Hitler a Loyal Son of the Church?!


The Catholic Dispatch frequently engages in private discussions and
debates with Catholics and non-Catholics through electronic mail. This
present dispatch is a direct result of such a debate. By force of
circumstances we had entered into a "debate" with a Catholic who is very
active on the Internet and who, to our surprise and chagrin, firmly
believes that Hitler was a "loyal" son of the Catholic Church, and that
there was no persecution of the Church during his reign!
We would like to present here the fruits of our labors - excerpts from
the Pope and Hierarchy clearly proving the persecution of Catholics under
Hitler's National Socialist regime in Germany.

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Pope Pius XI, October 1933 to German Catholic Young Men's Association:

"German Catholic Youth! German-Catholic-Youth: three words and each one of
them a reason for a specially hearty welcome. You feel that it is so,
especially at this time, in this hour which is so historic for Germany, and
not merely so historic, but so hard.... And so, difficult and hard as this
hour undoubtedly is, We are constrained to say that great hopes are reposed
in you.... But, beloved sons, our hopes cannot exclude every danger. You
know that We are filled with the deepest anxiety and real alarm about the
youth of Germany, and entertain fears with regard to religion in Germany."
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Easter, 1934, Pope Pius XI:

"To the Catholic Youth Associations of Germany.... With deep sympathy and
with great satisfaction We accept the expressions of filial devotion to the
Vicar of Christ and of unswerving loyalty to Holy Church which you have
communicated to Us. With deep sympathy, We say, since you are in the
forefront of those who have already made sacrifices for your religious
ideals and continue to make them daily: with great satisfaction for the
courageous witness you have home, and the truly supernatural spirit which
inspires you, in spite of all the hardships through which Providence is
leading you, and in defiance of a propaganda both of allurement and of
pressure in favour of a new way of life which leads away from Christ to
paganism, you have not forsaken the love and fidelity which you have sworn
to Our Saviour and His Church. For this very reason you remain more
constant than ever to your nation and Fatherland, which you still wish to
serve, as in days gone by, in closest union and forgetfulness of self. Our
Pastoral care and responsibility has impelled Us to keep in constant touch
with the situation of the Catholic Youth of Germany, and that is also, We
know, the great care and anxiety of your bishops. "
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Easter Tuesday 1934, Pope Pius XI. To special audience about 200 members of
the Neudeutschland Organization and nearly 100 members of the Sturmschar
(elite) of the Catholic Young Men's Association:

"We know-to Our misfortune We know and know too how few are able to
know-what a painful hour this is for you, dear sons, for the whole of
Germany, for Catholic Germany especially, and even more especially for you,
Neudeutschland, for you, Catholic young men, Catholic Youth. Day after day
news is coming in to us, and, alas, it is not good news. And yet we do not
abandon hope in a better, finer future, as the saying is in Germany today.
It will come, perhaps even soon. We must never lose our confidence for
that would be to wrong divine Providence. Providence will intervene,'and
will be on our side so far as we do not wish to be against it or deprived
of it.... We know that so many, so very many have already suffered so much.
We know that so many from these splendid ranks of yours, from the
Sturmschar, from Neudeutschland and from the Young Men's Association in
general have already given proof of heroic courage and truly martyr-like
faith and loyalty. And We, beloved sons, We congratulate you. We
congratulate you on the good, generous resolutions you have made for the
future. We congratulate you also for all that you have already had to
suffer, and perhaps still have to suffer. For, beloved sons, the hour has
come when each one must call to mind that splendid and glorious truth,
those proud words of the first days of our Redemption, when the Apostles
were glad and went forth rejoicing that they had been found worthy pro
nomine Jesu contumeliam pati-to suffer something for the name of
Jesus....The hour has come, and has already been long upon us, when in
Germany especially it is not enough to say "Christian life, Christian
doctrine." We must say "Christian-Catholic life, Christian-Catholic
doctrine." For what remains of Christianity, of real Christianity without
Catholicism, without also the Catholic Church, without Catholic doctrine,
without Catholic life? Nothing, or almost nothing. Or better, in the end,
one can and must say - not merely a false Christianity but a true paganism."
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Message of Secretary of State, Cardinal Pacelli, to Cardinal Schulte of
Cologne on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the latter's
episcopal consecration - March 12th, 1935:

