Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-06-19
CHURCH NEWSPAPERS.
How Catholic Parishes Supplement- ths
Pulpit by the Press.


At the Sunday services in the Cathohc
churches the priest, before beginning MS
sermon. reads to the congregation num-
Der Of notices relating to the parish ana 10
the duties of the parishioners In large
city parishes the priests have found IL dln-
cult to make many of the people under
stand these notices intelligently rms IS
because of the shortness of the masses ana
the vastness of the congregations Inc
Paulist Fathers of the Church OF 81. PAU
the APOSTLE. in West Fifty-ninth street,
have devised plan 10 overcome this dlih-
Guilty. Their example Is being followed py
the priests of many other churches
A newspaper on a small scale Is what the
Paulists use to communicate with thelr
parishioners. It is called The Monthly
Calendar of the Church Of st. Paul the
APOSTLE The number Of pages which each
issue of The Calendar contains Is usually
sixteen. but often there are twenty-iour
The size of the page is So by 81 inches. A
heavy paper cover, adorned with an en-
craving Of the church. ineloses the pages,
ON which reading matter and advertise
ments alternate In the upper portion OF
four of the pages containing reading mat
ter is printed list of the feasts of each OF
the four weeks in the month. 1t occupies
about one-fourth Of the page. Beneath
II are brief notices about societies Of the
parish whose meetings occur during the
week. and paragraphs on various subjects
Of special interest to the parjshioners. Va
rious parish topics are discussed in the
reading matter printed on the other pages.
The Calendar has an editor He is the
Rev. John J. Hughes, one OF the younger
members of the Paulist community. Father
Hughes takes great interest in his little
publication.
"A Calendar like ours would be a great
benefit TO every parish" said he 10 a re-
porter. 'The Calendar is the Catholics re-
iigious memorandum book. As the sailor
consults his almanac for tides and the
phases OF the moon, so should the Catholic
refer 10 his Calendar. For every day there
Is saint or a devotion, for every week a
meeting of some society, his own or MS
children's, and for every season of the year
a special phase Of his religious life The
Calendar is a chart for his voyage. With
our large congregations and our short
masses the parochial relation is at a mini
mum. Every expedient to supplement
this should be resorted TO with alacrity
"If business man is not sure those who
trade with him understand his words, he
sends circular TO them. That is exactly
the purpose of The Calendar. II is print
ed message from the pastor Of souls to his
flock. In large city parishes such means
Of communication is necessary II we want
the people TO understand intelligently the
notices and regulations OF the parish.
When read from the pulpit it is safe to say
one-third OF the congregation do not hear
word OF them and another third forget
them. But when the notices are in cold
type and carried home they are apt TO be
-rad and commented upon, and thus rub
bed in, as il were. and not SO easily forgot
ten
AT the Paulist Fathers church the first
Sunday OF every month over 5000 copies OF
The Calendar for that month are distrib-
uted without charge among the parishion-
ers. This costs nice little sum, but the
money received for the advertisements pays
all the expenses.
Father Hughes says that the use OF The
| Calendar has had a marked effect, when
ever we wished 10 call attention TO any
new regulation or denounce any abuse,
he told the reporter, 1--WE spoke 20 the peo-
pie through The Calendar and good re
suits were produced. II the people do moi
recite the prayers properly after mass, We
tell them through its pages how IL should
be done, and repeat the notice until vi
have gained what we want. If they rush
out OF church before the priest leaves the
altar. little good humored sarcasm print
ed in the next Calendar will make them
feel ashamed to do the like again.
In this city the parishes that have Cal
endars similar TO that Of the Panlist Fa
theirs are those OF the Church Of tile Sa
cred Heart, the Church of ST. Vincent
Ferrer and St. Monica's church. Half 4
dozen churches in Brooklyn have Calen
dars and in other cities the example OF the
Paulist Fathers is also being followed. =
New York sun.