“Congratulations, Mr. Pierce!” said Fr. Cronin as he shook hands with his new parishioner. May every day of your life be as happy as today the day of your First Holy Communion.
“Thanks, Father,” replied Mr. Pierce. “That wish of yours is a generous one but too good to be realized. For this is the happiest day of my life . . . and they can’t all be filled with such joy.”
“Let me congratulate you too, Dad,” said his son, Pierce, who had just enjoyed the rare privilege of baptizing his own father and of giving him First Holy Communion.
Others-grown children, relatives and friendscame forward to shower their felicitations upon the elderly man who had just been elevated from the status of a creature of God to that of a son of God by the sacrament of regeneration. While young in the sonship of God, Mr. Pierce was no youngster in age. He was pushing on toward the seventy mark, a grandfather many times over with a son in the priesthood for twenty years. “Our joy would be complete,” said his married daughter, Mary, “if only mother were here to witness the scene.”
“Yes,” replied the dad,” that’s the one sad note in the music today: ‘I’m sorry now that I waited so long.'”
“Why did you wait so long?” inquired Mr. Spencer, a business friend of Mr. Pierce for forty years.
“Chiefly, I suppose,” he said slowly and with some hesitancy, not wishing to offend, “because no one ever asked me.”
In those words spoken on the steps of a church in a western city, in the presence of twenty witnesses, is contained a story fraught with meaning for all interested in the growth of the Church in America and particularly in the winning of converts for Christ. It is the story of the strange reticence of Catholics about their faith, of the common impression of our laity that they have no duty to help in the winning of souls for Christ, that such is exclusively the business and the concern of the clergy. The purpose of this discussion is to correct that false impression, to remove that reticence, and to enlist the wholehearted cooperation of all our people in the divinely appointed task of carrying the saving truths of Jesus Christ to every man, woman, and child on this globe.
The Bottleneck
After relating the incident previously mentioned, the priest who had witnessed it added: “You’ve been interested, Fr. O’Brien, in convert work for many years. There’s some grist for your mill. In fact, I would say there’s the bottleneck of the whole movement. You’ll have to break that bottleneck if you hope to speed up production.”
He hit the nail on the head. More than thirty years of study of the convert movement, along with detailed investigation of the methods used by outstanding leaders in all parts of the country, have engendered in me the profound conviction that the success of this movement hinges upon the degree to which the 25,000,000 lay men and women bestir themselves to interest friends in the religion of Christ.
We shall be able to transform the meagre number of converts now trickling into our parishes into torrential streams only when we have found a way of harnessing the good will and latent zeal of our laity to the divine task of extending Christ’s kingdom on earth. The failure thus far to tap that mighty reservoir of lay energy and power and to channel it into every city, town, and hamlet in our land represents the greatest loss to the Church in America today. An army of 40,000 priests is struggling to accomplish what only an army of 25,000,000 can achievethe winning of the 80,000,000 churchless people of our country.
If our laity remain reticent, rarely lift a finger to help an outsider find his way into the household of the faith, and manifest no awareness of a divine obligation to share their saving truths with others, priests will be able to recruit but few prospects for their instruction classes and will reap a correspondingly meagre harvest. The key to the solution of the problem of winning the 80,000,000 churchless people in America is in the hands of the laity. Thus far they have made but little use of that key.
How to Change the Picture?
How can we change that picture? How can we give them a vision of the great white harvest of Americaa harvest that is waiting for reapers to gather into the Master’s granary? By preaching a sermon every few months upon the duty which Christ placed upon all his followers to continue his work, to spread his teachings, and to win souls for him. “Go ye into the whole world,” said Christ, “and preach the gospel to every creature “(Mark 16:15). And again: “Teach ye all nations . . . all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Matt. 28:19-20). These words were addressed not only to the apostles but also to all his followers.
In this land whitening with a harvest of nearly a hundred million souls, ungathered by any reapers, there is a crying need for the lay disciples of Christ to supplement the work of the bishops and priests who are able to gather but a small fragment of the vast harvest. Tothe lay Catholics of America, Christ is now addressing the words first uttered at Jacob’s Well in Samaria: “Do not you say, there are yet four months, and then the harvest cometh? 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 everlasting” (John 4:35-36).
This is the message which needs to be preached from every Catholic pulpit in America until every one of our millions of lay men and women are kindled with a consuming zeal to share their legacy of divine truth with their countrymen and thus win America for Christ. Frequent and urgent have been the appeals of our pontiffs to our laity, calling them to Catholic Action, to participate with the clergy in the apostolate under the direction of the hierarchy. We must continue to echo the appeal of our Holy Father until everyone in America is galvanized into action in the noblest crusade in which a human being may participatethe crusade of winning souls for Jesus Christ.
