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THE WHITE HARVEST
A SYMPOSIUM ON METHODS OF CONVERT MAKING
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THE WHITE HARVEST
A SYMPOSIUM ON METHODS OF CONVERT MAKING
EDITED BY
REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN, PH.D.
CHAPLAIN OF THE CATHOLIC STUDENTS AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
WITH A PREFACE BY
RT. REV. FRANCIS C. KELLEY, D.D.
BISHOP OF OKLAHOMA
"Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and see the
countries; for they are "white already to harvest,"
John, iv, 35
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
NEW YORK LONDON
1927
($b0fetfe ARTHUR J. SCANLAN, S.T.D., Censor Librorum
3mprimatnr: >J< PATRICK CARDINAL HAYES, Archbishop, New York
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 21, 1927
COPYRIGHT, 1927
BY LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
FIRST EDITION
LIBRARIES
f\
5
UADB IN THE UNITED STATES OF A1IEMCA
1001573
To
THE RT. REV. EDMUND M. DUNNE, D.D.
BISHOP OF PEORIA
Inspirer of his Priests and
Zealous Fisher of Souls
In Token
Of Admiration and Esteem and
In Acknowledgment of My Indebtedness
THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
BY THE EDITOR
PREFACE
HE task of introducing a speaker to his audience is
usually prefaced by the words: "It affords me
much pleasure." So very often have we all heard
them that we have come to expect them and to know
that the occasion may or may not afford pleasure to the person
who uses them. They no longer carry full conviction. I have
here the task of introducing several writers all treating one
subject, but each in his own way and that way not the way of
the others. I could truthfully say that the occasion affords
me much pleasure, but I say more than that, for it affords me
so much pleasure that I hesitate to use the trite old sentence
without a warning to the reader that I mean it. Why this
pleasure ? It might arise out of my knowledge of the merits
of the writers, but it does not. It might well arise out of my
knowledge of the usual excellence of their writings, but it does
not. My pleasure comes out of this, that zealous and learned
men at last are turning to a study of how we best can solve a
problem for our day and age that is the most important prob-
lem of the Church in America and in the rest of the world.
Not that others did not solve it in other days. The Apos-
tles did. Francis Xavier did. Brebeuf and Jogues did. De
Smet did.
It is a problem, however, very unlike one of mathematics
in that it changes with the changing world. The answer does
not change. The basic methods of working it out do not
change, but the pupils do change. They change greatly as the
generations pass. Active, respectful, judicial, reasonable,
they may have been at times, but in a few years they become
the opposite. Human nature is like that. Today they are a
greater problem than ever before, because many of them have
vu
viii PREFACE
lost touch with the foundation of the eternal principles, while
other have stuffed their ears with the impenetrable wool of
inherited prejudices. The task is the same. The work to be
done is the same. But what might be called "the difficulties
of the job" are new.
Alas, there is something else that is new and that is the ap-
pearance of the teachers in the strange places they are called
upon to visit. Hitherto they taught, but in familiar surround-
ings, to familiar and friendly listeners and from a familiar
rostrum. These teachers were so few and the listeners so
many that little thought could be given to the crowd that wan-
dered around outside or timidly hung about the edges. There
was enough to do to take care of those who had, without giv-
ing much more than a passing thought to those who had not.
But that situation could not last. It was not Apostolic and,
what is more to the point, it was not what Christ commanded.
He had thought of all. He wanted all. His Gospel was for
all. He built his church for all. His ministers, like His
truth, belonged to all. We knew that, even when we could
not put our knowledge to work outside our own flocks. We
are now beginning to worry about the fact that we knew it.
Thank God for the worry.
This book is a symposium of a new uneasiness and anxiety
uneasiness about ourselves and anxiety about others. It is
not however a symposium to give us trouble but to give us
consolation. When we worried only about what we had, we
were doing only half the worrying Our Lord wanted us to do.
So it really gives me pleasure to present these gentlemen
and ask that they be given a hearing. They are not going to
say the last word on the subject of "How to Convert," but
they are going to say a useful word, a needed word, a con-
soling word and a word that many have waited long to hear.
HE* FRANCIS C. KELLEY
Bishop of Oklahoma
INTRODUCTION
HIS volume has been designed to present the meth-
ods which have proven most effective for the win-
ning of converts to the Catholic faith. It discusses
the two important phases of convert making,
namely, the means of reaching prospective converts to interest
them in a course of instruction, and the methods of adapting
the presentation of Catholic doctrine to non-Catholic minds.
The volume is not a theoretical treatment of the subject,
but a presentation of the technique which has been developed
by the most successful convert makers in America. The agen-
cies and means enumerated to reach prospective converts and
the methods of removing their misconceptions and softening
their prejudices and winning them to a sincere acceptance of
the Catholic faith, have all been tried and tested in the fire of
practical experience.
The success achieved by some priests in the winning of con-
verts has been truly remarkable. In contrast to the meagre
average of slightly less than two per year for all the priests
engaged in parochial work in the United States, some priests
average approximately a hundred converts each year. What
are the agencies they have devised to attract inquiries in such
large numbers? What are the methods they have employed
to present Catholic doctrine with such magnificent success to
non-Catholic minds ? To unfold their methods of procedure,
and to render their experience available to their brother-
priests, religious, seminarians, and even to zealous laymen,
to multiply the efficacy of their labors, is the purpose for which
this volume has been projected.
Instead of a single person gathering this information, and
undertaking to describe the procedure, the writer felt that a
IX
x INTRODUCTION
more vivid and detailed account of all the salient features in
the method would result, if each priest narrated in his own
way, his particular modus operandl. While the volume in
such circumstances would not possess a unity of style, that lack
would be more than counterbalanced by the complete presenta-
tion of all the significant details, and by the placing of the
emphasis upon the various features in the method in accord-
ance with their relative importance.
Accordingly a survey was made with the assistance of the
editors of Catholic papers in all parts of the country to dis-
cover the priests who had achieved outstanding success in the
convent field. Out of the list thus compiled, the writer se-
lected ten of the leaders whose various fields of labor consti-
tuted a fair cross-section of the ministerial fields in America.
There are representatives from the large city parish, from
the small town, and from the sparsely settled countryside.
To indicate the particular type of ministerial field in which
each contributor employed his distinctive methods in the win-
ning of the other sheep, the writer has prepared a brief pre-
fatory sketch for each chapter. It is thought that every priest
in America will find in the field of labor of some of the con-
tributors to this volume a duplicate of his own. In addition, a
chapter has been included on convert work among Negroes,
one on lay missionary work, and a supplementary chapter on
methods of answering stock charges against the church.
The volume is not confined to a treatment of problems in
methodology, important as they are, but presents a penetrat-
ing analysis of the psychology of religious conversion, and the
practical procedure of dealing effectively with the various
types. A large field for the fruitful missionary labor of zeal-
ous laymen and women is also opened up by the volume.
The writer wishes to acknowledge his profound indebted-
ness to each of the contributors to this symposium. Though
they are all busy men, they yielded to the request of the writer
to share the ripe fruits of their years of thought, planning and
experience in winning converts, with all others who are inter-
INTRODUCTION xi
ested in the same important quest. Some there were who
because of the pressure of the multitudinous duties of the min-
istry, had not undertaken to write for publication for years,
and to whom the task imposed by the editor was especially
onerous. To them particular gratitude is due. All have
written, however, with no thought of compensation other than
the reward which comes from the consciousness that perhaps
some word of theirs may bring inspiration and light to a
brother priest laboring at that most difficult work of the
priestly ministry the searching for the Master's "other
sheep." Without the cooperation of these zealous and de-
voted fishers of men, the writer would have been unable to
bring this volume to issue. To them he would attribute what-
ever success the volume may occasion in stimulating convert
work in America. To His Lordship, Bishop Francis C.
Kelley, the writer likewise acknowledges his indebtedness for
the illuminating preface which he has written for this volume.
It is hoped that the volume may open up for priests, reli-
gious, and zealous laymen, new vistas of possible achievements
in the convert field in America. The work has been designed
to serve also as a textbook in seminaries and religious normal
schools where the seed must be planted if an abundant harvest
is to be reaped. For priests, religious, sisters, seminarians,
and zealous laymen it is hoped the volume may bring new
inspiration and new courage to carry on in the apostolic work
of winning America for Christ. If the work is instrumental,
however, in winning but one convert for the Divine Master,
the writer will be more than repaid for his years of labor in
the projection and completion of this volume.
JOHN A. O'BRIEN
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM i
By Rev. John A. O'Brien, Ph.D.
II. THE APOSTOLATE TO "THE OTHER SHEEP" . . 19
By Rev. Bertrand L. Conway, C.S.P.
III. METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 49
By Rev. Hugh L. McMenamin
IV. THE MAKING OF CONVERTS 59
By Rev. Martin J. Scott, S.J.
V. WHY So FEW? 77
By Rev. E. C. Dowd
VI. METHODS OF CONVERT-MAKING AMONG THE
NEGROES OF CHICAGO 95
By Rev. Joseph F. Eckert, S.V.D.
VII. TYPES OF CONVERTS 113
By Rev. Edward J. Mannix, S.T.L.
VEIL THE AROUSAL OF THE APOSTOLATE 145
By Rev. John Duffy
IX. THE MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION . . .169
By Rev. Henry E. O'Keeffe, C.S.P.
X. LAY STREET PREACHING ........ 209
By David Goldstein
XL METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 239
By Rev. John A. O'Brien, Ph.D.
XII. METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS . . . .267
By Rev. John A. O'Brien, Ph.D.
XIII. REMOVING THE COMMON MISUNDERSTANDINGS . .307
By the Rt. Rev. John F. Noll, D.D. Bishop of Fort
Wayne
INDEX 357
Zlll
THE WHITE HARVEST
A SYMPOSIUM ON METHODS OF CONVERT MAKING
THE WHITE HARVEST
CHAPTER I
A STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
BY REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN, PH.D.
HE marked progress in educational psychology in
recent years has produced a corresponding improve-
ment in methodology. Time was when the teacher
was equipped with a few general principles, such as,
proceed from the concrete to the abstract, from the specific
to the general, from the familiar to the unknown, and was al-
lowed to sink or swim in accordance with his ingenuity in ap-
plying these general principles in the presentation of any sub-
ject in the curriculum. A specific technique for the presenta-
tion of each type of subject matter had not as yet been worked
out. This was true not only of the subjects in the elementary
school curriculum but of the higher arts and sciences as well.
Thus the physician of a generation or two ago depended
upon the application of a few general principles in combating
many diseases. There was the administration of the usual
cathartic and, in the cases of fever, quinine was the universal
nostrum. These two general curatives, it was felt, would
in some mysterious manner reach the disturbing factor and re-
store the organism to its proper balance. In contrast with
that mode of procedure, the physician of today, when con-
fronted with a disease, turns to his book of "specifics," in
which he finds a definite method of treatment diagnostic,
2 THE WHITE HARVEST
curative, prophylactic for that particular disease carefully
worked out for him. Instead of relying upon a general
method of treating a patient suffering from almost any ail-
ment, the physician now diagnoses the sick person to dis-
cover the exact disease, and applies not simply a general re-
storative, but a specific which has been proven effective for
that particular malady when applied in a definite prescribed
manner. The refinement of the method and the development
of a specific technique of treatment have produced corre-
spondingly greater results. Hence the necessity of a year as
an interne in learning the methods of applying the principles
of medicine in the practical treatment of disease.
So, likewise in the study of law. Instead of seeking to
master the more general abstract principles of legal justice
as set forth in Blackstone, the student now usually studies
it by the "case book" method. By this system concrete cases
are presented, the pertinent principles are applied and the
correct technique of procedure in each specific case is illus-
trated. The consequence is that when such a case occurs
later on, the young lawyer has a better and more practical
grasp of the method of dealing with it, than if he had been
schooled only in abstract principles with no definite training
in the practical technique of their application.
THE IMPORTANCE OF PROPER TECHNIQUE
So widely recognized has become the need of training in
methods, that there are now few, if any, States in the Union
which grant a teacher's certificate to the candidate instructed
only in the general theories of pedagogy, but with no definite
training in the practical technique of presentation. School
authorities have witnessed all too many tragedies where
young teachers, fortified with good grades in scholarship
and with a general course in educational theory, have failed
signally because of their lack of proper methods of impart-
ing their knowledge and of presenting intelligently to the
A STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 3
pupils the subject matter in the textbook. They are like
merchant ships that come to a port loaded with a great cargo
drawn from many lands, but find the water too shallow to
approach the wharf, and are unable to unload. Hence, the
widespread recognition of the necessity of training in meth-
ods on the part of any prospective teacher.
Courses are now given in every modern normal school and
university not only in general methods, but ,also in special
methods worked) out for each subject; in the curriculum.
Take mathematics, for example. The different portions of
the subject matter are analyzed with great care, the distinct
mathematical steps involved in the solution of common types
of problems are enumerated, and special methods are worked
out for the presentation of each distinct unit of subject mat-
ter, such as, the handling of mixed fractions, the placing of
the decimal point, and the computation of compound interest.
The technique of presentation is based upon the analysis of
the subject matter, and the study of the learning process of
the child mind.
Both are essential. For, neither a mastery of the subject
matter on the one hand, nor an insight into the workings of
the child mind on the other, would afford a sufficient basis
for the construction of an effective technique. Indeed, the
most competent master of a subject may prove a grotesque
failure as a teacher if he lacks an insight into the learning
process of the child mind. It is this application of the re-
sults of curriculum analysis and principles of genetic psychol-
ogy to the methods of teaching which has been ^responsible
for one of the greatest advances in modern education in the
past generation, namely, the development of practical and
effective techniques for the presentation of each subject in
the curriculum. Methodology in education has been elevated
from its unstable foundation on subjective caprice and crude
empiricism to the solid basis of objective fact, scientifically
tested and verified.
The consequence is that the beginning teacher, fortified by
4 THE WHITE HARVEST
such training is no longer experimenting upon her class
through the slow trial and error method to discover suitable
technique for the presentation of each different type of sub-
ject matter. Instead, she comes enriched with the methods
which reflect the sustained thought, the painstaking analysis,
the penetrating psychological insight and the ripe experience
of thousands of men and women in working out the most ef-
fective technique for the presentation of the specific subject
matter with which she is dealing. Between such a teacher and
the one altogether unequipped with such training there is as
much difference in the eyes of skilled supervisors, as there is
between the finished interne and the medical student fresh
from the theory of the classroom, who has never handled a
scalpel or learned the technique of applying his theoretical
knowledge in the treatment of specific maladies, or of manipu-
lating his different instruments in the performance of a single
surgical operation.
The Central Problem
Vast as is the volume of scientific study and painstaking
analysis which has been focussed upon the development of
effective techniques for the presentation of various subjects,
there is one field which remains as yet untouched and unex-
plored a virgin wilderness. That is, the presentation of
the truths of the Catholic religion to the non-Catholic people
of America. To set forth effective methods for the presen-
tation of Catholic truth to our non-Catholic fellow country-
men, in such a way as to win their allegiance to Christ and
His Church, constitutes the central problem of this pioneer
study. The practical objective aimed at is the bringing of
the millions of our fellow-citizens, either untouched ' alto-
gether by the saving ministrations of religion or wandering
in the darkness of uncertainty and error into the fold of
Peter. They are bound to us by the strong bond of a com-
A STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 5
mon love for the fatherland. They speak a common tongue,
and as our neighbors and our friends, they are woven in-
timately into the fabric of our common social life. While
the souls of the Hottentots of darkest Africa and the Mon-
gols of Asia are infinitely precious, and are worthy of our
most heroic missionary labors, nevertheless no one can deny
that in the extension of the Kingdom of God our fellow
countrymen have the first claim upon our devotion.
There are two additional considerations, moreover, which
give an especial urge to the arousal of our zeal for the reli-
gious welfare of our fellow-Americans. The first is the fact
that there are approximately 70,000,000 people or about
60$ of our entire population who are unafEliated in an active
manner with any church. Unlike the population of the Mo-
hammedan world, where practically no Christian penetration
occurs, unlike even many pagan tribes of Asia and Africa
who cling with almost fanatical tenacity to their grotesque
idols, the great majority of Americans, being unaffiliated, are
open-minded and susceptible to the drawing power of re-
ligious truth when properly presented. More than half of
all the people of America are starving for the bread of re-
ligious truth. Religious at heart, and in general sympathy
with the strivings of religion, this vast multitude awaits but the
enlistment of its interests and the captivating of its reason
through the skillful presentation of Catholic truth, to start its
forward march out of the wilderness into the Promised Land.
Moreover, on probably the majority of those who are pro-
fessed members of a creed, denominational ties rest but
lightly. Most of them profess to uphold the thesis that one
Church is as good as another, and proclaim their willing-
ness to follow the Truth to whatsoever shrine it might lead
them.
The second consideration is the fact that here in America
we enjoy the fullest measure of religious freedom. Un-
hampered by the laws and frictions coming down from the
6 THE WHITE HARVEST
union of Church and State in feudal Europe, the Church in
America is free from that governmental interference which
vexes her in many of the countries of the Old World. She
is privileged here to live her own spiritual life and to draw ad-
herents from every department of American life. She is per-
mitted to preach her Gospel in every nook and cranny of
America. Her ministers enjoy as a rule a large measure of
public esteem and confidence and are generally regarded as
among the intellectual leaders of the community in which they
live.
Why So Few Converts?
Yet in the face of all these favorable circumstances the
number of converts according to the Catholic Directory for
1927 was only about 35,000. Out of a total population of
approximately 110,000,000, this figure seems pitiably small.
It represents, as Father E. C. Dowd points out in his article,
an average of slightly less than two converts per priest in
the course of an entire year. In view of the unparalleled
richness of the field and the unlimited opportunities for its
cultivation through the presentation of Catholic truth, we are
forced to raise the question: Why are there so few converts
in America? There are doubtless many factors that enter
into the formulation of a complete answer, such as, the ab-
sorption of men and money in the pressing task of building
churches and schools for our Catholic population that has
spread so rapidly in every part of the country. There has
been an urgency to this work which admitted of no alterna-
tive. With the peak of that building program passed, how-
ever, for several years, with the overwhelming majority of
our congregation provided with churches, the situation would
seem to demand the presence of some additional factor to
explain the appallingly low average of less than two converts
per priest in a year.
A STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 7
Lack of Definite Plan
Is it. not due in a large measure to the lack of any care-
fully studied plan or of any systematic effort to win converts
to the fold? And is not the lack of such a carefully worked
out plan of attack traceable largely to the lack of information
as to the methods which have proved effective in winning
great numbers of converts? The fact that among others
the writers of the various articles in this symposium have been
able to win from 500 to 5000 converts, some of them averag-
ing regularly over 50 converts per year over a period of 16
years, through the use of a systematically planned method of
procedure, would seem to establish the validity of this view-
point. In other words, there has been as yet no definite tech-
nique of convert making worked out.
The subject receives as a rule but scant mention in the
seminary curriculum. It has not passed beyond the outward
fringe into the focal point of the institution's consciousness.
When it does it will receive the place in the curriculum which
its importance deserves. Then, too, it must be acknowl-
edged that up to the present there has been too great an in-
sufficiency of data to enable the seminary to present such a
course. Each priest, no matter how effective a method he
would develop in his years of experience in seeking converts,
generally kept the method to himself, instead of rendering it
available for all, and having it filter through ultimately into
the seminary curriculum.
Carefully trained in the performance of every liturgical
rite, the young priest on leaving the seminary is compelled to
work out his own pedagogical salvation in the matter of
winning converts, in accordance with his own ingenuity in de-
vising effective methods of arousing the dormant interest of
non-Catholics in the study of religion and of adapting its pre-
sentation in such a way as to allay their fears and misgivings
and win the assent of minds that start the investigation handi-
8 THE WHITE HARVEST
capped oftentimes by prejudice and previous misconceptions.
The result of the lack of such systematic training is the pres-
ent pitiably low average of converts per priest in America.
This work finds its essential raison d'etre in meeting this
widely felt need, in providing a carefully planned and syste-
matically organized technique for the winning of converts to
the Catholic faith. It renders available to the zealous lay-
man, seminarian, the religious teacher, and the priest the
ripe fruit of the years of experience and careful study of the
most successful convert makers in America. It provides
every one interested in the extension of the Kingdom of
Christ with a knowledge of the means which have proved
most effective in the different types of communities, urban and
rural, native and foreign-born, which make up our cosmopoli-
tan population.
While serving as such a vehicle, it seeks consciously to fo-
cus the attention of every zealous Catholic upon the tremen-
dous potentialities of the convert field in America a field
that has passed too long unnoticed and uncultivated. While
we have established a number of institutions to prepare priests
and religious for the foreign mission fields, schooling them
carefully in the customs and manners of the heathens, train-
ing them in the difficult languages and dialects of the different
pagan tribes, we have strangely enough paid but perfunctory
attention to the devising of methods of winning the pagans
and semi-pagans in our very midst. This work seeks to
open up a new vista of possible achievements in the home
missions by pointing to the striking records of great hosts of
converts won by methods usable by practically every priest
in America. It will doubtless be a revelation to the vast
majority of readers to learn that as many as 5000 converts
have been won by a single priest here in America, and that
others receive an average of half a hundred into the fold each
year with unfailing regularity.
Moreover it will be noted that these recruitments are con-
fined to no single type of community but are drawn from
A STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 9
rural districts as well as from the populous cities. Every
social, economic, and racial group finds generous representa-
tion in the hosts of converts. The achievement of priests in
widely different fields of labor, such as that of Father Eckert
in the negro district of Chicago, of Father Duffy in the sparsely
settled territory of Wyoming, of Father Scott in the con-
gestion of New York City, and of Father Dunne in one of
those typical small cities such as dot the country from Maine
to Oregon, tend to demonstrate that no matter where the
priest labors, if the proper net is skillfully and persistently
lowered it will secure ultimately its copious draft of souls.
The number of converts gained by the priests whose meth-
ods are detailed in this book would probably average about
50 per year. If the average of each priest engaged in parish
work in this country would reach but 10, the total would
be raised from the present figure of 35,000 to approximately
200,000 converts annually. If this priestly effort were then
supplemented by even a moderate zeal on the part of the
Catholic laity, it would seem not unreasonable to believe
that a tide of converts could annually be brought into the
Church which would swell into the million mark.
Why the Apathy of the Catholic Laity?
By some strange anomaly the average Catholic layman,
though deeply attached to his faith, rarely goes out of his
way to assist in guiding a soul groping without in the dark-
ness into the harbor of light. He does not seem to be even
dimly conscious of any obligation on his part to spread the
Kingdom of Christ in the souls of men. That such is the"
work of the priest and religious, not of the business or pro-
fessional man or the laborer in the factory, is the almost uni-
versal view of our laity. The result is that ordinarily they
not only avoid introducing the subject to a friend who might
easily be interested in learning some point of Catholic faith,
but rather generally give perfunctory and inadequate answers
io THE WHITE HARVEST
to inquiries concerning Catholic belief and practices or simply
tell the person to "see a priest."
Their apathy is in sharp contrast to the zeal and solicitude
of the church-going Protestants to win new members for
their fold. They launch "win-my-chum" campaigns almost
annually. They display commendable activity in interest-
ing newcomers in the community in the work of their Church
and in bringing outsiders to their revivals and other church
meetings. While the number of lapses will perhaps rival
the number of accessions in many Protestant churches each
year, that fact is traceable to the lack of a definite body of
clearly defined religious truths, the severance from the divinely
established religious teacher, and the consequent absence of
the sacramental channels of grace, and not to any lack of
missionary zeal on the part of their lay members.
The cause of such apathy on the part of our laity toward
any form of missionary work among those outside the fold
is doubtless traceable to the lack of any definite systematic
effort on our part to enlist their aid in any organized manner.
Time was when the whole of Christendom was Catholic.
There was a superabundance of priests and religious to per-
form all the ministrations of religion. With the cleavage
of whole nations from the ancient faith in the religious up-
heaval of the sixteenth century, and the separation of hun-
dreds of millions persisting to this day, there is a crying need
for the enlistment of the missionary zeal of every Catholic
man and woman if the great divisions of Christendom are
to be brought back to their spiritual mother, and the fruits of
the redemption are to be made accessible to the souls of all
through the divinely established sacramental channels of
grace.
The Enlistment of the Laity
The mobilization of our lay resources to assist in the spiri-
tual conquest of America is therefore one of the urgently
A STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ir
imperative needs of the day. The potentialities in the con-
vert field realizable through the organization of all our
people into an active lay apostolate are tremendous and well-
nigh incalculable. Let us assume that of the approximately
20 million Catholics in America, 10 million are adults. If
each adult would win but a single soul for Christ in the course
of a whole year, the conversion of the whole nation of
America would be effected in less than four years! With
even a million Catholics organized into an active lay aposto-
late, each winning a single recruit a year, and repeating the pro-
cess anually together with their recruits, the conversion of
America in less than seven years would be un fait accompli.
The possibilities resulting from the arousal of our laity
to an intelligent participation with the clergy in the work of
extending the Kingdom of Christ are simply staggering.
Equally obvious, too, is it, that if the penetration of the vast
millions of the population of America by Catholic truth is
to be effected within a reasonable span of years, it will be the
result of the missionary labors of no scant 1 8 or 20 thousand
priests, but of the united efforts of many millions of laborers.
It may be possible for the clergy to do most of the actual in-
struction, but they must be supplied with classes to instruct
through the cooperative missionary zeal of the laity.
The writer can already hear some of the readers observing
that the possible achievements through the enlistment of lay
cooperation just outlined are fine theories, splendidly spun
speculations, but of dubious practicality. But are they?
The concrete results of lay cooperation recorded in the fol-
lowing chapters constitute an effective answer. For the
reaching of such vast multitudes of non-Catholics, probably
passing the hundred thousand mark, with the truths of the
Catholic faith through the voice of a lay apostle one could
probably find no counterpart save by going back to the days
of the Apostle Paul. Yet that is the achievement of Mr.
David Goldstein in the twentieth century. The story of his
apostolate opens up a new vista of potential missionary labors
12. THE WHITE HARVEST
by the laity. The work of a single negro in bringing over
twenty-five converts for instruction, as narrated by Father
Eckert, and the work of the Convert League of New York
as described by Father Conway and Father O'Keeffe, demon-
strate the effectiveness of lay missionary efforts as applied
individually or through an organization. Indeed it is one of
the chief purposes of this volume to stimulate interest in the
organization of a lay apostolate for convert work in every
parish in America.
It is recognized that the methods of lay missionary work,
as recorded in these chapters, are but the pioneer beginnings
to cultivate a vast field which has remained hitherto almost
untouched. They are beginnings, however, of such tremen-
dous significance and productive of such remarkable results
that they are worthy of being utilized and developed in every
portion of the great white harvest of America. It is hopecl,
too, that these stories of lay activity will help to create a new
consciousness, and a new attitude on the part of our Catholic
people toward active participation in the spread of Christ's
kingdom among their fellow citizens. It seeks to preclude
at least the possibility of a Catholic esteeming himself to be
an exemplary follower of Christ, who goes through his en-
tire life without ever once consciously seeking to lead a stray
sheep into the Master's fold. It is recognized that a vir-
tuous life is in itself an eloquent apologetic. More than that,
however, is required. Active, persevering efforts consciously
focussed upon the problem of enlisting an outsider's interest
in the investigation of religious truth is required if the co-
pious draft of souls is to be secured.
Christ's Dominant Hunger
Varied and numerous indeed are the duties that crowd in
upon the pastor of souls in America. He is the builder of
churches and schools, the teacher of his flock, the spiritual
physician ministering to the sick, the dispenser of the mys-
A STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 13
teries of God, the administrator of the temporalities of the
parish. Yet it is doubtful if there is any form of his ministry
which articulates more accurately the dominant note of the
priestly calling than the quest for sheep who have strayed
outside the fold. When Jesus sounded His call to the first
apostles who were laboring along the shore of the sea of
Galilee, He said: "Come ye after me, and I will make you
to be fshers of men." In that Divine invitation the Master
placed His finger upon the salient feature of the priestly call-
ing, the seeking for souls, the "fishing for men." His whole
ministry was the manifestation of a quenchless thirst for
souls, a ceaseless driving hunger for the sheep who had strayed
away a hunger that was rendered vocal in those pleading
words to His apostles : "And other sheep I have, that are not
of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my
voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd" x It
was this same yearning which found its reverberation in the
Master's prayer immediately preceding his passion, when He
said: "/ pray for them also who through their word shall
believe in me: that they all may be one, as thou, Father, in
me and I in thee." 2
Despite the multitude of distracting duties which crowd in
upon the ministry, it is hoped that the priest will find in these
chronicles of spiritual quest, all written by busy pastors of
souls, the inspiration and the urge to assign a few hours each
week to the alluring task of seeking to fulfill the prayer of
Christ by searching for some of the sheep outside the fold
a work that mirrors forth so clearly the dominant hunger in
the heart of Christ. The volume seeks to give not only the
inspiration for greater and renewed efforts in this field, but
to supply also the knowledge of methods and practical pro-
cedure that are designed to make the efforts eventuate in $.
draft of fishes more copious than ever before.
The winning of America for Christ! What an ideal I
1 John, x, 16.
2 John, xvii, 20, 21.
14 THE WHITE HARVEST
Is it not as glorious as that which throbbed in the hearts of
the Crusaders of old, steeling them to brave alike the snow-
clad heights of the Alps and the burning sands of the Arabian
desert? Yet who would be so rash as to declare that with
the succour of that divine grace which never fails a worthy
cause, it is an unrealizable ideal? Not by grandiose ges-
tures or spectacular feats which provoke the plaudits of the
multitude, can that ideal be translated into a glorious reality,
but by the patient persevering toil of many laborers and by
methods which embody the ripe experience and careful
thought of the most successful workers in the field.
To quicken the pulse of every priest and lawman to under-
take this great task of winning America for Christ, there
comes across the sea of centuries the thrilling challenge ut-
tered by the Master in ancient Samaria. Standing by Jacob's
well in Sichar almost in the shadow of Mt. Garizim, the Mas-
ter pointed to the fields through which were coming the
throngs of Samaritans and said to his disciples: "Do not you
say, there are yet four months, and then the harvest comethf
Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and see the countries:
for they are white already to harvest. And he that reap-
eth, receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life everlast-
ing" 1 With its sixty millions of citizens untouched by the
saving ministrations of the Christian religion, America
now presents the most alluring harvest, with its fields "white
already to harvest." Who is there who can doubt that in
the prophetic vision of the Master there were not included
those vast fields that were to rise up out of the Western seas
with their teeming millions of inhabitants fields now whiten-
ing with their human harvest, waiting for reapers to come
and gather it into the eternal granary? America represents,
therefore, the mission field par excellence for the Church in
the twentieth century.
While the work is designed to focus attention upon the tre-
ijohn, iv, 35.
A STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 15
mendous opportunity of winning vast hosts of converts in
America, by detailing methods which have actually yielded
such results, the writer is not unaware of the surpassing value
that will result if it succeeds in increasing the total number
of converts in only a small degree. Nevertheless it is hoped
that as a consequence of the utilization by priests, religious,
and zealous laymen of the many ingenious devices of reaching
and the skillful methods of winning the "other sheep," as
worked out by these outstandingly successful convert-makers
as a result of half a lifetime of labor, the volume may serve
as a humble instrumentality through which the total annual
number of converts in America will soon be doubled and
tripled. If, however, it does not reach that goal, the writer
will be content. For, a single soul, it has been said, is a
sufficiently large diocese for any Ordinary. So if this volume
be instrumental in the winning of only a single soul, the
writer will be more than amply paid for his years of labor in
the projection and final completion of this symposium.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO
CHAPTER H
Dm you ever hear of a priest who has made more than 6000 converts, and
who is still busy winning more souls for the Master? That priest is the
Rev. Bertrand L. Conway, C.S.P. who has probably made more con-
verts than any other man, lay or cleric, in America. Following in the
footsteps of that mighty Apostle of the Gentiles, after whom the great
Congregation of Paulists has been patterned, Father Conway has blazed
a missionary trail from Nova Scotia to Louisiana, and from Maine to
California. For twenty-eight years he has spent himself in preaching
missions in every State in the Union, specializing in missions for non-
Catholics. Perhaps more than any other priest, Father Conway has dem-
onstrated the fruitfulness of missions for non-Catholics and has made it
not only an accepted but an indispensable institution in the missionary
field in America.
In his twenty-eight years of missionary experience, Father Conway
has developed a carefully planned technique for the presentation of
Catholic doctrine to the non-Catholic mind. In his illuminating article,
Father Conway sketches the various steps in the methods, the series
of special lectures, the preliminary advertising, the inquiry class, the
personal interview, the question box feature, the follow-up letter, the
book distribution during and after the lectures, and the methods of
dealing with different types of prospective converts. In this field as else-
where, system and a definite plan of attack bring rich returns. While
local conditions in a parish may render advisable some slight modifica-
tion of the mode of procedure here described, every priest, seminarian, and
catechist in America will find the method highly suggestive and effec-
tive in securing practical results.
In addition to instructing over 6000 converts, Father Conway has
found time to write several books of which the Question Book is the
most widely known. Printed in several languages, it has gone through
17
r8 THE WHITE HARVEST
many editions, and has passed the two million mark in number of copies
sold. It ranks with Cardinal Gibbon's "Faith of Our Fathers" as one of
the most practical and serviceable works in the presentation of Catholic
doctrine to the non-Catholic mind in America. It contains the answer
to almost every question asked about the Catholic religion. It is a
veritable mine of information multum in parvo. A short time ago a
leader in the Catholic Evidence Guild in England informed the editor
that their army of speakers was rarely confronted with a question which
could not be quickly answered by referring to the Question Box.
Like Father McMenamin of Denver, Father Conway has found the
public answering of questions a great aid in stimulating interest and in
meeting directly the real problems in the minds of his listeners.
What an inspiring vista of greater harvests Father Conway's achieve-
ments opens up. That impressive record of over 6000 converts within
the compass of a single ministry, how provocative of priestly zeal to
strive for greater conquests and to begin the writing of a new chapter
in the moving story of the winning of America for Christ!
CHAPTER II
THE APOSTOLATE TO "THE OTHER SHEEP"
BY REV. BERTRAND L. CONWAY, C.S.P.
JHEN Isaac Hecker was at the Redemptorist House
of Studies at Witten, Holland, his superior asked
him to set forth in writing his idea of his future
vocation. In answer Hecker wrote: "In looking
back at my career prior to my becoming a Catholic, it seems to
me that Divine Providence has led me by the hand through
the different ways of error, and made me personally ac-
quainted with the different classes of the American people and
their wants, in order that, having made known to me the
truth, He might employ me the better to point out to them the
ways of His Church. Therefore, I feel confident that my voca-
tion is to labor for the conversion of my non-Catholic fellow
countrymen."
As a Protestant, Father Hecker was all on fire with the
desire to know the truth of God. At Brook Farm, his friends
Emerson, Hawthorne, Dana, Olcott christened him
Ernest the Seeker. Pure and clean of heart like the child the
Saviour speaks of as possessing the Kingdom of God, he
strove from the outset "to live for the best," and "to make
a perfect surrender of his whole heart to God." He sought
everywhere for the satisfaction of his soul's aspirations. Ger-
man Pantheism, New England Transcendentalism, and the
various Protestant Churches liberal and orthodox were in
turn questioned. One day he at last came to face with the
19
20 THE WHITE HARVEST
Catholic Church in the pages of her official catechism, the
Catechism of the Council of Trent.
"Imagine my amazement," he writes, "at finding here just
what my soul had been hungering for all these years. I soon
saw that what I already had of truth and light, what my best
nature and conscience and my clearest natural knowledge told
me was truth, was but elevated and lifted up beyond all con-
ception by the doctrine of the Church. And such was my in-
dignation at finding that I had been hoodwinked from my
childhood, that I vowed I would devote my life to tearing
the bandage from the eyes of my fellowmen."
These words were the keynote of Father Hecker' s life. He
wished to make America Catholic. "I will help the Catholic
with my left hand," he put it quaintly, "and the non-Catholic
with my right." He loved America her people and her in-
stitutions and was profoundly convinced of her providential
mission among the nations. He was in deep sympathy with
the millions of his non-Catholic brethren, who had wandered
far from the fold of the One True Shepherd, and who were
greatly tormented by the doubts and uncertainties of indiffer-
entism and unbelief. To win them all to the Church of
Jesus Christ was his chief desire for this he prayed, lec-
tured, wrote apologetic books and pamphlets, established The
Catholic World, and founded the community known as the
Paulist Fathers.
There were many who seventy years ago called Father
Hecker a visionary, an extremist, an idle dreamer. When in
the bitter days of prejudiced Know-Nothingism he spoke en-
thusiastically of the converts to come, they shook their heads,
and said: "He has the childish enthusiasm of the convert.
The United States is no field for the apostolate of con"
version."
Today as we look around us we see that these pessimistic
prophets were sadly lacking in vision. For the dream of
Father Hecker has in great part been realized. In his day
converts came to us by the score; today they are entering the
THE APOSTOLATE TO "THE OTHER SHEEP" 21
fold by the thousands. Every year in the United States about
thirty-five thousand converts are received into the Church,
many of them making sacrifices for conscience sake that prove
that they are led by the Spirit of God.
Father Hecker was at first a Redemptorist, a community
called to the United States by the American bishops to min-
ister to the needs of the German immigrants. A dispute
arose between him and his superiors concerning the method
of reaching the minds and hearts of non-Catholics. They
maintained that the outsider could best be reached by the in-
direct method of the Catholic mission, whereas he held that
special lecture-courses to non-Catholics were far more ef-
fective.
Lectures to Non-Catholics are Effective
The experience of the past seventy years has proved to a
certainty the truth of his contention. The attendance of
Catholics during the Catholic mission so taxes the capacity
of the average Church, that non-Catholics, be they ever so
willing, cannot obtain admittance in any great numbers.
The few that do attend are, for the most part, men and
women married to Catholics, or contemplating marriage with
them in the near future. Moreover, the missionaries are
too busily engaged in the confessional to give much time to
non-Catholic inquirers.
As a matter of fact our own experience of over twenty-
seven years of continuous missionary activity proves that
special lectures to non-Catholics always mean an increased
attendance of outsiders from three to twenty-fold, while the
converts come to us in the proportion of six to one.
We know perfectly well that many of the converts that
come into the Church immediately after the lectures have
been on the road for many years, the lectures merely afford-
ing them the last argument for "going over to Rome." We
know again that faith is a supernatural gift of God, which
22 THE WHITE HARVEST
cannot be weighed in the balance like so many pounds of but-
ter or potatoes. Still the Lord usually works through human
means. If a special method, apparently new, but as old as
the days of the Apostles, works more efficaciously than an-
other, we ought not to set it aside because of a narrow pseudo-
conservatism.
The following statistics comprise missions to Catholics and
non-Catholics given in 188 cities of 62 dioceses of the United
States and Canada during the past twenty-seven years. The
mission year, ten months long, begins in September and ends
in June. The missions vary in length from one week to six
weeks. These figures tell us that in the first series of 209
Catholic missions 963 converts were received into the Church,
whereas in the second series of 203 special courses to non-
Catholics, 5,059 were received. We must let down the net,
as the Saviour said, if we would take in a large draught of
fishes.
In considering these statistics we must remember that these
figures represent only the immediate results, and register
nothing with regard to the converts who enter the Church
years after the lectures are over. For instance at St. Pat-
rick's Cathedral in New York City two years ago a Lutheran
woman of Newark, New Jersey, attended the lectures faith-
fully for two weeks, and was baptized after three months
of careful study. She spoke to me about her relatives who
were all Church-going Lutherans, and promised to do her
utmost to convince them of the Church's claims. Her zeal,
her prayers and her example have under God induced sixteen
of her immediate relatives to become Catholics in that short
interval. While this is a most extraordinary case, it is com-
mon enough to hear by the merest chance of a convert win-
ning over three or four of their relatives by blood or marriage
within two or three years of the close of the lecture course
that won them to the Church of God.
It is a noteworthy fact that in 85 of the above Catholic
missions not one non-Catholic became a convert, whereas all
THE APOSTOLATE TO "THE OTHER SHEEP" 23
Year
Totals
Catholic
Missions Converts
Lectures
to non-
Catholics
Converts
Total
Missions
Total
Converts
1898-99
x6
14
4
64
20
78
1899-1900
14
60
5
2X2
>9
272
1900-01
XX
30
5
255
16
285
1901-02
4
18
XI
417
15
435
1902-03
3
43
XX
344
14
387
1903-04
6
12
8
379
'4
391
1904-05
6
52
6
247
12
299
1905-06
xo
41
9
xx6
19
157
1906-07
8
35
9
151
17
186
1907-08
9
15
6
98
15
1x3
1908-09
5
24
6
X22
XI
146
1909-10
8
57
7
I6 7
15
224
1910-11
8
25
xo
127
18
152
19x1-12
12
51
9
74
21
125
1912-13
8
28
7
104
15
132
19x3-14
xo
80
8
140
18
220
1914-15
6
7i
8
zoo
14
27X
1915-16
5
29
8
2x4
13
243
19x6-17
7
24
8
x6x
15
I8 S
19x7-18
9
29
4
91
13
X2O
1918-19
3
6
8
156
XX
X62
19x9-20
7
12
7
95
14
X07
1920-21
7
21
xo
191
17
2X2
1921-22
9
32
9
320
18
352
1922-23
8
24
7
247
15
271
1923-24
6
7'
8
214
H
285
1924-25
4
59
5
153
8
X77
209
963
203
5059
412
6022
but 1 1 of the lecture courses to non-Catholics had some con-
verts to their credit. The statistics of conversions vary a
great deal according to the part of the country one labors in.
In many small towns of this country and Canada one must
plant the seed for years without much hope of any immediate
harvesting. The prejudices and hatreds of the sixteenth
century are too deeply rooted in men's souls for them to
come into the Church quickly. One might, for example,
give missions in the country towns of Northern Louisiana or
Ontario for years, and not have as many converts enter the
24 THE WHITE HARVEST
Church as would be received as the result of one lecture
course of three weeks in a large city like New York or Chi-
cago. Although I have always carefully kept the statistics
of conversions for the purpose of judging the comparative
effectiveness of Catholic versus non-Catholic missions, I have
never had any patience with those narrow-minded souls, who
judge a mission to non-Catholics by the number of immediate
converts received into the Church. One would think that
conversion was due to human reasoning or to human methods.
They tell a good story of Father Fulton, the well known
Jesuit. A woman once asked him how many converts the
Jesuits had made during a certain mission given at the Church
of the Immaculate Conception in Boston. "None," answered
Father Fulton, rather emphatically. "I heard that they had
made over forty," said the questioner, a woman who knew
beforehand the forthcoming answer. "Over forty?" said
the witty Jesuit, with a twinkle in his eye. "Ah! The Holy
Ghost made them."
The apostolate to non-Catholics, like every other good
movement in the Church, has from the very beginning met
with a great deal of criticism and opposition. Some objected
to its novelty. And yet a little reflection would have told
them that the Lord and His Apostles gave missions to non-
Catholics, when they won over Jew and Pagan in Jerusalem,
Antioch, Athens and Rome. One of the marks of the
Church's divinity is her missionary spirit. She not only
maintains the Gospel handed down from Jesus and the Twelve,
but she is continually spreading it among "the other sheep
that are not of the fold."
"Let us take care of our own," others said. Who indeed
are our own ? The field of the Catholic Church is as wide as
the earth itself. Her character is universal: "Teach all
nations. Preach the Gospel to every creature." Are the
outsiders the devil's own? God forbid. God wills that
all men come to the knowledge of the truth, and we are bound
to share our graces and privileges with all the brethren.
THE APOSTOLATE TO "THE OTHER SHEEP" 25
Once a Paulist missionary was walking with a pastor through
the streets of a Western city. As they passed by, the women
bowed, the men tipped their hats, and the children smiled a
welcome. Now and again the pastor stopped, spoke a few
kindly words, introduced the visiting priest, and then walked
on. "Your people ?" asked the missionary. "Oh, yes," said
the pastor. Two or three times this question was asked, and
always the same answer was given. At last the visitor said :
"Is the whole city Catholic?" "Not at all," said the pastor,
"but they are all my people."
I have heard some priests say: "Lectures to non-Catholics
will cause bitterness and hatred in my town, and beget con-
troversies without number." That will certainly happen if
the apologist has not been specially trained for the work of
Church defence, and especially if he is bitter of speech. A
kindly, intelligent apologist will take the bitterness out of
the hearts of the honest-minded, and will ignore the calum-
nies of a few prejudiced outsiders, who may be looking for
notoriety in the daily papers.
Others say : "Every non-Catholic is in bad faith. He does
not want to know the truth." These critics fail to realize
the strong influence of an anti-Catholic training, and the
power of a hostile, anti-Catholic environment and literature
to prejudice the minds of honest men and women. They
often generalize from a particular case of bad faith which
they have come across in their own experience. Is it not
the more Catholic way to suppose every man sincere and
straightforward, until he proves himself a hypocrite?
Others again on hearing of a conversion will say : "Will he
persevere?" the question plainly inferring that he will not.
Yet we know that many so-called perversions are not really
perversions at all, because these pseudo-converts never be-
came Catholics in the true sense of the word. They were
received into the Church without having obtained a clear-cut
view of the divine authority of the Church. It stands to
reason that half a dozen talks of about fifteen minutes each
26 THE WHITE HARVEST
are not enough to change the convictions of a lifetime. A
Catholic wife, if zealous and intelligent, can readily complete
the needed instruction, but too often she is powerless to com-
bat the perverse influence of her non-Catholic husband's rela-
tives and friends. Perhaps the husband became a Catholic
merely to marry the girl of his choice, and consequently his
instruction should have covered a longer period of time. But
these cases are exceptional. A convert, carefully taught the
lessons of the catechism by a priestly lover of souls, who keeps
a watchful eye upon him for months after his baptism, will
as a rule remain steadfast in the Faith. Indeed, many a con-
vert will put to shame an old-time Catholic by his ex-
traordinary fervor and zeal. One Paulist mission to non-
Catholics in St. Eliazbeth's Church, Chicago, netted 186 con-
verts in two weeks, and fourteen months afterward it was
found on investigation that all had remained true to the
Catholic faith.
American People are Hungry for Religious Faith
Every zealous priest can give testimony to the religious
earnestness of the American people. Nowhere is it more
evident than on these lecture-courses to non-Catholics, whether
given in the large cities or in the smaller country towns.
Protestants, Jews, and unbelievers will go anywhere to hear
the Church's claims, if they are presented in a kindly, objec-
tive manner to a town-hall, a theatre, a schoolroom, a base-
ball park, a Masonic hall, a Catholic Church. I have known
them to drive a dozen miles or more over rough country
roads in Minnesota when the thermometer registered twenty
degrees below zero. I have known them to come night after
night to the number of two or three hundred in a small
country town in the Southland which boasted of but six or
ten Catholics. I have known them to call for personal in-
terviews ten hours a day in a large Cathedral parish in New
York, Boston, and Chicago.
THE APOSTOLATE TO "THE OTHER SHEEP" 27
True, indeed, many non-Catholics in America are indif-
ferentists and unbelievers. A rather conservative estimate
declares that about sixty million people of the United States
are non-churchgoers. They have not, however, given up
their churches because they hate Christianity, as the apostate
anti-clericals of France and Italy, but because they are given
the Gospel in a form their reason rejects. The descendants
of the New England Puritans have rejected the immoral teach-
ing that made God the author of evil ; many a Southerner has
become disgusted with the emotional excesses of camp-meeting
revivalism ; the non-Catholics of our large cities are weary of
the uncertain and vague teachings pffered by their ministers,
and dissatisfied with the pagan gospel preached from many
a creedless, modernistic pulpit. They ask for bread, and
their teachers give them a stone. They are not really hostile
to the true Church, but they simply do not know her. In
their heart of hearts there is a longing for God, a longing
frequently satisfied by the gift of Faith, once they set aside
their avarice, their pride and their worldliness.
It is true again that the church-going Protestants of the
Southern states Methodists and Baptists for the most part
with their Lutheran brethren of the Northwest and the
Presbyterian Orangemen of Ontario, are as bitter as the
sixteenth century Protestants of Germany or of England.
But we must remember that they have been taught from child-
hood by ministers whom they respected, and parents whom
they loved, that Catholicism was a synonym of superstition,
ignorance, intolerance and immorality. Once the veil of prej-
udice is torn aside, and they see the truth of God in all its
beauty, they fall down like St. Paul of old, crying out: "Lord,
what wilt Thou have me to do?"
It may be of interest to know how an audience of non-
Catholics is gathered together in hall or church. In a small
city, the pastor announces the lectures at the Sunday Masses,
inserts a few notices in 'the daily papers, and mails a number
of invitations to his non-Catholic friends. In a large city,
28 THE WHITE HARVEST
like New York or Chicago, the cooperation of the priests
and people is required in some organized form. The best
work accomplished in getting an audience of non-Catholics
together has been done by the Knights of Columbus in scores
of cities, from New York to San Francisco, during the past
twenty-seven years. They have spent thousands of dollars
advertising the lectures in the daily press and in store win-
dows, hiring halls and theatres for one, two or three weeks
at a time, and distributing books and pamphlets by the thou-
sands.
In New York City, for example, we have had an annual lec-
ture course to non-Catholics for the past eleven years, given
under the auspices of the Knights of Columbus, at St. Patrick's
Cathedral. The lectures are discussed at a preliminary meet-
ing of the New York Chapter which meets on the first Sunday
of every month at the Astor Hotel. Three hundred and fifty
delegates, representing 27,000 men, from the forty-two coun-
cils of the city, are always present. Special committees are
appointed to look after the advertising in the daily press, and
to see that announcements of the lectures are placed in prom-
inent store windows, and in at least one hundred of the prom-
inent city hotels. Two hundred and fifty large twenty-four
sheet posters and six painted signs with electric runners are
placed in prominent positions throughout the boroughs of
Manhattan and the Bronx. Invitations to the number of
three hundred thousands are mailed by the Knights of Colum-
bus to their personal friends, the school teachers of the city,
the religious orders of men and women, and to over one hun-
dred churches in New York, Brooklyn and the neighboring
towns of New Jersey, to be distributed the Sunday before the
lectures begin. The Knights of Columbus attend in a body
two or three councils a night act as ushers, look after the
distribution of books and pamphlets after the lecture, and di-
rect inquirers to the parish priest nearest their residence.
The late Cardinal Farley said to me shortly before he died :
"The best work the Knights of Columbus are .doing for them-
THE APOSTOLATE TO "THE OTHER SHEEP" 29
selves and for the Church in New York City is this annual lec-
ture-course to non-Catholics. It makes them realize that they
are working for the souls of their non-Catholic brethren. It
makes them zealous for the spread of the Faith, and makes
them appreciate the gift of Faith all the more. God bless
them for it, and thank them in my name when next you address
them."
. Importance of the Question Box
One of the most important and interesting features of a
lecture-course to non-Catholics is the public answering, every
night before the lecture, of the questions deposited in the
question boxes at the church doors. The idea originated at the
World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. Father Elliot of the Paul-
ist Fathers, together with Archbishop John J. Kane, then Rec-
tor of the Catholic University in Washington, and Father Dris-
coll of the Albany diocese took advantage of the gathering to-
gether of the nations in a Religious Congress to set forth the
claims of the Catholic Church. The Question Box was placed
in the assembly hall, and hundreds of queries on every phase
of Catholic belief and practice were submitted by men and
women of every religion and creed. Father Elliott at once
realized the value of this impersonal method of controversy,
and he adopted it on the diocesan lecture courses for non-
Catholics which he was then inaugurating in the diocese of
Detroit. Since that time it has been used to great advantage
on missions all over the United States and Canada, and has
been utilized by many priests in their parochial ministry in
their parish schools, their sodality meetings, their Sunday
night services.
It is manifestly impossible to cover the whole field of Cath-
olic doctrine, or to answer even the chief difficulties of an aver-
age non-Catholic audience in a short lecture-course of two or
three weeks. Much that an earnest seeker after the truth
desires to know will not be discussed at all. His point of view
30 THE WHITE HARVEST
is not treated ; his difficulties are not met ; his questions are not
answered; so that the lectures do not greatly help him on the
road to the Church. An unbeliever who questions the exist-
ence of God, a Jew who denies the Divinity of Christ, a Chris-
tian Scientist who denies the fact of sin and disease such men
cannot profit much by a lecture on confession, the Mass, or
the evils of divorce. They want their peculiar difficulty dis-
cussed the one night they can attend. A lecture on the Divin-
ity of Christ is usually given on Monday evening, the first
week. A Jewish inquirer does not hear of the lecture-course
until the second week. He is not enough interested to call
upon the priest, but he is willing to go to church at least one
evening. You can only reach this man through the Question
Box.
Again many in the audience are imbued with bred-in-the-
bone prejudices and misconceptions of Catholic teaching which
completely blind their eyes to the truth. Distorted views of
history, false Reformation exegesis of New Testament texts,
erroneous views of Catholic dogma and ethics these stand
as a forest of difficulties in the way of the conquering army of
truth, and must be cleared away by the pioneer, the Question
Box. No matter how brilliant or well-constructed each lec-
ture may be, no matter how well thought-out or how logical
the entire series, our arguments will fall on deaf ears, if an
inquirer is sullenly nursing his own pet difficulties, and wonder-
ing why they are not discussed.
The Question Box enables the lecturer to form a fair esti-
mate of the intellectual and religious make-up of his audience.
Audiences vary greatly in the United States, and frequently
in different parts of the same large city. A city of Virginia
or Georgia may be out-and-out Methodist or Baptist, whereas
Red Wing or Minneapolis, Minnesota, will be dominantly Lu-
theran. The Episcopalian of Richmond, Virginia, or Nash-
ville, Tennessee, may be totally ignorant of the comprehensive-
ness of his church, which allows its people to believe on one
hand in the Mass and seven sacraments, and on the other to
THE APOSTOLATE TO "THE OTHER SHEEP" 31
deny the Virgin Birth and question the reality of the Resurrec-
tion of Jesus Christ. A large city like New York or Chicago
may give one an audience not only of Episcopalians, Metho-
dists, Baptists, Lutherans and Congregationalists, but bring
together a number of Spiritists, Christian Scientists, Theoso-
phists, Agnostics, Deists and Buddhists. Some cities boast
peculiar sects that are unheard of one hundred miles away.
For example Northern New York may send you Pentecosters,
Southern Illinois the followers of Alexander Campbell (The
Disciples of Christ), Florida Christadelphians, Delaware
Tunkers, California Shintoists and Buddhists, Utah Mormons.
Souls are the same everywhere, but the missionary can do more
effective work, if he knows what manner of outsider is attend-
ing his lectures.
The Question Box, moreover, promotes the personal rela-
tion, whether an objector feels that his inquiry is answered or
not. If you satisfy him, he is as a rule grateful to you, calls
to manifest his good will, and plies you with further question-
ing. If he is dissatisfied with your answer, he is apt to tell you
that you have misunderstood his viewpoint. In either case you
have obtained an inquirer, who is willing to talk about the
Catholic faith.
Once non-Catholics call at the parish rectory, the first step
on the road to the Church has been made. For often they tell
you that although one difficulty has been satisfactorily solved,
many other difficulties still keep them far away from the City
of Peace. They say to you: "I never knew till tonight that
St. Peter was really Bishop of Rome ; that the papal power did
not depend upon a number of forged decretals ; that papal in-
fallibility did not mean the Pope's freedom from sin; that
Luther was not the first to translate the Bible into the lan-
guage of the people ; that Catholics did not worship the Virgin
Mary, and put her in the place of Christ; that the Jesuits never
taught the immoral doctrine that a good end justifies a bad
means; that your Church did not hold a magical, mechanical
theory concerning the sacraments; that the confessional was
32 THE WHITE HARVEST
such a power of righteousness; that an indulgence was not a
license to sin ; that the miracles of Lourdes were real."
The Question Box is often a great object lesson to outsiders
on the state of religion outside the Catholic Church in our
country today. When questions come by the hundred every
day from as many as fifteen or twenty different Christianities
or religions, thinking people begin to realize the contradictions
and absurdities of these conflicting views. In the kindliest
manner the lecturer can bring home to his audience the general
indifferentism of twentieth century Protestantism, its vague-
ness, its repudiation of the Reformation, its newness, its local
character, its superstition, its fanaticism, its utter lack of unity,
and its downward trend towards unbelief.
The Question Box always helps to increase the attendance
of non-Catholics. It has the interest of novelty, the brevity of
the newspaper paragraph, the quick change from topic to topic
historical, dogmatic, ethical, scriptural, liturgical which
attract men and women, who often find an hour's lecture
wearisome and hard to follow. A fair-minded objector who
comes night after night and hears a number of his special
difficulties briefly but clearly answered, will discuss these ques-
tions with his friends, and bring them with him another eve-
ning to put more queries.
We know of no better way to teach the people than this
Question Box method. It has the sanction of our Saviour,
Who answered question after question of his friends and
enemies! "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?"
(Matt, xix, 3). "What good shall I do that I may have life
everlasting?" (Matt, xix, 16). "Which is the great com-
mandment in the law?" (Matt, xx, 36) . "By what authority
dost Thou these things?" (Mark xi, 28). "Art Thou the
Christ, the Son of the Blessed God?" (Mark xiv, 61).
"When shall the kingdom of God come?" (Luke xvii, 20).
"How dost Thou, being a Jew, ask of me to drink who am a
Samaritan woman?" (John iv, 9) . "How can a man be born
THE APOSTOLATE TO "THE OTHER SHEEP 1 ' 33
when he is old?" (John Hi, 4). "What shall we do that we
may work the works of God?" (John vi, 28). "Is it lawful
for us to give tribute to Caesar?" (Luke xx, 22).
Needless to say, no one will answer the questions effectively,
unless he is in perfect sympathy with the lost sheep of the
house of Israel. They are sheep without a shepherd. They
;are wandering "where there is no way." They are looking
for a guide, who will point out to them the way back to the
fold, whence they strayed. We must be kind and courteous
to them. They are our guests in the house of God, and,
therefore, entitled to every courtesy. No matter how absurd
or insulting a question may be, no matter how badly spelt or
ungrammatically worded, the lecturer must never forget his
own dignity nor the possible good faith of his questioner, to
indulge in ridicule, sarcasm or invective. We are there not
to conquer an adversary, but to win souls to God. We are
"fishers of men," as Our Lord told us. The angler does not
catch fish by throwing stones at them in the water.
Lectures to Non-Catholics Should Be Doctrinal
In contrast to the moral discourses of the Catholic mission,
the lectures to non-Catholics ought to be doctrinal. We are to
set forth the doctrines of Jesus Christ that men may have a
true basis for their moral life, and know exactly the divine
way to the Kingdom of God. Our main topic must always
be the divine authority of the Church. No matter what the
subject matter of the evening's lecture may be, our one aim
must be to show that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Divine
Teacher, Pardoner and Sanctifier of men, and that the Cath-
olic Church alone continues His threefold mission among the
nations. It is often easy to convince an earnest non-Catholic
of the truth of a particular doctrine like purgatory, the venera-
tion of the Blessed Virgin, or the pardoning power of the
priesthood, but it is always difficult to make him grasp the one
34 THE WHITE HARVEST
thing necessary for conversion that all Christ's doctrines are
taught authoritatively, and infallibly by one, exclusive Catholic
Church.
Devout outsiders often talk of the Church as an externalism
and speak of "the worship of God in spirit and in truth." We
must show these earnest souls that the inner divine life is indeed
the real life that has the promise of God in the hereafter, and
that it can be had in its entirety only in the Catholic Church,
the Mystical Body of Christ. We alone possess the divine
pardon of sin; we alone give men the divine union with God
their souls instinctively desire ; we alone are the communion of
saints spoken of in the Apostles' Creed.
The subjects of the lecture will vary according to the
make-up of the audience, and the needs of a particular time
and place. An audience of University students will be inter-
ested in a lecture on The Church and Evolution, an audience
of workers will gladly listen to a lecture on The Church and
the Social Question, a city like New York or Los Angeles will
attend in great numbers to hear a lecture on Spiritism or
Christian Science.
The following is a list of ninety of the most common topics
that I have discussed on lecture courses to non-Catholics in
various cities of the United States and Canada : The Divine
Mission of the Church ; The Good Shepherd ; The Apostolate
to Non-Catholics; Is Life Worth Living? The Existence of
God ; Is God Unknowable ? The Necessity of Revelation ; The
Problem of Evil; Miracle versus Nature's Laws; Conscience,
God's Voice; The Immortality of the Soul; the Idea of Faith;
The Necessity of Faith ; Faith and Reason ; Sentiment versus
Faith; Faith and the Will; Faith and the Grace of God; Why
Men do not Believe; The Doctrinal Development; Is One
Church as Good as Another? The Divinity of Christ; the Re-
demption; The Bible; Authority vs. Liberty in Religion; The
Church and Freedom of Thought; The Church and Evolu-
tion ; The Church and Science ; The Infallibility of the Church ;
The Unity of the Church ; The Holiness of the Church ; Scan-
THE APOSTOLATE TO "THE OTHER SHEEP" 35
dais in the Church; The Charge of Intolerance; The Inquisi-
tion and the Index; Religious Toleration in America; The
Church Apostolic ; The Church Catholic ; "Outside the Church
No Salvation"; The Everlasting Church; Catholicism and the
Future; "The Primacy of the Pope; Papal Infallibility; The
Popes in the Early Church ; The Popes in History ; the Church
and Education ; The Church and Patriotism ; The Church and
Socialism; The Church and the Social Question; The Church
and Feminism ; The Church and Civilization ; The Church and
the Modern Mind; Religion Internal and External; Why I
am a Catholic ; The Church and the Age ; Why the Church is
Misunderstood; Apparent Contradictions in Catholicism; Nat-
ural and Supernatural Religion; The Philosophy of Prayer;
The Grace of God ; The Meaning of the Sacraments ; Baptism
and Confirmation; The Pardon of Sins by a Priest; Confes-
sion in the Early Church; The Unpardonable Sin; Indul-
gences; The Real Presence; The Mass; The Eucharist in the
Early Church; The Mass in History; The Christian Priest-
hood; Extreme Unction; Monks and Nuns; Marriage and
Divorce; The, Laws of Christian Marriage; Why Priests do
not Marry; Purgatory; Hell; The Mother of God; The Im-
maculate Conception ; Prayers to the Saints ; Christian Science ;
Spiritism ; Conscience and Casuistry ; Does the End Justify the
Means? Liberty of Conscience; Free-masonry; The Ku-Klux-
Klan; Bolshevism; The Condemnation of Galileo; St. Bar-
tholomew's Day.
The average lecture-course to non-Catholics should last at
least two weeks (16 lectures) or if possible three weeks (23
lectures). I never was in favor of having a lecture-course to
non-Catholics follow a regular Catholic mission, for in that
case the Catholic people are generally too tired out from early
morning rising to enter upon the apostolate of conversion with
the necessary energy and zeal.
The lecture is always followed by Benediction of the Blessed
Sacrament, a simple liturgical service that a non-Catholic can
readily follow and understand. It should never be omitted,
3 6 THE WHITE HARVEST
for it means the blessing of Christ, the Good Shepherd, upon
all that are gathered together in His name. It never fails
to foster the spirit of reverence and devotion so necessary in
convert making.
After the lecture the missionaries distribute gratis to all
non-Catholics present books and pamphlets explaining the
teachings of the Church. This perhaps is the most important
feature of the lecture-course, for it fosters a kindly spirit
among non-Catholics, who are won by our generosity and
thoughtf ulness ; it starts many an inquirer on the road to the
Church, and makes him eager to study more thoroughly the
Church's claims; it continues the work of the lecturer long
after the lectures have ceased, and often impels the seeker to
call upon the nearest parish priest ; it is often the beginning of
a correspondence that ends in conversion within the year.
Frequently on lecture courses to non-Catholics from 300
to 600 books and four or five times that number of pamphlets
are given away every evening. At the annual K. of C. lecture-
course in New York City as many as 25,000 books and pam-
phlets have been distributed to inquirers. Frequently books
are asked for many months after the lectures are over by
people who have either attended the lectures, or have read
about them in the daily press. To meet this expense, and to
finance, wherever necessary, lecture-courses to non-Catholics,
I founded in July, 1917, a Society, known as the Catholic
Unity League.
The Catholic Unity League
By September 14, 1917, one hundred members had been
enrolled. It had the hearty backing of the Very Rev. John J.
Hughes, the well-beloved Superior of the Paulist Fathers, and
His Eminence Cardinal Farley, who gave the League his
hearty approval and blessing, and consented to become its
first Honorary President. James A. Beha was elected presi-
dent; Patrick R. Kinney, vice-president; Charles Rush, treas-
THE APOSTOLATE TO "THE OTHER SHEEP" 37
urer; Joseph R. Boldt, secretary, and Fathers Conway, Gillis,
and Kennedy, spiritual directors; His Eminence, Patrick Car-
dinal Hayes is today Honorary President.
The membership has steadily increased year by year until
it now numbers over 15,000 members. It includes two Car-
dinals, six Archbishops, forty Bishops, and over four hundred
priests. Most of the lay members reside in New York arid
its vicinity, although 7000 are on the rolls in 380 cities of the
United States.
Any Catholic may become a member upon payment of $i a
year (active and associate members), $10 a year (contribut-
ing members), or $100 (life members). A member is
crossed off the roll for non-payment of dues only after three
notices have been sent to him. The secretary sends out these
announcements once a year, on March i5th.
The need of a select loan library of Catholic books was soon
felt. Many Catholics in the small towns of the United States
and Canada who found their home libraries inadequately pro-
vided with Catholic books, and who could not afford to pur-
chase them, wrote the Catholic Unity League for books on
doctrine, ethics, history of the Church, etc., promising to re-
turn them in a few weeks. Frequently, they requested that
books and pamphlets be sent to their non-Catholic relatives
and friends, but as a rule they declared they had no idea as
to what were the best books of Catholic defense.
Priests in poor parishes, in States or Provinces like North
Carolina, Wisconsin, California, Alberta, and Saskatchewan,
and in countries as far away as India, Ceylon, and the Philip-
pines, wrote for as many as a hundred copies of The Faith of
our Fathers, and the Question Box, and from 50 to 250 pam-
phlets on every point of Catholic doctrine and practice. Bish-
ops in the Philippines wrote for copies of the Question Box
in Spanish, while priests in the Far East asked for French cat-
echism-charts for use in the classroom. Time and time again
curates in the South country, with a princely income of $200
a year, wrote for new books they had read of in a current ec-
38 THE WHITE HARVEST
clesiastical weekly or monthly, or asked for books or pam-
phlets to distribute gratis as they went the rounds of their
many mission churches. "Be sure to pay the expressage," was
the keynote of their poverty.
One solution of this problem was the Catholic Unity League
Loan Library of over 5,000 volumes and tens of thousands of
pamphlets from every Catholic Truth Society of the world.
A catalogue listing 3,400 of these books and pamphlets will
be sent on request to any inquirer. It is divided into forty-
three sections as follows : General Works, Apologetics, Com-
parative Study of Religions, God, Jesus Christ, Faith, the
Bible, Why I am a Catholic, the Church, the Papacy, Liturgy,
Grace, Sacraments, Religious Orders, Purgatory, Heaven,
Hell, Indulgences, The Blessed Virgin and the Saints, History
General, Early, Medieval, and Modern, Philosophy,
Science, Esthetics, Education, Canon Law, Ethics, Econom-
ics, Sociology, Devotion, Lives of the Saints, Catholic Mis-
sions, Fiction, Children's Books, Art, Biography, Drama, Es-
says, Music, Poems, and Travel.
Books in foreign languages are not kept on hand as a gen-
eral rule, although the League will furnish any book in any
language by any Catholic author. We have in our library
a goodly number of books by wellknown French writers such
as Batiffol, Bainvel, Bazin, Bordeaux, D'Ales, Cabrol, De
Broglie, De la Briere, De la Gorce, Dufourcq, Duchesne,
Goyau, Guibert, Huby, Lesetre, Paquier, Prat, Schwane, Ser-
vier, Tixeront, Vacandard, etc. Calls have been answered
during the past year for books in Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Fin-
nish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwe-
gian, Polish, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, etc. It may be interest-
ing to note, in view of three or four calls for Japanese books,
that we have on hand the ordinary Japanese catechism, the
Kyori Shokwai or Deharbe's catechism, containing a short his-
tory of the Church; the Kokyoyogi, an advanced catechism,
and the Shinri no Hongen, or the origin of truth, which treats
of God, Man, Christ, and the Church in thirty-five chapters.
THE APOSTOLATE TO "THE OTHER SHEEP" 3?
The library is essentially a mail order library, the borrowers
being asked merely to pay the cost of postage. A book may
be kept two weeks, or longer, if due notice to that effect is sent
to the librarian. Pamphlets asked for, need not be returned,
but are to be passed on to a non-Catholic inquirer.
The Catholic Unity League Library, 615 West I47th
Street, New York City, although still in its infancy, is doing a
good work. It has helped many a Catholic to become a better
apologist for the Faith, and has started many a non-Catholic
on the road to the Church. The very fact that a course of
reading mapped out by the League librarian has been effective
in sending non-Catholic inquirers to priests for instruction is
enough in itself to justify the League's existence. Moreover,
it has compelled honest non-Catholic professors to contradict
publicly false statements made in class ; it has been for use to
students in preparing a thesis for their degree; it has enabled
lay defenders of the Faith to answer an attack upon the Church
by an anti-Catholic lecturer in the daily press; it has encour-
aged the reading of our classical books of devotion.
In the eight years of its existence, the Catholic Unity
League has held twenty-six public meetings in the Hotel Astor.
At the first meeting in 1917 about a hundred members wel-
comed the speaker. Today, the large ballroom of the Hotel
Astor is filled to overflowing at every meeting. These gather-
ings enable recent converts to make friends inside the fold,
keep up the enthusiasm of the members, and give them an ex-
cellent opportunity of hearing some prominent speaker talk
on the apostolate of conversion, or discuss some problem of
modern apologetics. A special musical program is always
given by well-known New York musicians, and once a year a
special entertainment pays the yearly expenses of the various
meetings.
Since 1917 the League has spent over $50,000 for the
spread of the Faith. Most of this money was expended for
the books (105,000) and pamphlets (415,000), distributed
gratis to non-Catholics either by mail from the League of-
40 THE WHITE HARVEST
fice, or during the lecture courses fifty-eight in all to non-
Catholics.
Our Honorary President, His Eminence, Patrick Cardinal
Hayes Archbishop of New York, and his auxiliary, the Right
Rev. John J. Dunn, D.D., have been members of the League
from the beginning. The Cardinal wrote us the following
letter of approval some time ago:
My Dear Father Conway :
I am very much gratified to learn of the growth, strength,
'and fruitfulness of the Catholic Unity League, 615 West
I47//Z Street, New York City, founded under my late lamented
predecessor, His Eminence, John Cardinal Farley. The doc-
trinal courses for non-Catholics conducted here in New York
by the League for the past eleven years have convinced me
that such an organization as the Catholic Unity League should
receive the cordial approval and earnest support of prelate,
priest, and people.
