CAPG's Blog 

"Henderson's Catholic pastor, Rev. Leo Gerard Doetterl, yesterday in his church uttered a prayer, calling upon God for a most unusual favor. Father Doetterl's prayer, a copy of which was furnished by him follows:

" Dear Heavenly Father, I beg of you, in your love for the souls of there people of Henderson, arouse in the hearts of these dear people an interest in the serious business of knowing and cherishing that which constitutes right believing and right living. Give them a hunger for correct faith and for correct morals. Cure them of this Eastern North Carolina curse of religious indifference. Eighty percent of Henderson's people are neither Catholic nor Protestant church-goers. They are indifferentists. They frame their own faith they make expediency their only guide in morals. They do not even ask what it the holy will of God. As I see it, Christ may as well not have come upon earth that first Christmas night, as far as these people are concerned. They do not investigate which is the true Church; they show by their actions that they are not concerned whether there is a church actually founded by the Son of God. They do not care about His Sacraments.

My dear Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, you once said, "I wish that thou wert hot or cold; but, because thou are neither hot not cold, I begin to vomit thee forth from my mouth." It is the only occasion, dear Jesus when you went so far, in your human discouragement, as to speak of vomiting. You were disgusted with cold and unfeeling religious indifference.

Dear Lord and God, those dear people, without Faith, and without fixed  Morals, seem not to think about right and wrong until their own sons and daughters are in disgrace before the bar of civil justice. Teach these people to make the precious inheritance of right believing and of right living an important part of the home atmosphere, a chief duty on the part of parental training, and a central factor in their philosophy of life. If this is too much to ask, that Faith and divine love be suddenly returned them after long years of indiffere3nce, please, dear God, send us a few spirited bigots, strong bigots, who will utter publicly their hoary false charges against your holy church, that we may publicly answer them, that we may vindicate your holy church, that the virtuous element among the people here may clearly discover that the sweet voice of the Savior still rings with authority throughout the ancient church, and that your holy church still can furnish complete credentials, and can still bring perfect peace to those who are humble enough to pray and earnest enough to investigate. Take away from others that bondage of spirit but which they cling to a man-made sect which they themselves know is not thy church. Give them all at least the spirit of honest search and inquiry. The soul and core of the religious spirit is the desire to do the will of our Maker. Give them all this restless desire, until they have learned the truth which will make them free, the truth which you have forever bequeathed to your one authorized agency on earth, the changeless and indestructible church of Rome. Amen."

August 1, 1938 Henderson Daily Dispatch