CONTENTS

OFFICERS OF THE CONGRESS - 5

INTRODUCTION - 9

THE CONGRESS SERMON - 24
The Right Reverend Charles Fiske, D.D.

MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDING BISHOP - 40
The Most Rev. John Gardner Murray, D.D.

ADDRESS OF WELCOME - 44
The Right Rev. William Walter Webb, D.D., Bishop of Milwaukee.

THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC REVIVAL: ITS HISTORY - 50
Mr. Frederic C. Morehouse, LL.D., Editor of the Living Church.

THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC REVIVAL: ITS FUTURE - 64
Professor Chauncey Brewster Tinker, Ph.D., Yale University.

CATHOLIC SANCTIONS IN THE HOME - 76
Mr. William W. Grant, Jr., Denver, Colorado.

THE CATHOLIC RELIGION AND THE YOUNGER GENERATION - 86
The Very Reverend Robert Scott Chalmers, Dean of St. Matthew's Cathedral, Dallas.

HOW TO MAKE THE CHRISTIAN WITNESS REAL - 98
The Right Reverend Irving P. Johnson, D.D., Bishop of Colorado.

THE CATHOLIC RELIGION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS - 107
Mr. Haley Fiske, LL.D., President of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York.

THE LIMITS OF TOLERATION IN DOGMA - 118
The Rev. Frederic S. Fleming, D.D., Rector of the Church of the Atonement, Chicago.

THE LIMITS OF TOLERATION IN PIOUS OPINION - 129
The Rev. M. Boyer Stewart, D.D., Nashotah House, Wisconsin.

THE CATHOLIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONS - 138
The Rev. Alfred Newbery, Church of the Redeemer, Chicago.

THE CATHOLIC SUPPORT OF FOREIGN MISSIONS - 143
The Rev. Winfred Douglas, Mus. D., Canon of St. Paul's Cathedral, Fond du Lac.

THE FAREWELL MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDING BISHOP - 154

LETTERS FROM THE BISHOPS - 155

The Second Annual Catholic Congress
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN
October 12, 13, 14, 1926

OFFICERS OF THE CONGRESS

HONORARY PRESIDENT
The Right Reverend WILLIAM WALTER WEBB, D.D.
Bishop of Milwaukee

HONORARY VICE-PRESIDENTS
The Right Reverend CAMPBELL GRAY, D.D.
Bishop of Northern Indiana and President of
the Province of the Mid-West
The Right Reverend CHARLES P. ANDERSON, D.D.
Bishop of Chicago
The Right Reverend BENJAMIN F. P. IVINS, D.D.
Bishop Coadjutor of Milwaukee

CHAIRMAN OF THE SESSIONS
The Reverend GEORGE CRAIG STEWART, D.D., L.H.D.
Rector of St. Luke's Church, Evanston, Illinois

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The Reverend CHARLES C. EDMUNDS, D.D., Chairman
6 Chelsea Square, New York City
the Reverend FRANK DAMROSCH, JR., Secretary
33 St. James Place, Brooklyn, N. Y.

The Reverend GEORGE W. ATKINSON, D.D.
The Reverend MORTON BARNES
The Reverend DONALD H. MORSE
The Reverend F. T. HENSTRIDGE
The Reverend LOUIS B. HOWELL
The Reverend S. C. HUGHSON, O.H.C.
The Reverend MALCOLM DEP. MAYNARD
The Reverend HENRY N. O'CONNOR
The Reverend FREDERICK S. PENFOLD, D.D.
The Reverend CHARLES MERCER HALL
The Reverend LOUIS E. M. SILLS
The Reverend FRANK L. VERNON, D.D.
The Reverend GRANVILLE M. WILLIAMS, S.S.J.E.

TREASURER
Mr. E. S. PEGRAM
New Canaan, Connecticut

THE CONGRESS COMMITTEE
The Reverend S. C. HUGHSON, O.H.C., Chairman
The Reverend FREDERIC S. FLEMING, D.D.
The Reverend CHARLES L. GOMPH
The Reverend WM. PITT McCUNE, PH.D.
The Reverend FRANK L. VERNON, D.D.
The Reverend CHARLES HERBERT YOUNG, D.D.
The Reverend S. ATMORE CAINE, Secretary
5720 Ridge Avenue
Philadelphia, Pa.

