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THE BULLETIN OP THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OP GEORGIA
Why a Georgia Methodist Minister
Entered the Catholic Church
and the Society of
Jesus
By MR. F. X. FARMER, S. J.
This is the fifth of a series of articles on the con
version of Rev. Mr. F. X. Farmer, a native of Con
yers, Ga., a former Methodist minister in China,
and now a student for the priesthood at Hast
ings, England. The account was first sent to
Bishop Keiley by Mr. Farmer, and later appeared
in The Missionary, the editor of which has given
The Bulletin permission to reproduce it. •
Mr. Farmer was born at Conyers, Ga., the son
of a prosperous merchant. Later his family moved
to Covington, Ga. He was educated at Emory Uni
versity, graduating as a Bachelor of Philosophy
in 1898, while Dr. Candler, now Methodist Bishop
of Atlanta, was president.
After a course in theology at Vanderbilt Uni
versity, Mr. Farmer entered a missionary training
school in New York State, going to the Orient in
1901. There he spent the better part of the last
score of years.
After the death of his wife, Mr. Farmer plunged
into Church history. Although formerly so op
posed to the Catholic Church that he refused to
assist at an audience with Pope Pius, X, he now
began to doubt the position of his church in
many matters, and finally, in 1914, after a long
struggle with himself, he went to visit a Jesuit
priest, Father Bornand, in Shanghai. Father
Bornand solved the difficulties of Mr. Farmer,
thereby strengthening the minister’s conviction
that the Catholic Church is the Church of Christ.
• At the close of my stay in Shanghai I returned
to Huchow with my heart heavily burdened. To
add to the weight of my cross, I had been told by
mission authorities that I would be most likely
chosen to represent my church as a professor in
the Protestant University at Nanking. As it was
explained to me at the time, the different Protes
tant sects interested in the University wished to
send there for Biblical and theological study
young Chinese ministers from each respective mis
sion; moreover each mission would furnish a for
eign and Chinese instructor; in matters in which
there was no conflict of doctrinal belief and prac
tice the students could attend classes in common,
but those particular tenets which distinguished
each sect would have to be taught separately to
the students of each mission. It was indeed a
promotion for me and an enlarged sphere of use
fulness which formerly I would have been pleased
to accept had God so willed. But now with my
changing views the very thought of such a thing
did but add to my anguish and difficulties.
I also began to receive letters filled with alarm
and grief from my family in America, to whom I
had, of course, early written about the change I
was undergoing. They implored me by all that
was dear and sacred never to enter the Roman
Catholic Church. Truly, my cup was full. The re
nunciation of the church which I had loved to
gether with all the dear friends of my past life, my
beloved mission work, with the pain and grief
that I would inevitably cause my family, all form
ed a cross whose weight I felt would crush me.
And, indeed, it so bore upon my spirit that I
could no longer successfully conceal from my
nearest friends that something serious was troub
ling me.
Finally, the young physician of the mission, a
good and sympathetic friend, asked me what my
trouble was and if I needed any medical aid. I
thought best to open my mind frankly, and I did
so, making him promise to say nothing of it to
others before I gave him leave to do so. Natural
ly, he was astonished beyond measure and had
long and serious conversations with me; but to
no effect, for he was more skilled in medicine and
surgery than Church history.
The days wore on and I realized that the ap
proaching Annual Conference would force me to
a decision of some kind. I had ever been honest
with God, myself, and my fellowman, and now
that I was so far removed from Protestant princi
ples, I could not sincerely accept another year’s
appointment.
The Bishop who presided at the Conference
came to see me, and with him the Secretary of the
Board of Missions, whom I had known in Ameri
ca, a good man and sincere friend. It seemed fit
ting that I should speak to him first, so I made
an appointment with him as soon as it was con
venient. Feeling that I should have something
definite to present to him in order that he might
know just where I stood doctrinally, I prepared a
list of ten or more points of distinctly Catholic
doctrine which I could prove from the Bible
alone. The next day when I called upon him, I
prefaced my conversation by saying that I had a
matter of the greatest importance to speak of, and
that he must hear me with great patience until
I should have finished. He did so and was most
kind and charitable, but, of course, utterly dumb
founded when he knew of all I had been passing
through, and read to him the various points of
Catholic doctrine which I was obliged to admit.
I then said how was it impossible to continue in
the mission with such decided belief in Roman
doctrine. He replied, of course, that something
would have to be done, but that he needed time
for reflection. At the close of our interview he sug
gested that we pray; we knelt down and both he
and I prayed, the substance of our petitions was
that God would vouchsafe to guide us by giving
light and wisdom and manifesting His will to us.
Later, in another conversation he told me that
the best thing that suggested itself to him, was
that I should return to America and pass some
time in the bosom of my family, where I could
have quiet and rest; that I had been in China
this time all alone, working hard, reading and
studying too much, hence was tired and nervous
and if I could be at home for several months in
normal conditions, all those “Catholic ideas”
would vanish. He was sincere and really hoped
thus to remedy the whole difficulty. Moreover,
knowing that if the knowledge of it should come
to my brethren and others, it would compromise
and hurt my influence as a Protestant minister;
he said that he hoped to save me if it were pos
sible from such an erroneous step, and, therefore,
that I should speak to no one else about it for the
time being, and it would be easy to arrange for
me a leave of absence, as the doctor, knowing the
condition of affairs, could easily certify that my
health warranted a period of change and rest.
O, how can I ever describe the anguish of my
heart those days! I saw all slipping away from
me, and I knew it was the beginning of the end.
I realised fully the price I should have to pay to
become a Catholic. I was like a vessel, which,
having left one port, tossed by wind and wave,
has not yet reached the haven of safety. As the
Annual Conference of my Church was held at
Shanghai, I thus had an opportunity of seeing
Father Bornand, and I remember saying to him
that I feared I should lose my mind so great was
(Continued to page 13.)