Praying for the League all success and every blessing, I am,
Faithfully yours in Christ ,
Patrick J. Hayes,
Archbishop of New York.
In a private audience Father Conway had with the Holy
Father, Pope Pius XI, on July 29, 1922, His Holiness most
graciously imparted the Apostolic blessing to all members of
the Catholic Unity League who would pray and work for the
conversion of non-Catholics in the United States and Canada.
Through the kindness of His Eminence, Patrick Cardinal
Hayes, the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary granted on April
8, 1924, the following indulgences to our members: A Ple-
nary Indulgence on the date of admission to the League ; a
Plenary Indulgence on every Feast of Our Lord, on every
Feast of Our Lady, and at the hour of death; A Partial In-
dulgence of 100 days for every good work done by any League
member in view of the apostolate of conversion. Priests are
granted the faculty of blessing religious articles with the sign
THE APOSTOLATE TO "THE OTHER SHEEP" 41
of the cross, blessing rosaries with an indulgence of 50 days,
blessing crucifixes with a plenary indulgence at the hour of
death, and the benefit of a privileged altar four times a week.
Inquiry Classes for Prospective Converts
During the lecture-courses to non-Catholics every effort is
directed to form Inquiry Classes for prospective converts, and
to induce "the other sheep" to call at the rectory for private
interviews. Three classes are held daily for an hour at
ID A. M., 3 P. M., and 7 P. M. Non-Catholics are asked to at-
tend these classes, whether they intend to become Catholics
or not. It is important to insist upon the fact that their at-
tendance does not commit them to the Church in any way.
Experience proves that many who come to scoff, remain to
pray. The catechism no catechist will care what text is
used is gone through from cover to cover, the inquirers
having every chance to put forward their difficulties and ob-
jections according to the subject matter of the class.
The preliminary talk is most important. The Inquirers
at the very outset ought to be assured that no one can start
on the road to the Church without a supernatural help from
God that they must pray daily to Jesus Christ for the grace
of faith. True indeed they must weigh the Christian evi-
dences by their reason, , and set aside all their inherited preju-
dices by a firm exercise of good will ; but in the final outcome
their faith will be a free gift of God. Contrition for one's
sins is always a first step towards saying "Credo" I believe.
The Inquirers should be told again that the class is not a
debating society, but a class of instruction, aiming to give a
clear, simple statement of the Church's doctrine, law and wor-
ship. The priest who conducts it is not so much an apologist
or a controversialist defending Catholic doctrine or assailing
error; he is an apostle of Jesus Christ teaching in His name
to win souls for the kingdom of heaven.
The Inquirers, moreover, ought to be informed that the
study of religion is not a formidable task, like the study of the
42 THE "WHITE HARVEST
higher mathematics. The religion of Jesus Christ is for all
the children of men, learned or unlearned. It is a simple
study of minds and hearts alert to know God's truth, and
humbly "obedient to the heavenly vision." Some simple souls
with little or no memory are deterred at times from entering
upon a study of the Church's claims, because they feel certain
they cannot master all the lessons of the catechism. The
parrot-like answering of either adult or child is by no means
a warrant of a perfect grasp of Catholic doctrine or worship.
It is a great mistake to imagine that anyone can thoroughly
instruct a class of converts in the two weeks of the average
lecture-course. All that the catechist can do is to give his
hearers a bird's-eye view of the chief doctrines of the Church.
A good division of themes for the two weeks' mission classes
is the following: i. Preliminary talk; 2. God; 3. Sin; 4. Jesus
Christ; 5. The Bible; 6. Grace; 7. The Idea of the Church;
8. The Marks of the Church; 9. The Papacy; 10. Baptism;
ii. The Sacrament of Penance; 12. The Eucharist and the
Mass; 13. The Hereafter; 14. The Ten Commandments and
the Laws of the Church. The parish clergy must follow up
this preparatory work by a three months' thorough course in
the catechism-classes being held two or three times a week.
The True Catechist
Affability is the chief quality of the true catechist. It is
often of far more importance in convert-making than ability.
The best moral theologian I ever knew was the poorest of
confessors. The most scholarly of dogmatic theologians is
apt to talk over the heads of his hearers. The gruff, tactless,
unsympathetic instructor will drive prospective converts away.
I have known a fairly good class fade into the air, because the
pastor introduced himself by means of a bitter tirade on mixed
marriages, and scolded unfairly, of course three of his
hearers for coming ten minutes late.
The kindly priest wins the confidence of all earnest seekers
after the truth. The older one grows the more one realizes
THE APOSTOL ATE TO "THE OTHER SHEEP" 43
that conversion is not a mere logical process- not a mere de-
duction from premises. Moral difficulties, rather than intel-
lectual, often stand in the way. If a man or woman unburdens
himself to a priest, just as a Catholic does in the secrecy of
the confessional, a great step forward has been made. One
convert may have committed murder years ago, and has there-
fore despaired of God's pardon ; another is untrue to his wife,
and is threatened by his paramour with exposure, if he dare
enter the Church; a third is a divorced woman, who wonders
whether her first marriage is valid or invalid in the eyes of the
Catholic Church ; a fourth is a Mason, who is afraid of the
practical consequences of his withdrawal from a forbidden so-
ciety. A half-hour's conversation with a priest will often re-
move the moral obstacle, which prevents the inquirer from
making the first step the step that counts on the road to
the Church.
Class instruction is always difficult, and, as a rule, unsatis-
factory for many reasons. I have known souls that made
little or no progress for the simple reason that they could not
read the catechism placed in their hands. They were too
proud to let their teacher know that they were illiterate.
Others are very backward, and like the mentally defective chil-
dren in our schools, need individual attention. Others on the
contrary are fairly conversant with the Church's claims, but
need detailed instruction on some special difficulties, that are
caviare to the average catechumen. A Highchurchman for
instance is not interested in a Jew's objections to the divinity
of Our Lord, and the church-going Baptist is bored, if too
much attention is paid to the Christian Scientist or Spiritist.
Boston will not be offended if a colored man attend the class ;
Charleston will be indignant the colored man must be taught
individually.
Class instruction is never as thorough as individual instruc-
tion. Not only is the mental make-up and training of the in-
quirers of infinite variety, but a lesson of vital importance is
frequently missed, owing to sickness, important business, and
44 THE WHITE HARVEST
the like. I have met converts of some years standing, who,
in perfect good faith, held theoretically the most heretical
opinions, or who practically were living in adultery because
of a prior invalid marriage. Only the other day I heard a
convert say that the priest in the confessional did not really
pardon, but merely interceded with God for the sinner ! She
told me that she had been taught how to go to confession,
but the reason why had never been explained to her. She
could recite the Confiteor and the Act of Contrition perfectly,
but did not have the slightest notion of the Church's pardoning
power. A few years ago I met a convert husband of a Cath-
olic woman who never said a word to the priest who baptized
him conditionally about his former marriage with a baptized
Protestant woman, because he was convinced that the Catholic
Church regarded all Protestant marriages invalid. He had
missed the instruction on marriage in his brief course. I know
of one convert who thought that the consecrated host came
as a powder, wrapped in a piece of white paper. A horrified
pastor saw him at the altar rail, trying to remove the host
from the roof of his mouth with his finger. In the sacristy
after Mass the innocent culprit explained that he was trying
to remove the paper covering. His instructor had never
shown him a host, and had never told him how to receive com-
munion.
In instructing converts it is most important to place matters
in their right perspective. Revealed dogmas should be dis-
tinguished carefully from mere opinions, divine laws from
Church laws and probable opinions in morals, counsels from
commandments, divine worship from private devotions, real
miracles from popular legends, etc. It is more important
also to stress certain doctrines, rather than to give the cate-
chumen a regular course in dogmatic theology. I know of one
German priest in the Middle West who insists upon a con-
vert's studying the catechism for two years. He is decidedly
too thorough to make many converts I have heard of but
one who persevered and he does not help matters much
THE APOSTOLATE TO "THE OTHER SHEEP" 45
by being as uninteresting as he is long-winded in his presenta-
tion of divine truth. His experience with a few perverts in the
early days of his ministry was the reason of his imprudent
ruling.
The true catechist makes no definite rules about the length
of time necessary to prepare a catechumen for baptism, but
judges each particular case on its merits. Once convinced of
an inquirer's sincerity, the catechist's one aim is to help the con-
vert make his profession of faith honestly and intelligently.
Above all the convert must enter the Church with a full re-
alization of the fact that the Catholic Church is the one divine
society instituted by Christ for man's salvation, and that all
other churches are but human societies without the slightest
divine authority to teach or to govern.
The majority of carefully instructed converts will persevere.
They have not only unlearned the errors of their former un-
belief or Protestantism, but they have been well grounded in
the positive teachings of Catholicism. They have realized
the supernatural character of divine faith ; they have grasped
the certainty of an infallible, teaching Church, and its divine
pardoning power; they have learned to love Jesus Christ in
the intimate and perfect union of the Holy Eucharist.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO
CHAPTER HI
DID you ever hear of lecture courses for non-Catholics proving so popu-
lar that hundreds literally had to be turned away for lack of room? That
is the unique experience of Rev. Hugh L. McMenamin, Rector of the
Cathedral in Denver. Fr. McMenamin is one of our greatest pioneers in the
organization of lecture courses for non-Catholics. The question box
was always an attractive feature of course. The lecture course and ques-
tion box serve to whet the appetite of the non-Catholic for a still greater
knowledge of the Catholic faith, thus serving as a "feeder" for the sub-
sequent systematic courses of instruction for converts.
So well adapted are the lectures to meet the real problems in the minds
of the non-Catholics hi attendance, so kindly and sympathetic is the recep-
tion given to every inquirer, that the success crowning Father McMena-
min's effort has been indeed phenomenal. Through his zealous labors and
the cooperation of his assistants more than a thousand converts have been
received into the Church. For the last sixteen years the number of con-
verts has averaged approximately sixty-five per year. It is one of the
outstanding achievements in the field of convert-making in America.
In recent years Fr. McMenamin has turned the lectures over to vari-
ous assistants, Rev. E. J. Mannix, Rev. William Higgins, and Rev. Francis
Walsh, all of whom have continued to secure the same remarkable re-
turns. In addition to the question box, Father Walsh has recently
added the Open Forum, which has attracted large numbers. In a recent
letter to the editor, Father McMenamin says: "The hall hi which our
lectures are held has a seating capacity of about three hundred and fifty.
Last Monday evening six hundred tried to get in and tonight we move to
a larger hall."
The field from which this "copious draft of fishes" has been drawn is
the city of Denver. There would seem to be no condition, economic,
social or geographical, which would render the soil there more fertile for
47
48 THE WHITE HARVEST
the Gospel seed than in any other city north of the Mason and Dixie
line. The fact, too, that the achievement is not of spasmodic or inter-
mittent occurrence, but that an average of approximately sixty-five con-
verts has been won regularly, year after year, for the last sixteen years,
would seem to demonstrate with compelling logic the effectiveness of
the means used to secure the desired results. It will be noted in the
perusal of this story that the extensive use of the question box and the
Open Forum features the method, and is instrumental in stimulating
large numbers to apply for the subsequent course of systematic instruc-
tion conducted for prospective converts.
This great achievement brings out into clear relief the additional fact
that we have as yet scarcely begun to scratch even the surface of the
great convert field in America. It shows, too, the tremendous potential-
ities which can be realized by the use of a technique properly adapted
to dispel the religious apathy and enlist the sympathetic interest of the
American public in the age-old truths of the Catholic faith. If the
methods employed with such impressive results for over sixteen years
at the Denver Cathedral parish were adopted, mutatis mutandis by every
parish in the country, would we be far amiss in believing that a Catholic
renaissance would result that would duplicate the Oxford movement in
every town and city in America, and would bring millions of our be-
loved fellow countrymen into the harbor of peace and truth?
CHAPTER III
METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS
As Employed by the Cathedral Parish in Denver
The Open Forum a Feature
BY REV. HUGH L. MCMENAMIN
HE Convert Movement or the instruction of non-
Catholics as a definite program and part of the
weekly activities of the Cathedral Parish in Denver
had its origin about fourteen years ago and scarcely
a single week has gone by since then without some definite
work being done along that line.
The movement which began with the weekly catechism class
for those who were seeking admission to the Church and which
was held in the parlor of the Rectory has had a remarkable
growth. From the parlor we went to the basement of the
church where weekly lectures were given to an audience of
three or four hundred. After several years in the basement,
we went to a hall in town and lectured weekly to more than
eight hundred, turning many away. At the present time, the
lectures are given in the Cathedral proper in connection with
the Sunday Evening Vesper services and every seat in the
spacious Cathedral is occupied. Of course, the great majority
present at all of these lectures are Catholics but the number
of non-Catholics present is large as evidenced by the fact that
we have had upwards of one thousand conversions whilst many
thousands have gone away with a broader, saner, more chari-
table view of the Catholic Church and her teachings. And
49
50 THE WHITE HARVEST
not the least of the benefits derived from these lecture courses
is that the Catholic laity by the thousands are becoming better
instructed in their holy religion. That alone is sufficient rea-
son for the study, time and zeal which we are giving to this
work.
If there be anything new or original in our methods, we
are not conscious of it. Our experience, however, has lead
us to certain definite conclusions. These conclusions may be
of interest to others.
< Conclusions
Perhaps the most important of the conclusions is this : The
Church must seek the convert; for, ordinarily the convert
does not seek the Church. The prospective convert must be
dealt with individually. He must be made to feel that you
have a personal interest in him.
Our second conclusion: With a little zeal, devout Cath-
olics can be made out of nine of every ten young women who
wish to marry or have married Catholic young men. Similar
results but in greatly reduced proportion can be obtained in
those mixed marriages in which the non-Catholic party is the
man.
Our third conclusion: Don't be concerned about the mo-
tives that bring a person to your lectures, your catechism
classes or your private instructions. It may be curiosity, it
may be antagonism, it may be selfishness. It matters not.
Show a personal interest. Impart the information. Induce
him, if possible, to pray and his motives will change.
Our fourth conclusion : The lectures should be given in a
certain place on a certain night in every week without inter-
ruptions.
Our fifth conclusion: The Catholic laity must become in-
terested in the work. Few, indeed, are the non-Catholics who
will come to the initial lecture unless brought there by a Cath-
olic friend. The fact that the lectures are being given, gives
METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 51
the Catholic party an excuse to interest his non-Catholic
friend. He invites him to accompany him to hear a lecture.
After the first or second time, he will come alone and the
Catholic party can then devote his interest and zeal to an-
other. The non-Catholic party now begins to invite other
non-Catholics to accompany him. One young man employed
in a local bank has twenty-five converts to his credit. Had it
not been for his zeal, scarcely one of them would have come
to the lectures.
Our final conclusion: Don't be discouraged if immediate
results are not manifest. We are now giving private instruc-
tions to some who attended the lecture courses some years ago.
The seed then sown is now bearing fruit. And I do not hes-
itate to say that many have been received into the Church in
other cities whose interest was first aroused in Denver.
How to Reach Prospective Converts
We have stated above that the Church must seek the pros-
pective convert. How? Almost every young man and every
young woman who desires to marry a Catholic can be induced
to take instructions. Again how? When the non-Cath-
olic party calls upon us to arrange for a marriage, we explain
the customary promises, devoting fifteen minutes or half an
hour to that explanation, pointing out that a Protestant who
is quite willing to admit that one religion is as good as another,
can conscientiously sign them. Whilst the Catholic party
may not conscientiously make such concessions. Then having
obtained the signature, we point out the necessity of his know-
ing something of the Catholic religion in order that he may the
more willingly and more intelligently fulfill the promises, and
moreover in order that he may be able to sympathize with
the Catholic party in the practice of his or her religion. We
then explain that when applying for a dispensation, we must
give to the Bishop, a reason or two why in our opinion, this
particular dispensation should be granted. And then we add,
52 THE WHITE HARVEST
"If I can tell the Bishop that you have promised to investigate
the teachings of the Catholic religion, I am quite positive that
the dispensation will be granted." In almost every instance,
that promise will be given. May we say in passing that we be-
lieve that all Bishops would do well to insist upon that promise
as a condition for obtaining a dispensation.
But although the promise to investigate is made, it will
not be kept except in rare cases after the marriage, unless the
instructions are already under way. And this is where the
church must again seek the convert. Call upon them. Write
to them. Remind them of the promise and they will respond,
and you will make a convert or at least a broad-minded Protes-
tant.
When all is said and done, you will find this to be one of
the most fruitful sources of conversions, and it minimizes the
evils which often result from mixed marriages. One such
convert is worth more than two or three others. You have
saved the faith of the children. We have been asked,
"Why are you so enthusiastic over those converts who enter
the church merely because they wish to marry a Catholic?"
We answer, "We know none such. We do know of many
who submitted to a course of instructions for that reason but
their motives changed." Let me cite just two interesting in-
stances out of many.
The first was that of a young man who married a Catholic
girl before a Justice of the Peace. As usual in due time, she
called to have the marriage "fixed up." We sent for the
young man, and discussed the promises as outlined above, and
suggested, since we had no hopes of converting him, that he
could fulfill his promise by attending the lecture course. The
months went by, and every Monday evening we observed him
in the audience. Finally one evening after a lecture we told
him that he had fulfilled his promise and need not come any
more. "But, Father," he replied, "surely you are not going
to leave me suspended in the air this way. I want to be a
METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 53
Catholic." Our parish, our city, has no more practical or
energetic Catholic than is that man today.
The other instance. A young woman brought a non-
Catholic man to the writer. She made it plain that she would
marry him on one condition only, namely, that he become a
Catholic and insisted that he take instructions. She departed
for the East for a vacation in her old home. He came twice
a week for instructions. Upon her return they were to be
married. About the fourth week we received a letter from
the young woman announcing her engagement to an old sweet-
heart and a package containing a diamond ring which she re-
quested that we give to the young man. As may be presumed,
there was little talk of instruction when the young man called
and received his ring, but when saying goodnight, he added,
"When do you want to see me, Father?" He continued his
instruction. He was received into the Church. He has since
married a girl whom he induced to take instructions. They
are raising a growing Catholic family.
The Open Forum
But there are other means of attracting converts I Attrac-
tive lecture courses to which, through press and pulpit but par-
ticularly through the solicitation of Catholic friends, you in-
vite non-Catholics. A question box or an open forum should
form part of the evening's program. Have a supply of cate-
chisms, copies of "The Faith of Our Fathers" and the "Ques-
tion Box" on hand. Invite the non-Catholics present to come
up after the lecture and obtain a copy. This is where the
personal contact begins. In order that that contact may con-
tinue, we distribute copies of our local Catholic newspaper,
the Denver Catholic Register each week to the non-Catholics.
The priest in charge walks up and down the aisle. The non-
Catholics reach for the paper. They are always anxious to
receive a copy. He gets to know them. He meets two or
54 THE WHITE HARVEST
three or more after each lecture and soon many of them have
joined the catechism classes, for let it he understood that be-
sides our weekly lectures, we conduct evening catechism classes
and give private instructions habitually.
We subjoin a few of our lecture programs to show the
breadth of the field we cover, and we believe that therein lies
much of the secret of the success of our lectures from the
standpoint of attendance. When in addition to our question
box, we added the open forum, we were soon forced to seek
a larger hall and though we hired one with a seating capacity
of eight hundred, we turned them away by the hundreds every
Monday evening. Finally we were forced to give our lec-
tures in the Cathedral proper on Sunday evenings in connec-
tion with our regular Vesper Services. Of course the open
forum had to be abandoned, but we fill the Cathedral which
has a seating capacity of over eleven hundred.
As to the practicability and effectiveness of the open forum,
let me say that it undoubtedly increases the attendance by
making the evening more entertaining. Beyond that it has
no advantage over the question box. And needless to say
that the open forum needs a quick thinker and one with a sense
of humor. Not once in three years was a harsh or unpleasant
word spoken to or by our lecturer, Reverend F. W. Walsh,
and not a single evening went by without at least a half dozen
or more persons taking the floor to ask questions or offer ob-
jections.
Whether the lectures and question box in a hall with or
without the open forum is more effective than our present plan
of lectures and question box in the church in connection with
our regular Vesper Services and Benediction remains to be
seen. When given in the hall, there is the added advantage
of being able to give the entire evening of at least two hours
to instructions and answering questions. We are inclined to
believe, however, that the religious atmosphere, the singing of
vespers by a male choir of 130 voices, the solemnity of solemn
Cathedral Lectures
Pre-Lenten Series
Jan. 3 Feb. 14
1926
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Co!/ox and Logan, Denver, Colorado
Rev. Hugh L. McMenamin, Rector
PROGRAM
The Lectures form a part of the
Sunday Evening Vesper Service
Beginning at 7:45
T> -j;
Music by the Cathedral Choir
ssisted by the
-Students' Choir of St. Thomas' Seminary
Tt V
REV. JOSEPH BOSETTI, Director
REV. FRANCIS WALSH. Lecturer
7 :45 Chanting of Vespers.
8 :05 "Question Box."
8 :15 Lecture.
8:45 Choir Selection.
8:50 Benediction of the Blessed Sacra-
ment.
TOPICS OF THE LECTURES
"Catholic Ideals" January
January 10 LIBERTY.
January 17 PATRIOTISM.
January 24 SOCIAL JUSTICE.
January 31 FAMILY LIFE.
February 7 EDUCATION.
February 14 PROGRESS.
NOTE Both morning and evening services on
Jan. 31st will be broadcast by the Rocky Mountain
Station KOA. The morning, service will be a
Solemn Pontifical Mass at 1.0:30, celebrated by
Rt Rev. J. Henry Tihen, D.D. The sermon will be
preached by the Rector, Rev. Hugh L. McMenamin.
TO OUR PEOPLE:
For the past few years, due to frequent
and vicious attacks upon the Catholic
Church, the Catholic Pulpit has been on
the defensive. Priests everywhere felt
the necessity of exposing lying anti-
Catholic propaganda to the withering sun-
light of truth. But in doing so they were
chiefly concerned with charges against the
Church, and the burden of their sermons
and, lectures was "What the Church It
Not." We feel, now, that the time has come
to proclaim the great truth (not new, for
it has been preached in every age) that
the Catholic Church is not only, not a men-
ace, to human welfare, but that she is man-
kind's greatest blessing indeed, that she
is the saviour of society.
The World's debt to the Catholic Church
in past centuries has been the subject of
many- recent books and lectures, and we
have therefore selected as the general topic
of our pre-Lenten Lectures: The World's
present debt to the Catholic Church, the
debt that is her due because she alone re-
mains true to the highest ideals of human
relations.
We are sure that our Catholic people
will welcome this opportunity of a wider
and more complete grasp upon the social
teaching of their Church. We are confi-
dent also that many of our non-Catholic
friends will be eager to test the soundness
of the arguments underlying her doctrines.
The Roman, Catholic Church claims to be
the only True Church* of Christ. That
claim challenges the attention of the world.
No thinking person ignores it. Many non-
Catholics, however, are reluctant to inves-
tigate it because they fear embarrassment,
because they fear to intrude upon Catholic
services, and for many such reasons. Our
Catholic People must give them the assur-
ance of welcome to our Cathedral Lectures.
We priests can only prepare the ceremony
and stand ready to announce the Church's
teaching. You have at least one non-
Catholic friend. You can invite him or her
to come to the Lectures. You would do
better to bring him or her with you. We
Priests of the Cathedral expect your co-
operation. We will not be disappointed.
The new year is opening. New opportuni-
ties of spreading your religion beckon. God
will bless a cup of cold water given in His
name. What will be His punishment of
those who withhold from, or His reward to
those who bring to a fellow man the Cup of
Salvation the Fountain of Living Waters.
With our prayer for God's blessing dur-
ing the New Year,
Faithfully yours in Christ,
REV. HUGH L. McMENAMIN,
REV. JOSEPH BOSETTI,
REV. FRANCIS WALSH,
REV. JOHN MURNANE,
REV. CHARLES JOHNSON.
LECTURES
For Catholics and Non-Catholics
Winter Series, Jan. 5 April 6, 1925
Cathedral, Denver
"AMERICAN
CATHOLICS"
The Lectures are given in the Basement of the
Cathedral on Monday nights at 8 o'clock.
(Entrance on Logan St.. North of Col fax)
OPEN FORUM
After the Lecture any one in the audience may
question the Lecturer.
QUESTION BOX
Questions deposited in a box near the entrance will
be answered each evening.
All Lectures Characterized by Good Will,
Fair Play and Respect for Personal
Convictions
LECTURER: REV FRANCIS W. WALSH
1501 Fenn Street, Denver. Colo.
TO OUR NON-CATHOLIC
FELLOW AMERICANS
George Washington in hit Farewell Address (aid:
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead
to political prosperity, religion and morality are
indispensable lupporU. In vain would that man
claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor
to subvert these great pillars of human happi-
ness, these firmest props of the duties of men
and citizens. The mere politician, equally with
the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish
them. A volume could not trace all their con-
nections with private and public felicity. Let it
simply be asked where is the security for prop-
erty, for reputation, for life, if the sense of relig-
ious obligation desert the oaths which are the
instruments of investigation in courts of justice?
And let ut with caution indulge the supposition
that morality can be maintained without religion.
What ever may be conceded to the influence of
refined education on minds ef peculiar structure,
reason and experience both forbid us to expect
that national morality can prevail in exclusion
of religious principle."
These common sense sentiments have been
repeated by every President down to Calvin
Coolidge. In a word they are: "The moral
teaching of religion is the back-bone of the
Nation."
We ask yon to examine carefully the moral
teaching of the Catholic Church, as to both civic
and domestic duties, and then pass your opinion
on the following claim:
There is and can be no better American than a
practical Roman Catholic..
PROGRAM
PROGRAM-Cont'd
Jan. -5. I. Catholics and the Constitution.
Is there a conflict between the
Catholic Religion and "One Hundred
per cent Americanism?"
Jan. 12. II. Catholics and State Religion.
Would not Catholics make their
religion the State Religion if they
conldT Would they not prohibit all
other religions if they were in power T
-.Jan. 19. III. Catholics and Politics.
Is the Catholic Hierarchy seeking
Political control in the United States T
Is there a Catholic vote? Can a
'Catholic be President T
Jan. 26. IV. Catholics and Economics.
Has the Church anything to say
about the distribution of wealth?
Does the -Church condone the eco-
nomic evils in our present- system?
Feb. 2. V. Catholics and the Pope.
Do Catholics owe civil allegiance to
the- Pope as Ruler of the Papal States?
Feb. 9. VI. Catholics and Law Enforcement.
Are Catholics opposed to -the 18th
Amendment?
Are Catholics bound in conscience
to keep the Law of the Land?
Feb. 16. VII. Catholics and Public Schools.
Would Catholics prohibit Public
Schools if they could? Are Catholics
opposed to a National Department of
Public Instruction?
Feb. 23. VIII. Catholics and Marriage.
Do Catholics look upon non-Catholic
marriages aa invalid, and do they
hold children of such marriages to be
illegitimate? Is Divorce ever per*
mitted to Catholics?
Mar. 2. IX. Catholics and Maternity.
What does the Church teach about
the right to life of the unborn child?
Is abortion ever lawful?
Mar. 9. X. Catholics and Birth Control.
Are Catholics opposed to scientific
Eugenics?
Mar. 16. XI. Catholics and Character Devel-
opment.
Is the Catholic religion an aid or a
detriment to the development ef per-
sonal virtue?
Mar. 23. XII. Catholics and Secret Societies.
Why cannot a Catholic be a Mason ?
Is not the Knights of Columbus a
secret society? What about the
Knights of Columbus oath?
Mar. 3O. XIII. Catholics and Science.
Does the teaching of the Church
retard science? Can a Catholic be a
Scientist?
April 6. XIV. Catholics and Evolution.
Is not the Bible contradicted by the
science of Evolution? Could a Cath-
olic hold descent from the ape?
(Over)
Lectures on Christian Doctrine
For Catholics and Non-Catholics
HISTORICAL SERIES
Sept. 10. Introduction: "I believe, Lord. Help Thou
my unbelief."
Rt. Rev. J. Henry Tihen, D.D., Bishop of Denver
Sept. 17. The New Testament Historians.
Sept. 24. The Historical Value of Tradition.
Oct. 1. Christian Archeology.
Oct. 8. The Early Heresies.
Oct. 15. The Holy Roman Empire.
Oct. 22. The Greek Schism.
Oct. 29. The Middle Ages.
Nov. 5. The Reformation in Germany. Holland and the
Scandanavian Countries.
Nov. 12. The Reformation in France and Switzerland.
Nov. 19. The Reformation in England, Scotland and Ireland.
Nov. 26. The Oxford Movement in England.
Dec. 3. Protestantism in America.
Dec. 10. Christian Science.
Dec. 17. Spiritism and the New Cults.
Lecturer: Rev. Francis W Walsh.
NOTE: Tb* flrit lecture (Stpt*mb*r 10>
Colfu mud Lo*. All otbtri in the Cstbtttral I
lecture* bBia >t *i|bt o'clock *! an Int to *J
Social Series
Lectures
for Catholics and
Non-Catholics
January 7 April 14.
Every Monday Night at Eight o'clock
In the Basement of the Cathedral
Colfax and Logan Avenues
(Entrance on Logan)
LECTURER: REV FRANCIS W WALSH
QUESTION BOX
Questions, cither written and deposited in
the Question Box, or oral, from anyone in
the audience, are invited and will be
answered at each 'lecture
PROGRAM
JANUARY 7
"THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY"
(Religion the basis of Law and Order. State not a devel-
opment from the Jungle. Laws for monkeys and laws for
men).
JANUARY 14
"THE CHURCH AND DEMOCRACY"
(Two-fold allegiance. Church and State. Pope and Pres-
ident. One hundred per cent Americans).
JANUARY 21
"THE CHURCH AND NATIONAL PROGRESS"
(Protestant and Catholic Countries compared. Commer-
cialism vs. Culture).
JANUARY 28
"THE CHURCH AND HUMAN LIFE"
(War and the Commandment: "Thou shalt not kill." Con-
scientious objectors. Capital punishment. Suicide).
FEBRUARY 4
"THE CHURCH AND SOCIALISM"
(Materialistic concept of History. Faulty economics.
Desecration of Marriage. Destruction of the home).
FEBRUARY 11
"THE CHURCH, THE FRIEND OF LABOR"
(Labor blessed and dignified by Christ. Pope Leo's En-
cyclical. The American Bishops' Program).
FEBRUARY 18
"THE CHURCH, THE FRIEND OF CAPITAL"
(Protection of private property. The Confessional a busi-
ness asset. "The Camel and the Needle").
FEBRUARY 25
"THE CHURCH AND SOCIAL WELFARE"
(Charity vs. Philanthropy. Every parish a social center.
Catholic institutions. Nuns and social work).
MARCH 3
"THE CHURCH AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOL"
(Catholic teachers in public schools. Public officials in
Catholic schools. Are Catholics seeking to destroy the
public schools?).
MARCH 10
"THE CHURCH AND HIGHER EDUCATION"
(State and nut-sectarian universities. Youth and the line
of least resistance. "Half-baked bread").
MARCH 17
"THE CHURCH AND MARRIAGE"
(Validity of marriages by ministers and magistrates.
, Divorce. Impediments. Dispensations. Annulments).
MARCH 24
"THE CHURCH AND BIRTH CONTROL"
(Economic conditions vs. large families. Heredity. Eu-
genics. The abomination of desolation).
MARCH 31
"THE CHURCH AND CELIBACY"
(Monastic and convent life. A married clergy in the
early centuries. Greek priests. Nuns and motherhood).
APRIL 7
"THE CHURCH AND THE INDEX"
(Catholic censorship and "scientific freedom." Getting
both sides. Sore spots in Catholic history).
APRIL 14
"THE CHURCH AND SECRET SOCIETIES"
(Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Knights of,
Colurab-is, Elks, Frats, Sororities).
Conclusion:
What think you of
Catholicism?
Lectures on Christian Doctrine
Catholics and Non-Catholics
Every Monday Evening at 8:00 o'clock
in the basement of the
CATHEDRAL
{Enn-incc on Loftn Stint.)
Free Open to Everybody
Lecturer: Rev. Francis W. Walsh
Questions on any point of Catholic Teaching my be deposited in the
Question Box or asked from the floor after each lecture.
No citizen of Denver has any excuse for remaining in ignorance of th
Religion of Christ as presented by the age-old witness to Christianity, the
(Program of Lectures on reverie side.)
April 23rd Introductory Musical Program
Inspection of the Cathedral
April 38ih God, The Creator.
(Cin a Ciihulic twlirvr in gvulution'i
May 7th si n> The Creature's Rebellion.
May uth Redemption Through Christ.
May 2ist Religious Mysteries
May 28th Miracles.
(Ii thcrr can (lit! bttwtcn Faith and Scirnce')
jun. th The Church.
(It unt Church ai to*) 11 annthtrf
June i ith Authoritive Christian Teaching.
Jim* i.h The Bible.
I 111 origin 111 icUlldn to Ihr Churth I
June zsth The Holy Church.
(Doe. Hiilaty impuen lh tit!-M
July 2nd The Government of the Church
(Pope. Caidinat*. Buhopa )
July ih The Sacramental System.
July !6th The Christian Sacrifice.
lifitlury anj mninc ol the Mill )
July 23rd The Priesthood.
July 3h The Real Presence.
Augmt 6ih Forgiveness of Sins.
(Why mint upon nccolity of Con!lion> U
lln. but Cod 1 )
Aujuit 13th The Mother of Christ.
(Holy Water McJiU. In.tnle. Clnaltl. cle.. s
Augus, zoth Catholic Symbols.
August ::th Beyond the Grave. What?
(H:4vcn. Pi.[(atdly. tlcU-l
LECTURES ON THE
CATHOLIC RELIGION
For Catholics and Non- Catholics
Series for September-December
1924
The Church
The lectures are held in the Basement of
the Cathedral (entrance on Logan) every
Monday at 8 p. m.
Questions are welcomed, either written or
oral.
Lecturer: Rev. Francis W. Walsh
PROGRAM
i?
Sept. 15 The Founder of the Church.
Sept. 22 The Necessity of a Church.
Sept. 29 The One Church.
Oct. 6 The Holy Church.
Oct. 13 The Catholic Church.
Oct. 20 The Apostolic Church.
Oct. 21 The Roman Church.
Nov. 3 The Infallible Church.
Nov. 10 The Indefectible Church.
Nov. 17 The Militant Church.
Nov. 24 The Liturgy of tfie Church.
Dec. 1 The Art of the Church.
Dec. 8 The Culture of the Church.
Dec. 15 The Music of the Church.
Dec. 22 The Government of 'the
Church.
METHODS OF REACHINGxCONVERTS 55
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament will easily counterbal-
ance the lack of time given to the instruction and that the audi-
tors will be more impressed. This arrangement, however,
makes the element of personal contact much more difficult, and
we are forced to rely for the most part upon our zealous Catho-
de laity to bring the prospective convert to the private classes.
Jatholic literature continues to be distributed in the vestibule
fter the Services.
Creating the Proper Attitude at the Start
Perhaps our method of introducing our instructions might
be of interest. We explain that we do not want any one to
promise or make up his mind immediately to become a Catho-
lic, that we are merely anxious that they learn to know our
Holy Religion. "But," we add, "your very presence here is
indicative that you are probably facing a very serious prob-
lem. You are going to determine for yourself, perhaps,
whether the Catholic Church is right or wrong. Let me sug-
gest that you approach that decision seriously. When you
go home tonight have a heart to heart talk with your God.
Tell him of the decision you wish to make. Beg Him if the
Catholic Church be wrong to save you from concluding other-
wise, promise Him that you will not let yourself be influenced
by any worldly motives to embrace Catholicity if it be wrong.
Beg Him also that if it be right, to help you to so see it and
promise Him that if it be right, no worldly motive will deter
you from embracing it." We then explain the necessity of
God's grace for an act of faith and the obstacles that sin or
pride offers to the reception of that grace. The necessity of
an act of contrition for past sins, of a virtuous life whilst in-
vestigating, of prayer, etc. And we add, "If you will go to
God as we suggest, if you will lead a sinless life, and seriously
investigate and if, after that you do not become a Catholic,
then we can only conclude that the Catholic Church is wrong
56 THE WHITE HARVEST
because if it be right, God is bound to make a Catholic out
of him who so approaches the problem." If that instruction
makes an impression, you have made a convert.
Programs of lectures covering many fields, which have
proven of practical helpfulness in the convert work at Denver
are here shown.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO
CHAPTER IV
THE cosmopolitan city of New York has been the scene of most of Father
Scott's ministry. For more than twenty-five years he has been in in-
timate contact in that great melting pot of America with every type
of our heterogeneous population. Because of its peculiar geographical and
social conditions, almost every city square presents its quota of rich and
poor, recent immigrants from the countries of the Old World, and old
settlers.
Among all these varied classes Father Scott labored while stationed at
St. Ignatius Church and then later at St. Francis Xavier. To meet the
needs of each type he adapted his instruction with remarkable skill, leading
many hundreds of converts into the true fold. The success of his works
adapted largely for inquiring non-Catholics has been due chiefly to his
rich background of practical experience in answering the questions and
solving the difficulties that are keeping great numbers of earnest and
sincere men and women from the haven of peace and security.
In the following interesting article Father Scott presents the ripe fruit
of thirty years experience as to the most effective methods of reaching
and of winning souls for the faith of Christ.
57
CHAPTER IV
THE MAKING OF CONVERTS
BY REV. MARTIN J. SCOTT, SJ.
HRIST was the light of the world. Nevertheless
when He was on earth He was accepted by some,
rejected by others. Why did some become His
followers and others His opponents? It was the
same Christ whom all saw. Yet some gave their lives for
Him, others so persecuted Him that eventually they took His
life. A good description of the Catholic Church is to say that
it is the continuation of Christ's ministry to mankind. So
much is this so, that Our Lord Himself said of His Church,
"He who hears you hears Me." With this in mind St. Paul
calls priests ambassadors of Christ. Also with this in view
Christ foretold that His Church would meet with the same
treatment from the world that was accorded to Himself.
Christ, although the most perfect being that this world has
known, was not only accused falsely and persecuted unjustly,
but was moreover misunderstood and misjudged. Some of
His disciples left Him because they did not understand His
doctrine of the Eucharist. Some thought Him guilty of blas-
phemy because He forgave sin. Christ on His part presented
His credentials, and rested His doctrine on the divine seal
which His miracles stamped on it.
Christ is in the world today. By His Church He presents
to mankind the same teaching which the people of His day
heard from His own divine lips. Like Christ the Church is
the light of the world, and like Him it shines in a darkened
J9
60 THE WHITE HARVEST
world which at times persists in closing out the light. How is
the ambassador of Christ to reach them that sit in darkness
and in shadow of death? In no other way than the Master
Himself employed. He, first of all, appealed to the multi-
tude by His character. He was simple, kind, dignified with-
out being pompous, and deeply sympathetic. Perhaps His
greatest personal trait was His wonderful considerateness.
He made allowance for the education, traditions, and environ-
ment of his hearers. His patience with the ignorant and the
hostile was most impressive. The priest, Christ's ambassador,
must, like Him, be simple and considerate and, above all, syn>
pathetic, if he would reach those who are as yet outside the
fold of Christ.
The Personality of the Priest
Many a prospective convert has been turned away from the
Faith because of a lack of sympathetic considerateness on the
part of a priest. The more a priest approaches the charity
of Christ the more will he be able to bring the truth of Christ
into the heart of an inquirer. It is not always the learned
priest who makes converts but rather the considerate priest.
Stress is laid on the personality of the priest, in this matter
of dealing with prospective converts, because eventually every
convert must enter the Church by personal association with a
priest. No matter what remote cause leads a person to in-
quire into the Church, it is always a priest to whom the seeker
after truth must go, before taking the final step that brings
him into the Faith. Many sincere inquirers have been re-
pelled from further progress towards the Faith by the attitude
of the priest whom they approached. It is to the credit of
the Church that almost universally the priesthood manifests
zeal, tact and sympathy in dealing with seekers after the truth.
It must be admitted, however, that there are some who either
because of inexperience or temperament repel earnest inquir-
ers. Sometimes men or women disposed to regard the Faith
THE MAKING OF CONVERTS 61
favorably, and willing to embrace it, have been treated un-
graciously by the priest. This comes either from the ill-
nature or bad manners or the bigotry of the priest. For a
priest may be a bigot, as well as those whom he accuses of
bigotry. It is bigotry in a priest to hold that those who dif-
fer with him in faith may not be sincere and earnest. The
mere fact that a person is concerned enough to inquire about
religion shows that he is more or less trying to know the truth.
Some priests who from childhood have never had doubts
about religion, are apt to credit with bad faith those who are
not of the Faith. Such priests may show impatience or arro-
gance with inquirers, with the result that prospective converts
turn away from the Church not only unconvinced of her doc-
trine, but embittered against her. Very often the difference
between a convert to the faith and an embittered or unsatis-
j
fied inquirer, is the personality of the priest.
What we have said thus far presupposes actual association
of prospective converts with the priests. But how is this con-
tact of priest and inquirer to be effected ? It is good to give
suggestions how to deal with one who inquires about our re-
ligion, but how are people outside the field to be made inter-
ested enough in the Faith to make inquiries about it ?
Ways of Reaching Prospective Converts
Here let me make my first observation with regard to reach-
ing converts. Rarely does one enter the Church who does
not of himself take the initiative in the matter. By this I
mean that ordinarily converts are not made by argument, nor
by aggressiveness, no matter how well intended. By this it
must not be understood that the clergy are to fold their arms
and wait for people to come to them. Not at all. But it
does mean that we should not be surprised that people who
hear perfectly logical presentation of the Church's position,
should nevertheless fail to be convinced or rather converted.
It frequently happens that an inquirer is better informed on
62 THE WHITE HARVEST
the Church's credentials than a majority of the faithful, yet
does not see the duty of entering the Church. But this is be-
side the point, which is how sufficiently to interest non-Catho-
lics in the Faith, to induce them to proceed to an investigation
into it. Faith comes by hearing. What people know noth-
ing about does not concern them. But how is the Catholic
Faith to get a hearing? In this country and in our day non-
Catholics are suspicious of everything Catholic. The public
press is almost closed to Catholic news, except it be something
sensational. The ordinary bookstore does not and will not
handle Catholic books, except to order one specifically re-
quested by a patron. Catholic publishers understand this
thoroughly. Except a Catholic book receive some notoriety,
on account of unusual circumstances, it will not be found in
any but a Catholic bookstore. And non-Catholics as a rule
do not go to Catholic bookstores. Occasionally a department
store will carry Catholic books, but with a view rather to get
Catholic patronage than to reach the non-Catholic reading
public. Purposely I have gone to a number of bookstores and
asked for Catholic books. Generally I was told that they did
not carry them. On inquiring why, I was informed that there
was no demand for them, and that those who wanted them
went to Catholic bookstores for them. This of course means
that, to a great extent, Catholic literature reaches only Catho-
lics. The display of Catholic books which frequently leads
to interest in them, and in the purchase of them, is entirely
absent in the bookstores which the general public patronize.
Hence, except by chance, or some unusual occurrence a Catho-
lic book does not find its way into non-Catholic hands.
Hilaire Belloc has recently stated that it is all but impos-
sible to get Catholic truth before the English nation. The
same may be said of our own country. If non-Catholics ordi-
narily do not go to a Catholic bookstore, they go much less, as
a rule, to a Catholic Church. What prospect of contact there-
fore is there between the Catholic Church and those outside?
Several ways may be mentioned by which non-Catholics
THE MAKING OF CONVERTS 63
may have their attention drawn to Catholic inquiry. The first
is social or business association with Catholics of the right
kind. A good Catholic is truly a good book, just as a bad
Catholic is truly a bad book. Association with a good Catho-
lic has led thousands of non-Catholics to esteem the Church, to
study the Church, and to enter the Church. On the other
hand, many a person contemplating entering the Church has
been repelled by the conduct of those who bore the name of
Catholic, but whose conduct was the denial of all that the
Church stands for. Association with good Catholics is there-
fore one means by which contact may be established between
the Church and those outside.
Another means is the chance reading of a Catholic book,
loaned by a friend, or picked up casually. Generally, non-
Catholics will not open a Catholic book. They are suspicious
of it, and of the Church. But sometimes a Catholic book is
taken up and read, and it is so different from what was ex-
pected, that the reader inquires further. Eventually this may
lead to conversion to the Faith. There is only one thing the
Catholic Church fears, and that is ignorance of her teaching
and character. The more light thrown upon her the more
she stands out true and divine. But it must be the white light
of truth not the colored light of fancy or bigotry. Conse-
quently if a non-Catholic can be induced to learn the truth
about the Church he has taken a long step towards entering
her portals. And here let me say, in passing, that one of the
greatest obstacles to the extension of the Catholic Faith is the
ignorance and superstition of some of its members.
I am not saying that an educated non-Catholic is justified
in getting his knowledge and estimate of the Church from
what servants in his household say of the Faith, but simply
stating a fact, that the only contact that many people of promi-
nence have with the Church is through a servant or day-
laborer, and frequently such contact gives a notion of the
Church which is altogether wrong. On the other hand such
contact has led distinguished and learned people into the true
64 THE WHITE HARVEST
Church, when, these lowly servants were rightly instructed in
their religion, and able to enlighten those who questioned
them.
This leads to another means of reaching converts, which is
the sound instruction of our own people. It is true that
Catholics, as a rule, understand the essentials of their religion
sufficiently for their own guidance. Many things which, when
understood in all their bearings, are reasonable, seem very un-
reasonable to a person who has not the Catholic view-point.
Hence it happens that statements taken out of their context,
and. made bluntly, shock those who have not the Catholic in-
stinct or understanding.
It thus happens that Catholic teaching such as "Outside the
Church there is no salvation" is made by some to signify that
all non-Catholics will be damned. If a Catholic states baldly
that every one not of his religion is going to hell, it is clear
that he will repel people from a religion which teaches such
drastic doctrine. Hence, the proper instruction of our own
people is a very effectual means of making converts, since it
will lead those who by chance learn something of our Faith
to proceed to further inquiry into it. The Catholic pulpit is
a powerful press agent if the Catholic priest will employ
it not in declaiming platitudes, and exploiting himself,
but in giving simple, plain instruction in the fundamentals of
Faith.
The example of good Catholics, and the right instruction of
our Catholic people, and the casual reading of a Catholic
book, are some of the means of bringing the Faith to the at-
tention of non-Catholics. Catholic education if properly im-
parted will do more to win attention and respect for the
Church than any other single factor. Those outside the
Church are hungry for religion. They are disgusted, often,
with the brand offered by their own sect, and desire something
which will satisfy the longings of their soul and help them to
live worthy of their nobler selves. The Catholic religion
alone satisfies the deepest and best aspirations of human na-
THE MAKING OF CONVERTS 65
ture. Frequently it needs only to be known to be embraced
and loved. // Catholics as a body were well instructed in the
Faith they would be a circulating library of Catholic doctrine.
Too often our Catholics are dumb in the presence of inquirers
or revilers of our Faith. I am speaking now not merely of
the great body of the faithful who are only ordinarily edu-
cated, but also of our professional men and women who have
had the benefit of the higher education. They do not, for
the most part, know Catholic philosophy, Catholic ethics,
Catholic history. Their philosophy, ethics, and history are
the brand supplied by those who not only do not know the
Church but despise and hate her. Our Catholics of higher
education, if educated soundly as Catholics, form a means of
contact with those outside the Faith, which cannot fail to
impress them with the truth and beauty of that Church, which
has given -to the world all that is really worth while, in the best
sense of the word.
Missions for Non-Catholics
Another effective means, but one which presupposes one or
other of the previously stated means, is the giving of missions
to non-Catholics. Before people will be led to attend a non-
Catholic discourse they must ordinarily have been interested in
the subject. It may happen that some will go out of the de-
sire to hear what the Church has to say for herself. But
mostly those who go to a Catholic sermon or service are in-
fluenced to do so by a friend, or by what they have read in a
book, or by what they have casually heard, or by the exem-
plary conduct of Catholics with whom they have associated.
Also, if properly advertised, some may be reached who have
never had any contact in any way with Catholics or Catholic
literature. Once a priest has an audience of people who are
interested in the Church, he has one of the grandest oppor-
tunities in the world of presenting the Church in her true light
to receptive minds. Missions to non-Catholics are a most ef-
66 THE WHITE HARVEST
feetive means of bringing the truth of Christ into men's minds
and lives.
Besides the means enumerated there have been established
recently several new methods of reaching non-Catholics.
There is the paid insertion of Catholic doctrine and history in
the daily press. In November, 1925, there was run daily, in
the New York Times, an advertisement setting forth, one
day after another, some fundamental doctrine of Catholicity,
and some historic fact of Catholic achievement. This of
course is very expensive, and is the work of a loyal and grate-
ful child of the Church. Recently in one of the Southern
States a gentleman left in his will some thousands of dollars
to pay for the publication chapter by chapter in the public
press, of Cardinal Gibbons "Faith of Our Fathers," and Fa-
ther Scott's "God and Myself ."
The Radio as a Help
Three years ago the writer was requested to draw up sixty
brief statements about the Catholic Church, for the purpose
of having them inserted, in weekly advertisements, in a chain
of newspapers in the Middle West. In this way the truth
was put before a body of hearers who otherwise perhaps
would never have heard it. The newest means and a most
efficacious one of making contact between the Church and
those outside is the radio. In St. Louis the radio has been
employed regularly by the Jesuits of the St. Louis University
to broadcast Catholic doctrine and history, with the result that
the Church is beginning to be understood for what she really
is, not for what she has been caricatured.
The St. Louis University was the first radiophonic trans-
mitting station of the Middle West, having been established
April 26, 1921. An idea of its work may be gained from the
following program of subjects given in 1924. Beginning
Sunday March 21, 1924, the topic was "What is the Catholic
Church?" This was followed each Sunday afternoon during
THE MAKING OF CONVERTS 67
March, April, and May by such subjects as : "The Founda-
tion of the Catholic Church," "Natural Guides to Christ's
Church," "Supernatural Guide to Truth," "Mother Love of
the Church," "The Priesthood in the Catholic Church," "The
Sacrament of Penance," "Christ With Us," "The Catholic
Church and Marriage," and "Why I am a Catholic." From
time to time questions which had been mailed to the station for
answers, were answered. In the year, 1925, three separate
courses were broadcasted. Here are some of the subjects:
"Man is Naturally Religious," "Can there be more than One
True Religion?" "Where Can I Look for the True Reli-
gion?" "The Church of Christ and its Mission," "The Au-
thority of the Church of Christ," "The Unity of the Church
of Christ," "The Sanctity of the Church of Christ," "The
Roman Catholic Church the Only Answer."
By this method, those who would never enter a Catholic
Church, or attend a Catholic lecture, learn of the Catholic
Church. In this way the Gospel goes direct to those who are
famished for it, but who on account of circumstances would
never perhaps receive the Gospel message. Perhaps it may
interest the reader to hear one or two expressions of opinion
by non-Catholics on this subject as seen from letters sent to
the radio office. The first lette* runs as follows : "I heard
your interesting talk Sunday and find that a great many facts
that we .are ignorant of can be explained in a short while. I
am a Jewess, but can understand why any one would believe
in the beautiful teachings under the title of Christianity."
The second letter reads : "It is a good thing and should be
encouraged. I have been looking at this question from one
side all my life, and I have now the opportunity of seeing it
from the other side."
In New York, this year, the Paulist Fathers have erected,
at great cost and endeavor a superb broadcasting plant, by
which they are reaching thousands^ rather hundreds of thou-
sands of people who otherwise would undoubtedly never have
come in contact with Catholic truth.
68 THE WHITE HARVEST
Suitable Catholic Books
When, however, all is said, one of the very best means of
getting people interested in the Church is literature, if it can
be put into the hands of those whom it seeks to reach. A dis-
course in a church reaches some hundreds of hearers. A book
may reach millions. The effect of a sermon may or may not
be lasting. A book is a permanent preacher, or instructor.
Hence the distribution of Catholic literature is a most power-
ful means of propagating the Faith. If Catholics would read
more they would convert more. If they would try to circu-
late Catholic books they would be true missionaries. Catho-
lics as a body are not reading Catholic books. It is true that
several Catholic books have reached nearly a million circula-
tion, but there is no reason why hundreds of good Catholic
books should not do the same. While I am on the subject of
reading I may give the names of some books, which if every
Catholic should read, our religion would be in a fair way to
reach favorably, and to interest deeply the great body of our
non-Catholic people.
I trust I shall be pardoned for putting three of my own
books on the list. I do so because they were written for pro-
spective converts and because of their phenomenal success in
this field.
A LIST OF CATHOLIC BOOKS
Faith of Our Fathers . . . Gibbons
Rebuilding a Lost Faith Stoddard
The Church of Christ Flnlay
The Question Box Conway '
God and Myself Scott
Credentials of Christianity Scott
The Reason Why Often '
Plain Facts for Fair Minds Searle
The Church and Science . Windle
The Hand of God Scott
Catholic Belief De Bruno
THE MAKING OF CONVERTS 69
There is any number of books which could be mentioned,
but I have restricted the list to those which are brief, clear
and convincing, and which, moreover, are adapted to present-
day inquirers.
A Well Informed Catholic Laity
I am persuaded that a well informed Catholic laity is the
best possible means of interesting non-Catholics in our re-
ligion. Ignorant, superstitious, and bigotted Catholics have
done no end of harm to the Catholic cause. Personally I have
known not a few well-disposed -persons who have been turned
away from progress to the Faith by statements of Catholics
concerning religion. To these people I have said, after know-
ing what had happened, that the statements in question were
not Catholic doctrine but against it. Their reply was that it
was strange that Catholics were so ignorant of their belief as
to misrepresent it so glaringly. I had to admit, with shame,
that there was justice in the remark. If therefore I were asked
what is the best possible way to reach the non-Catholic public
I should say that it was by means of a well-instructed Catho-
lic body. Catholics .and non-Catholics are mingling continu-
ously and everywhere. If a Catholic can give an intelligent
answer to questions about his creed, he will be asked more and
more about it, and finally be in position to refer his inquirer to
a priest. But so many of our Catholics are forced to be silent
on religion, because they do not trust themselves to speak on
it, that non-Catholics are timid about approaching the subject.
Catholics are well versed in politics, sports and other such
things, and they could be just as conversant with religion if
the clergy would start a campaign of instruction and reading.
Having considered the attitude of the priest towards inquir-
ers, and how best to get people interested to the point of see-
ing the priest, it may not be out of place to touch on some
practical methods of dealing with prospective converts. It
has been my experience that no two inquirers approach the
7 o THE WHITE HARVEST
subject of religion in the same frame of mind, or with the
same difficulties to solve. Mostly the problems of a convert
are of the heart rather than of the head. Of course the con-
vert thinks that his difficulties concern intellectual problems,
but except in rare cases, the difficulty in the way of conversion
is temperamental or sentimental.
The Necessity of Tact and Sympathy
Conversion means a break with life-long associations, and
perhaps the severing of intimate social ties. It means a sev-
erance from all that one has held sacred and dear from child-
hood. This frame of mind makes one almost incapable of
reasonable consideration of the arguments for the truth of
the Catholic Faith. That is one reason why things which are
so evident to us fail to impress them. Conversion, as we
know, is not a matter of logic. The Catholic position is logi-
cal, absolutely so, but that does not mean that it will convert
people. Christ was Truth itself, and absolutely logical, yet
many hearing Him refused to become His followers. Faith
is a gift from above, but a gift that will not be withheld from
those who seek rightly for it. Consequently the first thing
in dealing with a convert is, in my opinion, to gain his good-
will, then his confidence and finally his esteem. This is best
done by not coming directly to the question of religion, but by
showing interest in the person, his occupation, his home, his
view of things generally. If this is done tactfully the inquirer
will realize that he is dealing with a priest who is sympathetic
and who knows men and affairs. The inquirer thus becomes
receptive. The next step is to avoid absolutely any remarks
which reflect on other creeds. Any condemnation of .other
religions serves but to embitter the inquirer. The Catholic
Faith rightly explained is the best argument for its acceptance.
Once the inquirer understands the true character of the
Church he will himself condemn his former creed much more
THE MAKING OF CONVERTS 71
vigorously than the priest could do. In fact a convert fre-
quently has to be restrained from assailing the religion which
he left. The splendor of Catholic truth shows, as nothing
else could, the dreadful falseness of other creeds. Besides
being sympathetic with the inquirer, and saying nothing
against his former creed, the priest needs to practise great pa-
tience and composure when certain questions are asked of him
concerning the belief and practises of Catholics.
In good faith a Protestant will ask if for money the priest
does not forgive sins: if for money he does not grant permis-
sion to commit sin; if nuns are not the paramours of priests;
if the Pope does not aim at overturning and controlling our
government ; if the Church does not keep her people in igno-
rance so as more easily to dominate them. These and much
more absurd and insulting questions may be put to the priest, in
good faith. They are the nourishment on which Protestant-
ism has grown from the very day of the Reformation. I have
met intelligent Protestants who were amazed when they were
told that all these things were fabrications.
The priest must make allowance for the education and en-
vironment of the inquirer, and show no resentment at even the
most exasperating statements or questions. A well-informed
priest will know how by a word or two pleasantly to dispel
these misconceptions. But impatience is fatal. These diffi-
culties, however, are the easiest obstacles to remove. Some
of the really hard things to overcome are doctrinal misconcep-
tions. Papal infallibility, a great stumbling block, becomes a
stepping stone to belief when rightly explained.
Another matter which wins approval when understood and
which was previously a bug-bear is confession. What stands
as almost an insuperable barrier to one person will be no ob-
stacle at all to another. I have found that the greatest diffi-
culty with the greatest number is Hell. In dealing with this
subject I always say that Hell is as abhorrent to me as to them,
but that I believe in it because Christ has explicitly taught it.
72 THE WHITE HARVEST
Then I go on to say that the Catholic Faith is a religion char-
acterized by mysteries and to be accepted not by argument, but
on the authority of God.
Mysteries are Based on Divine Revelation
The Trinity, the Incarnation, the Eucharist are all truths
above the complete comprehension of man. God does not
ask us to understand Him but to trust Him. He who gave us
our intellect will not ask us to believe anything that contra-
dicts reason. But He does ask us in reverence to His veracity
to believe what is above our reason if He declares it. St.
Augustine said that he would not believe that the Catholic
faith was divine if it did not contain mysteries. From the,
fact that it came from God it must partake of the mysterious-
ness of God. Every other religion except the Christian
teaches only what the mind of man can invent and understand.
The revelation of Christ could never have been conceived by
human intelligence nor, once conceived and proclaimed, can
it be entirely comprehended by mortal mind. Like God who
is mysterious and incomprehensible to man, the Catholic creed
is a religion of mysteries, and after promulgation remains in
great measure incomprehensible to the human mind. But a
thing may be incomprehensible yet absolutely true and reason-
able. It is incomprehensible to us how God existed always,
yet imperatively reasonable that He always did exist.
Mysteries in religion are the seal of divinity. If God asked
us to believe only what He demonstrated or explained He
would be placing Himself on a level with us. That is the
way man deals with man. But God is entitled to be believed
because He is God. This brings us to the basis of belief. If
Christ was God, what He taught is true. Hence if Christ
taught that there is Hell, Hell there is, no matter whether we
like it or not. We do not like death, but death is a fact.
It all comes to this, was Christ God, and did He teach that
there was a Hell. He was God and He so taught. That
THE MAKING OF CONVERTS 73
ends the matter. If an inquirer believes Christ is God it is
only necessary to show what He taught. If the inquirer does
not believe that Christ is God it is necessary to establish the
divinity of Christ as the first step towards Faith. Every
priest understands the best way of doing this. No matter
how much theology and philosophy a priest may know, it is
all useless in dealing with converts unless he can bring his
knowledge down to the level of understanding of his hearer.
Hence I advise seminarians and young priests to-be well versed
in all that pertains to the popular exposition of the divinity
of Christ. Everything rests on that. If Christ is God His
word is true. He gave His word that His Church would be
in the world always and that He would always be with it.
Consequently His Church is in the world now. The only
Church that goes directly back to Him is the Catholic Church,
hence it is His, and is true and divine.
His Church teaches no doctrine of her own invention but
only what He entrusted to her. She is truly a continuation of
His ministry to mankind. This line of reasoning will con-
vince any intelligent man. But conviction is not conversion.
That is the work of God's grace. Hence the inquirer should
be told to pray for light, and for courage to follow the light.
The rest is between the soul and God.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO
CHAPTER V
IF the reader could have stepped into St; Patrick's Church at Eau Claire
Wisconsin, one morning a couple of summers ago, he would have wit-
nessed a scene as beautiful as it was unique. With the Bishop of the
diocese present, a ceremony occurred in joyous celebration of the recep-
tion of the thousandth convert by the great Convert-Maker of the West,
the Rev. A. B. C. Dunne. It was a ceremony that has few duplications
in any Catholic Church in America but which, with God's grace and the
diffusion of the skillful technique of Father Dunne, may become of
more frequent occurrence in the approaching years.
It was the good fortune of the writer while driving up into northern
Wisconsin a few summers ago to find himself, early one morning, passing
a Catholic Church. He stopped to celebrate Mass. The pastor proved
to be Father Dunne. It was an inspiring and profitable experience for
the writer as he had the pleasure of listening to Fr. Dunne describe his
methods and show the numerous graphs and charts he had devised in
illustrating points of Catholic doctrines for his classes of prospective
converts. The system reflected the results of many years of careful
study and experience, and has demonstrated its effectiveness by the prac-
tical results secured. It revealed the conscious development of a specific
technique to meet a problem quite distinct from the ordinary one of
presenting Catholic doctrine to Catholic people. The writer perceived in-
stantly that here was a case where special tools had beenSkillf ully devised
to perform an operation fraught with more than ordinary difficulty, and
that the results were unusually successful. It seemed equally obvious to
him also that if the use of this effective technique could be passed out to
enrich the labors of the other priests of the country confronted with the
same problem, the results would be proportionately greater.
This task has been ably accomplished by Reverend E. C. Dowd who
has been associated with Father Dunne for over thirteen years. He gives
7J
7 6 THE WHITE HARVEST
a lucid exposition of Father Dunne's method. In addition he seeks to get
at the root of the problem by determining why the number of converts
secured by the priests of America scarcely averages two per year. His
observations on the need for definite preparation for this particular im-
portant work of the priesthood by the seminary will commend themselves
to all who recognize the validity of the principle that in the ministry as
elsewhere, definite training and carefully devised methods will yield re-
sults immeasurably superior to those produced by haphazard random
methods. Because of his association with Father Dunne for many years,
Father Dowd is in a position to realize from his own experience the tre-
mendous assistance the seminary could give its future priests if it
equipped them with a reasonable mastery of this difficult art, instead of
allowing them to sink or swim in accordance with their own ingenuity in
devising effective methods of their own. The appallingly small average
of but two converts per priest would seem to indicate that most of them
flounder ineffectively or sink altogether.
Lastly, it should be recorded that while Father Dowd stresses the
method of his distinguished associate, he has an enviable record of his
own, having assisted in the instruction of many hundreds of converts.
CHAPTER V
WHY SO FEW?
BY REV. E. C. DOWD
N presenting the following, the writer makes no
pretense or boast of originality. What is written
is the description of a system for convert-making,
devised and constantly used by the Very Reverend
A. B. C. Dunne. It has been the singular good fortune of
the writer to have been associated with this Convert-Maker
of the West for a long time. What has been learned in these
years of association, is due entirely to the patient efforts and
kindly encouragement of his instructor. He wishes to ac-
knowledge this gratefully here. What is presented is offered
with the hope that it will help others as it has helped the
writer.
Some months ago, the writer had occasion to listen to a very
interesting address, given by the Bishop of a mid-western di-
ocese to the priests assembled for the annual retreat.
Though touching a great many points one in particular stood
out prominently from the rest, wherein he called the very
special attention of his clergy, to the duty of guarding the
Fold of Christ. "Gentlemen," he said, "the need of the hour
is to stop the 'leakage' in the Church. You must reclaim the
'stray.' Win him back at all costs ! Use perseverance, tact,
zeal. Count no effort too great in winning souls for Christ.
Interest those outside the Church in the beauties of our Faith.
Oh! it is a great work, your greatest work. We must all
do better work in this regard than is being done." There is a
77
78 THE WHITE HARVEST
tremendous deal of truth in the Bishop's statement, for when
we face the facts squarely we must admit that the "leakage"
is considerable, while the number of conversions is compara-
tively small. Just how to proceed, however, in remedying
existing conditions is a question difficult to solve.
As stated in the diocesan report of the Catholic Directory
(1927) the number of conversions for the year in this coun-
try, was approximately 35,000. (Exact figures are unavail-
able because of the failure of some dioceses to report) . The
Directory gives the number of priests in the United States as
2 3>967 Assuming that of this number 18,000 are connected
with parish work, we see that the number of converts made by
the individual priest does not average two (2) per man. It
is permissible, of course, to mention the average; but it is
certainly nothing to brag about.
The average priest is not interested in balancing figures.
What he wants is practical information as to ways and means
by which better results may be obtained for his individual ef-
forts. The problem on how best to reach the man outside
the Church is an old one. It has been dealt with for a long,
long time. I do not propose to settle that problem here.
Furthermore, it is my firm conviction that the problem will
never be solved satisfactorily, unless the seminaries of the
United States give a helping hand. Just here is our great
mistake. We are forgetting to train the very man with whom
the solution of the problem rests, and that man is the young
priest. No man can do that of which he knows little or noth-
ing. It is foolish to expect anyone to fly a plane without
knowing the principles of aeronautics. J cannot run a motor,
unless I am told how. Yet we do expect the priest to handle
the work of convert-making successfully, while his training for
the work amounts to practically nothing. Perhaps the fac-
ulty thinks the work unimportant; perhaps a fad. (I am not
concerned with mental views here.) But this fact is worthy
of consideration, that we may search many a weary day to
discover the location of an ecclesiastical seminary in this coun-
WHY SO FEW? 79
try, where a scientific course on convert-making is being given.
No wonder then that for the majority, the work is practically
at a standstill.
The seminaries' duty in this work is imperative. The Di-
vine Rector of the world's first seminary guaranteed this as
a result of a course He planned giving. "Come, follow Me,"
He said to Peter and Andrew, "and I will make you to be
fishers of men." Today the seminary course is very crowded
and complicated. Perhaps, in the press and rush of the needs
of the times the peculiar purpose of. making the priest a prac-
tical "fisher of men," though not entirely forgotten, is at
least being partially overlooked. If the candidate for the
priesthood is not trained before he leaves his Alma Mater,
where can he be expected to learn this work after he goes
out? Some are content to say that convert-making is a
"knack," and comes with practice; or that it takes time to
develop a system. We have been hearing that line of argu-
ment so long, that the majority are willing to accept it without
further comment. The writer for one is not.
Convert-making is a science; therefore it must be taught
as any other scientific subject. It is not reasonable to expect
a man to learn a science by the "hit-and-miss" method. We
do not find it done in the natural or applied sciences; there-
fore, we can conclude it cannot be done here. The sooner
that this fact is recognized the better. Convert-making is,
and always will be, a scientific process. A conversation with
any priest, who has had success in this work will disclose the
fact readily. It is to such men that the seminaries must turn
to get sufficient theoretical information which will insure a
practical handling of the subject. This is an age of special-
ists. We have them in every field of endeavor. We find
them in schools and in places of business. The recent Con-
stitution of Seminaries demands specialists as lecturers on
dogma, moral and Canon-Law. It is good to have it so ; but
why the seminary should remain silent in its preparation of
the candidate, whereby he will be enabled to advance the King-
80 THE WHITE HARVEST
dom of Christ on earth, is more than the writer can under-
stand. -
A conversation had with the Rector of a Seminary, while
not clearing up the difficulty, at least throws light on the sub-
ject. "I admit," he said, "that our program for preparing
the seminarian for convert-making is inadequate. Every
member of our faculty admits the fact readily. But to rem-
edy this defect we must have the right teachers. Where are
we to procure them?" Were one of our Religious Orders to
sponsor this feature in its future educational program the dif-
ficulty expressed by the rector could be removed. Let that
religious body call in its successful convert-makers, let them
systematize their experiences and methods and embody this
information in a proper text book, and we would have some-
thing definite with which to work. It is this precise thing
that is sorely needed today, and once it is done will be a big
step in the right direction. The young man must be made
enthusiastic about the subject of convert-making before he
leaves the seminary. Such enthusiasm will in all probability
remain. "Other sheep there are," says the Master, "who are
not of this fold. Them also I must bring, that there may be
one fold and one Shepherd." The young man sent out to
find these "other sheep" must be properly equipped, rather
than unmistakably handicapped.
The system of training which the average one of us re-
ceived, required Dogma, Moral, Scripture, and History. Oh,
yes, I nearly forgot Pastoral. It, too, was in the curriculum.
It was destined, I believe, to give practical information on
parish work. A great many topics were discussed there ; ques-
tions which surely stood the average one in good stead for the
work of the ministry; but such topics as how non-Catholics are
to be interested in the Church ; how classes for instruction are
to be formed; what subjects should be handled in those classes;
how objections to religion are to be answered, were topics sel-
dom if ever mentioned. That the average number of converts
WHY SO FEW? 81
per priest for the year 1927 was not two (2) per man, need
therefore not surprise us.
Let us look at the matter from another angle. The number
of clergy trained for work in the ministry under the old time
system was large. Out of this vast army, however, the priests
who have achieved success in convert-making is deplorably
small; so small in fact, that they may be numbered easily on
one's fingers. Men who have become successful in this work,
did so, not because of their seminary training, but in spite of it.
It has been the writer's privilege to have been associated with
such a man for a number of years. It has afforded an op-
portunity of reviewing and analyzing a system which has pro-
duced results. It is the system employed by one, who though
busily engaged in active parish work, has found time to care
for the non-Catholics of his community and to perfect a sys-
tem by which he has been able to maintain an average of
thirty-four converts per year, for thirty years, totalling 1042
for that period of time. The man is Very Reverend A. B. C.
Dunne, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. In discussing his system
with him the writer has learned that convert-making is the
result of a process, rather than of a performance of any one
thing. It is the fruit obtained from planting the seed of truth
in the soil of the soul, made worthy through prayer and
Divine grace for the reception of the gift of faith.
Prayer The First Step
It is impossible for any non-Catholic to become interested
in the Church, unless he is made to realize that the Church is
interested in him. Convert-making means leading stray sheep
to the fold. It means bringing souls to God. Therefore,
the starting point must be the Altar. It must be from that
Home of God on Earth that the grace for the successful per-
formance of the work must come. The average priest will-
ingly admits this fact in theory; perhaps it is not the custom
82 THE WHITE HARVEST
in practical life. Priest and people must join hands in prayer.
