Remarks at the Golden Jubilee Dedication of St. Aloysius Church

Father McDonnell, Cardinal Gibbons, Monsignor Falconio, my Fellow Citizens:

I am glad to be present on this occasion, the golden jubilee of the foundation of this church. In our country, in this Government and under our Constitution there is no union of Church and State, but rather a declared separation of them. This has been sometimes misunderstood by those who did not know our institutions, as an indication that there was something hostile on the part of our Government toward or some lack of sympathy with the Church of God. This is as far as possible from the truth; and I have always sought, in assisting every such church on interesting occasions like this, to testify by my presence and by words of congratulation, that there is nothing which the people and the country of the United States so depend upon for progress and advancement of their ideals as the influence and power of all the churches of the community. They tend to exalt the nation. I am here to-day therefore to congratulate Father McDonnell and his congregation and the distinguished dignitaries of the Catholic Church on the growth in this community of this Church of St. Aloysius, and on the good that it has done, and to testify as a representative of the Government to the sympathy we have with this instrument and all others that make for righteousness.