"When, however, false prophets arise, proclaiming themselves with satanic
Pride to be the bearers of a new faith and a new gospel that is not the
Gospel of Christ; when violent and irreverent hands are raised against that
sacred heritage which the all-holy God has given and revealed to us in the
religion of Jesus Christ as a supernatural and all-sufficient treasure of
faith and of life; when the custodian of the true Faith, the Church, and
her supreme head, the Pope, are subjected to unheard-of attacks; when the
lying attempt is made to conjure up a conflict between loyalty to the
Church of Christ and loyalty to the earthly fatherland, such as does not
and cannot exist so long as every earthly power is aware of its own
subordination under the royal scepter of the Son of God-then indeed has the
hour struck in which the bishop who is a true pastor and no hireling must,
in virtue of his office and of the sworn fidelity which has bound him to
the souls entrusted to him since the day of his consecration, lift up his
voice and with inflexible courage repeat the words spoken by the Apostles
before the Council: "If it be just in the sight of God, to hear you rather
than God, judge ye." To those who find it difficult to accept such a
declaration of the pastoral office may be given the answer made by St.
Ambrose to a wrathful magnate of his own time: "Until now thou hast never
been faced by a bishop!".... And if such an answer should lead to enmity
and slander, to suspicions and persecutions on the part of those who are
unable to appreciate an attitude like that of a St. Ambrose towards the
temporal power, the pure intention, the manly courage, the sacred duty and
necessity of his action, then the redoubled love, the increased devotion,
the unswerving loyalty and willingness of his faithful people will
compensate the confessor-bishop for the misunderstandings and
misrepresentations of those who stand without the fold. Whether the bishop
who fulfills his apostolic duty of making known the truth and exposing
those who in the stubborn blindness of their neo-paganism would erase the
Cross of Christ from the Credo of their people contributes to the true
exaltation and real greatness of his country and nation-that will
fortunately be decided by the Eternal God Himself and not by the transitory
and self-seeking passions of the day.... May this conviction hearten the
faithful Catholics of the Archdiocese and of all Germany, when from the
bells of Cologne Cathedral the joyous message of the Bishop's Jubilee rings
out over the fields and hills of the Rhineland."
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Easter Monday, April 22nd, 1935, the Holy Father received in solemn
audience a representative group of the Catholic Youth Associations of
Germany, numbering nearly 2,000 persons:
"You love your great Fatherland. You wish to serve it in loyalty and love
and it should be so, beloved sons. For you know well that We also love
Germany and Our German sons; indeed, we can say that We love the whole
world, and Our love goes forth both to those that are near and those who
are far away. We rejoice in the very depths of Our heart at what you have
so often told us and have confirmed. We say confirmed, for we were already
aware, We were already convinced, that you are the representatives of the
whole of German Catholic Youth, which you represent at this moment which is
so special, so important, a time so troubled, a time also so painful for Us
- this Youth which is the best reserve for the resistance and stability of
Christian and Catholic life in Germany. For, beloved sons, difficult hours
are coming, and they may be as difficult in the future as they are at
present. Difficult hours may even come continuously."
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May 6th, 1935, Pope Pius XI addressing a German pilgrimage:

