The Catholic Hour (10-13-1946)

The National Broadcasting Company and its independent affiliated stations in cooperation with the National Council of Catholic Men presents the Catholic Hour. On today's program, the speaker will be the Reverend Benjamin Elmati of the Society of Jesus and Associate Editor of the Publication America, who continues his series of addresses generally entitled Christ the King and the Social Encyclicals. The musical selections will be presented by the Skola Contorum of a Macular Conception Seminary, Darlington, New Jersey, under the direction of Mr. Joseph Murphy. In their first selection today, the choir invites us to join in offering homage to God as they sing a setting of the song Laudate Dominoom, Prajee the Lord. The music is by the composer Chirol Gracie. The music is by the composer Chirol Gracie. The music is by the composer Chirol Gracie. The music is by the composer Chirol Gracie. The music is by the composer Chirol Gracie. The music is by the composer Chirol Gracie. The music is by the composer Chirol Gracie. The music is by the composer Chirol Gracie. For the evidence of history is clear. We would still be certain that the family is the rock of society. If there are a few of them, it stands to reason that the population will fall and the nation decline. Now the fact is that the American home has lost much of its original strength and stability. The warning signs of weakness in family life, of growth in juvenile crime and delinquency, of falling birth rate, or rise in the divorce rate, are too easy to be misunderstood. Over the growth of juvenile crime, the United States Department of Justice became so worried last year that it drafted a program of preventive measures on a national scale. It took this unprecedented action when figures revealed that 21% of all arrests were of persons under 21 years of age. And that more persons aged 17 were arrested than in any other age group. Our feeble birth rate is another weak spot. Except for temporary fluctuations, it has been falling for the past hundred years. If it continues to decline, even at a somewhat slower rate than it has in the recent past, the population of the United States will reach its highest point 50 years from now. And thereafter begin to fall. If the past rate of decline is maintained or even accelerated, the situation, of course, will be just so much worse. But juvenile delinquency and the falling birth rate are not the most disturbing aspects of contemporary family life. The most dangerous development of all is a sharp and scandalous rise in the divorce rate. According to a report of the Federal Security Agency, divorcees in 1945 increased 25% over the previous year and reached the frightening figure of 502,000. If the marriage rate is taken into account, this means that for every three marriages last year there was one divorce. Even these cold, lifeless figures are ominous enough. But imagine the extent of the tragedy when statistics are translated into human terms of broken homes and maladjusted children. As a nation, then, we are not doing a very good job of maintaining the sanctity and integrity of the American home. We are not bringing sufficient children into the world to maintain our population. And too frequently, despite a lavish budget for education, we are not raising the ones that are born to be useful law abiding citizens. In the present unsettled condition of the world, we have determined as a matter of national policy to maintain the strength of our armed services. But what good will it do to spend billions on armaments if, at the same time, we permit the nation to rot from within? Let us remain strong by all means, militarily and industrially, until the threat of war has been banished from the modern world. But let us concentrate our main effort on the foundation of our national strength, the American home. There was a time when Jesus Christ was king in the vast majority of our American homes. When family life took its inspiration from the life of the Holy Family at Nazareth, husbands and wives looked upon their marriage contracts as a sacred thing. And they remembered as they pledged fidelity to one another, a marriage feast celebrated long years ago at Cana in Galilee. They looked upon Christ as a partner to their marriage, and their love for one another was deeper and truer because of their love for Him. Children meant sacrifices in those days just as they do the day. But our Christian four bears were not frightened by this. They knew very well that marriage is something more than an everlasting honeymoon, that it does not exist merely for the individual pleasure of husband and wife. Having been raised as Christians, they knew that marriage involves responsibilities as well as pleasure, and that only by fulfilling their family duties could they fulfill themselves. Our ancestors did not run away like cowards from the reality of life. They accepted it wholeheartedly, recalling that their king before them had walked the royal road of the cross. They took upon themselves the yolk and the burden, and they discovered as the followers of Christ always do discover that His yolk is sweet, His burden light. And so by accepting marriage honestly and bravely, they made a success of it, and found a happiness in their homes which their modern descendants frequently do not know. No wonder that in those days there was not one divorce that is to say one failure for every three marriages. When the majority of our families accepted the rule of Jesus Christ, we spent much less per capita on education than we do now. But the juvenile delinquency and juvenile crime figures were much lower. Children were taught in those days to know and love Jesus Christ. They learned their prayers literally at their mother's knees. They were trained in all those virtues, honesty, loyalty, unselfishness, obedience, and respectful lawful authority, which make a child at the same time a good citizen of the kingdom of Christ and a good citizen. And so they were taught to know and love Jesus Christ and to know that the majority of the children of the United States, as far as the education of our children goes, the failure of the home would not be so dangerous today if the schools were supplying its deficiencies. The majority of our schools cannot remedy the very weakness in the home which is causing all the trouble. They cannot alas, give Jesus Christ to the children, to be their inspiration, their motto, and their king. They can it is true to teach morals and civic virtue, but how long will their graduates practice a virtue that is divorced from religious motives and sanctions? In this connection, the man whom we hail as the father of our country warned in his stirring farewell address. Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles. If the great George Washington is correct in this belief, we cannot place much reliance on a system of education which separates morals from religion. And so we are right back where we started in the home. We are forced to the logical conclusion that if the future of our country is to be made secure, if we are to stop the growth of the cancer that is weakening our democracy, we must restore American family life to Jesus Christ. In no other way will millions of our children ever hear of Jesus Christ. Now this is a kind of reform that cannot be accomplished by law. It must come from our hearts from within. From the free determination of husbands and wives to rededicate themselves to Christ, and to live their married lives as heat desires and commands. What we need is a kind of moral revolution that will overturn the modern idols of materialism and selfish individualists and restore Christ to the place of honor and power that is rightfully his. We must return in short to those sacred beliefs which give to marriage a special dignity and nobility and which make of every home in the land a nursery of Christian morals and civic righteousness. Perhaps my dear friends as we said thinking over these ideas together, we may be asking ourselves whether Jesus Christ is king in our home. If I may, I should like to suggest a very simple test. Imagine our Lord knocking at the door this afternoon and entering our home. As he entered the homes of those fortunate people who were his neighbors, you're honored. Would Christ feel at home in our home? Would he command the pure, generous, self-sacrificing love between husband and wife? Would he smile his approval when he saw the children and noted their honesty and obedience and spirit of helpfulness? Their affection for one another and their loving respect for their parents? Would Jesus Christ enjoy the atmosphere of our home? Because it is serious without being sad, joyous and gay without being dissipated, because in a word it is Christian. Would we be ashamed to receive Christ as our guest now this afternoon? If the thought of Christ entering our family circle disturbs our conscience, then he is not king of our home, at least not fully. We have not denied him perhaps, but we have not given him either the complete loyalty which we owe him. Maybe that is why our family burdens sometimes press so heavily. Why we are tempted to throw off the yoke which we freely and gladly assumed in the days of our young womanhood and manhood? If the love between husband and wife has grown somewhat still, maybe the reason is that their love for Christ has first grown cold. Maybe our life at home is unhappy because Christ no longer rules there as king. These are questions we must answer for ourselves. For no one else in the world can answer them for us. Before we answer them honestly before God, let us remember that the fathers and mothers of America hold in their hands the happiness and well-being of our home. The fathers and mothers of America hold in their hands in all truth the whole future of these United States and even of the world. You have just heard an address delivered by a father Benjamin Elmassi entitled, Safe Guarding Our Future. You may have a free copy of this address by writing to the National Council of Catholic Men, Washington 5, DC or to your favorite NBC station. I now require a chance for tenderly beautiful Antifin into the Blessed Virgin, Salve Regina, Hail Holy Queen Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. Dedicated to the mystery of Christ's presence under the form of Braden wine, we now hear Remundys setting of our Sockroom, Compeavium or Holy banquet. The Father of Christ's presence under the form of Braden wine, Compeavium or Holy banquet. The Father of Christ's presence under the form of Braden wine, Compeavium or Holy banquet. The Father of Christ's presence under the form of Braden wine, Compeavium or Holy banquet. Today and every Sunday, the Catholic hour offers a prayer for a just and a lasting peace. We invite you to join with us now. O God, from whose hands come at the peace of men and of nations, grant us in thy mercy to dwell in concord with all peoples, give prosperity to our own dear Lamb and fill it with love of thee. We pray for our President, for our Congress, for all of us have worked and fought and died to preserve our country. Grad we receive the hyven of rest to our returning heroes, and eternal happiness to those who have laid down their lives that this nation might live. Reunite us all over your Lord in heaven, that city of everlasting peace, where after the shadows of this life, we may dwell in the eternal morning of dry blessedness. At the call of His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, a worldwide mission Sunday will be observed next week. In anticipation of this day, and to remind our listeners to participate in this great work, our choir sings the hymn, Faith of our Father's. We will be told to be His Son, and to say, God, Father, Father, Father's, we will be told to be His Son, and to say, God's. Today the Catholic Hour has presented an address by Father Benjamin L. Massey of the Society of Jesus, entitled Safe Guarding of Our Future. The music was rendered by the choir of the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington, New Jersey, under the direction of Mr. Joseph Murphy. Father Massey will be with us again at the same time next Sunday to deliver another address entitled War in the Marketplace. We invite you to be with us then.