A New Crusade
If we could devise a suitable hypodermic needle by which we could inject the zeal virus of the Christian Scientist, of the Seventh Day Adventist, to say nothing of Jehovah’s Witnesses, into our lay Catholics, we would win the unchurched multitude of Americans for Christ within a decade or two. With a zeal worthy of a better cause, these sectaries are spreading leaflets and pamphlets like snow flakes across our land. They are ringing our doorbells and seeking to edge their way into our homes to play their phonograph records. They are on our street corners, holding their magazines before our eyes and dinning their wares into our ears. They are aflame with zeal.
On the very day I write these lines, a letter arrives from the Catholic Action Committee of Brazil, organized for the defense of the faith and morals of their country. It reported the feverish missionary activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Adventists, and Pentecostals in spreading their bizarre creeds in that country. Backed by American money, the men and women of these sects are flooding Brazil with propaganda seeking to win adherents in that Catholic country.
The Committee is alarmed at the inroads being made by these zealots, who have descended upon the natives like a swarm of locusts. The Committee reports that the Seventh Day Adventists registered a seventy percent increase in eight years. During the same period, the Pentecostals achieved the staggering gain of two hundred fifteen percent. No wonder that a note of alarm and dismay is sounded by the Committee as they view the feverish pace at which these lay men and women are working to win converts to their man-made creeds.
Catholic men and women of America! Christ is calling you to proclaim him and his teachings from the housetops. He is calling you to go out into the highways and the byways to announce his gospel of mercy, forgiveness, and love. He is asking you to open your eyes and see the fields of America whitening with a harvest for the reaping of which the clergy are all too few. Christ is hungering for the souls of our churchless countrymenpleading with you to hand them not a stone but the nourishing bread of divine truth.
In the ears of all our lay men and women are sounding again the pleading words of the Good Shepherd: 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 (John 10:16). Catholic men and women, will you respond to this plea of Jesus Christ? Will you set yourselves like flint to the fulfillment of the divinely appointed plea of Jesus Christ? Will you set yourselves like adamant to the task of winning the other souls for the Good Shepherd? If you answer this call of the Divine Master with zeal and courage, the success of the convert movement is assured. The number of converts will increase by leaps and bounds. We shall lift the annual number of converts from the hundred thou sand to the million mark. We shall win America for Christ.
The reward to all who respond to his plea was promised by the Divine Master when he said: And he that reapeth, receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life everlasting (John 4:36). And again he promised: “Everyone therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in Heaven “(Matt. 10:32). With their eyes open to the vision of the whitening harvest of souls in America and with the divine promises echoing in their minds and hearts, the Catholic lay men and women of America will throw themselves into the greatest crusade of the twentieth centurythe crusade of winning America for Christ.
Winning 100 Converts
“Say, Hank, were you at church yesterday?”
“No, Chuck. I rarely go to any and am a member of none.”
“You’re making a mistake there, Hank.”
“How so? I don’t see any need to go.”
“Well, you’re more than an animal that eats and sleeps and dies, aren’t you?”
“Suppose I am. What has that got to do with it?”
“Lots. You’re different from animals chiefly because you possess a spiritual nature, a soul that will live long after your body has passed into dust. That’s the important part of you, and that’s what needs attention, care, and nourishment.”
“You got something there, Chuck. But how do you care for your soul-nourish it, as you say?”
“You care for your spiritual nature by exercising it, by using it. You do this by worshiping God. Prayer is food for the soul. Religion is the business of keeping you spiritually alive, healthy, and strong. That’s why Christ founded a Church: to care for your spiritual needs, to enable you to be a man instead of just an animal.”
“I don’t know much about churches, Chuck. They all look alike to me. Where would a guy like me start?”
“I’ll take you over to see Fr. Flynn. He’s a fine priest. He’ll show you how the Church can help you to come to life spiritually and to grow, how you can keep close to God and save your soul. That’s what we’re here forto save our souls and to gain eternal life with God in heaven.”
“I’ll take you up on that, Chuck, hesitating a trifle, if it won’t cost anything or tie me up before I’m sold on it.”
“I’ll guarantee you, Hank, on both those points. Expect me to call for you at eight tonight.”
“O.K., Chuck, it’s a date.”
A One-Armed Fisherman
The above conversation took place in the Round House of the Illinois Central Railroad. It took place not once but many times. It was the simple, human appeal that Charles Fisher, a one-armed laborer, made to his fellow workers over a period of twenty-five years. It had enabled him to bring nineteen men to his pastor for instruction and occasioned him the unusual joy of seeing every one of them embrace the Catholic faith.
Most of them subsequently brought their families into the fold. Thus about one hundred people owed their Catholic faith, under God’s grace, to Mr. Fisher’s missionary zealto his willingness to ask his fellow laborers to investigate. He was a Fisher not only in name but also in deed.
