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Show f F ATHER YOU NAN'S R EPORT 1 ! ' OF HIS RECEPTION IN ZION I t 4 4 4 -f 4 V 4- Local readers of the Intel-mountain Catholic will remember wUh pleasure the: visit of Father Elias H. Younan, C. S. P., a I'aulist Father, who visited this city a hort time ago. Father Younan is a Hindoo converted to the true church when very young and with the native talent so common to men of his race, coupled with a desire to excel, became one of the most powerful speakers among the reverend clergy. He came to this city at the request of Bishop Scanlan. As the Catholic church or, rather, St. Mary's Cathedral was known to be by far too small for the hundreds that were mo"t eager to attend a non-Catholic non-Catholic mission, a thin.fr unheard of in the State of TTtah. the Mormon leaders, with great generosity and courtesy, offered of-fered the free use of their grand Assembly As-sembly Hall, even the Tabernacle. "They were glad to give it to us for so noble a purpose," they said, and added ad-ded "they would mot have given it to any other denomination." Some of their bishops announced the non-Catholic mission through their respective pie to attend. They openly proclaimed "Wherever there is truth we seek it, and we love it; and we know that the Catholic Church will speak the truth." It was sjxtken in ell simplicity and sincerity, and that without any offense. , It was thought best to use the Assem bly Hall, which seats two thousand. , There was an average attendance of eighteen hundred, of whom fifteen hun-dix-d, were of the separated brethren, including apostles, bishops-, and elders. They came, notwithstanding many other attractions, the Ringling Broth- j ers. Brigham Young's birth anniversary celebrations, commencements of colleges col-leges and schools. The mission was closed in the mighty Tabernacle, on Sunday, June 4, and live thousand were present. For the first time in the history of the State a Catholic priest preached both in the Assembly Hall a.nd in the Tabernacle, and. what was more, in full missionary habit and wearing his mission cross. The lectures were the ordinary ones: Faith; the. divinity of Christ; the necessity ne-cessity of a divine, infallible, authoritative, authorita-tive, living teacher; the Catholic Church that Only Teacher proved by her unity and holiness, and pointing triumphantly to her nineteen centuries; the Sacrament of Penance, and the Ileal Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of Lrnv. The closing sermon ser-mon was on the parable of the "Sower and the Seed," with a fervent appeal to His other sheep to enter the one Fold of Christ and be under the one Shepherd Shep-herd of our souls. They were urged to join the inquiry class. The grand organ played and a voluntary choir, composed of Catholics and non-Catholic., added grandeur and: solemnity to the mission. Many and Important questions were asked, and the answers given were devoured, by listening hundreds, hun-dreds, and even thousands. The inquiry class was held in the little church, which seats four hundred, hun-dred, from the 5th of June to the 16th, both days inclusive, two weeks only; two months would have been too little. Three hundred, to- three hundred and fifty non-Catholics attended night after night to hear more questions answered and further doctrirvps of the Catholic Church explained. Good, great good, has been done, and of course greater good would have resulted had the inquiry in-quiry class been canned on for months. Let the reader judge for himself. We had forty-four eon verts, among whom were a Mormon elder, a zealous promoter, pro-moter, and twelve other Mormons. Ten more, sure of being received, were under un-der instruction when Fa.ther Younan left: forty-two are still in the inquiry class, and some 200 odd "on the fence." On the 18th of June the Right Rev. Jfishop confirmed thirty-four adults, nearly all converts, and fifty-one children. chil-dren. The converts were carefully prepared to receive also their First Holy Communion. Had there been no inquiry class not six would have been baptized. Had the inquiry class lasted one week only, some ten more would have been added' to the list. It was the second week of the inquiry class that witnessed twenty-eight new converts, making the total forty-four. But could . ' this great and all-imiportant work have I been carried out two or three weeRts longer, forty-four would have twice rfniill1 itsiflf- fnr fll Vxa-t or and mnro I intellectual classes were beginning to (Mime in, tortured by doubts and difficulties, diffi-culties, and as some three hundred faithfully attended for three weeks all the lectures and explanations of the Catholic Church, and felt drawn to her teachings. A rich harvest of souls is only gained by the steady labor of w eeks. The longer the stay, the richer j the harvest. The mission to non-Catholics has already al-ready done an immense deal of good t the general public. It has raised the Catholics higher in the estimation of their separate brethren, brought back many "fallen-aways," and increased the zeal, energy, and devotedness of the Catholics. The now cathedral worthy wor-thy of Salt Lake City is promised tlvjm within two years, and the foundations are already being laid. Our people in "Utah are generous. Large donations have come in; live Catholics alone have given each $10,000. with assurances of more. We may note here the princely gift of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Kearns of $r,0.000 to build St, Ann's Orphan Asylum, in course of construction. The Mormons have been deeply impressed. im-pressed. They are on