Such a record should shame the faint-hearts among us who seem to think that no corporate efforts are of any use in the world now rushing on to its own destruction. That it should shame those who take no interest at all in the progress of their religion, would be too much to hope.
The mustard seed has become now a great tree; branches have been detached
from the main trunk and transplanted in the various parts of the world.
Ireland, Australia,[3] India,[4] America, Canada, each now has its own
Catholic Truth Society.
In 1887, six years after the foundation of the parent Society in England, Canada had a first branch in Toronto. Halifax,[5] Montreal, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Vancouver soon followed suit. Silent and powerful as the incoming tide, the Society in Canada is working its way into every diocese and parish of the land. The Society is now incorporated by act of Federal Parliament, with Head-Office in Toronto, 67 Bond St. Its noble and just ambition is to weld into one great efficient organization the various other branches that are in operation here and there throughout the Dominion. Organization means efficiency, strength and success.
The time has come for the Catholic Truth Society in Canada, to create its own literature, to issue its own pamphlets dealing with the needs and problems of our own Country. We have been importing from other countries and have lived until now on their mental activity. But this move demands unity of purpose and concentration of effort. Moreover, should not this Dominion-wide organization serve marvellously to rally our dispersed and disunited forces? There is indeed a sad need of unity in our ranks to-day.
Principles.
The assured possession of truth and the pressing obligation for Catholics to spread it: these are the two main principles upon which is founded and exists the Catholic Truth Society. As Catholics, we are absolutely sure that we have the Truth; as Catholics worthy of the name, we feel in conscience bound to give it to others.
The Catholic Church, like Christ, stands at the cross-roads of humanity and cries out to the passing generations as they come tramping down the avenues of time: "Ego sum Veritas, Via et Vita—I am the Truth, the Way, the Life." Her kingdom is that very same Kingdom of Truth of which the Master spoke to Pilate when the latter had asked Him so insolently: "What is Truth?" Faith gives to everyone of Her children the right to all the wealth of that Kingdom.
The self-assurance of the Catholic mind in matters of Religion is a noted and universal fact which implies necessarily the tranquil possession of Truth. This certainly is not a blind adherence dictated by fear or fatalism as some would lead the unwary to believe; but rather, as St. Paul states, the reasonable subjugation of the mind . . . "Rationabile absequium." The universal unrest and chaotic condition of Christendom outside of the Catholic Church are in sharp contrast with the unity and tranquillity of the Catholic mind. This is not the place to prove for our own pleasure and benefit the security of our position. Christian Apologetics have vindicated it.
This security of the Catholic mind extends beyond the sacred domain of Religion. Catholic philosophy has been justly named the "scientific justification of common sense." Its principles do not rest on the capricious fancies of the versatile human mind, as is the case with the philosophy of the dreamer of Koenigsberg. We only mention here Kant, for his influence has in our days been tremendous and far reaching. In Catholic philosophy the mind indeed reflects the objective order of things and from that order evolves universal laws. This basic truth of our mental attitude is still more evident when considered in the moral order. For, when God becomes but a "pure abstraction," and the moral law solely dependent on the human will, one readily sees where such philosophy may lead. This "ego-centric philosophy" is responsible for the frame of mind which gifted the world with German "Kultur." Nietzche taught Germany how to think, and Germany had set out to teach the world the lessons she had received. As some author remarked, Kant and Nietzche are responsible for the firing of the Krupp guns. Thus the war has shown the fallacies of anti-Catholic philosophy.
From these serene heights of Philosophy, Catholic Truth flows into the political, social and economic fields of human life. Our principles on Authority and Liberty, on Capital and Labor, on Family and State, on Marriage and Education are as solid as the rock, and are recognized as such, even by leaders who have a different religious persuasion.