Newspaper Page Text
OCTOBER 29, 1955. .
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FIVE
YOU CAN WIN CONVERTS
You Too Can Win Souls
By REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN, Ph. D.
.(University of Noire
A great concourse of laymen,
with a delegation from every
parish in the archdiocese^ filled
the - spacious _ Cathedral of St.
Louis at New Orleans to the
overflowing. They had come in re
sponse to the ap
peal of Arch
bishop Ritter to
launch an all-out
diocesan -wide
Catholic Census
and Information
Program, com
monly known as
the Crusade for
Souls.
Looking down upon them from
the lofty pulpit, I found the spec
tacle as moving as it was inspir
ing. Despite blustery weather,
they had turned out in great
numbers, and many of them had
tome considerable distances. They
had come to learn how they could
participate - most effectively in
the crusade and to pray for its
Success.
As the services were ending, I
Walked to the front door to meet
as many of the crusaders as pos
sible and to say a word of en
couragement to each.
“Father,” said Joe Miller of
Cathedral parish, “this is a new
experience for us. We’ve helped
our beloved Archbishop in his
charity campaigns, but calling at
the homes of churchless neigh
bors and inviting them to Inquiry
Classes—well, that’s something
else.”
“But, Joe,” I -said. “Isn’t it high
time that you and the rest of our
laity were helping to win your
churchless friends for Christ? To
this you are summoned not only
by your great Archbishop but
Blso by Christ Himself.”
“Yes, that’s true,” agreed Joe.
“But we need to be trained in
this technique of lay convert
work that is so new to most of us.
We need literature, a book that
would give us the know-how for
interesting outsiders in the Cath
olic faith.”
Joe Miller put his finger on.
What 95 per cent of our laity need
if they are to participate effec
tively in the convert apostolate.
To meet that need scores of inci
dents, showing how lay persons
have kindled the interest of non-
Catholics in their faith, have been
assembled in a book, “You Too
Can Win Souls” (Macmillan,
$3.50).
After analyzing more than 300
’cases in which lay persons were
instrumental in leading converts
into the fold, it was found that
there are only about eight meth
ods of kindling the spark of in
terest and these eight are quite
simple. Each method is outlined
in the book, then illustrated with
four or five examples.
“What,” i asked Bill Gibson at
Notre Dame, “do you think is the
most common method of kindling
Jhat interest?”
“You’ve got me, Father,” re
plied Bill. “I’ve never given
much thought to that.”
The most common method is
Simply to answer questions about
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the Catholic faith. It is surprising
to discover how many people be
gan their journey to the Church
by getting an intelligent answer
to some question they asked about
our faith. Hence, do your best to
answer every such question and,
if you don’t know the answer,
tell the inquirer you will get the
answer for him.
Another method is to bring out
siders to Mass and the other de
votions. The reverence of the
faithful, the beautiful liturgy, the
altar, statues and other sacra-
mentals never fail to make a deep
impression upon the visitor. Brief
him beforehand on the meaning
of the Mass and loan him your
prayerbook. This will naturally
cause him to ask various ques
tions and soon he will be ready
for a course of instruction.
Go out of your way to do some
act of kindness for a person. Once
you win his heart, it will not be
long before you win his mind for
Christ.
The example of an upright holy
life is likewise a powerful means
of kindling interest in the Cath
olic faith. A good Catholic is a
walking testimonial for the truth
and holiness of the faith-better
than any book of apologetics.
The lending of pamphlets,
books, Catholic magazines and
newspapers to churchless friends
and neighbors is also an effective
method of sharing the precious
treasure of your holy Catholic
faith.
In short, the stories told by lay
convert makers in “You Too Can
Win Souls” will show every Cath
olic how he can win at least one
convert for Christ each year. Get
this book from your local Cath
olic book store or from the pub
lishers and you will be equipped
with the experience and skill of
experts to win souls and reclaim
fallen-aways for Christ.
Readers who know of any per
son who has helped to win two
or more converts are kindly re
quested to send the name and ad
dress of such a person to Father
John A. O’Brien, Notre Dame, Ind.
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Formation Of
The Catholic Mind
(Continued from Page Three)
poan “this is the day and age of
reparation.”
Why is such a claim made? Why
such a conclusion?
There are many reasons, of
course. Time permits me to give
only one tonight, but one I am
certain that is practical for all of
us. That reason is this: THE PE
CULIAR FORM THAT THE OP
POSITION OF THE WORLD IS
TAKING TODAY AGAINST THE
CHURCH. In all ages of the
Church, we have had misinforma
tion and defective reasoning re
garding doctrine, but misinforma
tion can be dispelled by accurate
information and defective reason
ing cqrrected in the absence of
emotional and moral prejudice.
But neither of these things dis
turbs the Church most today. The
thing that disturbs the Church
most today is the “Bad Will”
which is so much in evidence
about us. Information cannot melt
hatred, nor bad will be dispelled
by argument, however calm or
valid.
Therefore, I submit tonight
that in the matter of Apostolicity
you Catholic laymen can counter
act the bad will of our time by
going to the source of good will
—Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist.
To place your confident trust and
reliance, beyond your active
apostolate, in such programs as
one that is spreading among
Catholic men throughout the
country—that of Nocturnal Ado
ration. Here is nightly vigil—not
only is the sacrifice of rest offered
up—but prayer and grace are also
given a chance to work in dis
pelling bad will.
Could it be that the Catholic
Mind has gotten somewhat un
balanced in this matter of Apos
tolicity—what with our works, our
programs, our responsibilities?
