The Catholic Church in Russia To-Day

This book was originally published in 1923 and is useful for historical research. THIS is just one little word about the general aim of this book, which is not meant to be controversial. The Catholics in Russia fully realise from the outset that if anything is to be achieved at all, they must work in the spirit of love. This is the reason why those who have rallied together around our common cause remember that no malice should be borne for the sufferings of the past, no malice for the still greater sufferings of the present and for those looming ahead in the future. In the past the Catholics in Russia had a Christian Government and a Christian Church to struggle against, and the odds were then not so terrific. In the gigantic struggle of to-day more fearful forces have come into play. The Church in Russia fights not only against political enemies, but against the embodied spirits of darkness. And yet the great truth stands clear before every Russian Catholic that the gates of hell, even of the reddest of hells, cannot prevail against his Church. And this realisation is what helps him to go through everything with a stout heart. If I were called upon to use an argument with an unconvinced non-Catholic, my strongest shaft would be: Go to Russia and see how Catholics live there, and then come back and tell me whether people whose beliefs are not on the rock of truth can stand one tenth of what they endure. Russia with her tormented and tortured Catholics presents one more proof of the truth of the Catholic Faith. These proofs are surely unnecessary for Catholics, but they are sorely needed by those to whom Christianity is an empty name. And to such the few Russian Catholics would like to send their message of trust and hope, convinced, firm, unshakable through unimaginable horrors; hope in God's mercy, and trust in the faith revealed by his Church. As I write these lines, a word has reached me from the far North that many of those who shared with me the infinite joys of the inward life in God's Church are in danger of their lives on account of the Faith. I trust my readers will permit me to ask their prayers on their behalf and for the many unknown who suffer yonder for God's truth.