In contrast to the university students to whom I was ministering, Mr. Fisher had not completed the elementary school course. Yet I am safe in saying that he had been instrumental in bringing more converts into the Church than my entire congregation of a thousand students. Though God had taken his wife, he gave his only daughter to the Dominican Order.
When I inquired how he managed to bring so many recruits around for instruction, he related to me the conversation previously mentioned. Though that was more than thirty years ago, it is as vivid in my memory as though it were related only yesterday. More than any other individual, this one-armed fisher of men, untutored in the things of this world but wise in the things of the spirit, opened my eyes to the unsuspected possibilities in lay convert work.
A Pattern for Millions
What Mr. Fisher did, millions of other Catholics can do if they would but try. What he did, millions of others must do if we are to fulfill the command of Christ: “Preach the gospel to every creature.” What Mr. Fisher accomplished, millions of Catholic men and wom en must accomplish if we are to win the 80,000,000 churchless people of America for Christ.
What is needed is to unleash the pent-up energy and zeal of Catholic men and women upon the mission fields whitening at our very door. This development will take place, however, only after we have given our laity the vision of this mighty harvest and the encouragement to undertake its reaping.
This is the note sounded likewise by Fr. Lester J. Fallon, C.M., director of the Confraternity Home Study Service. From his strategic post of duty, with inquiries coming to him from all parts of America and from many foreign countries, Fr. Fallon is in a position to appreciate the need for the cooperative assistance of Catholic lay men and women. “Why did not Catholics whom I knew at home introduce me to their religion?” Such is the question often raised, he reports, by the persons whom he is instructing by mail.
The hunger of people to learn the teachings of the Catholic religion is evidenced by the enrollment of 8,487 persons in his correspondence course in 1946. While the vast majority are from the United States and Canada, not a few come from the Philippines, Nigeria, Palestine, Brazil, India, Korea, and New Zealand. It is interesting to note that the number enrolling from rural districts, where there is little opportunity to hear Mass andno chance to receive personal instruction, is just about equal to the number of city people who enroll because circumstances prevent them from consulting a parish priest.
On the basis of the thousands of inquiries pouring in upon him from all the States of the Union, Fr. Fallon sounds this clarion call to the lay Catholics of America: The mission field to which you are called is all around youthe druggist on the comer, the boy you met last week at a dance, the woman who shared a table with you at lunch, the man waiting with you in the barber shop, that new family next door. Won’t you sow the seeds of faith and let us cultivate them?
The seed will be sown in millions of places when Catholics lay aside their traditional reticence and invite their neighbors to Mass, to a Benediction service, to a Catholic lecture. It will be planted when Catholics offer a word of explanation about their faith, when they loan a Catholic book or donate a Catholic magazine or pamphlet to their friends outside the fold. If we turn to the right or to the left of us, we are rubbing shoulders with people who never have been given the opportunity of securing a true insight into the Catholic faith.
From Gas Station to Faith
The most casual contacts can be utilized for a divine purpose. Let me cite an example. Some years ago I drove into a filling station. Noticing a stranger standing by the gas pump, I said to myself: “I’m going to see if I can land this soul for Christ.” I remembered that Christ in a vivid phrase had styled the priestly ministry a fishing for souls when he said to the apostles: “Come ye after me, and I will make you to be fishers of men “(Matt. 4:19).
I greeted him cordially. He responded in a friendly manner. After a few minutes conversation, I inquired if he would be interested in seeing a new altar which we had recently erected. He was glad to accept the invitation. In a few minutes I was showing him not only the altar but also the whole church, with its stations, paintings, statues and stained glass windows.
Coming down the aisle. I called his attention to the confessionals, opining that he had probably heard many a tale about them. He smiled an affirmation.
“Plenty, be added.”
I opened the doors and invited him to take a look inside, calling his attention to the grating, covered by an opaque white cloth, and also to the crucifix hanging on the partition before which the penitent would be kneeling. This afforded me an opportunity to explain the sacrament briefly. On passing through the vestibule, I invited him to take along a few of the many pamphlets on display. He gladly did so.I then invited him to an inquiry class which had just gotten under way. Though he was to be in the city for only a couple of weeks, he agreed to come. When those two weeks expired, he thanked me and bade me good-bye. I gave him a note of introduction to a pastor in Evanston, to which city he was returning, and advised him to complete his course. The incident had just about faded from my mind when some three months later a telegram arrived. It read:” Just received my First Holy Communion. Am the happiest man in the world. Many thanks.”
The Midas Touch
I mention the incident as typical of the thousands of casual contacts which can be utilized for a divine purpose if we but try. I mention it with no thought of vainglory. In all probability, I have allowed many opportunities to escape for a few utilized. If we shall but avail ourselves of the opportunities placed in our way, we all shall find that never a week goes by without bringing us a contact with a non-Catholic which with a little zeal may be turned to a holy cause.
