OCR Text |
Show . - Xtbe missionary? t A Record of the Progress X of Christian Unity. Edited by the Paulist Fathers. X r -f (Correspondence Intermountain Catholic.) New York, May 6. A recent remarkable remark-able conversion is reported from the South. Mrs. Ellison, daughter of General Gen-eral Jackson, a famous confederate general, and owner of , the Belle Mead farm, was recently received into the Church at Nashville, Tenn. ' Mt-s. Elli-son Elli-son comes from the most aristocratic Southern circles and has been looking towards the Church during some , months, hoping1 to find relief for her i religious perplexities' Finally, when i (he step was taken, a sweet feeling: of peace and security so filled her soul that she could not help manifesting J her joy to her relatives. The stern. old general, seeing how joyful she was, i remarked rather quizzically: "Daugh- ter," said he, "you must have had a i great load of sins to confess for you j seem so happy after getting rid of i them." n The mission in Philadelphia by Father Fath-er Xavier, Passionist at Our Mother of Sorrows, was remarkable for the treat interest taken in it by all classes, i Non-Catholics came from all parts of j the city. It only shows hor "ipe is- the lield in Philadelphia. Thirty converts . were left in the cla?s at the close. Sunday Sun-day night the questions were getting hot. Some of the bigots- were excited over the exodus to Home and gave a blast through the box; the old charges Catholic?: burning the Bible, ignorance ignor-ance of Irish and corruption of Catholic Catho-lic countries. France were brought up. A married lady, who had been attending at-tending the lectures, called on the missionary, mis-sionary, and .after a little explanation of one or two points, told him ehe de- I aired to became a Catholic. "But." she) said, "my husband is a poor Catholic, and gives me no encouragement." The next day she called she had her son, a young man IS years of age, not baptized, bap-tized, in line also with her, and both were received Monday night. Another An-other Protestant joined the class, and her husband aiso was a careless Catholic. Cath-olic. When it was discovered that two of his children had been baptized by a minister, the missionary said to him, "I will wager that you have not been to confession since before your marriage." mar-riage." "You have won the bet," ex- j claimed the Protestant wife. He went to confession and had the two children j baptized. Thus it is they never come aione; the influence of one convert attracts at-tracts others. The movement has begun. be-gun. May it continue in Philadelphia, The secretary of the Catholic Missionary Mis-sionary Union has found the remissions remis-sions of the annual subscriptions so numerous within the past month that li. est of the letters he receives are necessarily answered try a typewritten circular containing sincere, though somewhat impersonal, expressions of gratitude and encouragement. This time-saving expedient, long deferred, is a gauge of the growing enthusiasm in the work of convert-making, and, therefore, evidences one of the choicest fruit? of the non-Catholic mission moement. The healthy, big-hearted charity that lor.gs to extend the sovereignty sov-ereignty of truth, to hasten the universal univer-sal reign of peace, is- a force that makes strong, manly Catholics, proud of their religion and glad to acclaim its fragmentary parts strewn among the shipwrecked souls who have lost the faith. The lack of charity is often, due to an imperfect understanding of the- Church's impregnable position, and an unsuspected fear that perhaps it may be risking too much to surrender even your love to her bitter assailant. ' But when you realize that he is railing against mere assumptions of his own, and that his very arguments are aimed at establishing what the Church has always taught, how quickly pity and good will take the place of rancor and hurt pride. The importing cf this spirit into a Catholic parish is like a new Easier dawn, bringing joy and a glorious exultation that will inevitably express itself in a grateful, generous outpouring of sympathy toward the blind, groping wanderers who long so earnestly for the light. It is a ne.v revelation to learn that many a bigot's hatred of the Church is really but an upright, conscientiousness, displaying its opinion of a bad institution. Agree with him in his opinion of such an institution, in-stitution, but show him that he has misunderstood the Catholic Church, and lo! from an irritating vilifier he is changed to a. warm-hearted friend, I grateful to us and anxious to make amends for the past. The non-Catholic mission opened on Sunday, May 6, in the Church of St. Kaphael, New York City, recalled many pleasant associations. It was in this church that the Passionists inaugurated inaug-urated their efforts along these lines, I launching their apostolate with the very encouraging result' of thirty converts. con-verts. The present mission is conducted conduct-ed by Fathers Benedict and Richard, and promises to be a very inspiriting success. The Passionists are displaying display-ing an edifying earnestness in and an appreciation of the non-Catholic mission mis-sion movement, and week by week we hear more encouraging reports of what : they are accomplishing. At a "lecture course" recently given in one of the ; Philadelphia churches. Father Xavier Sutton won many a heart by manifesting manifest-ing his direct personal interest in the strangers who attended, and his tact- ful. patient charity in the informal talks and questionings showed how even the manner of a good priest can dissolve prejudice and open a way for truth. Of all inappropriate qualities, perfunctoriness is farthest from the methods and spirit of the non-Catholic mission. A set discourse is advisable, of course, but prudent, individual character char-acter study is essential, for souls are ordinarily won singly, one at a time, and a few words well placed, with special reference to temperament or specific needs, rarely fail to clear the road for God's greatest gift. |