"Almost daily We receive reports which show how loyal Catholics in Germany
are persecuted and hindered from the exercise of their Faith. In the name
of so-called positive Christianity efforts are being made to deChristianize
Germany and lead her back to barbarous paganism. We hope that you, who
have made this pilgrimage to Rome and to the Vatican, will be better
received and better treated on your return home than were those devoted and
upright young people who, loyal to the Church and the Fatherland, recently
came here on a visit to their common Father. We hold them up with honor
and commendation to the whole Catholic and civilized world. Unfortunately
We cannot do the same - indeed We must do the very opposite - to those who
were responsible for the reception and the treatment We have mentioned."
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1936 - opening of the International Catholic Press Exhibition. Pope Pius XI:
(Russia and Germany were unable to be represented at this exhibition):

"The second absentee is Germany, since in that country, contrary to all
justice and truth, by means of an artificial and intentional confusion
between religion and politics, the very existence of a Catholic Press is
contested."
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1936, Pope Pius XI:

"How can the Catholic Church do other than complain, protest and pray, when
she sees that at every step she takes in her approach to the family, to
Youth, to the people, that is to those very quarters.... that have most
need of her, she meets with contradictions and difficulties? How can the
Church act otherwise when the Catholic Press is fettered, ever more and
more restricted and suspected, that Press whose office it is to broadcast
the basic doctrines of genuine Christianity, and to defend those
convictions which the Catholic Church, as the exclusive guardian of
Christianity genuine and entire, alone possesses and teaches? And
meanwhile every freedom and favor, or at least complete tolerance, is
conceded to organs of the Press whose intention it seems to be to confuse
the issue, to falsify the facts and publicly to discredit the Church, her
interests, her members and her organization; so that finally, instead of
genuine and authentic Christianity, newfangled christianities and
newfangled religions are promulgated."
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Cardinal Pacelli, the Secretary of State, in a speech of welcome to the
International Congress of the Catholic Press in the autumn of 1936:

"We cast a troubled glance towards Germany. We feel deep and sincere
regret that no official representatives of the German Catholic Press have
appeared at this Congress. After the last Pastoral of the German bishops
it is incomprehensible that the Catholic Press in Germany should be
intimidated, strangled and obstructed in its apostolate and its struggle
against Bolshevism. We are forced almost to suppose that it is the
deliberate intention to doom the Catholic Press of Germany to extinction.
All the more warmly do we greet the German-speaking Press in the
representative of Austria."
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Christmas allocution, 1936, Pope Pius Pius XI:

"But among those who proclaim themselves as the defenders of order against
the spread of Godless Communism, and who even pretend to leadership in this
matter, it gives Us pain to see no small number of persons who allow
themselves to be led by false and disastrous principles in the choice of
their methods and the discrimination of their opponents. For those who
seek to destroy and extinguish faith in God and divine revelation in the
hearts of men, and especially in the hearts of Youth, who have the audacity
to represent the Church, the guardian of the divine promises and the
divinely appointed teacher of the nations, as a declared enemy of the good
estate and progress of the nation, do not contribute to the shaping of a
better future for mankind or, consequently, for their own country. Rather
do they destroy that which is the most effective and most decisive means of
protection against the very evil which is feared, and, consciously or
otherwise, work hand in hand with the very enemy they think, or at least
claim, to combat."
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Excerpts from ENCYCLICAL "Mit Brennender Sorge", by Pope Pius XI to the
German Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and Church, March, 1937:

"WITH DEEP ANXIETY and with ever growing dismay We have for a considerable
time watched the Church treading the Way of the Cross and the gradually
increasing oppression of the men and women who have remained devoted to her
in thought and in act in that country [Germany]... This anxiety of Ours has
not been lessened by the reports which the representatives of the reverend
Episcopate dutifully and truthfully brought to Us on Our sick-bed."

