Catholics From France

"During nearly twenty years of devoted work for the church he won the esteem of thousands of its best citizens."

"His administration was marked by piety, zeal, and providential prudence."

"Martin, born in Brittany, inherited the deep faith of the Bretons."

"The lives of the missionaries who are devoting themselves exclusively to the native population are lives of intense isolation, but their personal sufferings and inconveniences count for little when there are souls to be saved."

"He soon had to face serious dissensions over the claim by the laity to a voice in the appointment of clergy; he tactfully induced his flock to yield."

"The doctrine was thenceforth looked on as heterodox by the Church. It was destined, nevertheless, to be revived."

"This is really the future of medicine, to repair the genetic code. So it is not crazy to think that one day we could treat them. The difficulty is that there is a lot of money to make the diagnosis and to kill them, and if we could put only 10% of that money into research, we would have already found the cure."

"He united firmness with the respect of civil authority."

"An impartial study of African religion makes it impossible for anyone, in the present state of acquaintance with the subject, to assert that man began on this great continent by having no religious ideas; that from such a state he passed to Naturism, to rise, by degrees, to Animism, Fetishism, and Theism."

"Briand was a strenuous worker, self-possessed, tactful, and devoted."

"My head shall be cut off before allowing you to appoint priests to any parish."

"His energy, sound judgment, and an eloquence which caused Pope Leo XIII to compare him to Bossuet, as well as his unbounded charity, endeared Archbishop Perché to the people of Louisiana."

"Archbishop Perche was a great scholar, but he lacked administrative ability."

"The marking features of her personality were breadth of view and rapid intuition that appeared unerring as an instinct, directness of intention and strength of purpose which lay concealed under a timid exterior, but astonished by their force when circumstances called for prompt decision and action - and a characteristic grace of humility which seemed to be her distinguishing supernatural gift."

"I am an old man, and do not need much. I can live in a basement or in a garret. But whether I come up from the basement or down from the garret, I shall still be your Bishop."

"The old bishop passed the last days of a life of apostolic zeal in retirement."

"He was of a sweet, modest, simple disposition, of lively faith and deep piety."

"At first the Mangamuka natives seemed inclined to expel "the Papists" and destroy their crucifixes and images. Ultimately, however, they were brought to kindlier dispositions, more probably as the result of Bishop Pompallier's reasonings."

"Gaps which appear in the Bible story, leave open a very large field for scientific speculation. Our high respect for the authority of the sacred books must prevent us from seeking in them what they were not intended to contain, what never entered the minds of those who wrote under the divine inspiration."

"For him, inspiration lies in the absolutely new spirit which animates the narrative, though in composition it is quite similar to the stories of neighbouring tribes. Four years after the death of the author this book was put on the Index. Quite probably Lenormant would have submitted, since in his introduction he asserts his attachment to the Catholic Faith and his devotion to the Church."

"Owing to the efforts of Bishop Durieu, the spiritual conditions of the Indians of the mainland of that province have ever been exceptionally bright."

"The Church was founded by Christ, the divisions among Christians were therefore a rejection of the Lord's will and a scandal for the world."

"Parfois, dans un coin triste et noir pousse une fleur."

"Le temps qui s’écoule fait bien ; Et mourir ne doit être rien, Puisque vivre est si peu de chose."

"Il faut donner, donner, donner !"

"Le vicomte, percé d’une longueur de lame, Tomba, fit un sursaut ou deux, et rendit l’âme. Alors, en rajustant au vainqueur son pourpoint, L’un des soldats lui dit: ::Vous le haïssiez? :::— Point. — Peut-on vous demander la cause de l’affaire? — La couleur des cheveux qu’il convient qu’on préfère. Il était pour les noirs, moi je suis pour les blonds. — Vous avez été vif, mon gentilhomme… Allons! Pour cheveux blonds ou noirs faut-il qu’on se courrouce? — C’est vrai, dit le bretteur, car ma maîtresse est rousse."

"Oh! comme les oiseaux doivent mourir l’hiver! Pourtant, lorsque viendra le temps des violettes, Nous ne trouverons pas leurs délicats squelettes Dans le gazon d’avril, où nous irons courir. Est-ce que les oiseaux se cachent pour mourir?"

"(Car) le poète a pour monnaie Des étoiles dans son gousset."

"(Et) l’unique bonheur auquel on peut prétendre En ce monde, est de croire et non pas de comprendre."

"Du luxe, des haillons, de la clarté, des cris Et de la fange. C’est le trottoir de Paris !"

"(Mais) la conscience, mon pauvre ami, c’est comme les gants de Suède : ça se porte sale."

"(Que) la loi du devoir est une loi d’amour."