We who are in possession of the full legacy of divine truth have a power like Midas, who was able with a touch to turn anything into gold. By exposing a bit of the shining pearl of divine truth to the eyes of the passing stranger, we have the power of arresting his attention and, with the aid of divine grace, the prospect of winning him for Christ and for his Church. Catholics have the Midas touch because they have the truththe whole truth and nothing but the truth.
The appeal of the Church to all her members and particularly to her laity is to bestir themselves to utilize the missionary contacts which they make every day of their lives. Catholic men and women of America, the future of the Church is in your hands. Strive every month to bring at least one recruit to your pastor for instruction. Be a fisher of souls for Christ! Enjoy the divine thrill and rapture of bringing a soul into the net of Peter. To those who recruit converts not less than to those who instruct them will be bestowed the reward promised in Holy Writ: They that instruct many unto justice shall shine as the stars for all eternity (see Dan. 12:3).(“Times New Roman”)
Using Casual Contacts for Christ
” Hi there, Jane! Any fresh peach sundae today? And I mean fresh.”
“If it were half as fresh as you are, big boy, it would be plenty fresh.”
“Oh yes? Just for that I’ll keep on saying you’re a peach, not a lemon, but a . . .”
“I’ve heard that line before. Why not think up something new?”
“I will, when you give me that date I’ve been asking for. And I’m going to stop asking and . . .”
“And what? challenged Jane defiantly.”
“Start demanding,” replied Herb with a disarming smile of entreaty that was in sharp
contrast to his belligerent word, “a date for tonight. How about it, Jane? Can’t you give a fellow a break?”
“Well, if you called this evening, you’d find yourself taking me to a place . . . where you wouldn’t feel at home.”
“Where . . . for instance?”
“At church. We have devotions in honor of the Blessed Sacrament every Thursday. And that’s where I’m headed tonight.”
“I’m a vet, and if I could take Iwo Jima and Okinawa, I guess I could take your church service. Anyway, hurrying to get in before the slightly opened door might close, I’m taking you up on that date. So I’ll be ringing the doorbell. At what time?”
“At 7:15 on the nose. But remember this is no romantic affair. My heart’s mortgaged, as I’ve told you, but it won’t do you any harm to say some prayers and learn something about the Catholic religion.”
“I’m not backing out, even with all that cold water you’ve thrown on me. I’ll be there. It’s a date.”
Winning a Greater Prize
Such was the manner in which Jane McFarland detoured the romantic interest which Herb Brown had for her into another channel. Already engaged to a boy not yet out of the armed service, Jane turned Herb’s sentimental interest to a Being more worthy of it than even her lovely self.That evening was the turning point in Herb’s life. Without any religious affiliation, he felt in the atmosphere of reverence, in the fervor of the Eucharistic prayers, in the heartiness of the congregational singing a warmth and a devotion that promised to fill the spiritual void with-in him.
He wanted to learn more about a faith that could inspire such reverence and devotionand that kept Jane so lovely and wholesome. It was an easy step for Jane to take now, bringing him to her pastor for instruction. This she speedily did. Herb Brown never won Jane’s hand. But he won a greater prize. He won the intimate friendship and love of Jesus Christ and the pearl that passeth all pricemembership in the Church established by the divine Master to guide all men safely to their eternal home.
This incident, related to me by the priest who received Herb into the fold, is an excellent illustration of the manner in which Catholic men and women may utilize the most casual contacts for a divine purpose. The friend seated at your side in a bus, the barber (if his loquacity permits you to get a word in edgewise) cutting your hair, the beautician giving you a permanent wave, the man playing golf with you, and the man delivering your mail all these may be made the recipients of your solicitude for their spiritual welfare and eternal salvation.
All these are souls meant by divine Providence to be aided by your kindliness and zeal. Don’t ever say that you don’t know anyone who might be interested in a course of instruction in the religion of Christ, unless you live alone on a desert island.Catholic men and women of America! Opportunity is knocking at your door. It is knocking every day and many times a day. It is the golden opportunity to lead souls to Jesus Christ and thus to enrich their lives for time and for eternity.
Alchemy of Zeal
Even the most unpromising contacts can be utilized for the good of souls. Fr. James B. McGoldrick, S.J., who, in addition to teaching college students and writing a notable book on psychiatry, finds time to instruct about twenty-five converts each year, has given all of us good illustration of this truth. A woman called upon Fr. McGoldrick to register a protest.
“I’ve just learned,” she said, “that you have received my sister into the Catholic Church. I was furious when I heard of it, and I’m here to protest against your scheming tactics. We were all brought up to despise the Catholic Church. You couldn’t ever have got Betty into the Church of Rome unless you outsmarted her, outmaneuvered her with your wily tactics. It’s not fair, open, or aboveboard.”
