62. Address of John A. Sullivan President of the Catholic Club of New York to Bishop Scalabrini¹³⁴

         New York, October 15, 1901

Monsignor Scalabrini:

It is my pleasure and privilege, as President of the Catholic Club of the City of New York, to extend to you the Club’s most cordial greeting.

            This reception has been arranged, in your honor, by our revered Archbishop and the Club, in recognition of your exalted station in the Church, and the noble and praiseworthy work in which you are engaged, of lifting up and advancing the material and spiritual interests of your fellow countrymen in the United States.

            They labor under many disadvantages. Alien in race and language, unfamiliar with the manners of customs that prevail here – theirs is a difficult task; and yet, everyone at all familiar with the subject, will admit that by reason of their patient industry, their willingness to accept work, however humble, that will provide their families a decent, honest living, their generally quiet, orderly and law-abiding habits, they have made substantial progress, and are destined in a few years to become an important fact in the body politic.

            In one important respect they are by no means strangers. They find here the Church of their faith, hope and affections, flourishing and exercising her high Office to a degree scarcely equaled, even in their own

Catholic country, and, under the influence of the absolute liberty of conscience guaranteed by the American Constitution, enjoying perfect freedom and exercising her benign sway over twelve million of the people of this favored land, who, with wonderful unanimity, acknowledge and reverently submit to her authority in spiritual matters.

            Holding a common faith, it would be strange, indeed, if we, the older Catholic citizens of America, did not feel a cordial and sympathetic interest in your people, who have cast their lot with us – and so, Monsignor, your visit to America, and the good work which has brought you, has enlisted our sincerest good-will and respect.

            Our own beloved Archbishop, who has united with us in doing you honor, can speak of the Catholic Club, its aims and purposes, its devotion to the Holy Father, its thoroughly Catholic spirit, and its large and influential membership, but he cannot speak, as I can, of the love and tenderness we bear to himself, nor can he make any reference to what a generous benefactor he has been to the Club, how much he has made it his debtor, and with what love and loyalty and gratitude we are always ready to serve him.

            Once more, Right Reverend Sir, I have pleasure in extending you the Catholic Club’s most cordial welcome.