THE LOCAL COMMITTEE
The Right Reverend BENJAMIN F. P. IVINS, D.D., Chairman
The Reverend NATHANIEL D. BIGELOW
The Reverend F. H. O. BOWMAN
The Venerable WILLIAM DAWSON
The Very Reverend CHARLES S. HUTCHINSON, D.D.
The Reverend A. H. LORD
The Reverend H. H. LUMPKIN
The Very Reverend E. J. M. NUTTER, D.D.
The Reverend HENRY SCOTT RUBEL
The Reverend WILLIAM H. STONE
The Reverend HARWOOD STURTEVANT
The Reverend ROBERT D. VINTER
The Reverend HOLMES WHITMORE
The Reverend C. B. B. WRIGHT, PH.D.
Mr. EARNEST A. BARLOW
Miss FRANCES F. BUSSEY
Mr. FREDERICK E. CHANDLER
Mr. A. W. CHEATHAM
Mr. JAMES K. EDSALL
Mr. HERBERT N. LAFLIN
Mr. FREDERIC C. MOREHOUSE
Mr. CHARLES M. MORRIS
Mr. W. F. MYERS
Mr. CARL B. RIX
Mr. HENRY F. TYRRELL
Mr. AUGUST H. VOGEL
Mr. CLIFFORD P. MOREHOUSE, Secretary

[8] THE SOLEMN HIGH MASS

All Saints' Cathedral
Juneau Avenue and Marshall Street

Wednesday, October 13, 1926

CELEBRANT
The Reverend SELDEN P. DELANY, D.D.
Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York

DEACON
The Very Reverend CHARLES S. HUTCHINSON, D.D.
Dean, All Saints' Cathedral, Milwaukee

SUB-DEACON
The Reverend WILLIAM PITT MCCUNE, PH.D.
Rector, St. Ignatius' Church, New York

PREACHER
The Right Reverend CHARLES FISKE, D.D.
Bishop of Central New York

MASTER OF CEREMONIES
The Reverend S. ATMORE CAINE

SECOND MASTER OF CEREMONIES
Mr. ISAAC LEA NICHOLSON

DIRECTOR OF THE CHOIR
The Reverend WINFRED DOUGLAS, Mus.D.

[9] Introduction

THE Second Annual Catholic Congress was held in Milwaukee, Wis., October 12 to 14, 1926. As the saying goes, it has become history. It will be of value, as well as of interest, to preserve the record of that history.

First, let us take a glance at the Catholic Congress Movement. It had its inception in a meeting of a few clergy who, at the request of the New York Branch of the Clerical Union for the Maintenance and Defense of Catholic Principles, gathered at Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, N. Y., April, 1923. The question of some kind of Catholic convention was discussed and a further meeting was held at the parish house of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York City, in May, 1923. On this occasion were assembled forty-three representatives of the Branches of the Clerical Union in New York, Philadelphia and Boston; of the Priests' Fellowship in the dioceses of Connecticut, Long Island, Albany, Central New York and Western New York; of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament; of the two Religious Orders, the Order of the Holy Cross and the Society of St. John the Evangelist; and of groups of Catholic priests in Baltimore, Washington and the diocese of Harrisburg. This gathering was organized as the Central Conference of Associated Catholic Priests.

There had been for some time past occasional suggestion of a Catholic Congress in the United States, and this demand was made urgent by a sharp incursion of the modernists in the winter of 1922-1923. This eruption was on the part of certain men who rejected some of the articles of the Christian Faith. They were few in number, and, with one exception, men of no position in the Church. [9/10] But they were extremely vocal, and their genius for publicity, combined with the inevitable tendency on the part of the secular press to regard denials of the Christian religion, from whomsoever they might come, as having good news value, secured for them a wide hearing. Their claims as to the number of their followers were grotesque, and the movement, instead of being in any real sense a danger, was the rather pathetic.