It must be offered "in season and out of season," for without
God's grace there can be no hope of success. "Paul planteth,
Apollo waters, but it is God that gives the increase." The
congregation must be made enthusiastic. They must imbibe
this enthusiasm from the priest. He must make them anxious
and concerned about the "other sheep," and can do so through
his instructions which are calculated to convince them of the
imperative need for every soul, to be in union with the Church
of Christ to obtain salvation. Let the people be made to
join in common prayer at stated times of the year; seasons
wherein the gates of Heaven ;are literally stormed in behalf
of souls outside the Church, and if this method does not in-
crease the number of conversions, it is safe to say that there
is nothing under Heaven that can increase them.
The Octave of Prayer in January, the days preceding the
Feast of Pentecost offer two such opportunities. The very
nature of the feasts gives inspiration to the prayers and Com-
munions offered by the congregation for this intention. Add
to these occasions the annual Forty Hours' Devotion; the
monthly Holy Hour, in fact any of the services of the year,
and a real "live wire priest" will find numerous opportunities
for enlisting the prayers of the faithful in this particular cause.
The Layman
Prayer, while a tremendous factor in bringing about con-
version, must be united to the element of human interest. No
one will be interested in a cause or institution of which he
knows little or nothing. To make a man enthusiastic presup-
poses personal contact. This particular factor can be sup-
plied in a very satisfactory way by the Catholic layman. It
is through him that the Church is to get the favorable adver-
tising it needs to stimulate conversion, the advertising that
comes from the clean, wholesome, conscientious lives of its
members. Take the average non-Catholic as we know him.
WHY SO FEW? 83
He is skeptical of the Church, perhaps even bitter in his at-
titude. Why shouldn't he be ? His environment, education,
and surroundings in life are such, that he feels instinctive aver-
sion, at the mere mention of Catholic doctrine or practice.
If he is to be brought closer to the Church, that wall of op-
position must be broken down. He must learn that his fears
are groundless; that the "terrors of Rome" are fiction, not
fact. He must learn these things from the man he meets in
the daily routine of life or he will never learn.
A priest at times may be in a position to disabuse the non-
Catholic, but the occasion comes rarely. The layman, on the
other hand, can always be approached, is ever on hand. He
must be intellectually fitted for this truly apostolic work of
answering questions about faith and religion, which are so
frequently brought up. Where the Catholic is well informed,
keen and mentally alert, he can perform this task admirably;
for through his intelligent explanation of controverted points
he will be in a position to make an impression upon his non-
Catholic friends which is lasting. The average non-Catholic
meeting such a layman will feel honored. An invitation to at-
tend Church for Mass, Benediction, or an occasional sermon
will be gladly accepted. Perhaps it is the non-Catholic's first
appearance in a Catholic Church. Had it not been for his
Catholic friend he would never have been there at all. Many
the conversion that dates back to an attendance at our
religious services. It is in that sacred hour that the
grace oft times comes, which may change the course of a
life.
There is one thing more that the layman can do, which will
produce excellent results in stimulating interest in things Cath-
olic. It is to enlist his services in the cause of Catholic litera-
ture. There is no more satisfactory way of calling attention
to the Church, its works and teachings, than by the written
page. Good literature, as everyone admits, exerts a whole-
some influence everywhere. In these days, particularly, when
the flood of trashy literature is fairly deluging the public
84 THE WHITE HARVEST
market, is the time when the influence of a good book or paper
is thoroughly appreciated by everyone.
The average man will read anything. The average non-
Catholic will be glad to have an opportunity of acquainting
himself with some historical point or explanatory treatise on
religion. Give him that book; make him acquainted with
Catholic doctrine, through a reliable volume, and his interest
will be aroused to a very high pitch. The home, particularly
which contains a mixed marriage, should be the home, where
on the library table, literature calculated to impress and in-
terest the non-Catholic wife or husband should be found. In
fact it is safe to say that a home where a mixed-marriage is
housed, will ever have that marriage mixed, unless the Cath-
olic party be made to realize the importance of Catholic lit-
erature. Literature produces wonderful effects. It works
in a quiet way. It gives out information as the sun gives
light, quietly, unostentatiously, but it does so continuously and
produces effects which are fairly amazing.
The Priest
Of course the priest has a part to play. It is a big and
weighty one ; he must not lose sight of its importance. What
the laity of the parish start, he must endeavor to finish.
Where they have succeeded in arousing the interest of non-
Catholic friends in the Church it is the priest's duty to make
their visit profitable. The priest can do this in the instruc-
tions and sermons which are given at the time, presenting va-
rious articles of Catholic doctrine so as to remove ^ny dif-
ficulty that may lurk in the mind of the hearer, regarding that
particular question. The Question Box, tactfully introduced
during the Lenten season also offers a splendid opportunity
for enlightenment; the result of which in many instances is
that non-Catholics may become anxious for added information.
Of course, all this takes time. No priest trying these things
for a first time can expect immediate results. It may take
WHY SO FEW? 85
years to be productive of gratifying results, but when they be-
come apparent, it more than repays him for the effort ex-
pended. And even if visible results never manifest them-
selves, the work done by priest and people is never entirely
lost. Somewhere, somehow, the seed falling on good ground
will bring forth fruit a hundred-fold.
Once the preliminary work has been done, and the priest
notes that the people respond to his individual efforts, he
may feel safe in making preparation for the opening of a Con-
vert Class. There may be some who are opposed to the
"class method" of instruction. Whatever their objections,
even they must admit that group instruction is a great time
saver in the life of a busy priest, and removes much of the
drudgery from the work of convert-making two features
which are worth considering.
The Class Starting It
To center the congregation's attention on the instruction
class the priest should announce the opening dates on three
preceding Sundays. This gives everyone an opportunity of
inviting a non-Catholic friend or relative. The Catholic party
should accompany his friend on the opening night. If pos-
sible he should attend the entire instruction-course. The pres-
ence of a Catholic friend or relative makes the prospective
convert feel more at home. Then, too, the augmented num-
ber produces an impression. Too much formality on the
opening night should be avoided. The priest must impress on
those present that they are heartily welcome, and through his
courteous treatment, make them anxious to come again. The
names of the applicants should be taken and placed on perma-
nent record. It insures systematic handling of future work,
as well as an exact record of classes attended or missed, to-
gether with a knowledge of the subjects explained or that the
class member has failed to receive.
That first class, while purely introductory, is highly im-
86 THE WHITE HARVEST
portant. From the first visit to the parish house, the non-
Catholic knows what to expect of the priest. The pastor can
"make or break" his hold on the class that first evening. He
appears as the Representative of the Church. They recog-
nize him as such, therefore it is, that the priest must do the
"talking" and not the class members. I have heard converts
speak of their instruction as hours spent in friendly discussion.
I think the system false and unproductive of results. The
priest must have the work systematically arranged. He must
outline the work or it will never be outlined. A teacher of
mathematics takes no "tip" from the class members. To dis-
cuss fractions today, percentage tomorrow, and the multiplica-
tion tables another day means nothing but a loss of time.
Likewise to gain a scientific knowledge of religion we must
start with the fundamentals and then add the superstructure.
The first class gives the priest an opportunity of arranging
for the number of instructions to be held each week, at hours
suitable for the majority. Two periods per week, are rec-
ommended. It gives each person plenty of time for prepara-
tion. Individual study is of prime importance. The priest
cannot do all the work, for the process is a 50-50 proposition.
A reasonable amount of time spent in preparation joined to a
reasonable amount of explanation, makes the ideal combina-
tion. Without study on the part of the class members, the
attendance at the various instructions will mean nothing more
than killing time. Study, moreover, brings out the difficulties
in the minds of the class members.
It is the objection which must be sought out and explained
away, otherwise the priest's efforts are vain. Converts must
feel free to bring up these objections. The more questions,
the better. If they do not ask them, the priest must, for
questioning shows progress or lack of it. An honest question
deserves an honest answer; let the convert feel that his will
always receive this treatment and he will not feel timid in
presenting it. At the close of each instruction the priest
should invite the members to present their difficulties. It
WHY SO FEW? 87
seems the proper time for solving doubtful questions and
making plain, points which have not been fully understood.
Questions should be encouraged. There is nothing better
calculated to prove a person's interest, and this may be set
down as a safe rule, that a class without questions, is a class
without interest in the work.
Class-Treatment of Members
The purpose of the first instruction is to make everyone
realize that he has much to learn. If this is properly done,
the priest will ever remain master of the situation. If on, the
other hand he fails to gain this advantage, he will suffer from
the handicap throughout the entire work. The capital sin of
the Reformation was pride. It is still a fairly-well advertised
sin. Pride of intellect has ruined many a promising career
within as well as without the fold, because of its universal
prevalence. The priest must look for signs of it in the class.
It is his task once it is discovered, to eradicate it from the
soul and do it quickly. The virus of pride is too deadly
to permit it to remain. To do so is to commit a fatal error.
False pride like proud flesh must be cut away. The priest is
the surgeon. It is his task to perform the operation. The
process may not be the most pleasant thing in the work, but
unless it is done, there cannot be any hope of conversion. The
road that leads to God is the road of humility; pride is noth-
ing more than a hindering barrier in the soul's progress.
Now the antidote for the poison of pride, is the conviction of
personal ignorance. It must be administered in large or small
doses as circumstances require. The remedy may at times
cause temporary indisposition, and personal chagrin, but the
patient will rally. In fact, it is safe to say, that the quicker
the reaction, the quicker the soul's recovery and progress.
Intellectual pride can easily be detected by the priest, in his
contact with the members of the class. At times it is masked
by the attitude, of indifference ; at times by a supercilious air of
88 THE WHITE HARVEST
condescension. Whatever way it manifests itself, pride must
be rooted out. The member coming to the class with a
"know-it-all air" about him must be halted. While in such
a frame of mind he can exert nothing but an evil influence on
the others. In other words, he must be thrown off his feet,
as it were. Only then will it be comparatively easy to lead
him along the road of truth. Perhaps the reader may not co-
incide with this view. I have a better reason, however, for
proposing it than he has for criticizing it. It is the method
used by our Divine Lord in his dealing with the arrogant
Saul, and it was precisely this same treatment which resulted
in giving to the Church its first great convert. Paul was ac-
tually thrown from his "high horse" before Christ even
deigned to address him.
To accomplish this effect, the priest needs but put a few
well-directed questions to convince everyone present that he
has much to learn. Asking them, for instance, their reasons
for a belief in God; the purpose of man's life here below; the
difference between man and the animal; are questions aptly
calculated to produce the desired results. It is astounding
to find how few there are outside the Church, who can give
an intelligent answer to any of them. The average child in a
parochial school would consider them simple, while the aver-
age non-Catholic finds them extremely puzzling. The ques-
tions mentioned serve the priest admirably. They give him
an opportunity for judging the mentality of the class mem-
bers ; while on the other hand they make a prospective convert
realize that his attendance at the instructions will reveal much
he has not heard of.
The Class- Books to be Used
We have often been asked as to which text book we use here
in our work. The text book has not been written. But after
all, that part does not matter a great deal, for a teacher's
guiding text must ever be a trained mind. As far as the
WHY SO FEW? 89
class member is concerned, any of the approved catechisms will
prove satisfactory. The priest while conducting the class
must present the subject matter in an up-to-the-minute garb.
This insures interest, and prevents inattention. To ask a
six-word question and expect a six-word answer makes instruc-
tion work parrot-like and monotonous. It savors of the kin-
dergarten and should be avoided where the adult is concerned.
The individual instructions must be presented in a happy garb,
and should be interspersed with apt illustrations and occasional
questions. This is the combination that makes both priest
and convert enjoy the work.
Besides the catechism which is used as a reference text,
the priest would do well to have with him a Protestant ver-
sion of the Scriptures. It is the Book with which the average
non-Catholic has at least a passing acquaintance. It offers a
common starting point in discussing individual religious truths.
The effect of using this book is surely psychological. There
is no better way of presentation for the Catholic doctrines of
Penance, Eucharist, Extreme Unction and Celibacy than by
appealing to the Protestant version of the Bible in proof of
them.
A chart like the one employed here, is of immense practical
value in explaining the chapter on the Church and its marks.
It consists of a complete list of the Roman pontiffs, printed in
fairly large type, together with the years wherein they reigned.
Alongside this list of names the major Protestant denomina-
tions are likewise recorded. The entire gives a very harmoni-
ous appearance. To show this list of some two hundred and
sixty names totaling sixty inches in length, comparing the years
through which the papacy has endured, with Protestantism's
meager existence produces a never-to-be-forgotten effect on
the mind of the convert. It is while looking at the chart that
he somehow or another grasps the idea of Apostolicity as a
mark of the Church, as no argument of mere words could
ever do.
The priest would do well to keep near at hand a work
90 THE WHITE HARVEST
issued by the United States Bureau of Commerce and Labor
and entitled "Religious Census," for 1916, as prepared by Mr.
Rogers of the Bureau. The book can be had for the asking.
It contains the nation's complete religious census as applied
to the various denominations found here. As far as informa-
tion goes, it is invaluable, giving statistics on membership and
property holdings, together with percentage lists that are
most interesting and very profitable. Coming from the hands
of the Government and stamped with an official seal makes the
average member of the class ready to accept figures and other
data without question. The priest can use this work in ex-
plaining the mark of unity. He can appeal to the census
list to show how utterly Protestantism lacks this particular
characteristic. How many average people have ever dreamed
that Lutheranism is made up of twenty-four independent bod-
ies; Presbyterianism of seventeen kinds, while Methodism of-
fers sixteen distinct varieties. It is in these census lists that
the information is given, and reading off the titles as they ap-
pear makes a profound impression on the minds of those that
hear.
To give even a brief resume of the subject matter outlined
in each of our twenty-six instructions, which make up the
course, seems aside from the purpose of this article. In fact
I do not think it necessary. The dogmatic training of the
priest, together with his readings on history and kindred sub-
jects makes it a comparatively easy work, to map out a plan
for the proper presentation of Catholic truths. What he
must bear in mind, however, in such preparation, is to em-
bellish the single talk with a happy use of illustrations. It is
the illustration that gives an added interest to an hour of in-
struction which the pupil delights in hearing. It has been
the writer's intention in the course of this article to set down
a few of the considerations in reference to convert-making
which are admittedly important. Far be it from him to
have the rash temerity of presuming, that what has been pre-
sented may be considered exhaustive.
WHY SO FEW? 91
What has been set down merely touches a few of the "high
spots" in the work. Maybe even that little, will prove helpful
to the reader, in throwing a little light on perplexities which
this work involves. Surely it is a great work, confining at
times, but with all, the most satisfying in the priest's entire pro-
gram. To lead a timid soul to God, to place it within the
Sacred Enclosure of the Fold of Christ, to cause a new child to
recognize the beautiful face of Mother Church and make it
feel content and comfortable in the wholesome embrace of her
loving arms, is a joyous work like to which no other can be
compared. The words of St. James offer true encouragement
for the task : "He who causeth a sinner to be converted from
the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall
cover a multitude of sins."
INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO
CHAPTER VI
WHAT are the possibilities of winning Negroes to the faith? What are
the methods that make the strongest appeal to them? Can they be made
loyal permanent members of the Catholic Church? These are some of
the questions which Rev. Joseph Eckert, S.V.D. Pastor of St. Elizabeth's,
the only Catholic Negro parish in Chicago, answers with engaging
interest.
For many years a member of the teaching staff at the Mission School
of the Fathers of the Divine Word at Techny, Father Eckert became
the successful director of lay retreats, spreading their popularity far and
wide. Fortified with this experience he was appointed to his present
pastorate by Cardinal Mundelein in 1921. His success in adapting the
method of instruction to meet the peculiar needs of the colored popula-
tion of his district has brought phenomenal results.
During each year for the past five years, Father Eckert has averaged
approximately 100 adult converts. If the reader had visited St. Eliza-
beth's Church on May 9, 1926, he would have been thrilled at the unique
spectacle of Father Eckert baptizing and receiving into the fold an army
of 151 Negro converts school children from the upper grades and the
high school and adults as well. In addition to his convert work, Father
Eckert has established a parochial school with an enrollment of 1000 and a
high school with about 100 students in attendance.
There is no reason to believe that the Negro people of Chicago differ
from the colored population of any city in the North. The methods
which have proven so effective in winning Negroes in Chicago to the
true faith should produce similar effects elsewhere. As the soul of the
lowliest Negro menial is as precious in the eyes of the Divine Master as the
soul of the most powerful ruler in the world, there is the same spiritual
incentive to spend oneself in seeking to win the Negro to the faith, as
there is in the case of his white fellow citizen.
What an alluring vista of new and undreamed of possibilities is un-
folded before the eager eyes of the zealous priest by the moving story
of Father Eckert's achievements among the lowliest of God's children!
93
CHAPTER VI
METHODS OF CONVERT-MAKING AMONG THE
NEGROES OF CHICAGO
BY THE REV. JOSEPH F. ECKERT, S.V.D.
NE of the eminent Fathers of the early Church, St.
Denis, remarks in one of his writings : "The most
divine work is to save souls." When I first read
these words, many years ago in the novitiate, they
made such a deep impression upon me that they have always
since had a prominent place in my mind, and have often been
an encouragement and an inspiration throughout these, my
priestly days. About four years ago they were partly re-
sponsible for my acceptance of the pastorship of the only par-
ish for Colored Catholics in Chicago a parish which had
been struggling for its existence for many years. When the
Rev. Father Provincial, P. T. Janser, S.V.D., requested me to
leave my class-room work, which I had learned to love sin-
cerely, I first hesitated; I shrank from assuming such a heavy
responsibility. But finally the words of St. Dionysius came
vividly before my mind, and I acceded, though reluctantly,
to the just wishes of my superior, and went to Chicago in
the beginning of September, 1921.
Within a few weeks I became accustomed to the ordinary
routine of parish life and work, and got to like it, especially
in view of the fact that the Colored Catholics responded well,
and seemed to take an active interest in parish affairs. Soon,
however, I also came to realize that a gigantic task was be-
fore me, a task greater than either my superiors or I had
95
96 . THE WHITE HARVEST
ever dreamed of. There was a mass of Colored people,
herded together in filthy and run-down apartment houses and
stately residences places of abode where, only a few years
ago, many of the more fashionable Chicagoans had resided.
This district, comprising the second and third wards of the
South-side of Chicago, was, as I have intimated, now thickly
settled with Negroes ; and only a handful of them were Cath-
olic, hardly enough to support a small church and school.
The others were Protestants or were semi-pagans in their out-
look. They were a different set of people, quite different,
from any I had heretofore come in contact with, both in their
ways of thinking and of acting. And yet, I knew that Christ
had died for them, as well as for me; and I knew that He
wanted them, every one of them, in His fold. He also had
a thought of them, when He commissioned His apostles:
"Going therefore ... teach ye all nations; baptizing them
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost." * Hence I became thoroughly aware that there was a
real, soul-saving and pioneer missionary work before me, and
not merely a reclamation of lost sheep, as is so often the case
among the White people in city parishes. So now I felt that
I had the best opportunity in the world to give my missionary
vocation a real and severe test; and I made up my mind to
go out and gel converts.
"But how can I reach them?" that was the thought that
framed the problem that had to be solved first. It must be
emphasized, from the very beginning, that it is not so easy to
reach the Negro as is commonly supposed by those who have
never been in Negro work. The average Negro harbors a
deep and often bitter prejudice against the Catholic Church,
and therefore keeps decidedly away from both Church and
priests. However, this is not to say that the animus directed
against religion is aimed entirely at the Catholic Church.
Only the other day I read a statement made by the foremost
Negro leader in the United States, Dr. W. B. Dubois, at the
i Matthew, XXVIII, 19.
METHODS OF CONVERT-MAKING 97
recent Inter-Racial Convention, at Cincinnati, Ohio. Among
other things, he said: "Of all groups devoted to social up-
life, I have the least hope in the White Christian ministers" 1
a terrible indictment of the Christian ministry in general.
Often I have heard from leading and highly educated Negroes
in Chicago, as answer to my well-meant invitations to come
to our services : "We Negroes are not wanted in the Catholic
Church." Then they prove their statement by pointing out
the condition of segregation of both races in the churches and
schools of the South : they cite numerous instances where, even
in the North, Catholic Negroes are constantly being snubbed,
by both clergy and laity, by being frankly told to "go to their
own church" though "their own church" may be far distant;
where they are directed to seats on the side of the church; or
where people refuse to join with them before the communion
rail. They refer to our schools, which invariably refuse a
Negro child or student, but are ready to admit, without much
ado, almost any other race in the world.
The Negro press, which has grown very powerful during
the last fifteen years and is rather radical in its tendencies and
make-up, helps to keep alive and deepen the prejudice against
the Church by reporting either false or exaggerated accounts
of incidents similar to those just mentioned. Ministers and
secret societies add also their share of influence in blackening
and maligning the Church. I remember very distinctly a num-
ber of instances where certain Methodists and Baptists became
converts, just because their ministers continued to "slam" the
Church, whenever and wherever they could.
However, one of the greatest obstacles in the way of Negro
conversion is the prevalent evil of divorce and subsequent mar-
riage. One has to be among the Negroes to understand this.
Time and again I have come across people who would be will-
ing to become converts, but are prevented from doing so be-
cause of some hopeless marriage entanglement or other. Just
before Easter a mother so frightened her eighteen-year-old
1 The Christian Century, April 16, 1925.
5>8 THE WHITE HARVEST
daughter, a pupil in our high school, as to dissuade her from
joining the Church, by reminding her that, as a Catholic, she
could not marry a second time, in the event that her first mar-
riage turned out to be a failure. One missionary told me last
year of a little town in Texas, which has a Negro population
of about one thousand. It had a Catholic Church of fifty
members. These members were the only people out of all
the inhabitants, who, according to the investigation of the
pastor, were not mixed up in some marriage trouble of one
sort or another.
These reasons will suffice to show that convert-making
among the Negroes is difficult and slow. And yet, in Chi-
cago we have been privileged to receive over five hundred
adults into the Church during the last five years.
" The following are some of the more successful methods
which I have used in approaching Negroes, to break down
prejudices and to bring them finally into the church. I shall
confine myself principally to a description of the measures
employed really to reach the convert. It stands to reason
that if convert-making is to be an ultimate success, initial con-
tacts with the people must be followed by a thorough course
of instructions given at regularly appointed times, preferably
every day. The methods of instruction will have to be more
or less of the same nature as those used by the catechist in
the school room. I am ready to vouch for the statement that
I wish to make at this point, that converts who are well in-
structed become the best of parishioners, and in many cases
become an example for the born Catholics. They themselves
go out and bring in new converts. They take their religion
in all seriousness and sincerity; and last, but not least, they are
generous in their offerings towards church support and the
maintenance of religious activities in general. In presenting
these measures which have been suggested, I shall group them
under the following heads : Personal Contact, The Lay Apos-
tolate, The School, Lectures and Missions, Church Services,
and Prayer.
METHODS OF CONVERT-MAKING 99
Personal Contact
In the ordinary city parish a pastor may hold himself more
or less aloof from his people and still have their affection and
esteem ; yet in the Negro work, much of its success and growth
depends upon direct personal contact with the people. In-
deed, personal contact is of most vital importance. The Ne-
gro must be made to realize that the prejudice and hatred
he may have against the Church is ill founded, and that the
Church is as eagerly concerned about his spiritual and tem-
poral welfare as it is about the affairs of his more fortunate
White neighbors. Therefore, whenever I meet Colored peo-
ple on the street, or in stores or in their homes, I seize the op-
portunity to have a little conversation with them; and often
I ask them to what Church they go on Sundays. Whatever
the answer may be, I heartily invite them to come, at least
once, to our services. Should I find out, however, that the
person has no Church affiliation whatever, then I try to im-
press upon him the necessity and advisability of practising
some religion. I especially lay stress on the fact that religion
makes one a better man and adds a measure of dignity and
nobility to one's character. I then urge him to come to our
church on the next Sunday, and declare that I shall look for
him. It may interest many, at this point, to learn that more
than once I have been told: "Father, you are the first person
who has ever invited me to the Catholic Church. I have
heard about your church, but no one has ever asked me to
come to it." Practically all I approach, promise, as a matter
of course, to come ; but only a few actually keep their promises.
But once they have entered the Catholic Church and have
overcome that indefinable fear associated in their minds with
the very word Catholic, they will return again and again,
gradually coming to recognize that our whole spirit and atti-
tude towards them is one which is pronouncedly fair and just.
We often ridicule Protestant ministers and censure those
pastors who stand at the church door and shake hands with
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their parishioners. In the Negro work this custom becomes
a very valuable asset in getting acquainted with outsiders. In
fact, the Negro would feel slighted if the priest were to pass
him up, unnoticed. A kind word and a hearty hand-shake
will bring him to the church on the following Sunday.
A mixed marriage is a given opportunity to make con-
verts. Most of our marriages, for reasons well understood,
are mixed. What an excellent occasion to speak to the non-
Catholic about our religion, especially since the non-Catholic
Negro is generally much better disposed towards the Church
than the average White non-Catholic, when it comes to a
question of a prospective mixed marriage ! We priests make
it a special point to endeavor to cause the non-Catholic party
to realize how much better and more conducive to success in
married life it would be if both were Catholic. We have
many converts who became such simply through a kind talk
and some brief instructions in our catechism, just before the
time of a proposed mixed marriage.
The Lay Apostolate
A priest's time is limited, and at best he can personally
meet but a few people. Here, then, is where the laity can
do and accomplish much, when the priest's efforts may fail
or when prudence and tact may advise him to keep away. I
have therefore frequently employed our parishioners to act
as God's agents in advertising the Church wherever they can.
Whenever I have an opportunity, either in the Church itself
or at sodality meetings or in the school-room, I remind the
parishioners of the fact that missionary activity at home and
abroad is an essential function of the true Church of Christ,
and that every loyal and zealous member of the Church is not
only bound to try but will actually spread the Faith in his own
fashion, at least by good example among the non-Catholics*
The results of these sermons and conferences have been most
encouraging. Some parishioners have become lay-apostles.
METHODS OF CONVERT-MAKING 101
They tell their neighbors about the Church, or hand them
Catholic literature to read. On Sundays and at other times
they go out of their way in order to bring non-Catholics to
our services, or to Lenten devotions, or to the instructions for
converts. According to custom, parishioners introduce their
non-Catholic friends to me, after the services, and thus the
way for a better acquaintance is opened up. We have one
man in our parish who has brought at least forty converts
into the Church through his personal efforts. Here it must
be mentioned that I impress upon converts, during instruction,
the beauty of the lay-apostolate ; and I have found that con-
verts make most zealous and most successful convert-makers.
It seems to me that the lay apostolate is too much neglected
by our priests: we too little understand its value and impor-
tance in reaching non-Catholics. Where the priest's influence
is almost nil with non-Catholics, that of a good Catholic man
or woman is often far-reaching. Many times has the thought
come to my mind, when I have passed the Salvation Army or
other groups of street preachers, that we Catholics are rather
selfish. We keep the blessings of the Faith to ourselves, in-
stead of bringing them to outsiders. The Lay Apostolate
should be made a part and parcel of every Holy Name Society
or Women's Sodality, and thus the Church would soon have
many converts to her credit.
As a special auxiliary in convert making, I have always -
considered our St. Vincent de Paul Society most valuable.
Both men and women have been induced to make visits to
the hospitals and to carry a word of good cheer (or some
material comfort) to the sick. These hospital visitants take
with them copies of Our Sunday Visitor or other pieces of
good literature, and distribute them among the Colored pa-
tients. The results of these visits have been great, according
to the testimonies of some of our chaplains. This or that
kind word or deed has become the seed of Faith for many
a dying patient. Others, when they leave the hospital, find
their way into the Church.
102 THE WHITE HARVEST
The School
A still greater and more lasting factor in missionary work
at home and abroad is the work of the school. That parish
and mission is the most advanced and reaps the most abundant
harvest of souls which has a well-established school. We
know that the present results of missionary work in Japan are
almost disheartening. For some reason or other, the early
missionaries failed to build schools and to gather the children
into the Church.
Our parish in Chicago began to take on new vigor and life
when our efforts were concentrated on the school work. At
first, only a few Catholic children came; but these, later,
brought their chums along. Today we have almost 900 chil-
dren of no mean talent and of good behavior in our school.
Half of them are non-Catholic children, to be sure ; but all of
them are required to be present for the class in religious in-
struction. Up to the present time this regulation has never
met with any objection; on the contrary, children as well as
their parents respond well and study their catechism and
Bible History with great care. The non-Catholic parents
fully realize the intrinsic value of religious instruction for
their children. In our instructions to the children we impress
upon their little minds these outstanding truths: that the
Catholic Church is for everybody, and that the children and
their elders have a strict and just claim to the privileges and
blessings of membership in the Church.
As to the attendance at the Church on Sundays, I never use
pressure to bring children to the church, unless they have
expressed a desire to become Catholics. Yet, in order that
the non-Catholic children may not remain as strangers to our
services, I conduct all the children to the services for the
Stations of the Cross, during Lent, and for special devotions
such as those during the Novena in honor of St. Joseph, the
May devotions, and the Holy Hour during the Forty Hours
Devotions. Such occasions always afford precious opportun-
METHODS OF CONVERT-MAKING 103
ities to explain to the children our liturgy as it is expressed
in these devotional practices.
Now, what are the results of our school work for convert
making? We do not admit a child to Baptism unless he has
made good in every way, and has obtained the written per-
mission of the parents and the parents' promise that they will
continue to send the children to our school in the future. Our
lower grades are stocked with Protestant children, while in
the higher grades there are more Catholic children: indeed,
the last grade consists of Catholic children who were nursed
in our Faith, from the first grade onward. These children
are loyal and faithful in their religious duties, though they
may be the only Catholics in their respective families.
On the other hand, those children who do not join our
church during the school term because their parents object,
or because they have already been taken into a Protestant
Church -retain a kindly feeling towards the Church. Later,
when they are of age, these also usually join the Church.
Others again will visit our Church regularly, even every Sun-
day, and contribute generously for Church needs. Gradu-.
ally the grace of God works its way with them also.
Through the children we reach the children's parents. As
has been already mentioned, many parents appreciate greatly
the sacrifices and efforts of the Sisters. They soon notice
the good effects of the Catholic school-training upon the moral
character and manners of their children. They cannot help
noticing the kind and intense interest which the Sisters dis-
play in the welfare of their little ones. The children speak
to them about the Catechism and prayers they have learned,
and about the wonderful things they saw when last they vis-
ited the "Catholic Church." They go home and tell their
parents that the Father has invited both father and mother
to come to church (for some special occasion) or to some
entertainment of an instructive nature. The parents and their
relatives, after a time, grow inquisitive concerning the Church.
They occasionally accompany their children to our services.
1 04 THE WHITE HARVEST
They always come to the school entertainments, for they love
to see their children perform on the stage. During the in-
tervals of intermission at such entertainments I always make it
a point to address the parents on some vital topic concerning
their children, ending with a special invitation to them to visit
our church services. I have found that this procedure causes
a wholesome relationship to spring up, as it were, between
the Church and the parents, resulting sometimes in the con-
version of whole families.
Missions and Lectures
Every worker among the Negroes soon realizes that the
average Negro loves and actually enjoys hearing a good, elo-
quent lecturer, and will likewise go far out of his way in
order to hear a good sermon. To satisfy this desire for lis-
tening to good speakers, I always manage to have an eloquent
priest for Lenten sermons and triduums. Besides, I arrange
for a Mission every year, either a two weeks' Mission for
Catholics in particular, or a Mission of one week for non-
Catholics. In addition to strengthening the Faith of our
Catholic people, especially those who were born Catholic, we
are always able to draw a number of non-Catholics, who are
attracted either by our extensive advertising, by means of the
press, letters, and posters, or by the persuasions of friends,
to see and hear the "good speaker." Beforehand, I inform
the preacher that he will have a mixed audience and that,
therefore, topics of an apologetical nature will be a necessity.
Moreover, at every funeral we priests say a few words
pertaining to the doctrines of our religion, especially calling
attention to the beautiful and consoling doctrine of Purgatory
which, as a rule, is new to non-Catholic people. It is not
rarely that all the people attending a Negro funeral in our
church are non-Catholics, with the exception of the priest,
altar boys, and the person over whose remains we hold the ob-
sequies. That person was, perhaps, baptized by the chap-
METHODS OF CONVERT-MAKING 105
lain in the hospital; and in such cases, at the request of the
chaplain, the relatives come to us to ask us to conduct the
funeral services. It is not in accordance with the rubrics of
the Church to preach at a funeral, but we feel that the Church
does not want to bind us in such extraordinary cases. This,
perhaps, may be the first time that a non-Catholic has stepped
into a Catholic Church and witnessed such a solemn and im-
pressive ceremony as every Catholic service of this kind is
and should be.
In order to supplement the good work accomplished by the
Mission and by our preaching in general, I try to engage, now
and then, a lecturer from the Holy Name Bureau, to give an
illustrated lecture on such an interesting subject as the Ober-
ammergau Passion Play, or on Rome, the Holy Land, etc.
All are cordially invited to these lectures, and are even espe-
cially requested to come, since such topics convey a great deal
of information about the Church and her glorious history.
It is a rather easy task for us to draw a full house for illus-
trated lectures, and for Mission and Lenten sermons as well.
It is generally a pleasure for preachers to speak to our Coir
ored people, since they are very attentive and eager to take in
every word the speaker says; and they maintain their atten-
tion, no matter how long the sermon may last. Such quiet
reigns that one could hear a pin drop; and this fact alone
forms quite a contrast to many services held in Negro Prot-
estant churches, especially of the Baptist denomination; where,
as soon as some people are seized with the "Holy Spirit," and
give vent to their religious feelings and workings of the
spirit, something almost like pandemonium frequently reigns.
Church Services
Another factor which, to my mind, should always play an
important role in Negro work, is a painstaking care in equip-
ping the church and in carrying out the Church's liturgy. The
beauty of our liturgy is so pronounced that it is bound to
106 THE WHITE HARVEST
make an impression upon the Negro mind, which is especially
receptive to all such things. It is necessary to have every-
thing in the church in perfect order and of extraordinary clean-
liness. The average Negro church cannot boast of these qual-
ifications. The churches are not generally well taken care of;
and we have instances in Chicago where beautiful and costly
churches have gone into a dilapidated condition, almost as
soon as Negro congregations have taken possession of them.
Whenever there are special services in the church such as
those at Christmas time, Easter, Forty Hours, Solemn Bap-
tisms, First Holy Communions, Mother's Day, and so forth,
I send out letters to the parishioners, asking them to bring
their non-Catholic friends. A large poster is placed in front
of the church, extending a cordial welcome to all to attend the
special services. The church and foremost, the high altar-
is beautifully decorated, by the priests themselves. The pa-
rishioners gladly furnish the money to buy the necessary
flowers. The services themselves are carried out with as
much solemnity and formality as is possible under given cir-
cumstances. The altar boys we have forty of them are
trained to perform their functions with military exactitude
and uniformity, and with great devotion. The choir studies
its parts well ; and on such occasions, when the church is filled,
it is generally bound to do its best. Indeed, everything, from
the decorations down to the conduct of the smallest altar boy,
is made to breathe forth the very spirit of harmony and de-
votion.
On such days nothing is spared to bring home to the minds
of the members of the congregation the beauty and significance
of our liturgy. The visitors make intuitive comparisons be-
tween our way of conducting "church" and that of those who
are in charge of Protestant houses of worship. What a dif-
ference ! "In the Catholic Church there is always dignity and
sublimity," the visitors declare. And it is so. The parish-
ioners take an active part in whatever is going on at the altar,
METHODS OF CONVERT-MAKING 107
and there is no noisy emotionalism, but rather, inspiring de-
votion only.
I have always centered my attention upon maintaining good
order and discipline in the church, and I have had the fullest
cooperation of the people.
Here, I think, is the place to mention congregational sing-
ing. This was introduced in our church by my predecessor,
and it is of the greatest assistance in making devotions and
Communion masses interesting and attractive. The Negro
loves singing, and it is always easy to teach him "a new song."
It is often affecting and most edifying to hear them sing
for instance, an old favorite like "O Lord, I am not Worthy,"
or one or another of the popular benediction hymns.
All in all, I have always paid great attention to the church
services; and the results have been wonderfully satisfying.
Though our church has a seating capacity of some thirteen
hundred, it is not hard to fill it for special services. And the
best part of it is that the visitors love to come back for the
"next time" ; indeed, they ask to be informed when the next
special service is to be held. Many regularly attend our High
Mass on Sundays ; and we are expecting that, by and by, they
will come to the instruction classes also.
Prayer
However, all our efforts in making converts would be futile"
if they were not accompanied and fructified by the grace of
God which, in turn, must be implored by constant prayer.
Studying the mission history of the Church, especially the lives
of the missionaries, such as St. Paul, St. Francis Xavier, St.
Peter Claver, and the Founder of the missionary Society of
the Divine Word (Father Arnold Janssen), one is at once
impressed with the indisputable fact that the grace of God
has always wrought miracles of conversions where, humanly
speaking, there were no prospects whatever. And the saints
io8 THE WHITE HARVEST
have always held as infallible the principle that the missionary
has no better weapon with which to fight God's battles than
continual prayer.
I remember well, how, when I was a student, our saintly
Founder, Arnold Janssen, and our Novice Master (our pres-
ent Superior General) were always on the alert to impress
upon us the necessity of prayer, in order that our future work
should prove successful. From the very beginning of my Work
in Chicago, I directed my efforts towards an increased spirit of
prayer. In sermons, and particularly in instructions to our
converts, I have asked the people to pray for the grace of
Faith. Our novenas in honor of St. Joseph, St. Ann, the
Sacred Heart, etc., have not had as their principal motive so
much the temporal blessings of our people as the conversion
of non-Catholics. Every Rosary, which we recite before our
evening devotions ; every Holy Hour on the First Friday of
the month; and our Forty Hours' Devotions all are devoted
to the one chief object: more converts. From time to time I
ask the people to offer up Holy Communion for this particu-
larly noble cause. Since we have certain non-Catholic people,
attending our services regularly and contributing towards
them generously, who, nevertheless, find it difficult definitely
to make up their minds to come for instructions and actually
to join the Church, I feel that the necessity for prayer, in and
out of season, cannot be emphasized too much; and this I do,
both in my sermons and in my letters to our people. We shall
fail if God's blessings are not with us. The shrewdest meth-
ods, the most lucid instructions and the most eloquent sermons,
will be without lasting success unless made fruitful by prayer.
It is also necessary that the people shall come to realize this :
it will make them more devout and zealous in the practice
of their religion.
These are some of the methods which I use in Chicago to
reach the heart of the Negro. It is hard to say what measure
of method is most important or most efficient; but one of my
good friends often remarks that missionary life is a life of
METHODS OF CONVERT-MAKING 109
sacrifice; and I think that it is just the attaining to this spirit
of sacrifice that is the most important of all means for carrying
on the work successfully. When, as the new pastor of the
Chicago parish, I was introduced to my ecclesiastical superior,
George Cardinal Mundelein, his Eminence admonished me:
"Father, you are about to undertake a difficult task. If you
wish to be successful, you will have to spend yourself." His
Eminence has repeatedly reminded me of these early words of
his. And as for me I have found them to be only too true.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO
CHAPTER VH
WHAT are the different types of converts? What are the peculiar psy-
chological characteristics of each type? What is the nature of the
evidence that is apt to appeal to each class? How should the method
of presentation be adapted to meet the peculiar needs of each type of
prospective convert? These are the practical questions which Rev.
Edward J. Mannix, S.T.L. of the Colorado Apostolate, answers as a
result of a careful scientific investigation of the subject.
Examining all the literature on the subject, supplementing it with
personal interviews with noted converts as to the evidence that appealed
to them, and drawing upon an extensive personal experience in dealing
with converts, Father Mannix presents a searching analysis of the men-
tal characteristics of different types of converts, and their mode of
reacting to different kinds of evidence. He shows that searchers after
religious truth cannot always be lumped together into a sort of least
common denominator, and be treated as having the same problem, pressing
upon them for solution. Whether the converts be instructed in a class
or individually, it is necessary at the beginning to have a conference
with each inquirer to secure a sympathetic insight into the difficulties
and the particular needs of the individual. This will enable the priest
to focus the proper evidence at the point where it is needed, instead of
allowing him to grope around in the dark, hoping that by some chance,
something he says will hit the precise mark. After the proper contact has
been made and the interest of the non-Catholic has been effectively
enlisted, then there opens up a large body of religious subject matter
common to all catechumens.
Not less valuable than his delineation of the distinct types of converts,
is the latter part of his article detailing the effective treatment of the
American mind. Here Father Mannix offers many practical suggestions
culled from his own experience and that of other convert makers, as to
ii2 THE WHITE HARVEST
tactful methods of handling new inquirers and of winning their con-
fidence through wise and sympathetic treatment. Illustrations are given
of misguided zeal, which retards instead of accelerating the entrance
of inquirers into the fold. Forewarned is forearmed. The careful
perusal of this illuminating study cannot fail to render the reader more
prudent and tactful in his difficult art of guiding gently and sweetly
the groping feet of those who are without, over the rocks and boulders
of uncertainty and error, into the safe and certain avenue of religious
truth.
Stationed for several years at the Cathedral in Denver, Father Mannix
had the advantage of laboring under the stimulating and inspiring leader-
ship of that great developer of convert-makers, the Rev. Hugh L.
McMenamin. More than four hundred converts are traceable to the mis-
sionary zeal and effective presentation of the Catholic cause by Father
Mannix. He is also the author of a pioneer study called "The American
Convert Movement" which constitutes a valuable "Who's Who" of
converts in America.
CHAPTER VII
TYPES OF CONVERTS
BY REV. EDWARD J. MANNIX, S.T.L.
of the Colorado Apostolate
HIS study seeks to present the chief types of con-
verts, to indicate the essential psychological char-
acteristics of each group, and to suggest the nature
of the evidence and the method of presentation that
is best adapted to each type of prospective convert. While
the lines of investigation may be, in different instances, some-
what varied and largely interwoven due to diversified activ-
ities, locality, family traditions, reading matter at hand, etc.
Catholic conversions can, we believe, generally be grouped
under one of the following headings: (a) The HISTORICAL
Convert, (b) the PHILOSOPHICAL Convert, (c) the DENOMI-
NATIONAL Convert, (d) the ESTHETIC Convert and (e) the
DYNAMIC Convert. Following the broad lines of mental ac-
tivity and the leading motives which actuated, we shall next
examine the several types in turn, cite one or more prominent
examples of each and conclude with typical names.
(a) Historical Conversions
The leading types of historical converts are furnished by the
Protestant Episcopal Church of England and America com-
monly known, at least across the water, as the Anglican
Church. For most of them it is a mere matter of the relative
historicity of their church and the Catholic, that is, whether
"3
ii 4 THE WHITE HARVEST
the Edwardine Ordinals were valid and in true apostolic
harmony with the teachings of the Fathers of the 4th and 5th
Centuries, or whether, at the consecration of Archbishop
Parker in 1559 this apostolic succession had been broken.
This touchstone involves not a little advanced study and inde-
pendent research, which fact accounts for the large number
of comparatively mature professional and churchmen from
this organization who, especially since the so-called Oxford
movement in America, have not ceased to find peace in the
Fold of Peter.
Out of countless examples on this Anglican Highway, might
be chosen, as more proper to our time, the. experiences, prob-
lems, studies and conclusions of the former Bishop of Dela-
ware. This profound student, lecturer and professor of
church history, of whom one of his early confreres and per-
sonal friends could express "confidence that he would act ac-
cording to the dictates of his conscience," * sounded the facts
of history, after his ordination and consecration, as only one
of his qualifications therefore could expect to do. Among
other discoveries, he found : "It was a great shock to me to
learn that the specification of 'the work of a Priest (or
Bishop) in the Church of God' in the ordination formula was
not inserted until 1662, and that this fact throws doubt on
the sufficiency of the formula used previously. . . ." 2 Even-
tually his mental stages underwent the following evolution re-
garding Anglican Orders : " ( i ) that they were schismatical ;
( 2 ) that they were futile to guarantee some of the purposes of
orders; (3) they were dubious, and (4) for this reason, and
because of breaks in Catholic continuity, invalid."
For him no abstract problems of metaphysics were to be
solved. Of a deeply religious mentality, he had always been
well grounded in Christian philosophy. He doubted not the
existence of God, the divinity of Christ nor the foundation of
1 Dr. Frederick Joseph Kinsman, "Salve Mater," New York, London, Bom-
bay, Calcutta, 1920, p. 173.
2 Op. cit., p. 174.
TYPES OF CONVERTS 1 1 5
a divinely appointed Church, in which the Son of God was
to abide for all time. In fact, it was just this strong attach-
ment for what he believed was the Blessed Sacrament of the
Altar, inculcated from his early years at St. Paul's which
"sealed his doom as an Anglican" when he became bishop.
He had always desired to distribute Communion to his peo-
ple. As bishop he found, among his Low Church pastors,
that this was difficult, if not impossible at times. Yet the
official canons of his church tolerated both belief and unbelief
in the Real Presence./ The inconsistency of such a condition
so abused his logical mind that he appealed to history, to
settle the question one way or the other with the result
shown. When he entered upon his historical quest he had
no thought of nor tendency toward that organization known
only to him "as a phenomenon in European travel, a bogy in
history, and an idiosyncrasy of Irish servants." But the
"hand-writing on the wall" was too evident for him to avoid
the issue, and, ten days after the completion of his historical
corrections, written in the seclusion of the Main woods, in the
twenty-fourth year of his ministry and the eleventh of his
episcopate, he was received into the Catholic Church by Cardi-
nal Gibbons. 1
According to the testimony of most Anglican converts, this
historic snarl is a knotty problem which practically all Angli-
can authorities must encounter sooner or later. The rank and
file of that community have frequently escaped its disquieting
influence due to a more or less superficial acquaintance with
history but few divines, if we may credit the experiences of
converts from that church, can deny having been, at one time
or another, involved in its meshes. Some solve it, to their
own satisfaction at least, by appealing to St. Augustine ; others
by consulting the Fathers; others upon the consecration of
Dr. Parker by applying the reflex principle melior est conditio
possidentts; while yet others, like the gifted son of the Van
Rensselaer patrons of New York State, "go over the wall."
1 November 24, 1919.
1 1 6 THE WHITE HARVEST
For example, the Constantinoplian-born son of the distin-
guished Episcopalian Bishop, Dr. Horatip Southgate, received
such a reply from Bishop Potter, upon consultation, and was
told by Anglican authorities in England, whither he had gone
to satisfy his conscience, that Providence had placed them and
him where they were, and therefore they ought to be satisfied.
But Deacon Edward Southgate was not satisfied, and the
future zealous pastor of Brookland, D.C., was baptized in
St. Mary's Seminary in the days of Archbishop Bayley.
The friend and chaplain of the firemen of New York and
Boston, mentioned above, Father Henry Van Rensselaer,
S.J., wandered through similar historical mazes. This recip-
ient of a Fireman's Medal thus records his reception from an
English canon: "As the good Canon said, my difficulties
were historical, and he did not attempt to answer them, but
referred me to Canon Bright, my former professor of ecclesi-
astical history." 1
Besides the names of most all other Anglican converts, in-
cluding another bishop, Dr. L. Silliman Ives, and the entire
community of the Friars of the Atonement, might be men-
tioned such similar historical types as: Hon. Thomas Speed
Mosby, Pardon Attorney for the state of Ohio; Henry Ma-
jor; Rev. John G. P. Ewens, C.M., Very Rev. John Spensley,
Ph.D.; the well known architect, Carlton Strong ("Thomas
L'Estrange") ; Rev. F. X. Farmer, S.J. (Wilmoth A., before
his baptism) ; Dr. Carlton J. H. Hayes, Assistant Professor
of History at Columbia.
(b) Philosophical Conversion
The path of the philosophical convert follows an entirely
different mental trend. Instead of weighing historical data
he considers doctrines ; in place of seeking an already founded
l Rev. Edward P. Spillane, S.J., "Life and Letters of Henry Van Rensselaer,
New York, 1908, p. 134.
TYPES OF CONVERTS 117
religion, he searches mainly for a system of truth. He may
well hail from downright atheism, pantheism, theosophy or
some form of Unitarianism. His religion if he have any
will be largely naturalism, founded on the broad principle
of the "Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man."
Then some crying need for a Personality to satisfy the dic-
tates of his reason will knock at the door of his soul, and he
will set out on his quest for the "Unknown God." Probably
the popular writers of the day will first attract his attention.
But he finds them unable to explain the baby's tear and the
lonely grave on the hillside, and he then looks in turn for some
form of revealed religion. But he will have nothing to do
with half-hearted measures, and so he plunges into a study
with prayer, of that venerable, serious, perhaps severe but
certainly religious Church of which Lord Macaulay could
say : "There is not, and there never was on this earth, a work
of human policy (!) so well deserving of examination as the
Roman Catholic Church." Finding there doctrines that an-
swer to the deepest questions of his soul, he argues that the
society teaching the same can validly claim to the right so to
teach. He has thus reasoned mainly from the doctrine to
the teacher ; from the truth to the external authority that
teaches it.
That shining neophyte of the I9th Century, who did more
probably than any layman of his day to place the American
political, social and philosophical mind in harmony with Cath-
olic principles, and who ever found the American temperament
particularly adaptable to the ancient Faith, Dr. Orestes Augus-
tus Brownson, offers a case in point. True it is that he did
not open his eyes upon the world an atheist. But this chanced
because he was born of Christian parents and brought up un-
der Presbyterian influences. Before the start of his conver-
sion, however, he had become practically an unbeliever in any
form of religion, having successively tried Universalism,
Owehism (Church of Humanity) and Unitarianism. At the
1 1 8 THE WHITE HARVEST
same time he had adopted one school of philosophy after an-
other, finishing with the subjectivism of Kant and the eclectic
system of Cousin.
So many and so varied had been his affiliations that, when
he took the final step, someone was heard to observe :
"Where will Brownson jump next?" Which elicited from
him the tart reply: "Yes, I have been jumping until I find
something firm to stand upon. Now that my feet rest upon
the Rock of Peter, I am solid and satisfied."
He thus testifies of himself : "I have aimed to tell my story
simply and to keep as clear as possible of all abtruse meta-
physical or theological discussions; yet, as I have in some parts
the profoundest problems of human life to deal with, and
as my own path to the Church led through the field of philos-
ophy, I have not been able wholly to avoid them, and there are
parts of the work which will have little interest for those who
read only for amusement. I have aimed to write an instruc-
tive, not an amusing book." 1
His mental experiences led him step by step from one school
of modern thought to another, until, by the light of pure
philosophy, he "reasoned" himself into the true Church. And
this he did, strange to relate, without knowing a single Cath-
olic philosopher and without having read a single Catholic
philosophical treatise. This is emphatically a proof of the
logic of the Church, since the brilliancy of his mind is recog-
nized by all. Ultimately it meant for him the entire refuta-
tion of idealism and the German subjective systems of meta-
physics as taught by Kant, Fichte and Hegel no small task in
itself, and especially difficult for him, since it was on these
erroneous systems that Dr. Brownson's views were originally
based.
It was while laboring in the interest of the working man
as a social reformer that the crisis came the need of a super-
natural religion. He says : "I had now settled it in my own
mind, that the progress of man and society is effected only by
1 "The Convert," New York, 1877, 2d. Edition, Preface, p. vii.
TYPES OF CONVERTS 119
supernatural assistance, and that this assistance is rendered by
Almighty God, in perfect accordance with nature and reason,
through Providential men." At this stage he placed Christ
on the level with other "Providential men." A careful study
of His Life, however, revealed the blasphemy, and Bishop
Fitzpatrick, of Boston, received him into the Church, October
20, 1844, after almost forty years of wandering.
For the former Head of the United States Shipping Board
at Washington, Ranking Officer of the United States Navy
during the war, Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great,
and a weekly communicant, Rear-Admiral William S. Benson,
it was the unanswerable logic of the perfection of God which
proved the crowning motive of his conversion. He says:
"Born of devout Methodist parents, I was never entirely satis-
fied. On the occasion of my marriage to an estimable Cath-
olic lady, I decided to sound the credentials of her Faith.
After having informed myself by reading on many points of
Catholic doctrine, I still stumbled on several knotty prob-
lems, especially the confession of sins. One day, good old
Father Waldron presented the philosophy of this question in
something after this fashion: 'If God has anything to do
with this organization known as the Catholic Church, He has
made it perfect. 1 For months I thought on the logic of this
position. If God, Who is infinite Perfection Himself, founded
the Catholic Church and history evidently shows that He did
then all the important and essential teachings of that
product of His handiwork must be right and just and perfect
too. It simmers down, therefore, to the dilemma of either
rejecting it all or accepting it all. But God, being good as
well as perfect, calls my conscience to reasonable service, and
I cannot reject Him. Hence, while alone at sea one day on
board the old Constitution, I came to my decision, and was
received into the Church soon after I landed at New York by
Monsignor Thomas Scott Preston. Some months later I was
confirmed by Cardinal McCloskey." 1
1 Personal interview with writer.
120 THE WHITE HARVEST
The philosophical mind of Dr. Hannis Taylor, late In-
structor in Law at the Catholic University of America, had
reasoned itself down to one major syllogism: "Jesus Christ
founded the Catholic Church ; Jesus Christ was God ; there-
fore God founded the Catholic Church." For twenty years
he labored and prayed on a proof of the minor was Jesus
Christ divine ? Every other obstacle had been cleared away.
To his legal mentality no other church needed to present its
case before him. When, a few years ago, the evidence in
favor of Christ's divinity became conclusive, he immediately
presented himself for his profession of Faith.
The history of American converts contains many other
prominent examples of this eminently intellectual process to
the Fold, such as : the New York oculist and former fervent
disciple of Felix Adler's "Society for Ethical Culture," Dr.
George J. Bull; the venerable head of the Paulists, Father
Isaac Thomas Hecker, C.S.P., who started life as a transcen-
dentalist, socialist and follower of Kant and Fourier ; the Very
Rev. George M. Searle, C.S.P., who valued his Unitarian prin-
ciples so lightly that he did not bother to "put in his letter"
at a strange city where he had come to dwell; the scholarly
author of "A Virginia Cavalier," Molly Elliott Seawell; Rev.
B. Stuart Chambers, D.D., of New York; the distinguished
former sociologist, Rev. Russell Ignatius Wilbur of St. Cro-
nan's, St. Louis; Mrs. Sophia Willard Dana Ripley, wife of
the Unitarian founder of Brook Farm; Dr. Moses Hale
Douglas, grandson of the distinguished Professor of Philos-
ophy, Mathematics and Engineering at West Point, and the
distinguished descendant of Robert Emmet, Dr. Thomas
Addis Emmett, A.M., M.D., LL.D.
(c) Denominational Converts
Under the head of the denominational, or sectarian, or
biblical convert we find the catechumen who tests the cre-
dentials of the Church on the canon of unity. If his biblical
TYPES OF CONVERTS 121
equipment does not make him familiar with St. Paul's "one
Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all," *
at least his common sense and grasp of truth, which is es-
sentially one, tell him that it must be so. He need be no pro-
found student of history to understand that Christ must have
founded and today stands sponsor, not for the 170 so-called
Christian sects living under the permission of the American
government today, but for one official society or church, wher-
ever that delegation may be. By that token, he cannot but ob-
serve the contradictory tenets as expressed from the pulpits
of the different denominations, and even from different
churches at times within the same sect, while the striking har-
mony and uniformity of principles, practices and customs as
exemplified in the Catholic Church, in no matter what corner
of the earth she may be found, commands his admiration, and
ultimately, by prayer, his Faith.
This is peculiarly the privilege of the observant traveler,
whether at home or abroad, who is thus the better qualified to
remark, even under strange conditions, foreign languages,
weird customs and unfamiliar faces, the unity of Catholic
standards of religion and morality. He begins to realize that
a Catholic is never a stranger, no matter where he may roam.
Even in the early days of the Revolutionary War, and be-
fore the sects had multiplied as they have today, this fact was
clearly illustrated in the life story of one, a Congregationalist
minister of Boston, who as a young man of twenty must have
listened to the shots at Lexington "heard 'round the world,"
who enjoys the distinction of being America's convert pro-
toapologist, 2 and whose open and formal entrance into the
ranks of the then almost unknown 3 and unpopular "Roman-
ish" body created such a sensation not only within the infant
republic but likewise throughout Europe that his autobiog-
raphy was published in America, England and France, and
lEph., IV, 5.
2 And not Prince Gallitzin, since the latter was ordained March 18, 1795,
and Thayer's "The Catholic Controversy" is dated October 5, 1793.
3 In America.
122 THE WHITE HARVEST
translated into Italian and Spanish Rev. Mr. John Thayer. 1
Traveling through Europe, in search of education, and
study of conditions which would fit him the better for sub-
sequent activities in his native land, this scion of a distin-
guished New England Puritan family in wealthy circumstances
and chaplain to Governor Hancock of Boston would naturally
want to study the Catholic Church while in Rome, just as he
might, for purely educational purposes, desire to learn Mo-
hammedism were he touring Constantinople. At least this
is the illustration he offers and this the reason he gives the sev-
eral authorities in the Holy City for interviewing -them;, But
he is suddenly struck by the wonderful uniformity of doctrine
he finds from these different authorities and at different times
during his stay.
He continues: "The care I took to consult many profes-
sors was doubly useful : I profited by their particular enlighten-
ment and I was obliged to remark that they were perfectly of
accord in faith, which, indeed, ought to be one as the truth is
one. This uniformity of sentiments which among Catholics
has reigned, down all the centuries, made upon me a lively im-
pression, since I have never seen it among ourselves. ... I
had had close contact with the heads of our sects ; I have often
consulted them; I knew their sentiments well; there were not
two who were united on the articles of Faith even the most es-
sential : moreover, there was no one who had not varied in his
own doctrine. I remember how, on one occasion, a celebrated
preacher made the following admission to me: 'When I
preached in such and such a place I was held to be heterodox.
I was effective then, though I had very erroneous doctrines.
But I have changed since then, and if I would preach there to-
day my teaching would be held pure and exact. Besides, that
is quite common with our preachers today. I do not know
anyone who has not varied in his doctrine.' " 2
IT. E. Bridgett, C.SS.R., "A New England Convert," London, 1897. "An
account of the Conversion of Rev. Mr. Thayer," Baltimore, 1788, 5th Ed.
2 Translated from Migne, "Theo. Encyclopedic," Ser. II, No. 33, C. 1280.
TYPES OF CONVERTS 123
The death and subsequent miracles through the interces-
sion of St. Joseph Labre, which took place in Rome just at
this time, forced his heart to that unity which his intellect per-
ceived, and he returned enthusiastically homeward to con-
vert America.
This story of a soul searching for light is thus concluded:
"I beg them who read this account fervently to ask the Father
of Light and the God of Mercies to accomplish His designs
in this His servant, to open an easy entrance to the Faith in
my native land, and to make it grow and fructify in a country
where it has never been professed. Perhaps (and I meditate
with pleasure this consoling thought), perhaps He Who estab-
lishes the empires and destroys them at will . . . has per-
mitted and does now direct to a glorious end the terrible
Revolution, of which we have been so recently the witness,
only to accomplish an even greater object a revolution even
more glorious in the order of Grace. Amen."
The logical mind of the late Rector Emeritus of Corpus
Christi Church, Baltimore, Right Reverend Monsignor Wil-
liam E. Starr, at an early age discovered this conspiracy
against the unity of truth. This late lamented convert
patriarch of the "Land of Sanctuaries" thus frankly describes
his mental processes: "I found my way into the Church,
after a period of utter disgust with the divisions of Protestant-
ism, for which I could see no earthly reason. I was brought
up a Presbyterian, but early learned that my elders could give
me no rational account of their position over others, who,
equally with themselves, undertook to form their religion out
of the Bible. I was so utterly disheartened, that I had
reached the conclusion, very reluctantly indeed, that if God
wanted me to know what I must know and to please Him, He
has taken great pains to make the discovery impossible." 1
As the son of a Universalist minister, the Registrar at the
Catholic University, Mr. Charles F. Borden, was able to
sound the claims of all the Protestant denominations by read-
1 "Some Roads to Rome in America," p. 436.
1 24 THE WHITE HARVEST
ing the extensive array of books in the family library. He
thus expresses the final result: "Born of a deeply religious
mother and father, I soon learned to see, from my father's
library window, the Protestant vista of religion spread out
over the land. Early in my investigation I came to appreciate
that, of all the sects, the Anglican had the least reason for
existence, being a mere chameleon-like copy of the Catholic
Church. Some years later in the South, the Grace of God
came to me on the vesper tones of what I learned on inquiry
to be the Angelus. I began a systematic study of the Biblical
claims of the Catholic Church, under Father Lewis O'Hern,
and from then on I have no further explanation to make in
terms of human reasons."
A profound knowledge of Greek enabled the former Arch-
deacon of the Anglican community and present associate editor
of "The Missionary," Mr. Floyd Keeler, to understand that
the Holy Scriptures do not deny, even in Jude i : 4, the possi-
bility of future definitions by councils, providing that these
councils be ecumenical, and that, on the contrary, a living au-
thority to meet the problems of the day was not only scriptural
but necessary. Such authority he saw resided in the Catholic
Church and there alone.
Other prominent examples of the denominational type of
converts may be found in the life history of the former
Counsellor-at-law of the United States, Charles Fisk Beach,
Jr. ; the Oregon lawyer, Peter H. Burnett ; Rev. Raymond
Lawrence; Major Henry F. Brownson; the brother of Dr.
William James of Harvard, Robert James ; Lieutenant James
S. Wood, grandson of Rev. John Witherspoon, signer of the
Declaration of Independence; Rev. Edward S. S. Swift, S.J.
of Woodstock College; Miss A. M. Sholl; Theodore Earle
Jennings; Professor Charles W. Myers; Hon. William H.-
Sloan, former General Superintendent of Baptist Missionary
Work in Mexico, and whose Concordance to the Bible is still
used as a text book in many Protestant seminaries; and Mr.
John Uhler Lemmon, prominent business man of Baltimore,
TYPES OF CONVERTS 125
who, as a boy of eight, sang a solo during the farewell service
of Rev. Mr., afterwards Bishop Curtis, in Old Mt. Calvary
Church, that city, at which time the future prelate of Wilming-
ton mounted the pulpit and expressed regrets to his people
that he had in times past preached to them doctrines which,
since then, he has found to be in part erroneous.
(d) Esthetic Conversions
That God, Who is Eternal Beauty as well as Everlasting
Truth, should be reflected in the beauties of nature, art and
religion is to be expected. It is realized in the soul of the
esthetic. Such a gifted one is in tune with the beautiful.
Thereby it reaches the true. Not that the esthetic is always
true, but that the true is always beautiful. From the bril-
liant, the cultured and the noble in the Catholic liturgy, in
architecture, in painting, in literature and in music, the esthetic
mind longs to reach the truths reflected therein. Such dis-
ciples of Keats would read and enjoy:
A haze on the far horizon.
The infinite, tender sky,
The ripe, rich tint of the cornfields,
And the wild geese sailing high;
And all over upland and lowland
The charm of the golden-rod
Some of us call it Autumn
And others call it God.
William Herbert Carruth
Such a taste for the beautiful is satisfied in the culture and
nobility which surrounds and sets, as in a jewel, the devotions
and rites of the Church. The ecclesiastical architecture, es-
pecially the prayerful Gothic, persistently lifts the eyes to the
overhanging vault, where the nerves of the fluted columns
converge. The cross, the lance, the nails have been carved
126 THE WHITE HARVEST
into the architecture of the world. And, lest the light of
heaven should shine without bringing with it the story of man's
redemption, the windows have been filled with staine4 glass
figures of things divine. The riot of color on marble and can-
vas fills the interior with whisperings angelic. The sooth-
ing tones of the organ at mass, vespers or benediction awakes
distant longings for something better. The flickering tapers
around the altar complete a picture "no artist can paint."
For others, the poetic verse in which the lives of the saints
and the doctrines and glories of the Church are sung in every
language would at first entertain and then instruct.
With such a blaze of esthetic loveliness appealing to every
external sense, and flooding the soul, the observer is naturally
led to believe that God's saving truth must dwell in that form
of worship wherein the noblest religious sentiments find such
admirable expression. After a brief examination of dog-
matic reasons, this is found to be the case and a holy Faith
unites the beautiful and the true in one happy soul.
Among others, the gifted author of "South Sea Idyls" and
"The Lepers of Molokai," California newspaper man and
subsequently Professor of English Literature at the University
of Notre Dame and the Catholic University of Washington,
Charles Warren Stoddard, is an example of this type of con-
version.
His previous taste for the beautiful is shown in the silent
tribute he, as a boy, paid to the little old Gothic church just
across the street from his father's home : "Many a time did
I listen to the music that was wafted from that beautiful
church over the way. It was music unlike any I have ever
heard music that soothed and comforted me, yet at the same
time filled me with an indefinable yearning. . . . Once, and
once only, did I enter this chapel my little heaven on earth.
I went thither with our maid. I had begged her to take me ;
and, without leave, we went together. We were early: the
lights burned dimly in the gathering twilight. I saw, for the
first time in my life, a picturesque interior : tapering columns,
TYPES OF CONVERTS 127
pointed arches, rose-windows, pictures, statues and frescoes.
I saw an altar that inspired me with curious awe. . . ." *
Later, as a young man, he erected a wonderful "dream al-
tar" in the closet back of his room, which he adorned with all
the splendor of his rich imagination and before, which he
could pray to God in highly colored silence. 2
This was before he came in contact with the real altar of
God. How that memorable event transpired is thus stated:
"the love of music was with me a passion. . . . There was
to be on some high festival in the church ... a very famous
composition, produced with an efficient chorus and full orches-
tral accompaniment ; and my music master urged me to be pres-
ent on that occasion, promising me a seat by his side near the
organ. . . . From my position by the organist, above the
heads of the singers and instrumentalists I looked into the
mystic nave, and saw the high altar with its constellations of
twinkling stars, and the soft glow of the lesser lights upon the
altars in the transepts. I saw the glorious paintings, the ex-
quisite statues, and the admirable architectural surroundings.
... At last I beheld a congregation that shared a single senti-
ment ; the whole body seemed swayed by one emotion, yet each
member of that vast body was individually absorbed in a
private devotion. ... It was a mighty mystery that struck
me dumb." 3
A little ragged catechism, which he mysteriously found one
day shortly afterward and which had been placed on the man-
tlepiece of his own family dining room by some strange hand,
unknown at the time and ever since, explained the truths re-
flected in these eloquent rites, and the erudite author of
"The Path That Led a Protestant Lawyer into the Catholic
Church" assisted as his godfather a few months later. Both
his esthetic and his spiritual tastes had been satisfied by God
the All beautiful and the Eternal Truth.
1 "A Troubled Heart," Notre Dame, Indiana, 1885, p. 14-15.
2 Op. cit., Chapter XI.
s Op. cit., pp. 80-82.
128 THE WHITE HARVEST
To how many literary minds has not Dante been an inspira-
tion, and a theologian. They are in search of poetry and they
find poetry and theology, rhyme and faith, beauty and God.
The distinguished author of "The Song Lore of Ireland"
found the Church in "Purgatorio." He says : "Dante gave
me Christian doctrine endowed with reasonableness and poeti-
cal beauty. The doctrine of purgatory, as set forth in the
pages of the Florentine, so moved me that I wanted to be-
lieve ... I longed for a faith that would satisfy my reason,
appeal to my imagination, and give food to my emotional na-
ture. This the Catholicism of Dante did." 1
The sister of F. Marion Crawford also took the Italian
poet for her catechism : "I think prolonged study of Dante's
'Divine Comedy' was laying in my mind the foundations of
Catholic synthesis, although I did not know it till afterward.
Three years of Dante lessons with a learned Abbate Pagliari
were very enlightening. I realized how vastly inclusive
Catholic belief could be; how logical; while it transcended
all logic, how it ministered to all humanity with its divinity." 2
The late Emily Wilder, of Boston, while translating the
"Divine Comedy" for Dr. Parsons, found therein not only
her dogmatic and moral, but likewise her ascetic, theology.
She became a convert and a nun.
For a prominent doctor of New York the drama of Cal-
vary, as produced under the title of "Veronica's Veil," sounded
the deepest springs of his emotional and spiritual nature ; "I
sat dumbly as the curtain went down, while my companions in
all sincerity spoke of the wonderful beauties they saw. What
a lesson to me ! The Catholics, for years knowing the gentle
Savior of mankind, shrank not, but drank in the spiritual love-
liness of the drama." 3
The suddenness and penetration with which the beauty of
the divine services entered the cultured soul of the president
1 Redfern Mason, in "Beyond the Road to Rome," p. 277.
2 Margaret Terry Chanler, in "Some Roads to Rome in America," p. 83.
3 Dr. John Ashburton Cutter, M.D., "Why I am a Catholic," in the Mission-
ary, January, 1919.
TYPES OF CONVERTS 129
of the alumnae of Nazareth Academy, Kentucky, bordered on
the miraculous. Placed as a child within the safe walls of
the above-mentioned institution, she thus describes her experi-
ences : "We were obliged with the other scholars to attend
the services of the church. I was naturally of an inquiring
mind, always curious to know why the wheels went round.
The lights and flowers appealed to me, and I was very much
interested in the mass. But when at Benediction I saw ex-
posed the Blessed Sacrament, and heard for the first time the
"O Salutaris Hostia," and the "Tantum Ergo" it seemed to
me that my soul went direct to God, and I felt I was in the
Real Presence. I went at once to the priest and asked him
to explain, and, upon receiving his instruction, I said: 'I
ought to be a Catholic, for I feel that it is the true faith.'
I am sure it was then and there I was converted." * Her
parents refused her request, however, at the time, and her
husband the same, some years later. It was only after she
became a widow that she made the formal profession of that
Faith which she had received at the altar of her young woman-
hood.
Exemplifying this character of conversion, might be men-
tioned, among many others, such eminent souls as: the late
lamented Rt. Rev. Hiram Francis Fairbanks, P.A., of Mil-
waukee, who "with great pleasure read and re-read the Book
of Revelation"; the scholarly lecturer on Christian art, Eliza
Allen Starr; the financier, Thomas Payne Thompson of New
Orleans ; the celebrated travel-lecturer, John L. Stoddard, and
his wife, now permanently located in the Tyrol; the distin-
guished school teacher, Col. Richard Malcolm Johnston; the
descendant of Sir Thomas More, Mrs. Anne Buchanan; the
erudite botanist of Washington, Dr. Edward Lee Greene; the
former professor of music at Emmitsburg, Dr. Henry John
Casper Dielman, Mus.D.; the poet-sister, Sister M. Pauline
Finn, more generally known under the nom de plume of "M.
