John Hugh O'Donnell

“ Such is the effect of the Madonna of the Chair that even those who know little and care less for line and color, and perspective and composition, cannot help seeing in the masterpiece an ethereal sweetness that arises out of the mother's love for a child. Sweetness—a sweetness of soul—is a virtue of life beautifully exemplified in Mary, Our Mother. ”

“ It is the only true portrayal of the dignity and charm of womanhood under the aegis of Mary, the Mother of God. If woman is uplifted, and also uplifts herself, we will have struck the first blow at a sensate culture that has engulfed the nation and the world. ”

“ Such was a woman's power of seduction and this power has often been compelling through all the ages. Yet another Eve, Mary, the spiritual mother of mankind, was to crush the tempter's head. Eve was the seducer. Mary is the inducer—to Christ. She leads women to an appreciation of their vocation, to the sanctification of their bodies as temples of the Holy Ghost. ”

“ One can have no respect for publications that pander to man's lower nature; nor can one have much respect for the young women who apparently are so eager to exhibit their physical attractions to be gloated over. They have lost something fine that they can never regain. They are daughters of Eve without being daughters of Mary. ”

“ The importance of the press is one of those things which it is impossible to exaggerate. The press sways public opinion with the same ease that the wind swirls away a dead leaf. The multiplication of newsprint is a veritable multiplication of loaves, but unhappily poisons as well as loaves are multiplied. ”

“ Freud's libido has encompassed the world. Men and women deliberately run counter to the Ten Commandments, taking a particular delight in breaking the sixth and ninth, and then wonder why God has turned His face from us. ”

“ Newspapers and magazines carry life or death to the souls of innumerable people; and too many seem no longer to realize that spiritual death has discovered a way of entering our homes without ceremony. ”

“ Consisting usually of an address, mainly expository, by one or another of America's leading Catholic preachers—though sometimes of talks by laymen, sometimes of dramatizations—and of sacred music provided by a volunteer choir, the Catholic Hour has distinguished itself as one of the most popular and extensive religious broadcasts in the world. An average of 100,000 audience letters a year, about twenty per cent of which come from listeners of other faiths, gives some indication of its popularity and influence. ”

“ A characteristic of the modern pagan is that he—or she—sees the world in terms of pleasure, with an inordinate emphasis on the "pleasures of the flesh. The lower nature of man must be gratified, despite the testimony of history that retribution follows. ”