Yes, we possess the true solution of modern problems and . . . what are we doing to give it to the world, to the community in which we live?  Why, the very fabric of social order is questioned, our working men are absorbing everywhere the most subversive doctrines; the relations between capital and labor are strained to a breaking-point; our industrial system is controlled by economic theories divorced from ethics, whereby the worker is a mere producer; the State-monopoly is gradually spreading its influences as huge tentacles, around our most sacred liberties; the equilibrium between liberty and authority—­these two poles of Christian civilization—­is being displaced; . . . and what are the activities of the Catholic body, as a whole, in Canada, to stem the rising tide?  A sermon, now and then, on Socialism or on the rights and duties of labour, will not solve the problems and extinguish the volcano upon which we are peacefully living.  In our cities, the housing problem, which involves to a great extent, the moral life of the masses, is acute; the white slave traffic has established its haunts and commercialized vice; the moving picture-show has become everywhere the most popular educational factor:  at its school the young generation, eyes riveted on the flickering screen, is drinking in the alluring lessons of free love, divorce and every anti-Christian doctrine; our ports will soon see a new tide of immigration invade our shores; the non-catholic denominations are crumbling away under the very weight of their destructive and disintegrating principle of private judgment; we are surrounded with pagans to whom the supernatural religion of Christianity is but a name or a memory; from our great West comes the urgent cry for help, for men and money; the Church Extension, as the watchman in the night is crying out to our uninterested Catholics—­“the day is coming, the night is coming”—­meaning that the faint streak on the eastern horizon may be the last rays of a dying day or the first blush of a new dawn; . . . and what are we doing?  Here and there, a spasmodic effort, a generous outburst of zeal—­the work of some society, parish or diocese.  While, what we need now is the combined effort of all the Catholics.  This will only be obtained through a Congress.  What we need is organized opinion.  The modern world is very sensitive to organized opinion.—­Let us get together!  We only need leaders to see our opinion become “articulate and authoritative” and make its weight felt in public life.  Never has a Congress been more necessary than now.  Without it, Catholics will not take part in reconstruction, for a Congress alone can unite us and give us the guarantee that our energies will not be “frittered away by overlapping and friction.”