Many persons, however, who did not know the real conditions became gravely alarmed. Was the old Faith going to the wall? Were the Creeds to be consigned to oblivion? Was it true that one could in the Episcopal Church believe such doctrines as the Virgin Birth of our Lord, and His Resurrection, or reject them, as he pleased? There was no doubt that there was real distress and fear in many hearts. It was necessary that something be done to reassure them.

The meeting at St. Mary the Virgin's discussed the situation, and resolved that there should be organized a Convention of Catholic Priests, to be held in the city of Philadelphia, April 29 and 30, in the following year.

This meeting was frankly to be a demonstration in order to show the strength of the Catholic religion and was to be confined to the first three Provinces. There were grave questionings as to what the success of such a venture would be. Some thought that from two to three hundred clergy in the three Provinces might be gathered on such an occasion. The more optimistic were confident that at least four hundred would come. When the Convention met in Witherspoon Hall in Philadelphia, it was found that no less than 750 priests, that is to say, more than one-fourth of all the clergy in these Provinces, had signed up as ready to go forward shoulder to shoulder in this war of the Lord for the defense and maintenance of the Catholic Religion.

[11] No one who was at that great Convention can forget the thrill of it. The Convention Mass was celebrated at St. Mark's Church, Locust Street, with all the splendor of the Church's ceremonial, and a Solemn Mass of equal dignity and beauty was celebrated at St. Clement's Church. The Bishops of Milwaukee, of Fond du Lac, of British Honduras, and the Suffragan Bishop of Chicago were present at the Masses, Bishop Webb preaching the sermon at St. Mark's and Bishop Griswold at St. Clement's.

At the opening session of the Convention, Bishop Garland welcomed the Convention to the diocese, and, in the course of the two days' meetings, addresses of greeting were made by the Right Rev. Ethelbert Talbot, the Presiding Bishop of the Church; by Bishop Gailor, then the President of the National Council; and Bishop Johnson of Colorado was one of the speakers at the final session, dealing in a masterful way with the subject of Church Unity.

A thousand visitors to this great Convention returned to their homes with renewed courage and with hearts full of thanksgiving to God. Those who were responsible for its organization went away humbled at the want of faith that had made them in some degree, in the beginning, hesitate and forget that God loves His Church better and more wisely than we love it, and will take care of His own honor. The gracious blessing with which He rebuked our little faith was the pledge of greater blessings yet to come.

As noted above, the Philadelphia Convention was a demonstration, looking forward to the beginning of a general movement which might in five or ten years culminate in a Catholic Congress. But within a year afterwards it was felt strongly that it had launched the Catholic Movement in America on a new era, if only immediate advantage were taken of it. It was therefore decided in [11/12] May, 1925, to institute an annual Catholic Congress, which should not be confined to the interests of the clergy, but which should take to itself Catholic interests as wide as humanity itself.

The first of these Congresses was held at New Haven, Conn., in November, 1925. The Bishop of the diocese, the Right Rev. Chauncey B. Brewster, pontificated at the Solemn High Mass which was celebrated at Christ Church, and the sessions were full of enthusiasm. Six Bishops were present—the Bishop of the diocese, his then Suffragan, since elevated to the rank of Coadjutor, Dr. Acheson; Bishop Matthews of New Jersey, Bishop White of Springfield, Bishop Ivins, the Coadjutor Bishop of Milwaukee, who was the Congress preacher, and Bishop Carson of Haiti.

A feature instituted at the New Haven Congress, and which will occupy a permanent place in the movement, was the missionary offering. The Committee asked for $1,000, and just short of $2,500 was contributed—another rebuke to our want of faith. This money was sent to the Department of Missions of the National Council as a special offering for the work of the Sisters of the Transfiguration in China.

It will not be necessary to mention here the essays and discussions at New Haven. But it is interesting to place on record the thankworthy fact that the proceedings there were such as to direct the eyes of the whole religious world in America upon the movement. It became overnight one of the marked spiritual phenomena of the time and such it continues to be. It was discussed in the press all over the country. The secular papers, the Church weeklies and monthlies, as well as the Protestant and Roman Catholic press, gave much space to the work of trying to interpret the movement. It was hailed by many with devout thanksgiving to God for what they believed [12/13] to be the dawn of a new day for religion in America, especially in the Episcopal Church. By others it was regarded as the gravest menace in our generation to the Faith once delivered to the saints. By all was it recognized as a serious movement which had to be reckoned with seriously.

