We are now at one of the most momentous periods of history.  Never have clear thinking, earnest expression and concerted action been more needed than now.  The world is ringing with wild words and dying from loose thinking.  “The persistent statement of principles and the union of all true conservative forces are absolutely necessary, if we wish to bring the nation safe through this agonizing period and make the world safe for democracy,” as President Wilson said.

Therefore we claim that it is for the greatest benefit of the community at large to have Public Opinion enlightened as to the value of the Church as a reconstructive factor.

“Great have been the Problems of War!” But, with Clemenceau, we also are realizing—­and some countries, with bitter deception and depressing sorrow, “That greater still are the Problems of Peace.”

[1] Vol.  II., Chap.  II.

[2] Bryce—­“The American Commonwealth,” Vol.  II., Chap. 84.

CHAPTER XIV.

TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE[1]

(Jo.  VIII, 32)

Facts—­Principles—­Policy of the Catholic Truth Society—­Its value for the Church in Western Canada.

Truth and liberty, error and license are inseparable partners.  The measure of truth gives the measure of true liberty, just as the degree of error tells the degree of bondage.  This is a logical necessity, a natural consequence.  The Master emphasized it when He said:  “And you shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free.”  These pregnant words of Christ are the charter of Christian civilisation and mark the passing of expediency as the supreme rule of human liberty.

This explicit confidence in the abiding power of Truth and in its necessary relation with our moral and religious life has prompted the creation of the Catholic Truth Society and inspired its policy.  Never was any Society more useful nor so well adapted to the conditions of present times.

The world nowadays is fast drifting from its Christian moorings and taking to the high seas of modern paganism.  The outlook on human life is as in the days of Greece and Rome.  The old cry:  panem et circeuses!—­is to be found on the lips of our multitudes and reflects the aspirations of their life.  In the social realm, State-monopoly is fast absorbing the individual and the family, and is heralded as the supreme ideal of human society.  A speedy and complete return to Christian principles will alone re-establish the world on its proper axis.  Christian Truth shall again make the world free and save it from the bondage of neo-paganism.  For, history and experience prove that there is nothing more tyrannical than that bondage—­let it be the bondage of Czardom or Bolshevism—­which comes to man under the cover and name of liberty.  In the present universal unrest, so widely and so emphatically voiced throughout the world, the mission of the Catholic Truth Society appears as most providential.  The spreading of Catholic Truth will help the world to reconquer its liberties and, with them, true civilization.