Page:Pastoral letter of the first National Council of the United States - held in Baltimore in May, 1852 (IA PastoralLetter1852).pdf/14

Rh religious education of youth. We are following the example of the Irish Hierarchy, who are courageously opposing the introduction of a system based on the principle which we condemn, and who are now endeavoring to unite religious with secular instruction of the highest order, by the institution of a Catholic University,—an undertaking in the success of which we necessarily feel a deep interest, and which, as having been suggested by the Sovereign Pontiff, powerfully appeals to the sympathies of the whole Catholic world.

Our Holy Father Pius IX has recommended to our notice, as well as to that of all the Bishops of the Church, the Society established at Lyons in France, for the purpose of aiding apostolic missionaries in the Propagation of the Faith. Independently of the authority which has thus spoken, our own feelings would prompt us to address you on the subject. From the time of its first establishment, almost thirty years ago, up to the present time, this association has contributed, generously and uninterruptedly, to the. support of our missions. If our churches have so rapidly multiplied; if our religious and educational establishments are now comparatively numerous; if new missions and new diocesses have, amidst most appalling discouragements, still continued to be founded,—we must, in truth and justice, acknowledge, that in all this the Association for the Propagation of the Faith has afforded us the most generous and most enlightened co-operation. We feel the obligations which we have to an association which is identified with the progress of religion in every part of the world; and we, therefore, exhort you Brethren to encourage its establishment in your respective districts, agreeably to the wishes of the Sovereign Pontiff, who desires to see the whole Catholic world united in an effort to diffuse the Gospel of Christ throughout all nations. The small annual contribution made to this Association will not interfere with any other effort of Christian zeal or charity; and we cherish the conviction, that its establishment will draw down from God the choicest blessings on all who unite in this truly good work.

Attachment to the civil institutions under which you live, has always marked your conduct: and if we address you on this subject, it is not from any apprehension that you are likely to