Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

6 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.)