CATHOLIC CLUB RECEPTION

President Eliot made an address at the annual reception of the Catholic Club in Phillips Brooks House last evening. The president of the club, W. Fletcher '08, was in the chair, and introduced the speakers. The first of these was the Rev. J. J. Farrell, spiritual director of the Catholic students at Harvard. He dwelt upon the increased importance of the organization, and upon its assumption of the leadership of the newly formed federation of Catholic clubs in American colleges, together with the great responsibilities entailed.

The second speaker was Professor J. D. M. Ford, a former president of the society, who outlined the development of the society during the past twelve years. He was followed by the Hon. M. J. Murray, a member of the Massachusetts bench, who emphasized the importance of early association and opportunities, in the development of the strength of character necessary for upholding morality and civil liberty. He laid great stress on the adoption of the right attitude by members of the University. Mr. Murray, like his predecessors, expressed a profound admiration for President Eliot, and felt a sincere gratitude for the liberal attitude he has always maintained.

President Eliot then rose. He thanked the speakers for their kind appreciation of his assistance. He went on to say that, though he had been brought up in the Unitarian Church, he had been induced to adopt the position towards the Catholics he has always maintained by the marked signs of development discernible in their church. Although the Roman Catholics have always had the reputation of being conservative and formalistic, he desired to point out that they have not been unprogressive. He instanced the evolution of the modern Roman Mass out of the Coptic Mass, marked by the conversion of the solid wall of masonry which originally separated the celebrants from the congregation, into a light screen, together with the substitution of the idea of spiritual sacrifice for the actual slaughter of beasts. Furthermore, President Eliot said, the Catholic Church was not estranged from science: this was shown by the recent establishment of the Carney Hospital in Boston. Although this institution has been in operation only a year, it has already surpassed both the Massachusetts and the Boston hospitals in efficiency of organization. President Eliot concluded by saying that Archbishop O'Connell himself, though he insisted in theory on the superiority of a training in a Catholic university for Catholic men, nevertheless admitted the advisability of young Catholics going to Harvard, so long as no equally good sectarian university existed. President Eliot said he himself held a somewhat different view; namely, that he considered the secular universities the best for all. In ending he quoted the President of Vermont University to the effect that the best men go to colleges where they are thrown together with fellows of various denominations and countries in order that they may be intellectually broadened.