“That’s most interesting,” replied Fr. McGoldrick in a calm, friendly manner, “if true,” he added with a smile. “You’re making a charge here against the intelligence of your sister as well as against the Catholic Church. You imply that Betty could not discern truth from error, could not weigh the logic of evidence and reason. You’re drawing conclusions without having looked at the premises. Is that fair or reasonable, Mrs. Hill?”
“Well, I know in advance that the Catholic religion abounds in priestcraft, superstition, intolerance, and error. I’m certain that an investigation wouldn’t alter that conclusion.”
“No? Well, the honest thing to do now is to play fair with yourself as well as Betty and investigate the teachings of the Catholic faith. You are warring against caricatures of her doctrines, caricatures you imbibed from the writings of her enemies. You are an intelligent woman, and all that the Catholic Church asks is that a person look at the evidence of her divine origin and teachings with an open mind.”
“I’m not afraid to look into them, nor am I afraid of the result.”
“Splendid. We shall start right now.”
When the three months of instruction ended, Mrs. Hill took the same path which her sister had taken and which millions of truth seekers had taken before her. The only defense which truth needs is exposition. Light, not heat, is needed to win souls. Like the wise psychiatrist that he is, Fr. McGoldrick knows that the best method of removing the prejudice and the antagonism of the adversaries of the faith is large and frequent doses of the unadulterated truth. The above incident, narrated to me by a former colleague of Fr. McGoldrick, shows how even points of friction may be converted into channels of light and grace.
Just as an oyster transforms an irritating grain of sand lodged in its shell into a shining pearl, so a Christian can convert the antagonism of the Church’s enemy into the precious opportunity of flooding his soul with God’s light and love.
What You Can Do
Fr. Joseph T. Eckert, S.V.D., for many years pastor of St. Elizabeth’s in Chicago, tells of a colored man in his parish who has brought at least forty converts into the Church through his personal efforts. His secret? Unflagging zeal and tireless effort. He has no greater knowledge of the faith than that of millions of Catholics. He has less education than most. But be surpasses them in zeal. Therein is the motive power for convert work. What is needed by most of our Catholic men and women is a realization of their duty to win souls for Christ and zeal and courage to fulfill that divinely appointed duty.
To offer help and guidance to individuals desirous of winning souls for Christ, there has been established an organization, Convert Makers of America, of which Fr. John E. Odou is director. Members bring religion into their conversation with at least one new person each month, invite persons to Mass, and write a weekly letter to the director. In return, they receive a weekly bulletin carrying timely tips, a pep-letter each month from the director, a personal priest adviser who answers their questions, and a set of convert instructions. There are no dues. Each reader is urged to send his application for membership to Fr. Odou to receive the personal guidance that will greatly enhance the effectiveness of his missionary labors.
Inquiry Class
In a parish for Negroes, where conversions averaged only about three a year, we have recently launched an inquiry class and have appealed to the lay men and women to bring prospects. Delighted to be taken into partnership in such a divine enterprise, they responded valiantly. More than twenty prospects were brought to the class. It is the opening wedge through which the light of Christ’s truth will be brought to constantly increasing numbers of colored people in our community.
In another inquiry class launched a year ago at St. Joseph’s, Mishawaka, Indiana, the parishioners invited some forty people having no religious affiliation. It was the first time the laity had ever been called upon to do such missionary work. At the end of the class, we were able to receive into the Church twenty-five men and women in a public ceremony at the Sunday Mass. Not only was it an inspiring sight for the laity, but it was also an eye-opener as to the possibilities in this field. One lady who had brought her husband, father, and a neighbor lady to the class had the great joy of seeing the three of them receive their First Holy Communion.
Probably the greatest convert service which lay men and women can render is to recruit prospects for instruction by their pastor. Through the quarterly establishment of inquiry classes in every parish and the recruiting of people for such classes by our laity, we can lift the present annual total from the hundred thousand neighborhood to the million mark.
Winning a World for Christ
This means the harnessing of the vast missionary power of Catholic men and women to the winning of the churchless people in America for Christ. It means work and plenty of it. But with enlightened zeal and unflagging effort, aided by God’s grace, it is a goal which can be achieved within our generation.
Thus fortified, we can win not only America but we can win the whole world for Christ. If there were only 25,000,000 Catholics in the world, and if every Catholic would win each year a single convert, we would win the whole human race for Christ in less than seven years!
Our appeal is for the establishment of inquiry classes in every parish and mission in America. We ask every Catholic man and woman to bring at least one prospect to such a class. The power of divine truth will make itself felt in the minds and in the hearts of men and within our life time will be realized the prayer uttered by Christ shortly before his death: “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 “(John 10:16).
Laymen too Can Win Converts
“You just referred to your pope as Holy Father,’ interrupted a heckler. But the Bible says, Call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your Father which is in heaven’ [Matt. 23:9. King James Version]. Why don’t you Catholics do what the Bible commands?”
