A FINE WAR SERMON

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 74, 20 December 1917, Page 8

A FINE WAR SERMON

MONSIGNOR CASSiDY'S CALL 10 IRISH

AMERICANS

THE CAUSE WE FIGHT FOR

Tho "Boston Globe" recently published the full text of a much-quoted sermon that was delivered at St. Alary s Cathedral, Fall River (U.S.), to tho Hornau Catholic members ol : the 12th Company, A.C., N.G.M., by the llight ltev. Mgr. James E. C'assidy. It is as follows "llender to Caesar the things that are Caesar's." And you are here, members of the 12th Company of Artillery Corps, to lay upon the ultar of your God all that you have, even to life itself, for your oountry's love and honour. When meu ask you, "What light ye for?" tell them in tones that shall wake up the dead of '70: "I light for liberty, for freedom's sake, for righteousness,' lor all my country's ilag nas represented. 1 fight for pjace, that justice may prevail, that iiightfulness and inhumanity may not possess the earth. Out of the mart and mill and meadow I liave come, no warrior by profession, but u peace-loving and peace-weeping citizen, roused by my country's call, to serve her wiih n.y all; to struggle, to suifer, to die if need be, that her cause may live, that might shall not prevail, that right shall not for ever perish from the earth." .And if anyone shall dare to ask you why you sacrifice for country's sake, tell them, in a voice that shall admit no question:— "1 give to her, my country, because she h'ath given, all to me. After G-od she has given me life; after God she has protected me; her children that have come and gone before me have withstood the summer's heat and winter's cold, have laboured, and struggled, and suffered, and bled, and died that 1 might be a freeman. My lore-fathers she received with open arms; tenderly she nursed them; liberty, justice, and equality she gave them; the shield of her protection she set up before them; with her life's blood did she guard them; the right to worship God untrammelled and unrestrained she ensured to them; she gave them place, distinction, honour, all, reserved nothing, and now, when she's in need and calls to ine, with all I have, I quickly answer: 'Here.' That's a soldier's answer to a slacker's 'Why?' " There are too many of ancestry like to mine, Irish American, if you will, whose judgment is' blinded by their hatred toward Englaud. Let them beware lest their animosity toward England be interpreted as disloyalty to the United States. Out of the loins of a Fenian arrested in arms r,gainst the English I came. I was .litrsed at the breasts of as true an Irish woman as ever came out of Ireland. Indelibly written in my soul is ilio story of England's rule of blood and iron in Ireland. But what has that to do with the honour of my. own country ? Incidentally and accidentally, wo may bo fighting for England, just as England is now fighting for us, but essentially and fundamentally wo eio not fighting for England; we are f.ghting for ourselves. Had Germany by her own overt acts, repeated again and again, not made it impossible for us to keep-peace with honour, had she respected our rights, had she rot mur-dc-iSd our citizens, she might have beaten England to her knees, i,nd we would not have interfered. We did not go to war to save England, wo went to war to save ourselves, to save our sovereign rights, to save all and everything that a nation in honour prizes.

You men of all births,' for 'hero are men of many bloods and births bearing a grievance against England, in your blind desire for retribution you forgot that in this war all must stand or fall together. If England stands, we stand; if England falls, wo fall; victory and honour, or defeat and dishonour shall, come upon all alikel And God forbid that there should be any so base and low and blinded as to wish to strike at the heart of England through'the soul of their own country. God forbid that there should be any who would rejoice at the losses of any of the Allies when they know that such losses mean only greater losses and multiplied deficlis among you. Lot this insanity pass for ever from these States. As you leave this holy place, some perchance ne'er. to_ return, two visions, two memories, I would stamp indelibly upon your soldier souls. The first is Christ upon the Cross, His arms outstretched toward you in infinite love, bruised, crucified, triumphing over sin and death to make you free. The other is that most heroic figure of all these terrible times, Cardinal Mercier. Wan of countenance and worn of body, yet with spirit unbroken and undimmed, he stands amidst the ruins of his devastated and desolated country, his sons murdered, his daughters violated, his children carried into captivity, his home laid waste, every lash that falls upon his conquered people cutting thrice deep into his very soul, yet undaunted, unterrified/ unbroken, ho faces his oppressors and says to them: "Draw your plans, set up your batteries, arrange your movements, propose as you will, but God will ultimately dispose. My conviction, both natural and supernatural, of our ultimate victory is moro firmly rooted in my soul than ever. Wo plighted our word that we should be neutral, and to maintain our word of honour we have sacrificed our goods, our homes, our sons, our husbands, and after tlireo years of coercion we arij still as proud of our fidolity as when wo first declared 'Thou slialt not phss.' " And this heroic figure, the very personification of patriotism and love of country, I hold out to 3'ou as your model and your ideal. No enemy boast, no enemy bribo, no enemy threat, 110 enemy pressure, 110 suffering, 110 want, 110 pain, no loss, no fear have shaken him from his high resolve to render ujvto Caesar the things that are Caesar s and unto God tlio things that are God's. Far away across the wide Atlantic. he stretches out his arms to you for help against the common enemy. In the name of Jesus Christ, go forth to do and die. God give you loyalty, God give you fortitude. God give you unflinching courage to fight your country's cause. And God give you virtue. God give you self-sacrifice and self-restraint to fight gloriously aliko for Him. The prayers of_ your loved ones follow you, the blessing of yonr Church accompanies you; tlw gratitude, sympathy, support,' and sacrifice of a united people support you.

[The abovo sermon—or appropriate extracts from it-was widely ■ -opraduceil in Australia during _ the '-onscription referendum campaign as a counter and by way of contrast to tlia mischievous utterances of the Eoman Catholic Archbishop Manmx. who has been one of the leaders of the opposition to Mr. Hughes's proposals, vim openly supported the Sinn Fein cause, and went so far.in his anti-conscrip-tion propaganda as to incur the depre, cation even of some members ol tlio Roman Catholic Church.]