1 Countess Spottiswood Mackin, "A Convert of Many Years," in The Mis-
sionary, February, 1919.
130 THE WHITE HARVEST
S. Pine"; and the poet-priest, Father John Banister Tabb,
whose "Life and Works" have been prepared by Francis A.
Litz of Johns Hopkins, whose esthetic soul naturally gravi-
tated toward the Catholic elements in the Anglican Church
even toward the more "catholic" ministers within that denom-
ination (Rev. Mr. Alfred A. Curtis) and who could more or
less honestly say on his deathbed : "I was always a Catholic."
(e) Dynamic Conversions
Finally, in the throng of those whom Christ has called into
His Fold is discovered a type of convert essentially practical.
Due to the American practical turn of mind, we venture to
affirm that this class is more frequently mentioned among us
than in other parts of the world. He is recognized in his
autobiography by the importance he attaches to results. His
early biblical lore may have been meager, but he still retains
something regarding Christ's "By their fruits you shall know
them." His attention is at first attracted and his mind power-
fully impressed by the dynamic power for good he finds in the
church. He is struck by the force she exerts in the field of
philanthropy, in that of education, the halls of learning she
supports without state aid through the length and breadth of
the land, the asylums, orphanages, homes for the aged and in-
firm, the thousands of generous, self-sacrificing souls who have
consecrated their lives to the relief of distress, the respect the
Church has always commanded in the minds of patriotic citi-
zens, the power for good exerted through the confessional and
other moral agencies, the pure application of Catholic prin-
ciples to practical life exhibited in such today world-known
organizations as the Knights of Columbus. The perennial
youth and vigor of the Church despite the vicissitudes of the
past, both from within and without which would long since
have utterly destroyed any merely man-made organization,
contains for him a meaning all its own. For such a mind he
hardly seeks any further proof of the Divinity which shapes
TYPES OF CONVERTS 131
her ends. He argues that any society capable of such tremen-
dous force for good, on the pages of the past as well as in
the statistics of the present, must be of God.
He views the situation from something of the same angle
which made the fallen Napoleon to admit "Christ Jesus suc-
ceeded in accomplishing what no man has ever done before or
since- the union of so many souls with His Own, the power
to make men love Him, not only for a time and for His day
only, but for all ages and in all lands and that He was there-
fore no mere man He was God."
In this category of dynamic converts will be found the so-
cial service worker and the philanthropist, the man of affairs
and the military man, the soldier and not infrequently- the
future nun.
As representative of this class of converts can justly be
selected that worthy successor of Father Joseph Damien the
"Friend of Lepers," who has already spent in Stevenson's
"hell hole of the Pacific" twice as many years of self-imposed
exile as the Belgian missionary. For this erstwhile officer in
the Quartermaster's Department of the regular army it was
the force of the penitential system of the Church which moved
him to renounce not only the orders in the Episcopal church
but the companionship even of his own nation, and to bury
himself, as Father Damien had done before him, in the hor-
rors of Molokai.
"You see, I was preparing for 'Holy Orders' as an Epis-
copalian in Tennessee," he explained in a private letter.
"Well, I got 'so far' and said, 'Whoa! Historical bothera-
tions.' I then took one year for the study of the validity of
Catholic claims, with prayer. The penitential system of the
earthly church, among the many convincing and especially ed-
ifying things I learned to know, exercised a potent fascination
upon me, as being so well suited to my needs. A new spirit
had come over me since saying 'Whoa I' The beauty of the
system has ever seemed the same, its suitability to my case al-
ways clear and complete. Hence I went to Gethsemani, in
132 THE WHITE HARVEST
Kentucky, and spent twenty months with the Trappists, in
order to test myself and study. Then Molokai ! It has been
my happy penitentiary. I have never been off the grounds
of the Leper Settlement since my arrival in July, 1886, and
since April 15, 1893 going on eighteen years, I have not
been away from this home yard, always my almost jolly pen-
itentiary!" 1
The wife of the sometime Secretary of State and Vice-
Governor of Porto Rico, Mrs. Justine Bayard Ward, of New
iYork, discovered her reasons in the motive power of mental
activity contained within the Fold: "Before becoming a
Catholic, the exterior unity of the Church is what strikes the
convert. . . . The whole interior life is ordered and at peace ;
not with the peace of inactivity and passive acceptance, as is
often supposed by those who judge from the shell, but the
peace of ordered activity of mind and heart that springs from
a common source and motive power; that allows no deep dis-
quiet to take root in the soul; permitting storms to ruffle the
surface but never to penetrate to the interior of the soul." 2
For the talented essayist of Philadelphia, it was the vital
force of the living Church; "Then somehow I cannot say
whether it was through constantly passing a hospital of the
Sisters of Charity or through dipping into the memoirs of
Mme. Navarro, or through accidentally hearing a description
of the office of Tenebrae I woke up to the fact that this
Church idea was still a force in the world." 3
It will be noticed in the testimony, here reproduced from
the President of the Convert's League of the District of
Columbia, that the power of Catholic personality is not, to
his mind, the mere occasion of his interest in the Faith, but
the moving factor and sufficient reason: "But in my case
it has been chiefly the study of mankind at close range that
has convinced me of the divine claim of the Catholic Church,
1 Brother Joseph Button, in The Missionary, December, 1910.
2 In "Beyond the Road to Rome," p. 406.
8 Katherine C. Bregy in "Beyond the Road to Rome," p. 59.
TYPES OF CONVERTS 133
and especially I desire to bear witness to the influence and
beauty of character of the splendid Catholic women I have
known. Since I entered the church I have been brought into
companionship with some beautiful souls, both in the world
and in the cloister. I saw what Mother Church did for those
around me, building day by day characters that had in them
an aroma of saintliness, and I was convinced that the faith
which could produce such loveliness of daily living must be
the true one." *
The Faith of Harriet Brewer Churchill was grounded by
the practical workings of the Church, even in commercial and
money-mad New York City: "After I had been at home
about a year circumstances took me to New York where I for
the first time came in contact with the workings of the Cath-
olic Church. I saw the doctrines of the Church applied alike
to rich and poor, gentle and simple, learned and unlearned. I
witnessed the atmosphere of devotion, the unanimity of wor-
ship, the daily succession of Masses, the coming and going of
one congregation after another, the devout genuflections, and
all this in the most commercial and latter day city in the
world. ... I often think I should like to add to Lord Ma-
caulay's famous passage and to say that when the New Zea-
lander himself shall have passed away and his land be but a
desert; when the inevitable catastrophe shall have occurred
and this old earth drifts a derelict in space, then and not till
then will the Church militant have failed to exist." 2
The splendid example of disinterested service reflected in
the lives of the consecrated virgins of Christ, and the Angels
of Mercy upon the battle fields, in asylums for destitute chil-
dren and for the aged poor, in nerve-racking school rooms,
disease-infected hospitals and in attention upon the wounded,
has been, in itself, quite enough to command the respect and
later the faith of countless sufferers, doctors, soldiers and cas-
ual observers. A typical instance came under the observation
1 Joseph E. Colton, in "Beyond the Road to Rome," pp. 95-96.
2 In "Some Roads to Rome in America," p. 88 and 86.
i 34 THE WHITE HARVEST
of the writer some few years ago in the person of a young
Jew, fighting for his life against the Great White Plague.
When he appeared for instructions he had already made up
his mind what he intended to do arid already believed. When
asked to explain, he replied:
"Having sought asylum in one institution after another I
was considerably weakened in body and spirits, when, one day,
I made bold to knock upon the door of your Mercy Hospital
in this city. I needed mercy in my plight, if anyone ever did,
and the name cast a ray of hope athwart the gloom. Coming
as a Jew and a total stranger, I fully expected to receive the
oft-heard words of 'no room.' Instead, I was welcomely ad-
mitted, though the hospital was heavily in debt as I learned
later and nursed back to health by those patient angel hands
during weeks and weeks of constant attention. No questions
were asked, and no mention of expenses, when I explained my
condition. During those long hours of waiting I decided that
God must be there. That's why I am here today." 1
The path to Faith of the nephew of Commodore Perry of
Lake Erie fame, Matthew Galbraith Butler, led along the
footsteps of those tireless followers of The Master the
Little Sisters of the Poor.
To the Church Militant by way of the moral force of
Catholic principles in camp and on the field were led such
distinguished soldiers as the grandson of Paul Revere, Brevet-
General Joseph Warren Revere, U. S. A., as well as the com-
mander of the famous 9ist Division during the World War,
decorated with the United States Distinguished Service Medal
and Cross, with that of the French Legion of Honor and by
the King of the Belgians, Colonel William Hartshorne John-
ston, U. S. A.
Among others, as indicative of this dynamic type of Cath-
olic converts, could be cited : the unique relative of six of the
presidents of the United States, Miss Margaret Hite, in reli-
gion Sister Mary Theonella Hite; the intimate associate of
1 Meyer Francis Ruffner, Denver, Colorado,
TYPES OF CONVERTS 135
probably more renowned American statesmen than any man
in our history and the namer of the states of Wisconsin and .
Iowa, General George Wallace Jones ; x C. Decker, who says :
"I doubt if any amount of reading from Catholic sources
would have resulted in my entering the Church. What, it
seems to me, was a vital necessity was an actual and somewhat
prolonged contact with facts by freely meeting with and mix-
ing with priests and religious" ; Sister Mercedes Gallagher, of
the Sisterhood of Mercy, better known as the author of nu-
merous plays under the title of "Mercedes" and the author
of stories of conversions under the nom de plume of "Rev.
Richard W. Alexander," and the late Rt. Rev. William H.
Ketcham, scholarly head of the Indian and Negro Bureau at
Washington, at the time of his death.
Treatment of the American Mind
Our Holy Father, Leo XIII, has emphasized the need of
instruction and guidance for prospective converts. Citing the
help given to St. Paul by Ananias, he recalls how God in the
present dispensation intends that men should be saved by
men, and led to loftier heights under the direction of the
proper spiritual guides. 2
In this event, the extreme importance of efficient instruc-
tion must be recognized. This in turn supposes a working
knowledge of the non-Catholic mind in general, and the more
common characteristics of the American mind in particular.
In the first place, sharp, bitter controversy or an inde-
pendent, condescending, holier-than-thou, take-it-or-leave-it at-
titude toward the inquirer never made a convert. It never
will. "One can not build on the ruins of Charity." More-
over, the average non-Catholic is thoroughly honest with him-
self, and even they who are affiliated with non-Catholic forms
1 Scannell O'Neill, in advance sheets furnished the writer. Cf. also St. Louis
Catholic Historical Magazine for November, 1920, by the same author.
2 Dr. Richard H. Clarke, "Our Converts," in American Catholic Quarterly
Review, Vol. 19, pp. 114-116.
i 3 6 THE WHITE HARVEST
of religion in the present generation are not, as a rule, formal
heretics. On the other hand, an open, kind, sympathetic,
democratic, "understanding" approach, opens the door of
common fellowship into the sanctuary of confidence. It might
well be remembered that the average non-Catholic does not
look upon the priest as a superior being ; sometimes quite the
contrary, but not often. As a rule, he is willing to meet him
at face value. He expects to be treated accordingly. He
does not relish having his opinions no matter how bizarre
they may appear to the theological mind received in the Cer-
vantian style or tone.
Since first impressions are most lasting, and since the open-
ing interview so frequently decides the entire future, a proper
understanding of the inquirer at this critical moment is para-
mount. Wise is the instructor who allows the visitor to do
most of the talking during the introductory sentences voicing
his views, asking his own questions, indicating his prejudices,
if he have any, and even explaining his business and family
connections. All the while there is afforded an excellent op-
portunity to study the character with which one is to deal later.
If the stranger does not evidence a disposition to "tell some-
thing about himself," and the priest must then plough the
field alone, any suddenly fading attention as is liable to be
the case during the opening instruction may be as abruptly
brought back to life by a deft shifting of the conversation to
some such common ground as business, popular thought,
health of folks at home, etc., in which the priest would prove
himself to be in touch with the affairs of common fellowship.
Immediately to plunge into an abstract treatise of the
grounds of faith, will often prove fatal to the newly born but
faint-hearted interest in religion. On the other hand, to be-
gin with something practical, and to take all the time the in-
quirer wishes to clear away some personal, and sometimes ap-
parently irrelevant, doubt will accomplish more ultimate prog-
ress than an encyclopedia of theories. What the stranger
desires, and expects, is a helpful realization of his problems
TYPES OF CONVERTS 137
and aspirations. Confidence thus assured, the regular sys-
tematic treatment may be undertaken. A practical introduc-
tion to a series of lectures on Catholic Faith, such as a liturgi-
cal, architectural and musical tour of inspection of the parish
church, its confessionals, its sanctuary and its sacred vestments
and vessels, has often proven eminently successful.
Many a wanderer is searching for the answer to only one
special question of the soul. With that settled, everything
else follows as the day the night. Fortunate is the instructor
of converts who can discover this difficulty early.
Since, as Brownson says, Americans are a reasoning, though
not a learned, people, the common ground upon which to be-
gin with them is that which appeals to their reason mostly
the natural virtues. These must be thoroughly super-
naturalized, and their importance and superiority subsequently
emphasized. But, in the beginning, they form for the Amer-
ican mind the background upon which to draw the master-
pieces of divine Faith.
Instead, therefore, of vigorously attacking the faults and
errors in the prospective convert's repertoire, and reducing
them, with one fell swoop, ad absurdum, more effectively will
one draw out the redeeming features of his present faith or
moral standards, and then proceed to show that they are all
found, even to a more highly developed degree, in the theology
and morality of the Church. This is found to be an exceed-
ingly effective manner of approach, since it does not paint the
inquirer as an undesirable in the eyes of the Church, and, at
the same time, affords an opportunity to enlarge and dilate
on those principles which appeal most strongly to him. Later,
the objectionable features in his creed and his errors will auto-
matically fall away, like the dry leaves on the budding branches
of springtime.
Some few instances are on record where conversions to the
Church have been unwittingly thwarted, or at least delayed,
through the failure of the instructor to grasp and. enter into
the dispositions and crotchets of the Stranger. |We cite them
i 3 8 THE WHITE HARVEST
as interesting exceptions to the generally high standard of
convert instructors.
While still rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Balti-
more, Father Francis A. Baker, the future Paulist, was one
day summoned into his parlor to meet a stranger, who would
not give his name to the maid. With hardly a word of in-
troduction, the visitor thus opened fire: "I have heard of
you, Mr. Baker, and I understand that you have strong in-
clinations toward the Catholic Church. But you still remain
in doubt. Now I can prove to you in a few words that she is
the only true church. Now listen to me attentively for a mo-
ment. See here ! The Church is necessarily one, for Christ
her Founder is one, etc., etc." He rapidly covered one mark
after another in the traditional manner, and appeared satisfied
when Mr. Baker shook hands and said: "Thank you," and
"goodby." x The visitor was a good man and an exemplary
priest, but he had taken no pains to acquaint himself with Mr.
Baker's particular difficulties, had failed by his abruptness to
awaken sympathy or confidence, and so lost his time on a
cold, intellectual demonstration of a general character.
We read of another delayed conversion- due to the failure
on the part of the priest to touch the sympathetic chord in
the heart of a grief-stricken financier of Washington, who had
turned to him for consolation:
"Hot in revolt, one summer evening in London, I called
upon a Catholic priest, and told him of my desire to enter the
church, where I felt I could at least pray for the repose of
the soul of the loved one who had passed away. We knelt in
prayer, and his utterances seemed to me to be only of Holy
Church and the Blessed Virgin. Looking back upon that time
I think that priest was ill qualified to win converts to Catholi-
cism. Had he taken the trouble to inquire as to the place and
manner of my bringing up, he would have discovered that my
whole religious training was violently opposed to that line of
thought. ... In later years I comprehended how terribly I
iWalworth, "The Oxford Movement in America," New York, 1895, p. 99.
TYPES OF CONVERTS 139
had misunderstood him, and I learned the priceless value of the
ministrations that my mind then refused to acknowledge. . . .
I rose from my knees hot and despairing, and I never went
back to him. All unconsciously he had discouraged me as
absolutely as if he had taken me by the shoulders, and put me
out of the building. If he had dealt gently with my prejudices
and had been only half as tactful as all the other priests I have
met since have been, I would have joined the Church then.
As it was he pushed me away from the Church just thirty
years." x
It follows, therefore, in conclusion, that the most effective
treatment of the prospective convert to the Church in this
country consists, first of all, in meeting him on a democratic
footing and in the spirit of friendly service, then to offer a
sympathetic willingness to listen to his difficulties, to win his
confidence, to credit him with honest intentions, to share his
enthusiasm for natural and civic virtues all the while re-
calling to his mind that these same are incorporated and super-
naturalized in the Catholic Church and finally to complete
his preparations, for the full and supernatural gift of Faith
by the traditional systematic exposition of the grounds* of
Catholic belief, always accompanied of course by prayer for
light.
Denominations Represented
With regard to the forms of belief which the American
converts exchange for the saving Catholic Faith, we affirm
without fear of contradiction that they are chiefly Christian.
By far the greater number have been born of Protestant par-
ents and have been in some manner affiliated with Protestant
denominations. It is significant that, comparatively speaking,
few hail from circles in which pantheism, atheism, rationalism
and other kindred forms hold sway. The Grace of God
abounds more and works more efficaciously in the hearts of
1 J. Selwin Tait, in "Beyond the Road to Rome," p. 398.
i 4 o THE WHITE HARVEST
those who, while not enjoying the full measure of God's sav-
ing truth, still cherish the teachings of the Gospel as they un-
derstand them and have a sincere devotion to Christ. The
figures from a certain city parish, covering a year's period,
may be given as typical : Conditional baptisms, 54 ; uncondi-
tional adult baptisms, 35 ; percentage, 60 per cent. 1
Again, relatively fewer come from Unitarian forms of in-
differenitism and liberalism. Rather are they to be found
among those sects in which antagonism to the Church, though
often bitter, is supplemented with a positive adherence to the
supernatural, joined to faith in the inspiration of Scripture, the
divinity of Christ, the virgin birth and the resurrection. Such
are Episcopalianism, in which so much of Catholic piety and
ritual has been retained ; Presbyterianism, with its insistence
on the principle, if not the correct form, of ecclesiastical au-
thority ; Methodism, with its devotion to Jesus ; Lutheranism,
with its higher conception of the Holy Eucharist ; Puritan
Congregationalism, with its antipathy to Erastianism. Many
communicants of these denominations, upright sincere lovers
of truth, have been rewarded in their mature years with the
gift of Faith. Indeed, most of them may never have been
formal heretics at all, since St. Thomas defines heresy as that
error only which is maintained pertinaciously and manifestly
against the Faith. According to theologians, then, this in-
cludes all, whether Protestants or pagans, who are in good
faith, who are honestly striving to know the truth and who
live up to the light vouchsafed to them. They belong to the
soul of the Church.
The interesting question presents itself as to the number
of converts furnished by the above mentioned communities,
proportionately speaking. This is extremely difficult of solu-
tion, due to the parish records which make no mention beyond
the conditionally of the baptism. Previous religious affilia-
tion is not considered of documentary importance. The es-
1 Cathedral of Denver, Aug. i, 1919, to Aug. i, 1920.
TYPES OF CONVERTS 141
timates, therefore, which have been made from time to time
are little more than guesswork. However, a study of condi-
tions proper to this country seem to warrant the conclusion
that, while converted clergymen have been mostly of Episcopal
(High Church) antecedents', the Episcopal yields to the Lu-
theran denomination in the sum total of converts. After
them, the descending order might be thus rated: Methodists,
Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Campbellites, and Baptists.
The "renouveau" Catholic convert movement, typical of
France and Italy, is but slightly represented in America. 1
The name applies to that class of nominal Catholics who,
though baptized in the Church, have fallen away during youth
from all religious observances and have lived for years in un-
belief, until the Faith revives in them, converting them into
fervent, exemplary members of the Church. One interesting
example, however, of the type is furnished in this country
by that versatile man of letters, one-time head of the Pub-
licity Department of the National Catholic Welfare Council
in Washington and at present enthusiastic promoter of the Cal-
vert Associates, Incorporated, New York City. Though bap-
tized as an infant in the Faith, he never practiced it in early
manhood. He passed successively through pantheism, oc-
cultism, new thought and mysticism until, at the suggestion
of a California bishop, he discovered genuine mysticism in one
of the great exemplars of the Catholic Church the Carmel-
ite Sisters of San Francisco, vivified by the life of the Little
Flower. 2 Another occurs in the life of the philosopher and
Lowell lecturer, Dr. W. Lutoslawski.
We are now prepared to deduce the characteristics of the
typical American convert. He embodies the following fea-
tures: (a) Native born; (b) of Christian parentage; (c)
baptized in some Protestant denomination when young; (d)
affiliated, at least nominally, with same; and (e) becomes a
convert in mature years.
1 Th. Mainage, "Les Temoins du Renouveau Catholique," Paris, 1917.
2 Michael Williams, "The High Romance," New York, 1918.
1 42 THE WHITE HARVEST
Future of the Convert Movement in America
While this study is founded on the past and the present, it
looks to the future. That its future will be even more
glorious than the past, thereby illustrating, in still more strik-
ing manner, the supernatural vitality of the Catholic Church,
seems highly probable. The motives that have led so many
noble high minded truthseekers to find peace of soul within
the Fold of Christ are not affected by time or place. They
will be no less efficacious in the future than they have been
in the past. Their scope of influence should widen as the
prejudices born of ignorance and misrepresentations decrease.
This hope seems near of realization. There never was a
time in the history of our beloved country when the Catholic
Church commanded so much of respect in the minds of the
American people as it does at this hour. In the riot of con-
flicting religious fads, in the turmoil of social unrest and in
the entanglements of reconstruction, sober-minded citizens
are looking to the Church for a solution of the problem of
the hour. The unselfish part taken by all ranks of Catholics
during the World War has settled beyond further cavil any
question of the patriotism of the Church in America.
Strong in the consciousness of her divine mission, the Faith
of Christ, ever ancient and ever new, will continue, with the
undiminished vitality of her Founder, to win back the sheep
that have strayed from the fold, until, in God's good time, the
prophecy shall be fulfilled: "There shall be one Fold and
one Shepherd."
INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO
CHAPTER VIH
THE field of Father Duffy's priestly labors has been chiefly in the "West.
For several years he was stationed at the Cathedral in Denver. Later
he devoted his ministrations to the scattered whites, Mexicans and Ute
Indians, building a mission church for them in the heart of the Rockies.
The scattered condition of the Catholic population in the Mountain
region at that time rendered it necessary for him to establish many
stations and missions, so that the settlers might hear Mass and receive
the sacraments. With his own hands he erected a number of little chapels
for the Mexicans, coming to be known among them in consequence as
"El Padre Americano de las Iglesias," the Padre of the Churches.
At the time of his appointment to the pastorate at Sheridan, Wyoming,
twenty-one years ago, there was but one other priest to minister to
the scattered Catholics in the entire northern half of the State, a vast
area of approximately 50,000 square miles. The territory was sparsely
settled, averaging but one inhabitant to the square mile. The care of
sculs demanded almost continuous travelling in those days by horse and
the old Concord stage. Thrown thus among all classes of pioneer
settlers, Father Duffy planted the mustard seed that was to bring forth
an abundant harvest in the form of over 640 converts in the 3 1 years of
his priestly ministry.
In the ranks of Father Duffy's converts are to be found representatives
of almost every social class and economic strata of society native
white settlers, Indians, Mexicans, farmers, miners, merchants, and a
Methodist minister.
The idea that has prevailed in many quarters for a long time that
converts are rarely to be recruited in rural districts, or in sparsely settled
territory receives no support from the experience of this zealous fisher
of men. The amount of time and energy which Father Duffy has de-
voted to this apostolic work becomes especially impressive when one rea-
143
144 THE WHITE HARVEST
lizes that practically all of this vast number of converts were instructed
singly. His performance opens up a new vista of possible achievements
for the priest in the rural district of the East or in the great open spaces
of the West, who utilizes whatever association is afforded him for the
planting of the mustard seed. It unfolds the possibilities of a fruitful
harvesting in the country that was scarcely dreamed of previously. It
will serve as an incentive to greater activity in winning converts for
every priest in America, and especially for those in the smaller towns and
in the countryside. In addition to his convert work, Father Duffy has
found time to establish and maintain the only parochial school in the
whole state of Wyoming.
CHAPTER VIII
THE AROUSAL OF THE APOSTOLATE
BY REV. JOHN DUFFY
HE ordinary method of reaching the non-Catholic
public in my various districts with the view of re-
ceiving converts into the Church is through the pub-
lic services of religion and by personal contact with
individual non-Catholics. The preparation of all religious in-
structions and the arrangement of all religious exercises are
made with the non-Catholics as well as the members of the
Church in mind. This method of procedure serves well the
members of the Church who live in districts of our country
where they are in constant association with non-Catholics in
practically every line of activity and whose religious views
and sentiments are, in consequence, more or less unconsciously
influenced by their environment. It establishes them more
firmly in the conscious and intelligent possession of the truth
and enhances their appreciation of the Church and its services.
Doctrinal sermons on all the chief truths of Revelation and
of Natural Theology, Psychology, Ethics and Natural Law
are preached regularly. The polemical and controversial
style of argumentation and delivery is ordinarily avoided.
As a rule this method engenders opposition and resentment
on the part of opponents and is only used when the special
circumstances of a bitter attack call for such a line of defense.
These discourses are not intended by the preacher for any
special class, nor for the benefit of any one class, much less
are they preached at any class of people, but are delivered
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146 THE WHITE HARVEST
with the conscious authority of the truth and with genuine
sympathy to all hearers who are believed to be sincerely de-
sirous of knowing the truth. For the efficient and acceptable
performance of his work in this class of discourses, a thorough
and exact knowledge of dogmatic theology is imperative on the
part of the preacher so that he may be able in his explanation
and exposition to state with precision the exact teaching of
the Church on all points of doctrine. Much of the misunder-
standing about the doctrines of the Church arises from mis-
apprehension of what the Church really teaches.
From the Sacred Scriptures, which St. Ambrose calls the
"priest's book," and in which he must be thoroughly, versed,
the preacher will show upon what solid foundation the doc-
trines of the Church rest. Proofs drawn from Tradition in
favor of any doctrine or practice of the Church, save that
known as the argument of prescription, do not appeal to the
non-Catholic mind and may usefully be omitted in public dis-
courses. The teacher will find them useful for his own in-
formation and at times in private discussion. The non-
Catholic, however, is interested in knowing how any doctrine
meets the expectation of human reason and the aspirations of
the human heart and what salutary influence it exerts upon the
individual and society. The preacher must know what argu-
ments are best adapted to enlighten and convince and what
motives are best adapted to persuade and convert the non-
Catholic to the acknowledgment of the truth and the per-
formance of his duty.
Hence he must know the non-Catholics of his district, their
prejudices, emotions, fears, aspirations, weaknesses and their
strong points of character. He will thus be able, in his method
of exposition and treatment, to dispel prejudices, .to meet dif-
ficulties, to answer unexpressed objections and to present the
truth in an acceptable and convincing manner. His manifest
and sincere love of the truth, as also his genuine sympathy,
will win for him a ready and sympathetic hearing. If, in the
explanation and vindication of the doctrines and practices of
THE AROUSAL OF THE APOSTOLATE 147
the Church, we have not the non-Catholic point of view and
do not meet the non-Catholic sympathetically on his own
ground, all our argumentation, however able in itself, will
be productive of little good and we will waste our energies in
beating the air.
Practical methods of acquiring the view point of non-
Catholics are by some association with them, by reading his-
tories and historical novels written by them, by reading some
of the weekly publications of the leading non-Catholic de-
nominations of the country and also by reading some of the
anti-Catholic literature. Though unpleasant and annoying, it
is extensively broadcasted at this time throughout the entire
country by an aggressive, noisy, and fanatical minority of our
people.
Instructions on the duties and responsibilities of a Christian
life, and therefore practical holiness, afford excellent common
ground of appeal to Catholic and non-Catholic alike and dis-
pose the latter to listen more readily to those bearing on the
doctrines of the Church. We always endeavor to make these
services of religion, whether conducted in a private residence,
in an undertaker's establishment, in a public hall, or in a
church edifice, as intelligible and attractive as possible. The
Latin tongue is not employed where the rubrics of the Church
do not require it. Where the Church directs its use in the
administration of the Sacraments and in certain blessings, it
is read in a subdued or moderate tone of voice, while the
translation is read in a clear and distinct voice, so as to be
readily heard by all present. As a rule, in addition to the
Latin, we also read the English translation of the prayers, to-
gether with the accompanying instructions, in the administra-
tion of the Sacraments to the sick and of baptism and matri-
mony.
Where the rubrics do not so instruct, the celebrant need not
broadcast the Latin, which usually he alone understands, in
such a manner as to distract the worshippers at their prayers
and the visitors in their desire to take in the services and to
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understand what is taking place. We strive to carry out the
ceremonies of religion in a natural, devout, and unaffected
manner. We frequently show that ceremonies in the wor-
ship of God are called for by right reason and the human
heart, that they are prescribed by Almighty God in the Mosaic
Law and are made use of by Christ and His Apostles in the
New Law. The Book of Leviticus is produced as a Divine
ritual, prescribing in detail the ceremonies to be used in the
services of religion by the Jewish Church. The Book of the
Apocalypse is opened at the point where St. John describes
the ritualistic worship of God by the angelic hosts and the
blessed in the heavenly city. The prescribed ceremonies for
the recognition and salutation of the flag of our country, the
rubric uiversally observed of standing during the playing or
singing of our national anthem, as well as the ceremonies of
etiquette observed in social and domestic life, show how cere-
monies are naturally demanded to express our convictions,
manifest our sentiments, esteem and affection.
Many non-Catholics entertain the false impression that the
Catholic religion consists chiefly of external rites and cere-
monies. They adduce certain texts of Scripture which incul-
cate the necessity of interior worship and which by wrong in-
terpretation apparently condemn ceremonial worship. In
consequence they are more or less prejudiced against the use
of -all ceremonies in religious worship, although all denomina-
tions make use of some ceremonies in their services. It is
necessary to indicate the propriety and lawfulness of this prac-
tice in the worship of God. Also from this special prejudice,
they appreciate and are attracted by ceremonies, as is evi-
denced by their general use in fraternal organizations and
lodges.
A Wise Use of Sacramentals
A devout and intelligent use of the sacramentals of the
Church is encouraged. The principal ones are carefully ex-
THE AROUSAL OF THE APOSTOLATE 149
plained and their history and introduction into the Christian
Church is given. When they can be traced to like usages in
vogue among the Jewish people under the Old Law or when
it can be shown that they are similar to present usages in
domestic, social, political and national life, the non-Catholic
will generally appreciate them at their proper value. Many
non-Catholics imagine that sacramentals constitute the essence
of the Catholic religion. It is therefore highly important to
show that far from constituting the essential things of the
Catholic religion they are only its accessories and incidentals,
offered to us by the Church as helpful in our spiritual life, if
used properly, but in no manner necessary for our salvation.
The appeal which the sacramental makes to our common
nature is seen in the tenacity with which it is sometimes clung
to by those who have given up the profession and practice
of their religion. A colored Methodist minister, during his
pastorate here in my home town, called regularly for a supply
of blessed palm for devout preservation in his own home. A
colored Baptist minister and his wife called at stated intervals
for a supply of holy water, which they used in their own home
as do the devout members of the Catholic Church. His wife
also declared that whenever she suffered from any internal
disturbance, she always drank some of the holy water and ex-
perienced immediate relief. It was the first time I had
heard of this sacramental being put to such use for the relief
of bodily ailments. These ministers retain for these sacra-
mentals the religious appreciation which they had acquired for
them in the days of their Catholic youth.
We have always admired the good judgment of the late
Archbishop of Baltimore, when, as a missionary in certain
districts of North Carolina where prejudice was strong, he at
times celebrated Mass in a private apartment of a residence
for the members and then appeared in civilian attire before
the crowd of visitors to deliver the discourse. This was much
in contrast with the judgment of the colored Episcopalian
minister in our local town who always travelled about the
1 50 THE WHITE HARVEST
streets wearing a Roman biretta, or of a white Episcopalian
minister who always rode through the town dressed in cassock,
surplice and stole when accompanying a dead body to the
cemetery for burial, or of the priest of the Greek Orthodox
Church who travels through these states always and every-
where attired in a soutane, pectoral cross and High Church
hat.
When a foreign language is temporarily in use in the church
of any particular district, we do not suffer it to monopolize
the preaching, the prayer and the song of priest and people.
Such a line of procedure would indicate great thoughtlessness
or selfish indifference for the younger members of the congre-
gation, for the English speaking members who may be present
and for the non-Catholic public of the community. For some
years I ministered to a small congregation of ten families of
German origin who preferred, mainly for the sake of their
children and grand-children, to sing their hymns in the English
tongue during the services of the church, which they did credit-
ably without any accompanying instrument, as they were too
poor to provide an organ for their little church. This was a
real sacrifice for the older members of the congregation, who
from youth had been accustomed to sing in their own lan-
guage the well known religious songs of their Fatherland.
When duty, however, points the way, it is a sacrifice well worth
while and in due time it brings its compensations.
While a foreign language is still in use in such parish
churches, an excellent opportunity is opened for the conversion
to the Catholic Church, of the separated brethren of their
own race and language who have come to this continent from
abroad, as well as for the recovery of their own who have
abandoned the profession and practice of their religion. Ex-
perience shows that these non-Catholics enter the Church more
readily in this country than when they were in Europe and that
efforts for their conversion are productive of results. We
should also manifest a kindly interest in the members of the
so-called orthodox churches, who are among us as strangers
THE AROUSAL OF THE APOSTOLATE 151
from Europe and Asia and who are so near to us in faith and
practice and yet so far away and who are scattered among us
as sheep deprived of the care of spiritual shepherds. Clergy
and people of American parishes, in which a foreign language
is used, should ever bear in mind the mutual duty which rests
upon them in cooperation with their brethren in the faith of
the English speaking tongue throughout the land in bringing
the Catholic Church home to the entire American nation.
Singing Hymns in the Vernacular
The choir is a great aid in inspiring devotional fervor in the
worship of God and in attracting and enlightening the inquirer
seeking for the Truth. I find a tendency on the part of some
of our choirs in the smaller congregations to sing Latin hymns,
when the Church does not prescribe them, in preference to
hymns in the vernacular or a tendency to convert every public
service, including the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, into a month
of May or October devotion in honor of the Blessed Virgin
Mary. This first tendency may be explained partly on the
ground of vanity. The choir wishes to show the congregation
and all other comers that it is capable of the unusual feat of
performing in an unknown tongue, and the errors in its rendi-
tion are not so perceptible to the congregation as they would
be in the vernacular. The adaptability of that language to
music and song has also its attraction. The pastor must insist
upon the choir giving due attention at its rehearsals to hymns
in the vernacular and to its rendering such hymns only at the
services, when the Church does not specify otherwise. The
Church makes ample provision for the Latin language for her
members living under the Latin rite and we need not outdo
her by our personal efforts in behalf of the rubrical tongue.
We can appreciate the predilection which Latin nations may
entertain for the parent language from which their own lan-
guages are derived and to which they bear a striking similarity.
Prayers and hymns in Latin are to them much like prayers
1 52 THE WHITE HARVEST
and hymns in their own languages and from earliest child-
hood they have been familiar with both in the liturgical lan-
guage. Uneducated Mexicans in my district, upon listening
to the Sunday Gospels read slowly in Latin can give a fair
translation of them into Spanish. To the other nations under
the Latin rite, that language is a very unknown tongue.
While we willingly comply with the disciplinary decree of
Mother Church in the use of this language at services speci-
fied by her, we should not impose it upon our people on other
occasions. At the celebration of the Mass on a cold winter
morning with the temperature in the church building register-
ing a low degree, I have been distracted by the music of the
choir singing,
As the dewy shades of even,
Gather o'er the balmy air,
Listen, gentle Queen of Heaven,
Listen to my vesper prayer.
or some other like hymn equally unsuited to the service, the
time and the circumstances.
Religious-hymns which have nothing faulty in them on the
ground of Christian Faith and conduct and which are sung to
devotional airs, are worthy of our acceptance. We have a
great variety of prayer books with an almost endless variety
of prayers, .written by men and women we know not, which
are accepted and circulated in the church for our devotional
use, to the great spiritual profit of the faithful. The mem-
bers of the Church in the English speaking world lost much
of their sacred music by the religious revolution of the i6th
century and the subsequent ages of persecution, when the pro-
fession and practice of their religion was prohibited by law
and its dwindling adherents were obliged to worship in secret
and in silence. After ages of enforced silent worship we are
reluctant to resume public or congregational singing at our
THE AROUSAL OF THE APOSTOLATE 153
services and we are slow to recognize and appreciate the
Catholic music and airs of our forefathers in the Faith, which
are now in use in many non-Catholic churches.
Congregational singing is generally one of the attractive
features of the worship in non-Catholic churches. We read
that President Coolidge was deeply and visibly moved by the
hymns sung by that great army of Holy Name men at the close
of their splendid parade in Washington last fall. I have as-
sisted in some of the smaller congregations at what is known
as the German High Mass. The celebrant sings the regular
Latin High Mass. The congregation answers the short re-
sponses in Latin and sings in its vernacular, a paraphrase of
the other parts usually sung by the choir. I was greatly im-
pressed by the devotion and active interest with which the
whole congregation participated in the service. With edifica-
tion I have also assisted at this service in these same churches
where a devout choir supplied for the congregation and sang
the paraphrase of the Latin in the English language.
Reaching Outsiders Through the Children
The services of the Church in which the children of the par-
ish participate, especially where there are parochial schools,
can be made the occasion of reaching and interesting the non-
Catholic. The hymns and prayers should be carefully super-
vised and directed. As the Holy Mass is the greatest act of
worship of the Almighty found in His Church, the hymns and
prayers at this service should have a direct bearing on that
tremendous Sacrifice or should, at least, in some manner mani-
fest and express the worship of the Creator by His creature.
This provision should suffer modification only by the festivity
of the day, the peculiar circumstances of a given occasion or
the expressed direction of the Church prescribing otherwise
for certain seasons of the year and for special occasions.
This plan, I believe, is in keeping with the mind and spirit of
i 5 4 THE WHITE HARVEST
the Church as manifested in her arrangement of the Masses
for all the days of the year and contained in the Roman
Missal.
I have celebrated Mass with the greatest difficulty and with
endless distractions in certain parish churches, where the chil-
dren in daily attendance shouted the rosary throughout at the
top of their voices. This abuse is due in part to the lack of
proper direction by the pastor and in part to the overburden-
ing of the Sisters in charge of the school with tasks foreign
to their position.
Funerals
We have always found funerals to be excellent opportuni-
ties for making a wholesome impression upon non-Catholics,
as these services are attended by all classes of people in the
community. At times I have observed local ministers of non-
Catholic churches in the audience at funerals when the de-
parted had relatives who were members of their respective
congregations. The services, the music, the prayer and the
instructions are carried out so as to enlighten the minds and
touch the hearts of both members and visitors. The circum-
stances of the occasion place the audience in a sympathetic re-
ceptive mood. We regret to learn that in certain districts of
the church in this country it has been deemed advisable to
make a ruling forbidding all discourses on the occasion of
funerals. One purpose of this regulation may be to guard
against the canonization of the departed or their consignment
elsewhere by stinted praise. This prohibition closes an av-
enue of much possible good for the breaking down of preju-
dice and for the spreading of the truth in those localities
where our members and non-Catholics mingle together in so-
cial and commercial activities. Where a discourse cannot be
given, I would suggest the careful reading of a selected list
of suitable prayers, taken from various sources, to supply in
part the place of the sermon and this in addition to the usual
THE AROUSAL OF THE APOSTOLATE 155
reading of the translation of the service and appended prayers
found in some rituals.
Missions for Non-Catholics
From time to time I have conducted missions to non-
Catholics in the churches under my charge and these I have
practically always been constrained to conduct alone for lack
of available help. It is often difficult to provide mission-
aries for this work in the smaller parishes which are situated
far from the larger centers of activity. I believe these mis-
sions can be conducted with a fair measure of success by the
pastor of such parishes, especially if he can secure the assist-
ance of some other pastor of ability and discretion. These
missions are conducted in the usual manner with hymns,
prayers, the question box, the sermon and the free distribution
of literature bearing on the church to the non-Catholic. In
our judgment such missions should be held at stated intervals
in every Catholic church in the country, as well as in other
available places, during which the truths of religion and the
responsibilities of a Christian life are placed directly before
the non-Catholic public.
At frequent intervals the non-Catholic churches hold re-
vivals for the purpose of stimulating renewed interest among
their members and of gaining converts to their various de-
nominations. Active campaigns are carried on by the mem-
bers to secure good attendence at these services and appeals
are made regularly during the revivals by the ministers and the
members for relatives, friends, neighbors and casual -attend-
ants to profess faith for Christ and to join the Church. The
whole method of procedure meets with the general approval
of the public, as calculated to promote the well-being of in-
dividuals and of the community at large. As members of the
one divine institution which has the entire deposit of revealed
truth in her keeping and the divine commission to make it
known to every creature, our missionary zeal and activity
1 5 6 THE WHITE HARVEST
should not be less than that of our separated brethren. Non-
Catholics commonly admire our earnestness and appreciate
our efforts in coming directly to them with our religion and its
credentials. An inquirer remarked to me at one of these mis-
sions that if he were convinced the Catholic church were the
one true church of Christ he would gladly travel all over the
country and make it known everywhere.
Missions are a success if non-Catholics attend in any con-
siderable numbers and the truth of religion and the duties of a
Christian are presented with tact, sincerity and earnestness,
even though no conversions to the Church follow immediately.
Conversions will come in God's own time. We plant and cul-
tivate, but God gives the increase. It takes time, especially
in certain parts of our country where the Church is little
known, to dispel the prejudice which is a sad inheritance from
the religious revolution of the 1 6th century.
We find a free circulating library carried on in conjunction
with other parochial activities an effective means of reaching
a number of interested readers among non-Catholics. The
book-rack in the vestibule of the church with a selected list of
pamphlets and a regular supply of Our Sunday Visitor, with
the invitation to take one, do good missionary work. We ad-
vise the sending of the monthly number of Our Sunday Visitor
prepared especially for non-Catholics by mail directly from the
office of publication to those in the district who are known to
be either friendly or unfriendly or whom for some reason we
desire to enlighten. We avail ourselves of the public press to
correct misstatements appearing from time to time against the
Church and to place the Church in her true light before the
public.
Private Instruction of Converts
Through the avenues of activity and channels of communi-
cation referred to in the preceding portion of this paper, we
endeavor to reach and impress the non-Catholic public and to
THE AROUSAL OF THE APOSTOLATE 157
enlighten interested inquirers. How do we reach the indivi-
dual convert and prepare him for reception into the Church?
By personal contact and by private instruction. Every oppor-
tunity of speaking to the individual non-Catholic on the
questions and interests of the soul is gladly utilized by the
writer. At no time have we had a class of inquirers under
instruction. At the close of a regular mission given by a
member of a missionary Order some years ago, an effort was
made to establish such a class, but without any success. The
converts want to have their cases taken care of singly and
alone and, in consequence, they have to be instructed and re-
ceived into the Church one by one. On a few occasions only,
when a husband and wife were being prepared for entrance
into the Church at the same time did the class consist of more
than one inquirer. In the smaller centers and smaller par-
ishes, where everyone is more or less known to everyone else
in a community, converts seem adverse to coming to instruc-
tion in classes or groups.
In the larger cities or in the populous parishes, where the
membership forms a large proportion of the community, we
do not think such a situation would ordinarily exist. Those
localities are in a position to obtain quicker and larger results
by use of the net; while we must be content with slower and
smaller results by use of the line. This latter method carries
with it one point of advantage in that each case can be handled
according to its special needs.
Some years ago the Sodality of our Lady was organized in
our parish and it was formed into various sections to enable
it to carry on better the different parochial activities. A sec-
tion was formed and known as the converts* section. The
special work of this section was to help and encourage con-
verts who had come into the Church and to be on the alert to
recognize and assist prospective converts to the Church. The
work of this section proved a disappointment, as it practically
failed to function.
The course of instructions closes when the convert is fully
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satisfied on all points and is firmly convinced that the Catholic
Church is the one true Church established on this earth by
Jesus Christ for the salvation of mankind. An appeal is then
made to his or her conscience to follow its dictates and to en-
ter the Church with the determination of living up faithfully
to its requirements for the purpose of salvation. Usually this
is sufficient. Occasionally for a personal or material reason
the convert may defer the taking of the steps to some future
time. I recall the cases only of two young men who, after
their instructions were completed, all difficulties solved, the
conviction of the truth and their duty in the premises fully ad-
mitted could not bring themselves to take the final step.
They appeared at a loss to account even to themselves for a
reason why they could not bring themselves to do what they
recognized as their plain duty. Both had encountered a simi-
lar difficulty earlier in life when as boys they had been urged
by friends to join one of the non-Catholic churches. It will
likely require a very special grace to bring them some day to
the feet of Jesus.
The inquirers are always advised to join earnest prayers
with their investigation for the truth so that they may have
light from on high to see the truth and grace to follow it.
We do not ask them to commit any portion of the catechism to
memory. They are advised, as far as their age and circum-
stances permit, to memorize those prayers which every Catho-
lic should know. Their admission into the Church, however,
does not wait upon such knowledge and invariably at the re-
ception of Baptism, no matter how well the convert may know
the prayers, he is always requested to read conjointly with the
priest the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer.
We have never held a public reception of a convert into the
Church. Those we have admitted have always expressed a
preference for being received privately. Everything is more
or less new and somewhat strange for the convert and he feels
some embarrassment in the presence of others at the ceremony
of reception. Where a class or number is being received at a
THE AROUSAL OF THE APOSTOLATE 159
given ceremony the case is somewhat different, as one member
is a support and encouragement to every other member of the
group. The public reception of a considerable class ought to
create a salutary impression upon the converts themselves and
upon those who witness the ceremony, whether Catholic or
non-Catholic, and should be encouraged for its wholesome ef-
fects.
We have always arranged the days and hours of instruc-
tion, whether day or night, according to the convenience of the
inquirer. This can be done more readily in smaller parishes
where every hour has not its special duties and where more
time and labor must be giiven to the instruction of converts
separately. The soul of every individual convert is well
worth all the labor we bestow upon it. We should be en-
couraged in our efforts by the example of our divine Teacher,
who not only preached to the crowds gathered in the syna-
gogues and along the sea-shore, but who also gave private les-
sons of instruction and exhortation to individuals whenever
the opportunity presented itself, as to the Samaritan woman
at Jacob's well and to Nicodemus by night after the engrossing
labors of the day. The great Teacher of the Gentiles re-
minds the leaders of the Church at Ephesus that he taught
them politely and from house to house.
Stimulating the Lay Apostolate
We have often wondered if it would be possible to arouse
a general interest among the Catholic laity for the conversion
of their neighbors and friends to the Catholic Church. If
the earnest efforts, of our laity could be enlisted in this work,
I believe, the results would be beyond all calculation. They
are in constant association with non-Catholics and are there-
fore constantly in a position to answer inquiries and to solve
religious difficulties. If they will, they can take a personal
interest in the religious condition of their non-Catholic friends
and bring them within the salutary influence of the Church.
160 THE WHITE HARVEST
They can wield a great influence in their respective communi-
ties not only by the rectitude of their private and public lives,
but also by cooperating with the clergy in spreading the light
through the manifold channels within their reach.
As a boy in a distinctly non-Catholic environment and as a
student in a Methodist seminary, I remember with what zeal
the members of that and other denominations labored to bring
their friends and acquaintances into the membership of their
churches. I have never observed a like activity among the
members of the true Church, but I think earnest efforts should
be made on all sides to arouse it.
Some twenty-five years ago there was a general apathy
among the members of the Church in this country for the
home and foreign missions but now an appreciation of their
importance and a willingness to make sacrifices for the cause
is quite generally manifest. Could not a like interest be cre-
ated among our people throughout the entire country for the
conversion of their fellow-citizens to the true Church of
Christ? One consequence of the propaganda carried on
against the Church since the ending of the World War is that
she is the most advertised institution in the land. Attacks
upon her and questions about her come from all sides. We
have not capitalized the free publicity which the Church has
received at the hands of an organized and bigoted minority
with the expenditure of millions of dollars on their part and
innumerable unpleasantnesses and persecutions endured on all
sides. We fear to venture into the arena and to compel a
recognition of the Church in her true light.
The vast majority of our fellow-citizens are not inimical to
the Catholic Church, save as they may be stirred up by the
enemy from time to time through misrepresentations and false
alarms, when we generally leave them to their fears and in
their errors. We choose the way of least resistance and seek
temporary shelter from the storm. The present storm has
attained its height and the waves are beginning to subside.
Should we not venture out while interest in the Church still
THE AROUSAL OF THE APOSTOLATE 161
exists, though it be unfriendly, and by all the avenues of pub-
licity make her known as she really is to our fellow citizens ?
We are raising large sums of money here and there through-
out the country for the erection or endowment of local
institutions. Could we not all together raise one large sum
for broadcasting the truth about the Church to all the inhabi-
tants of the land?
Periodical Waves of Bigotry
If all would actively engage in this enterprise, we could pre-
vent the recurrence of another manifestation of bigotry,
which, according to regular schedule, is due within twenty-five
years or we could, at least, greatly lessen its violence. It is
my belief that these periodical outbreaks of religious opposi-
tion to the Catholic Church and its members in this country,
are permitted by Almighty God, among other reasons, in pun-
ishment of our own selfishness as manifested in our indifference
to the religious condition of the multitude outside of the
Church and to the false opinions which they entertain of the
Church and its members. It argues both a lack of fraternal
charity on our part for our fellow man and of love and zeal
for God's church.
Occasionally one of our number arises and informs the pub-
lic that these periodical attacks upon the Church are "blessings
in disguise" and that they should be welcomed by her and her
members. Persecution, we are told, solidifies the Catholic
body and makes its members more loyal and devoted to the
Church. Negligent members become interested and return to
the practice of their religion. The weaklings, who cannot
brave the storm, retreat and are lost, but in due course of time
they would probably have been lost to the Church. The well-
known adage, venerable with age, is quoted: "The blood of
martyrs is the seed of Christians." It is made to do good
service. We are almost led to think it were the declaration
of the Holy Ghost instead of the saying of an early Chris-
1 62 THE WHITE HARVEST
tian writer who himself in time of trial abandoned the Church.
Our members, who thus speak or write, are usually located
in centers of Catholic strength and numbers, where they feel
but little the brunt of persecution which their scattered breth-
ren experience throughout the country. They fail to note in
the long history of the Church what unfavorable propaganda
and persecution did for the Catholic nations of northern
Africa, western Asia, eastern, southeastern and northwestern
Europe. They fail to observe the countless multitudes in our
own country who in our own times have been lost to the
Church in consequence of the strong prejudice, opposition and
hatred of all things Catholic which they and their fore-fathers
have encountered in the original colonies and since the found-
ing of our nation.
It requires more heroism to stand up for an unpopular cause
in the face of public odium and ridicule in the community than
to march bravely into the field of battle. We should not de-
spise our weaker brethren in the Faith, who in the face of
popular opposition, grew weak of heart, but should bend our
efforts to protect and to save them. The first Christians, in-
cluding the Apostles, who were destined to be the pillars of the
early Church, became faint-hearted and deserted Christ, when
popular opinion turned against Him in Jerusalem, when He
was denounced on all sides and few were found to do Him
homage. Therefore to protect our weaker brethren from
these perdiodical outbreaks we should strive to remove preju-
dice, to dispel fear, to enlighten our fellow-citizens and to con-
vert them to the acknowledgment of the truth and to the ac-
ceptance of the true Church of Christ.
Why So Little Efortf
The efforts of our people to make the truth known are in
no manner commensurate with their numbers, influence, ability
and opportunities. If they were, conversions to the Church
would be counted annually by hundreds of thousands, if not by
THE AROUSAL OF THE APOSTOLATE 163
the million. Our people are not duly interested in the con-
version of their fellow citizens and they do not rise to their
opportunities or responsibilities. Uneducated men and
women, who know little of the things that are and less of the
things to come, are visiting and sojourning in every little town
to preach Mormonism and Adventism and to gain converts
for their little sects. One solitary auto van of lay teachers
moves from Boston to San Francisco pointing out to the man
on the streets the great eternal Church of the ages. Can we
reasonably wonder that there is misunderstanding, prejudice,
opposition and persecution and that many of our weaker
brethren in the Faith are drifting from their religious moor-
ings ! Could not the ability, the talents, and the time of those
worthy men who come to us from the Protestant ministry and
who, for one reason or another, do not enter the priesthood,
be employed in this enterprise to excellent advantage ? They
have experience in religious work and it is a line of occupation
which is generally congenial to them. While expending their
talents and time to excellent advantage in a great enterprise,
it would also make provision for them and their dependents.
.Are we not permitting much talent, ability, and good will to
lie idle, and worthy men and their families at times perhaps
to suffer want ?
It will accomplish no good to close our eyes to our own
losses or to try to persuade ourselves that they are not great.
We are losing the native born citizen as well as the stranger
who has come within our gates. How to save our own and
how to check our losses is a tremendous problem, and should
enlist the diligent study and earnest cooperation of the entire
American Church. The problem is so large and manifold
that no one measure of relief or one line of activity can solve
it. Among the various measures of solution which may be ap-
plied, I believe none will be more efficient than that which we
here advise of bringing the Church to the knowledge of the
American public for its enlightenment and conversion. As a
matter of experience, missionaries at non-Catholic missions
1 64 THE WHITE HARVEST
find that the Catholics in the district become better grounded
in and more attached to their religion and that fallen-aways
often return to the profession and practice of their religion.
In this enterprise it should not be forgotten that we are
endeavoring to recover and to save our own. Our fellow-
citizens are bound to us by social, commercial, political, and
national ties. A large portion of them within these later gen-
erations have been lost to the Faith of their fore-fathers be-
cause of the environment in which they found themselves and
through little fault of their own. The forefathers of all
Americans of the white race were for ages the devoted children
of the Catholic Church and from it they have derived the
Christian civilization which they now enjoy. They did not
leave the Church of their own choice.
Their sovereigns and the ruling classes in the age of the
great pillage wrenched them violently from the bosom of the
Mother Church by force of civil laws and penalties. The
factories of false propaganda against the Church were then
established and they have been kept in active operation ever
since. To escape the false accusation of disloyalty and trea-
son together with its accompanying penalties, as well as the
general odium and condemnation of the whole community,
they were constrained to give up the profession and practice
of the Faith. We have only to recall some of the experiences
the nations of the world passed through during the late World
War to form some idea of the methods by which they were
separated from the universal Church and were forced to line
up with the national churches of their respective countries.
It is the mercy of the Lord that we were not entirely consumed
and that a remnant of adherents of the true Church survived
in certain Christian lands.
Representatives of the non-Catholic churches are making
extensive use of the radio broadcasting stations to carry their
different and at times conflicting messages to the millions who
daily listen in. It is heartening to see that representatives of
the Church in several centers are taking steps for the estab-
THE AROUSAL OF THE APOSTOLATE 165
lishment of such stations to broadcast the Church's message
to the surrounding districts. These stations should be multi-
plied sufficiently to enable her message to reach every inhabi-
tant in the land. Duly equipped speakers, both clerical and
lay, could from time to time avail themselves of the various
broadcasting stations in the land to spread the truth, to re-
move misunderstanding and to dispel prejudice against the
Church. Many will listen in to the message through curiosity
and others will hear the message who are too preoccupied to
go out and seek it. Many a Nicodemus will gladly hear the
message which through human respect he has not the courage
to approach the church or its representatives to learn. A con-
vert family living out here in the foot-hills of the Rocky
Mountains approximately 1300 miles from St. Louis, Mo.,
stated that, by means of a receiving set in the home and with
prayer books in hand, its members followed devoutly the
Mid-Night Mass and sermon broadcasted from the old Cathe-
dral of that city on Christmas night. This was a great reli-
gious treat for them as it was impossible for them to leave
home to attend any service on that day. This invention opens
up a great field of possibilities and we should be alert to avail
ourselves of it to preach the truth to the millions who desire
to hear.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO
CHAPTER IX
IN this interesting article, Father O'Keeffe presents an illuminating
analysis of the modern attitude toward religion. He surveys the gen-
eral field of contemporary religious thought outside the Catholic Church,
pointing out the different viewpoints that obtain in the various groups
that constitute the heterogeneous population of America. Probing be-
neath the surface, he lays bare the complex, subtle, psychic forces that
have colored the modern viewpoint and produced unconscious religious
prejudices. If the presentation of the Catholic message is to be effective
it must be adapted to the present temper and the dominant lines of in-
terest of the contemporary non-Catholic mind. Hence the value of this
general survey of religious thought in America to all interested in the
extension of the Catholic viewpoint to the general public.
Father O'Keeffe sounds the keynote of this article, and indeed of the
entire symposium when he says: "The central security of Catholicism im-
pels the Catholic of limited educational and personal resources to re-
tire into a retreat of misunderstanding of the non-Catholic Mind. Here
he can grow intellectually blind and dumb and wrap his mind in a vesture
of prejudice equally as disastrous as the unconscious bigotry of the
non-Catholic Mind. The imperfection of appreciable religious sym-
pathy between Catholics and non-Catholics arises from the circumstances
that the Catholic system is so intellectually safe and possesses such a total,
cherished religious opinion, that there is no duty or moral effort de-
veloped to consider any other religious system. This of course from one
angle is for the Catholic a splendid quality but the gift may produce a
defect in limiting the vision of the Catholic in studying the mental at-
titude of the non-Catholic believer."
To the preparations of this article, Father O'Keeffe brings a rich back-
ground of practical experience from the instruction of many hundreds
of converts. For more than thirty years he has preached missions in
167
1 68 THE WHITE HARVEST
every State in the Union, specializing in those for non-Catholics. At
present he is Professor of homiletics and sacred eloquence at the Apostolic
Mission House, 'Washington, D. C., where he has the opportunity of
training young priests in the most effective methods of preaching mis-
sions to non-Catholics. Besides being the author of "Thoughts and
Memories," and "Sermons in Miniature" he is also the associate editor of
"The Missionary."
CHAPTER IX
THE MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION
BY REV. HENRY E. O'KEEFFE, C.S.P.
7 may not be amiss to venture a special and personal
counsel of perfection to those who are interested
in what is now termed the non-Catholic Move-
ment.
The difficulties of projecting sympathetically the Catholic
mind into the myriads of mental moods of the non-Catholic
mind, are enormous. The Greek work "sympathy" indicates
a temper of mind and heart which not only sees the other's
soul but suffers with it. There is a gigantic barrier towering
between the non-Catholic instinct and religious sense and that
which, in the Catholic mind is called Faith. In this mighty
fact lurks the reality of the non-Catholic problem for Cath-
olics.
The modern cants of liberality by which the religious mind
sets such store, have a sincerity which even the trained Cath-
olic mind does not at all times perceive. Non-Catholic reli-
gious prejudices are not the outcome of one day or of one mo-
tivation. They are complex, radical, subtle, chronic.
The central security of Catholicism impels the Catholic of
limited educational and personal resources to retire into a re-
treat of misunderstanding of the non-Catholic mind. Here
he can grow intellectually blind and dumb and wrap his mind
in a vesture of prejudice equally as disastrous as the uncon-
scious bigotry of the non-Catholic mind.
The imperfection of appreciable religious sympathy be-
169
i 7 o THE WHITE HARVEST
tween Catholics and non-Catholics arises from the circum-
stance that the Catholic system is so intellectually safe and
possesses such a total, cherished religious opinion, that there is
no duty or moral effort developed to consider any other reli-
gious system. This of course from one angle is for the Cath-
olic a splendid quality but the gift may produce a defect in
limiting the vision of the Catholic in studying the mental at-
titude of the non-Catholic believer. This truth must be kept
in mind when we approach any religious investigation. Such
investigation is not infrequent even among the laity. Those
who are merged in business generally do not study religious
questions except as they affect their interests.
Yet religious difficulties are naturally talked about in clubs,
academies and wherever serious men are associated.
In society it is not polite to provoke religious disputation,
yet religious opinions drop very glibly from the lips of the
worldly minded and in the most frivolous gatherings.
Now all this discussion and study are an indication that the
religious instinct in man is quite as insistent as it ever was.
Hence the necessity of that mental development on the part
of the Catholic apologist to interpret rightly the modern at-
titude of the non-Catholic mind toward the Holy Catholic
Church.
Almost all the high-class Agnostics see the indispensable-
ness of religion to human life. The spirit must be fed on
something, even more than the body! Everywhere the vehe-
mence of religious discontent is intense. What more frequent
than religious conventions, public controversy, missions, re-
vivals, open-air meetings for prayer, street preaching, evan-
gelical alliances? Ministers of different denominations are
taking each others' pulpits, ministers of different denomina-
tions all taking part in one and the same service, ministers
of different denominations denying doctrines that they have
preached for years, although in many of these acts there is
radically a denial of the objective value of known dogmatic
truth, although they may manifest the principle of the rela-
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 171
tivity of human knowledge; nevertheless they portend the
nature and violence of religious dissatisfaction, and the widen-
ing out of religious sympathy. In the universities, where reli-
gion is oftentimes cold sometimes dead it is nevertheless
used as a practical, while it may be considered only an abstract
good. Sometimes one may find a student who admires Chris-
tianity, as being conducive to a high ethical standard of mo-
rality, yet who would do all in his power, because of some
inherent personal prejudice, to oppose its extension and em-
bodiment.
As indicative of the spirit of inquiry in the science of reli-
gion, a new word has been coined to distinguish a funda-
mental idea: "Churchianity" as opposed to "Christianity."
Curses are hurled at "Churchianity" benedictions showered
on "Christianity." Christ is applauded, the Church hissed.
Declamations are filed against churches, creeds, and clerical-
ism, because they shackle and choke the freedom and essence
of religion. They are charged with having wrapped around
the beautiful body of religion a vesture woven of the human
accretions of the centuries. Nevertheless religion is praised,
sometimes exercised; but theology is attacked attacked be-
cause it is considered to be the creation of ecclesiasticism :
the expression of the minds of successive generations of priests
and parsons. Nevertheless religion is respected, sometimes
loved, but Scripture is discredited discredited because of re-
puted errors in history or geography or science.
Yet the denominating intention in all this opposition is to
promote religion, but in a freer and fairer form. Men seek
to safeguard the idea of religion, yet, at times, will not admit
the necessity of its concrete living embodiment. It is illog-
ical, to be sure, but that such a distinction should be made at
all betokens religious thought, and a craving for change, tran-
sition or upheaval. This craving for something religious
seems to me to give the reason why a partial negative religion,
why a moral system like Buddhism, could get a hearing at all
in a country like ours. The appetite for the curious, the mys-
i 7 2 THE WHITE HARVEST
tical, the occult, prompts emotional natures to listen and ac-
cept, just as if Christianity did not possess for them every
healthy religious idea, every jewel of religious truth, and in a
more precious setting. Similar reasons may be presented for
the spread of Christian Science, Spiritualism, Faith-healing
and Theosophy. Doubtless there is in them some religious
sincerity but just where the diabolism in these beliefs begins
and where deception ends, and what part hysteria plays over
all, it is very difficult to determine. However, these defects
argue not the lack but the excess of faith. Doubt is the lack
of faith, superstition its excess. Beliefs like these show the
symptom of that fermentation, upheaving the torpid religious
mass it is the chemical reaction, so to speak, necessary for
the leavening of the meal. From out of the heaviness and
dullness, the sourness and stench, the kinks and bubbles in the
lump of dough shall be quickened into life, the sweet and
wholesome bread of religion. So, too, is it unreasonable to
hope that below this complex religious disturbance there is
throbbing something more than human, an energy which it
pleases us to call the new leaven in modern life ?
All vital problems are at bottom religious. It has been de-
nied, but it nevertheless seems true, that as of old, so in the
modern history of Europe, all the great struggles have been
fundamentally religious. The most popular among religious
questions is that of Christian Unity; but it has been mooted
so much of late that we almost grow faint at the mention of it.
This arises, not because we deem the subject unimportant, but
because we have seen it used as a peg for men of shallow
habits of mind to hang their words upon, out of lack for other
and sincerer thought. But it is the strongest expression of
that fermentation which is stirring beneath the religious mass.
There are spirits among us, who constrain us to believe that
to gather together the splintered sects of Christendom seems
a dream which is not all a dream. Christ's preeminent
prayer, the songs of prophets, the aspirations of holy men
throughout the modern world, provoke the conclusion that
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 173
no mere negation in history could arouse such universal dem-
onstration. Enthusiasm concerning it has become contagious,
and, like all great problems, the many are waxing fervid about
it, but few contribute much to its solution "seeing it, they
see it not." It has become the fashion in lectures, speeches,
essays, and even sermons, to deal in contrasts, to alarm by
prophecies of war as against peace, to draw on popular sym-
pathy by the accentuation of striking inequalities, as for in-
stance, the horrible contrast between the poverty of the poor
and the wealth of the rich. Yet in this it would not be unfair
to say that some of such speech is but sham and pretense. As
for the union of Christendom, human intelligence, and knowl-
edge of history, assure us that it is not only impracticable but
impossible. Yet it is in the nature of religious movements
that oftentimes, like leaven, their workings are in secret, and
their agents led not so much by human wisdom as by Faith
so it may be with the question of Christian Unity. No light
is being shed, but divine voices may be speaking in the darkness
of the night.
Is our age religious? We cannot tell we do not know.
Yet of this we are convinced, that if it is not a religious age, it
certainly is not irreligious. What is the meaning of this re-
cent reaction against the glorification of science, except it be a
dim recognition of the higher life which moves beneath and
above the material bulk? Why have the most material scien-
tists changed their complexion of mind in relation to religion?
Why have they begun to appreciate so keenly its usefulness
even while they deny its validity? The conversion of a great
mind and the change of intellectual basis of a great thinker
are mental tranformations, which ought not to be made little
of when studying religious problems. They indicate the
trend of modern religious mentality.
The Necessity of Change in Religious Controversy
The subsequent quotation is taken literally from a pro-
i 7 4 THE WHITE HARVEST
foundly serious editorial in a reputable religious journal, "The
Living Church," February 10, 1923:
"Most curious of all the phases of this mystery is that each
of us is invariably sure that he is right in his conclusions to-
day, while granting that he was wrong in his differing conclu-
sions a year ago. True, he was equally sure that he was right
a year ago, and now knows that he was wrong then in spite
of his previous positive assurance; but this knowledge of his
previous error does not suggest to him the fact that his mind
is no more infallible today than it was last year, and that
having been wrong last year, he may also be wrong this year.
Indeed it is quite conceivable that he was right in his conclu-
sions last year, as he believed himself to be at the time, and
wrong this year, when he has reversed those conclusions.
"Unhappily we cannot even postulate a growing nearness to
the appreciation of absolute truth as time goes on."
This is a philosophic attempt to justify ethically the want
of moral courage and authoritative action of a distinguished
Bishop to face squarely the evidences of irreverence, igno-
rance and disbelief of the Rector of an important city church.
The Bishop has already admitted that the Rector is personally
and privately guilty of heresy. But the judgment is accord-
ing to that which is sometimes called in law, a Scotch verdict,
"guilty but not legally proven." The final quasi-Ecclesiastical
decision of the Bishop is significant. It is couched in these
terms : "There for the present the matter rests." It is also
the editor's philosophic opinion that even in the domain of
religious knowledge, under some conditions, the mousetrap is
the same as the mouse. Indeed, in a moment with the prog-
ress of science, the mouse may turn into a trap. In other
circumstances it is not the mouse which is caught by the trap
but the mouse catches the trap. In certain crises not only is
the Rector on trial, but likewise the Bishop. There are times
when one and not the other is on trial, and there are times
again when neither are on trial since under another light there
is no such thing as heresy and heretics never actually existed.
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 175
The things of Faith and Divine revelation although objective
in nature, are subjective to man's mind and depend on his
acceptance and interpretation. This is to all appearances
closely reasoned out by the editor. In the process he not only
respects and accepts the prerogatives of reason, but as a re-
sult of his ratiocination, he triumphantly smashes all reason
and reasoning to pieces. It is as if one should present you
with a new and becoming hat and then crowned the kindly deed
by beheading you. In this article under question there is,
moreover, philosophically at least, though the writer may not
know it, an odd mixture of every twist of thought concerning
the source of knowledge, from the Subjectivism of Kant, now
beginning to be discredited, to something like James' theory of
Pragmatism. With the editor there is no fixity to truth or to
its interpretation. This is his conclusion and accordingly the
deposit of faith is intrinsically impossible. Therefore, the
sentences of this editoral can never be judged as a specimen
of clear objective thinking, but they are of value as an illus-
tration of the mental attitude of thousands and thousands of
saintly and lovable members of the Anglican system. It is
but cruelty and ignorance to condemn them totally as being
in bad faith since they never had good faith, or rather they
never had faith as it is understood and technically expressed
by the intellectual masters of Christendom. For example,
witness Gore's confusion concerning the rights of reason and
the virtue of Faith in his new and extraordinary book, "Belief
in Christ." Numberless fine types of the Anglican system
possess the full and overflowing heart, but not the logical head
or imperative will of -Christianity. So intellectual vagueness,
like a mist, hangs over all the valleys, the hills, and even the
highest tops of the mountains. In such a mood of obscurity
and under the spell of personal desire did the lovers in Shake-
speare's tragedy seem to mistake the nightingale for the lark.
Yet to the sane and alert observer, the lark is ever the herald
of the morn, and it is the nightingale which sings nightly on
the pomegranate.
176 THE WHITE HARVEST
In the same editorial under discussion there is the following
utterance : "Catholicism, Romanism, and Protestantism have
each had its martyrs." Now it is not to accentuate the well-
known Branch Theory that the author writes. Nor has he
the base intention to offend, but he means by "Catholicism"
Anglicanism, and by "Romanism" what is ordinarily called
Catholicism. With superb equanimity he assumes that these
divisions are fixed, accurate and real. It has never once oc-
curred to him that there would be some difficulty in proving
that the historicity of the Roman theory is less authentic, in-
tegral and sound than the Anglican. He has given it no
thought but he has picked up and used a deal of current
phrases thoughtlessly uttered, which make him think he is
thinking.
I have on my desk a prospectus of the Protestant Episcopal
Cathedral to be constructed at Washington. The Dean in
projecting the plans for the future of the building does not
hesitate to say, that as the Capitol symbolizes the American
Republic, so the Cathedral will symbolize the American
Church. Moreover, that it will be the Westminster Abbey for
the United States, where will be buried all the great and noble
Americans of coming generations. Now the Dean is a holy
man and capable, but, nevertheless, culpable in turning the
object of his hopeful vision out of joint with the circumstances
placed and the principles involved. Yet he is the most genial
and generous of men with never a motive to violate the most
delicate religious sensibilities. One might venture, but with
reverence and even tenderness to conclude that in this matter,
at least, the Dean has postulated for the future a contingency
which by its very definition and nature can never come about.