“But don’t you use the term father’ in referring to your own earthly father? asked the speaker.”
The heckler was silent, stumped for the moment by the unexpected query. Then he said slowly:
“Why, come to think of it, I do. But I never thought I was disobeying the Bible in doing so.”
“You aren’t violating the Scriptures in doing so. That passage means simply that we must recognize God as our heavenly Father and give supreme honor and homage to him alone. When we Catholics refer to the pope as Holy Father,’ we give to him a title of honor and respect, just as you do in referring to your own father. But we never bestow upon him any of the exalted homage and honor which belong to God alone.”
The heckler was fair enough to recognize that his question was satisfactorily answered.
The Scene
The scene took place on a Sunday afternoon in Hyde Park, London. The speaker, mounted on a soap box, was a young man of twenty-five, and a representative of the Catholic Evidence Guild. A crowd of about a hundred people, men and women, had been listening intently to him for forty-five minutes with occasional interruptions by hecklers. At the conclusion of his talk, questions were fired at him, thick and fast.
It was a moving spectacle for me and my priest companion from America, where such sights rarely, if ever, are seen. All afternoon long and well into the evening, at intervals of about an hour, a young man or woman would mount the box to carry on the street preaching. This work has been going on for more than twenty years, and has afforded excellent opportunity to Catholic laymen to explain the teachings of the Catholic faith to their fellow Britishers.
As we listened to the young man speak with great earnestness and vigor, expressing himself simply and driving his points home with apt illustrations, we found a lump forming in our throats and our hearts burning within us.
If that scene could be reenacted in every city, town, and village in America, what a tremendous force would be exerted by our Catholic laity for the spreading among our fellow countrymen of an accurate knowledge of the teachings and practices of the Catholic faith. That scene in Hyde Park symbolizes the outstanding need in America today the need for the enlistment of Catholic s in the divinely-appointed task of spreading the religion of Jesus Christ among our churchless fellow countrymen.
Not all need to become street preachers, but all should seek to carry the knowledge of their holy faith to their non-Catholic acquaintances and friends. They should invite their friends, especially those having no religious affiliation, to attend Mass with them. They should avail themselves of every favorable opportunity to interest them in the Catholic religion. They should pass on to them Catholic papers, pamphlets and books which would enlighten them concerning Catholic belief and practice.
We have a splendid body of Catholic laity in America. They are earnest, loyal, and devoted to the Church. They attend Mass with edifying regularity and receive the sacraments frequently. But thus far we have not worked out a suitable means of harnessing their good will, devotion and tremendous latent power, for missionary efforts, for convert work and for the winning of our beloved America for Christ.
Greatest Loss
Our failure to harness that Niagara of potential energy constitutes the greatest loss of the Church in America. It is a loss that approaches the proportion of a catastrophe. Instead of sitting idly by, bemoaning the loss, it is high time that we do something about it. To stop that loss by harnessing the power and latent zeal of the Catholics of America to the task of winning souls is the purpose for which these lines are written.
Thus far, our laity have played, on the whole, a passive role. Their lethargy in winning converts for Christ is in sharp contrast with the feverish zeal of the communists in winning disciples for the gospel of Karl Marx. If in some way we could infuse into our laity the crusading zeal of the communist, we could win America for Christ within a generation or two.
The dominant note sounded by our recent pontiffs has been the plea for Catholic Action, the summons to our laity to participate intimately in the apostolate of the priesthood under the direction of the hierarchy. One of the noblest expressions of Catholic Action is in winning converts for Christ. Nothing is dearer to the heart of Christ than the winning of the people that have strayed from the fold. The repeated appeals of our pontiffs to our laity to throw themselves wholeheartedly into the divinely appointed task of winning souls echoes the plea and the summons of Christ himself.
The reader, however, may ask: “But how can we manage to win converts? Isn’t that beyond our capacity and training?”
Our Answer
Our answer is: All can do something toward the winning of converts. You can pray daily for that intention. You can bring prospects to Mass and supply them with Catholic literature. You can interest them in the Catholic religion and bring them to a priest for systematic instruction. There are others, howeverand many of themwho are capable of instructing prospects in the Catholic faith.
Certainly every graduate of a Catholic college should be able to do this. What a commentary it would be on sixteen years of instruction in the Catholic religionin the elementary school, high school, and collegeif after all that training a graduate would be unable to give a reason for the faith that is in him. All that is needed is a little courage, effort, and determination. As an ounce of fact is worth a ton of theory, we cite an example of what one Catholic college graduate accomplished in this matter and what thousands could likewise do if they would only try.
George M. Reichle was teaching public speaking at Notre Dame when suddenly be was called into the Army. He proceeded to utilize his new contacts for a divine purpose. Finding many officers and enlisted men with no definite religious faith going into battle, from which they might never emerge alive, George personally instructed forty-one of them and saw all of them received into the fold!