Isn’t it possible that there is dan
ger that we haven’t given suf
ficient and rightful place to
prayer in our Apostolate of Good
Will? We have Christ’s Revela
tion, we belong to Christ’s Church,
we have Christ’s command to
spread the Gospel, but do we have
Christ’s philosophy of action?
Our Blessed Lord Himself
teaches us the antidfete to use in
regard to bad will. He tells us in
St. Matthew, 17-20, “But there is
no way of casting out such spirits
as this except by prayer and fast
ing.” (Cf. also St. Mark, 9, 28).
Over and beyond organized ac
tivity in the Apostolate, the Holy
Father reminds us consolingly
that even the ordinary perform
ance'of the duties of one’s state
by so many millions of conscien
tious and exemplary faithful has a
powerful and irreplaceable value.
He tells every Catholic layman
that there must be also those
“Lay Apostles—men and women
who see all the good to be done
and the possibilities and means
of doing it: and they do it with
only one desire—the winning of
souls to truth and grace.” (The
Lay Apostolate, October 14, 1951).
In this matter let us take a leaf
from modern advertisement. You
know, the best sales talk for any
product is a successful user. That
is why endorsements on TV are
so numerous. So be a successful
user of Catholicism. Draw others
to a closer look. Scripture says of
the ,enemies of Christ: “They
watched Him.” I am convinced
that the very same thing is hap
pening in this world today. That
many have closed their ears to
Christ—but they haven’t closed
their eyes. They are watching you.
Demonstrate to all how your Faith
can keep you serene and sane in
a society that is out of joint.
Bishop Sheen once said a strik
ing thing in one of his sermons.
It bears repeating. He said this:
“That each one of us—not mat-
Jottings ...
(By BARBARA C. JENCKS)
THE . ROSARY
They were chanting the rosary
as I walked up the steps of my
parish church one evening re
cently. I dropped into a back pew
and reached in my pocket for the
rosary. It wasn’t there. Even a
thorough search failed to reveal
it. So I recited the prayers, using
my fingers to count the decades.
Although I assured myself it was
perfectly all right to measure the
prayers off in this fashion, I felt
that something was definitely
missing.
It would Jre hard to explain this
feeling away to a non-Catholic.
I tried to figure it out myself as
I knelt there without the beads.
The personal attachment to a
rosary would certainly bring the
old cry from non-Catholics that
I was attached to sentimental de
votions and worship tangibles.
I figured it out this way. The
consolation received in fingering
the rosary and in having some
tangible contact as the “aves”
and “paters” are sounded goes
much deeper than one imagines.
Atheists and unbelievers look at
the world and see it as a mass of
pebbles. The believer on the oth
er hand sees it composed of pre
cious gems. The cold heart of an
unbeliever does not seek any
tangible object for a symbol. He
probably does not even own a
picture of his mother. He would
write us all off as soft sentimen
talists. His mind would not move
beyond the tangible—from a pic
ture to a loved one or ffom the
rosary to the Mother of God.
We read of prisoners, soldiers,
missionaries going to all ends to
obtain rosaries. They, too, could
recite the prayers on their fin
gers. We have read where all sorts
of material has been used to form
crude rosaries. Prisoners are re
ported to have saved precious
food just so they could make a
rosary.
Careworn hands gently fondl
ing a rosary have become a sym
bol of faith. Twisted, broken,
worn rosaries—woeden, crystal,,
silver or glass are the identifica
tion of a Catholic. What devotion
is more comforting? The rosary
is called everyman’s breviary. We
can say the rosary equally well
on a crowded bus or train as we
can in the quiet of a great ca
thedral or tiny chapel.
Strange that these tiny beads;
that we so treasure are given to
us as tiny babies to quiet us in
our cribs and they, are the con
stant companion in old age. They
are our first tangible treasure and
our last. They are the beginning
and the end as the mysteries they
represent. They know our inner
most secrets, desires and disap
pointments. They are marked with
the scars of a lifetime.
There is something terribly
comforting about reaching into
the coat pocket and finding the
rosary there.
ter what our vocation in life has
been.—will be asked by God on
Judgment Day—where are your
children?
That, my dear men, is the goal
of the formation and fruition of
the Catholic Mind ... to lead all
through Mary to the feet of
Christ. And-to do that, as we have
tried to point out in this talk,
that Catholic Mind must be united
to Christ in charity; dedicated to
Him in holiness; thoughtful of
Him in Catholicity; and zealous
for Him in Apostolicity. The work
of the Apostolate, we must al
ways remember, is pre-eminently
a divine and supernatural work
of God’s grace. If it be done com
pletely subjected to the Kingship
of Christ, under the sweet domain
of Mary, Queen of the Universe,
then we can never become dis
couraged or fail, for as St. Paul
tells us, “It was. for me to plant
the seed, for Apollo to water it,
but it was God who gave the in
crease.” (1 Cor., 3, 6-7).
Canon Ferrer once said:
1 am only one, but I am one.
I cannot do everything, but I
can do something.
What I can do I ought to do.
What I ought to do, by the grace
of God I will do.
If that be so, our most splen
did attempt to form a truly Cath
olic Mind and live a devout and
apostolic life will give a goodly
answer some day to Bishop
Sheen’s question, in stating joy
ously :
“Lord Jesus, here are my chil
dren. Here is 'this one and that
one and the other one, whom I
loved enough to bring closer to
You.”
Thank you, and God bless youl
SUPPORT
CATHOLIC YOUTH WEEK
OCT. 30-NOV. 5
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