The year following the New Haven Congress was one of rich development. It was seen by all concerned in the Catholic Cause that something more was required than the emergence once a year of an enthusiastic convention, which would sound a high note, only to lapse into a state of innocuous desuetude for another twelve months. The Catholic Congress movement was growing out of its swaddling clothes swiftly. If it fulfilled its mission as an educative force in the Church, it must function every day in the year as a live, dynamic agency. The greatest dynamic is that of prayer. If the Congress movement was to do the work, and achieve the results planned for it, all would have to be done in the power of prayer, rather in any method of organization. To this end a Cycle of Prayer for the conversion of America to the Catholic Faith and for a more real and deeper consecration to the personal love and service of our Lord was arranged, and through the entire year, from Advent to Advent, hundreds of parishes observed Weeks of Prayer with these intentions.

The greatest freedom was left to the local parish authorities in the arrangement of the devotions during the Cycle. All had a daily Mass, and most of them gathered the people together at some convenient hour for further corporate intercession. Some were able to do much more and a considerable number—nor were these the parishes which had the largest numbers to draw upon —were able to maintain perpetual intercession day and night during the entire week. In such cases the work of [13/14] prayer was carried on in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

There can be no doubt that it was the power of these innumerable prayers, offered in every part of the country by all sorts and conditions of people, week after week, that infused into the Congress movement the strength and vitality that it was showed to possess at Milwaukee.

It was very evident during the year in which that Congress was being prepared for that it was steadily gathering force. The publicity which had been given the movement by the Cycle of Prayer had one unexpected and thankworthy effect: it discovered in various parts of the country, where practically no Catholic advantages had been offered the people, little groups of earnest Catholics, who were eager to be linked up with an enterprise which promised such great things for the propagation of the Faith and of its practice.

The result was that the spirit and force of the Congress at Milwaukee was unlike anything that had before been experienced in the history of the Catholic Revival in this country. The great crowds which thronged the Immanuel Auditorium; the devotional enthusiasm which soared to so high a point; the eagerness to profit by everything which the Congress afforded; and, above all, the splendid constructive spirit which dominated every department of the Congress work; the absence of carping criticism, and the unconscious, instinctive determination in every heart to win by love those who opposed themselves to the movement—all these things combined to create a pentecostal spirit, a deep working of the presence and power of the Holy Ghost. No wonder that the Presiding Bishop, who gave us the honor and blessing of his presence at the deliberations, was able to say with deep feeling that he thanked God for what his eyes had seen and his ears had heard at the Congress.

[15] The procession before the Solemn Mass, its hundreds of clergy, the great companies of seminarists and long lines of Religious in their varied habits, ending with the Bishops in the order of their ecclesiastical precedence, constituted a rare scene of religious splendor. For several days previous the weather seemed threatening, but the storm rained itself out, and no autumn day could have been more smiling and gracious. The Cathedral close at Milwaukee is singularly well adapted for such a function. The long walks traversing the lawns, reaching out to Juneau Avenue and thence to the main entrance of the Cathedral, enabled the procession to be viewed as a whole, and it was this that gave it so impressive an effect.

It is not necessary to speak at any length of the Solemn Mass in the Cathedral. This offering of the Holy Sacrifice with all the beauty and glory of holiness was, of course, the central feature of the whole Congress. The Right Rev. William Walter Webb, the Bishop of the diocese of Milwaukee, pontificated. The Presiding Bishop, The Most Rev. John Gardner Murray, D.D., had the place of precedence in the procession and occupied his throne on the Epistle side of the sanctuary. In the choir were the following Bishops:

