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Newspaper Page Text
AN APPEAL FOR INDIAN SCHOOLS. 117 Government on earth, within reach of the most generous Catholics in Christendom ! Shall twelve millions of Catholics shirk the sacred re sponsibility of trying to save two thousand despoiled, soul endangered Indian children? Will they allow the one-hundred and six thousand Catholic Indians to clamor for the Bread of Life and its dispenser, the Black Gown, and turn a deaf ear to their pleadings? Shall we can we, in defiance of the claims of fraternal charity, nay common humanity, allow these, our brethren in the household of the Faith, to relapse into sin, savagery and heathenism without extending the hand of Catholic fellowship and Christian helpfulness? Brothers of the American Federation of Catholic Socie ties our Catholic Indian schools must stay ! Our Catholic Indian missions dare not be abandoned ! To you we appeal to inaugurate and carry out this great act of national repara tion to the Indian; to you we look to come to the aid of Holy Mother Church in her moment of sorrow and anxiety; to you we direct our request to sustain the work of our heroic mis sionaries in saving the souls of the last remnants of a depart ing race. Here we have a national issue one that will reveal the faith that is in us one that must remove the suspicion that imputes political motives to our organization one that will win the confidence of our Spiritual Fathers in Christ one that will make the great Catholic heart of the nation go out to us in sympathetic co-operation one that will merit God's favor and blessing. We emphasize the fact, therefore, that when our organi zation in annual session at Chicago last year, unanimously adopted the resolution in its platform, that in the support of our Catholic Indian schools "we pledge our moral and active support, by co-operating with our Bishops, especially by giv ing the widest extension to the Society for the Preservation of the Faith among Indian children," we spoke from our hearts and with the faith of Catholics.