Amidst the raucous blasts of war, George rendered a far more precious service than he ever could have made in the class room. We wrote to George for some details concerning his missionary work in the Army and received an intensely interesting letter in reply. Because it offers so many helpful hints and suggestions for similar work by men and women in all walks of life, we reproduce it here in its entirety.
A Unique Letter
Reverend and Dear Father:
Your special delivery caught up with me just this evening as I returned from work. The work done with converts in the service was so simple that I never thought it worthy of publication of any kind. What little I give you in this briefly stated and rough account is not submitted with the thought of personal publicity, but only with the thought that those who might read will be inspired, even if only one, to undertake similar fascinating work, and surely the field is ripe for a rich harvest.
Suddenly finding myself an enlisted man in the Field Artillery, Camp Shelby, Mississippi, in late May 1942, after having been told by three ex-World War I doctors in South Bend that no examining board would take me for anything, I missed Mass the first Sunday in camp for the simple reason that no one knew where the chapel was. I resolved then and there that, war or no war, that sort of thing would not continue. So I located the chapel, found the time when Mass would be held, got the Commanding Officer to announce it to the entire outfit, and found that only four of us were present.
Meanwhile, I learned that about two-thirds of the men in our battery were Catholics from Pennsylvania, many of whom had not been to the sacraments in twenty or more years. That week was spent in contacting each Catholic to urge him to get to confession the next Saturday. All except about six agreed it was the sensible thing to do. So off I went to Fr. Murphy, our zealous Catholic chaplain, told him to be ready for the catch, and off we went in a group to confession that Saturday night. I am sure that for many of the men it was a mighty fine thing. Fr. Murphy announced at Mass the next morning his tremendous satisfaction.
But I was not too happy. Those six who refused to go were on my mind. I finally
succeeded in getting them in line.
Naturally, the word got around. One day a non-Catholic asked me to teach him to say the rosary, which I did. He then told me of his desire to take instructions, but insisted that I would have to give them to him. Back I went to Fr. Murphy, who gladly gave me permission to give the instructions, outlined the successive instructions, and told me he would have to question the man on the given instructions before baptism. So I started the instructions, soon finding I had four prospective converts.
Instructions were given mostly at night after a rough day, usually in what I call an ordinary bull session out under some tree in the dark or off someplace where no one knew what was taking place. Before leaving for officer candidate school in March 1943, I had given instructions via that method to nineteen men from various parts of Camp Shelby, who entered the Church.
Officer candidate school followed and I found myself, several assignments intervening, at Luke Field, Arizona, in December, 1943. There we had another wonderful Catholic chaplain, a certain Fr. John Brew. Learning of the work done at Camp Shelby, he announced one Sunday at Mass that weekly instruction class would be held, and had his Sergeant stop me after Mass.
He took me to Fr. Brew’s office, where I learned he wanted me to conduct the instructions. We argued that out in detail. He agreed to outline for me from week to week what he thought would be pertinent. Instructions were held right in the chapel every Monday night. Fr. Brew’s office was right in the chapel, so he kept out of view, with his door open so that he could come to the rescue, if and when necessary.
It was an ideal set-up. Many of the enlisted men and women and commissioned officers, I know, would never have attended had Fr. Brew been giving the instructions. Many lay people feel, as you know, a barrier between themselves and a priest. Not so between them and a layman. The instructions went on with as many as seventy frequently in attendance.
A similar set-up was had at Hobbs, New Mexico, where I was later stationed,, also at SAACC, San Antonio, Texas, and Ellington Field, Texas. By the time I was discharged in April 1946, forty-one enlisted men and officers to whom I had given instructions entered the Church. In every case I gave the instructions, but the priest, whether it was the Catholic chaplain in the service or some neighboring priest, always assured himself the men had been properly indoctrinated for baptism and formal entrance into the Church by having at least a one- or two-hour interview with the prospective convert before the actual conferring of the sacraments.
Before telling you of two interesting cases, permit me to say that in every case the one big problem facing these converts was the matter of confession. It was the roughest of all difficulties.
Mr. Smith was an enlisted man, about thirty years of age, holding a master’s degree, a widely-read man, well educated, and extremely proud of his talents. He came to me out of what he called mere curiosity, found fault with most everything said, challenged me to accompany him to his Baptist minister. This I did. The three of us had four most interesting discussions on confession, the Virgin Mary, why priests do not marry, and purgatory. These discussions, though I had never told the Catholic chaplain that I was holding them, were less heated and more rational than one can imagine. I still hear from the Baptist minister.
But Mr. Smith still had his difficulties. I got several enlisted men to begin with me a novena for a special intention. Three days following the completion thereof, Mr. Smith, who knew nothing of our novena, told me that he believed he had the faith. The possibility of his ever being attracted to Catholicism, he declared, had been the one danger which he feared most since he finished high school. He had come to scoff but remained to pray. From there on in, as you know, Mr. Smith was no problem. What happened in his case was typical of each of the forty-one mentioned. If forty-one men entered the Church, it was prayer, not my human efforts, which brought them in.