"...in the summer of 1933...at the request of the German Government We
resumed negotiations for a Concordat on the basis of the proposals worked
out several years before...In spite of many serious misgivings We then
brought Ourselves to decide not to withhold Our consent...no one in the
whole world who has eyes to see and ears to hear can say today that the
fault lies with the Church and with her Supreme Head. The experience of the
past years fixes the responsibility. It discloses intrigues which from the
beginning has not other aim than a war of extermination. In the furrows in
which We have labored to sow seeds of true peace, others - like the enemy
in Holy Scripture - sowed the tares of suspicion, discord, hatred, calumny,
of secret and open fundamental hostility to Christ and His Church, fed from
a thousand different sources and making use of every available
means.....Anyone who has any sense of truth left in his mind and even a
shadow of the feeling of justice left in his heart will have to admit that,
in the difficult and eventful years which followed the Concordat, every
word and every action of Ours was ruled by loyalty to the terms of the
agreement; but also he will have to recognize with surprise and deep
disgust that the unwritten law of the other party has been arbitrary
misinterpretation of agreements, evasion of agreements, evacuation of the
meaning of agreements, and finally more or less open violation of agreements."


"...an oppression of the conscience of the faithful such as has never
before been witnessed..."

"...We now turn to you and through you to the faithful Catholics of
Germany, who, like all suffering and persecuted children, are very near to
the heart of the Common Father. In this hour in which their faith is being
tried like true gold in the fire of tribulation, and of secret and open
persecution, when they are surrounded by a thousand forms of organized
religious bondage, when the lack of truthful news and of normal means of
defense weighs heavily upon them, they have a double claim to a word of
truth and spiritual encouragement...."
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Late 1937, Pope Pius XI to 200 German pilgrims:

"We have a specially warm greeting for you who come from Germany, from a
land which is so near to Our heart, and which nevertheless for some time
past has seemed in many ways to wish to estrange itself from the house of
its Father. We can only do what lies within our power, cost what it may.
We have confidence in you, and in all the good Catholics of Germany, and
know that you will remain true to Holy Church."
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Christmas allocution 1937, Pope Pius XI:

"It shall not be said of Us, in the words of an ancient historian, that We
have forgotten the real names of things. No, thank God, We have not
forgotten how to describe things as they truly are, and We intend to do so.
In Germany there exists in very truth a religious persecution. For a
considerable time efforts have been made to make men believe that there was
no persecution. But it is known that there is such a persecution and that
it is a heavy one. Indeed, seldom has there been a persecution so heavy,
so terrifying, so grievous and lamentable in its far-reaching effects. It
is a persecution that spares neither force nor oppression nor threats, nor
even the subterfuge of intrigue and the fabrication of false facts."
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April 13, 1938, Sacred Congregation for Seminaries and Universities:

"Your Eminence ! Last year, on the vigil of Our Lord's Nativity, our august
Pontiff and gloriously reigning Pope, in his allocution to the Cardinals
and Prelates of the Roman Curia, referred in grave and sorrowful terms to
the grievous persecution of the Catholic Church in Germany. It was a cause
of the greatest pain to the heart of the Holy Father that shameless
calumnies were scattered by way of excuse for such great injustice, and
that highly dangerous doctrines were spread and broadcast, doctrines that
falsely pretend to be scientific, bringing minds into the greatest
confusion and seeking to uproot true religion. In view of this state of
affairs the Sacred Congregation of Studies urges the universities and
Catholic faculties to direct all their resources and industry to the
defense of the truth against the inroads of this error. Those who are
teaching in centers of higher studies must mobilize all the means at their
command in biology, historical scholarship, philosophy, apologetics, legal
and moral science, and thus forge the weapons with which to rebut in a
decisive and expert manner the following altogether untenable and erroneous
doctrines...."
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When Hitler came to Rome in the spring of 1938, the Vatican newspaper, the
"Osservatore Romano", made no allusion to that event. But the Pope, in an
audience given at this time at Castel Gandolfo, said:

"Sad events are taking place, very sad, both at a distance and also near at
hand; yes, saddening events indeed, and among them one may well mention the
fact that on the feast day of the Holy Cross there is openly borne the
badge of another cross, which is not the Cross of Christ. I shall have
said enough if I tell you how necessary it is to pray, to pray very, very
fervently, that God's mercy may not be wanting."
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1938, Pope Pius XI, audience to the members of the Congress of Christian
Archeology:

"In certain neighboring countries events of a challenging nature are taking
place. You will remember the persecutions of Julian the Apostate, which
were not only very bloody and woeful, but extraordinarily cunning as well;
and there comes to mind also the despicable act of the apostle Judas, who
betrayed his Master."

