Page:Pastoral letter of the first National Council of the United States - held in Baltimore in May, 1852 (IA PastoralLetter1852).pdf/10

Rh the preaching of the Gospel, and the inculcation of all the virtues it teaches, but also to supply the material wants of religious worship in proportion to the unexampled rapidity with which our flocks increase. We have to establish missions in places where, but a few years since, none, or but few, Catholics were to be found, and where now the children of the Church cry with clamorous importunity for the bread of life. We have to build the Church, where before God's name was not publicly worshipped; and to multiply his temples where they no longer suffice for the constantly increasing wants of the faithful. We have to provide a ministry for the present and future wants of the country, and, in this matter, have to contend with difficulties which are unknown in countries where Religion has been long established, and where the piety and zeal of past generations have furnished ample means for this most important object. We have to provide for the Catholic education of our youth. Not only have we to erect and maintain the Church, the Seminary and the School-house, but we have to found Hospitals, establish orphanages, and provide for every want of suffering humanity, which Religion forbids us to neglect. We thank the Giver of all good gifts for the extraordinary benediction which He has hitherto bestowed upon our efforts, and those of the venerable men whose places we fill. We rejoice at having the opportunity of bearing public testimony to the generous assistance which we have received from our flocks in our respective diocesses. Much, however, as has been done, much still remains to be accomplished. Our churches are nowhere equal to the wants of the Catholic population, and in many places are far from being sufficiently spacious to afford one-half of our people the opportunity of attending Divine worship. We, therefore, exhort you, Brethren, to co-operate generously and cheerfully with your pastors, when they appeal to you in behalf of works of charity and religious zeal. In contributing to Divine worship, you make an offering to God of the gifts He has bestowed on you, and a portion of which He requires should be consecrated to His service, as a testimony of your continued dependence on His Sovereign Mercy. We hope that the examples of your Catholic forefathers, and even of some among yourselves, will be generally felt and not unfrequently imitated; and that