The Right Rev. Reginald H. Weller, D.D., Bishop of Fond du Lac.
The Right Rev. Charles P. Anderson, D.D., Bishop of Chicago.
The Right Rev. Sheldon M. Griswold, D.D., Suffragan Bishop of Chicago.
The Right Rev. Charles Fiske, D.D.,
Bishop of Central New York.
The Right Rev. Harry T. Moore, D.D.,
Bishop of Dallas.
[16] The Right Rev. Irving P. Johnson, D.D.,
Bishop of Colorado.
The Right Rev. Walter T. Sumner, D.D.,
Bishop of Oregon.
The Right Rev. John Chanler White, D.D.,
Bishop of Springfield.
The Right Rev. Campbell Gray, D.D.,
Bishop of Northern Indiana.
The Right Rev. Benj. F. P. Ivins, D.D.,
Coadjutor Bishop of Milwaukee.
The Right Rev. Mardary Uskokovitch,
Serbian Orthodox Bishop.
The Right Rev. Joanides Philaretos,
Greek Orthodox Bishop.
The Right Rev. Grochowski,
Polish Orthodox Bishop.

Besides the above Bishops, many others to whom invitations had been extended sent their cordial greetings and sincere regrets at their inability to be present.

The Mass was a triumph of Catholic worship. Because of its own divine nature, it is not possible that anything can exceed the dignity and beauty of the Mass, but its inherent glory was enhanced by the solemn splendor with which it was rendered. The celebrant was the Rev. Selden Peabody Delany, D.D., associate rector of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York City, and sometime Dean of All Saints' Cathedral; the deacon of the Mass was the Very Rev. Charles S. Hutchinson, D.D., Dean of All Saints' Cathedral, and the sub-deacon, the Rev. William Pitt McCune, Ph.D., rector of St. Ignatius' Church, New York City. The music was the Missa Marialis, the ancient plain-song Mass than which there is probably no more beautiful setting in existence. It was under the skillful direction of the Rev. Winfred Douglas, [16/17] Mus.D., Canon of Fond du Lac, and the entire seminarist body from Nashotah House constituted the choir. The famous A Capella choir of Evanston, Ill., under Dr. Peter C. Lutkin, sang Gretchaninoff's Cherubic Hymn as an offertory, and the sweetness with which it was rendered was excelled only by the exquisite beauty of the composition itself.

Thursday morning was devoted to a pilgrimage to Nashotah House. Three hundred pilgrims paid their devotions at what is one of the shrines of the American Church. Nearly a hundred years ago James Lloyd Breck, William Adams and their companions took their lives in their hands, and, penetrating into what was at that time a savage wilderness, inhabited by savage men, planted the Church, and raised the walls of a school which through all these generations has sent out year by year successive companies of priests who have preached the Gospel of the Catholic Church in every part of the land.

Addresses were made to the pilgrims by Bishop Weller of Fond du Lac and Bishop Webb of Milwaukee, and after a bountiful luncheon, served generously by the House, the party returned to Milwaukee in time for the afternoon session of the Congress.

On Bishop Fiske's sermon, and on the Congress papers in general, it is not necessary to comment. They are printed in full in this volume, and their high quality and merit speak for themselves.

The Rev. George Craig Stewart, D.D., rector of St. Luke's Church, Evanston, Ill., was Chairman of the sessions, and the sevenfold keynote which he presented in his opening remarks set before the members of the Congress a splendid ideal of life and service as Catholics. Dr. Stewart's statement was extempore, and it is a matter of regret that it cannot be reproduced in the fulness of [17/18] its eloquent presentation. He summarized the purpose of the Catholic Congress as follows:

1. To glorify God.
2. To intensify personal devotion to our Blessed Lord.
3. To magnify the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ.
4. To clarify the position of the Anglican Communion in respect to Protestant Christianity on the one hand and Roman Catholicism on the other.
5. To unify the Clergy and laity of the Church who hold the Catholic Faith and practice the Catholic Religion.
6. To multiply the disciples of Christ by supporting the program of the Church.
7. To sanctify our lives and make them fit for God's service.

It would not be possible to comment on the Congress without noting its national character. Forty-seven dioceses were represented in the registration, reaching literally from Maine to California and from Oregon to Florida. Two hundred and sixty-three clergy were present, and the length of the journeys they took to be there showed the measure of their interest in the strengthening of the Catholic Faith and life in the Church.