Pius XI was there alluding to a certain speech made not long before. The
Pope added:

"These persecutions in Germany and in Austria are carried out with an
audacity that is truly unique, and they are being constantly intensified in
their methods and their severity. We learn this from witnesses whom we
have had before Our own eyes. This persecution affects the Pope very
deeply, and his grief and anxiety are immeasurable. And this, not only in
so far as he is the Head of faithful Christendom as Pope, but also because
as a man he sees human dignity betrayed so basely, just as it was by Julian
the Apostate and Judas Iscariot; for this persecution extends even to the
least layman."
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Summer, 1934, Bishop Kaller of Ermland at a pilgrimage to Dietrichswalde:

"We declare with sorrow that during the last year or two movements and
currents of opinion have appeared and grown stronger in our Fatherland
which are directed against the fundamental truths of the Catholic Church,
and aim at setting up a new religions German national church founded on the
myth of blood and race."
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At the celebration of the feast of Christ the King in the Stadthalle of
Coblenz, Bishop Bornewasser of Trier spoke in a similar way:

"Our Catholic people are acutely aware of the tremendous dangers that
threaten the life of the Faith and the existence of the Church from the
neo-pagan movement in Germany."
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Bishop Wilhelm Berning of Osnabruck, sermon on New Year's Eve, 1934:

"Our Faith is not built on sagas and myths, but on the infallible
revelation of God.... What then can it mean when a war of extermination is
undertaken against this Christian faith in God, when it is sought to tear
it out of the hearts of the young in order to substitute for it a new, a
Germanic belief in God?"
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1935, Bishop of Berlin, Count von Preysing:

"There can be no possible doubt that we Christians are engaged in a hard
fight, The new religion of blood has declared war upon us; their
battlecries range from a cold rejection of Christian doctrine to an
exacerbation full of hate. They seek for allies wherever they can find
them. A regular barrage of contentions, culled both from history and from
contemporary sources, thunders down upon us. The aim of this struggle in
which we are now engaged is to drive Christianity out of our Fatherland."
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August 20th, 1935 - Combined Pastoral of the bishops of Fulda:

"It is in a very grave and decisive hour that the bishops, by means of this
Pastoral, address the Catholics of Germany. . . . From the tomb of St.
Boniface there came forth to as bishops the injunction to send a pastoral
message to German Catholics, to clergy and layfolk alike, in order to
strengthen your souls against the propaganda of a new paganism.... The
number of the enemies of the Christian Faith and the Catholic Church has
become legion. Youthful individuals, who are either unacquainted with the
Catechism of Christian Doctrine or have but superficial acquaintance with
it, feel themselves called to sit in judgment upon all things Catholic.
Men and women who have never experienced the beauty of our liturgy or the
peace of soul that follows Holy Communion busy themselves with all Possible
means of propaganda, calling on men to leave the Church and apostatize from
Christianity. Writers who have never studied Church history and Church law
from unbiased sources confuse the minds of the uncritical with
high-sounding words. The Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, and even
more the Gospels and the Epistles of St. Paul, are no longer to count for
anything. Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, is no longer to be the Way,
the Truth and the Life; all connection with the Primacy set up by Christ
Himself is to be broken, and in its place a so-called "Rome-free" National
Church is to be set up.
Among themselves, these deadly enemies of Christianity are split up by
contradictions into a multitude of groups, like the peoples at the Tower
Babel. On one point alone are they united - namely, that it is no longer a
question of attacking individual dogmas or beliefs as in former religious
conflicts, but it is the whole essence and basis of Christianity which must
be overthrown. In carrying out their war of annihilation they are agreed
that it is principally against Rome and the Roman Catholic Faith that their
attacks must be directed...
The freedom of the Press, as we observe with the deepest distress, is so
much restricted that the formerly Catholic papers may no longer publish
religious articles, and are sometimes forced to accept articles which are
an outrage to Catholic readers....
We condemn all offenses against the just laws of the State. But we
condemn also, with the Gospels, that pharisaical arrogance which only casts
stones at other men, which does not perceive the beam in its own eye, which
covers the doings of its own associates with the mantle of silence, and
cries the doings of other men from the house-tops. We rise in condemnation
when a double measure of justice is applied, and when the offenses of
individual Catholics are imputed to the whole body of German Catholics as
such....
The new slogan of "political Catholicism," the reproach that Catholics
concern themselves too much with State and political affairs, can only
impress those who are lacking in judgment. It can only impress those who
do not ask themselves why it is that there is so much talk about the
servants of religion who are represented as intruding into the political
sphere, while so little is said of politicians who intrude into the sphere
of religion and of the Church.... To suppress the "Confessions" in public
life is to suppress Christianity in public life and, if this measure be
carried into effect, stand fast in the Faith...."

