CONGRESSES
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CONGRESSES
percentage of the Catholic population in each. About
twelve hundred delegates were present. In prepara-
tion for the gathering a meeting had been held in
Chicago the previous May attended by Archbishop
Ireland of St. Paul and Messrs. Henry J. Spaunhorst,
of St. Louis, William J. Onahan, of Chicago, aiul
Henry F. Brownson, of Detroit. The objects proposed
for the congress were the closer union of all the mem-
bers of the Catholic body in the country, increased
activity of the laity in aid of the clergy in religious
work, and a declaration of views on the important
questions of the hour, and for the assistance and relief
of the poorer classes of society. Cardinal Gibbons,
considering the congress as in some sense part of the
religious function taking place at the centenary cele-
bration in Baltimore, deemed it desirable that the
papers to be read during its sessions should first be
submitted to an advisoiy committee of the hierarchy
and named as such committee: Archbishop Ireland
(chairman) and Bishops Gilmour, of Cleveland, Maes,
of Covington, Ryan, of Buffalo, Harkins, of Provi-
dence, and Foley, of Detroit. A committee on Or-
ganization, consisting of Messrs. Onahan, Spaunhorst,
D. A. Rudd, of Cincinnati, J. D. Keiley, of Brooklyn,
and Dr. John Gilmary Shea, the historian, was au-
thorized to issue a call for the congress and to organize
it; and a Committee on Papers — Messrs. Brownson,
Peter L. Foy, of St. Louis, and M. J. Harson, of Provi-
dence — to prepare the work for the several sessions.
Beginning with a solemn pontifical Mass at the cathedral on the morning of ] 1 November, celebrated by Archbishop Corrigan of New York, and at which Archbishop Gross of Oregon preached, the .sessions of the congress were opened in the Concordia Opera House, former Governor John Lee Carroll, of Maryland, presiding. The Most Rev. Archbishop Francesco Satolli, representing the pope, Cardinals Taschereau of Quebec, Gibbons of Baltimore, with represents atives of the English and Irish hierarchy, and from Mexico, with many of the bishops of the United States, in addition to the lay delegates, were present. The pope, through Cardinal RampoUa, sent his bless- ing to the congress, and at the first session addresses were made by Cardinal Gibbons, the Rev. James Nu- gent of Liverpool, England, Daniel Dougherty, Fran- cis Kernan, Honore Mercier, Premier of Quebec, fol- lowed by the formal papers of the programme: "Catholic Congresses", by Dr. John Gilmary Shea; "Lay Action of the Church", by Henry F. Brownson; and "The Independence of the Holy See", by Charles J. Bonaparte. On the second day, the first paper, "Archbishop Carroll as a Statesman", was read by Honor6 Mercier, Premier of Quebec, and at its con- clusion a formal resolution sending greetings to the people of Quebec was adopted. Mgr. Gadd who represented Cardinal Manning, Archbishop of West- minster, then tendered the greetings of that prolate and the English hierarchy to the congress, anil Peter L. Foy, of St. Louis, read the fourth regular paper, "The New Social Order," which dealt with philan- thropic movements in general. Other papers read were "Education: the rights and duties of the State, the Church, and the Parent in that Regard", by Ed- mund F. Dunne, of Florida; "The Catholic Periodical Press", by George Deering Wolf of Norristown, Penn- sylvania; "Societies", by Henry J. Spaunhorst, of St. Louis; "Catholic American Literature", by Cond6 B. Fallen, of St. Louis; "Temperance", by John II. Campbell, of Philadelphia; "Sunday Ob- servance", by Manly Tello, of Cleveland; "Labour and Capital ", by William Richards, of Washington; "What Catholics have Done in the L:ist Hundred Years", by Richard H. Clarke, of New York; " Church Music ", by Heman Allen, of Chicago.
The resolutions adopted rejoiced in the progress of the Church, advocated sound Catholic education, <le- nounced Mormonism, divorce, and secret societies;
Nihilism, .Socialism, and Communism; commended
Catholic charitable, social, and benevolent societies,
the support of the Catholic press, Sunday observance;
and pledged loyalty and devotion to the pope and
demanded the temporal freedom of the Holy See. It
was resolved to hold the next congress during the
Columbian celebration of 1S92, and in the concluding
address of the congress Archbishop Ireland said: — "1
am overjoyed to see so many laymen, overjoyed to
listen to such magnificent discourses and such grand
papers, and to have realized that there is among our
Catholics in America so much talent, so much strong
faith. As one of your bishops I am ashamed of my-
self that I was not conscious before this of the power
existing in the midst of the laity, and that I have not
done anything to bring it out. But one thing I will
do with God's help. In the future I shall do all I can
to bring out this power."
Second Congress. — The sessions of the Second Catho- lic Congress of the United States were held at Chicago on 4, 5, and 6 September, 1893, as incidental to the World's Congresses Auxiliary of the Columbus Expo- sition and World's Fair of that year. Archbishop Feehan of Chicago and William J. Onahan were presi- dent and secretary of the committee on organization, by which it was decided that three topics should be treated during the sessions: "The Social Question as outlined by Leo XIII in his encyclical ' Rerum Nova- rum'", "Catholic Education", and "The Indepen- dence of the Holy See". No discussion of the papers was allowed, but each was submitted to its proper section for consideration. Archbishop Feehan opened the congress, and President Bonney, of the World's Congress Auxiliary, welcomed the delegates "on behalf of the World's Exposition and the fifty million non- Catholics who loved justice and religious liberty". Cardinal Gibbons also spoke, and on the second day Archbishop Satolli, who represented the pope at the World's Exposition, greeted the congress in the name of the Holy Father. Other visitors were Archbishop Redwood of Australia, and Count de Kaefstein of Austria. Letters from Cardinals Vaughan and Logue were read.
Judge Morgan J. O'Brien, of New York, presided over the sessions during which these papers were read: "The Relations of the Catholic Church in the Social, Civil, and Political Institutions of the United States", Edgar H. Gans, of Baltimore; "Civil Government and the Catholic Citizen", Walter George Smith, of Phila- delphia; "The Independence of the Holy See", Mai^ tin P. Morris, of Washington; "Columbus, His Mis- .sion and Character", Richard H. Clarke, of New York; "Isabella the Catholic", Mary J. Onahan, of Chicago; " The Colonization of the American Continent ", George Parsons Lathrop, of New York; "The P^ncyclical of Pope Leo XIII on the Condition of Labor", H. C. Semple, of Montgomery, Alabama; "The Rights of Labour and the Duties of Capital", Edward O. Brown, of Chicago, and the Rev. Dr. William Barry of Dor- chester, England; "Pauperism, the Cause and the Remedy", Dr. Thomas Dwight, of Boston, and Miss M. T. Elder of New Orleans; "Public and Private Charities", Charles A. Wingerer, of Wheeling, Thomas F. Ring of Boston, R. R. Elliott of Detroit, and the Rev. Francis Maguire of Albany; " Workingmen's Organizations and .Societies for Young Men", Warren T. Mo.sher of Youngstown; "Trade Combinations and Arbitration", Robert M. Douglas, Greensboro; "Tem- perance", the Rev. James M. Cleary; "Women's Work in Religious Comnumities ", F. M. Edselas; "Women in the Middle Ages", Anna T. Sadlier; "Life Insurance and Pension Fluids for ^\'age Workers", John P. Lauth, of Chicago; "Immigration and Colo- nization", the Rev. M. J. Callahan, of New York; "The Need o' Catholic Colleges", Maurice Francis Egan.
Australia. — Two congresses have been held by the Catholics of .Australasia, the first at Sydney in Sep-
