non-Cath-

olic agencies which have lent them-

selves to the circulation of misrepre-

sentations of Catholic belief and prac-

tice, I do not for a moment wish to

appear in the light of making sweep-

ing reflections upon the Protestant

ministry as a whole. That would be

grossly unjust. There is no doubt in

my mind that the number who con-

sciously lend themselves to such un-

fair practices are in the marked min-

ority. The overwhelming majority

would surely repudiate such un-Chris-

tian actions. I want to pay my tri-
bute to the honesty and sincerity of

Protestant ministers of my acquaint-

ance. Indeed the ministers with whom



26 AN INVESTIGATION OF

it has been my privilege to work in

the University community in which I

labor, have been men of high spiritual

ideals, eminently fair and uniformly

courteous.

It has been my rare privilege to

address large congregations in Metho-

dist Episcopal, Presbyterian, Luther-

an, Congregational, and Disciples of

Christ churches, setting before them

the teachings of the Church on such

subjects as Papal Infallibility, the

Power of the Priest to Forgive Sins,

the Relations of Church and State, the

Temporal Power of the Pope, the In-

dissolubility of Christian Marriage,

the Structure and Organization of the

Catholic Church. In every instance I

found the people hungry and eager to

know the real teachings of the

Church. After the lecture I answered

questions from the audience. The en-

tire discussion was always conducted

in a spirit of friendliness and good

will. In every case the meeting was

closed with an expression of gratitude

to me for clearing away many mis-

conceptions of the teachings of the



THE CATHOLIC RELIGION 27

Church which they had previously en-

tertained.

It was the conviction of all that a

better understanding of the faith of

Catholics, so often misrepresented

and misunderstood, was conducive to

a better community spirit, and there-

fore to better citizenship in our Ame-

rican democracy. For an understand-

ing of the real teachings of the

Church speedily removes the basis of

societies of organized bigotry, which

spring into existence from the appre-

hensions and distrust created by the

misrepresentation of the Catholic

position, especially on such a topic as

the alleged divided allegiances of

Catholics to the government of the

United States. The true weapon

against them is not force or heat, but

light. For with the widespread dis-

semination of the real teachings of

the Catholic Church, they disappear

because they do not have a leg to

stand on.

From what has been said, I think

you will see, my dear non-Catholic

friend, that in asking for an unbiased



28 AN INVESTIGATION OP

investigation of the Catholic faith, I

am actuated not only by a love of the
Church which has been so bountiful

and loving a Mother to me, but also

by the love I bear my non-Catholic
fellow citizens and our common coun-

try. An advocacy of the reasonable-

ness and truth of the teachings of the

Catholic Church is surely compatible

with both esteem and affection for my
countrymen of different faiths and of

no faith at all.

Obtain Official Statements Of

Faith

In view of the many agencies cir-

culating misstatements about the be-

lief and practice of the Catholic

Church, is it any wonder then that

you, my dear non-Catholic friend,

have been influenced in your attitude

toward her ? Indeed it would be rath-

er a cause for marvelling if, in mingl-

ing freely with non-Catholics for

many years, you did not hear some

of these allegations against the Cath-

olic faith. It is not even unlikely that

by dint or repetition you have come to

believe that there must be some foun-



THE CATHOLIC RELIGION 29

elation to them. Where there is so

much smoke, there must be some fire,

one is apt to say.

To determine then whether the re-

presentation of Catholic belief and

practice given out by critics is correct

or false, is it not necessary to have

recourse to some duly authorized ex-

position of the Catholic faith? Open

any book approved by the Church as

containing an accurate statement of

Catholic belief, and see if you can

find anything remotely resembling the

statements given out by her enemies.

Surely if you wish to find out what

the Church really teaches, you will

go to her, not to her opponents. She

makes no effort to conceal any of her

doctrines, but on the contrary pub-

lishes them in every language, and

instructs her ministers to preach

them in season and out of season

—

even from the housetops. Any priest,

any educated Catholic will tell you

gladly and without hesitation exactly

what the Church believes. In prac-

tically every Catholic home, you will

find an authorized catechism or a



30 AN INVESTIGATION OF

book explaining the doctrines of the

Church.

If you wish to receive a thorough

and complete exposition of every

Catholic teaching and practice, as

well as the reasons behind them, why

not consult a priest?

See the Specialist

This is a day of specialists. Why

not avail yourself of a specialist in

religion? Unlike the specialists in

medicine, the priest offers his expert

services gratis. He receives his re-

ward in knowing that he has substi-

tuted light for darkness, has replaced

misunderstanding with a clear knowl-

edge of the truths revealed by our

divine Redeemer for the enlighten-

ment and salvation of mankind.

“There is no Freemasonry,” as

Cardinal Gibons has pointed out, “in

the Catholic Church; she has no sec-

rets to keep back. She has not one set

of doctrines for Bishops and Priests,

and another for the laity. She has not

one creed for the initiated and an-

other for outsiders. Everything in

the Catholic Church is open and above



THE CATHOLIC RELIGION 31

board. She has the same doctrines

for all—for the Pope and the
peasant.”

May I suggest then, dear friend,

that you begin your investigation of

the Catholic faith with an open mind ?

It will make your study immensely

more profitable. For, if you start

with a closed mind, saying to your-

self, “I know in advance these teach-

ings are all wrong, I’ll simply listen

to them, but I’ll be trying all the

while to find a way of escape from

their conclusions,” you will not be

playing fair with yourself. You will

derive more profit if you honestly try

first to understand the doctrines of

the Catholic religion and the reasons

behind them. Let them sink into your

mind and have free play therein, un-

til they exert the influence which

their cogency demands. Then it will

be time enough to examine them criti-

cally. I have had persons in my in-

quiry classes, who have cheated

themselves by devoting more of their

mental energy to finding arguments

against a viewpoint of the Church



32 AN INVESTIGATION

than to the mastering of the reasons

upon which the viewpoint was based.

In order to do justice to any subject-

matter, be it science, literature, phil-

osophy, or religion, it is necessary

that the effort be made first of all

thoroughly to understand it.

The Catholic Church asks no more

and no less. For she is convinced of

the objective weight and cogency of

her credentials when honestly under-

stood. She buttresses them with no

appeal to the emotions. She is per-

fectly willing to have them stand or

fall, be accepted or rejected on their

own intrinsic merits. She is con-

vinced that if they are looked at by

the eye of reason, unclouded by the

mists of preconceived prejudice, they

will carry conviction to the open

mind. As unerringly as the magnet

draws the steel, so does truth attract

the human mind when no obstacle is

placed in its way. Prejudice, bitter-

ness, antipathy are the obstacles

which rob truth of its capacity to

convince, by closing the gateway to

the mind.