One of the outstanding incidents was the presence of the Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. John Gardner Murray, D.D. Every member of the Congress was profoundly touched by his gracious and sympathetic expressions of interest. He showed himself to be indeed a Father in God, and no one who received the final blessing which he gave, and heard his address of farewell, in which he thanked God for what he had seen and heard, can easily forget it.

[19] Every Catholic has to be deeply grateful for the wonderful spirit of enthusiasm and of oblation which accompanied the missionary offering. Five thousand dollars was asked for, of which nearly four thousand was presented at the Congress Mass. An offering was taken at the final session, but the whole sum was not yet subscribed. On the call being made for the completion of the sum, so great and rapid a fire of responses was given that the secretaries had to cry them mercy in order to note them down, and the amount was oversubscribed by a large sum.

The amount was not a great one as the world counts money, for Catholics are in most instances the Lord's poor, but the generosity with which the pledges were made and redeemed evinced a spirit of almsgiving which will win from God a rich blessing upon the Cause. The announcement of the action of the Congress Committee in deciding not to allocate the offering for any special purpose, but for general use in foreign missions in the discretion of the National Council, was received with enthusiastic approval. As the Chairman expressed it, "the Presiding Bishop had showed that he trusted Catholics in the American Church, and Catholics were going to show that they trusted him." This action marked a new era in the history of missionary giving among American Catholics. The final sum sent to the treasurer of the National Council was about $6,500.

The Milwaukee Congress has showed this movement to be a powerful, and, we believe, a permanent factor in the life of the Episcopal Church. Its further development will be certain and its lines sure, if men and women everywhere will remember that it can be carried forward only in the power of prayer and sacrifice. A praying people, a self-denying people, a people who will seek through love to win those who oppose themselves will be [19/20] able, under God, to mold the destinies of the Church in this land.

In May, 1926, the Central Conference of Associated Catholic Priests, at a meeting held in New York City, decided to effect a more permanent organization, and elected a Congress Committee, consisting of five members, the Chairman to serve for three years, two members for two years, and two for one year. The Committee elected consisted of the Rev. Shirley C. Hughson, O.H.C., Chairman; the Rev. Charles C. Edmunds, D.D., the Rev. Frederick S. Penfold, D.D., the Rev. S. Atmore Caine, and the Rev. Frank Damrosch, Jr. The Committee was instructed to open an office for the general transaction of the business of the Central Conference, subject to the oversight of the Executive Committee of the C. C. A. C. P. Immediately after the Congress at Milwaukee, this Committee perfected its organization, choosing the Rev. Father Caine as Vice-Chairman and Secretary of the Congress, and the Rev. Father Damrosch as Secretary of the Committee.

An office has been opened in Room 218, in the Metropolitan Building, No. 1 Madison Avenue, New York City, from which the activities of the movement will be directed. The Committee is empowered not only to organize the Annual Congress, but to put on foot other ventures for the forwarding the Catholic Cause in the Church. Schemes of lectures in various parts of the country are being arranged, devotional enterprises such as the Cycle of Prayer, which is to be continued through 1927, Catholic Conferences in various parishes lasting one or more days, and an organized effort is to be made to bring into the movement all isolated Catholics through the country. In the near future, other plans will be announced, all looking to the propagation of the Faith and the encouragement of the faithful.

[21] A saddening event in the initiation of this movement was the sudden death of Dr. Penfold, which took place at Providence, Rhode Island, on Sunday, November 28th. Dr. Penfold has been closely identified with the Catholic Congress movement from its inception. He was the organizing secretary of both the Philadelphia Priests' Convention in 1924, and of the Catholic Congress in New Haven in 1926 (sic). His energy and ability, his invincible devotion to the Catholic Cause, and his generous spirit of co-operation, gave an incalculable value to his services, and endeared him to those who had the privilege of working with him. It will not be easy to fill his place in the movement. May he rest in peace.

At a special election, the Rev. Frederick T. Henstridge, rector of Grace Church, Elmira, N. Y. was chosen to fill the vacancy on the Congress Committee.