He has done so sincerely, religiously, but out of lack of ac-
curate learning and correct thinking.
It is this inscrutable and elusive condition of modern reli-
gious mentality in the Anglican system which makes it so diffi-
cult to be brought within the pale of logic and definite thought.
A rigidly trained controversialist, may, under the stress of
MODERN, ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 177
impulse, wax impatient and be a setback to him, whom he fain
would win to the Catholic idea. The chronic reiterations of
tactless apologists and missionaries concerning the negative
defects of opposite modes of religious thought, have thrown
many an earnest seeker off the scent. The whole structure of
the Catholic economy is elaborately reared by the consummate
experience of centuries. It is natural and easy of acceptance
to him who is born and educated in it. His creed is often
in his blood. He is intolerant sometimes and cannot by a
sympathetic effort of imagination, project his mind into the
mental mood and secret moral struggles of his opponent.
How slender and minute are the desired results in comparison
with the never-ending stream of religious controversy.
Would not a change in its spirit by insistence on the positive
attractions of Catholicism, since it is ever a sublime witness for
itself, be more subtle and alluring? Very often disparage-
ments are so ruthless and manifold that they irritate and put
on the defensive even an honest and impartial adversary.
Myriads of influences latent, unperceived and otherwise, come
into play during the process and final act of religious con-
version. It takes all the genius of Newman to sound but
partially the perplexing deeps of the human mind in its re-
lationship with Faith, spiritual sense, and reversal of doctrinal
belief.
How then can any Catholic apologist, however zealous to
bestow on man the treasures of eternal truth, lose his patience
at the lack of perspective, mental confusion and ill-adjustments
of the Anglican theory, as a valid system of religion ?
The Reason for the Non-Catholic Movement
Unconsciously we look for tangible, seen results, even in
things of the spirit. This fact underlies much of our reason-
ing about non-Catholic missions. It is one of several substan-
tial, although not insuperable difficulties, against the labor and
expense of giving them. Their preeminent and overwhelming
178 THE WHITE HARVEST
purpose is ultimately the same as that of a technically Catholic
Mission the moral security of souls.
It can be said rightly that, judged by the rigid measurement
of records and numbers, the converts acquired are limited,
when compared with the output of energy and zeal exercised
by the few Missionaries who have had the courage to continue,
under the most adverse circumstances. Perhaps apathy is
too harsh a word to use in reference to the clergy when we
are trying to diagnose their motives for refusing to adjust op-
portunities for the furtherance of the work.
It is not on their part an embodied protest, but it is re-
motely and negatively a lack of moral effort to aid those who
are alive with an enraptured hope and impassioned desire to
gather all men within that living, throbbing organism which
we call the Holy Catholic Church.
Exclusive of those pastors who are wearied with the burdens
of operating school, church, and rectory in poor districts, there
are others who, financially well placed, could bring benedic-
tions straight out of heaven into the homes of those who
might justly be regarded as their non-Catholic parishioners.
In few instances do non-Catholic missions antagonize non-
Catholic brethren. They rather create a kindly feeling of
charity and good fellowship among all. They disabuse non-
Catholics of those unspeakably false impressions about the
Catholic system which have been lodged in the minds through
long antecedent processes of education, family-history, en-
vironment and myriads of other influences.
Although the priest is provoked to consider the subject more
seriously, when once it has come to his mind that the whole
non-Catholic Movement would, if compactly organized and
practically exploited, contribute in large volume to. the alter-
ation of the National mental attitude toward Catholicism.
Its noblest aim is the transformation of public opinion with
regard to the Catholic Church. There are times when Car-
dinal Newman, the great master of these matters under dis-
cussion, seems to think the conversion of his country would
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 179
be individual and not collective and national. Yet he is too
holy and searching in his observation to refuse a tribute to
any consecrated method Which had for its purpose so sublime
an ideal.
Regarding the non-Catholic question on a large area and
in reference to the United States, the difficulties are more
prodigious than in any Protestant country in Europe. There
for example, as in Holland and England, they are dealing with
one country and nationality and with religious faiths intensely
believed and intensely lived.
Here, we are approaching a whole continent of not only
heterogeneous but conflicting elements believing (if believing
at all) in expressions of religion doctrinally disrupted and ac-
cordingly not definitely affecting life.
Is it outside the truth to aver that the external failure of
non-Catholic missions in this country can be reduced to the
want of the sacrificial note in the benefactions of the laity and
clergy? When we affirm our respect and appreciation of the
generous instincts and pious enthusiasm of many of the faith-
ful and the manifold obligations and demands of the clergy,
we are constrained to guard ourselves against any excesses of
judgment or speech.
But the reproachful fact remains that outside the Church's
line of matchless organization, there is great poverty of per-
formance in trying to win those countless spirits who in their
religious aspirations, unknowingly, appeal to us. Our condem-
nation becomes more acute when we are face to face with our
boundless wealth in this prosperous Republic.
That we should manifest a larger sympathy for those who
are wearily struggling for success (material and spiritual) in
the activities of the non-Catholic missions, is very apparent,
when we remember that our traditional methods of religious
controversy have to be turned upside down. This necessitates
a dire need of Missionaries who are so broadly gauged in their
intellectual equipment as to project readily their minds into
the mental mood of the one seeking earnestly the reality of the
i8o THE WHITE HARVEST
divine truth. There must exist, likewise, the robust strength
of the spirit, which will not suffer the Missionary to wax dis-
heartened at the slender evidences of the fruit produced by
his incessant labor.
Was there ever less accurate thinking, writing and preach-
ing about the constructive motives for religious credibility than
there is today? To many, if not all, outside the pale of the
Catholic economy, we are talking, if not in a dead, then a for-
eign, language. You have but to interrogate the most highly
educated person within the circle of your esteemed acquaint-
ances for his definition of divine Faith to learn how far adrift
he is from your centre of believing. Discussion with him is
perhaps salutary and clarifying but controversy is hopelessly
futile.
As with the shepherd so in a more severe degree is it sim-
ilar with his flock. You cannot assert that he is in bad faith
because he has not that faith which you have determined ac-
cording to your theological terminology. There is not even a
confusion of terms since he has no terms. Yet he has some-
thing real lodged in the complex structure of his mind and
heart which may be (as in some types it is) of moral support
and comfort. It is in the study of such spiritual, intellectual
or emotional processes that Newman demonstrated the pierc-
ing scrutiny of his genius in "The Grammar of Assent." It
is a serviceable book of apologetics for priests. A startling
example of the differentiation and stupendous distance which
we are from the norm of thinking and ratiocination in the
modern religious mind, is instanced in the building of the
Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York. Millions
and millions of dollars were collected from the donors
prompted by a slogan which caught up and enhanced the pop-
ular imagination: The Cathedral, a great civic monument
was to be, likewise, a temple wherein would worship Amer-
icans "of all creeds and all nationalities." The rallying cry
of supra-nationalism and latitudinarianism (both intrinsic im-
possibilities under the circumstances) extorted generous con-
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 181
tributions from the purses of all species of Protestants, Jews
(orthodox and rationalistic) agnostics and even unbelievers
and finally Catholics.
This is an apt illustration of the trend of modern religious
sentiment. How is this religious confusion with its winning
plausibility and far-reaching breadth to be excluded from the
public mind of the vast majority of the American people?
Among several means the most forceful and sacred is the
non-Catholic movement.
The task is Herculean but the Church is instinct with the
breath and energy of Christ. It is His Life made manifest
in life. We are not asked to make the non-Catholic cause a
ruling and divine passion, although that would be laudable, but
it is ours to be of service in our own position and measure.
Converts 9 Leagues as Aids to Conversions.
The primary object of The National Catholic Converts'
League, as stated in its Constitution, is : "To unite converts
to the Church and Catholics reared in the Faith in an organiza-
tion for the propagation of Catholic doctrine with a view to
promoting conversions and for the instruction of Catholics
in the doctrines of the Church."
The methods adopted for promoting the objects of the
League are as follows : ( i ) The members of the League are
encouraged to make frequent offerings of prayers, Commun-
ions and good works for the intention of the League; (2) At
frequent intervals meetings are held at which lectures are de-
livered which explain Catholic doctrine and other matters of
vital interest to Catholics; (3) Financial assistance is given to
needy and especially to ex-Protestant ministers with depend-
ent families; (4) Home and foreign missions and other "con-
vert making" agencies are assisted financially; (5) Through
the League's meetings an opportunity is given to Catholics
reared in the Faith and converts to the Church to meet one
another; (6) Catholic literature is distributed gratis.
1 82 THE WHITE HARVEST
Another and most important work of the Catholic Converts
League has been to introduce important Catholic missions and
causes to the American Catholic public, in particular the mis-
sions of prominent European Catholics who have come to this
country seeking the assistance of American Catholics. The
Catholic Converts' League has introduced to the American
Catholic public and supported the work of many of the most
important Catholic prelates, priests and laymen who have
visited this country in recent years. In this work the League
has been conspicuously successful and of international value
to the Catholic Church.
Among the distinguished people who have lectured before
the Catholic Converts' League of New York may be named Sir
Bertram Windle, former President of the University of Cork,
Ireland ; the late Mr. Cecil Chesterton, Professor Henry
Jones Ford of Princeton University, Professor Carlton Hayes
of Columbia University, Very Rev. Bede Jarrett, O.P., Pro-
vincial of the English Dominicans, the late Mr. Wilfred
Ward, editor of the Dublin Review; Very Rev. Vincent Mc-
Nabb, O.P., Dr. Hugh Pope, O.P.; Dr. Richard Downey,
President of the Catholic Missionary Society, England; Rt.
Rev. Monsignor Arthur Barnes, Catholic chaplain at Oxford
University; the late Rt. Rev. Monsignor Sigourney Fay, Mr.
Louis H. Wetmore, formerly Literary Editor of the New
York Times; Mr. Shane Leslie, editor of the Dublin Review;
Dr. Frederick Joseph Kinsman, formerly Episcopalian Bishop
of Delaware, who made his first public address as a Catholic
under the auspices of the League; and Rt. Rev. Monsignor
Richard Barry-Doyle, whose first lecture in this country was
delivered at a meeting of the League. .
The lectures of the Catholic Converts' League are among
the best attended Catholic lectures in this country, and are at-
tended by non-Catholics as well as Catholics. By means of its
lectures the League has been an important and active factor
in diffusing the Catholic Faith and working for the conversion
of America and of foreign lands. Through holding its lee-
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 183
tures in public halls the League attracts to its meeting many
non-Catholics who hesitate to enter Catholic Churches for the
purpose of hearing Catholic doctrine expounded.
All the lectures of the League are free to members and their
friends with the exception of the one annual paid lecture for
which tickets are sold to raise funds for the League's many
important undertakings. While members are requested to
purchase tickets for the annual paid lecture, the purpose of
such tickets is not obligatory in any sense for membership in
the League.
The Converts' League takes an active interest in and assists
to the best of its ability all Catholic movements for the reunion
of Christendom, especially those movements working for the
reunion of the schismatic churches with the Holy See.
Through the generosity of its members and through appeals
made to non-members the League has raised considerable sums
of money for important Catholic works, such as the sum of
five thousand dollars for the important mission of Monsignor
Richard Barry-Doyle in behalf of the persecuted Christians
of the Near East. The Catholic Converts' League, during
the World War, was able to save and in great part maintain
the Belgian Jesuit Mission in India, a mission which would
have collapsed through lack of available funds had it not been
for the financial assistance rendered by the Catholic Converts'
League. Each year the League contributes a certain sum to
this mission for the support of one of its catechists. The
League has also contributed to the financial support of the
Dominican and Passionist missionaries in China, to the Mary-
knoll Foreign Mission Society, to the convert community of
Benedictine monks at Caldey Island, England, and has ren-
dered considerable financial assistance toward the foundation
of the Apostolic Mission House, which is under the direction
of the Paulist Fathers, at the Catholic University, Washing-
ton, D. C. The League has also sent contributions direct
to the Holy Father for the Papal relief work in the Near
East.
1 84 THE WHITE HARVEST
In 1923 His Holiness Pope Pius XI sent not merely the
Apostolic Benediction to all members of the Catholic Con-
verts' League, but a very special personal blessing to all mem-
bers as well. His Eminence, Cardinal Tacci, Secretary of the
Sacred Roman Congregation of the Oriental Church, has ex-
pressed the thanks of the Holy Father and sent his own per-
sonal appreciation and blessing to the members of the Con-
verts' League for the League's support of the movement for
the reunion of the schismatic churches of the East with the
Holy See and for the financial assistance rendered by the
League to the persecuted Christians of the Near East.
His Eminence, Cardinal Hayes, Archbishop of New York
at the annual paid lecture of the League at the Hotel Plaza,
New York City, on April 22nd, 1922, spoke as follows con-
cerning the League and its work:
"I shall go away tonight edified and instructed, as I have
always been edified and instructed by the lectures I have heard
at meetings of the Converts' League. The League should re-
ceive the encouragement and support of our Catholic people
of New York. It is leaving the door open to those outside
the Faith. 'Everybody welcome' is flashed throughout the
year to those who will come in and try to find the truth. I am
very much pleased with the work the League has done in the
diocese and the intelligent manner in which the League's work
has been conducted, its lectures handled, and with the effects of
its labors in the diocese. The Converts' League fills a distinct
gap in the Catholic life in New York."
The Converts' League does not desire a too large or un-
wieldly membership, and seeks for quality as well as quantity
in its membership, desiring particularly, as members people of
all classes of society who are interested in the League's work
for the conversion of America and other lands. Members of
the League are asked to assist the Board of Directors in se-
curing as many new members as possible among their friends
who will loyally cooperate with the Archbishop of New York
and the officials of the League in its many activities.
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 185
It must be emphasized that all Catholics are eligible for
membership in the League. Catholics reared in the Faith
are desired as members as well as converts to the Church. A
large proportion of the members of the League are "born
Catholics." All that is required for membership in the Cath-
olic Converts' League is an interest in the propagation of
Catholic truth and in the conversion of the world to the Cath-
olic Faith.
Street Preaching a Means to Make Converts
Speaking of the enthusiasm of out-door preaching in Eng-
land, even in the villages and the remotest outposts of the
Faith, Father Hugh Pope, O.P., when in New York, related
some of his experiences. Once, while at a Dominican priory,
he attended a clothing of novices. One novice he especially
noticed and believing he knew him, asked where they had met
before. "Oh!" was the reply, "I used to be a heckler of the
speakers at Marble Arch in London."
It seems strange, yet, I think true, that difficulties stand out
more prominently here than in England, when considering the
hope of having street-preaching in our American towns and
cities. Yet the difficulties may be imaginary. In any event,
the English Catholics have faced and conquered theirs. Per-
haps they were more real than ours. I have stood in Hyde
Park, London, on Sunday afternoon and listened to all fash-
ions of speech and speaker, orating about religion, morality,
the government and what not. If I took it all to be a true
indication of the state of things in England, I would, promptly,
arrive at the conclusion that the British Empire was on the
verge of dissolution. This scene and the situation generally
is not taken seriously, but it is impossible, for even a casual
observer, not to be impressed, not only by the fact itself, but
by the plausible nature of some of the truths even crudely ex-
pressed. Impelled, furthermore, by a sense of curiosity, I
linger to listen. Every word, either for good or ill, is heard.
1 86 THE WHITE HARVEST
Some thought does remain with me, however impervious I
may seem to be.
Now, if there be any substantial scientific value to what is
so readily and indefinitely termed mob-psychology, it would be
the stern fact that any and every crowd can be swayed, without
a moment's notice, by a human voice, uttering a human speech.
I have seen it manifested in Columbus Circle and Union
Square, New York. Thus Billy Sunday is not a phenomenon.
He has merely learned the method and applied it with all his
virile energy. The Jewish people around Cooper Union and
old St. Mark's in the Bowery always listen respectfully to the
Salvation Army lassies and evangelists, even when they re-
duce all eternal salvation to the august Personality of Christ.
The Jewish auditors do not believe, but they listen. Such lis-
tening must in the process of time, ultimately, affect some in
some manner. They may not accept but they are being reli-
giously broadened and must eventually be disabused of precon-
ceived notions lodged in their minds. Political science ac-
knowledges the serviceable force of the spoken word to the
plain man in the street. So the more hazardous the risks .of
a political situation the more elaborate is the system of out-
door campaign. Popular attention is arrested and results ac-
quired which could not possibly be obtained in public halls and
indoor political meetings.
This fact solemnly applied to the momentous propaganda
of authentic religion is the basis of all the various reasons for
beginning the experiment of street-preaching in this country.
From the opening to the finish, the source of its operation must
be with the Bishop, set by the Holy Spirit to rule the See, in
which the experiment is being tried. ,The exponents of the
system must be priests officially constituted and duly tested
and accredited by him. With the Bishop and among them-
selves there must be candor, sympathy, cooperation and con-
sultation. In disputed points of theory and action, final
judgment and all ultimate control must rest with the Bishop.
If this is necessary for an approved official and trained priest-
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 187
hood, it is ten times more important for the lay movement of
catechists and lay street-preachers, be they paid or otherwise.
The theological principle involved, must always be safe-
guarded. A pious and intelligent laity will, at once, see the
necessity for this.
When I became a Knight of Columbus and attended the
meetings of the organization, I marveled at the fluency and
knowledge of the laity in discussing religious matters. Never-
theless, for the present, at least, I think it would be rash, if not
dangerous, to institute a corps of lay-missionaries before the
educational department of the lay apostolate is definitely and
objectively established. Then, perhaps, the Knights of Co-
lumbus authoritatively directed would start this stirring and
heavenly work. True, it is being splendidly done by the
Catholic laity in England. But there the mode of education
is more rigid and thorough. Already they have compiled
their hand-books of rules and framed a definite constitution,
with explicit methods of doctrinal, spiritual and practical train-
ing for the catechists and lay missionaries. They are oper-
ating admirably in several dioceses of England. There are
branches in Liverpool, Birmingham, Cardiff, Newcastle, Plym-
outh, and prospectively Nottingham and Portsmouth.
It is a glorious tribute to the sincerity and zeal of Cathol-
icism in that nation. It was Cardinal Newman who said:
"In all times, the laity have been the measure of the Catholic
spirit."
Now, that which is being done abroad can be done in Amer-
ica. But the movement must be actually systematized and
some one must begin the beginning. Not even from one angle
can it be looked at as impossible. Any one who has heard
David Goldstein, the Jewish convert, talking in the street to
a motley assemblage of laborers on religion and the economic
defects of Socialism is immediately provoked to think of the
good he is doing for the propagation of religion. Then
others like him and others. Cardinal Wiseman and Cardinal
Bourne have called attention to the existence in many dioceses
1 8 8 THE WHITE HARVEST
of France of bodies of priests known as "Missionaries Dio-
cesans." They are diocesan priests, banded together under
a simple, brotherly rule, to do the work of the diocese, which
cannot be done by the priests, "who are tied down by the ever-
present responsibilities of a parochial charge."
Such a constituency (never very numerous) of secular
priests, educated, let us say, at the Apostolic Mission House,
Washington, or elsewhere, could be attached to every large
diocese of the United States. When not employed for non-
Catholic missions in the churches they could give these same
lectures and answer questions in the squares or parks or streets
of the cities and towns. Some times these places are con-
veniently near the Catholic churches as in Logan Square and
the New Parkway, to the Philadelphia Cathedral.
It is a sweet and gentle memory to refer to that out-door
troubadour, St. Francis of Assisi, with his flock of Friars, as
was their wont, speaking in the open, the gracious things of
the Gospel, for the people along the roads. No Salvationists
ever shouted the Holy Name more loudly or beat a drum more
violently, than did the bedraggled tramps who helped St. Ber-
nardine of Sienna to draw a crowd at the street-corners.
They used cymbals, pipes, horns and drums. They carried
by night transparencies and oil-torches. They flaunted ban-
ners of sheep-skin parchment, with nothing inscribed but the
word "Jesus." A large wooden crucifix went before this noisy
procession of pied vagrants and ubiquitous riff-raff of the com-
munity. To them the Saint preached his unctious doctrine,
sweeter than honey in the comb.
If we are to have street-preaching we must put on the in-
genuousness and Faith of the Saint and rid ourselves of the
self-consciousness and timidity of the worldling. Until then,
we shall talk of vulgarity and the lack of dignity and ill-
manners, cheapness and familiarity; that is, if we regard the
subject of street-preaching seriously, and can see in it one of
the means that could be consecrated and safely directed for
the extension of Christ's Kingdom on earth.
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 189
Many times I have watched the crowds and stood amongst
them and heard their remarks, in several cities of this coun-
try. The speakers preach fundamental religious truths, the
sound, wholesome Catholic doctrine of the Atonement,
Propitiation, Redemption and Love of Christ. They are not
controversial or theological, because they are not technically
learned but rather simple and devout. They do not attack
or deny such truths as the Divinity of Christ or the existence
of a Visible Church or the value of the Sacramental System.
They do not touch these questions. They are omitted for the
radical and all-embracing subject of the Love of Christ the
human appeal to the hearts of a listening crowd of Him
who died for all.
Already the Catholic street-preacher has his cue. The note
is given on which he is to attack. If he is quick-witted in the
knowledge of men's souls and cognizant of the divine element
in the meanest street-rabble, and above all abounds in the Love
of Christ, no fuller measure of delight can encompass the
heart of any American priest ordained, to go out in the high-
ways and the byways and compel them to come in.
Was there ever a more golden harvest, ripened for the
reapers ?
The Religious Conversion of the American Jew
When David Warfield, who is a Jew by birth, portrays Shy-
lock he makes the acme of grief, not so much the loss of his
daughter, Jessica, and the ducats, as the decision of the Vene-
tian Court, that the Jew must "presently become a Christian."
This is a shattering blow to Shylock. The poignancy of his
woe is depicted in his white emaciated face and broken voice.
As he passes out of the back door of the court, he is accosted
by a cadaverous monk the usual stupid stick the stage
monk, who holds aloft a crucifix. Shylock shudders at the
sight of it, bends under it, and buries his face, suffused with
shame, in his spare hands. It is a by-play of Belasco's dra-
190 THE WHITE HARVEST
matic genius, who, by the way, is also a Jew. There comes,
at once, to the Christian spectator the sickening sense of re-
volt, at an injustice done the Jew. In spite of the merciless-
ness of the Jews, Christian sympathy goes out to him, that he
is bidden to the baptismal font. Shylock's insincere and last
word is "I am content." That garrulous spendthrift and
thief, Gratiano, who has stolen the Jew's traitorous daughter,
spits upon his Jewish gaberdine and into his ear hisses this
grim piece of irony :
In christening thon shalt have two godfathers;
Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more,
To bring thee to the gallows, not the font.
It is a splendid stroke of Shakespeare, manifesting the hor-
ror which overtakes a Jew at the mere thought, not so much
a sinning against the light, as twisting the course of the blood
in his veins and becoming a Christian. For a Jew is a Jew
because he was born a Jew. His creed is in his blood. This is
the explanation of the sudden outbursts of scorn at any or-
ganized Christian movement to religiously convert the Jew.
It is prompted not merely by pride of race but by the moral
satisfaction of his own traditional and racial religion.
Now, at once, is seen the barrier insurmountable between a
devout Jew and a devout Christian. The Messianic idea,
with its historic adjustments, so strikingly fitting (even in
petty detail) with the person of Christ, is regarded by the
modern nationalistic Jew, if not with indifferentism, then with
the interpretation, that it is but a sublime dream or a vision
beheld in fancy, by a prophet, poet and seer. Hirsch would
have us believe that Christ is a great Jew, but the victim of
Roman intrigue and crude public sentiment. In keeping with
the theory of modernism, he believes that this Christ has been
invested with a perfection and glory, bred in the romantic
imaginings and hero worship of man. This, in some respects,
is not unlike accepted modern Unitarianism.
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 191
Rabbi Samuel Schulman, in his work on "Jewish Ethics,"
says, in the opening sentences, that "the center of the Jewish
religion is not dogma, but commandments, not creed, but
deed." Is not this, apart from the racial aspect, the concept
of many a sect of the Christian religion? Judaism, except
with the older generation of believers, has degenerated into a
kind of high-minded agnosticism. This is ably personified in
a type such as Felix Adler, with his "School of Ethical Cul-
ture." The constituency of Jews who attend the Christian
Science temples and practice healing do not become Christians,
but pick up the psycho-therapeutic element in Christianity for
its practical value to health. The profound and far-reaching
racial strain abides in every Jew who uses the system of Chris-
tian Science. No intellectual conviction is demanded of him
no definite creed or fixed mode of conduct. With Cathol-
icism the case is tremendously different. The difference ex-
plains the paucity of Jewish converts. Yet Catholicism is the
only Christian system which can explain the religious attitude
of the Jew. Furthermore, it is the only system which can
prove the divinity of Judaism. For without the divinity of
Judaism, the authenticity and integrity of Catholicism could
not exist. The same law in its perfection of continuity runs
like a golden thread through two pieces of fabric, when sewn
together. Cardinal Newman has averred that even Chris-
tianity has not outrivalled the Hebrew literature, and that it
is necessary, for its Christ consummates the law of Judaism
and gives a consistent, logical position to the longings of the
Hebrew prophets. The racial hatred of the Jew is not alone
the defect of the Christian. In moments of domination and
victory the Jew has likewise historically expressed his vindic-
tiveness for the Christian Lenin, Trotsky and Tchicherin
are said to be the very symbols of Semitic revenge. It is im-
possible to determine how far this statement is correct. The
Jew cannot trust the Christian. The American Jew, Rabbi
Stephen Wise and other Israelitic leaders, have revealed this
sense of distrust, in their condemnation of the Oberammergau
192 THE WHITE HARVEST
Passion Play as anti-Jewish propaganda. No asseveration
could be more aside from the truth. Its ignorance of the
fact is only equalled by the virulent excesses of Henry Ford,
in his study of "Jewish Influences in American Life." Lack
of accurate information, immature judgment and racial op-
position are the ingredients of an irritant which keeps up the
inflammable hatreds of Jew and Gentile. If there is any solu-
tion of so distressing, a problem, it must be found in the
American Republic, which is somewhat of a fair field with no
favor for any nationality. I marvel at the optimism of the
Dominican Prior, Bede Jarrett, who has founded "The Guild
of Israel" for the religious conversion of the English Jew. I
can see no hopefulness for such an awakening in the soul or
mind of the American Jew. But the American Jew is not the
English Jew. I am aware of it. However, for that enor-
mous regeneration or new birth into the fuller life of Christ,
the principle of atonement, propitiation, prayer, sacrifice, as
embodied in the lives of "The Ladies of Zion,"" will be the
most effectual means possible. We have them in the Amer-
ican Republic. They are hardly known to Americans or even
to New Yorkers, who live with a million and a half American
Jews. The American Jews themselves hardly know of the
magnificent prospects of Zion or the meaning of Zionism.
Only a handful have gone to Palestine and out of the whole
world less than forty thousand have subscribed themselves as
citizens of the Holy City. These few have in so brief a time
become such a dominant factor that the Christian has been
provoked by fear to ally himself, not only with the Moham-
medan and Greek, but with his own enemy, the Turk, as
against the Jew. Who can prophesy? Perhaps the return of
the Jew to Jerusalem is the first process of a profound up-
heaval the religious reaction of the Jew the hope of him
who was "an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe
of Benjamin."
How impressive and precious is that bit of history vouch-
safed to us by Eusebius the ancient scholar ! He gives us a list
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 193
of thirteen Christian bishops, all of Jewish stock and tradi-
tion. He presents us with their names which are worth not-
ing for their Hebraic character Justus, Zacheus, Tobias,
Benjamin, John, Mathias, Philip, Seneca, Justus II, Levi,
Ephraim, Joseph and Jude. It was one of the apostles a
relation of Christ and an upholder of Jewish traditions, who
was made the first Bishop of Jerusalem. He was of the loins
of the Jew. He was known to Jews and Christians for his
sanctity of life, being named "The Just." He was succeeded
by Simeon, a cousin of Christ. We remember only the early
Jews who did not accept Christianity ; we forget the thousands
and thousands who did. As a result of St. Peter's sermons
alone, thousands rushed to be baptized. I hardly ever look
at a Jew in the streets of New York without thinking of this
ancient truth. The Jew is always before me, a mysterious
token of a mysterious race a perplexing symbol of that sub-
lime act of Divine interference. The mystery is more pro-
found when I consider this supreme religious satisfaction. It
is indicated in the oratorical discourse of that devout Rabbi,
Abram Simon, in this vein :
"Our birthright has a distinctly religious connotation. I
don't know, nor am I interested, in trying to indicate in how
far our religion from Abraham to our children has entered
into our physical, racial, mental or moral make-up. I am will-
ing to leave the mysteries to God. Our religion is time hon-
ored Judaism. It has a right to birth. It has a right to
thrive. No religious sect has a right to say what religion has
received God's death warrant; surely none that sprang from
Israel's loins dare announce the premature or desired death
of its mother. Israel's testament, more inclusive than the
Bible, will need the ages before it is probated.
"It is a source of sorrow that Judaism, which embodies our
religious teachings for 3,000 years of development, is not
better understood. Emerson's sentiment 'to be great is to be
misunderstood' is tawdry comfort and less truth."
This, in general, is the mental attitude of the orthodox,
194 THE WHITE HARVEST
religious Jew. The heterodox, American Jew is rationalistic
and for the most part indifferent to any species of religion.
Nothing could be more touching than the sincere Faith of
the older generation of Polish, Russian, and Roumanian Jews
in America. The keen edge of persecution and the grim fel-
lowship of persecution, borne as a heritage from the old
world, has but deepened his Faith. The German and Aus-
trian Jew has been here longer. American prosperity, of
which he is a rightful participant, has loosened the bonds of
his Faith, but it has not opened a path of light unto Him, Who
is the Light of the World. Christ's tears are still spent at the
sight of Jerusalem. Frankly speaking, there is not the re-
motest indication of even a desire to study the claims of the
Catholic idea. At least, this is my personal view and the re-
sult of my conscientious observation. The historic tragedy
of the Jew has been immensely softened in America by his
unparalleled success. I cannot bring myself to say that it has
made him more religious. I think it has made him less. In
this course, the Jew is not unlike the Christian. But suffer-
ing in the Christian drives him to the wall and he takes to
religion. In a crisis and in misfortune the Jew is religious but
always a Jew and never inclined to look to Christianity. He
has enough moral support in Judaism. This fact does but
make more startling the conversion of the Ratisbonne broth-
ers. It is, when viewed naturally, an astounding psychologi-
cal phenomenon. The explanation is that the cause came
straight out of the sky, like a bolt which struck that Jew of
Jews, the one time Saul of Tarsus.
When Shylock curses his daughter, Jessica, and damns her
that Hebrew flesh and blood should so rebel and take to wings
of flight, with a Christian, he is but exploiting a truth extant
today. The same form and ritual of malediction is in vogue
at the marriage of Jew and Christian. The solution of the
problem is not in the racial assimilation of intermarriage. In
this regard, the Christian is as assimilative an element as is
the Jew. For the most part, the marriage is not compatible
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 195
and the children carry a stigma, born of the crass prejudice
of Both Christian and Jew. Moreover, Ghetto segregation in
America, be it said to our honor, is a thing of the past. As-
sociation of Jew and Gentile is freer in our country than in
any other. Perforce, it must in time dislodge many a mood
of racial antipathy from mind and heart. Only at this angle
can I see any hope for the future.
The work of HUaire Belloc does not solve but urges the
problem to an acute and even irritating degree. Perhaps, he
meant the influence of his book to bring the question to a
ripened head, since anti-Semitism is still a difficulty, as it was
likewise before the World War. In America it is secretive
and seething. In Europe it is open and defiant. In a dis-
cussion of this question, Weinstock, an eminent Jew, con-
cludes that, "the feeling against the Jew is racial rather than
religious." I had a Jewish maiden once say to me that her
profession of Catholic Faith had excluded her from Christian
as well as Jewish favor. Neither Jew nor Christian would
seek her in marriage. To the Christian youth she was a
Jewess. To the youth of her own race she had gone out of
her father's house and betrayed her own flesh and blood.
The surging insistence of the racial instinct is summed up in
the cry, which Shakespeare puts in the throat of Shylock : "I
say, my daughter is my flesh and blood." Salarino, the Chris-
tian, answers the Jew :
There is more difference between
Thy flesh and kers t than between jet
And ivory; more between your bloods
Than there is between red wine and Rhenish.
But this is not an answer. It is Christian and warped and
does not cover the whole situation. The Christians' congen-
ital antipathy to the Jew is equally reflected in the Jews' in-
herited hatred of the Christian. This is the monumental
impediment to the right understanding of one another's men-
i 9 6 THE WHITE HARVEST
tal and spiritual point of view. The difference is radical, deep
seated, far-reaching. No power on earth can uproot it but
God alone. The mode of procedure for such a consumma-
tion, so devoutly wished for, is reduced to abject, humble
prayer the universal brotherly, genuine prayer of both Chris-
tian and Jew:
"I say then, have they so stumbled, that they should fall?
God forbid. But by their offense, salvation is come to the
Gentiles, that they may be emulous of them. Now, if the
offense of them be the riches of the world and the diminution
of them, the riches of the Gentiles; how much more the full-
ness of them?
"For I say to you, Gentiles: as long indeed as I am the
apostle of the Gentiles I will honor thy ministry. If by any
means, I may provoke to emulate them who are my flesh and
may save some of them.
"For if the loss of them be the reconciliation of the world,
what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead."
St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Chap, xi, n, 15.
Chesterton a Type of Catholic Convert
It were in no manner wary to speculate concerning the con-
tingencies of the career of a great man who has accepted the
Catholic system. However great, he may react, for we have
beheld the seeming pillars of truth crack and fall. But perish
the thought, for Chesterton seems to have been ethically
wholesome from the dawn of his literary life. This is saying
much, for he was in adolescence an obscure newspaper author,
writing under pressure, and with one hand on the throbbing
pulse of public sentiment, which is sometimes overwrought
and not always sound. Yet I have heard him say that he
wrote many things rashly and which he now would fain with-
draw. But this sense of dissatisfaction comes to every gen-
uine artist. I had the honor of knowing his Catholic
brother, Cecil, and saw him several times during his visit to
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 197
America. Gilbert Keith was in every way a larger man, but
the younger brother was not unlike him in clarity of thought
and effusiveness of manner and speech. Neither one of them
had that hesitancy and remoteness which is so much a part of
an Englishman's deportment. I would say the same of Ben-
son, another unusual convert, with whom I talked on a few
occasions and heard preach many times.
When Chesterton wrote "Orthodoxy" some of his intimate
disciples averred that he would ultimately turn to the road
that leads to Rome. They reiterated their suspicions after
he published "The Ball and the Cross." Twice I heard him
lecture. Each time he asserted that for the readjustment of
present complications we had but to hark back to the eternal
simplicities of the ancient medieval Faith. My wondesment
increased but my distress was most acute, since he never once
used the more definite terminology, Catholicism.
At one period in Ruskin's career Oxford believed (and
with some evidence) that he was wending his way Romeward.
He died outside the pale, but with his spare body, as was his
desire, wrapped in a Franciscan habit. Mallock wrote,
among others, two books, "Is Life Worth Living" and "Doc-
trinal Disruption" and his readers forthwith would have him
at Brompton Oratory making his profession of Faith. They
waxed restive because of his refusal and reduced it to some
moral obliquity, since they were certain he was intellectually
convinced. So I, on the night I listened to Chesterton, won-
dered how he could morally stay where he was and not call
things by their real names. Then came the news of his con-
version to the Catholic idea. In London, on August 24,
1922, he said: "I do not want anyone to talk about my con-
version as though it were a highly important matter, but I do
not mind it being known." To me the fundamental virtue in
his output is his mental humility in the midst of his prodigious
information, judgment, insight, fluency and coruscations of
wit. He does not value himself the less because he is sure
of his ground and has a due estimate of his quality. I was
THE WHITE HARVEST
present when the poet, Edwin Markham, told how Chester-
ton's voice was heard on two continents. This exuberant in-
troduction was too much for Chesterton's genuine modesty.
He chuckled like an overgrown and gigantic boy and assured
his listeners that even if his voice were heard on several con-
tinents, there would be considerable difficulty in hearing it
from the platform on which he stood. He has a nicely modu-
lated voice, but it is small for a body of such ponderous pro-
portions. He reminded his audience that he never faced a
company of intellectuals without thinking of the familiar lines
of the Roman poet: "Paturiunt monies nascetur ridiculus
mus." He has a splendid leonine head, with a great shock
of touseled kinky hair, and, not unlike that of Henry Ward
Beecher's and Joseph Parker of City Temple, London, as I
remember these two distinguished types. When he looks at
you intently he draws up his eyes like Theodore Roosevelt.
The radical moral defect, the worship of self, which Chester-
ton detects in the modern expressions of religion, I consider
to be the starting point of his journey to the Eternal City.
He has said so splendidly: "Of all conceivable religions the
most horrible is the worship of the god within. Anyone who
knows anybody knows how it would work. That Jones shall
worship the god within him turns out ultimately to mean that
Jones shall worship Jones. Let Jones worship the sun or
moon anything rather than the Inner Light; let Jones wor-
ship cats or crocodiles, if he can find any in his street, but not
the god within. Christianity came into the world, firstly, in
order to assert with violence that a man had not only to look
inwards, but to look outwards, to behold with astonishment
and enthusiasm a divine company and a divine captain. The
only fun of being a Christian was that a man was not left
alone with the Inner Light, but definitely recognized an outer
light, fair as the sun, clear as the moon, terrible as any army
with banners."
Now I am far from saying that this was Chesterton's first
mental process before he had finally accepted the Catholic
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 199
theory of religion. From his book "Orthodoxy" I gather
that there must have been some perilous adolescent time when
he doubted enough at least to betake himself to the fathers
of Agnosticism for counsel. But this condition was not en-
during, he is quick to assert, "It was Huxley and Herbert
Spencer and Bradlaugh who brought me back to orthodox the-
ology. They sowed in my mind my first wild doubts of doubt.
Our grandmothers were quite right when they said that Tom
Paine and the Freethinkers unsettled the mind. They do.
They unsettled mine horribly. The rationalists made me
question whether reason was of any use whatever; and when
I had finished Herbert Spencer I got as far as doubting (for
the first time) whether evolution had occurred at all. As I
laid down Colonel IngersolPs atheistic lectures, the dreadful
thought broke into my mind, 'Almost thou persuadest me to
be a Christian.' " Elsewhere, however, he had admitted a
symptom of scepticism recurrent in early youth. But even this
is the confession of a man who was never really entangled in
an impenetrable forest. He had, even there, in the obscure
darkness, the eyes of faith to see lines of light streaming
through the rifts of the heavy foliage and wide trees. What
he had of that inscrutable reality, grace, we shall never know
and it were unmannerly to struggle to determine. What we
do know is that he has come out of the darkness into the light
out of a house of bondage and confusion, into a land flowing
with milk and honey. In one of his fine passages our Ches-
terton asks: "How can we say that the Church wishes to
bring us back into the Dark Ages? The Church was the only
thing that ever brought us out of them. If our faith had
been a mere fad of the fading empire, fad would have fol-
lowed fad in the twilight, and if the civilization ever re-
emerged (and many such have never re-emerged) it would
have been under some new barbaric flag. But the Christian
Church was the last life of the old society and was also the
first life of the new. She took the people who were forget-
ting how to make an arch and she taught them to invent the
200 THE WHITE HARVEST
Gothic arch. In a word, the most absurd thing that could
be said of the Church is the thing we have all heard said of
it." In another place he notes the reasons for this grave
injustice: "Christianity is always out of fashion because it
is always sane; and all fashions are mild insanities. The
Church always seems to be behind the times, when it is really
beyond the times ; it is waiting till the last fad shall have seen
its last summer. It keeps the key of a permanent virtue."
These are illuminating words, but they are concerned with the
wider conception of Christianity. But one can discover in
the subsequent sentences a more definite advance toward the
organized, integral economy-Catholicism. "The authority of
priests to absolve, the authority of popes to define, the author-
ity even of inquisitors to terrify, these were only dark de-
fences erected round one central authority, more undemon-
strable, more supernatural than the authority of a man to
think. We know now that this is so ; we have no excuse for
not knowing it. For we can hear scepticism crashing through
the old ring of authorities and at the same moment we can
see reason swaying upon her throne."
The obvious impression of Chesterton's coming to us will
be more serviceable to a certain constituency of readers than
would that of an ecclesiastic of academic precision and exclu-
siveness. Chesterton is a layman and a free lance. He is
an outsider, spontaneous and clean as a whistle. There is
something of the irregularity of rough rubble about the ma-
sonry of his work. His sincerities are patent. He comes
from Fleet Street where once trudged the portly figure of Dr.
Johnson. He is not an Archdeacon of a Canon from the
chapter or a Vicar behind a walled garden. He is not al-
together a man of letters, but also a journalist in modern Lon-
don. He has a hearty laugh, is about fifty years old, and
is not ashamed to enter "a pub" to drink a mug of porter.
He is as frolicsome as he was at St. Paul's School and .the
Slade. He is a layman and his pronouncements have been to
the laity. His influence therefore will pass beyond the limit
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 201
of a caste. It will be more extensive than even the examples
of such eminent lay-converts as DeVere, Pugin, Thompson,
DeLisle, Digby, Bellassis, Windle. It will touch a circum-
scribed area here in America. When he was here he was too
polite to open wider our gapping social wounds. Yet there
are for us a few clauses replete with penetrating analysis and
gentle rebuke which are worth quoting. "If Americans can
be divorced for incompatibility of temper I cannot conceive
why they are not all divorced. I have known many happy
marriages, but never a compatible one. The whole aim of
marriage is to fight through and survive the instant when in-
compatibility becomes unquestionable. For a man and a
woman, as such, are incompatible."
In genial fashion he poked fun at us when a flight of enter-
prising New York reporters rushed at him after this trip to the
West, to question him as to how he thought the Prohibition
law was working. Said Chesterton : "When you ask me
that I am silent. But if you ask me how it is not working I
could talk to you all day long."
With similar light-hearted gayety he challenges the crooked
vision of the satirist, Shaw, and the monumental historic and
scientific pretentiousness of that great man, Wells. He thinks
that Shaw's superman who was to steal in on us like a thief in
the night has not yet been found, and if he ever existed he was
probably killed in the war. There is a racy, artless sarcasm
in his belief that popular scientists are ready in speech con-
cerning anthropoid apes, and the missing link, because they
are so missing. Every high school girl can be indignant and
garrulous about the primitive cave-man who so ruthlessly vio-
lated the delicate sensibilities of the cave-lady. Chesterton
wants to know if the cave-women ever existed, and if so how
came she to be so exclusive and morally sensitive. Indeed, no
living soul but Chesterton could indicate with so piquant a
flavor all the comic aspects of this reckless theorizing about
evolution.
Chesterton's playful manner of dealing with serious issues
202 THE WHITE HARVEST
and his quips about the foibles of scientific men who so ruth-
lessly conjecture and arrive at wide conclusions from limited
antecedents had brought down upon his head the mocking
sneer so easily the outcome of academic censoriousness. It
is his mode to string you along with plausible and popular
falsities and then with a quirk tumble you in a hole to demon-
strate the truth. His wilful indulgence in exaggeration and
disdain of intellectual conventionality and "his streaks of ir-
reverent imagination thrown across deeply reverent thought,
its occasional exhibition of honest Philistine human nature,
unrestrained by fastidious taste the spectacle, in short of
Mr. Chesterton's whole, forcible, energizing self, with its
strength and its defects, fired by the Christian dogma and
ethics, as though he had lived in the days of Nero and Marcus
Aurelius, is just the tonic which a jaded generation needs."
These are the words of the late Mr. Wilfrid Ward. Ward
understood Chesterton before his method of exploiting the
truth sank down into the English mind. The critics resented
what they considered to be his cocksureness and all his quaint
conceit and confusing array of paradox. Yet in retort he
has never shown a sour turn, none of the rudeness of Carlyle
or the impatience of Patmore. Then, too, he attacked Eng-
lish prejudices but as an Englishman who loves England.
Thus with no sense of flippancy but in true English earnest-
ness he ridicules what he believes to be the exceedingly foolish
and pedantic notion of Anglo-Saxon Solidarity. He is a"t a
loss to define Anglo-Saxon and as for its solidarity he finds it
never was very solid and whatever there is of solidarity could
readily be reduced to solution.
With equally mellow humor Chesterton fells the Superman
because there is no rationalistic basis for his existence and the
Prehistoric Man because he is a contradiction in terms. The
actual mythology of these personages and the facile and im-
mature ideas about them are created by insufficient observation
and the present condition of journalism, the mentality of the
authors and journalists and the ways of newspaper circulation.
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 203
The interest in the question of the Fourth Dimension and Ein-
stein's theory of Relativity is not half as interesting as the
nature of the interest and the types who_are interested. In
short, Chesterton's drollery when applying the maxims of
common sense to nonsense and the imaginary learned divisions
and plausible illusions of presumably educated people, is a con-
tribution of high utility to honest thought. This is real serv-
ice for we are so helpless in the things of the mind and so
susceptible to credulity. Any ninny with sufficient self-
assertiveness and publicity could proclaim that he had dis-
covered a monkey gland which would rejuvenate the human
race and he could get a hearing. Chesterton is the foe of all
this monumental pretense of the scientific knowledge of things
and of the form of things especially when the nature of the
ignorance involved is so profoundly mistaken as to produce
serious results. What could be more searching than the light
which he shifts on the mixed motives of theorists and pro-
fessional reformers who are consumed with passion to reform
the other fellow, but remain securely and comfortably lodged
at home. Here is an excerpt from "Orthodoxy":
"Joan of Arc was not stuck at the Cross Roads either by
rejecting all the paths like Tolstoy or by accepting them all
like Nietzsche. She chose a path and went down it like a
thunderbolt. Yet Joan, when I come to think of her, had in
her all that was true either in Tolstoy or Nietzsche all that
was even tolerable in either of them. I thought of all that
is noble in Tolstoy: the pleasure in plain things, especially in
plain pity, the actualities of the earth, the reverence for the
poor, the dignity of the bowed back. Joan of Arc had all
that and with this great addition: that she endured poverty
while she admired it; whereas Tolstoy is only a typical aris-
tocrat trying to find out its secret. And then I thought of all
that was brave and proud and pathetic in poor Nietzsche and
his mutiny against the emptiness and timidity of our time. I
thought of his cry for the ecstatic equilibrium of danger, his
hunger for the rush of great horses, his cry to arms. Well,
204 THE WHITE HARVEST
Joan of Arc had all that ; and, again, with this difference, that
she did not praise fight, but fought. We know that she was
not afraid of any army while Nietzsche, for all we know, was
afraid of a cow. Tolstoy only praised the peasant; she
was the peasant. Nietzsche only praised the warriors; she
was the warrior. She beat them both at their own antagonis-
tic ideals ; she was more gentle than the one, more violent than
the other. Yet she was a perfectly practical person who did
something, while they are wild speculators who do nothing."
Again he is of incalculable service in matters religious.
His odd fashion of presentment arrests abruptly the popular
attention. It is quite unlike the traditional pulpit utterance.
There is an example of this in his book, "Heretics" :
"When Christ at the symbolic moment was establishing His
great society, He chose for its corner-stone neither the bril-
liant Paul or the mystic John, but a shuffler, a snob, a coward
in a word a man. And upon this rock He has built His
Church and the gates of Hell have not prevailed against it.
All the empires and the kingdoms have failed because of this
inherent and continual weakness, that they were founded by
strong men and upon strong men. But this one thing the
historic Christian Church was founded upon a weak man
and for that reason it is indestructible. For no chain is
stronger than its weakest link."
Kent, the discerning Oblate, has enlightened us in an arti-
cle in "The Tablet," about the manceuvers of Chesterton,
when he charges on the mistaken critics of Fielding. This is
discovered in "All Things Considered." Kent says he opens
the discussion by an ingenuous and apparently irrelevant con-
fession that he never read Pindar, the Greek Poet, as he takes
care to explain, and not Peter Pindar, whose work he has
read. Chesterton, although he does not know the Theban
poet, he assures us he can speak as other literary critics, of the
sublime strains of Pindar. If a captious reader objects it is
because he considers that Chesterton has no right to speak
of the loftiness of Pindar's poetry, since he has not read it.
MODERN ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 205
Chesterton responds that this, alas, implies an unreasonable
skepticism in regard to the value of human testimony. On the
same ground, he insists, the objector could forbid us to speak
of Himalayas as high, unless we have ascended them or of the
Arctic region as cold, unless we have been there. Truly, he
must have the authority of competent witnesses. For other-
wise he may be unwittingly repeating praise for which he has
no real justification. Doubtless Chesterton takes Pindar's
poetry to illustrate his principle for the great singer has his
encomiums from the classic and English poets, such as Milton
and Gray. So Chesterton contends he can praise Pindar with-
out studying his Greek odes. But he observes and this main
point in his argument it is otherwise with one who criticizes
or censures the poet's writings. To criticize one must know
the whole subject. So Chesterton argues that as critics of
Pindar ought to know a little Greek so critics of Fielding
ought to know a little English and have a real knowledge of
the great novelist's productions.
Yet this Chesterton, this relentless logician in the joust, is
he who loves tenderly and writes verses with a reticent emo-
tion about the Divine Infant at Bethlehem and Our Lady
Mary and the Three Wise Men and that Central Fact of the
Incarnation the Young Mother with her new-born Child.
He, it is, who scouts the worldling, suspicious of the possibility
of the angelic virtue, with these fine following sentences, fired
with a delicate spiritual sense :
"You complain of Catholicism for setting up an ideal of
virginity; it did nothing of the kind. The whole human race
set up an ideal of virginity; the Greeks in Athens, the Romans
in the Vestal fire, set up an ideal of virginity. What then is
your real quarrel with Catholicism? Your quarrel can only
be, your quarrel really only is, that Catholicism has achieved
an ideal of virginity; that it is no longer a mere piece of float-
ing poetry. But if you and a few feverish men, in top hats,
running about in a street in London, choose to differ as to the
ideal itself, not only from the Church, but from the Parthe-
206 THE WHITE HARVEST
non whose name means virginity, from the Roman Empire
. . . from the most living and lawless of your own poets,
from Massinger, who wrote the 'Virgin Martyr,' from
Shakespeare who wrote 'Measure for Measure' if you in
Fleet Street diff er from all this human experience, does it never
strike you that it may be Fleet Street that is wrong?"
In this same work, "The Ball and the Cross," there is a
bold stroke of contrast and expression, in the lines which read :
"What phrase would inspire a London clerk or workman
just now? Perhaps that he is a son of the British Empire on
which the sun never sets; perhaps, that he is a prop of his
Trades Union, or a class-conscious proletarian something or
other; perhaps merely that he is a gentleman, when he obvi-
ously is not. Those names and notions are all honorable, but
how long will they last? Empires break; industrial condi-
tions change; the suburbs will not last forever. What will
remain? I will tell you. The Catholic Saint will remain."
These and kindred views of Catholic Christianity have been
perceived by Chesterton for at least ten years, but he needs
must meet some shock to humble his mind, bow the head and
bend the knee. That awakening has come. The new life,
we pray, will beget manifold fruit. He is not in the pristine
but mature time of his career. Though his face may be to-
wards the West, the shadows have not begun to lengthen.
He may be for Catholic journalism and England what Mar-
gotti was for Italy, Gorres for Germany and Veuillot for
France.
If I shall ever again see England I think I shall wend my
way to the lane that leads to his house in Beaconsfield and hear
his dog bark. If I should find, as the Irish say, himself at
the gate, I shall tender quite content my grateful salutations
for well, for many things.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO
CHAPTER X
"WHAT, I ask," said that great Lion of the Northwest, Archbishop
Ireland, "of the multitude that peep at us from gallery and vestibule,
what of the thousands and tens of thousands, nominal Catholics and
non-Catholics who seldom or never open the church door! What of the
uncouth and unkempt, the tenants of the cellar and alleyway, the
mendicant and the outcast! It is time we bring back the Gospel
spirit, to go out into the highways and byways, to preach on house-
tops, and in the market place. Erect stately churches if you will.
They are grand monuments to religion . . . but if some remain outside,
speak to them on the streets or the public road. The time has come
for 'salvation armies' to penetrate the wildest thicket of thorns and
briars, and bring God's Word to the ear of the most vile, the most ig-
norant and the most godless."
To answer this challenging call for an apostolate that would bring
the Gospel of Christ to the vast multitudes in the highways and byways,
who have been untouched by the saving elements of religious truth,
has been the supreme passion and is now the life work of America's
greatest lay apostle, David Goldstein. With a courage and a daring
that would brook no obstacle, Mr. Goldstein has blazed a pioneer trail
across the country, preaching from his autovan to crowds on the streets
in hundreds of cities from Boston to San Francisco. Together with
Mrs. Martha Moore A very, he has brought religion to the masses in the
streets in a manner never before attempted in America. Some idea
of the scope of his missionary activity may be gained from the fact
that he has distributed to listening crowds several hundred thousand
books and pamphlets explaining the Catholic faith.
He brings to his work a rich and varied background of experience.
Born of liberal Jewish parents, he first became prominent in trade union
movements and in the championship of the Socialist cause. He was
207
208 THE WHITE HARVEST
the first socialist candidate for the mayoralty of Boston. In 1903 when
his efforts to induce the Massachusetts Socialists to repudiate their prop-
aganda against religion, the family, and the violent overthrow of the
state proved unsuccessful, he resigned from the Party. He was received
into the Catholic Church on May 21, 1905. Since 1909, under the
patronage of Cardinal O'Connell and under the auspices chiefly of the
Knights of Columbus, he has devoted himself wholeheartedly to the
work of the lay apostolate. In this latter capacity he has rendered
unique service in a manner which probably no clergyman could have
duplicated.
If the teachings and claims of the Catholic religion are to be presented
to the 95 millions of our fellow citizens who are without, the enlistment
of a vast army of trained lay apostles is an indispensable requisite. The
work of the Catholic Evidence Guild in England demonstrates the ef-
ficacy of lay workers in extending among the masses the frontiers of
knowledge concerning the teachings and practices of the Catholic
faith. In this interesting story Mr. Goldstein indicates the methods
of proven validity and sounds a ringing challenge for the effective
mobilization of a great lay apostolate that will carry the gospel of
Christ and His Church into every town and alley and street corner in
America.
CHAPTER X
LAY STREET PREACHING
BY DAVID GOLDSTEIN
Secretary Catholic Truth Guild, Boston
HE effectiveness of Catholic street preaching in
America has been tried out and not found wanting.
After a test of eight years of carrying the Catholic
message to the man in the street it is safe to say
that the average American is interested in what Catholic lay-
men have to say of the faith that is in them.
The Catholic is glad to hear his faith defended and the
other fellow is surprised at the clarity with which Catholic
claims are set up in proof that Christ's Church one and the
same in doctrine throughout the ages is as thoroughly qual-
ified to meet the religious needs of the race today as at any
other time in her history; that neither scientific discovery,
historic research, attainment, or prospect takes from the
Church her sure touch as to the ills of mankind, or their
remedy.
The confidence of the preaching layman in the catholicity
of his faith, in its utter fearlessness in face of problems in any
sphere of human knowledge, arrests and holds the attention
of masses of men and women in the open spaces in America.
The Catholic message is as unfamiliar to the populace as Is
the technique of broadcasting to the novice in physics. It is
not that the opportunity has been wanting for "putting the
message across." It is rather the failure of the layman to
209
210 THE WHITE HARVEST
meet his duty by responding to the call of the Hierarchy to
become living echoes of the voice of the Good Shepherd, his
failure to realize that our Declaration of Independence and
Constitution constitute good Catholic stamping ground; that
our God-given rights as against that of Pagan might shall
conquer by the means of free speech so dear to good American
hearts.
This being so, all too long our natural forums the streets,
squares and parks of our cities and towns have been mo-
nopolized by all sorts of folk not merely preaching doctrine
against the true religion but against right reason as well. All
sorts of freak religions have been propagated, not to mention
the recent activities of Protestant sects who, at best, have
Christ's doctrine only in part.
There is a latent interest in things religious on the part of
that vast number of Americans who own no Church affiliation.
Many of these former Protestants are turning away from the
idea that a cure for immorality, rebellion and crime of all
sorts lies within the purview of the civil law. Evidently the
effort to enforce prohibition has somewhat shaken public con-
fidence in law-made reform. So it is that hope which
springs eternal in the human breast prompts them to view
moral obligation as the quickener of better relations betwixt
man and man. This fact, happily, points behind man-made
laws back to the constitution of things human as laid down by
Almighty God. All this is of course, by the multitude at
street meetings, seen but darkly. Yet when the clear light of
Catholic understanding is directed to this or that social prob-
lem there is an unmistakable response from the crowd that
argues well for a further interest in things Catholic.
Besides, we are indebted to the pronounced enemy of things
American and the Catholic Church for an awakening interest
in the true religion. The enemies' assaults are so virulent
that the common sense of well-intentioned men perforce turn
them away in disgust. So in fact they turn the other way, the
way of truth the Catholic way. While indeed a few are
LAY STREET PREACHING 211
more deeply engulfed in the maelstrom of ignorance and
hatred, Catholics receive the advantage from their having
over-shot their bolt. From this fact, that keen observer of
psychological forces in our country Bishop Francis C. Kelley
of Oklahoma could rejoice that the K. K. K. have given us
five million dollars' worth of advertising free of charge.
How more effectively can we turn the value of this free adver-
tising to our account than by carrying the Catholic message to
the man in the street the very man in whom the enemy has
awakened an interest in the Catholic 'Church by assailing our
Americanism?
The Catholic Truth Guild has made satisfactory experience
with regard to this particular hallucination. So grossly and
so wilfully has the enemy represented the sins and crimes of
individual Catholics that it is an easy matter to show a public
assembly that Catholic principles and practices promote per-
sonal holiness by pointing out the thousands of men and
women who devote their lives to specific remedial and rescue
work for the afflicted throughout the country. A recital of
the hospital work alone will silence the doubt in the average
man's mind for the time being. And it is certain that if he
hears a like recital often enough his habit of thought will turn
naturally to our doctrine. It is all a matter of Catholic
propaganda in the open. The general public is not prone to
enter a Catholic Church for instruction in the faith of Christ,
but they may be induced to do so by street campaigning.
Then again the power of truth carries its own weight
against those false tales told as history. Those monstrous
recitals of the past three hundred years, still sedulously cul-
tivated in the English language, have their stench of pollution
offset by the facts in the case. Amongst the vilifications the
"Imprisonment and Murder of Gallileo" is a favorite. The
mind of decent folk are brought back to sanity upon hearing
the truth of the matter, and quotations from notable men
outside Catholic ranks, for example the very reticent opinion
of Huxley, adds weight to what we have to say.
212 THE WHITE HARVEST
Among the higher Protestant classes the vulgar taunt
against the patriotism of Catholics has been shamed somewhat
out of face. But this class of evil propaganda holds front
rank amongst the lower elements of the sects in our country.
Many of these people are all too ignorant to respect a sound
argument as to the unity of the human family, which at once
finds its spiritual home in the one living religious organism,
the Catholic Church, and their several patriotic homes within
the various nations on earth as Americans, Germans, Ital-
ians, Englishmen, etc. They see nothing behind or beyond
current events. So the pronouncement of the American Hier-
archy that followed three days after Congress declared us to
be in a state of war and the record of the Knights of Columbus
during the war (which General Pershing said, a few days ago,
was second only to the United States Army in patriotic ef-
ficiency) is put forth ias an offset to their fear that the Pope
means to come over to rule America. Yet, after all, the fact
that they fear the Church is but a negative way of saying that
these same "little ones" would love the Church if they could
be taught that the Catholic faith alone has all things for them
to satisfy their heart's desire. These are not the folk who
defy the spiritual authority of Christ but rather they are
those from whom the faith was long since torn away by the
rebellious of heart.
Together with those many brilliant and good men and
women who are drawing closer to the Apostolic Church, these
lesser folk in the eyes of the world may be won. They should
be won ! Once we have gone out into the highways and by-
ways at the behest of the Master and compelled them to come
if they will rejoice as did good Father Tabb, who by his ar-
dent work gained the title of "Poet Priest of Virginia":
"Whenever any doctrine of the Church was spoken of, I knew
it was true as soon as I heard it. I would have been a member
of the Church before I was, if I had learned what the Catholic
doctrines were and had known that they were taught and prac-
tised by the Catholic Church."
LAY STREET PREACHING 213
How then shall non-Catholics be reached? Is not the an-
swer by street preaching?
When taken all in all the discordant elements within the
body politic comprise a large contingent of those who, for
want of a more correct term, may be dubbed as radicals, even
though they do not see to the root of any vital proposition.
These folk made up from every class and condition, North,
East, South, and West believe themselves to be scientifically
emancipated from religious thraldom. These are they who
have stepped, at least one foot, over the threshold of moral
responsibility. Their assault falling first upon human nature
itself spends its ire with an especial antipathy upon Christian
civilization. Civil order, since it must be accounted for, is
conceived as being founded upon nothing more or less than
human experience and experimentation. Consequently, in
their portfolio government carries no sanction superior to the
will of those who have laid hold of the power of might to dic-
tate the policy for the governed. Not alone is this the opin-
ion of those native to the countries united under the Soviet dic-
tatorship, it is held by many supposedly high bred men in our
own country. These polite atheist-anarchists assume that
what is known by Catholics to be natural rights is nothing but a
body of discarded beliefs once serviceable to the infant race
but now replaced by the ideology of the superman that tops off
their animalistic philosophy.
This is the stiffest contingent within the crowds before our
autovan that the Catholic lay preacher has to deal with. His
variety of mental aberrations seems infinite, it ramifies into
every one of the well defined practices of Catholic culture.
Yet the Catholic Truth Guild campaigners were so well ac-
quainted with that type of mind that they took the more ex-
cellent way nothing better than silence as to their personnel
pagans were at length won by the preaching and practice
unto blood of the earlier followers of Christ, some of them be-
ing laymen. And it is quite certain that the neo-Pagans can-
not make headway today against the lay preacher in the streets
2i 4 THE WHITE HARVEST
if Catholic doctrine and practice are set forth in their majesty,
power, and love.
Other Americans do not know the Church. They cannot
conceive the relation of priest and people. They have no
understanding of the divine right of the Church to show man-
kind the way to heaven.
The Call
Providentially the seed of lay preaching had been planted
in American soil. Long before the officers of the Catholic
Truth Guild (organized for Catholic lay street preaching)
were members of the Church they had caught the spirit of the
urge to defend Americanism by those universal, those Cath-
olic principles which neither slumber nor sleep. As early as
1903 the Boston School of Political Economy had secured a
permit from the Mayor of Boston Hon. Patrick A. Collins
and were on Boston Common insisting that the family was
not the creature of private property but rather that private
property is necessary to the maintenance of the family as the
one and only stable unit of civil society.
But after baptism it was but natural that a period of time
should be given over to a positive Catholic culture by unlearn-
ing what things said to be so were not so. Yet, withal, the
hearts desire to come to the defense of right reason and things
Catholic was beaten out on the anvil of discussion again and
again, year after year, until at length the unseen point came
out into the objective world of material beginning. The die
was cast when Ecclesiastical authority for Catholic lay street
preaching was given in the autumn of 1916.
Indeed, the urge for the laity to do the initial work, to go
out and plough the virgin soil of spiritual America, so that it
might flower and fruit under the social cultivation of the
priests, had found voice long years ago. So although the call
is not new the first response also was lying fallow for many
years. The late Archbishop Ireland warned the laity in 1889
LAY STREET PREACHING 215
that they were anointed in confirmation not merely to the
end that they might save their own souls, but that as soldiers
of Christ, they might also save the Church as propagators of
Her Cause :
"What, I ask, of the multitude that peep at us from gallery
and vestibule, what of the thousands and tens of thousands,
nominal Catholics and non-Catholics, who seldom or never
open the Church door ? What of the uncouth, and unkempt,
the tenant of the cellar and alleyway, the mendicant and the
outcast ? It is time we bring back the Gospel spirit, to go out
into the highways and byways, to preach on house-tops and in
market-place. Erect stately churches if you will. They are
grand monuments to religion . . . but if some remain out-
side, speak to them on the streets or the public road. The
time has come for 'salvation armies' to penetrate the wildest
thicket of thorns and briars, and bring God's Word to the ear
of the most vile, the most ignorant and the most godless."
Truly is it not humiliating that we have in free America,
neglected our patrimony? At best is it not anomalous to see
the salvation army ideal of the saintly layman of the I3th cen-
tury Francis of Assisi appropriated by groups that in doc-
trine preach the very opposite to those dogmas with which the
poor little man of Christ won alike the rich and the poor?
These imitators of the method of St. Francis, denying the exist-
ence of ,a visible Church of Christ with a visible head estab-
lished by our blessed Lord Himself, may be heard out on the
street corners, calling upon their listeners to be washed in
the blood of the Lamb. These self-authorized soldiers of the
Lord maintain that the Vicar of Christ cannot speak with the
authority of Christ; that there is no need of an "Intermed-
iary" (a priest) between the penitent sinner and Christ, who
cleanses the repentant offender. Yet when a man, through the
efforts of these sincere folk, would confess his sins and be for-
given they cannot lead him to the true fold of the Good Shep-
herd, for they know not Christ's Church.
If then, the laity of the Church, divinely commissioned to
216 THE WHITE HARVEST
teach truth in whole, not in part, the Church commissioned by
Christ to hear and to forgive the truly penitent, have been
slow in responding to the call, it is not too late. For, the
American populace will listen to those who echo and re-echo
the law and the love of Christ as it has ever been taught by the
great doctors of the Christian faith.
The Start
Providence left it to the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal
O'Connell, to make the start. His sanction to the inaugura-
tion of a layman's outdoor movement has blazed the way for
the extention and expansion of a Catholic army of the laity
under St. Francis, to bring the old old story of man's salvation
in word and in song to the mind and heart of our fellow-
countrymen who for no fault of their own know not the Bride
of Christ the Catholic Church as she really is, the King-
dom of Heaven, the salvation of man, the hope of the world !
The venture of street preaching was put to the test eight
years ago by the officers of the Catholic Truth Guild Mrs.
Martha Moore Avery, president ; David Goldstein, secretary.
These two persons, under the direction of their Chaplain (at
first Rt. Rev. Msgr. Michael J. Splaine and now Rev. Joseph
A. Murphy, D.D.) have been the principal workers, and they
have successfully demonstrated the practicability of lay street
preaching throughout America.
The Outdoor Pulpit
An autovan was purposely built for the work, that would
attract attention. It is a unique outfit that is in itself an ad-
vertisement of Catholic truth. Its appearance upon the high-
way is a signal to stop, to look, to read. It is a challenge to
Americans to worship God and to love their country; to be
friendly if not favorable to the religion it represents and to
the patriotic sentiment it manifests. The car is a handsome
LAY STREET PREACHING 2x7
papal colored autovan, the size of a large delivery wagon,
with speaker's rostrum, sounding board, seats for four, and
ample room for a large quantity of literature. The lettering
on one side of the auto car sets forth the refrain from Cardinal
O'Connell's Holy Name Hymn. This spirited sentiment tells
well the object of the Guild to overcome error with truth,
wholly depending upon the power of our divine Lord invoked
in campaigning for Christ:
Fierce is the fight,
For God and the right.
Sweet name of Jesus,
In Thee is our might.
The inscription on the other side of the autovan is from Wash-
ington's Farewell Address. These words declare to Ameri-
cans that religion is the foundation of our civil law and our
national well-being:
Reason and experience
Both forbid us to believe
That national morality can prevail
Where religious principles are excluded.
In the center of the sounding board showing above the head of
the speaker is a Crucifix. An electric light above it, keeps the
Cross of Christ by night as by day in full view of the audience
gathered around the autovan. Flying on the hood of the car
is the Star Spangled Banner to signify that this Catholic
apostolate campaigns for rendering to America what belongs
to America loyalty. So at one and the same time is honor
and obedience paid to our country while worship and obedience
is given to God.
This rather spectacular outfit was blessed by His Eminence
Cardinal O'Connell on the first Sunday in July, 1917. In an
address expressing confidence and of encouragement, the
founders of the Guild were given the authority to go forth for
"faith and fatherland."
218 THE WHITE HARVEST
First Meeting on Boston Common
The practical work of this lay apostolate to the man in the
street began three days after the commission was given to go
forth as far as the workers had the power to go. On Inde-
pendence Day on Historic Boston Common, the autovan pulpit
was first set up. The large attendance, the favorable newspaper
reports, gave a lift towards the success of eighty meetings held
in ninety days in Boston and round about. Although some
of these meetings were held in localities having little in com-
mon with things Catholic there occurred but one untoward
incident. It served rather to give emphasis than to mar the
peaceful progress of the summer's campaign. In fact this was
the only disturbing element the Guild work has encountered
during the eight seasons of street meetings. This event took
place in the Lithuanian Socialist section of a shoe manufactur-
ing city some twenty miles from Boston. By jeering the name
of God and by derisively cheering patriotic sentiment these
lusty louts meant to break up the meeting. That their efforts
were unsuccessful was the point made next day by the Brock-
ton Enterprise.
Ocean to Ocean Tour
To carry this success beyond local confines was the next
move, since from the first it was the Guild's ambition to in-
troduce lay street preaching throughout the country, into every
diocese in America.
Winter months were now at hand in stern old New England,
but in sunny California the soft air invited a tryout of street
preaching along the Pacific. A request to the Most Rev.
Archbishop Hanna for permission to work within his eccles-
iastical jurisdiction brought a prompt and gracious response
from His Grace. We have told the story of this ocean to
ocean trip somewhat in detail in "Campaigning for Christ."
LAY STREET PREACHING 219
Suffice it to say, the autovan was shipped over to San Fran-
cisco and the Guild's secretary, David Goldstein, accompanied
by Sergeant Arthur B. Corbett worked for four months in
California.
Then began the cross country tour. In that most beautiful
Civic Center of San Francisco an audience of some seven
thousand gave a sendoff to these pioneer Catholic laymen that
kept them warm during the thirteen thousand miles of zig-
zagging from ocean to ocean on their way home.
After four months enroute, speaking in every state on the
way, the Atlantic seaboard was reached. A gracious welcome
home was given on Boston Common. His Eminence Cardinal
O'Connell mounted the rostrum of the "perambulating pulpit"
to deliver an address of welcome. This in itself was a Cath-
olic mission to Boston. Never before the advent of the Guild
had Boston Common been the scene of Catholic festival.
Cardinal O'Connell received the message sent by Archbishop
Hanna endorsing the Guild's work:
"Mr. Goldstein's work has been successful, and the success
has been due entirely to his zeal for the great cause, and to
the eloquent as well as intelligent presentation of his theme.