Perhaps a more interesting case was Captain Brown, a young Air Corps pilot instructor with the cadets for more than a year. He roomed next to me in the officers’ quarters. We discussed men, women, drink, religion, politics, the Army, the Air Corps, and most everything men speak about while in uniform. Captain Brown was a clean-cut man. My alarm clock used to grate upon him when it would ring at an early hour to assure my attendance at the first Mass on Sunday.
One Sunday, hearing the alarm, he got up, dressed, and said he wanted to go with me to see what foolishness inspired me. We went to Mass. Nothing much was said about it all. Then on Christmas Eve, he informed me that he would like to see what midnight Mass was. We attended. He seemed impressed. That following week two of his cadets crashed up and died. As usual, he and I held a post-mortem on the crash. There were many such crashes.
During that particular session he asked me where I thought those two cadets were at that particular time, now that they had died. I forget just what the answer was. He called for several Catholic books. Within three weeks he began instructions, insisting that such action on his part was only to qualify him for more intelligent discussion. I knew better. Within three months he was thoroughly prepared for baptism and asked what his nextstep was. I suggested we go to the Catholic chaplain to tell him and to let him make the necessary inquiries
No, we don’t, was his reply.
I finally sensed that he would find it quite trying for him to be baptized there at the Air Corps station chapel. He and I caught a bus to the nearest Catholic parish priest, who, in due time, administered the necessary sacraments. The first Sunday following his conversion, he and I attended Mass and received Holy Communion.
On the next day, Monday, he was due at the flight line for some early instruction. We shaved, sh owered, and ate breakfast together. He went to the flight line and I to the ground school where I was instructing the cadets. Within less than an hour the crash alarm sounded. Ambulances, medics, and chaplains took off for the scene of the accident. Captain Brown was pulled from the wreckage. His death was a fact. So, too, was his conversion, thank God, and none too soon.
I later found his rosary at the scene of the crash. And my alarm clock, which seemed so instrumental in getting him interested, is among my prized possessions. But there was far more behind it all, as you know, than this old alarm clock, and that something again was prayer and God’s good graces beginning to work.
This account has been hurriedly written, Fr. O’Brien, so excuse the off-hand expressions and the absence of all effort at literary elegance. I know full well you can revamp any or as much of this information as you want in an interesting fashion.
With continued good wishes for God’s choicest blessing on the great work you are doing, I remain,
Respectfully yours,
George M. Reichle
Will You Respond?
Have you ever read, dear friend, a more interesting letter? Does it not open your eyes as to what millions of Catholic men and women could do in winning souls for Christ if they would only try? If an Army officer, under the pressure of manifold war duties, could personally instruct forty-one men within a couple of years, how many could the lawyer, the physician, the teacher, the merchant, the office worker, the salesman, the beautician, the clerk, the laborer, the housewife, and the student win if the same effort were put forth? Would we not lift the annual number of converts from the hundred thousand to the million mark?
The progress of the Church in the mission fields is largely in proportion to the zeal and effectiveness of the work of the catechumensthe lay instructors. America, with its 80,000,000 unaffiliated with any religion, is the mission field par excellence in the world today. It is white for the harvest.
Priests are calling. Bishops are calling. The Pope is calling. Christ himself is calling every Catholic man, woman, and child in America to gather that harvest. And he that reapeth, promises the divine Master, “receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life everlasting “(John 4:36). When you stand before the judgment seat of God, dear friend, will you stand with empty hands or with the record of many souls won for Christ? No bridge unto life eternal is so firm or so safe as that living bridge composed of those who have been won for Christ by your zeal and holiness.
Practical Resolution
It is well, dear friend, to end the reading of these lines with a definite resolution, a clear commitment, a specific promise to try each day to win a convert. Otherwise, your good intention someday to do something about this matter is apt to evaporate into thin air. What is needed is action, not tomorrow but todayright now.
Accordingly it is suggested that, kneeling before a crucifixthe crucifix on your rosary will doyou promise, not under pain of sin but simply on your word of honor, the following:
Dear Jesus, my crucified Lord and Savior, I promise that I shall heed your invitation to seek and to win for you the precious souls for whom you died on Calvary’s cross. I shall try earnestly and zealously to win souls for you through a life of virtue and holiness, by setting an example of charity toward all men, and by bringing non-Catholics to holy Mass, by loaning them Catholic literature, by explaining to them points of doctrine, and by bringing them to a priest for further instruction. I shall do my utmost to win at least one convert for you, dear Jesus, every year of my life. So help me, God.
Then kiss the crucifix and seal your promise with the sign of the cross, saying: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”