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January, 1936, German bishops assembled at Fulda:

"For this reason, even at the present moment, which many regard as a
turning point not only in the political but also in the religious sphere,
we have issued warnings and exhortations over and over again, especially
after our meetings at Fulda, and have left nothing undone to save the
German people from a Kulturkampf. But in spite of all, the struggle does
not appear to be dying down, but rather to rage with growing intensity
round the souls of the German people."
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On February 9th, 1936, Bishop Galen of Munster made a speech at Xanten:

"See how Holy Church, the Pope, the bishops, priests and Religious, see how
the loyal children of the Church today in Germany are insulted, reviled and
derided publicly and with impunity. How many Catholics, priests and
laymen, have been attacked and insulted in the papers and at public
meetings, driven out of their professions and positions, and imprisoned and
ill-treated without judicial sentence being passed !"
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Bishop Michael Rackl of Eichstatt, May 24th, 1936 in Ingolstadt:

"we live in dreadfully threatening times, and most men have not yet
realized that an effort is being made to undermine the very foundations of
the Holy Catholic Church.... Last year the slogan was given out: "The
political revolution is over; it is an ideological revolution which is now
beginning." .... It is consequently no longer a question of politics but
one of 'Weltanschauung', of outlook, of opinion, of conviction.... It is,
indeed, laid down in the Concordat that the Catholic Church should enjoy
full freedom, but you all know that this is unfortunately not the case....
The most dangerous aspect of all is that they do not admit that they are
attacking religion, but pretend that their quarrel is merely with the
"denominational" associations."

At Buchsheim, September 29th, 1936:

"The agitation against the Catholic Church often assumes a form which goes
far beyond that to which we are accustomed in Russia."
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Bishop Buchberger of Regensburg, 1936:

" A violent attack is raging, especially against the Catholic Church. To
be Catholic and to live in Catholic fashion is for many equivalent to being
un-German. And this after the World War, in which none fulfilled their
duty to the Fatherland more loyally than the Catholics."
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Late 1937, Cardinal Bertram of Breslau's. Pastoral to his archdiocese:

"All over Europe in these days, with blasphemous rashness and fury,
a fight is being carried on against the God-Man, our Redeemer. Faith in
Christ and Christianity is being everywhere represented as obsolete and
worthless, as unworthy of a German. Moreover, the Church itself is
attacked by those who maintain that she is the enemy of our nationality.
Step by step our youth is being estranged from the Church. Havoc is being
wrought in the religious thought of our children. The more the priest is
excluded from the work of education, the more rapidly does youth lose its
hold on the true Faith, religious life, and joyful devotion to the Catholic
Church.... Now the Rosary is a prayer which, like a golden chain, binds
together and unites..."

INDEX

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