the whole a. good people, simple, industrious, and docile, influenced by their leaders, greatly impressed im-pressed with the idea of authority, and full of deep respect and reverence for the word of God. They are nfraid of persecution from their own should they embrace the faith, and they are 8 bound by ties, religious, political, and social, hard to break. Convince them of their errors, and you have secured them. Got their leaders and you get them on masse. The Mormon papers, without exception, excep-tion, wrote up Father Younan's work in terms of highest praise, and admired the fairness and justness of his dealings deal-ings with them. He but followed in the policy of the bishop himself, who is both respected and loved by the people of 1'tah. Catholics certainly owe the Mormons a debt of gratitude for their kindly bearing towards the church, and should pray God that in his infinite mercy he may. one day, show them the light of the true Faith of Jesus Christ. The consciences of many have been disturbed and thousand: set a-think-ing. The most consoling feature of this mission has been the getting tosether for the first time, zealous laymen to cany out th? wand work of conversion, conver-sion, so dear to our very heart of hearts. They are named "Mission , Helpers." and were taken from the best i - promoters of the Sacred Heart Lea cue and from recent converts, who. like ' Saul, are determined to do the work of St. Paul, the Apostle of the' Gentiles. They numlK'r twenty-five to begin with, and intend to look after the newly new-ly gained converts and to follow up those whom they brought into thr inquiry in-quiry class.' and whom they are bent on gaining to Christ and him crucified. The following incidents will probably interest our readers: A zealot among the Mormons, one who had crossed the waters and converted over forty-five to Mormonism, bringing home some families fami-lies to Salt Lake City, acknowledged his errors, and though he tinned in ignorance, is now determined to undo the past and work the harder for the true church of God. He has already brought back one family, and is busy , gaining his four sisters. A ladv whose husband was of the family of Rrigham ; Young was received into the church j with her five children; the sixth and I eldest, having been carefully instruct- j ed, was later on baptized in Park City. Many futile efforts were made by Episcopalians Epis-copalians and Mormons to gain this family, all of whom have been left well provided for. An elder of the Mormon church embraced the Faith at he risk of being separated from hiis wife and child. He Ss a fine specimen of manhood and is willing will-ing to sacrifice his dearest ones for Christ. An Kpiscopalian called at the bishop's residence and greeted the missionary with the words: "Baptize me, father. I can struggle no longrer. I have been, fighting for years. I know all the teachings of the Catholic church, and accept them. Among the ritualists I even went to confession and i received Holy Communion." He had joined our choir six months before, and after baptism' could not understand under-stand why he had stayed away so long from the true church. The happiness and joy of the blessed filled his soul, and fitted him to brave the wrath of a bigoted wife, whom, with his two children, he hopes to win by the noble heroism of a true Catholic. An old man was seen by his Catholic wife praying one night of the mission11 on bended knees, something he had never done in his life. He and his daughter-in-law, both Mormons, were baptized together. A Mormon bishop and his wife were wrapt up in the mission, and did not miss a single lecture. They assented as-sented to the true teachings of the Catholic church, but dared not yet put themselves under instruction. Mav God grant them the strength to act "up to their convictions! In a private interview inter-view the question of Anglican ordination ordina-tion and succession was fully explained to a hign churchman, who, convinced about his only difficulty, is on the point of joining the church with his wife and child. One of the leaders of society and a prominent banker charged charg-ed Bishop Scanlan with "having desings on him in bringing Father Younan to Salt Lake City," and to one of his own family he said: "I must get out of that man's way; he'll do something to me." We ask our readers to pray for him. The 11th of June was a happy day for Father Younan, who baptized eleven that morning: five women, four men and two children, all together. The sight was truly touching, and brought tears of joy to the eyes of many who were present and filled all hearts- with gratitude. At JkureKa, man, a catholic mission was given from the ISth to the 23rd of June the first ever given there. There were 210 confessions and two converts were gained. Eureka is a mining camp, and the mission proved an inestimable boon to the Catholics. At Park City, Utah, another Catholic mission was given, in a mining camp. The confessions numbered 416. and seven converts were baptized, all adults, two of whom came from Salt Lake City. The non-Catholics showed the greatest interest.' From 100 to 150 attended the mission services every night, and from all sides was heard the cry: "Give us also a non-Catholic mission." Had the missionary a month at his disposal, he would have sacrificed sacri-ficed much to meet the demands made on his time and devotedness, and added another score at least to the fold of Christ. Glory be to God and his divine Son Jesus Christ for the rich harvest of fifty-three souls gained within five weeks, with a certain hope of more!" says the writer of the above narration. |