"A dedicated presence in the world is necessary, based on a realistic, but also hopeful vision of the society, even of a secularized society. I find that, perhaps because of difficult circumstances, there is a latent pessimism among Christians nowadays, sometimes leading to apathy and resignation, sometimes on the contrary to an activism mixed with bitterness, the so called "bitter zeal" of the spiritual literature. Both should be avoided."

"The Christian, conscious of his mission, translates his faith into his life. Faith does not impoverish and does not shrink culture, but on the contrary is the radiating leaven. Like the rainbow radiates all its colours, the Church in Africa is resplendent with the beauty of the Gospel progressively inculturated in all of its cultures and already fruitful bearers of holiness for the entire Church and the whole world."

"The Church of Rome is not spotless, it is not hard and pure like a utopia, whose only real quality would be that of not existing. Instead it exists, with its features marked strongly by time and space, by men and their stone constructions. Thus, the vocation of Rome is the incarnation of the faith."

"C'est vous le negre? Très bien. Continuez, mon ami, continuez!"

"Fièvre typhoide? Mauvaise affaire, très mauvaise affaire! Un homme en meurt, ou il reste idiot pour le reste de sa vie. J'en sais quelque chose. J'ai eu la fièvre typhoide en Algérie."

"J'y suis, et j'y reste."

"Que d'eau! Que d'eau!"

"This Church was born a year after Vatican II which placed the accent on the universality of the People of God. She is inscribed in the Universial Mission of the Church; she is an integral part of the whole which she serves and benefits of its support. To her alone, she is the whole Church and, however, she can only survive through the other members which make fraternal love interdependent. Because of this, she counts especially upon the solidarity of the unique college of all the Bishops."

"The Islamic-Christian dialogue may appear overcome when Islamic movements in certain Muslim countries stir up armed groups and set up their followers against whoever does not share their ideas. The Church of Algeria is undergoing a trial of this kind. Fidelity to their vocation - in a difficult context - as priests, religious brothers, religious sisters and lay missionaries shows that this development of fundamentalist movements of Islam does not justify abandoning dialogue."

"For the poorest of the poor the Church is Mother, the Church is the bearer of a message of peace and love. We hope the new Pontiff will continue with interreligious dialogue, to have special relationship with young people and to fight against secularisation. In Algeria Catholics live in a difficult context but we offer our contribution towards building harmony among the peoples and the religions of the world."

"We are happy that God has given us a common mission here in Algeria. And this mission is all the more important at a time when the pressure of globalisation comes up against reaffirmation of the specific identity of different civilisations, nations and cultures. We are convinced that by means of the "sacrament of encounter" we are called to operate together with our Muslim friends in their diversity, welcoming those among them who wish to have a better understanding of who we are."

"Nec dubium enim est, quod hic primus homo Adam, antequam peccaret, tipum Redemptoris domini praetulisset. Ipsi enim in passionis sopore obdormiens, de latere suo dum aquam cruoremque producit, virginem inmaculatamque eclesiam sibi exhibuit, redemptam sanguine, latice emundatam, non habentem maculam aut rugam, id est limphis ablutam propter maculam, extensam in crucem propter rugam."

"We are also in the Arab world, which has its specific problems, and it seems important to us that the universal Church pause to take into account in a truly particular way the problems of Christians who are minorities in the Arab world, beginning with those in the Middle East."

"He was a brother to me. He opened and paved a way and we will continue down the same path."

"Il n’y a rien dans ce monde qui n’ait un moment decisif."

"Scripturus bella regum cum gentibus adversis, martyrum cum paganis, eclesiarum cum hereticis, prius fidem meam proferre cupio, ut qui ligirit me non dubitet esse catholicum. Illud etiam placuit propter eos, qui adpropinquantem finem mundi disperant, ut, collectam per chronicas vel historias anteriorum annorum summam, explanitur aperte, quanti ab exordio mundi sint anni. Sed prius veniam legentibus praecor, si aut in litteris aut in sillabis grammaticam artem excessero, de qua adplene non sum inbutus; illud tantum studens, ut quod in eclesia credi praedicatur sine aliquo fuco aut cordis hesitatione reteneam, quia scio, peccatis obnoxium per credulitatem puram obtenire posse veniam apud Deum."

"A social body which lives essentially upon the gifts which it shouldn't collect itself - here, the priestly body - loses the sense of reality: money is no longer the fruit of work, it becomes an abstract value. When there is no more money, one believes that there still is more. To live like this upon gifts does not favor the maturity of comportments."

"The idea that Christianity has been achieved in Europe is widespread, sometimes leading to programmes separating the Church, Christianity and contemporary culture. The result is a sort of "unconcerned apostasy" of most Europeans, at least in Western Europe, and especially among adolescents and young people"