He is always welcome here."
Most graciously did Boston's Cardinal-Archbishop put
his seal of public approval upon the Guild's ocean to ocean
tour :
"You have fulfilled well your mission and I feel sure that
you have scattered a sacred seed all along that glorious path
of love of religion and love of America."
From that time on the officers of the Guild have been heard
season after season in the Eastern States whenever the weather
was favorable to outdoor gatherings. Its record last season
was one hundred seventeen meetings, the size of the audiences
ranging from two hundred to five thousand. In the year, 1925,
the first meeting of the ninth season was held on Boston Com-
mon on the first Sunday in May.
220 THE WHITE HARVEST
Bishops Respond
Since in its nature lay street preaching is Catholic, the cour-
tesies of right relation of the laity to the hierarchy is always
maintained. The officers of the C. T. G. hold ever in mind
that the privilege of laymen to teach must be given by those
divinely commissioned to speak the voice of Christ. Conse-
quently their first step is to secure the approbation of the
bishops within whose ecclesiastical jurisdictions they desire to
campaign for Christ. Good proof that the field is open to
Catholic lay preaching is found in responses from the Ameri-
can Bishops. Thirty letters were received from Bishops,
twenty seven of whom promptly and graciously granted the
desired permission to work within their territory.
Arrangements with Pastors
Having received the approbation of the bishop, the C. T. G.
corresponds with pastors for their consent to hold meetings
within their parish lines, for the work is carried on only in
those localities where the pastors have expressed themselves
as favorable to the campaign. The pastors' response has
been very generous. Of course, there is more or less a
feeling of reserve in the matter from the consideration that a
street meeting might bring on an unpleasant reaction on the
part of the enemy. It is true that more or less trouble might
easily be engendered if the speakers are indiscreet, if the spirit
of the talk is not Catholic. After all it is a question of keep-
ing one's own house in order.
Very often a personal word with the pastor overcomes his
reluctance to consent, while invariably the work done makes
him a friend to the cause of campaigning for Christ out in the
open.
Pastors are informed thaf no charge is made for the serv-
ices of the speakers. The Guild depends upon the sale of
literature and the voluntary collections to defray its running
LAY STREET PREACHING 221
expenses. The cooperation of pastors is asked in three things :
First, that a street corner, square, park, or some private
ground be selected, where addresses may be delivered from
the autovan and the speakers be heard without overmuch ef-
fort. Second, that the affair be given publicity, by Sunday an-
nouncements, thus encouraging their parishioners to attend
with their non-Catholic acquaintances, and by giving the news
copy and the electroplates furnished, to the press. Third,
by selecting a small committee to aid, mainly with the sale of
literature, which is sold for so low a price as to avoid war-
ranted criticism.
Indeed, no expense whatever and very little work is re-
quired of priests who sponsor street meetings. When reading
notices are passed in to the press they are given space without
charge. So too, is advance copy of the addresses delivered,
given good space in the daily and weekly papers.
The Press
The public press of America is generous in its attitude to-
wards Catholic street campaigning. The love of fair play
tells here as with our audiences. It has been our frequent
experience that a visit to the newspapers in our large cities
result in orders from the editors for their photographers to
go out and take pictures of our outfit and speakers. Then too,
most satisfactory reports are not infrequent in the papers dur-
ing a summer's campaign.
Dignity Wins Respect
The dire things predicted by timid un-American Catholics
have not materialized. As a matter of fact it has not required
the slightest courage on the part of the officers of the Guild
to stand up for the Church on the streets anywhere in America.
The one care and caution is to be in the right spirit that noth-
222 THE WHITE HARVEST
ing displeasing to our Blessed Lord may be said to offend His
"little ones."
Nobody has been "mobbed"; nobody has been "jeered at"
because of strife stirred up on the autovan. We had thought
that letters of opposition to our work might appear in the
press, thus keeping us too busy with newspaper controversy.
But nothing much has appeared. Probably on the one hand
because the public press is not wide open to the slandering of
Catholics. On the other hand, perhaps, because the bitter
bigots at our meetings find the ground taken from under them
by our insistence upon equal civil rights for everybody. How-
ever one letter did appear, in Massachusetts, from an Italian
Minister, taking exception to what we said about the temporal
power of the Pope. But to what avail?
We are sometimes asked where we find the most hostility.
In the Northern states we are expected to say Georgia, Ala-
bama, or Oklahoma; yet in the so-called bigoted states the
kettle is no blacker than the pot in the North. In the old
Yankee town of Boston there is no organized force against
the Church, such as is found in the South ; yet in the Hub there
is a deep-seated determination that neither things Catholic
nor persons Catholic shall be counted as native to the Manor.
This hostility does not interfere with the campaign we carry
on be it in the North, East, South, or West. The hostility
may, however, be plainly seen along the Charles Street Mall
of Boston Common on a Sunday afternoon. No doubt it is
intensified by the fact that as soon as the autovan makes its
appearance the audiences of the itinerant preachers many of
whom are too big for any church ; of other religious speakers
who believe that all Christian groups are the several parts of
the Church Christ established, and the crowds around the
various brands of radicalism, dwindle to dozens while the
C. T. G. has hundreds and thousands. Not a word is said
upon our platform to indicate the nearby presence of the other
fellows. So the dignity of our reserve serves a notice to all
that the Catholic force is to be reckoned with in America.
LAY STREET PREACHING 223
Distribution of Literature
It is indeed true since Holy Writ says so, that faith comes
by hearing. We must believe that the most effective work
is done by the spoken word. By the sound touch of mind upon
mind the human voice carries its own sincerity of conviction
which creates the psychological atmosphere favorable to con-
veying the Catholic message. So when it may be said that
the speaker is what he says then surely, if the truth be spoken,
the voice carries home to the heart and mind of his listeners
the Catholic message. But at any rate the written word is a
powerful messenger. It is aiding greatly as a means of con-
veying to the man in the street what's what when measured by
Catholic standards.
The success of getting the written word out to the multitude
has been convincingly demonstrated during the past eight sea-
sons by the sale of 75,000 clothbound books, 50,000 pam-
phlets ( and 1250 subscriptions for Our Sunday Visitor.
This large sale of literature by so small a force of workers
points plainly to the immense quantity that might be disposed
of by a large and well trained body of laymen doing the sell-
ing while the speakers are making the Church better known
and loved through the spoken word.
During its years the C. T. G. has given away thousands of
Catholic pamphlets and papers. Yet its view is that when
the printed word is paid for it is better appreciated than when
taken as a gift. Besides, the small profits help to finance the
undertaking. From the first it was the policy to sell litera-
ture at a very low price. No more than fifty cents is asked
for clothbound books that are retailed at one and a half and
two dollars a copy. This the Guild has been enabled to do
by purchasing its books in large quantities, in five and ten thou-
sand lots. Thus the suspicion that the autovan campaign is a
financial venture is easily avoided.
Many of these books sold are known to have passed into
the hands of men and women who had never before consid-
224 THE WHITE HARVEST
ered the arguments written by Catholics about the Catholic
Church. The canvassers go through the audiences disposing
of the literature while the meetings are in progress. Mean-
time the book offered for sale is openly used by the speaker
to arouse interest in its contents. So the prospective pur-
chasers may be impressed with the fact that more about the
matter may be found in the book.
The campaigners receive a refreshment from observing man
after man casually edging up to the autovan reading the mot-
toes, looking up at the crucifix, listening to the speaker, all the
while acting as though his stay were to be but for a moment.
As the time goes by he is seen to be a part of the audience
proper, perhaps not himself realizing that his attention has
been held so long as two or more hours. Then as the meeting
breaks up, he puts his hand in his pocket and his money is
passed over for a book.
Work Positive not Contentious
Since the Guild officers had once been prominent in the
world revolutionary movement, it has seemed advisable to
make clear that the work upon the autovan is neither anti-
Socialist, nor anti-Protestant, anti-Jew, or anti any other
thing. Especially do we desire that the character of our work
shall be known to bishops, priests, and to organizations under
whose patronage we would work as strictly Catholic; that
every negativism we touch is related back to its positive op-
position, to those universal principles taught to the world by
the Catholic Church.
During last season's work of one hundred seventeen meet-
ings on but one occasion did we dwell upon Socialism, that as-
sumed cure-all for the ills of the wage earners. On Labor
Day on Boston Common this illogical mythical economic
theory with its Bolshevik results was set in contrast to the
practical work for the poor done by the Church during the
LAY STREET PREACHING 225
past ages and to the constructive economic program of Pope
Leo XIII as the solution of the injustices of our time.
We do not indeed beat about the bush though we have re-
gard for the sentiments of those folk who are the victims of
a false tradition rather than its cause. No quarter is given
to a false attitude since truth is the object aimed a-t, whatever
may be the topic. And since however sacred is a man's right
to his own opinion, the truth of the matter is that no man has
a right to a false opinion. So that it is in this spirit of fair
play that a straight-forward presentation of Catholic claims
wins the consideration of those good Americans not of the
True Fold and they are ready to defend the right use of free
speech with regard to religious liberty.
Of course, the chip-on-the-shoulder attitude makes trouble.
This we have ever avoided by a positive rather than an ag-
gressive campaign. So even when a face to face attack is
made upon the Church, be it innocent or vicious, it is handled
in a way to put the other fellow to the task in his own mind
at least of defending his own erroneous propositions ; for we
require it of ourselves to be Catholic first, last, and all the
time. Following this policy the superficial pros and cons of
historical or sociological issues are put to one side as we pro-
claim to the outside the reasons for our belief in things Cath-
olic.
Again, a refreshment comes to the workers from observing
the satisfaction with which the Catholic contingent of the
audience greets the telling points delivered. Besides, the per-
sonal interviews "behind-the-van" is sure testimony that street
preaching has a most favorable psychological effect upon
the weak, the uninformed and the fallen-away Catholic.
Surely this in itself is of inestimable value to the Catholic
cause. Consequently, even as a means of stopping the
"leaks" Catholic lay campaigning has demonstrated its effi-
ciency and should, we believe, be operative in every diocese in
America.
226 THE WHITE HARVEST
What Is Said on the Streets
Only a suggestion can be given of the topics that have been
talked about from our street pulpit. The field has been vast.
For those desiring a more extended and varied scope than may
here be given we would suggest the content of our latest book,
Campaigning for Christ. 1
To Americans
Catholic principles and doctrines are stressed when things
civil are dealt with. Historic facts are cited in proof that
democracy as it is known here is the slowly ripening fruit of
Catholicity. It is the manifestation of Christian brotherhood
made applicable within the body politic. The basis relation-
ships of the citizenry of America are shown to be the result,
in time, of the right relations of man to man proclaimed by
Christ and enunciated by the Apostles which took shape in the
Edict of Milan, in Magna Charta, and in the laws of Mary-
land. We point out that right relations of men in govern-
ment within the civil arena were well worked out by those
great Catholic publicists, Bellarmine and Suarez long before
our own revolt from the tyranny engendered by the assump-
tion of the divine right of kings a "right" that never was
accorded by Catholic doctrine. Rather the contrary doc-
trine was taught that just government rests upon the consent
of the governed. And we cite "American Democracy and
Catholic Doctrine" by Sylvester J. McNamara (Catholic
Truth Society, Brooklyn, N. Y.) as one of the several up to
date defenses of things truely American and truely Catholic.
The Church is so positively presented as being the bulwark
of sound Americanism, the living organism that keeps the
Ship of State to its normal course in time of crisis, that those
others listening, in whom the love of country is deeply rooted,
begin to realize that the logical moral and historical proofs
which we present are not lightly to be set to one side. So, at
1 Pilot Pub. Co., 309 Washington Street, Boston, 464 pp., $2.00.
LAY STREET PREACHING 227
least, an entering wedge is solidly fixed which divides hostility
to the Church from admiration of things Catholic. Is not
this one sure road to conversion?
To Present Day Pagans
To those folk who complacently assign to our Savior a
place, even the greatest place, amongst world leaders, we
present the First Cause as the basis of approach to the belief
in Christ and Him crucified. These humanists of many varie-
ties pantheists, agnostics, atheists, free thinking what-nots
are shown that by reasoning from effect to cause, Almighty
God inevitably comes into the purview of the rational mind.
That the intellect, whose object is truth, is compelled by rea-
soning rightly to distinguish between phenomena and First
Cause. They are shown that just as the individual man is
distinct from his mental designs when carried out into the pro-
duction of things material so it is that the totality of created
things is distinct from Him whose production creation is. Dur-
ing our argument Catholic books are recommended. Occa-
sionally these proud folk humble themselves to ask for more.
Meantime the other elements in our audiences have been in-
structed in the science of Catholicity and our own people forti-
fied in their faith.
To Protestants
Of course we have no thought of compromising Christian
doctrine.. Y*et, on the ground of Americanism, we make a
sympathetic appeal to these Christians to aid us in upholding
the right of conscience by preserving civil liberty and to come
to us on the ground of organic unity, necessary to the will of
Christ. By showing the necessity of organic unity, the in-
numerable Protestant differences, resting upon private opinion,
fall to the ground one upon another. This is not saying that
we have converted these folk by the dozens, would that our
228 THE WHITE HARVEST
Blessed Lord would give us the power, but it is saying that
we defend the Faith as best we may.
We make plain our recognition of the possibility of the fed-
erated unity of Protestant churches upon grounds of senti-
ment. But for the Catholic Church, the scientific entity is and
must necessarily be maintained, for the Church Militant is a
living organism established by Christ. This independent en-
tity has been the state of the Church since the time Christ
established her upon a rock Peter.
We make the simple argument there being logically but
one God there can be but one religion of God, and so but one
Church of God. That Church is the Church Universal, the
Christian Church. That Church must be Christ-made to be
Christ's Church. To be established by Christ it must date
from the time of Christ. The Church Militant on earth is
that from which the i6th Century Protestants departed.
These first bodies have, in time, divided and subdivided caus-
ing the "sin of disunion" complained of by the World Federa-
tion of Protestant Churches. We submk that the cure for
the sin of disunion, the sins of the world, does not lie in the
setting up of a new sect though it be named the World Federa-
tion of Church, but rather in the return of discordant Chris-
tians everywhere to the Faith of their fathers.
To Jews
Our appeal to the Jews is indeed an appeal to all outsiders
for it is the old, old story stressed over and over again by the
Apostles of Christ who had themselves passed over from the
Nation of God's Chosen Children to Christ's Church Uni-
versal.
We make it plain that the present day conversion of Jews to
the Catholic Church is not apostasy. Such a course is not a
denial of the doctrine of the Jews of old. Rather is it that
these sons of Abraham have centuries late accepted in full
the covenant God made with Israel.
LAY STREET PREACHING 229
The modern Jew converted, must believe the Old Testa-
ment to be God's Word. He must accept the prophesies and
realize that they have been fulfilled as God willed that they
should be in the coming of the Messiah-Christ. We point
out the utter futility of holding on to a religion that is no more
a reality. For nineteen hundred years there has not been and
there never can be an Aaronic priesthood. There is within
Judaism the world over no-. voice to speak with divine au-
thority, because there is no longer a House of Aaron to which
the once divinely appointed priesthood of the Mosaic dispensa-
tion belonged. Sympathetically, the Jews in our audiences
are asked to look at the facts before the whole world. There
is extant no House of David in which the Old Testament said
the Messiah was to be born ; there is extant no Temple where
the bloody sacrifice of the Jews was offered up for the worship
of the One True God. It was destroyed in the Year 70 by
Titus and historic testimony, thus far, sustains the prophecy
that the Temple shall never be rebuilded. All things, thus
far, have come to pass as predicted. The Messiah has come.
He was born in the House of David in the time, place, and
manner proclaimed by Holy Writ. With Christ's coming
came the priesthood according to the order of Melchisedech
to offer up a clean oblation throughout the world for man's
redemption as was predicted by Malachia. On the altar of
Christendom there abides the King of the Jews, the King of
Kings. He wills that all the wandering Jews on the face of
the earth come back into the House of Israel within the Church
Universal that they may receive the fullness of their promised
inheritance Salvation.
To the Rich and the Poor
The reproach so frequently leveled against Christianity that
it has failed to work economic justice is so handled that the
Church stands forth as the poor man's defense. Not indeed
that his envy of the rich is fostered any more than the rich
230 THE WHITE HARVEST
man's oppression of the poor is condoned. In this connection
Socialism is discounted with telling effect by placing its mate-
rialistic animalism in contrast with those right economic rela-
tions of man to man to which Pope Leo XII has given the term
Christian Democracy.
This is one of the issues that comes up frequently during
the quiz periods. Here too on economic ground we hold to
our purpose of keeping the other fellow not the Church
on the defensive.
The vastly improved condition of wage earning Americans
is traced back to the status of the workers of the world when
the Church emerged from civil bondage to entice mankind, for
the love of Christ, to do good to one another. We cite her
defense of the right of slaves to life, liberty and happiness;
her elevation of the laborer to a state of dignity; her stand
for the moral, social and economic rights of the family; her
institution of rest day and of holydays; her erection of the
structure of civil society in which the wealth producers played
a dignified part as wage-earners and capital-owners. Then we
turn the tables and show that the Church's working out of so-
cial justice was arrested ; that the benefits of free political and
economic government developed up in England and on the con-
tinent until the guild system was broken down by those rival
man-made churches of the i6th century. The bold talk we
make completely disarms for the time, the confidence of our
audiences in the scoffer's assertion that "Christianity is a
failure."
However it is not merely the boldness of our talk that holds
the attention of the more serious minded. It is the inward
desire for an answer to their secret question: "What after
all is it that keeps the Catholic Church alive?" They reflect,
that two thousand years is a longer time than any other in-
stitution on earth has held its own. "Is it then, after all, the
true religion?"
"It is worth study," is the outspoken comment of many a
man after hearing the talk we make out in the open.
LAY STREET PREACHING 231
Teaching Catechism
It is safe to say that our audiences take as deep an interest
in our addresses on the catechism as on any other subject.
During the season some catechetical point is frequently set
forth and spoken of in a simple way. For instance, the prin-
ciples and practices of the Church with regard to confession
and penance. This arouses a particular interest for the
reason that the forgiveness of sin is a moot point with out-
siders, never ending. Our work in this regard is done as
though we were teaching a Sunday School class. Discounting
the motive of curiosity in so personal a contact as that of priest
and Catholic penitent elicits, there is seen a much deeper
cause of interest in the subject of confession. As we stand
before the upturned faces of those listening, not merely
to the text of the catechism, but also to its moral expansion
and its application as a means of transforming each particular
penitent from a bad man into a good man, we cannot doubt
that many an one is thinking within himself "to be free from
sin? Oh, if this were only so!" May he not come later be-
cause he believes it is so?
Quiz Period
As a rule at the end of each meeting a quiz period is held.
The listeners are encouraged to speak out their objections and
to ask for desired information as to points of Church doctrine
and history. The audience is assured that although the one
objecting may not be satisfied with the answer, it shall be made
as man to man of equal footing. So too with questions of
information. The answer may not be known, it may be in-
adequate, yet in either case no harm is done. Even so, the
Guild officers will study the question and be ready the next
time. It is but fair to say that on only one occasion did the
next time come.
In the first place there are questions that are hostile and
232 THE WHITE HARVEST
they are invariably lacking in rhyme and reason. Then, in-
deed, the thing requisite is to keep the intellectual calm a
temperate and impersonal answer to an insulting question
makes a deep impression and it prevents a manifestation of
rowdyism that might easily be developed if the impertinent
questioner were given back what he sends. So in every case,
whether the question be friendly or hostile, of; a serious or a
ridiculous nature, the answer is made with regard for the
dignity of the Guild's mission. We, of course, know the man-
ner of answering a question might, also, be insulting. As a
matter of fact the questions put to the speaker require not so
much Catholic knowledge, but practice and poise are basic
requirements. The officers of the Guild won their spurs in
their old revolutionary days as instructors in the "science" of
Socialism, and in the stormy days of following the light as it
led out from the camp those who love neither God nor coun-
try. Their practice was rather constant and rather tragic
during these years.
The Seventh Day Adventlst
There are certain earmarks by which to see what lies in
the mind of the quizzer. And the more he tries to conceal
his conceits the more plainly he tells us his philosophical iden-
tity. This is not so merely as related to the irreligious, the
Anarchist-Socialist-Bolshevist-Feminist contingents, it is so
with regard to specific religious groups. For example, the
Seventh Day Adventist will identify himself with the question :
"As there is nothing in the Bible about Sunday as the Lord's
Day, was not the change from Saturday to Sunday made by the
Roman Church ?" Of course the answer points out that there
is something in the Bible about the first day of the week being
the Lord's Day. Since the Bible relates that the early Apos-
tles especially honored our Lord on the first day of the week
by public worship, who shall say that they did not know the
mind of Christ or that His will was not carried out? More-
LAY STREET PREACHING 233
over, sound historic reasonings make it plain that in the or-
der of evidence the Church comes first, since everybody knows
that the canon of the New Testament was determined by the
Church after Sunday was the well established day of public
worship by Christ's followers.
The Socialist
Again, if the terms present system, capitalism, wage slavery
and like earmarks are stressed, the questioner is presumed
to be an out and out Socialist or one under the spell of Social-
ist psychology. The question "How can a man lead a Chris-
tian life under the wages system?" gives the man's mind away.
He is one of the many seeking first the things of this world
that the kingdom of heaven may be given unto him. The
answer is that the end for which God created man and Christ
redeemed him is not frustrated by economic class distinctions.
The patent fact is that saintly men have worked for wages arid
many most holy men are working for wages today. The par-
able of the idle laborers in the market place is cited in proof
that Christ did hot condemn the system in which the owners of
land and capital employ other men to work for wages. Also,
that the Gospel condemns the rich who by fraud keep back the
hire of the laborer, makes it plain that the wage earner is en-
titled to the full value of his labor. From this it is plain
reasoning that those wage earners who insist upon more than
a just wage that capital is robbery have God's word
against them. With the Church, class distinctions do not
count, since alike for both the rich and the poor, the wages
of sin is death.
Another of like mind comes back. It seems to be the mis-
sion of the enemies of Christ to give us the opportunity to
offset their vagaries with truth: "Why does the Catholic
Church oppose Socialism?" Because of the ground upon
which Socialism takes its stand that of a politico-economic
movement minus a religious basis. Because where God is left
234 THE WHITE HARVEST
out of whatsoever human scheme then and there leaders set
themselves up as gods and demand a false worship of their
followers.
The Jew
The Jews occupy a question field all their own. They desire
a Talmudic disputation to display their knowledge of Hebrew
as a guarantee of their knowledge of the Bible ; to utter a
time-worn cry of Catholic persecution, to indicate that all
Hebrew converts are looked upon as ''secret Jews." So the
question comes "How much are you getting?" This to
the Secretary of the Guild, is not as insulting as it sounds. It
is thought by the questioner to be a good trick in the interest
of good easy money, just as "secret Judaism" was in the
days of Ferdinand and Isabella. That which is either per-
sonal or hopeless in the question is lightly passed by; for
the Catholics in the audience know very well that the Guild
campaigners must find their reward chiefly in things spiritual
and the audience in general is not pleased with a question that
insults the speaker. Yet, withal, the question enables us to
point to the sacrifice of material things made by priests and
nuns for the greatest of all privileges, that of a life's work
for Christ.
From this small but vivid contingent comes questions relat-
ing to the Spanish Inquisition. It is supposed to put the
Church outside the pale of humanity as the arch-persecutor of
the Jews. No matter what the form, the question gives a good
opportunity for public instruction. Indeed, save for the
Catholic element, the audience shifts its sympathy over to the
Jewish side. It is, however, won back by giving Spain the
benefit of the facts in the case.
We point out that at the time of the Inquisition, Spain had
long been at war; that within her borders her enemies were
numerous, made up of "secret Mohammedans" and "secret
Jews" ; illustrating her mode of patriotic defense by our mode
LAY STREET PREACHING 235
of patriotic defense during the world war. Spain had her
Court of Inquisition, of inquiry into the real opinions of those
suspected of treason. America set up her court of inquiry to
determine whether certain persons suspected of working in the
interest of nations with whom we were at war could be trusted
at large or should be shot as spies or traitors. Our war was
of short duration, Spain had been fighting for eight centuries
to keep the Cross, to keep out the crescent as the symbol of
government. How should Spain find out whether a suspect
were a Christian or an enemy of Spain ? No civil authority
could or can pass upon the point. The Church alone holds the
standards of Christian judgment. The Church said this man
is or is not a Christian, Spain said if he be not a Christian he
has no part in the civil government of Spain, and Spain worked
her will. No doubt there were abuses of justice in Spain, no
doubt there were abuses of justice in our American courts of
inquiry during the war, the clamour of it echoes and re-echoes.
But does any American want the Star Spangled Banner
trampled under foot? Why should we think that Spaniards
loved less their sign of the Cross? And as a matter of fact
historians non-Catholics as well tell the world that the
abuses of the Spanish inquisition were political rather than
religious. All this may not satisfy the Jewish questioner,
but it does open the eyes of the audience and it teaches patriot-
ism and love of faith.
The Protestant
Women ask more questions relative to things Protestant
than men. They are, too, more determined in their defense
of their attitudes. These questions are not new ; they are such
as fill Father Conway's "Question Box." Protestant ques-
tions always have a moral import and at least a sentimental
value. And those who ask questions in the open maintain the
due courtesies of public intercourse. Occasionally, behind the
van comes one with cracking resentment that Catholics should
236 THE WHITE HARVEST
dare to invade America's public places to propagate "Romish"
doctrines. One way of their beginning is to say "/ read my
Bible." It is something of a poser if we smilingly reply,
"Good, I read my Bible and His Holiness the Pope gives great
graces to those who dutifully and diligently read our Bible
every day. But all were lost if poise were lost. It should,
however, be confessed that many a time one's patience is
severely tried.
The speaker on the platform who is selected to answer ques-
tions is asked: "Why do Catholics go to a priest to have
their sins forgiven ? We go to Christ Himself." They
really believe that we give worship to a man by confessing our
sins to a priest. "Going to Christ to have their sins forgiven
is precisely what Catholics do," is the answer. This is a hard
saying. It is repeated in explanation. Catholics go to Christ
when they go to a priest who is an ambassador of Christ.
Like as Americans go to the President of the United States
for a civil concession when they go to an American Ambas-
sador at any court abroad. Priests are those men to whom
Christ delegates His power to forgive sins in His name. We
stress the fact that even upon the testimony of the Bible belief
in the forgiveness of sins by the priest should be plain to
Protestants. Then is read slowly and distinctly Chapter 20,
verses 19-23 of St. John's Gospel. The truth seekers in the
audience no longer doubt that the Catholic has the better
of the Protestant on this point.
The Civilian
Not from the irreligious, but from those who are confused
as to where the true religion may be found come questions
as to the alleged conflict between science and religion. These
folk would be glad to know that there is a rational defense
against the assertion of an irreconcilable conflict between
science and religion. Their questions fall upon grounds that
LAY STREET PREACHING 237
are material and spiritual: "Does not the Catholic Church
insist that God created the world in six days?" He is told
that the Catholic Church insists that the Bible is God's Word.
However, the Church has never defined the periods of time
expressed in the Book of Genesis as "six days." Moses' ac-
count of the creation of heaven and earth may mean six days
as we know days or it may mean eons of time. The Church
does not teach geology.
Another question shows the honest man's mind, the mind
of the man who would be glad to believe: "Is not tran-
substantiation against the laws of nature as taught by the
science of physics?" is the sense of his question. The answer
is no. For He who formed the laws of nature may at His
will transform the laws of nature in any particular case. Such
a transformation but shows the power of God ; that God is all-
powerful; and this is worked out in some detail.
Good citizens, confused by the present pacifist propaganda,
want to know the Catholic viewpoint of the matter. He
wants good and bad examples relative to the justice of war.
We cite our own war for American Independence as a good
example, and the wilful aggression such as is now carried on
in Mexico against the God-given rights of Catholics to wor-
ship according to the will of God and the dictates of their con-
sciences, as a bad example.
If no purpose were served, the quiz period is a school where
the laity learn how to answer the innocent and the wilful mis-
understandings and misinterpretations that keep honest minded
folk from seeing the Church as she is the one and only com-
missioned body sent forth to teach the will of Christ and to
guide mankind to salvation. The quiz period is at once public
and private. Behind the van it is personal, upon the rostrum
it is open before the public. In this way both the President
and the Secretary of the Guild are kept busy during the entire
meeting. The private inquirer is directed to the priest when
there is prospect of a convert, and when the talk is with a fallen
2 3 8 THE WHITE HARVEST
away member it ends by urging the Catholic to show himself
to a priest.
Rally the Laity
In what better manner or on what better ground than Amer-
ican, shall we win the special favor promised by our Holy
Father Pope Pius XI than by lay street preaching?
We will regard with special favor all those Catholics who,
moved by divine grace, shall strive to help their separated,
brethren to obtain the true faith, preparing the way for them
by dissipating inveterate prejudices, by teaching the whole
Catholic doctrine, and above all by showing forth in them-
selves that charity which is the mark of the disciples of
Christ."
Rome, March 24, 1924.
The work has been well tested! It but remains for the
laity to be rallied with holy enthusiasm. It will make them
proud to be active factors in a modern lay apostolate after
the manner of Saint Francis. So, by carrying the message
of Christ into the highways and byways throughout America,
a right public sentiment shall be created for the salvation of
souls and the safety of our country.
CHAPTER XI
METHODS OF REACHING PROSPECTIVE
CONVERTS
BY REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN, PH.D.
N his famous Meditationes Sacra, Bacon says,
"Knowledge is power." The experience of every
generation from the dawn of human history to
the present day but emphasizes the pregnant truth
of Bacon's laconic reflection. The enlargement of life's
horizon has been the dominant aim of much of the race's
struggling and groping through the ages. The best minds of
the race have recognized that power comes only secondarily
from force, and primarily from knowledge. Goethe's dying
cry even in the midst of the gathering darkness of his death
chamber for "Mehr Licht" finds its psychic reverberation in
the bosom of all the race. For, power and achievement come
not so much from might as from knowledge and light. With
appalling vividness the World War emphasized the effective-
ness of applying knowledge and science to the work of whole-
sale destruction. But the efficacy of knowledge is as great in
the endeavors of peace as in war, in the development of the
individual as in the progress of the race. Nowhere does it
apply with greater cogency than in the spiritual realm. Zeal
without knowledge becomes riotous and destructive. Fortified
by knowledge, it accomplishes great results.
It is the purpose of this chapter to assemble the salient
elements in the technique of convert-making, as outlined by
the various contributors to this symposium and by other emi-
239
2 4 o THE WHITE HARVEST
nently successful workers in this field, with whom the writer
has discussed the subject, to shed as much light as the data
available at this time will permit, upon the difficult task of
reaching and winning converts. By thus enriching the ef-
forts of convert-makers with the ripe experience of the ablest
leaders in the field, it seeks to secure for their zeal a more
abundant fruition. The technique, which is here presented
as a result of weaving the salient elements of each system into
an organized method, is admittedly only tentative and sug-
gestive. Every worker may adapt it to the particular condi-
tions of his community, and the peculiar needs of his pro-
spective converts. It is felt, however, that every device sug-
gested has already demonstrated its practical usefulness, and
with intelligent application to the distinctive individual needs
of any parochial field will bring greatly enhanced results. It
is thought also, that the method suggested as the result of a
nation-wide survey of the field for almost three years, em-
bodies practically all the important means utilized in convert-
work in America today.
The method will deal with the two fundamental problems
inherent in convert-making, namely:
1. How to reach prospective converts to interest them in the
investigation of the Catholic religion.
2. How to instruct and win them to a sincere and unswerving
acceptance of the Catholic faith.
The present chapter will be devoted to a treatment of the
first problem, while the second problem will be discussed in the
following chapter.
METHODS OF REACHING PROSPECTIVE CONVERTS
I. Announcement of Course of Instruction from Pulpit
Before commencing a course of instruction for non-Catho-
lics, it has been found helpful to make the announcement at all
the Masses on the three Sundays preceding the first meeting.
METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 241
The announcement regularly made by a remarkably success-
ful convert maker and generally typical of those of the other
workers who were questioned, is to this effect : A class of in-
struction will be held for all who are interested in learning
the real teachings of the Catholic faith. Not only non-
Catholics, but Catholics who feel themselves rusty in the
practical knowledge of their faith are invited to attend. If
each of you will run over the list of your non-Catholic friends,
you will be able to find at least one who has at some time ex-
pressed an interest in the church, or who would easily be inter-
ested in it if he were properly approached.
The duty of spreading the Catholic faith rests not only on
the clergy but on every layman and woman as well. Surely
none of you would want to face Almighty God on judgment
day and tell Him that in all your life you did not win one
single soul for Him, who shed His blood for every human be-
ing. Remember the promise of St. James : "He who causeth
a sinner to be converted from the error of his ways shall save
his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins." The
greatest blessing you can confer upon any non-Catholic whom
you love, is to guide him to a knowledge of the faith of Christ.
The Catholic faith is so frequently misrepresented by its
enemies that it will be profitable for every fair-minded non-
Catholic fellow citizen to learn the actual truth.. Besides, it
is a matter of great human interest and cultural value to know
the religious belief of approximately three hundred million
men and women who are members of every nation under the
sun. They constitute the largest religious body in the world
today. You are invited to bring your non-Catholic friend
simply to come and listen, without obligating himself to be-
come a Catholic or to accept a single tenet of the faith. In
fact, I shall never solicit any outsider who attends, to em-
brace the faith. I will leave that entirely to his own con-
science, after learning the Catholic faith and its credentials.
If he wishes to become a Catholic, I shall be only too happy
to welcome him to the Church of Christ. But if, on the other
242 THE WHITE HARVEST
hand, it should not prove acceptable to him, we shall be just
as good friends as ever. In any event, the non-Catholic party
must take the initiative. I want every one who conies to
feel perfectly at ease and to realize that I have no other pur-
pose than to present clearly and honestly the teachings of the
Catholic faith, and the reasons on which they rest.
In almost every congregation there are many who need just
such an announcement as the preceding to arouse their zeal
and interest. Most of the laity seems strangely enough to be
oblivious of any duty on their part of winning converts to the
faith. The announcement reveals their obligation and at the
same time offers them an easy and practical way of fulfilling
it. The priest stands ready to do the actual instructing, if
they will simply bring their non-Catholic friends to him.
It will be a source of surprise to the pastor of even an aver-
age sized congregation in almost any town or city to discover
the response to such an announcement. There are probably
a number of young men and women in the parish who are
keeping company with non-Catholics who will recognize the
excellent opportunity which such a class would offer to their
non-Catholic friends to acquire a correct insight into the Cath-
olic faith under circumstances pleasant and free from the
slightest embarrassment. Then, too, there will be parishion-
ers who will recall friends and neighbors who attend no Church
whatsoever, and who begin to realize for the first time what
an easy and pleasant task it would be to invite them to such a
course of instruction in the fundamental realities of religion.
Parishioners are apt to recall business associates, or em-
ployees whose lives could be immeasurably enriched by the
quickening influence of Catholic truth, and her sacramental
channels of divine grace. Many priests who have made such
an announcement have testified that persons turned up on the
opening night whom they never suspected of having any in-
terest in the Catholic religion, and many whom they had never
even seen before. It is advisable to make the announcement
on three Sundays to keep the matter before the congregation
METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 243
so that it will not easily escape their minds, and to allow them
sufficient time to advise their non-Catholic friends and to
follow up any prospective clue.
That the majority of prospective converts who apply for
instruction come as a result of lay effort, is the experience of
Rev. Francis W. Walsh, of the Denver Cathedral, who has in-
structed several hundred converts. Outlining his experience
on this point in a communication to the writer, he says: "In
the five years that it has been my privilege to share in the
instruction of converts in the Denver Cathedral parish, I have
found that by far the greater number of prospective converts
come to us through the efforts of lay Catholics. Frequently
they are brought by their prospective husbands or wives.
Rarely do we find that conversion comes after marriage. Oc-
casionally men and women of middle life come to receive in-
structions, because their observations have convinced them of
the truth of the Church. Very seldom indeed does one come
looking for an argument.
"As regards our public instructions, lectures, and sermons,
their chief value, I think, is the good they do to our Catholic
people. Next in importance, to my mind, is their benefit to
converts, particularly recent converts. Last of all is their
power of attraction for those outside the Church. It cannot
be said too often that the good example of Catholics is the
greatest argument to those not of the fold; nor can it be too
frequently urged upon Catholics that besides setting a good
example they should take seriously their obligation to invite
their non-Catholic friends to come to Church services and
lectures. The number of non-Catholics who are waiting for
an invitation to visit a Catholic Church would surprise a good
many people."
Here as elsewhere it will be well for the pastor himself to
set the example, by approaching several non-Catholic friends
unaffiliated with any church, with a view of interesting them
in such a class. No fair-minded person could take umbrage
at such an invitation if tactfully and agreeably presented.
244 THE WHITE HARVEST
Salesmen that we are of the eternal truth and of the pearl
that passeth all price, most of us by our apathy and reticence
in broaching to our non-Catholic friends our priceless and
essential commodity that is yet given gratis, offer a sharp
contrast to the secular salesman who displays alluringly his
wares at every possible occasion and with little or no provoca-
tion.
The tremendous growth of organizations like Christian
Science shows the effectiveness of putting forth their viewpoint
before the general public in season and out of season. There
is abundant evidence that we have not heeded fully the Divine
injunction : "You are the light of the world. . . . So let your
light shine before men, that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father who is in heaven." * Rather have we
been inclined to hide our light under a bushel, and to wait
for what seems a more favorable occasion to present the
truth. Yet the whole ministry of the Apostles is vibrant
with the echo of a ceaseless preaching of the word. St. Paul
sounds the keynote of the method of winning converts to the
infant Church when he instructed Timothy to "preach the
word; be instant in season, and out of season." 2 The win-
ning of souls in the twentieth century calls for the utilization
of every occasion to present the truths of the Catholic faith
to outsiders, the same as in the Apostolic age.
Indispensable for the launching of a nation-wide movement
to win America for Christ is the abandonment "of the present
attitude of extreme reticence, and the assumption of a vigorous
and tactfully aggressive exploitation of the divine truth. If a
handful of the followers of Mary Baker Eddy could in a few
decades by ceaseless and aggressive presentation win vast
thousands of apparently intelligent and educated men and
women to an acceptance of the vague and misleading views of
Christian Science, may of them in flat contradiction to the
1 Matthew, v: 14-1 6.
2 Timothy, iv:2.
METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 245
known facts of medical science and common sense, how many
hundreds of thousands could not twenty million Catholics win
to an acceptance not of vague contradictory tenets but of the
truths of divine revelation, if they displayed but a small frac-
tion of the zeal of their Christian Science friends ? Fore-
most in effecting a transformation of the attitude of the mil-
lions of our laity will be the example set by the clergy. In
fact, it is probably not incorrect to say that their present
attitude of apathy and reticence may be said to reflect in
no small degree the prevalent attitude of their spiritual
leaders.
2. Newspaper Announcement of Course In Instruction
Supplementing the announcement made from the pulpit, a
number of priests have found it helpful to have the anounce-
ment published in the local newspaper either in the form of a
news story or a paid advertisement. If it can be worked
in as part of a news story as it generally can be if handled
properly it is apt to appear as an item of general interest
to the community as it really is, and less provocative of con-
troversy than a bald advertisement. In either case, and es-
pecially in the latter, the point should be stressed that the
presentation of the Catholic faith is expositional and non-
controversial, in the interests of truth and harmony and fair
play, and not to arouse dissension and discord among the
citizens of the community.
It is generally conceded that we have turned over the public
press very largely to the use of our non-Catholic friends in the
voicing of their religious views and the chronicling of their
church activities. Yet it can be utilized just as effectively to
herald the news of Catholic activities and meetings, if we be-
stir ourselves to the additional effort. Except in the very
large cities, editors are generally glad to run church news if
properly written. The experience of a number of convert
246 THE WHITE HARVEST
makers has demonstrated that the newspaper announcement
has interested many readers who would never have been
reached otherwise. Their experience would seem to indicate
that it is worth trying on a wider scale.
3. Invitation by Letter
Supplementing the announcement from the pulpit and in
the press, some convert makers send a personal letter to each
likely prospect inviting him to the class of instruction. The
letter shows that the pastor takes a personal interest in the
prospect, and will esteem it a pleasure to explain the teachings
of the Catholic faith without imposing any obligation upon
the prospective attendant. Recently that ingenious fisher of
souls, Rev. Edward J. Mannix, of Denver, hit upon the idea
of establishing every Monday night The Family Circle, to
which he invited by personal letter every one of the non-
Catholic husbands and wives among the Catholic families
of the parish. These are all likely prospects, and are worth
being approached, either personally or through a letter to a
class of systematic instruction. In general, the personal let-
ter gives a directness to the invitation which is usually not
conveyed either by the pulpit announcement or the newspaper
notice. The experience of many successful convert makers
indicates the abundant fruitfulness of getting a personal in-
vitation to each likely prospect either by a letter, or even
preferably by a personal visit.
4. Mixed Marriages
When a couple, one of whom is a non-Catholic, come to
make arrangements for marriage, the priest has an excellent
opportunity to interest the non-Catholic in the study of the
Catholic religion. In order to sign the necessary promises,
the non-Catholic should logically investigate the teachings of
the faith in which he promises to rear his children. Here is a
METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 247
unique opportunity graciously to offer such instruction to the
non-Catholic as would enable him intelligently to fulfill the
obligations he assumes.
As a result of his experience in winning over a thousand
converts, Father H. L. McMenamin of Denver records his
conviction that this can be made one of the most fruitful
sources of conversion. His experience shows that "devout
Catholics can be made out of nine of every ten young women
who wish to marry or have married Catholic young men.
Similar results but in greatly reduced proportions can be ob-
tained in those mixed marriages in which the non-Catholic
party is the man."
The experiences of other successful convert makers ques-
tioned on this point corroborates the above, and brings out
the additional point that the non-Catholic is apt to reflect very
largely the attitude of the Catholic party in this regard. If
the Catholic shows he is really anxious to have his friend in-
vestigate the teachings of the Church, she is almost invariably
willing to do so. If the Catholic party displays indifference
in the matter, the priest is then obliged to bear the whole
burden of showing the wisdom of such investigation. The
evidence is overwhelming also that the time to make such a
study is before rather than after the marriage. After the
wedding the interest is apt to wane. Moreover, when made
before the wedding, that which originally appeared as a pros-
pective mixed marriage eventuates as a Catholic marriage with
the added happiness of the convert receiving his first Holy
Communion at the nuptial mass.
5. Lay Organizations
The organization of laymen and women into societies for
the special purpose of interesting non-Catholics in the investi-
gation of the Catholic faith has also proven effective in a num-
ber of places. Thus at Sterling, Illinois, Father A. J. Burns
has perfected a unique organization of all the converts in the
248 THE WHITE HARVEST
community into the Benson Club. It has approximately 200
members. The specific purpose of this club is to have each
convert interest one or more non-Catholic friends to attend
the classes of instruction. Because of their numerous con-
tacts and associations with non-Catholics and because they
understand thoroughly their viewpoints and prejudices, con-
verts are usually in a peculiarly happy position to lead others
of their acquaintance into an investigation of the Catholic
religion.
THE BENSON CLUB
The writer has discussed the matter with some of the mem-
bers of the club, who have expressed their enthusiastic com-
mendation of it, and its purpose. One of the members, who
happened to be at the same time Grand Knight of the local
K. of C. Council, mentioned also the needed function it ful-
filled in enabling converts to meet persons who had gone
through a religious experience similar to their own, thus
strengthening and intensifying their faith by the reenforcing
influence and example of individuals who had found the com-
plete satisfaction of their hunger for religious truth and cer-
tainty in embracing the Catholic faith.
At a recent banquet of the Benson Club at which approxi-
mately two hundred members were present, with Bishop P. J.
Muldoon as the guest of honor, plans were launched for the
extension of the Club throughout the country. The success
of the Club at Sterling, under the able direction of that zealous
and indefatigable convert maker, Father A. J. Burns, with his
record of several hundred converts in a small community,
demonstrates that the organization of the converts in every
parish into a branch of the Benson Club or into a similar
society would be helpful both in reenforcing the faith of the
converts themselves and in winning many other additional
sheep to the fold.
METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 249
THE CATHOLIC CONVERTS' LEAGUE
While somewhat similar to the Benson Club, the Catholic
Converts' League of New York, in addition to converts, also
admits into membership Catholics who were born and reared
in the faith. Rev. Henry E. O'Keeffe, C.S.P., the spiritual
moderator of the League, has already described in this volume
its far-reaching influence in assisting financially many convert
making agencies and in bringing many hundreds to classes of
instruction and ultimately into the true fold. Commenting
recently on the distinctive type of service it renders, Cardinal
Hayes said: "The Converts' League fills a distinct gap in
the Catholic life of New York." There is abundant evidence
to believe that the establishment of the League in every city
in America would be instrumental in bridging the chasm that
now yawns almost universally between Catholics and their
separated friends.
The greatest obstacle to the winning of vast multitudes of
converts is the chasm between the Church and those outside
it. They hear only the caricatures and slanders from her
enemies. They war not against any actual doctrine of the
Church but against the false pictures of it placed in their
minds. When they step inside the Church even only as
visitors, they see no longer the blurred and distorted figures
in the stained glass windows as they appeared on the outside,
but now they see them sharply etched by the luminous rays of
the noon-day sun, clear, intelligible, and gorgeously beautiful.
Any agency therefore which helps to span that chasm by bring-
ing outsiders into a closer contact with the Church renders a
service peculiarly needed by the Church in America, and es-
sential to the winning of the great masses of our churchless
fellow-citizens into the fold of Christ.
CATHOLIC UNITY LEAGUE
A third type of organization, called the Catholic Unity
League, was founded in July, 1917, by that peerless convert
2 5 o THE WHITE HARVEST
maker of America, Rev. Bertrand L. Conway, C.S.P. It was
brought into existence to provide books and pamphlets for
prospective inquirers into the faith, and to finance lecture
courses for non-Catholics. It has grown rapidly until now it
numbers over 15,000 members, and has spread to 381 cities
in the United States. It has rendered a great service with
its circulating library of over 5,000 volumes which have been
sent gratis to meet the needs of inquiring non-Catholics in all
parts of America and even in the Philippine Islands. In ad-
dition, the League had distributed gratis hundreds of thou-
sands of pamphlets designed to meet the difficulties of in-
quirers outside the fold.
While the League has devoted most of its. energy to plac-
ing helpful literature in the hands of non-Catholics, and to the
fostering of lecture courses for their benefit, it has unquestion-
ably been instrumental in bringing great numbers to instruction
and ultimately into the Church. For, any organization that
brings the problem of reaching outsiders with Catholic truth
into the foreground of the consciousness of our laity and
imbues them with the missionary spirit of extending the king-
dom of Christ among the souls of men will be an invaluable
asset in recruiting members of a class of instruction whenever
the pastor announces such. The Catholic Unity League, 615
W. 1 47th Street, New York City, will supply any information
concerning its work and membership which readers may de-
sire.
In this connection it may not be amiss to mention that the
Catholic Converts' League and the Catholic Unity League owe
a large measure of their magnificent success to the zealous
direction of the Paulist Fathers who have inspired both so-
cieties with their own quenchless thirst for souls. They have
been the great pioneers in the field of systematic convert mak-
ing in America. With the intrepidity characteristic of their
great apostolic patron, they have blazed new trails and opened
new paths for others to follow in this difficult field. They
have been constantly in the vanguard in seeking to impress
METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 2 5 1
every possible agency, such as the radio, the press, the lecture
platform, the question box, the non-Catholic mission, into the
apostolic task of winning the other sheep into the Master's
fold. To their Christ-like zeal and dauntless courage, more
than to any other single cause, is traceable the impetus that
has been given to the convert movement in America today.
6. Improvised Groups
In contradistinction to the three distinctive types of formal
organizations just outlined, namely, the Benson Club, 'the
Catholic Converts' League, and the Catholic Unity League, a
number of successful convert makers, after announcing the
approaching establishment of a class of instruction, have the
custom of calling in a picked group of about 20 men and im-
provising a temporary organization to assist one another so
that each member will be able to bring at least one prospective
convert to the instruction course. When a small group of
zealous laymen assemble for this purpose, they can pool their
experiences and serve as a clearing hous>e for suggestions as
to likely candidates for such an inquiry class, and as to the
persons and methods most suitable to broach the subject to
them. They study the crucial matter of the approach with
the care and attention which experts bestow upon it in a
financial campaign, because they realize that the response is
likely to be determined in large measure by the tactful manner
in which the subject is presented. On the following evening
a similar group of carefully selected women is called together
by the pastor and entrusted with a similar task.
It has been an interesting surprise for the priests who have
adopted this practice to discover the large number of clues
which are uncovered at such a meeting clues which they
themselves would never have stumbled upon. Out of the
many contacts and associations of the laity come the sugges-
tions about persons who have let drop some word of interest
about the Church, even in the form of a misunderstanding of
THE WHITE HARVEST
some of her teachings, or who are unaffiliated with any creed,
or who because of their reasonable attitude would probably be
willing to give a fair hearing to the claims of the Catholic
faith. The members agree upon the most feasible approach
to each prospect, and report at a following meeting on the
results secured. Then, if necessary, new clues are opened up,
and other prospects are reached. Two or three such meet-
ings are held, if necessary, until a good sized class is recruited
for the instruction course.
Where this device has been utilized it has proved effective
in helping the pastor recruit a considerable number of in-
quirers from his class. It is simple, easy of execution, and
effective. The size of the group called into service may
be modified to suit the size of the community, and the number
of potential prospects. In larger parishes with several priests,
a number of such classes could be conducted simultaneously.
There is abundant evidence to believe that the method would
prove effective in practically every city parish in America. If
it yielded two or three such classes for every pastor in the
course of a year the annual number of converts would quickly
mount into the hundreds of thousands. If it were instrumen-
tal in bringing only five or six inquirers to each instruction
class, it would be eminently worth while. It opens up a new
vista of possible achievements for the Church in the convert
field in America. The results obtainable from the adoption
of this method in practically every parish in the country are
tremendous and well-nigh incalculable. It means the mobiliza-
tion of an army of zealous workers who by steady persevering
ceaseless endeavor shall gather the white harvest of America's
70 millions of unaffiliated souls into the granary of the Master.
7. Missions for Non-Catholics
An effective means of interesting outsiders in the study of
the Catholic faith is the non-Catholic mission. This consists
of a course of lectures on the fundamentals and credentials of
METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 253
the Catholic faith, -which is designed to meet the common
difficulties of those outside the fold. The statistics carefully
compiled by Rev. Bertrand L. Conway, C.S.P., showing that
as a result of 209 Catholic missions, 936 converts were re-
ceived, as compared with a total of 5,059 converts resulting
from 203 special non-Catholic missions, clearly demonstrates
the superior efficacy of the latter agency for the winning of
converts.
True, announcements from the pulpit, in the public news-
papers, must be made, as well as organizing the congregation
to bring outsiders to the lectures. But there is an especial
appeal here, inasmuch as the lectures are public and are
adapted to the non-Catholic mind. Since the lectures are
public and open to every one, the outsider will not be so apt
to feel that he is incurring the same obligation that he imagines
might result if the priest were to devote his time on several
nights each week to explain the faith to himself and only a
few others. The lecture courses are more impersonal, there-
fore, and the invitation to listen to them along with hundreds
of others is usually easier of acceptance. All the machinery
used to secure attendance at a class of instruction should be
employed also for the non-Catholic mission. It is the ex-
perience of those who have conducted many such missions
that the pastor who does not stop with the mere exhortation
to his people from the pulpit to bring their non-Catholic
friends to the lectures, but who supplements it by improvising
organizations of his men and women to the end that each
adult will bring one outsider, invariably reaps a larger harvest
of converts.
Few things are more unpredictable than the response to a
general announcement or invitation. The importance of the
end in view and prudence demand that it be supplemented
by personal invitations to specific groups to bring a definite
number, and to establish the organization necessary to ac-
complish that end. On such an occasion, an invitation should
be extended either personally by the pastor, or through a
2 54 THE WHITE HARVEST
letter, to the non-Catholic party in every mixed marriage in
the parish.
An instance of the effectiveness of careful preparation be-
fore hand is to be found in the results of the annual lecture
course for non-Catholics in New York City sponsored by the
Knights of Columbus. Hundreds of able members on nu-
merous committees work for many weeks in advertising the
event and in recruiting large numbers to attend. Thousands
of books and pamphlets are provided so that every inquirer
will be supplied gratis with all needed literature.
As pointed out in a previous chapter of this symposium, lec-
tures to non-Catholics call for special tact and thoughtfulness,
to avoid giving offense and to win the sympathetic hearing
of the non-Catholic audience by the kindly skillful presenta-
tion of the Catholic cause.
The efficacy of a mission for non-Catholics cannot be gauged
by the number of immediate conversions resulting. In many
instances it is the planting of the seed that will germinate and
bear fruit only after many years. The evidence presented
in previous chapters on the fruitfulness of the non-Catholic
mission clearly shows that it has long since passed the stage
of novelty or experiment and has won a place as one of the
most effective agencies in interesting non-Catholics in the study
of the Catholic faith. The more frequent staging of such
lecture courses in every parish in the country would result
in greatly augmenting the annual number of converts to the
Church in America.
8. The Question Box
Originated by Father Walter Elliott, C.S.P., and Arch-
bishop John J. Kane at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893,
the question box has won widespread recognition as an effective
institution in the reaching of prospective converts. There are
a number of successful convert makers who conduct the ques-
tion box on every Sunday evening for a month until a suf-
METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 255
ficient number of inquirers has been recruited to establish a
course of systematic instruction. At the Cathedral in Denver
it has been conducted on practically every Sunday evening for
many years. It has proved an excellent "feeder" for the in-
struction class.
The question box has a number of advantages over the
formal lecture. It meets directly the difficulty in the mind
of the non-Catholic, which frequently prevents him from as-
similating any instruction until it has been cleared away by a
direct answer. As one convert said recently: "It hits the
nail right on the head." It has the additional advantages of
brevity and variety. The difficulty can frequently be cleared
away by an explanation lasting only three or four minutes.
Then there is usually such a variety of questions, that the at-
tention can be easily sustained by the frequent change of topics.
It is the experience of workers in this field that an audience
can easily be held for an hour by the question box, whereas
at a formal lecture their attention is apt to wane much earlier.
Moreover, the question box is delightfully impersonal. There
are a number of questions and suspicions lurking in the minds
of outsiders which they would be somewhat hesitant about
mentioning personally to a priest. But when they are priv-
ileged to write them out and have them answered without
disclosing their identity or suffering the least form of em-
barrassment they are more willing to seek the desired in-
formation.
Then, too, it has been found that the question box, by tying
the lectures up with the actual problems in the minds of the
people, serves to render the discussions less academic and ab-
stract, and more practical and concrete and consequently more
interesting. Instead of groping blindly in the darkness hop-
ing that by some chance one is meeting the difficulties in the
minds of his non-Catholic auditors, the question box supplies
him with actual targets at which to direct his logic arrows.
Aside entirely from its use as part of the services in a non-
Catholic mission, the question box can be used independently
256 THE WHITE HARVEST
as the feature of a Sunday evening service that will attract
many honest inquirers.
As Father McMenamin has pointed out in a previous chap-
ter, the question box has stood the test of over 14 years of con-
tinuous service at his Cathedral, and the crowds, instead of
dwindling, are annually growing larger. If it is to produce
the largest measure of success it should be properly advertised
and supplemented with the usual organization to ensure the
attendance of outsiders. The evidence on the subject indi-
cates that if the question box were employed more generally
in every parish in the country, it would bring vast numbers
for systematic instruction in the faith and lead them ulti-
mately into the House of God.
9. The Open Forum
Similar to the question box as a means of intriguing the
interest of outsiders in the investigation of Catholic teaching
is the open forum. Instead of the priest reading the question,
the inquirer presents his question or his difficulty orally. It
permits as a rule a more complete exposition of the difficulty
or objection, and in case the answer is not entirely convincing,
it enables the questioner to point out phases which still need
further clarifying in his mind. It enables the lecturer to
direct his attention upon secondary items lurking in the orig-
inal difficulty which might have escaped his attention but for
the open forum discussion. Then, too, by permitting the
questioner to present fully his viewpoint, it renders possible a
more balanced and two-sided discussion than is possible in
the question box method, where the lecturer does all the talk-
ing. By bringing the human elements into immediate and
direct personal contact, it enlivens the discussion and renders
it more interesting for the audience. It enables the lecturer
to show his fairness and desires to convince not by throttling
any rejoinder to his answer, but by hearing all sides and by a
presentation of all the evidence.
METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 257
The open forum has been used with great success by Rev.
Francis W. Walsh of the Cathedral parish at Denver. As-
sociated with that great pioneer in the convert movement m
the Rocky Mountain region, Rev. Hugh L. McMenamin,
Father Walsh added to the many means used in the Cathedral
parish to intrigue outsiders to a consideration of the Catholic
faith, the open forum. It came as a development out of the
question box and the public lectures given regularly on Mon-
day evening. The attendance increased until it became neces-
sary to move from the Cathedral basement to a public hall
accommodating over 800 people, who packed it to its capacity.
During the three years of its existence, Father Walsh con-
ducted the open forum with a complete freedom from heated
or unpleasant words which sometimes mar religious discus-
sions. Although not a single meeting passed without at least
six or more persons participating in the discussion, rendering
it lively and interesting, Father Walsh constantly maintained
that attitude of obvious fairness and kindliness which pre-
cluded the utterance of a single unpleasant remark from any
participant. The attendance of a packed house at practically
every open forum meeting on every Monday evening for
three years shows vividly the latent hunger on the part of the
great masses of the American public for religious truth and
their willingness to attend meetings wherein religious prob-
lems are discussed in a frank, interesting, and vital manner.
Father Walsh's experiment is of peculiar significance at this
time when the churches of America are making determined
efforts to find suitable avenues through which to bring religion
to the great masses of people who never attend the formal
services of any church, and whose lives pass entirely untouched
by the quickening influence of religious ministrations.
The success which attended the open forum meetings in
Denver indicate that it is worthy of more widespread employ-
ment especially in the larger parishes throughout the country.
If properly conducted, there is every reason to believe that
it will be instrumental in interesting large numbers of the
258 THE WHITE HARVEST
general public in the quest of religious truth and in leading
them ultimately into the classes of systematic instruction in the
Catholic faith.
10. Attack and Defense of Catholic Doctrine in Church Pulpit
Differing from the open forum in that the objection to some
Catholic doctrine is voiced by one priest and answered by
another before the congregation in the Church is the above
practice. It is an adaptation of an ancient custom of pre-
senting Catholic doctrines, with one priest defending and an-
other attacking, that obtains in some of the churches in Rome
and in other parts of Italy. More recently the method has
been employed in England to defend Catholic dogma against
certain widespread modernistic assaults. The writer studied
the method in the summer of 1925 with the Jesuit Fathers
at Farm Street Church in London, who have been among the
most conspicuous users of the system in England.
The procedure, as first employed by them, was to have a
priest stationed in the rear of the Church, who would arise
and take exception to some Catholic doctrine which had been
just presented from the pulpit near the altar. He would
speak from the rear of the Church after the manner of a non-
Catholic auditor who after listening to the presentation of a
Catholic dogma, thought the evidence unconvincing. The
difficulty on the part of the audience in turning in their pews
to face the priest in the rear, brought about a modification
whereby both priests occupy pulpits or places in the front of
the Church. In order to give the debate the appearance of
reality and life-like spontaneity, the objector will occasionally
interrupt the expositor at a prearranged place in the lecture,
that permits of a good opening, and then proceed to attempt
a refutation. There is real warmth and vigor to the discus-
sion, which proceeds until the expositor of Catholic doctrine
has thoroughly and overwhelmingly refuted the objections of
the ostensible heretic. Upon the close of the debate solemn
METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 259
Benediction is given with the objector in the debate always
participating as the celebrant.
In commenting upon the effectiveness of the debate as an
educational device, Father Devis, S.J., pointed out that it
attracted large audiences, many of them non-Catholics, and
held them with an interest and attentiveness which would have
been scarcely possible through a formal lecture of the same
duration. Moreover, it stimulated the audience to obtain a
more comprehensive grasp of the complete line of reasoning to
sustain a point of Catholic faith, when the objections are
voiced by a person other than the expositor. There is the
similarity to a life situation, and the relaxation which comes
from the change in voice, personality, and method of delivery.
It requires, however, very careful preparation on the part
of both expositor and objector, to arrange the places for in-
terruption and to master beforehand the various lines of argu-
mentation and objection which each shall pursue. If this
careful coordination is lacking there are apt to result certain
lacunae, ragged edges in the smooth intertwining of the ob-
jections and refutations, which become apparent to the au-
dience.
This institution, both as a means of better instructing our
own people in the defense of Catholic truth and as a device
to interest outsiders in a study of Catholic teaching, is as yet
in its infancy in this country. During the last few years it
has found its way into several of the larger churches in New
York and Chicago. There is every reason to believe that
as the effort to reach the vast millions of American people
untouched at present by any religious influence, grows in ear-
nestness and in intensity, this means of presenting the cogency
of Catholic belief will be utilized with much greater fre-
quency and universality.
As a drawing card for non-Catholics it is much more potent
than the ordinary formal lecture, or sermon. People, es-
pecially outsiders, will come to hear an argument about Cath-
olic doctrine when they would not come to a simple straight-
2 6o THE WHITE HARVEST
forward presentation of it in a non-controversial lecture. The
apathy of the great masses of people in regard to religion and
the lack of suitable channels at present to reach them, renders
imperative the establishment of new agencies of dispelling
the apathy and of bringing them into intellectual contact with
Catholic doctrine. Hence the ceaseless restless search of the
Church for effective methods of coping with the widespread
religious indifferentism in American life. From the mountain
peak of nineteen centuries she realizes all too vividly that
if religion does not find channels of penetrating the stolid sea
of constantly growing religious indifferentism, the latter will
make serious inroads upon her own domain, and threaten
even to engulf her with its vast tidal waves of irreligion and
twentieth century paganism. Where such a crisis impends,
every legitimate agency of bringing the saving knowledge of
divine truth into the hearts of the vast millions of our citizenry
must be pressed into service.
ii. Street Preaching
In England, the Catholic Evidence Guild has rendered
yeoman service in carrying a knowledge of the ancient faith
to the great masses of the British people. The writer spent
several days studying the work of the Guild with Francis
J. Stead, one of its ablest leaders, and was deeply impressed,
both by the magnitude of the movement as well as by the
daring courage with which its lay speakers carried their
evangel of Catholic belief into the hitherto unreached high-
ways and byways of British life. Standing on soap boxes,
and improvised platforms at street corners on Saturday night
and in the public parks on Sunday, many hundreds of laymen
and lay women address great crowds of curious and interested
listeners on the various points of Catholic belief. Undis-
mayed by heckling, ridicule, and disturbing noises of all de-
scriptions, these earnest expounders of the truth continue at
their appointed corners on every Saturday night until the
METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 261
course of lectures has been completed. They answer all ques-
tions, withstand the raillery of sarcastic tongues, refute old his-
toric calumnies still current against the Church, and gradually
succeed in battering down portions of those huge barriers
of prejudice and misunderstanding which since Reformation
days have separated the great masses of British people from
the Catholic faith.
The speakers are all lay people, coming as volunteers from
every walk in life. They go through a careful apprentice-
ship, and are thoroughly trained in the answers to the stock
calumnies and objections. The speaker has no decoy in the
crowd to ask any prearranged questions, but always finds a
ready bombardment of questions directed at him by the throng
of skeptical auditors. The feature that surprises the Ameri-
can visitor is the huge crowd of people that invariably gathers
to listen when the speaker mounts his improvised platform.
In Hyde Park on Sunday a series of speakers will address
crowds of over a thousand from ten o'clock in the morning
until late in the evening. This phenomenon is all the more
surprising in view of the deep-rooted prejudice and hostility
of the British people, which is admittedly greater than that
prevalent among the masses of the American public.
While the immediate aim of the Catholic Evidence Guild
is not primarily to win converts, but to batter down the walls
of misunderstanding and antagonism and give the British
people a better insight into the Catholic Church as she really
is, nevertheless, its work results indirectly in leading many
hundreds of individuals, with their previous grounds of prej-
udice removed, to a priest for that systematic instruction that
means entrance into the Catholic faith. The magnificent
achievements of the Catholic Evidence Guild, both in supply-
ing hundreds of thousands of previously misinformed Brit-
ishers with a new vision of Catholic truth and in recruiting
large numbers for systematic instruction classes, demonstrate
in a striking manner the efficacy of the lay apostolate when
dowered with the Pentecostal fire of holy zeal and daring
262 THE WHITE HARVEST
courage in finding new and effective avenues of fulfilling in
the twentieth century that Divine mandate given in the first
century by the shores of the Gallilean sea : "Go ye into the
whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature." 1
The nearest approach in America to the work of the Cath-
olic Evidence Guild in England is the missionary activity of
Mr. David Goldstein of Boston. With a dauntless courage
and Pauline zeal for souls, Mr. Goldstein has blazed a new
trail in America, by preaching from his autovan the gospel
of Catholic truth to crowds on street corners and in public
parks all the way from Boston to San Francisco. In a previ-
ous chapter, Mr. Goldstein has sketched the methods of
presenting the Catholic faith in such a way as to interest the
average crowd that gathers on the street corner, and to win
them to an appreciation of its truth and beauty. The large
numbers of the indifferent public to whom Mr. Goldstein
brought some knowledge of the religion of Christ, and who
would otherwise have remained untouched by Catholic thought,
as well as the hundreds of thousands of pieces of Catholic
literature placed in interested hands through his apostolic
ministry, show that if Catholic truth is ever to leaven the
great masses of the American people who are at present unaf-
filiated with any religion, more generous ^nd widespread use
must be made of street preaching. If the great masses of
outsiders cannot be intrigued into the Church to hear her
Gospel there, it is obvious then that the only way in which to
reach them is to carry the evangel to them in the market
place and the highways, and wherever they congregate under
the canopy of the sky. The recent announcement of the in-
tention of approximately a half-hundred Protestant ministers
in Chicago to carry their message to the crowds on the street
corners, whom otherwise they could never reach, takes the
above suggestion out of the domain of theory and gives to
it not an academic but a practical and poignant urge.
, xvi:i5-
METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 263
The growth of an army of almost 70 million people un-
affiliated in an active manner with any religion, within our
shores in a little more than a century, shows strikingly the
inadequacy of the old missionary methods and the imperative
necessity of devising new agencies and more extensive machin-
ery to cope with this new phenomenon of twentieth century
America. Added emphasis is given this conclusion by the fact
that the development has occurred within our shores, and is
traceable to the peculiar conditions of modern American life,
since the forbears of these vast millions of indifferent and irre-
ligious citizens were almost universally men and women of
positive religious faith. The phenomenon of widespread re-
ligious indifferentism, almost national in scope, has not been
inherited from any of the countries of the Old World, but is
peculiarly indigenous to American soil.
This fact indicates vividly that the ordinary methods of re-
ligious ministration which prevailed when practically the whole
of Christendom was Catholic stand in need of thorough over-
hauling to wrestle effectively with a newly arisen situation, in
which the overwhelming majority of the population is not
only not Catholic, but is unaffiliated actively with any religion.
The restrained conservative methods sufficient for the Ages
of Faith must be supplemented by vigorous, aggressive, radi-
cal measures to halt the onward sweep of irreligion like a
great avalanche across the countryside of America.
Faith and irreligion are not congenial bed mates. They
tend to devour each other. In the religious kingdom there
is no such phenomenon as mere standing still. It is either
progress or retrogression. The outstanding problem of the
Church in America is not the mere holding of our present
small flock but the winning of the vast uncounted multitudes
of the "other sheep" for whom the Master was willing to
search unceasingly, and for whose recovery He prayed with
such touching fervor, just before His passion. The tremen-
dous size of the flock to be won, and the callous apathy and
264 THE WHITE HARVEST
indifference to revealed religion which envelops almost the
whole of it, renders urgently imperative the adoption of vigor-
ous and aggressive methods of penetrating their armor of
stolid indifference, and quickening their minds to a realization
of "the one thing necessary," the correct answering of life's
supreme question: "What shall it profit a man if he gain
the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?" *
The greatness of the prize for which we struggle warrants
the use of courageous and daring measures. It calls for a
penetrating insight into the national mind of the American
public, and for a consummate tact in the presentation of the
Catholic evangel to secure a response from the masses that
will be free from wrangling and rancor, and firm in its es-
pousal of the divine deposit of Catholic faith. Into this
supreme work of reaching 70 millions of our fellow citizens
with Catholic truth, must be commandeered every helpful
agency, such as, the establishment of classes of systematic in-
struction for non-Catholics in every parish in America, the
announcement of such classes in pulpit and press, the organiza-
tion of our laity to recruit outsiders for such classes, the fre-
quent giving of non-Catholic missions, the formation of con-
vert clubs and evidence guilds, the more widespread use of the
question box, the open forum, and the carrying of the gospel
to the multitudes in the parks and on the street corners by a
disciplined army of lay evangelists.
All these, and other means which wrestling with the actual
problem will bring into existence, must be pressed into serv-
ice in the supreme task of winning the vast white harvest of
America for the Master's granary. In this apostolic minis-
try of winning our beloved America for Christ, not the least
important factor, in the writer's judgment, is the organization
of an effective lay apostolate in every parish in the land to
carry the torch of Catholic truth into every highway and by-
way of American life. Every stimulus beckons and every
prayer pleads for the speedy materialization of these measures
1 Mark,
METHODS OF REACHING CONVERTS 265
to realize the fervent prayer of Christ : "Other sheep I have,
that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they
shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one
shepherd." 1
1 John, x:i6.
CHAPTER XII
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS
BY REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN, PH.D.
[DER this topic will be discussed briefly the more
salient features in the technique of dealing with
prospective converts after they have been made
sufficiently interested to apply for instruction. The
'treatment will not be confined to a discussion of technical
methods of instruction merely, but will cover the broader
technique of the tactful handling of inquirers in such a way
as to win them to a firm acceptance of the Catholic faith. The
discussion assumes a familiarity with the teachings of the
Catholic faith. It endeavors to weave into an organized
method of procedure the more important principles and sug-
gestions which have proven effective in the winning of con-
verts as narrated by the contributors to this symposium, and
by other successful convert makers who have favored the
writer with their experiences. The technique outlined is not
intended to be exhaustive or final, but stimulating and sug-
gestive. While but the blazing of a pioneer trail over a
virgin field, the volume seeks to bring together all the im-
portant evidence on the subject available at the present time.
Only the more outstanding items will be presented here.
