to take part in public affairs, by becoming
elected to public bodies in order that they might safeguard Catholic
principles. That was a great good--a very laudable object--but it was
not the highest object. The great object was that out of the fulness
of their Faith they might give to their fellow-countrymen the
principles that flowed from that Faith, so that little by little there
might be built up in the consciousness of the nation that belief in and
use of those sound principles of the Catholic Faith which contained the
only solution of the difficulties with which they were faced."

"Too long have Catholics lived in isolation, allowing others to think
and act for them. It is indeed, high time that they felt the pulse of
life that beats in the real statesman, as distinct from mere
politician. Duty demands that Catholics add their power of intellect
and will to the similar power of other citizens anxious to help the
commonwealth. We are not aliens in this land, not aliens by birth or
principle. As to the latter, I may say with all truth, that no one has
given clearer expression to the basic principles of democracy than the
Catholic theologians, Suarez and Bellarmine." [2]

This attitude of aloofness, during the coming period of reconstruction
especially, would be profoundly un-Catholic. Our active participation
in public life will give us occasion to dispel prejudice, to offset
subversive doctrines, to advocate in spite of failures and bigotry the
principles of Christian sociology. We are firm believers in the
prevailing strength of ideas. They are indestructible; they rule
sooner or later. They may take time to crystalize into convictions,
but the force of mental gravitation must ultimately prevail. And after
all, Reconstruction, as Dr. J. J. Walsh stated, is more a question of
remaking the map of man's mind than that of remodelling the map of
Europe.

The Catholics of England give us, in this matter as in many others, a
beautiful example to follow. During the war they formed a "British
Catholic Information Society," having at its service "the Catholic War
News Office." The result of their aggressive policy is the public
recognition of the value of the Catholic Church by the English people
in the national work of Reconstruction. We would here refer the reader
to Father Plater's letter on "Catholics and Reconstruction" for further
details in this interesting matter. Like our Catholic brothers of
Engl