Preliminary Interview
Before commencing the systematic course of instruction, it
has been found advisable to arrange a preliminary conference
267
268 THE WHITE HARVEST
with each prospective convert. At this initial visit the pastor
can secure an insight into the religious needs of the applicant,
and the motives or circumstances which have brought him to
investigate the Catholic faith. It is well to allow the ap-
plicant to talk freely, telling as much as he deems necessary
about his previous religious training or lack of it and the
attitude of his parents or family toward the Church.
Frequently it will be found that friendship for a Catholic, or
association with Catholics, has been the chief factor in interest-
ing the prospective convert in the Church. Here the saga-
cious counsel of Father McMenamiri is pertinent. Don't be
concerned, he points out, if the original motive bringing an
applicant to a class of instruction is friendship or love for a
Catholic person rather than an intellectual interest in the
philosophy or dogmas of the Church. Welcome him whole-
heartedly. For, as he progresses in his study of the faith,
he will come to see the truth of the Church's teachings, and
the beauty of her devotions and will be eager to embrace
the faith because of its appeal to his reason on account of
the intrinsic cogency of its credentials, and not merely because
of his friendship for a member of that faith. This gradual
transition from a natural motive to a supernatural one is an
almost inevitable occurrence as the inexorable logic of the
Church's credentials and the historical evidence of her divine
origin break in for the first time upon the mind of the honest
inquirer. Grace, of course, plays its salient role. But Divine
Providence always supplies sufficient grace to the conscientious
searcher for the truth.
The case is cited of a pastor who always looked with sus-
picion upon the earnestness of a person who came for in-
structions if he or she were keeping company with a Catholic.
He would solemnly warn the individual that he should not
undertake the investigation because of any human friendship
but solely for a supernatural motive. The result was that
very many did not return. He seriously impaired his effective-
ness by an attitude of mistaken orthodoxy. There is no valid
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 269
reason why a person might not properly begin his investigation
of the Catholic Church because of his friendship for one of
its adherents. All that might properly be said at the end
of the course would be that a person in embracing the faith
should do so primarily because he is convinced of its truth
and not merely to please a friend. Even the latter factor,
however, might well be present as a concomitant motive,
auxiliary to the primary and fundamental consideration,
namely, the intellectual conviction of the truth of the Church's
teachings.
By encouraging the applicant to talk freely about his re-
ligious background, the priest will discover how far back he
must go to lay the necessary foundations for the superstructure
of the Catholic faith. In this initial visit he has a unique
opportunity to find common ground with his inquirer, pre-
paring him for the systematic instruction course by grasping
the unravelled threads of the individual's religious experience
and delicately intertwining them around the fundamentals of
the Catholic faith.
He has a splendid opportunity to provide him with the type
of literature that will meet the peculiar needs of each applicant.
Though the priest may later give his instructions to all the
inquirers assembled in a class, the preliminary conference
enables him to ascertain the educational attainments of each
and to supply each with a book that will be reasonably adapted
both to the religious needs and the educational advancement
of the individual. Thus a distinguished scholar relates that
when, as a prospective convert, he applied for instruction,
he was given in routine fashion a penny catechism and told
by the pastor to return when he had mastered its profundities
a joke which he rightly complains is "wearing a little stale."
Instead of doling out the same book indiscriminately to all
applicants, regardless of their differences in educational attain-
ment, the preliminary conference enables the pastor to size
up the needs of each individual and provide for them intel-
ligently.
2 7 o THE WHITE HARVEST
It is a tactical mistake for the priest to monopolize the
conversation at this first visit, or to even do the bulk of the
talking. If he will but play the role of a sympathetic listener,
entering into the crotchets of the speaker, the applicant will
usually respond by unbosoming his religious experience and
needs, enabling the priest to get a much firmer grip on the
case. Indeed, the experience of many successful convert
makers indicates the wisdom of allowing the applicant to
discuss not only his religious background, but to tell as much
about himself as he wishes, namely, his schooling, his employ-
ment, his associations, and his plans for the future. All
these openings may be made to serve as additional points of
contact, and to enlarge the area of common interests and
mutual understanding. The experience of all workers in this
field testifies that inquirers are not mere logic machines, but
are endowed with a heart as well. Wise indeed is the priest
who at this preliminary conference, by his kind and sympa-
thetic treatment, wins the esteem, confidence and friendship
of the inquirer. His task is already more than half accom-
plished.
Kindness and Af ability In Dealing with
Prospective Converts
Not only during the preliminary interview, but through-
out the entire course of instruction the priest must maintain
an attitude of kindness and affability towards his prospective
converts. Harsh rancorous criticism of Protestants, con-
demning all of them with one fell blow to hell as formal
heretics, will do more harm than good. It is not particularly
encouraging for a prospective convert to be informed that his
father and mother, sisters and brothers, have passports and
are headed straight for the infernal regions. True, their
errors must be pointed out in the proper place, but it can be
done in an objective manner and in a spirit of charity. Cog-
nizance can be taken too of the fact that countless numbers
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 271
of them are not formal heretics, but honest and sincere in
their belief, and hence are included in the soul of the Church.
A few years ago a University student, as a result of at-
tending Mass for several Sundays with her room-mate, de-
cided to take instructions. On the following Sunday a priest,
in the course of his sermon, suddenly launched into a vitriolic
denunciation of all Protestants, styling them as "more ig-
norant about God than the uncivilized natives of the Fiji
Islands." It was sufficient to kill the budding interest in the
faith for the prospective convert. "Since that is the light,"
she said, "in which Catholics regard us, I have lost interest
in studying more of the views of the Catholic Church." Per-
haps her reaction was not rigorously logical, but it was quite
human and understandable and not untypical.
In common with all the contributors to this volume, the
writer would emphasize the indispensable necessity of kind-
ness, tact and sympathy in dealing with prospective converts.
These are the qualities they perceive most clearly, and to
which they respond with generous alacrity. If these qual-
ities are lacking, no amount of theological brilliance or scrip-
tural lore can adequately replace them. Here as in other
places in the priestly ministry an ounce of kindliness will win
a larger number of the "other sheep" than a ton of rancorous
criticism.
Regular Time and Place
The careful observance of a fixed time and place for the
class of instruction has been found helpful in maintaining that
regularity of attendance which is so essential for a thorough
mastery of the subject matter. Frequent changes in the time
of meeting, with the accompanying forgetfulness of some
members, are apt to induce irregularity in attendance and
weaken the morale of the class. Thus Father A. B. C.
Dunne, of Eau Claire and Father H. L. McMenamin, of the
Denver Cathedral, have fixed evenings for instruction which
2/2 THE WHITE HARVEST
are observed throughout the year. The arrangement, like
the time schedule for trains, has the advantage which results
from long established custom of becoming known to prac-
tically everyone in the community.
As Father E. C. Dowd points out, it is well to have a list
containing the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of
all the members of the class. In case something should occur
to render it impossible for the priest to meet his class, it is
then easy to notify the members thus saving them from the
disappointment of coming to the Rectory and finding no class.
If the latter should occur several times it is apt to disturb
seriously the regularity of class attendance. The care taken
to notify them beforehand of the cancellation of a meeting
emphasizes the seriousness of the work, and obligates the
members in turn to inform the priest of any prospective ab-
sence. Where the importance of regular attendance was
stressed in this manner, a priest tells of receiving a telegram
from a member who found it impossible to make an expected
train connection to be present at the class, and who did not
wish to allow his absence to go unexplained.
The calling of the roll at each meeting has also been found
to help steady the attendance, and to afford the priest a record
of any meeting missed by a member and the lesson which con-
sequently must be made up. A chart containing the names,
the dates of all the meetings, and the subject matter explained
at each meeting, will prove convenient for the recording of the
above data.
Starting the Instruction Class
The first meeting of the group is apt to be the crucial one.
If the instructor succeeds in gaining the implicit confidence of
the class, making them feel comfortable and at ease, winning
their friendship by the kindly sympathy of his treatment, he
is already on the high road to success. Considerable interest
has been expressed by students of the subject as to the subject
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 273
matter for the initial meeting. The following is the substance
of the principal observations made by a very successful con-
vert maker at the first meeting and is typical of the viewpoint
expressed by the others with whom the writer canvassed the
point :
It is a pleasure to welcome all of you, my friends, to this
class of instruction, and to explain to you the teachings of the
Catholic faith. The investigation of religious truth is the
most important and the most imperative duty of every man
and woman. The pursuit of wealth, of fame, of political
power, of social honors, though legitimate within reasonable
limits, pales into insignificance in comparison with that which
is of infinitely greater consequence the quest for religious
truth and the means of salvation. It is worthy, therefore,
of all the time and study which you will devote to it, and will
bring you greater dividends than those resulting from any
similar investment of time and labor. It will be to your
advantage to attend the classes with regularity and punctu-
ality, so that there will be no necessity of repeating any ex-
planation for the benefit of those who come late, thus pe-
nalizing the others for their promptness.
I want to assure all of you that I have no interest in the
matter except to present clearly the truths of the Catholic
faith. It is a pleasure to have the opportunity of explaining
them, especially in vie^v of the frequency with which they are
misrepresented to the general public. It is a labor of love
for me. No pecuniary charge is made, and nothing is ac-
cepted in return for the instructions.
Moreover, I shall endeavor to present the credentials of
the Catholic faith objectively and impartially. I have no an-
imus or ill will toward any religion, and nothing will be said
consciously t6 offend the sensibilities of any of the members.
Though there will be many places where I shall differ with
other religious faiths it will always be on impersonal grounds
and involves no personal ill will. We can differ with those
of other faiths and still be the best of friends. In fact I am
2 7 4 THE WHITE HARVEST
proud to say that I enjoy the friendship and esteem of great
numbers of non-Catholics. I shall make no effort to alienate
you from the affection and esteem of your non-Catholic
friends. Nor shall I suggest any lessening of your attach-
ment to them.
Furthermore, I shall not embarrass any member by solic-
iting him to embrace the Catholic religion. I shall explain
it, but leave to each individual to decide for himself concern-
ing its truth or falsity, to accept or to reject it. If the reli-
gion appeals to the reason of a member as the divinely
established faith, and as offering invaluable aids to salvation,
I shall, of course, be very happy to receive him into the fold.
But if, on the other hand, it should not so appeal, we shall
be just as good friends as ever. I want you to feel at ease
and at home, therefore, and to know that it is a pleasure for
me to explain the Catholic faith to you without placing you
under any obligation to embrace it.
Cardinal Gibbons' Counsel
The counsel which the late Cardinal Gibbons was accus-
tomed to give to a prospective convert has an ingratiating
kindliness, and a ring of such obvious sincerity and an unction
of deep human sympathy, that render it a masterpiece of its
kind and a model after which every convert maker might
well pattern his initial talk to his class of inquirers.
"Perhaps this is the first time in your life, my dear friend,
in which the doctrines of the Catholic Church are expounded
by one of her own sons. You have, no doubt, heard and read
many things regarding our Church ; but has not your informa-
tion come from teachers justly liable to suspicion? You
asked for bread, and they gave you a stone. You asked for
fish, and they reached you a serpent. Instead of the bread
of truth, they extended to you the serpent of falsehood.
Hence, without intending to be unjust, is not your mind
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 275
biased against us because you listened to false witnesses?
This, at least, is the case with thousands of my countrymen
whom I have met in the brief course of my missionary career.
The Catholic Church is persistently misrepresented by the
most powerful vehicles of information.
"She is assailed in romances of the stamp of Maria Monk,
and in pictorial papers. It is true that the falsehood of those
illustrated periodicals has been dully exposed. But the anti-
dote often comes too late to counteract the poison. I have
seen a picture representing Columbus trying to demonstrate
the practicability of his design to 'discover a new Continent
before certain monks who are shaking their fists and gnashing
their teeth at him. It matters not to the artist that Columbus
could probably never have undertaken his voyage and dis-
covery, as the explorer himself avows, were it not for the
benevolent zeal of the monks, Antonio de Marchena and Juan
Perez, and other ecclesiastics, as well as for the munificence
of Queen Isabella and the Spanish Court.
"We cannot exaggerate the offense of those who thus wil-
fully malign the Church. There is a commandment which
says: 'Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy
neighbor.'
"If it is a sin to bear false testimony against one individual,
how can we characterize the crime of those who calumniate
three hundred millions of human beings, by attributing to
them doctrines and practices which they repudiate and abhor.
I do not wonder that the Church is hated by those who learn
what she is from her enemies. It is natural for an honest
man to loathe an institution whose history he believes to be
marked by bloodshed, crime and fraud.
"Had I been educated as they were, and surrounded by an
atmosphere hostile to the Church, perhaps I should be un-
fortunate enough to be breathing vengeance against her to-
day, instead of consecrating my life to her defence.
"It is not of their hostility that I complain, but because
276 THE WHITE HARVEST
the judgment they have formed of her is based upon the
reckless assertions of her enemies, and not upon those of im-
partial witnesses.
"Suppose that I wanted to obtain a correct estimate of the
Southern people, would it be fair in me to select, as my only
sources of information, certain Northern and Eastern period-
icals which, during our Civil War, were bitterly opposed to
the race and institutions of the South? Those papers have
represented you as men who always appeal to the sword
and pistol, instead of the law, to vindicate your private
grievances. They heaped accusations against you which I will
not here repeat. Instead of taking these publications as the
basis of my information, it was my duty to come among you ;
to live with you; to read your life by studying your public
and private character. This I have done, and I here cheer-
fully bear witness to your many excellent traits of mind and
heart.
"Now I ask you to give to the Catholic Church the same
measure of fairness which you reasonably demand of me when
judging of Southern character. Ask not her enemies what
she is, for they are blinded by passion ; ask not her ungrateful,
renegade children, for you never heard a son speaking well
of the mother whom he had abandoned and despised.
"Study her history in the pages of truth. Examine her
creed. Read her authorized catechisms and doctrinal books.
You will find them everywhere on the shelves of booksellers,
in the libraries of her clergy, on the tables of Catholic
families.
No Secrets to Withhold
"There is no Freemasonry in the Catholic Church; she has
no secrets to keep back. She has not one set of doctrines for
Bishops and Priests, and another for the laity. She has not
one creed for the initiated and another for outsiders. Every-
thing in the Catholic Church is open and above board. She
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 277
has the same doctrines for all for the Pope and the peasant.
"Should not I be better qualified to present to you the
Church's creed than the unfriendly witness whom I have men-
tioned?
"I have imbibed her doctrine with my mother's milk. I
have made her history and theology the study of my life.
What motive can I have in misleading you? Not temporal
reward, since I seek not your money, but your soul, for which
Jesus Christ died. I could not hope for an eternal reward
by deceiving you, for I would thereby purchase for myself
eternal condemnation by gaining proselytes at the expense of
truth.
"This, dear friend, is my only motive. I feel in the depth
of my heart that, in possessing Catholic faith, I hold a trea-
sure compared with which all things earthly are but dross.
Instead of wishing to bury this treasure in my breast, I long
to share it with you, especially as I lose no part of my spiritual
riches by communicating them to others.
"It is to me a duty and a labor of love to speak the truth
concerning my venerable Mother, so much maligned in our
days. Were a tithe of the accusations which are brought
against her true, I would not be attached to her ministry, nor
even to her communion, for a single day. I know these
charges to be false. The longer I know her, the more I ad-
mire and venerate her. Every day she develops before me
new spiritual charms.
"Ah ! my dear friend, if you saw her as her children see
her, she would no longer appear to you as typified by the
woman of Babylon. She would be revealed to you, 'Bright
as the sun, fair as the moon'; with the beauty of Heaven
stamped upon her brow, glorious 'as an army in battle array.'
You would love her, you would cling to her and embrace her.
With her children, you would rise up in reverence 'and call
her blessed.'
"Consider what you lose and what you gain in embracing
the Catholic religion.
278 THE WHITE HARVEST
"Your loss is nothing in comparison with your gain. You
do not surrender your manhood or your dignity or independ-
ence or reasoning powers. You give up none of those re-
vealed truths which you may possess already. The only re-
straint imposed upon you is the restraint of the Gospel, and
to this you will not reasonably object.
"You gain everything that is worth having. You acquire
a full and connected knowledge of God's revelation. You
get possession of the whole truth as it is in Jesus. You no
longer see it in fragments, but reflected before you in all its
beauty, as in a polished mirror. While others are outside
criticizing the architecture of the temple, you are inside wor-
shiping the divine Architect and saying devoutly with the
Psalmist: 'I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of Thy house
and the place where Thy glory dwelleth. While others from
without find in the stained-glass windows only blurred and
confused figures without symmetry or attraction or meaning,
you from within, are gazing with silent rapture on God's
glorified saints, with their outlines clearly defined on the win-
dows, and all illuminated with the sunlight of heaven. Your
knowledge of the truth is not only complete and harmonious,
but it becomes fixed and steady. You exchange opinion for
certainty. You are no longer 'tossed about by every wind of
doctrine,' but you are firmly grounded on the rock of truth.
Then you enjoy that profound peace which springs from the
conscious possession of the truth.
"In coming to the Church, you are not entering a strange
place, but you are returning to your Father's home. The
house and furniture may look odd to you, but it is just the
same as your forefathers left it three hundred years ago.
In coming back to the Church, you worship where your fathers
worshiped before you, you kneel before the altar at which
they knelt, you receive the Sacraments which they received,
and respect the authority of the clergy whom they venerated.
You come back like the Prodigal Son to the home of your
father and mother. The garment of joy is placed upon you,
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 279
the banquet of love is set before you, and you receive the kiss
of peace .as a pledge of your filiation and adoption. One
hearty embrace of your tender Mother will compensate you
for all the sacrifices you may have made, and you will exclaim
with the penitent Augustine : 'Too late have I known thee, O
Beauty, ever ancient and ever new, too late have I loved thee.'
"Remember that nothing is so essential as the salvation of
your immortal soul, 'for what doth it profit a man, if he gain
the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a
man give in exchange for his soul?' 1 Let not, therefore, the
fear of offending friends and relatives, the persecution of
men, the loss of earthly possessions, nor any other temporal
calamity, deter you from investigating and embracing the
true religion. 'For our present tribulation, which is momen-
tary and light, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an
eternal weight of glory.' 2
"May God give you light to see the truth, and, having
seen it, may He give you courage and strength to follow it!" s
Emphasize Necessity of Prayer
After the introductory observations are completed and the
class is thus rendered conscious of the disinterestedness of
the instructor's services, and feels at ease in the knowledge
that they are not requested to make any promise about em-
bracing the religion, many experienced convert makers then
proceed immediately to emphasize the helpfulness and the
necessity of prayer to God for guidance and direction. By
pointing out that faith is a supernatural gift of God, and is
to be attained not merely by the use of the natural reason in
investigating the credentials to be submitted, but also by ap-
pealing to God to enlighten the intellect to see the truth and
to confer grace and strength upon the will to follow it, a more
^Matt. xvi. 26.
2 II. Cor. iv. 17.
* Cardinal Gibbons, Faith of Our Fathers, John Murphy Co. pp. xi-rrii.
280 THE WHITE HARVEST
receptive and favorable attitude of mind to prosecute the in-
quiry is begotten. Oftentimes Newman, while struggling for
the light sought relief from the noise of polemics and the be-
wilderment of dialectics, in prayful supplication to the Divine
Mind for guidance, adopting as his own the famous motto of
St. Ambrose: Non in dialectica complacuit Deo salvum fa-
cere populum suum. If the inquirer undertakes to sit in
judgment upon the truths revealed by God and to measure
the wisdom of the Divine Mind by his own puny intellect, he
will find that his arrogance and intellectual pride constitute a
formidable obstacle to the entrance into his soul of the spirit of
supernatural faith. This latter requires a ready docility to
the stirrings of divine grace, and a humble bowing of the
human intellect before the divine light. Humility and a
daily recourse to prayer for heavenly guidance prepare the
mind of the earnest inquirer for the understanding of the
cogency of the credentials of supernatural revelation, and for
the movement of the will, as well as for the arousal of that
pia credulltas which Newman describes with such penetration
as a necessary antecedent to the eliciting of an act of super-
natural faith.
This emphasis upon the salient role of prayer in the quest
for religious truth is followed by an explanation of the more
common prayers in the Catholic religion the Lord's prayer,
the Sign of the Cross, Hail Mary, Apostles' Creed, Confi-
teor, Acts of Faith, Hope, Charity, and Contrition, and Grace
Before and After Meals. As these represent the funda-
mental prayers in most common use in historical Christianity
it would not seem to be unreasonable to suggest the gradual
memorization of these a new one for each class until all
are learned. It is a wholesome practice to end each class
by suggesting that all kneel and recite together one of the
prayers.
Priests have frequently observed that this practice, alien
to many who learn to kneel and fold their hands in prayer
for the first time, begets an attitude of trustfulness in God,
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 281
and a spirit of devotion to Him, that serves as a salutary sup-
plement to the academic work of instruction and brings the
heart and the will into the hungering quest for God and His
Church. It is apt to arouse in the breast of the earnest in-
quirer the beginning of that indispensable spark of personal
piety which gradually grows until it shoots its vivifying in-
fluence through his whole spiritual life, stimulating him to
persevere with increasing zeal in his search for the truth.
Fortunate indeed is the priest who in addition to guiding his
inquirers safely through the winding labyrinth of intellectual
data, succeeds in kindling in the members of his class a spirit
of devotion and fervor in their prayers. No amount of mere
information which leaves the subject unmoved and cold can
form an adequate substitute for it.
It is a sound psychological principle that one learns best to
do a thing by doing it. So one learns to pray by praying.
After the nature and necessity of prayer have been thor-
oughly explained, it will be advisable to encourage the prac-
tice of having the members say their morning and evening
prayers, and other special prayers for God's guidance in their
particular mission. Likewise the custom of ending every
meeting with prayer, said as fervently as possible, by all the
members will be found to bring rich returns.
The Visit Through the Church
At about the second meeting, a number of leaders in the
convert field, have the custom of taking all the members of
the class on an inspection trip through the Church. This is
a never failing subject of concrete interest to all inquirers.
It is surprising to the priest who takes such a group through
the Church, to discover how many objects and symbols need
explanation to be made intelligible to outsiders. He is apt
to find that such a visit entails almost an entire epitomy of the
teachings of the Catholic faith. After crossing the thresh-
old of the Church, he encounters the holy water fount, be-
282 THE WHITE HARVEST
ginning his explanation of that practice, proceeding then to the
confessional, showing the class where the penitent kneels and
the other apartment wherein the confessor sits, which will
usually disillusion a number of the members because of weird
stories and slanders of the practice of confession which they
had heard. The priest then explains the meaning of the
sanctuary lamp, the tabernacle, the altar, the crucifix, the
altar linens, the altar stone, with its enclosed relic, the mis-
sal, the vestments and utensils for the mass, its principal
parts, the images on the altar, the side altars, the communion
rail, the genuflexion before the tabernacle, the stations of the
cross, the holy pictures and paintings on the walls and win-
dows, the baptismal font, and any other object that arouses
the curiosity of any member.
A thorough explanation of the above mentioned symbols
and the answering of pertinent questions will usually consume
at least an hour. Priests who have followed this practice
for many years testify to the intense interest of the visitors
in the explanations of the various symbols, and to their feel-
ing of greater "at homeness" when they subsequently come
to attend holy Mass and the other services of the Church.
A Catholic Church is no longer a strange edifice to them,
abounding in mysterious signs and unintelligible contraptions.
The luminous rays of knowledge have dispelled their igno-
rance and given them an insight into the surpassing charm of
the house of God, and the beauty of the tabernacled altar
wherein His glory dwelleth.
The class is now in a better position to appreciate the wis-
dom of the salutary counsel to attend Mass on Sunday and
any other public service held in the Church. Though still
but in the stage of catechumens, it is desirable to have them
attend the public services of the Church so that they may
secure an insight into the principal devotions of the Catholic
faith. As the Catholic religion consists not merely of ab-
stract doctrines but of forms of worship and acts of devotion,
it is important that prospective converts be familiarized with
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 283
this aspect of the Church's life as well as with her doctrinal
formulae. As the student of science not only studies its ab-
stract principles in the class room but familiarizes himself with
their functioning in the experiments in the laboratory, so the
student of the Catholic religion may fittingly be asked to sup-
plement the formal instruction in the class room by attendance
at her public services wherein the abstract principles of faith
find their concrete embodiment.
Moreover, attendance at the public devotions of the Church
serves to deepen the spirit of piety, and gradually to accli-
matize the individual to the atmosphere of Catholic worship
and devotion. Just as the individual is urged to pray to God
for guidance, and not merely study the nature of prayer In the
abstract, so he may appropriately be asked to participate in
the devotions of the Church to secure an insight into her
liturgy and to quicken his own religious fervor. After attend-
ance at the public services of the Church for a couple of
months, during which the inquirer has been receiving syste-
matic instruction in the faith, the transition into formal mem-
bership in the Church will be much more gradual and smooth
and freer from emotional jolt than if the steady acclimatiza-
tion through attendance at her services had not occurred. Pro-
spective converts who have finished a class of instruction, and
have been impressed with the logic of the Church's teachings,
but who had practically never been inside a Catholic Church
and consequently were quite unfamiliar with her devotions
and forms of worship, have been known at times to experience
some hesitancy in stepping from the class room into a whole-
hearted espousal of the Catholic faith, because much of her
liturgy and devotional life were still shrouded in considerable
mystery for them. Hence, it will be found of great practical
value, and will tend strongly to ensure the proper response
at the completion of instruction to introduce the members of
the class early into the Church's devotional life, and to main-
tain them in that wholesome spiritual atmosphere until the
conclusion of the course.
284 THE WHITE HARVEST
In this connection it may be mentioned that the thorough
explanation of the Mass, its prayers and ceremonies, at the
earliest opportunity places the catechumens in an advanta-
geous position to enjoy in richer measure the fruits of the
Church's devotional life. The Mass being the central object
of devotion, and expressed through such exquisite but elabo-
rate esoteric ceremonial, needs to be explained thoroughly at
an early date if the prospective converts are to assist at the
Mass with much profit.
After having explained the nature of the Mass, its history
and theology, it is well wherever possible for a priest to ex-
plain its ceremonies while they are being performed by the
celebrant at the altar. By giving the explanation at the same
time at which the ceremony is being exemplified, -the witnesses
secure a clearer understanding of the liturgy and are able
henceforth to associate the relevant meaning with each cere-
mony of the Mass. They are invariably deeply impressed by
the beauty of the symbolism and its spiritual pregnancy when
once it is unfolded before them. Unless the Mass is explained,
however, it suffers from the obscurity which veils every ac-
tion, couched in esoteric ceremonial.
For several years the writer has followed the practice of
explaining the ceremonies and symbolism of the Holy Sacrifice
at each of the four Masses on Sunday morning. The public
announcement of such explanation has never failed to attract
a large number of non-Catholic visitors interested in under-
standing the age old liturgy, colorful and impressive, of the
Catholic faith. Indeed, on a number of occasions whole Sun-
day-school classes of University students together with their
teachers from various Protestant Churches, came in a body to
have unfolded before their eyes the exquisite symbolism and
surpassing beauty of Catholic devotion as expressed with such
moving and dramatic impressiveness in the ritual of the Mass.
To assist in rendering permanent their newly acquired insight
into the stately beauty and sublime symbolism of the unbloody
sacrifice of Calvary, it has been a practice at our University
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 285
Chapel to distribute to each person a copy of that excellent
brochure by Abbe Hallet, An Explanation of the Prayers and
Ceremonies of the Mass, published by the International Cath-
olic Truth Society.
It is the writer's experience, incidentally, that such expla-
nations are welcomed with not less enthusiasm by our Catholic
people to whom unfortunately altogether too much of the
spiritual pregnancy of the symbolism is lost by their unf amil-
iarity with the significance behind each of the ceremonies of
the Mass. So powerful is the attraction of the announcement
of the explanation of the ceremonies and symbolism of the
Mass and its vestments, that it might well be listed among the
means enumerated in the previous chapter to draw outsiders
to the Church with a view of interesting them ultimately in a
systematic study of the Catholic faith.
The Sequence of Topics
After appropriate introductory remarks have been made,
and the class has been made familiar with the common prayers
of the Church and given some insight into her public devo-
tional life, what should be the sequence of topics to be pre-
sented in the course of instruction? There appears to be no
common uniform order in the treatment of topics, as followed
by the various contributors to this symposium, or by other
leaders with whom the writer has discussed the point. The
general practice seems to be to follow substantially the order
of any good catechetical work which the instructor uses as
the basis for his instructions. The following of some such work
will generally secure the treatment of all the essential topics
in the Catholic faith. One experienced instructor reports using
The Faith of Our Fathers, by Cardinal Gibbons, as a first
book designed to show the scriptural foundation of the articles
of the Catholic faith, and then finishing with Kinkead's Ex-
planation of the Baltimore Catechism as a simple statement
of Catholic belief and practice. The general response on
286 ^ THE WHITE HARVEST
this point was that any catechetical work which the priest re-
garded as a good clear statement of Catholic doctrine would
be a suitable text to use and an appropriate order to follow.
In discussing this point with the Rt. Rev. Joseph Schrembs,
D.D., Bishop of Cleveland, who during his priestly ministry
achieved outstanding success in winning large numbers of con-
verts to the fold, His Lordship stated that in his instruction
of converts he always found it helpful and of primary im-
portance to drive home to his listeners early in the course the
realization that Christ established a definite organization
called the Church which He clothed with infallible authority
to teach all mankind. By lodging this concept securely in the
minds of the members of the class, it was made apparent to
them that his exposition of doctrine was not that of a private
individual, resting solely upon his own personal judgment, but
was the authoritative official teaching of the institution es-
tablished by Christ to perpetuate the deposit of divine reve-
lation to all generations of men. Once this conviction is es-
tablished in the mind of the inquirer, then it follows that
every other doctrine taught by this divinely established
Church, must be true. For, an infallible authority can teach no
error. Hence complete acquiescence in all the other dogmas
which the instructor subsequently presents will be enjoyed by
the person who grasps thoroughly the logical evidence upon
which the cardinal truth of the infallible teaching authority of
the Church rests.
When persons interested in the Catholic faith would some-
times ask for the evidence for some particular dogma, such as
the Immaculate Conception, or the Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin, which rest, in addition to other sources of evidence,
upon the infallible pronouncements of the Church, Bishop
Schrembs was accustomed to use the following apt illustra-
tion. There are some things, he would say, which cannot
properly be explained independently of their relations with
others. Ask an engineer the significance of a single piston
in the complicated mechanism of a locomotive. Ask him to
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 287
tell you its particular function without explaining to you the
significance of the other mechanical devices with which it is
coordinated, and he will find it difficult, if not impossible, to
explain intelligently the one without first explaining the other.
The engineer is apt to say, Come to the machine shop to-
morrow when the various parts of a locomotive engine are be-
ing assembled and I will explain each part to you as it is fitted
into its proper place. Then you will be able intelligently to
understand the specific function of the particular piston about
which you enquire, and how it coordinates with many related
parts in the performance of a function indispensable to the
running of the locomotive. But it is necessary to tell you first
about the other related parts and their function if you are to
understand the reason why that particular piston is placed
where it is.
So there are many doctrines of the Church whose creden-
tials cannot be adequately presented without first establishing
the infallible teaching authority of the Church, and showing
that in addition to other evidence, the dogma reposes upon
this solid and invincible foundation. As the Bishop expressed
it, once his hearers had mastered this fundamental truth, they
perceived that he was speaking with the authority of an in-
fallible Church behind him, and therefore every doctrine with-
out exception was infallibly true.
A somewhat similar viewpoint was expressed to the writer
by the Rev. Daniel Sullivan, of Peoria, who numbers many
hundreds of converts to his credit. In dealing with prospec-
tive converts, Father Sullivan found it of primary importance
to establish early in the course the conception that Christ es-
tablished a Church and clothed it with specific power and au-
thority. The dominant mental attitude he found prevalent
among his inquirers, especially those from the so-called evan-
gelical denominations, was that Christ had enunciated certain
great moral and religious truths and left it to each individual
to work out his own salvation by ferreting out these salient
spiritual truths from the Bible. Such a controlling mental
288 THE WHITE HARVEST
attitude exalts the role of the individual to the minimization
and almost annihilation of the function of a Church as a
divinely constituted teacher.
He found it essential to show that Christ's procedure was
of a different character that He established a Church to
bring a knowledge of the complete body of His teachings and
their correct application in human life to every individual
instead of rendering salvation so uncertain and precarious by
making it contingent upon the ingenuity of each individual
to discover for himself this vast network of religious prin-
ciples and their correct translation into the changing condi-
tions of human life. In his twenty-five years of convert mak-
ing, Father Sullivan has found the definite crystallization of
the above concept in the minds of prospective converts to be
of outstanding primary importance. It gives a mental orien-
tation which renders them more susceptible to the subsequent
instructions and expedites their grasping of the Catholic view-
point. It is of course expressive of the fundamental dif-
ference in the principle of the Catholic and Protestant rule
of faith.
While the establishment of the above thesis that Christ
founded a definite moral corporation called a Church, and
clothed it with infallible teaching authority would doubtless
seem to be the first in the logical order of procedure, it might
not always be the first in the psychological order. As the stu-
dent of education knows, these two orders do not always coin-
cide. The writer would illustrate this important point by an
analogy taken from the psychology of reading. The method
of teaching the mechanics of reading which held undisputed
sway up until very recent times was inherited from the an-
cients. It consisted in teaching the pupils the names and
phonic properties of each letter of the alphabet as the first
and indispensable step in the process of learning to read.
What could appear more logical than to postulate a priori
that before a child could read or pronounce any word he must
know the names and sounds of the constituent letters of the
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 289
word? How could a whole world, consisting as it does, of sev-
eral letters, possibly be pronounced unless one had first mas-
tered the pronunciation of each of the letters making up the
total word? The fact that the word itself might be as simple
and as clearly a unit of sound as the letter, seems never to have
disturbed their serene acceptance of the above principle. Un-
challenged and unquestioned the alphabetic method remained
in almost universal use in the schools of the world until the
last quarter of the nineteenth century. It remained for the
new science of experimental psychology to demonstrate con-
clusively that the mode of procedure in the learning process
which would appear to the adult as the logical order is not de
facto always the mode of procedure which the mind of the
child actually takes. In other words, there has been shown to
be a psychological order of procedure which is totally distinct
and different from the order of procedure deduced by the
adult from the laws of formal logic.
Likewise in the presentation of religious subject matter, be-
cause of the background of mental associations which an in-
dividual brings to the class, it might be more feasible to begin
with the exposition of some of those doctrines which are held
in common by the Church and by the denomination of which
he has been a member, and build upon a foundation of com-
mon agreement before coming to a point of radical departure.
To plunge him immediately upon the infallibility of the
Church, which is directly contrary to the whole current of his
religious training and his habits of thinking in his whole life
time, and against which he probably has inherited a prejudice,
might be too violent an initial shock, and much less effective
than a more gradual approach to it over the ground of com-
mon agreement.
It is a fundamental law of learning, as stated by modern
psychology, that one forms new concepts only by building them
upon those already in the mind. It will frequently be feasible
at the beginning, therefore, to emphasize the points in com-
mon, and gradually acclimatize the prospective convert to the
THE WHITE HARVEST
Catholic viewpoint, thus carefully preparing him to withstand
divergences when later they appear. This policy of carefully
preparing the minds of his hearers for the proper assimila-
tion of subsequent revelations was clearly the one followed
by our Divine Master who said: "I have yet many things
to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." 1 The skillful
ifisher of souls will accordingly study his class, sizing up, par-
ticularly during the preliminary conference, the frame of mind
and its present state of hospitality which each individual brings
to the class, and adapt the presentation of subject matter and
the sequence of topics accordingly.
Sometimes it may be more effective for him to follow the
psychological order. At other times, it may be possible to
follow a rather rigorously logical order of topical treatment.
The general policy of those leaders with whom the writer can-
vassed the point was to emphasize during the initial meetings
the truths held in common, enlarging the area of mutual un-
derstanding, and thus gently and gradually preparing them for
later divergences of viewpoint.
Upon careful analysis it will be found that there is no real
conflict between the viewpoint implicit in the procedure of
!Bishop Schrembs and Father Sullivan in stressing the estab-
lishment of the important truth of the foundation of a Church
clothed with infallible teaching authority, and the viewpoint
developed by the writer of the gradual approach to radical
differences which apparently reflects the practice of the lead-
ing convert makers. At most it is but a difference in empha-
sis. The thesis mentioned is among the most important in
the whole field of Catholic faith, and must not only be clearly
established, but obviously must be established before certain
other dogmas can be completely demonstrated. The degree
of earliness in the course of presenting this article of Catholic
faith, will depend upon the hospitality of the religious back-
ground of the class. The wise teacher will keep his finger
close upon the psychic pulse of the class, and, like the Divine
, xvi:i2.
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 291
Master, will gauge the presentation of his subject matter in
accordance with their capacity to receive. For individuals
who ask scattered questions which cannot be answered prop-
erly without going back to the fundamentals, the suggestion
with its apt illustration of Bishop Schrembs will prove helpful
in convincing them of the wisdom of following a complete
course of systematic instruction in the faith.
The Use of Charts
The use of maps, charts, and graphs serves to enliven the
interest, and to convey a more vivid idea of the point thus
illustrated. The introduction by Pestalozzi of the so-called
"model lesson" with its concrete symbols into common peda-
gogical practice had been long anticipated by the Church in
her use of pictures, statues and symbols in her worship and in
her expression of religious doctrine. The old Latin proverb,
her longum per precepta, breve est per exempla, is as valid
today as in the days of Cicero and of Augustine. This is
particularly true of illustrations graphically or pictorially ex-
pressed. Adults are only grown-up children, who relish an
idea graphically presented and are apt to retain it longer.
One of the secrets of the remarkable success of Father
A. B. C. Dunne in rendering his courses of instruction so pop-
ular is his generous use of pertinent maps and charts. In
discussing this point with him, Father Dunne showed the
writer a number of charts which he himself had devised to
illustrate such important concepts as the Apostolic succession,
and the divine foundation of the Church. In addition he
made copious use of the graphs in the National Religious Cen-
sus of 1916, prepared by the U. S. Bureau of Commerce and
Labor (available gratis upon request), in showing the mag-
nitude of the Catholic membership as compared with the va-
rious Protestant denominations in the different states of the
Union. It generally makes a powerful impression upon the
outsider to discover the magnitude of the Catholic adherence,
292 THE WHITE HARVEST
its distribution in every State, exceeding in some states the
combined membership of all the Protestant creeds, and the
numerical insignificance of the creed of which he had been a
member as contrasted with the magnitude of the Catholic af-
filiation. This impression is further deepened by a compari-
son of the total membership of the Catholic Church through-
out the world as contrasted with any Protestant denomination,
or all of them combined.
There are four charts prepared by the Rev. Joseph L. Bai-
erl, of St. Bernard's Seminary, and obtainable from the Semi-
nary Press, Rochester, N.Y., which are of great practical util-
ity in illustrating phases of Catholic doctrine to a class of
prospective converts. Chart I, which is presented here, illus-
trates the origin, duration, and comparative strength of the
leading Christian denominations. The chart, as issued by the
publishers, is of larger and more impressive size, measuring
21 by 26 inches. It never fails to make a deep impression
upon all who study the lesson it unfolds.
Chart I. A Graphic Illustration of the Origin, Duration
and Comparative Strength of the Leading Christian Denom-
inations.
Chart II illustrates the continuity of the Apostolic succes-
sion by listing the popes and the date of their reign from the
days of Peter to the present day. Chart III, which is repro-
duced here on smaller scale, illustrates the prayers and vari-
ous parts of the Mass. It enables the class to secure a clearer
insight into the essential part of the Mass and to follow it
more intelligently.
Chart III. A Graphic Illustration of the Prayers and Parts
of the Holy Mass with Special Reference to the Canon.
Chart IV illustrates the sacred vestments in the liturgical
colors, the altar, the sacred vessels, and the Mass utensils.
In case these cannot be shown to the class on the occasion of
their inspection of the Church, this pictorial chart will prove
a partial though not an adequate substitute for the objects
themselves. The chart might, however, prove useful and
ffi
u
Copyright 1919 l>y Rev. Jos. J. T.aierl
CHART III
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 293
convenient later on for purposes of review, after the objects
themselves had first been shown.
The following tabular statement of the founder of each
leading denomination, together with the place and date of its
origin, which Cardinal Gibbons 1 prepared, brings out in vivid
relief the apostolicity of the Church and her divine origin as
contrasted with the modernity of all other branches of the
Christian religion. The citation of a Protestant authority
for the founder and date of each denomination renders the
outline all the more overwhelming in its sheer demonstrative-
ness.
The use of such charts and tables, and of others which the
ingenuity of individual priests may devise, never fails to en-
rich the technique of the instructor and to render the assimi-
lation of the subject matter by the members of the class easier
and more pleasant. Every device which enhances the suc-
cess of the instructor of secular subjects should be pressed
into the far more important task of increasing the effectiveness
of the teaching of the divine and eternal truth.
Instruction Individual or Group?
It is evident to the reader that there exists a divergence
among the contributors to this symposium in the method of in-
struction some instructing prospective converts together in a
class, others instructing each individually. There will probably
be no difference of opinion that theoretically the separate in-
struction of each individual offers the greater opportunity for
the adaptation of the subject matter to the individual. Prac-
tically, however, the tremendous saving in time combined with
the pressure of the other duties of the ministry will usually
require the busy priest to group his prospective converts into
a class. The priest who has but a comparatively few con-
verts in the course of a year will doubtless be able to instruct
them individually, if he so prefers. But the busy priest who
1 Cardinal Gibbons, "Faith of Our Fathers," p. 46. J. Murphy Co. Baltimore,
Md.
*94
Name of the Sect
THE WHITE HARVEST
P1 * C ? . f Founder Year
Origin
Authority
Quoted
Anabaptists
Germany
Nicholas Stork 1521
Vincent L. Miller,
"Religious
Denominations"
Baptists
Rhode Island
Roger 1639
"The Book of
Williams
Religions" by
John Hayward
Seven-Day Baptists
United States
General 1833
W. B. Gillett,
Conference
Ibid.
Campbellites, or
Virginia
Alex. Campbell 1813
"Book of Re-
Christians
ligions"
Methodist Episco-
England
John Wesley 1739
Rev. Nathan
pal
Bangs in "His-
tory of All De-
nominations"
Reformed Metho-
Vermont
Branch of the 1814
Ibid.
dist
Meth. Epis.
Church
Methodist Society
New York
Do. 1820
Rev. W. M.
Stilwell, Ibid.
Methodist Protes-
Baltimore
Do. 1830
James R.
tant
True Wesleyan
Methodist
Presbyterian
(Old School)
Presbyterian
(New School)
Episcopalian
Lutheran
New York Delegates from
Methodist 1843
denominations
Scotland General 1560
Assembly
Philadelphia General 1840
Assembly
England Henry VIII 1534
Germany Martin Luther 1524
tionalists
Congregationalist
Quakers . -
Catholic Church
Germany
Celarius
About
1540
England
Robert
1583
Browne
England
George Fox
1647
Jerusalem
Jesus Christ
33
Williams, Ibid.
J. Timberman,
Ibid.
John M. Krebs,
Ibid.
Joel Parker
D. D., Ibid.
Macaulay and
other English
Historians
S. S. Schmucker
in "History of
All Denomina-
tions"
Alvan Larason,
Ibid.
E. W. Andrews,
Ibid.
English
Historians
New Testament
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 295
has a larger number, perhaps 25 or 30, will scarcely find
enough hours in the day to instruct them individually.
Moreover, prospective converts can be instructed thor-
oughly and with complete satisfaction in a class. The experi-
ence of Father McMenamin, and his associates at Denver,
and of Father Dunne and Father Dowd, at Eau Claire, at
each of which places over a thousand converts were instructed
chiefly by the group method demonstrates the feasibility and
practical success of this method. Other- leaders in the field
with whom the writer has discussed the point have like-
wise emphasized the usefulness as well as the necessity of
the group method if large numbers of converts are to be
gained.
It is always possible and usually advisable to supplement the
group method by giving individual attention after the class
to the particular needs of some individual member. Perhaps
some question or difficulty has occurred to him after listening
to the class instruction. He should be given to understand
that he is always free to remain after the class to submit his
difficulty, or to receive further light on any item discussed
in the class. Where the group method is thus supplemented
with attention to the distinct needs of the individual, there is
no valid reason why it cannot be employed with a maximum of
success in any parish in America.
Indeed it has some distinct advantages of its own over the
individual method. Prospective converts, and outsiders gen-
erally, can usually be interested more readily in joining a group
of people for instruction than in constituting a class of one
member for instruction. A person is apt to feel that in case
he should not decide to enter the Church after having con-
sumed such large volumes of the priest's time, the situation re-
sulting from his non-acceptance under the circumstances would
be rather awkward and embarrassing for him. Whereas, if
he is but one of a group, he knows he will experience greater
freedom at the end, in accepting or declining, when there are
others who have profited by the instructions and have been
296 THE WHITE HARVEST
led by them into embracing the faith. He feels that under
the latter circumstances he will not have wasted the priest's
time.
Furthermore, in a group the members are apt to experience
greater comfort, as it is less strenuous than when an individual
is the sole target of all the expository zeal of the instructor.
Then, too, there is the possibility of developing a wholesome
esprit de corps among the members of a class, causing the
collective enthusiasm to spread to each individual, reenforcing
one another by interest and example. Convert makers of
long experience have remarked to the writer that they felt
that the sight of certain members of the class expressing their
desire to embrace the faith at the conclusion of the course,
exercised a most potent and wholesome influence upon other
members in giving them the strength and courage that is al-
ways necessary in leaving the moorings of one's past life to
embark upon a new vessel in a strange sea.
Moreover, the class method of instruction renders more
easily possible and convenient the public reception of a whole
group of converts into the church at one time. This is always
an impressive sight which never fails to quicken a congrega-
tion to greater zeal to win new members to the fold. In the
past five years the writer has had the happy privilege of re-
ceiving over a hundred converts, mostly University men and
women, into the fold. They were received in groups making
their public profession of faith after the gospel of the Mass on
Sunday in the presence of the congregation. The announce-
ment on the previous Sunday of such a public reception would
always bring such a large proportion of the congregation to
that particular Mass as to pack the Church even to the aisles.
The spectacle of a large class of young men and women,
many of them leaders in campus activities, repeating aloud the
moving words of the profession of faith, "I now, with sorrow
and contrition for my past errors, profess that I believe the
Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Roman Church to be the only and
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 297
true Church, established on earth by Jesus Christ to which I
submit myself with my whole soul," stirs the congregation
more than the most eloquent sermon. They are made proud
of their Catholic faith. They are moved to a new appreci-
ation of it as they witness this group of men and women re-
nounce their past errors, and in spite oftentimes of family op-
position and all the associations of their past life, enter the
Catholic fold. In a dramatic manner it shows them the mag-
netic influence of Catholic truth when it comes in contact with
open minds, drawing them to it as irresistibly as the magnet
draws the steel. It moves them to greater zeal to find new
members for the next class of instruction.
After the reception of the converts, a sermon is always
preached on some phase of the work of the lay apostolate in
winning "the other sheep." It has usually been found helpful
to narrate in the course of the sermon some concrete instance
of considerable sacrifice made by a convert in coming into the
church. It is at this Mass, too, that all the members of the
class approach the altar rail in a body to receive their first
Holy Communion. In short, it is the experience of the writer
that the public profession of faith by the class of converts is
the most effective stimulant of the zeal of the laity, arousing
them to a new consciousness of their duty to assist in extend-
ing the Kingdom of God among the souls of men.
It should be added that the entire ceremony for the profes-
sion of faith is carried out on Saturday, and that on Sunday
the class merely repeats in the presence of the congregation
two or three of the most impressive paragraphs, chiefly for the
edification of the faithful and the enlisting of their zeal to se-
cure new recruits. In the harvesting of the vast multitudes
of the American people now untouched by the ministrations
of any religion which this volume envisages, and for the
stimulation of which it has been written the class method of
instruction will find a large field of constantly increasing use-
fulness.
298 THE WHITE HARVEST
The Prospect
Probably never before in the history of the Church in Amer-
ica were prospects so bright for the winning of vast multitudes
as the present. The waning of denominational adherence,
the onward sweep of the spirit of religious indifferentism, the
ceaseless fighting of the modernists and the fundamentalists,
and the complete lack of unity and of a voice of recognized au-
thority among the warring creeds separated from the Church
of Christ, have all contributed to produce the present situ-
ation, without a parallel in any other country in the civilized
world, wherein the majority of its citizens, numbering over
60 millions are unaffiliated in an active manner with any
Church.
There are several factors which give a peculiar urge to
the launching of a vast missionary movement to win these
many millions of our churchless fellow countrymen, and which
render the present time singularly auspicious for its nation-
wide inauguration.
First, Our Holy Father, Pope Pius XI, has issued an en-
cyclical letter, "Rerum Ecclesiae" dated at Rome April 2,
1926, in which he makes a fervent plea for the winning of con-
verts and the extension of Christ's kingdom among the souls
of men. In the following forceful words he arouses the con-
science of the Catholics of America to the realization that we
fail in our duty if we rest content with simply holding our
own, without striving "with might and main" to win over the
other sheep outside the fold.
"In reviewing attentively the history of the Church, one
cannot fail to see how from the very first ages of Christian-
ity the especial care and solicitude of the Roman Pontiffs has
been directed to the end that they, undeterred by difficulties
and obstacles, might impart the light of the gospel and the
benefits of Christian culture and civilization to the peoples
sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death. For the
Church has no other reason for existence, than, by enlarging
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 299
the Kingdom of Christ throughout the world, to make all men
participate in His salutary redemption. And whoever, by Di-
vine Commission, takes the place on earth of Jesus Christ, the
Chief Shepherd, far from being able to rest content with
simply guarding and protecting the Lord's Flock, which has
been confided to him to rule, on the contrary, fails in his es-
pecial duty and obligation, unless he strives, with might and
main, to win over and to join to Christ all those who are still
without the Fold."
Secondly, the holding of the vast Missionary Exhibit within
the Vatican grounds during the recent holy year, wherein the
methods and zeal of missionaries in all parts of the world
were revealed to the millions of pilgrims, has served to
quicken the missionary spirit of Catholics throughout the
world. By disclosing the hardships and sacrifices of mission-
aries in pagan lands, it has aroused the consciousness of the
Catholics of America to the vast white harvest which lies at
their very door, and which is clamoring to them to gather.
Thirdly, the staging of the International Eucharistic Con-
gress in the very heart of America, with its superb manifesta-
tion of supernatural faith in the cardinal doctrine of historic
Christianity, has focussed the eyes of the whole nation upon
the Catholic Church. The striking exemplification of the
unity in the midst of the universality of the Church, with rep-
resentatives of its far-flung hierarchy from every land, with its
million pilgrims of every race and tongue, with its colorful
pageantry and gorgeous symbolism giving dignified expression
to sublime truths all these have combined to place the Cath-
olic Church on the first page of every newspaper in the land
for almost a month and to awaken the interest of the vast mil-
lions of our separated brethren in the Church as it has never
been aroused before. May we not believe that under the dis-
pensation of Divine Providence the Eucharistic Congress is
the beginning of a great renaissance of the Catholic faith in
the new world? Should we not capitalize this newly awak-
ened interest in the Church by redoubling our efforts to carry
300 THE WHITE HARVEST
the saving knowledge of the Catholic faith to every unaffili-
ated man and woman in America ?
Fourthly, conditions following upon the close of the World
War have elevated America to the pinnacle of unquestioned
supremacy in wealth and influence among all the nations of the
world. She is the controlling factor m most of the interna-
tional problems of the day. The winning of the millions of
the churchless citizens of America to the faith, will add im-
measurably to the resources in men and money, which the
Church can then devote to the extension of the Kingdom of
Christ in other lands and in all the mission fields of the
world. It will be a vital factor in the continued onward
sweep of Catholicism throughout the world.
All these circumstances point to the present as the unique
time for the launching of a vigorous nation-wide movement
to win vast hosts of converts to Christ. What the immortal
Bard of Avon said of opportunity in the lives of men may
be applied to institutions as well :
There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in
Shallows and in miseries.
From whatever angle the subject is viewed, it becomes in-
creasingly apparent that every stimulus beckons, every prayer
implores, and every tongue of earth and sky and heaven pleads
for the immediate launching of a great organized, nation-wide
movement to gather the vast white harvest of America into
the Master's granary before it is too late. The field lies not
across far seas in distant lands but at our very door. The
project is not a Utopian dream. The methods and means
outlined by the contributors to this volume, tried and tested
by practical experience, demonstrate that if they are brought
into universal use, the ideal will soon be carved into an abid-
ing reality. The day is speedily arriving when the winning
of converts will be viewed not as an extraordinary activity of
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 301
the ministry, but as an ordinary part of the daily routine of
every priest and religious and of the zealous layman and
woman as well.
True, the conversion of the millions of the churchless peo-
ple of America is indeed a lofty goal. But it is infinitely bet-
ter to strive for it than to rest content with the meagre addi-
tion of less than two converts per priest in a year. There is
something of a noble tribute in the epitaph which Ovid depicts
carved over the tomb of Icarus, whose Daedalian wings
melted because in his daring he flew high up in the heavens and
soared too near the sun : "Si non tenuit, tamen magnis excidit
ausis." 1 In this enterprise, however, with God's help there
can be no failure. For, He Himself has assured us of success
in that inspiring promise: "This is the victory which over-
cometh the world, our faith." 2
That God's grace will be showered upon His workers in
this holy quest is certain. The records of convert makers are
replete with instances wherein divine grace played a leading
role in bringing about conversions which are little short of the
miraculous. A typical instance is described by Father E. J.
Mannix in a letter to the writer: "Recent experiences in
cases of dyed-in-the-wool agnostics, atheists, etc., in hospitals
have been gratifying. This morning for the second time, 1
gave Holy Communion through a tube into his stomach his
throat being completely closed with cancer to a man, the last
of a family of four converts I had previously received into the
Church. Some six weeks ago the patient wouldn't even dis-
cuss the possibility of there being a God. Today he ended a
novena, thanking God for the wonderful gift of faith."
To every priest and religious laboring for human souls in
lonely mission or crowded city there comes at times the mem-
ory of that touching scene wherein the evangelist John de-
scribes the circumstances surrounding the Master's utterance
of that first wistful cry for laborers to gather the harvest.
1 "Although he succeeded not, he failed in a daring and noble attempt."
2 1 John v, 4.
3 o2 THE WHITE HARVEST
Wearied from His journeying over the hillsides of Palestine,
the Master sat down one day to rest and quench His thirst
at Jacob's well near the little town of Sichar in Samaria. It
was almost within the shadow of Mt. Garizim, that rises like
a silent sentinel into the heavens, keeping its sleepless vigil
over the waters of the ancient well. Here the Saviour meets
the Samaritan woman who had come to draw water from the
well. By revealing to her the deeds of her past life, He con-
vinces her that He is no ordinary man, but that He is the
Christ, the long expected Messiah. So, she goes and summons
the townspeople, saying, "Come and see a man who has told
me all things whatsoever I have done. Is not he the Christ?"
Throngs of Samaritans came trooping to see this wonder-
ful Man. As the Master sees them approaching, He turns to
His disciples and utters these significant words: "Do not
you say, there are yet four months, and then the harvest com-
eth? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and see the
countries; for they are white already to harvest. And he that
reapeth, receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life ever-
lasting." 1
Nineteen centuries have winged their ceaseless flight into
the unexplored regions of eternity. Sichar no longer can be
found upon the map. It has fallen under time's disinte-
grating touch, into the dark oblivion of the centuries past, and
lies buried in the dust of ages. The disciples as well as the
Samaritans have all passed to that "mysterious country from
whose bourne no traveler returns." Mt. Garizim lifts its hoary
head less haughtily into the heavens, for it is scarred and muti-
lated from the wear and tear of centuries. But the tide of
time flowing down through the ages, engulfing nations, em-
pires, and dynasties, has been singularly impotent to drown
that cry of the Saviour's: "Lift up your eyes and see the
countries; for they are white already to harvest."
Who is there who can doubt that the wistful eyes of the
Master #re f ocussed today upon the vast fields of America
1 I John, v, 4.
METHODS OF INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 303
"white already to harvest"? Of what country in the world
are those words, "white already to harvest" so true, as of the
great mission fields of America ?
That divine call, which admits of no delay, not even of four
months, but demands immediate action, shall be the rallying
cry gathering together under the Master's banner all those
who labor for the achievement of the Saviour's dearest wish.
Equipped with the technique of modern science, fortified with
the ripe experience of the ablest leaders in the fields, quick-
ened by the inspiration which comes from the consciousness
of laboring for the Master's cause, an army of priests, reli-
gious and zealous laymen will spread the Kingdom of Christ
into every nook and corner of the vast continent of America.
In the heat and burden of the day's toil, they will find en-
couragement in the Saviour's promise: "They that instruct
many unto justice shall shine as the stars for all eternity." 1
As the Jews of old travelling across the desert to the Prom-
ised Land found relief from their ills by raising their eyes to
the cross, so these valiant laborers in the midst of temporary
discouragements and hardships will lift their eyes to the heav-
ens and see written there the Master's assurance of ultimate
success: "This is the victory which overcometh the world,
our faith." Thus munitioned, this valiant army of laborers
shall struggle on over the hill, with the golden sheaves of the
harvest upon their backs, until they come to the dawn of the
eternal day in the Kingdom of the Lord.
1 John iv, 35, 36.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO
CHAPTER XIII
AN important prerequisite for the gaining of a fair hearing from pro-
spective converts is the removal of the misunderstandings and preju-
dices against the Church which have filtered through devious channels
into the minds of probably the majority of people outside the fold. Un-
less these prejudices can be softened and the caricatures of Catholic
doctrines in his mind be removed, the outsider will bring to his investi-
gation an intellect partially closed to new truth and impervious to the
most penetrating logic. The allaying of the more active prejudices and
apprehensions, and the winning of the non-Catholic's confidence are of
tremendous importance in getting the outsider to view the Church with
eyes single to her teachings, instead of through the warped and dis-
torted lens of bias and hatred.
Perhaps no man in America has displayed a rarer genius in diagnosing
the various prejudices, which throb within the social pulse of the non-
Catholic, and in showing how unfounded they are, than the author of
this article, the Rt. Rev. John F. Noll, D.D. Bishop of Fort Wayne. To
disseminate among the citizens of our land the truth about the Catholic
Church, and to refute the numerous slanders that were being broadcast
against her, he founded the weekly paper, Our Sunday Visitor, which
enjoys the largest circulation of any Catholic weekly in the world. In
recent years when the tidal wave of bigotry was inundating our nation
with misrepresentation of the church and slander of her institutions, Mgr.
Noll established a special monthly issue designed particularly for non-
Catholics. The convincing fairness with which he exposed the mis-
representations, and the calm logic with which he refuted the slanderous
attacks against the Church and her institutions, won universal praise not
only from Catholics but from the fair-minded non-Catholic public as
well.
In this supplementary chapter, Bishop Noll gathers together the most
30$
THE WHITE HARVEST
common misconceptions of the Catholic position that are preventing the
claims of the Church from securing a fair hearing and places alongside
of them the authoritative statement of the Catholic faith. The common
charges current among the misinformed about the divided allegiance of
Catholics, their alleged hostility to the public school and other questions
in the field of American patriotism, are met with a well directed fusillade
of indisputable facts and figures which put them completely to rout.
While much of the evidence presented is known in a general way by the
Catholic instructor of souls, Bishop Noll mobilizes it with a pregnancy
and a definiteness which renders it overwhelming in its convincingness.
Bishop Noll has had a wide and successful experience in winning con-
verts. In his parish at Huntington, numbering 1000 souls, approxi-
mately 250 were converts of the then Father Noll. The gaining of
such a large army of converts becomes all the more remarkable when
one realizes the very limited population upon which Father Noll had to
draw in the small town of Huntington. Bishop Noll is also the author
of many pamphlets and books, of which "The Fairest Argument" is one
of the most widely read. It is felt that this study of the common
charges against the Church, with its carefully reasoned refutation of
each of them, will prove of great practical utility in assisting all in-
structors of prospective converts in removing misunderstanding and
prejudice, and landing them ultimately in the bark of Peter.
CHAPTER XIII
REMOVING THE COMMON
MISUNDERSTANDINGS
A Supplementary Chapter Presenting Answers to the Stock
Charges Against the Church
BY THE RT. REV. JOHN F. NOLL, D.D., BISHOP OF FORT WAYNE
ROBABLY one-half of all those who come to the
Catholic priest for instruction are instigated to do
so more to please a friend than to follow con-
science. In these numerous cases they will not be
interested listeners nor zealous students of the catechism un-
less the priest during the first visit disposes them for interest in
the very serious step they contemplate.
It is well to ascertain first of all whether the prospective
convert is acting without the knowledge of his or her parents,
and, if with their knowledge, whether he or she is meeting op-
position from that source. Next in order it is important to
know whether the candidate has belonged to any religious de-
nomination, and if not, whether his or her parents have.
Then, a brief reference to the prevalent attitude of people
toward the Catholic Church should be made. The person
should be told that if anti-Catholic movements had any justi-
fication for their existence they should be particularly strong
in communities where Catholics are numerous, and that there
could be no excuse for their existence in places where Catholics
are few and where they can offer no special menace. As a
307
3 o8 THE WHITE HARVEST
matter of fact, the prospect should be told, these movements
always rise and win the greatest support in places where the
Catholic Church is scarcely represented and that they win no
sympathy in places where Catholics are numerous.
Just as the country is full of people who are alert to any
conditions which they might capitalize into money or profit of
another character, so are there numerous unscrupulous per-
sons who capitalize the bitter feeling which exists in certain
.quarters against Catholics. It has often been shown that the
men who found and promote anti-Catholic movements,
whether on the plea of protecting Protestantism or country,
are bereft of both religion and patriotism themselves. The
movement is brought into politics in order to strengthen it. and
to win volunteer promoters for it in the person of candidates
for office. These men may be out of sympathy with it, but
will gladly accept the support of all those who are affiliated
with it. This situation so common in our country should be
told to the person applying for instruction.
The next effort on the part of the priest should be to com-
municate to the prospective convert a proper conception of
what the Church was intended to be. Outside of a few of the
stricter denominations the general teaching among Protes-
tants is that membership in one of the Christian churches is
only commendable and not essential ; it is important to be a
Christian, but a Christian need not be a church member, he
need not be baptized, he need not have any definite conception
of the plan of salvation, he need not profess belief in the Di-
vinity of Christ or any other doctrine of the Church. All
that is necessary is for him to be a believer in God, profess
sympathy for the Christian religion and lead a respectable life.
I find it particularly helpful to establish our viewpoint in
this wise :
Our destiny in the life to come is supernatural ; it is nothing
short of God's own bliss which He owes to no human being.
In offering His creatures Heaven, He must needs acquaint
them with the terms upon which they are to attain it. He
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 309
must be interested in having His whole human family know
Him alike, serve Him alike, and not to be divided concerning
"how" to reach the one thing necessary. God, being in
Heaven and man being on earth/it became necessary for Him
to have representation here, where His creatures are. His-
tory shows Him to have done what we would expect Him to
do, namely, to institute a society or corporation to which He
would intrust His teachings and with which He would leave
divine helps, which He would safeguard against error by some
sort of divine protection. History shows that the God-Man
Himself instructed twelve men of His own selection whom He
called apostles, that he commissioned them to go out into the
world and introduce His divine Society into all the nations;
that He empowered them to do what is so important for sal-
vation, namely, to forgive sin and to administer the divine
helps referred to. He provided for their succession in office
and promised to guide and direct His Society until the end of
the world.
Then, show that the Catholic form of Christianity existed
alone in the world for many centuries after Christ: that the
Christian nations all received their faith from this Church,
that today its membership is larger by 100,000,000 than all
the Protestant churches taken together; that the 100,000,000
Greeks and members of Oriental Christian religions believe as
Catholics do, hence, three-fourths of all the Christians in the
world believe and practice as we do; and for fifteen centuries
all Christians believed and practiced that way.
Show that throughout history there have been men who like
Luther have apostatized from the Church, and who tried to
start new movements like his, but had no success simply be-
cause influential encouragement was lacking, and Luther suc-
ceeded because he secured the backing of kings and princes
who wanted just a little more personal independence from
Rome. Today thousands of Protestants are saying that
much is wrong with Protestantism, yet they do not propose a
new religion.
3io THE WHITE HARVEST
Evidently matters doctrinal cannot be altered ; evidently the
work of Christ could not have come to naught. Surely moral-
ity could not have been any worse than it is in our day, yet
we do not feel the need of starting new churches in order to
procure better morals. People will always be human and at
times will not respond to the demands of the Church. When
there is the proper response there is nothing wrong with
morals.
After the prospective convert becomes acquainted with a
few definite principles he will be in a better frame of mind for
instruction and will comprehend the same better.
Removing the Common Misunderstandings
The great problem in the winning of converts, however, is
to get them to come for instruction. That which keeps prob-
ably the majority of the people outside the fold from investi-
gating the Church's teachings are the prejudices, active or
latent in their mind, against her. These prejudices are born
of misunderstandings and caricatures of the Catholic faith.
What they really war against, therefore, are not really the
articles or practices of our faith, but the false pictures of
them in their own minds. The removal of these misunder-
standings in the mind of the non-Catholic public and in the
mind of the individual prospective convert is essential to the
eradication of prejudice and the gaining of a fair hearing for
the truths of the Catholic faith.
It will be the chief purpose of this contribution to the
symposium to present the method and material for the re-
moval of the most common misunderstandings and prejudices
prevailing among the non-Catholics in America. All of them
may not be found in any one person, but there will be few
individuals who have not been infected by some of these wide-
spread misrepresentations of the Catholic position. It is
hoped that the data which have been gathered from many
sources for the answering of the difficulties will prove useful
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 311
and convenient to the priest called upon to instruct in the faith
the non-Catholic mind that comes to him already tinged with
many prejudices and misunderstandings.
We submit the following method of approach to the treat-
ment of the more common misunderstandings and prejudices
a method which has proved effective by the results it has
secured.
\
Dear Friend:
For several years the Catholic Church, her clergy, her in-
stitutions, have been brought to your attention, sometimes by
individuals, sometimes by representatives of organized move-
ments, but always by people who were bent on arousing your
prejudices against Catholics.
If the Catholic clergy and people have been silent amid
all this propaganda, it was only because they placed too much
reliance on your intelligence, and assumed that you were suf-
ficiently fairminded not to pass judgment without investiga-
tion. However, experience has proved that silence on the
part of Catholics has often been construed as consent, and that
millions have actually been deceived by their informants.
Since the American is proverbially fairminded, we assume
that you will welcome a statement from those competent to
speak for the Catholic Church, relative to the many accusa-
tions directed against her. We know that you would not
wish, consciously, to carry wrong impressions concerning any
group of people among whom you must live and work. We
know that you would be "for" an institution, which people
seek to injure by slander and misrepresentation.
It is for this reason that the Catholic answer to the many
charges of the Church's enemies is placed before you in this
article. You will note that we clearly expose the bogus and
fake character of the oaths and documents which have been
given country-wide circulation. Then we tell the truth about
the Catholic Church in her attitude toward Protestants, Ma-
sons, the Public Schools, the Bible, Protestant Marriages,
3i2 THE WHITE HARVEST
Church and State, Catholic Allegiance to Rome, Catholic
Practices, etc.
So honest and sincere is our presentation of the case, that
we offer a reward of $1,000 for proof that anyone of the al-
leged oaths herein exposed is genuine. We offer the same re-
ward for any misstatement of facts concerning the real Cath-
olic belief and practice on the subject treated.
The scatterer of the seeds of discord is un-American as well
as un-Christian. War between one nation and another is a
dreadful thing, but war between one religious group and an-
other within the same country is a worse thing, and it is the
more wicked when it is based on calumny and slander, and
when its generals are actuated by the selfish motives of gain,
political ambition, etc.
Let our better nature assert itself, let us be fair and just
to everyone, let us have unity amid variety; and it should
be every American's proudest ambition to cooperate for the
realization of such national unity. The inscription of the
money of our land keeps the motto of the Founders of our
Government before us : "E pluribus unum."
WE CAN ALL LIVE IN HARMONY
Why cannot Catholics and Protestants differ in religion as
do Methodists and Baptists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians,
and at the same time live as peaceably with one another as
these other groups do? If they do not it is not the fault of
Catholics, who never make religion an issue in social, business
or political life. Never do they inquire concerning the reli-
gious affiliation of the politician. Never do they seek to learn
whether the merchant they deal with is Catholic, Protestant,
or infidel.
Never, in the whole history of our country, have Catholic
men and women offered their services, at so much per lecture,
for an anti-Protestant speech.
Not one among the 20,000 priests in the United States
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 313
could be induced to permit a man or woman to deliver a series
of lectures, or even one lecture, against the Methodists, or
Baptists, or Presbyterians, or any other church group. Yet
this moment there are more than 100 individuals making a
fat living by delivering tirades against the Catholic Church
from Protestant pulpits. This condition would be reprehen-
sible, even if these professional anti-Catholics were honest
and sincere, but it is shameful when you consider that most of
them sail under false colors, representing themselves as ex-
priests and ex-nuns -while very few of them have ever been
affiliated with the Catholic Church in any way.
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln warned Amer-
icans against religious intolerance; and in March, 1922, the
late President Harding declared that the most unpleasant ex-
perience he had in office was created by such intolerance. He
was not referring to the Catholics at all, who molested him
very little, if any. It was non-Catholic intolerance of Ca-
tholicism and not Catholic intolerance of Protestantism.
Catholics support no anti-Protestant paper, while such a
paper certainly would be warranted in these days, in self-
defence.
Catholics are taught to love everybody, to assume that those
who differ from them in religion are in good faith, and to let
Almighty God be Judge concerning every person's disposi-
tions for salvation. We are Americans all, and religion does
not affect the citizenship of any. Religion belongs to the sup-
ernatural realm, and has no necessary connection with com-
merce, or social life. All are agreed that morality needs a
religious backing, but the country's stability does not depend
on either Catholic or Protestant predominance. This coun-
try was discovered by a Catholic, was first settled by Cath-
olics, and most of its great explorers were not only Catholics,
but priests, of whom there are many monumental traces to
this day. Catholics set the first example of religious toler-
ation in the colony of Maryland in 1650, when they incor-
porated the provision in the very Constitution of that colony.
3 i4 THE WHITE HARVEST
The Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of
the different states of the Union, place all religions on an equal
footing. Therefore, they are not Americans who stir up ani-
mosity between Protestants and Catholics.
CATHOLICS AND MASONS
It is quite common for members of Freemasonry to assume
that the Catholic Church has no use for them, though Cath-
olics never identify any man with his lodge affiliations.
The Catholic Church does not believe in oath-bound secret
societies, and therefore objects to her people joining them; but
she recognizes the right of those not of her fold to follow
their own convictions in this regard. Methodists prefer not
to join the Baptist Church, and Baptists prefer not to belong
to the Presbyterian Church, but this does not mean that one
group should be hostile to the other, in social or business or
political life. On the same principle, Catholics may remain
out of Masonry without entertaining the least ill will towards
those who prefer to be in it.
The Catholic Church was under the ban of Masonry be-
fore Masonry was interdicted by the Catholic Church ; and the
form of Masonry which was formally condemned was that
which the Scottish Rite and Blue Lodge Masonry themselves
condemn the Grand Orient of Latin countries, which is
atheistic and anti-Christian.
The Catholic Church is not the only religious organization
which does not believe in oath-bound secret societies. Most
branches of the Lutheran Church, the Free Methodists, the
United Brethren, and others take the same stand. In fact,
sixty years ago nearly every religious body in the United
States took the same stand.
If Masonry has become quite hostile to the Catholic Church
even in this country, it is because it has been influenced largely
by the professional anti-Catholic organizations, which have
been long playing on the prejudices of its members, and mak-
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 315
ing capital of the opposition of the Catholic Church to oath-
bound secret societies. This is evident from the character
of the New Age, and of the Fellowship Forum, and a few
other Masonic publications, especially of the Southern juris-
diction. The high class Masonic Journals are not in sym-
pathy with the campaign of hate which these are waging.
Even the editor of a Southern Masonic paper ( The Masonic
Herald) had this to say in its letter to the New York Times,
August 28, 1923 :
"The conflict between the Klan and the Masonic instruc-
tions can never be reconciled in one human heart. Thus it is
that genuine Masons Masons who are such in their hearts
cannot be Klansmen and cannot welcome with true brotherly
love Klansmen into their lodges.
"David Meyerhardt, Editor Masonic Herald"
Rome, Ga., August 28, 1923.
In their relations with Protestants, Catholics never con-
cern themselves about their lodge affiliations.
We readily grant that Masons can be good men, that their
order stands for lofty ideals, that thousands of them are busi-
ness associates of Catholics, that they are sincere in their
friendship to Catholics. We also know that the reciprocal
friendship pf Catholics, and even of the clergy, for Masons
is equally sincere. The ban is on both sides, but whatever
open hostility exists in this country is on the side of Masonry
only.
The Knights of Columbus are not an oath-bound secret soci-
ety, nor are they anti-Masonic. They would be glad to co-
operate with the Masonic order, or any other fraternal soci-
ety, in everything outside the sphere of religion, and Masons
declare that they have nothing to do with religion as such.
Therefore, there is no ground for unfriendliness between Ma-
sons and Catholics.
3 i6 THE WHITE HARVEST
How 'ABOUT PROTESTANT MARRIAGES?
Enemies of the Catholic Church have aroused the prejudices
of non-Catholics most successfully by circulating the lie that
Protestants are not validly married in the eyes of Catholics.
The Canon Law of the Catholic Church declares that the
marriage of Protestants are to be regarded as valid, and this
should settle the question.
Everyone knows how sacredly the Catholic Church regards
marriage, and how unalterably she is opposed to divorce.
She teaches that the marriage contract differs from all others
in this, that it had the Almighty for its direct author; that
God Himself united our first parents as man and wife ; that at
the time He directed them (Genesis i, 28) "to increase and
multiply," He blessed them. Hence marriage from the be-
ginning had a religious aspect. In the New Dispensation
Christ emphasized both the divine origin of marriage and its
indissoluble character when He said "What therefore God
hath joined together, let no man put asunder." At the very
threshold of His ministry, Christ attended a marriage (John
ii, 12). He did this evidently in order to bless the mar-
riage, and to lay emphasis on its sacred character. Christ's
union with His Church is a religious and holy union as well as
lasting; yet St. Paul compares to it the union of husband and
wife. Therefore among Christians marriage was to be both
sacred and indissoluble.
A healthy state of society demands the stability of mar-
riage, and the Christian up-bringing of children demands that
the family be religious. If our country leads all others
in divorce, may it not be because our people consider neither
the character nor the primary purpose of marriage itself be-
fore they enter it?
Of course, the Catholic Church regards as valid even the
marriage of two non-Christians, but she maintains that when
two baptized people marry, whether they be Catholics or
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 317
Protestants, they enter into a valid contract and receive a sac-
rament as well.
But since most Protestant churches believe in only two
sacraments, namely that of Baptism and the Lord's Supper,
it were not consistent for a Catholic to have his or her mar-
riage witnessed by one who does not believe as he or she does
about its sacramental character. This explains the reason for
the Church's law with reference to Catholics themselves; but
how people can conclude therefrom that the Church denies
the validity of a marriage between Protestants unless it be
performed by a priest, is unexplainable. We offer $1,000 re-
ward for proof that the marriage laws of the Catholic Church
pretend to nullify the marriages of Protestants.
CATHOLICS AND THEIR COUNTRY
AMERICA OWES MUCH TO CATHOLICS
If there were such a thing as priority of right in this coun-
try it would belong to Catholics. Whether America was dis-
covered by Columbus or by some other mariner several cen-
turies before, it was discovered by a Catholic. In fact, in
either instance the motive of the discoverer was to bring the
Catholic faith to the aborigines. The first missionaries to
America were Catholics, who not only dedicated their lives
(and in some instances died martyrs), to the work of civi-
lizing and christianizing the natives, but explored our lakes
and rivers, gave names to what are now hundreds of towns
and cities, and loved this land passionately.
Religious freedom, which adherents of many religious or-
ganizations, such as the Puritans and other dissenters of Eng-
land did not enjoy in their own land, is our country's greatest
boast. But even after some of these persecuted religious
groups established themselves here, they formed colonies in
which their particular brand of religion alone was tolerated.
But when Lord Baltimore established the Maryland Catholic
3 i8 THE WHITE HARVEST
colony he incorporated the provision of religious toleration
in the very constitution of his colony, and invited thereto those
who were persecuted in the others.
When the colonies declared war on the mother country,
whence came outside aid? From Catholic France came La-
fayette, from Catholic Poland, Pulaski and Kosciusko, from
Quebec and Ireland, both men and money. By a special letter
Washington thanked the Catholics of his day for the prom-
inent part they took in the War of Independence. When the
Declaration of Independence was signed the one who risked
more than any other because of his great fortune, was Charles
Carroll of Carrollton, a Catholic. In the War of the Re-
bellion, though the Catholic body was not numerically strong,
it furnished Lincoln with a whole host of brave generals,
among them Sheridan, Meade, Lane, Sickles, Sherman,
Shields, Buell, Mulligan, Meagher, Rosecrans. When the
United States declared war against Spain, Catholics did not
take account of the religion of that country, and saw in her
only an enemy that must be defeated, and they flocked to the
colors as patriotically as any other group. In the late war
the Catholics of France, Belgium, and Italy joined Protestant
England in fighting against Catholic Austria, and against the
Catholics of the Rhineland. In the army and navy of the
United States, when war was declared, Catholics were repre-
sented by a far greater percentage than the Catholic body
bore to the total population. Secretary Denby declared only
recently (September 17, 1923) that Catholics constituted
more than 45 per cent of the marines, our most effective fight-
ing force ; they predominated over any other religious group
in the Rainbow Division, which did most to end the war.
General Foch, the generalissimo during the World War, is a
fervent Catholic and has a brother a priest.
Owing to her determined stand against Socialism, against
the divorce evil, and in favor of religion in education, the
Catholic Church in the United States is doing her best in the
time of peace to insure the perpetuity of our Republic.
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 319
CHURCH AND STATE
The Catholic Church thrives under any form of Govern-
ment if it be given the same liberty that every religious de-
nomination needs. During the last ten years there has been
a great trend towards Democracies and Republics; but has it
occurred to you that the first Republic, that of San Marino,
was endorsed by the Pope himself; that the oldest Republic
that the world knows of has always been Catholic; that in
twenty-three out of about thirty Republics today the Catholic
religion predominates ?
The Catholic Church does not hold that the union of
Church and State is necessary ; nor does she advocate the union
of Church and State in the countries where it would not work
smoothly, or where the people are divided among many reli-
gions.
Judging from the accusations of the enemies of the Catholic
Church in this country one would conclude that there is no
union of Church and State except in Catholic countries, and
that the Church aims at such union here. As a matter of fact
there is union of Church and State in Protestant countries,
and a union much closer than exists in any Catholic country; a
union so close that the head of the State and the head of the
Church is the same person, such as there is in England, Den-
mark, Sweden, Norway now, and as there was in Germany
and Russia before the war. The Catholic Church never knew
of such an extreme union except in the States of the Church
in a part of Italy at one time. The spiritual ruler of the
Protestant countries mentioned is temporal ruler as well.
Yet people resent the very idea of a Pope being a temporal
ruler even over a very small territory, where it was deemed
necessary in order that he might have the independence requi-
site to preside over the Church without interference from a
hostile power.
It is true that the Church opposed separation in certain
countries, where there had been union of Church and State,
320 THE WHITE HARVEST
but only because separation meant persecution, the confiscation
of Church property, and the withdrawal of religious free-
dom. Such separation as we have in the United States has
the Church's warmest approbation. The Catholics of the
United States never dream of a union between this Republic
and the Catholic Church, but the wind is blowing in the
direction of a union of our Republic with Protestantism.
Even anti-Catholic organizations, which have no special love
for Protestantism, but profess it in order to win the sympathy
of Protestants, declare in favor of "only Protestants for
public office." Of course their program is a flagrant vio-
lation of the letter and spirit of the Constitution, and savors
of union between Church and State.
CATHOLICS OWE No CIVIL ALLEGIANCE TO ROME
Pope Pius X In an address to a Party of Pilgrims from
the Argentine Republic: "The Church will always defend
the constituted authorities, imposing love, obedience, respect
and observance of the laws, helping the State to provide for
the maintenance of peace."
Cardinal Gibbons: "In matters concerning his civil wel-
fare, or that of his country, every Roman Catholic is as free
as any other American citizen to act at his wisdom and con-
science dictate."
Cardinal Newman "The Pope," p. 68: "Were I a
soldier or sailor in her Majesty's service in a just war, and
should the Pope suddenly bid all Catholics to retire from her
service, I should not obey him."
Bishop England Charleston, S. C. : "Let the Pope and
Cardinals and all the powers of the Catholic world united
make the least encroachment on that Constitution, we will
protect it with our lives. Summon a General Council. Let
that Council interfere in the mode of our electing but an
assistant to a turnkey in a prison we deny the right; we
reject its usurpation."
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 321
Rev. J. J. McKey, CM. In "The Marian," 1923: "If
by any impossible supposition, the Pope should man army and
fleet to storm our coast, do you know what Catholics would
do? You would have two million Catholics in the American
army ready to die to resist the Pope's invasion; you would
have eighteen million Catholics in their homes praying for
their sons, brothers, and fathers in the field; you would have
forty-five thousand Catholic nuns upon their knees before
the Tabernacles beseeching the God of armies to strike the
guns from the Roman emissaries; you would have twenty
thousand priests in the front ranks of the army fighting until
they died for the Constitution of the United States. We
would be loyal Catholics, still we would say to the Pope:
'We shall render to God the things that are God's. Yes, but
we will render also unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's.' "
The District of Columbia, the seat of our own civil govern-
ment, is politically independent of any state. The Presi-
dent is not under the civil rule of the Governor of Maryland,
or of Delaware, for instance. If such independence is neces-
sary for the head of a government which is purely national,
how much more necessary is it for a ruler whose spiritual
jurisdiction is international? The importance of such a seat
of independence is all that Catholics mean when they defend
Temporal Power for the Pope. It does not mean temporal
rule over the world.
CATHOLIC CHURCH Is NOT IN POLITICS
The most unfounded of all charges is that which insists
that the Catholic hierarchy in the United States is engaged in
politics, and that Catholics are directed by their clergy, or
even by the Pope how to cast their votes. It should be easy
to convince any observant person that the Catholic Church
dabbles in politics less than any other. How could enemies
of the Catholic Church in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal,
Mexico, and several other countries, where they constitute an
322 THE WHITE HARVEST
insignificant minority, secure control of the government?
The bulk of the population in these countries is in sympathy
with the Church, yet the Church actually discourages them
from organizing for any political purpose. Only last year
the bishops of France and Spain declared against the forma-
tion of a Catholic party in their respective countries. A
year ago the Vatican Secretary of State sent a letter to all
Italian bishops, reminding them of the established discipline
of the Church, not to participate officially in any celebrations
of a political character. The Vatican never did anything
even to promote the Popular Party, which was based on
Catholic principles.
In this country the bishops have never discussed politics
at one of their meetings ; they have never petitioned the Presi-
dent nor Congress for or against any political measure. The
bishops do not know what one another's politics are; neither
do priests. No priest may preach a political sermon from his
pulpit, and the Catholic people would be the first to resent
it if one attempted to do so. Even the Jesuit, whose name
our enemies have made a synonym for political scheming, is
forbidden by the rule of his Society to engage in secular
politics. If the Catholic hierarchy in this country has been
in politics, it has surely succeeded very poorly, because we
haven't nearly the number in Congress or in State Legisla-
tures which our strength in this country would warrant.
Moreover, while our enemies have repeated their charge for
70 years, they have never been able to point out a single
instance of Catholic political control. The Knights of Colum-
bus are forbidden to bring politics into the Council chamber.
William J. Bryan, who ran for high office possibly more
than any other man living, should know, and he declares that
those who are acquainted with Catholics in public life know
that their church does not dictate to them.
The Presbyterians in the United States are only one-tenth
as numerous as Catholics, yet under Wilson, the President,
vice-President, and Secretary of State were Presbyterians, and
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 323
Catholics found no fault with it at all. But what if we had
a Catholic President, a Catholic vice-President, a Catholic
Secretary of State at the same time? You know what a
howl would go up about Rome's control of the United States
government. One thing should be patent to everyone, and
it is that those who organize to oppose Catholics do the very
thing which they falsely accuse Catholics of doing; they are
steeped in politics, and strive to gain their ends by politics.
In 1917, Pope Benedict XV, in an Encyclical Letter to all
the bishops of the world insisted that "the subject matter of
sermons must be essentially sacred. . . . But all preachers,"
the Decree continues, "are forbidden entirely and absolutely
to treat in church of political matters."
No PRESIDENT WAS KILLED BY A CATHOLIC
Ex-Priest Chiniquy started the legend that President Lin-
coln was assassinated by the Jesuits, employing as their tool
John Wilkes Booth, "a convert to the Catholic Faith." This
legend has marched along, nevertheless, taking on additions,
like many another myth; for if people believe that Booth
was a Catholic, why not impose it upon them that all the
assassins of American Presidents were Catholics? So we
find anti-Catholic lectures asserting that Charles J. Guiteau
was a Catholic, and so, also was the anarchist who shot
McKinley.
As a matter of fact, none of these miscreants were Catho-
lics. Guiteau and Czolgosz were haters of Catholicism, and
in that respect especially eligible for membership in the secret
prescriptive societies. No church or creed is to be held re-
sponsible for the crimes these men committed.
John Wilkes Booth, born in Maryland in 1839, was a son
of the eccentric English actor, Junius Brutus Booth, who came
to this country in 1826. The Booth family were Anglicans.
He was scarcely twenty-six years old when he formed the
conspiracy to murder Lincoln. His body is interred in the
324 THE WHITE HARVEST
Booth family lot in Greenmount, a non-sectarian cemetery at
Baltimore.
The trial of Guiteau is fully reported: and the summary,
printed in Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia, 1881, informs us
that he was for five years a member of the peculiar sect known
as the Oneida Community; that he joined the Young Men's
Christian Association. His brother-in-law testifies that Gui-
teau was strongly prejudiced against the Catholics. We sub-
join his statement:
"I am a brother-in-law of Charles Guiteau, the slayer of
President Garfield. Was Guiteau a Catholic? Well, I
should think not. Charles Guiteau hated the Catholic
Church with all the hate that was in him. He was a Protes-
tant, converted by Moody. He told many a time that God
inspired him to kill Garfield. He was insane on that one
subject. This is absolute truth and I would take my oath to
that effect. (Given at St. John's, Mich., Sept. 17, 1913.)
"Charles G. White"
Leon Czolgosz was the son of a Polish-born father, who
resided at Cleveland. We find the press reports as to his
identity reprinted in Tyler's "Life of McKinley." "He
(Czolgosz) said he had been studying these doctrines (an-
archism) for some time, that he did not believe in govern-
ment, the church or the married relation." (p. 463.) While
acknowledging himself an anarchist, he did not state to what
branch of the organization he belonged. "He declined to see
a minister or priest of any denomination. He died without
religious ministrations, (pp. 513-17.)
ROME DOES NOT CONTROL THE PRESS
You have often heard that "Rome Controls the Press,"
while Catholics have always maintained the contrary. Who
is right ? Well, read what the Commercial Appeal, of Men-
phis, Tenn., said very recently:
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 325
"There are fifteen directors in the Associated Press. They
are elected by the members after public nomination of two
or three candidates for each position. All of the directors
are Protestants except one. That one is a Jew. The south-
ern directors are Clark W. Howell, editor of the Atlanta
Constitution, and Fred I. Thompson, editor of the Mobile
Register and the Birmingham Age-Herald, some of the direc-
tors are Presbyterians, some are Episcopalians, some are
Methodists, and some are Baptists.
"We don't know how hard any of them practice their
religion, but there is not a finer body of Americans in this
country. Just now we recall that Mr. E. H. Baker, editor
of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland, is one of the most active Y.
M. C. A. workers in this country.
"We can't imagine that Mr. Clark Howell or Mr. Fred
Thompson would permit the Pope to take over the Associated
Press without a public protest.
"Melville E. Stone, for many years general manager of
the Associated Press, is a Methodist and the son of a Metho-
dist preacher. Frank B. Noyes, president of the Associated
Press, is a Protestant, and has been at the head of the organi-
zation for twenty years. He is the editor of the Washington
Star.
"Frederick Ray Martin, general manager of the Associated
Press, is a Harvard graduate and a New England Congre-
gationalist. Mr. U. L. McCall, superintendent of all Associ-
ated Press operations in the south, is a member of the Baptist
Church.
"Considerable free lying has been done about the Com-
mercial Appeal in the carrying on of this propaganda.
"We never paid any attention to the religious affiliations of
anybody on this paper until people who didn't know said what
they were and said the Commercial Appeal was what it
was not."
If any religious organization, therefore, had a grievance,
the Catholic Church would have, because even the well-
THE WHITE HARVEST
intentioned Protestant often fails to get the Catholic view-
point in transmitting news which relates to the Catholic
Church. This possibly explains the many colored reports
carried in the Associated and United Press from Rome.
CATHOLICS AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
THINGS NEVER SAID BY CATHOLIC PRELATES
Americans generally are deeply interested in the public
schools, and therefore it is an easy matter for enemies of the
Catholic Church to arouse their prejudices by representing
that Catholics are hostile to the public schools, and would,
if they could, destroy them.
To this end Catholic priests and prelates, long since dead,
are made to say things they never uttered, and the bogus
quotations are spread broadcast. As a matter of fact, the
Catholic clergy criticize our public schools far less frequently
than do churchmen of other denominations. Whatever weak-
nesses the schools have are pointed out chiefly by those most
interested by those to whom the direction of the schools
is committed. Criticism, when constructive, bespeaks rather
a friendly interest than hostility.
We reproduce herewith a few fake quotations credited to
Catholic churchmen and editors, together with our comment :
"We must take part in the elections, move in solid mass in
every state against the party pledged to sustain the integrity
of the public schools." Cardinal McClosky.
Cardinal McCloskey (not McClosky) never uttered these
words. The poor man has been dead for forty years, and
hence he himself cannot contradict the forger. But no prel-
ate of the Catholic Church ever stultified himself by giving
such orders, which would not have been obeyed even if given.
"The state has no right to educate, and when the state
undertakes the work of education it is usurping the power of
the Church." Bishop McQuade, in a lecture in Boston, Feb.
13, 1876.
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 327
Bishop McQuaid (not McQuade) has also gone to his
reward. Why go back to 1876 (47 years ago) to secure
evidence to convict the Catholic Church today?
"The day is not far distant when Catholics, at the order of
the Pope, will refuse to pay the school tax and will send
bullets into the breasts of the officials who attempt to collect
them." Mngr. Cappell.
Who is Mngr. (Msgr., I suppose) Cappell? His name
does not appear in the Directory of Catholic priests and prel-
ates. Granting that he lived forty years ago, he never uttered
those words.
"Education must be controlled by Catholic authorities, and
under education the opinions of the individuals and utterances
of the press are included, and many opinions are to be for-
bidden by the secular arm, under the authority of the Church
even to war and bloodshed." Priest Hecker, quoted by
Catholic World, July, 1870.
While the spuriousness of this quotation is plain at first
sight, we took the trouble to consult the issue of the Catholic
World, dated July, 1870, and find nothing that bears any
resemblance of this forged paragraph.
"The common schools of this country are sinks of moral
pollution and nurseries of hell." the Chicago Tablet.
There is no such paper as the Chicago Tablet.
"The public schools have produced nothing but a Godless
generation of thieves and blackguards." Priest Shaner.
Who is "Priest Shaner," please?
Numerous other utterances are ascribed to Catholic priests
and prelates, who either never lived at all or who have been
dead for many years, and who, therefore, cannot contradict
their accusers.
RELIGION IN EDUCATION
Failure to patronize an institution does not spell hostility.
Sixty million people of the United States do not patronize
328 THE WHITE HARVEST
any of the churches ; but it were wrong to conclude that they
are opposed to Christianity. They would not want the
churches abolished; neither would Catholics want the public
schools abolished.
Half the Catholic children of the United States do attend
the public schools ; and those who attend the parochial schools
do so, not because of hostility, but because their parents want
them under religious influence during their formative years.
We doubt if there is a Christian in the land who does not
believe that the religious element should enter into education.
What is this but an endorsement of the parochial school idea ?
What is the purpose of the Boy Scouts, of the Girls Scouts,
of the Hi-Y, if not to place the youth of the land under the
influence of religion? Why are the Rotary and Kiwanis
Clubs so interested in the boy? Why do we have our youths
chaperoned to the summer camp by the religious director?
What is the purpose of the Religious Education Association
which meets three days every year? Why do all denomina-
tions pass resolutions at their every Conference or Convention
in favor of more religious training for the American youth?
Why is there such widespread agitation for week-day re-
ligious instruction for public school children?
Who are they who are bent most on destroying the religious
schools? They are the Bolsheviki of Russia, the atheistic
organizations in several countries, the infidel organizations in
our own country, which publish several scores of papers and
periodicals. Their one motive in fighting the private school is
to take religion away from the rising generation so that
sovietism will have a better chance in the next generation.
Those who abet the movement to destroy the religious school
may or may not sympathize with these radicals, but they are,
for all that, helping them in their most anti-Christian purpose.
The Church realizes that the State cannot teach religion,
therefore, she approves of our public educational system for
all that it does. She shows her approval by copying its cur-
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 329
riculum. But because the Catholic Church believes that re-
ligion is such a vital part of education, she has ever been
willing to make a great sacrifice to supply it in a system of
schools of her own, which is much older than the public school
system.
No, there is no hostility on the part of Catholics towards
the public school; but much hostility on the part of non-
Catholics towards the parochial school. This hostility is
most inconsistent, because every Christian upholds the prin-
ciple upon which the parochial school is biased. Even Tom
Watson, while fighting the Catholic school because it pleased
his readers, had his own daughter in one of them.
THE CHURCH AND ILLITERACY
From the day that our Divine Savior addressed His part-
ing words to the Church, "Go, teach," she has lent herself to
popular education. Priests and nuns of the Catholic Church
wrote the first school text books; they copied and recopied the
sacred scriptures, and wrote books from which children for
more than one thousand years received both their secular and
religious training. She founded the greatest universities
which exist today, including those of Oxford and Cambridge,
Paris and Bologne, Ferrara and Salamanca, Copenhagen and
Prague.
Since the so-called Reformation fewer universities have
been founded by all the Protestant churches combined than
were founded by the Catholic Church alone before the Refor-
mation. Yet we are told that the world was in the dark until
the rise of Protestantism.
What student of history would not tell you that our en-
lightened age has never produced artists, sculptors, architects,
musicians, such as the thirteenth century produced 300
years before Protestantism was born? If there be question
of eminent scientists of the last generation, how about
330 THE WHITE HARVEST
Galvani, Volta, Ampere, Gramme, and others in electricity?
Pasteur, Roentgen, Professor and Madam Curie, Murphy etc.,
in chemistry and medicine ?
In America the school is the child of the Church. Har-
vard, and Yale, and, in fact, nearly all our great universities,
were, in the beginning, religious schools. For two hundred
years after the settlement of the thirteen colonies, there were
no schools in America but church schools. Even today more
than half of all college students in the United States are
enrolled in Christian schools. Of the 119 colleges east of
the Mississippi River, 100 are under the management of
religious organizations. The religious bodies of the United
States maintain 300 of the 400 standard American colleges.
Among the Presidents of the United States we find eighteen
college men, and of this number sixteen were products of
Christian colleges. Among the Justices of the Supreme
Court eight were college men, and seven received their edu-
cation in colleges controlled by religious organizations. These
facts are sufficient to show how closely in harmony our re-
ligious schools are with the traditions, the spirit, and the
institutions of our beloved country.
It is no more reasonable to blame the Catholic Church for
the high state of illiteracy in some countries, because her
religion is the predominant one, than it is to hold the Protes-
tant churches responsible for the greater illiteracy of our own
South because Protestantism denominates in all the States
where illiteracy is high. In fact, it is less unreasonable to
make the latter charge, since the government of the so-called
Catholic countries is hostile to all religion, while the govern-
ments of all our Southern States are friendly to Protestantism.
According to the latest report of the United States Com-
missioner of Education, fully one-half of the colored children
of the South are not in school at all. Seventy-five per cent
of the Negro population of the United States is Protestant ;
less than 2 per cent is Catholic.
In some Southern States the whites have received no better
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 331
education than the colored. Four years ago more than
100,000 white children in Alabama did not attend school;
for every 48 white children in school there were 52 out of
school the entire term. In Mississippi only $9.30 was spent
per child for education against $52.15 in the state of New
York; North Carolina spent $12.31 against $61.39 in New
Jersey; South Carolina spent $12.80 against $69.62 in North
Dakota.
THE PAROCHIAL SCHOOL WAS FIRST
We have shown that the Catholic Church is in no sense
inimical to the public school ; that, on the contrary, she wishes
it well. Neither is the parish school an unfriendly rival of
the public school ; it was not set up in opposition to the public
school, but existed years before there was a public school
system. In fact, the first American schools were religious,
as were the higher institutions of learning, such as Harvard,
Yale, Princeton, etc.
Our greatest patriots of the past attended only private
schools. Washington, Adams, Madison, Jefferson, even Lin-
coln, were educated in such schools.
Says Rev. Harry Olsen (Lutheran), Milwaukee, Wis. :
"If attendance at public schools is the criterion of Ameri-
canism, then George Washington was not an American, for
our colonial schools were private schools, and he attended
them. Then Daniel Webster was not an American, for his
elementary education was acquired outside the public schools.
Then William McKinley was not an American, for he at-
tended the Union Seminary at Poland, Ohio, from his ninth
to his seventeenth year. Then Theodore Roosevelt was not
an American, for he writes in his autobiography that he never
went to the public schools."
Only this month the "Inner-Church Movement," repre-
senting thirty Protestant denominations, published its survey
in two volumes, and in it makes this report :
332 THE WHITE HARVEST
"Unless a program of religious education can be created
there is great danger that a system of public schools will be-
come naturalistic and materialistic in theory and practice, and
that the direction of social development will be determined
by the secular influence within the State rather than by the
spiritual forces represented by the Church."
Volumes could be filled with the declarations made during
the past few years by Protestant churchmen and educators in
favor of more general religious instruction of our youth.
Charles W. Eliot, President Emeritus of Harvard, condenses
what they say, in these words :
"Our schools are desperately in need of religious teaching.
It is difficult to exaggerate, the urgency of it. The situation
stares us in the face at every turn. It is the greatest concern
that democrats have to feel about the future in this country,
the future of democracy itself. We shall have to look it
squarely in the face. It is religion that we want to put into
the hearts of the children." The Boston Globe, Nov. 29,
1922.
The Inter-Church Report, just referred to, states that
"27,000,000 children of the United States do not attend any
Sunday, parochial, or congregational schools." Therefore,
the contention that the children can receive religious instruc-
tion in the churches is not true. Because of this there is
general advocacy of week-day religious instruction during
school hours if not in school, then in buildings adjacent to
the school.
The Protestant Church Federation of Indianapolis only
quite recently (Sept. 22) declared: "A recent writer says
that fully 90 percent of the crimes now committed is by boys
and young men."
The heart and conscience of the child must be educated
along with its mind ; it must be prepared for the next life, as
well as for this ; it must be taught of God as well as of coun-
try; patriotism must be instilled not only as a civic, but as a
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 333
religious duty. The three "R's" must be supplemented by a
fourth "R" Religion.
GRADE FOR GRADE THEY ARE EQUAL
Catholics would be deserving of censure for operating
separate schools (i) if they expected the public generally to
support them; (2) if the finished product of the parish school
were inferior; (3) if they were not truly American.
But Catholics build and maintain their schools not only at
their own expense, but at a big saving to the tax-payers gener-
ally. Today everybody is talking about too high taxes ; most
states have gone to the limit in raising taxes for the support
of the public schools we now have; and the cry is for better
teachers and more pay for them. Catholics pay taxes equally
with other people even when they do not get benefit from the
public schools. Then they tax themselves, often till it hurts,
to build and maintain their own schools. They pay more
than twice as much as any other group of people for educa-
tion. It is sometimes charged that the Catholic schools are
maintained by public taxation, but they are not. It is also
charged that Catholics are seeking to secure public funds for
the parochial schools, but they are not, though in England,
Canada, and many other countries private schools are so sup-
ported.
The Catholic Church would not require her people to at-
tend parish schools if they were less efficient than the public
schools. Competitive tests in which public and parish schools
take part, and which are frequently held throughout the coun-
try prove conclusively that, grade for grade, the parochial
schools are as efficient as the best public schools. The life-
long dedication of Catholic teachers to their work makes for
efficiency ; so does the high standardization of grades.
The high percentage of voluntary enlistments of Catholics
in the Army and Navy during the past war, as shown by cen-
334 THE WHITE HARVEST
sus taken at the army camps before conscription was put in
force in 1917, prove how genuine is the Americanism fostered
in the parochial school.
Nowhere is patriotism so ardent as in Catholic countries;
it is a real passion in France, Belgium, Italy, and in the Re-
publics of South America ; it is so because it has a religious
backing.
The Catholic School fosters patriotism not only as a civic
but as a religious obligation. Only a short time ago (Sept.
17) , Secretary Denby, of the U. S. Navy, said: "The Catho-
lics of the Marine Corps, in which I served, should be of es-
pecial interest, since I found that more than 45 percent of the
enlisted men were Catholics."
Compulsory education in the public schools is often recom-
mended as the best way of Americanizing the foreigner.
Those who emphasize this understand neither the parochial
school nor the foreigner. In the parochial school, children
of the foreign-born have a point of contact, which those at-
tending the public schools have not. Usually the teachers in
private schools understand the language of the childrens' par-
ents ; therefore they have the most important basis for Amer-
icanizing results, namely confidence. They alone can counter-
act the radical literature the only literature which comes to
the foreigner in his own language. A recent Protestant
writer declared that life would not be livable in New York
City if the Catholic Church were removed from it.
How PROVIDE THE ROOM AND MONEY?
It would be impossible for most states to provide accom-
modations in the public schools for all the children now in the
parochial schools. Collier's Weekly for Sept. 8, 1923, re-
ports there is not seating room for 1,000,000 children who
wish to attend the public schools, that 2,000,000 must, there-
fore, attend only half-days. What if Catholic schools were
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 335
closed and 2,000,000 more children knocked for admission
into these schools ? Consider the situation it would create in
the three cities herewith cited :
When school opened in New York City in September, 1922,
it was discovered that there were still 116,000 children who
must be put on "part time." At the beginning of the year
there were 148,000 such children. Just think how the situa-
tion would be aggravated if the more than 100,000 children
of the parochial schools of that city were compelled to knock
at the doors of the public schools for admission. At the re-
cent meeting of the Board of Education of New York City,
a $64,000,000 building program was approved, which it will
take four years to execute. The Board authorized the build-
ing of sixty-two new elementary school buildings, besides many
additions, the purchase of eighty-four elementary school sites,
the erection of eight high school buildings, and the purchase
of ten high school sites. All these structures, when com-
pleted, would accommodate 111,430 pupils, a total just about
equivalent to the number of children attending the Catholic
schools of New York City. Therefore, if the Catholic
schools were closed, $64,000,000 more would be needed, and
the city would have to engage and pay 2,500 additional teach-
ers, at an expense of $7,000,000 annually. The School
Budget for New York City, as it is for 1923, is $95,805,130.
In Chicago, according to Superintendent Mortensen, 40,000
children are on "part time" attendance during this school
term. The Board of Education authorized $22,000,000 for
the construction of eight new buildings and fifteen addi-
tions to structures now in use. "But," said Mr. Mortensen,
"if attendance increases at the past rate, the part time prob-
lem will not be solved." The Superintendent gave the fur-
ther information that 30,000 children are attending portable
schools. If regular school buildings are to be erected for
these, he said, $20,000,000 more will be needed. Again, con-
sider the panic which would ensue, if 100,000 parochial school
33* THE WHITE HARVEST
*
children were to be turned over to the city for public school
education. It would require $50,000,000 additional for build-
ings, and $7,000,000 annually for extra teachers
Brooklyn, with 50,000 on "part time," would have an un-
solvable problem if the 80,000 children now in the Catholic
parish schools demanded entry into the public schools.
Note that our comment is on three cities only; in a less
degree, but in the same proportion, every large city in the
United States would be affected like New York, Chicago, and
Brooklyn.
CATHOLICS AND THE BIBLE
CATHOLICS GAVE THE BIBLE TO THE WORLD
It is difficult, indeed, to understand how people can be led
to believe that Catholics are not allowed to read the Bible,
since Popes have always urged its reading. Note these quota-
tions :
"We should like to see the holy books in the bosom of every
Christian family, carefully treasured and diligently read every
day, so that all the faithful may thus learn to live holy lives
in every way in conformity with the Divine will." Pope
Benedict XV, to the "Pious Society of St. Jerome for the
Spreading of the Gospel."
"The more the Gospel is read the more faith is revived.
The Gospel is the book which serves for all and everything."
Pope Pius X, to the "Pious Society of St. Jerome for the
Spreading of the Gospel," Nov., 1913.
"At a time when a great number of bad books . ... are
circulated among the unlearned . . . you judge exceedingly
well that the faithful should be excited to the reading of the
Bible; this you have seasonably effected by publishing the
Bible in the language of your country (Italian) suitable to
every one's capacity." Pope Pius VI, 1778.
"Nothing can be more useful, more consolatory, more ani-
mating, because the Holy Scriptures (the Bible) serve to con-
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 337
firm the faith, to support the hope, and to inflame the charity
of the true Christian." Pope Pius VII (1820) to the English
bishops.
The Bible is for sale at every Catholic book store.
The proscribing measures, which the Church issued in times
past, were against faulty translations. It is evident that a
faulty version of Holy Scripture is not Holy Scripture.
The world owes the preservation of the Bible to the Cath-
olic Church. It was she, which, at the Council of Hippo, in
the year 392, determined the Canon of Holy Scripture. It
was she, which before the invention of the art of printing, had
the Bible copied, hundreds of times, from Genesis to Revela-
tions, by hand. She had the Bible all to herself for more than
one thousand years, and could have destroyed it, or mutilated
it, or changed it to suit her purpose if she wished.
The so-called chained Bible of the Middle Ages was an open
Bible. Being a manuscript Bible, it represented the labors
of an individual's lifetime. It was usually placed in the mid-
dle aisle of the churches, open for consultation, the same as
a City Directory is placed at information stations for the con-
venience of the people. Though open, it was chained in the
same sense that the City Directory or Railway Guide is
chained so that people might not steal it. Before printing was
invented, and the generality of people could not read, the
Church taught them by Bible plays, of which the Passion Play
is a remnant. The Catholic Church believes the true Bible
to be the word of God from cover to cover, and is its greatest
defender today against those who are disowning much of its
contents and reducing it to mere human authorship. The
Catholic Church has a standing Biblical Commission to defend
the Bible and its supernatural inspiration.
THE "BIBLE DISCOVERY" FABLE
Who has not often read the fables about Luther having
discovered a copy of the Bible in the Library of the University
of Erfurt, and that the only copies of the Bible extant, before
THE WHITE HARVEST
the so-called Reformation, were in a language not understood
by the people ? The best refutation of this fable is the letter
produced below. This is a copy of a letter recently received
from the British Museum by a Protestant who inquired for
information. The quotation is from the 1566 edition of
Luther's "Table Talk," in which he tells that he was very fa-
miliar with the Bible when he was young.
DEPARTMENT OF PRINTED BOOKS
British Museum
London, W.G. i
29 August 1922
GEO. H. DIEHL
Dear Sir,
We have not got the 1568 edition of "Luther's Table
Talk," but we have an earlier one of 1566 (printed at Eisle-
ben) and on page 22 is the quotation which you ask me to
verify as Dr. Luther's knowledge of the Bible when he was
young. It reads :
Da ich jung war, gewehnet ich mich zur
Biblia, lase dieselbe offtmals, das ich
wuste wo un glicher Spruch stiinde, und
zufrieden war, wenn davon geredet ward.
The Latin Bible was continually being printed in Luther's
youth, and between 1466 and 1500 there were 14 editions of
the Bible in German, many of them with illustrations, a sure
sign that they were expected to go into the hands of well to do
laymen.
Faithfully yours
A. W. POLLARD
Keeper
Luther says, as he quoted above from a 1566 edition of his
own book, published in the very town of his birth :
"When I was young I acquainted myself with the Bible,
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 339
read the same often so that I knew where any reference was
contained and could be found, when any one spoke about it."
There is on exhibition at present, in our own Congressional
Library, Washington, a copy of the "Mazarin Bible," printed
by Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, thirty years
before Luther was born. Notre Dame University has a copy
of the Bible, printed in German, in 1483, the very year of Lu-
ther's birth, and many German editions had preceded this one.
Menzel (History of Germany, Vol. II, page 233) says:
"Before the time of Luther the Bible had already been trans-
lated into both high and low Dutch." Seckendorf, Luther's
biographer, says : "Three distinct editions of the Bible, trans-
lated into German, were published at Wittenberg in 1470,
1483, and 1490 the first, 13 years before his birth; the sec-
ond, in the year of his birth; and the third, when he was seven
years old."
Until the sixteenth century all the educated, and most of the
common people understood Latin. It was the language of
literature, medicine, legislation, and theology. Hence if the
book had only existed in Latin, it would have been in the lan-
guage of the people. Dr. McGilfert (Martin Luther and His
Works, p. 273), says: "The notion that Bible reading was
frowned upon by ecclesiastical authorities of that age is quite
unfounded." Dr. Preserved Smith (Life and Letters of
Martin Luther, p. 14) writes : "The rule of the Augustinians
prescribed diligent reading of the Scripture, and Luther
obeyed this regulation with joyous zeal." Rev. E. Cutts ( Cf.
Turning Points of English History, p. 200) says: "The
sermons of the medieval age are more full of scriptural quo-
tations than any sermons these days."
PERSONS AND THINGS MISUNDERSTOOD
THE CATHOLIC PRIEST
Most non-Catholics get their notions about the Catholic
priesthood from anti-Catholic books, often written by real or
340 THE WHITE HARVEST
pretended ex-priests. Our Sunday Visitor publishes a volume
entitled "Defamers of the Church," which we recommend to
those who have read the works of Chiniquy, Fresenborg,
Crowley, and others. Those who have left the priesthood of
their own accord, without previous difficulty with their su-
periors, never call in question the sanctity of the priestly state.
No one who is acquainted with the preparatory training
of the candidate for the priesthood, with his irrevocable ded-
ication to God, with his mode of life after ordination, would
need proof that the priesthood is a holy state, and that the
Catholic clergy must be virtuous men. Because it takes twelve
years for the student to prepare himself for the priesthood, it
is usual for the boy to go direct from school to the preparatory
seminary; and only those boys who were distinguished for their
early piety are accepted. Solid devotions, spiritual reading
and meditation, are a part of their daily food during the
twelve years, and it is neither blindly nor without mature de-
liberation that they take the vow of perpetual chastity before
their ordination. This angelic virtue must not be violated
even by wilful or unclean thoughts much less by any sin of
deed. The Church enjoins its observance because the priest
is ( i ) wedded to Christ by a life-long consecration ; and ( 2 )
because being ordained for men (Hebr. v, i) his work should
not be hampered by family ties (I Cor. vii, 32-34). Christ,
the great exemplar of the clergy, was not married ; St. John
the Baptist, whom Jesus eulogized as "the greatest man born
of woman," was not married; St. John, the Apostle, "the dis-
ciple whom Jesus loved," is known as "the virgin Apostle."
As far as can be learned, St. Peter was the only Apostle who
was married, and if his wife was living at the time he was
called by Christ, he must have left her, because he declared
"We have left all things and followed thee." St. Paul dis-
tinctly tells us that he was not married (I Cor. vii, 8) ; and he
gives an excellent reason why the clergy should not be (I Cor.
vii, 3 2 -33)-
In this day when immorality is prevalent, there should be
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 341
at least one body of men who by their very profession and
consecration can prove to the "world that the practice of con-
tinency is possible. While in the early centuries, the Church
admitted worthy married men to the priesthood, she never
permitted her clergy to marry after ordination. The Greek
Orthodox Church follows this practice to this day.
Those Protestants who suspect the virtue of the Catholic
clergy are not fair. Do they suspect their bachelor brother
or maiden sister, even when these people are mixed up with
the world? If there were any danger to the priest, would not
Catholic people be the first to demand a married clergy? As
a matter of fact they would be the last to approve of a mar-
ried priesthood, because, like St. Paul, they believe virginity
is more compatible with the priest's consecration to God, and
with the nature of his rule of life.
It is principally in English literature that the chastity of
the Catholic clergy is assailed. Never did the enemies of the
Catholic Church in France, or in Spain, or in Portugal, though
they strove to rid the country of the Church, ever attack the
morals of the clergy. Priests have fallen, but they have been
so much the exception, that the fidelity of the general body
is confirmed thereby. One lapse usually ends the priest's use-
fulness. There were times in history when scandals were fre-
quent, but as the Protestant Maitland declares : "It appears
to be the testimony of history that the monks and clergy
were in all times and places better than other people."
The publishers of the Truthseeker, a bitterly anti-
Catholic paper in New York, have issued a book entitled:
"Crimes of Preachers and Priests"; it covers a long pe-
riod of time, but its tabulated lists show single Protestant
denominations to have more clerical culprits than the Cath-
olic.
The man who has never tasted liquor has no craving for it ;
and one who has never "known women," who has deliberately
vowed to practice perpetual chastity, who celebrates daily
Mass and receives daily communion, who is obligated to spend
342 THE WHITE HARVEST
more than one additional hour in prayer daily, can easily con-
tain himself. .
MONKS AND MONASTERIES
It was quite natural that many people in the early centuries,
who were desirous of carrying out Christ's recommendation to
the "rich young man" in the Gospel, should seclude themselves
from the prevalent pagan wickedness of their day to enter
associations, whose members strove for great personal sanc-
tity. Such communities of holy men were quite numerous at
the end of the fourth century. They gave rise to the founda-
tion of monasteries which for many centuries were by far
the best thing that the world had. They were the people's
schools and colleges, the social service centers, the places of
welcome for travelers and strangers, the nurseries of the arts
and sciences.
Our twentieth century is indebted to the monks and monas-
teries for the preservation of the classics, which are taught
in our high schools and colleges; for the history of all the
countries in Europe in their beginnings and progress covering
several hundred years. Little would there be left of the liter-
ature of the first centuries if it were not for the monks; in
fact, unless the Almighty had employed other means for the
preservation of the Bible, the world would not have it today.
All the old manuscript copies of the Bible which are still ex-
tant were the work of the monks, and some of them are
masterpieces of manuscript art.
The "lazy" monk, which we read of in fiction, and in anti-
Catholic books, are invented characters. St. Benedict's Rule,
which was observed by most communities, imposed seven hours
of labor, two of study, and several hours of prayer each day,
and only six hours of sleep. Most of what we read about the
morals in monasteries is also fiction or calumny. Says James
Gairdner, the English historian: "The old scandals, univer-
sally discredited at the time and believed by a later genera-
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 343
tion, are now dispelled forever." William Lecky, in his "Eu-
ropean Morals," (Vol. II, p. 90) says: "As time rolled on,
charity assumed many forms, and every monastery became a
center from which it radiated. By the monks the nobles were
overawed, the poor protected, the sick tended, travelers shel-
tered, prisoners ransomed, the remotest spheres of suffering
explored."
Maitland, in his "The Dark Ages" (p. 2 of Preface),
writes : "That there ever was truth in the coarse and filthy
abuse heaped upon the monastic order as a body by some who
were forward in the business of the Reformation is what 1
suppose never was believed by any one who had a moderate
knowledge of facts."
The reader will find similar testimony from other Protes-
tant historians of repute, such as Cutts in his "Scenes and
Characters of the Middle Ages"; Kemble, in his "Saxons in
England"; Canon Farrar, in his "The Victory of Christian-
ity" ; George Haven Putnam, in his "Books and Their Makers
in the Middle Ages" ; Leibnitz, in his "Systema Theologicum."
THE PUREST WOMEN SLANDERED
There are in the United States at this moment more than
50,000 women who have, of their own free will, left home
and, in many instances, fortunes, in order to "instruct others
unto justice, to nurse the sick in the hospital, to care for the
orphan and the aged, and the wayward, in special Homes
as a life-long work. Hundreds of thousands of such saintly
ladies are working for God, for the souls of others and for
their own sanctification, throughout the world. They are
often called "Spouses of Christ," because they have chosen
Him as their only lover.
Only those Protestants who have come in close contact with
the Catholic Sister seem to understand her and her motive.
Ask the old soldier who was nursed by one of them on the
battlefield; ask the man who experienced her unselfish devo-
344 THE WHITE HARVEST
tion when he was ill ; ask any of the thousands of ladies who
were taught by one of them in a Catholic boarding school;
and see if their estimate of the nun is that which others have
gleaned from the pages of the novel, or from teachers who
were most hostile to the Catholic Church and who entertain
most unwarranted ideas about Catholic sisterhoods. The
Convent Inspection laws which were passed in recent years in
those states where Catholics were few and where bigotry is
intense, were born of the suspicions provoked by anti-Catholic
training, and not by any abuses even apparent. Those laws
are no longer applied, because every "inspection" only brought
the Sisters into more favorable prominence.
No girl is ever forced into the convent against her will;
no girl would be detained in the convent if she wanted to get
out. Therefore, there can be no such thing as an "escaped
nun." On the contrary, a noviate of several years precedes
the entry of the young lady into the religious life, and she is
even urged not to take the step unless she is sure she will find
her life's happiness in such a vocation. Those who are in
Convents are there solely to live pure and holy lives, and they
are even under vow to observe chastity in the strictest manner.
When religious communities were dissolved in France and
some other countries, their bitterest enemies never thought of
charging their members with evil lives.
The present-day anti-Catholic lecturer gets his story from
women who were committed to Reformatories in charge of
Sisters of the Good Shepherd. These girls are sent there
against their will, just as the wayward girls in our state re-
formatories are there against their will. Inmates of the
Houses of the Good Shepherd are not even permitted to be-
come nuns. It is from such convent institutions, and not from
convents, that there have been "escapes."
MARY AND THE SAINTS
St. Luke (Chapter i, 26, 27) records something wholly un-
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 345
precedented. He reports that, 1923 years ago, an angel de-
scended from Heaven, delegated by God Himself to honor a
humble pure virgin of Israel. In God's name the angel
greeted her, declared her to be "highly favored," told her that
the Lord her God was with her, that of all women she was
most blessed.
How, then, can one ask why Catholics pay any marks of
honor to the Blessed Virgin Mary? If the Archangel Gabriel
honored her, if God so honored her, even before she had be-
come the mother of His Son, then Christians have many ad-
ditional reasons to honor her after she became Christ's
mother ; after she had endeared herself to Him at Bethelehem,
in Egypt, at Nazareth, and on Calvary; after Christ Himself
honored her and was "subject to her." One single sentence in
the Bible says vastly more about Mary than a whole book
could say about a person : "Mary, of whom was born Jesus"
(Matt. I, 1 6). Surely no further Bible warrant was needed
for the love and honor which Catholics pay to Christ's mother.
If more were needed we could have it uttered under the in-
spiration of the Holy Ghost: "All generations shall call me
blessed" (Luke I, 48) .
When Catholics call Mary the Mother of God they know
she was not the mother of His divine nature, but was the
mother of Him who was God. Matthew justifies this desig-
nation, so does Luke, so does Elizabeth, so does the Council
of Ephesus in the fourth century.
Let it be distinctly understood that Catholics do not worship
Mary, nor pay her any divine homage. If they did they
would be guilty of idolatry. When the term "worship of the
saints or worship of the Virgin Mary" is used in books, it is
to be understood in the sense of "honor" "veneration" In
the old English Bibles we read "worship thy father and thy
mother"; also "Thou shalt then have worship in the presence
of them who sit at meat with thee." The Bible obligates us
to honor our parents, to honor the king, to honor all to whom
honor is due." Love often exaggerates, but Catholic teaching
34* THE WHITE HARVEST
is clear. Some men say they "worship" their sweethearts, but
you know what they mean.
Every Catholic catechism distinguishes between the worship
we must pay to God, and the honor which we pay to the Saints.
We honor the memory, and are urged to imitate the civic vir-
tues of great personages long since dead, such as Washington,
Lincoln, Roosevelt. Men and women band themselves to-
gether in societies and organizations under the patronage of
persons who are not even Christian, such as Pythias, Pocahon-
tas, etc. In fact, it is the custom today to select animals as
patrons of our fraternal organizations; and thus we have
Elks, Eagles, Moose, and so on.
If no serious objection can be brought against these cus-
toms, how can people reasonably object to Catholics honoring
the memory and imitating the virtues of the Saints of those,
who followed the Master most closely, and who are now with
Him in His kingdom of Heaven?
It is often thoughtlessly said that we detract from the honor
we pay God by paying honor to the Saints. The contrary is
true. We honor the Saints only because of their relationship
to God. Would we dishonor the President of the United
States by paying honor to his mother or to his dearest friend?
All honor paid to the Saints redounds to God, "who is glorified
in the assembly of His saints" (ps. Ixxxvi, 8). Catholics rec-
ognize the truth that there is only one mediator of redemp-
tion between God and man, and they never pray to a saint
as they pray to God. They ask the prayers of a saint just
as they would ask your prayers. Surely you may pray for me
and I may pray for you, without interfering with Christ's medi-
atorship. Christ is the only mediator by redemption; we are
mediators by intercession; and so are the saints, as we are
taught in the doctrine of the "Communion of Saints," con-
tained in the Apostle's Creed*
Did not Christ declare "where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt,
xviii, 20) ? Whom more influential could we gather together
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 347
with us in prayer than those Saints, say, who shed their blood
for Christ? Visit the catacombs near Rome, those under-
ground churches which the Christians of the first centuries
built, and you will see many evidences that the first Christians
honored and prayed to the Saints.
CATHOLICS ARE NOT SUPERSTITIOUS
The accusation of superstition does not come with good
grace from non-Catholic Americans, who carry charms for
good luck, fear to travel on Friday, or to sit with twelve others
at table, who consult fortune-tellers, mediums, etc.
Some Catholics are given to superstition, but as a
whole they are more free from superstition than any other
people, because they are taught in their first catechism that
superstitious practices violate the First Commandment of
God.
While some things practiced by Catholics are regarded as
superstitious, they are not so at all when properly under-
stood. For instance, Catholics would no more think of pray-
ing to a statue, before which they might kneel than you would
think of praying to your bed before which you kneel. The
placing of statues in our churches has the same meaning in
religion that the placing of statuary in the Hall of Fame in
the nation's capitol has in civic life. In the former case the
images portray those who have served their God well ; in the
latter case those who served their country well. If the church
is God's house, it is fitting to have pictures of His friends
therein, just as it is fitting for you to have the pictures of your
friends in your house. You do not worship the statuary or
pictures in your house ; neither do Catholics worship the statu-
ary or pictures in the house of God.
Catholics honor the crucifix for what it symbolizes; just as
we all honor our flag for what it symbolizes. When Cath-
olics wear medals in honor of Jesus or His blessed mother,
their purpose is not different from your practice in wearing
348 THE WHITE HARVEST
a lodge button. In both instances it discloses membership in
a confraternity.
One would think from what he reads in anti-Catholic lit-
erature, that every Catholic possessed relics of the Saints
and worshipped them. As a matter of fact very few individ-
uals, very few churches, possess relics of Saints for veneration
of the people ; and in no case may a relic be worshipped. Fab-
ulous prices are paid for relics of Shakespeare, or Washington,
and others, and they are treasured because of their past asso-
ciation. So the Church treasures relics of her martyrs and
of her great heroes of sanctity, but she would hold it to be a
grievous sin to worship them and surely Catholics have suffi-
cient common sense not to worship them.
Because the Catholic Church is so misunderstood in this
matter, Protestant missionaries often misrepresent in their
correspondence (probably without intending to deceive) the
practices of people in Mexico, South America, and other
places.
FAKE OATHS AND BOGUS DOCUMENTS
I. THE "DARK CLOUD" FAKE
Ever since the time of Pastor Chiniquy, who was ousted
from the Catholic Church about seventy years ago, the words
ascribed to Lincoln have been exploited by our enemies without
any attempt at proof. What will surprise the reader is that
even Tom Watson declared the quotation to be a forgery. In
the Columbia Sentinel of Thompson, Ga., we read the fol-
lowing :
NELSON'S PERPETUAL LOOSE-LEAF
ENCYCLOPEDIA
New York City, Nov. 30, 1920
HON. THOS. E. WATSON
Dear Sir: A question has arisen over a quotation upon
which I think you will be able to set us right. The question is
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 349
did Abraham Lincoln say: "I do not intend to be a
prophet, but, though not a prophet, I see a very dark cloud on
our horizon, and that cloud is coming from Rome."
Did President Lincoln make or write the above remark?
If so, in which of his writing and what edition of the same
will I be sure to find it?
Thanking you for whatever information you can give me
in this matter, I am,
Yours very truly,
WM. A. MYERS
Thompson, Ga.
Dec, n, 1920
MR. WM. A. MYERS
381 Fourth Ave.
New York City
Dear Sir: Yours of November 3Oth received, and would
have been answered sooner had I not been absent in Florida.
For the last thirty years the alleged quotation from Abra-
ham Lincoln has been in circulation.
He is said to have made the prophetic remark during his
second term, after the profiteering corporations of the Civil
War had accumulated such vast fortunes, and were exerting
their power over Congress.
Those who claimed authenticity for the statement of Mr.
Lincoln asserted that it appeared in a letter which he wrote
to a personal friend in the West.
I do not remember the alleged name of this friend, but I do
distinctly remembered that no such letter was ever published.
I had no confidence in it myself, and never used it in any of
my speeches or writing.
My opinion is that it was fabricated after Mr. Lincoln's
death.
Yours truly
THOS. E. WATSON
350 THE WHITE HARVEST
Note, however, what President Lincoln did say: "I am
not a Know-Nothing, that is certain. ... When the Know-
Nothings get control it will read : 'All men are created equal,
except negroes, foreigners, and Catholics. 1 When it comes
to this, I should prefer emigrating to some country where they
make no pretense of loving liberty where despotism can
be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy."
Abraham Lincoln, "Recollections of Abraham Lincoln,"
Lamon.
II. THE BOGUS K. OF C. OATH
During the political campaign of 1912 (and also at various
times since) there was distributed throughout the country a
bogus oath alleged to be the oath of the Fourth Degree,
Knights of Columbus.
. When the attention of the Knights of Columbus was called
to this fake oath, they immediately sent forth vigorous de-
nials. This, however, was not sufficient to convince many
people; hence two other steps seemed necessary:
1. To exhibit the entire ritual of the Knights of Columbus
to leading Protestant gentlemen, and have them pronounce
upon it.
2. To bring the matter into court, in some manner, by
action against those circulating the oath, to the end that it
might be denied under the form of sworn testimony, and those
engaged in diffusing it obliged to submit proof or to admit
the falsity and fraudulent character of their work.
The first step was taken in a number of localities.
At Seattle, in October, 1912, members of the Knights of Col-
umbus laid before a committee of non-Catholic citizens, includ-
ing J. P. Lowman, President of the Chamber of Commerce,
and J. E. Chilberg, Vice-President of the Scandinavian Bank,
the actual Fourth Degree obligation of the Knights of Co-
lumbus and this committee thereupon issued a statement upon
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 3 5 1
the facts, declaring that the obligation taken by the Fourth
Degree members "u one of loyalty and patriotism to our flag
and our nation."
A still stronger presentation is exhibited on page 2817 of
Volume 52, of the Congressional Record (Friday, January 29,
1915 ). Hon. Wm. Kettner, a Congressman from California,
reports the matter in a speech on the floor of the House:
"As a thirty-third degree Mason, and a working member of
the Masonic order, I esteem it a privilege to present this re-
port of these distinguished and fairminded gentlemen on a
subject which has been grossly misrepresented and has caused
religious bitterness and strife. ..."
The Report of a Committee of Masons
"We hereby certify that, by authority of the highest officer
of the Knights of Columbus in the State of California, who
acted under instructions from the supreme officer of the order
in the United States, we were furnished a complete copy of
all the work, ceremonies, and pledges used by the order, and
that we carefully read, discussed, and examined the same.
We found that, while the order is in a sense a secret associa-
tion, it is not an oath bound organization, and that its cere-
monies are comprised in four degrees, which are intended to
teach and inculcate principles that lie at the foundation of
every great free state. Our examination of these ceremonies
and obligations was made primarily for the purpose of ascer-
taining whether or not a certain alleged oath of the Knights
of Columbus, which has been printed and widely circulated,
was in fact used by the order, and whether, if it was not used,
any oath, which was or would be offensive to Protestants or
Masons, or those who are engaged in circulating a document
of peculiar viciousness and wickedness.
"We find that neither the alleged oath nor any oath or
pledge bearing the remotest resemblance thereto in matter,
3J2 THE WHITE HARVEST
manner, spirit, or purpose is used or forms a part of the
ceremonies of any degree of the Knights of Columbus. The
alleged oath is scurrilous, wicked and libelous, and must be the
invention of an impious and venomous mind.
MOTLEY HEWES FLINT
33rd Degree Past Grand Master of Masons of California
DANA REID WELLER
$2nd Degree Past Grand Master of Masons of California
WM. RHODES HERVEY
22nd Degree Past Grand Master Scottish Rite Lodge
SAMUEL E. BURKE
$2nd Degree Past Master and Inspector of Masonic District
A Law Suit
The matter was also brought into court. In Feb., 1913,
one Megonegal, a circulator of the bogus oath in question, was
haled into court at Philadelphia, and was held on charge of
libel. At the hearing, James A. Flaherty, national head of
the Knights of Columbus, went upon the witness stand and
repudiated the oath as bogus. We quote from the Philadel'
phia Ledger of February 20, 1913: "Mr. Flaherty was
asked whether there was a word of truth in the allegation
that the papers represented was the oath of the order. 'It is
a tissue of falsehood from beginning to end,' he declared."
Subsequently, C. H. Stage, 4143 Lancaster Avenue, and
Charles Megonegal, of Forty-third and Brown Sts., entered
pleas to indictments charging libel and conspiracy to libel the
organization, in Quarter Sessions Court, on Jan. 30, 1914,
says the Philadelphia Evening Telegram.
Megonegal, who printed the circulars, entered a plea of
guilty to the indictments, while Stage, who distributed them,
did not contest the charges, entering a technical plea of nolle
contendere.
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 353
Still Another Suit
A. M. and G. E. Morrison, of the Mankato Journal, were
found guilty of libel in the court of Waterville, Minn., on
July 24, 1914. Their paper, The Journal, had published an
article charging that E. M. Lawless, of the Waterville Sen-
tinel, had taken a treasonable oath on becoming a member of
the Fourth Degree of the Knights of Columbus. William J.
McGinley, of New York, custodian of the rituals of the or-
der, submitted to the court the complete obligation taken by
members of the Fourth Degree, and Dr. E. W. Buckley, of
St. Paul, who was master of ceremonies at the time the obli-
gation was administered to Mr. Lawless, testified that that
was the only obligation taken by him. The foreman of the
jury which found the Morrisons guilty was a Methodist min-
ister.
The Morrisons subsequently appealed the case, but with-
drew their plea, pleaded guilty, and paid a fine. A number of
similar cases, with equally conclusive results, were tried in
different parts of the country.
III. A LIE COPIED IN MANY PAPERS
Many of our readers are familiar with the bogus articles
entitled "Rome in the Government," represented as having
been written for the National Catholic Register by a Catholic,
but which, as a matter of fact, is the invention of an unscru-
pulous enemy of the Catholic Church. It begins with this
paragraph:
"It is God's plan that the Holy Father of Rome should be
the temporal and spiritual head of His Kingdom on earth. It
is the same today as in the time of the first paper, etc."
The best answer to this is that which appeared in the Kan-
sas City Freemason, which is fair enough to call on the editors
of its sister papers to make the same repudiation. Several of-
ficial organs of the Masonic Order, such as the Crescent, of
Illinois, and the New Age of Washington, have published this
354 THE WHITE HARVEST
bogus document. The following is the repudiation contained
in the Kansas City Freemason (Dec. 17, 1920) :
"Some of our zealous brethren have seen a certain dirty
piece of propaganda purporting to have been printed in the
National Catholic Register. You may recall it without our
printing it. It condemns Masonry and the Republican party
and commends the Democratic party and the Catholic Church,
and intimates that the Democrats and Catholics are on good
terms with each other. This foolish article fell into our
hands more than a year ago and since that time it has (been
mailed to us frequently with the suggestions that Masons
ought to see the rank, subtle work being done by the Cath-
olics. We have been pained to see this article printed in
some church and Masonic journals. It looked suspicious to
us and we delayed printing it until it could be investigated ; we
never did believe that there was an editor of a Catholic paper
who was fool enough to print such an article even though it
might have expressed his sentiments. Upon investigation, we
were informed that there is no such paper in the world as the
National Catholic Register, to which this article was credited.
The local Catholic paper made some comments on this article,
published several affidavits and an offer was made of one
thousand dollars to anybody who would produce a recognized
Catholic paper that ever printed that article. We are con-
vinced that this article was written and subtlely circulated for
some mean propaganda purpose."
IV. BOGUS POLITICAL HAND-BILLS
Below is a facsimile of a dodger, gotten up by enemies of
the Catholic Church, but made to appear to be of Catholic
origin :
Catholics Beware!
The so-called "Good-Government" and "Anti-Machine"
tickets circulated during the past few days are not what they
REMOVING THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS 355
purport to be. They are the insidious propaganda of the un-
holy heretic orders -Freemasons, Odd Fellows, Knights of
Pythias, Orangemen, Knights of Luther, and last and most
villainous of all, that cowardly hooded band The Ku Klux
Klan.
Remember the injunction of the Holy Church, as voiced by
Bishop Gilmour: "Nationalities must be subordinated to re-
ligion and we must learn that we are Catholics first and citi-
zens next."
Vote only for Catholics or those who are known to be
broad-minded in their attitude toward the Holy Church. Do
not toss your vote to the enemies of our cause by supporting
a single candidate whose name is published on the "Good
Government" ticket.
Catholic Welfare League
Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, Ind., offers $1000 reward
for proof that these documents were ever issued by Catholics.
ASK FOR PROOF BEFORE GIVING ASSENT
The disturbers of the peace in our country tell you that
seventy-five percent of public school teachers are Catholic.
Taking the country as a whole, not ten percent of the public
school teachers are Catholic. In some cities, like Boston and
Chicago, where Catholics constitute from forty percent to
sixty percent of the population, it is natural that the percent-
age of Catholics teaching school should be higher. But in
such cities the Catholic school teachers are as devoted to the
public school system as any other teachers are, and we are
sure that their religion is never thrust upon their work.
Many Protestant public school teachers are Sunday School
teachers as well, and it is common for them to do considerable
propaganda for their church among the children. We doubt
if this is ever done by any Catholic teacher.
The Knights of Columbus are given credit for thousands of
356 THE WHITE HARVEST
things which they are not doing or have never intended to do.
They are not spending any residue of a war fund for any
cause whatsoever except the rehabilitation of the doughboy
and his education. They are not spending any of that sum
for welfare work in Italy ; they are not trying to drive Meth-
odists or Baptists out of Rome ; they are not raging any kind
of anti-Protestant or anti-Masonic fight.
THERE is No OCCASION FOR WORRY
It is said that Catholics are charged by Rome with the duty
of making America Catholic, and the emphasis is always laid
on the word "make." We have heard this for twenty-five
years, but there has never been any stir on the part of Cath-
olics in this direction. Their indifference towards the spread
of the faith is, on the other hand, a very noticeable trait.
The Catholic clergy, as any observing person will agree, have
not even as much contact as they should have with the Prot-
estant body, and the Catholic lay people erroneously act as
though they were to keep entirely mum about their religion.
The Methodists certainly would like to make America
Methodist, as well as the Baptists to make it Baptist, and
Catholics to make it Catholic. But this can never be done ex-
cept by convincing the people of the truth of their respective
claims. As far as the Catholic religion is concerned, it teaches
that no one may be added to the Church by force. Even if
you, the reader, wished to become Catholic, and you could not
believe Catholic teaching, you would not even be accepted by
the Church. We can't "make" America Catholic, nor Meth-
odist, nor Baptist.
INDEX
American mind, treatment of, 135
American people, hungry for religion,
26 /
Announcement of instruction class,
240 ff; in newspapers, 245
Apathy of Catholic laity, 9; cause of
10
Apostolate of laity, xoo ff; stimula-
tion of, 159 ff, 238
Apostolate to non-Catholics, 24
Attack and defense method of presen-
tation, 258 /
Autovan, use of in street preaching,
216 ff
Belloc, Hilaire, 195
Benson Club, 248
Bible and Catholics, 336 /
Bigotry, periodical, 161
Bogus oaths and documents, 348 ff;
handbills, 354 /
Books, Catholic, as aids to conversion,
62 ; list of for converts, 68, 88 ff
Branch theory, 176
Brownson, Orestes A., type of philo-
sophical convert, 117 ff
Catechist, qualities of, 42
Catechism, teaching of, 231
Catholic Evidence Guild, 260 ff
Catholic Truth Guild, 21 1 ff
Catholic Unity League, 249 /, 36 /
Census of religious affiliation, 90
Charts, use of, 291 /
Chesterton, Gilbert K., 196 ff
Children, means of reaching outsiders,
'S3
Church and State, 3x9 /
Civil allegiance of Catholics, 320 /
357
Class instruction, difficulties of, 43 /,
start of, 85 ff
Class of converts, organization of, 85
i
Controversy, religious, methods in, 173
ff; to be avoided in convert work,
145
Conversions, perseverance in, 25, /
Converts' leagues aid to conversions,
181 ff, 249
Convert movement in America, 142
Converts, number annually made, 6;
average number per priest, 6, 78
Denominations furnishing many con-
verts, 139
Funerals, means of reaching outsiders,
Gibbons, Cardinal, 174 ff
Harmony among Catholics and Prot-
estants, 312 /
Hecker, Rev. Isaac, 19, 20
Illiteracy and the Church, 329 ff
Improvised groups, aid in reaching
outsiders, 252 /
Individual instruction, 43 /, 156 ff
Inquiry Class, for prospective converts,
4i /
Instruction, start of, 55
Instructions, individual and group,
292 ff
Invitation by letter, 246
Jew, American, conversion of, 189 ff,
228 ff, 234
3*8
INDEX
Knights of Columbus, alleged oath of,
350 /; missionary work of, 28 /
Laity, well informed, a means of win-
ning converts, 69, 82 ff
Lay preaching, 209 ff
Lectures to non-Catholics, doctrinal
character of, 33 /
Literature, distribution of, to non-
Catholics, 136, 223
Loan Library, 37
Luther, and the Bible, 337 /
Mary and the saints, 344 /
Masons and Catholics, 314 /
Mass, its explanation, 284 /
Methods, special, 3 ; trial and error
methods, 4
Missions, general, 104; to non-Catho-
lics, 22 f; to Catholics, 22 /, 65,
155^252^
Mixed marriages, occasion of con-
version, 50 /, 246 /
Monks and monasteries, 342 /
Motives of prospective converts, 50
Mysteries, in religion, 72, 141
Negro, instruction of, 95 ff
Newman, Cardinal, 280
Non-Catholic attitude toward religion,
169 ff
Nuns, slanders against, 343 /
Open forum, 53 /, 256
Outdoor pulpit, 21 6 /
Parochial school, 331; its efficiency,
333 // cost to replace, 334 /
Patriotism of Catholics, 317 /
Personal contact, aid in reaching con-
verts, 99 ff
Personality of priest, 60
. Prayer, necessity of, 279; role in con-
versions, 107, 158
Preliminary interview, 267 /
Press, and street preaching, 221
Private reception of converts, 158
Programs of lectures for non-Catho-
lics, 56
Protestant marriages, 316 /
Protestant, reaching thru street
preaching, 235 /
Psychological order of procedure, 288 /
j
Public reception of converts, 159
Public schools and Catholics, 326 ff
Question box, origin of, 29; utility of,
30 /, 254
Quiz, period, in street preaching, 231 /
Radio; use of in winning converts,
66 /, 165
Regularity, of lectures for non-Catho-
lics, 50; of time and place for in-
struction, 271 /
Religious complexion of U. S., 5
Rome and the press, 325
Sacramentals, use of, 148 ff
School, Catholic, means of reaching
converts, 102 ff
Scripture, sacred, showing basis of
Catholic faith, 146 ff
Seminary, curriculum, 7, 78 ff
Sequence of topics in instruction, 285^
Services, of Church, attract non-
Catholics, 105 ff
Singing of hymns in vernacular, 151 ff
Socialist, in street preaching, 233
Street preaching, 185, 209 ff, 260 ff
Superstition, charges of, 347 /
Tact, necessary, in dealing with con-
verts, 70, /
Technique of instruction, 2 /
Types of converts, 1x3; historical,
"3#V philosophical, n6ff; denomi-
national, 120 ff; Esthetic, 125 ff; dy-
namic, 130 ff
Unity, Christian, 172 ff
Visit, through church, 281
Walsh, Rev. Frances W., 243
Ward, Wilfrid, 202
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2-9155
UNIVERSITY.OE CHICAGO
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11