The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-10-21
Teaching Catholic Truth by Mail.

A little advertisement in an English
Catholic weekly that has excited our
curiosity for some time states that any
one wishing information regarding
Catholic doctrine by correspondence
can be put in communication with a
member of the Correspondence Guild
for Enquiring Professionals by applying
10 the secretary, whose address is Civ
en-. The idea of such an organization
struck us as an excellent thing, thor
Oughly up-to-date method of spreading
Catholic truth, says the Catholic News
Of New York. In this country the
magazines are filled with advertise
ments Of all sorts Of correspondence
schools that undertake to teach every
thing and anything by mail. Why not
then a correspondence school to explain
Catholic doctrine? The method is sure
~ in harmony with our we'll developed
non-Catholic missionary movement.
That the Correspondence Guild for
ENDURING Protestants is doing a vast
amount of good in England is demon
strateG by the Guilds second annual
report, issued few weeks go. "Estab-
Iished only two years ago we read in
the report, lit (the Guild has already
more than justified its existence by
reason of the not inconsiderable num-
Der OF converts that have been added
TO the Church through its widespread
activities. The knowledge of its eX-
istence. and the recognition of its use
fitness, are by no means confined to
the British Isles. 1t mas made its way
into Belgium and France; it is not al
together a stranger in Denmark; even
so far afield as India and the West At
rican coast il has done effective work;
while at the moment Of issuing this re-
port there is. every prospect of estab-
fishing a flourishing branch in the
United States of North America. Nor
does the Guild benefit English-speak-
ing people alone; it has among its
members those who can correspond in
French, German, Spanish and Italian,
and on more than one occasion scope
has been found for the exercise Of this
linguistic advantage. Intended, pri-
marily. as its designation implies. for
the instruction of those who are Prot
estants in the usual acceptation of the
term. the Correspondence Guild is far
from limiting its operations to any one
class of non-Catholics; it exists in the
interests of all. And even to Catholics
ii has been of considerable use, in
furnishing them with information they
have been at a loss to discover for
themselves in recommending suitable
books for their perusal and in assist
ing them in various other ways in
their own efforts to bring home the
truths of Catholicism to their non
Catholic friends The Guild is COM
posed without exception, of lay men,
bers of the church, and to this essen
TALLY lay the character of its organi-
cation is undoubtedly to be attributed
the success which has attended its eff
forts to cooperate in the conversion
of those outside the unity of faith.
The special sermons delivered by elo-
quent missionary preachers, the in
creasingly wide diffusion of cheap
Catholic literature, and the churchis
stately ritual and impressive liturgy,
directly lead in many cases to CONVEX
sion: but there are not few who. while
more or less powerfully moved by in
nuences such as these are held back
from thoroughly investigating the
church's claim to be the oracle of God
by deep-rooted, and therefore not
easily eradicable, prejudice against
coming into personal contact with a
Catholic priest. yet who have no such
prejudice against putting themselves
in communication with a Catholic lay
man. II is to this class. therefore,
that the Correspondence Guild nre-emi-
nently appeals and it is especially for
the benefit Of such that it has been es-
tablished. 1t may be that they see the
Guilds advertisement which arrears
in, the Catholic Times every week, or
a framed copy of the Guilds notice,
which is displayed at the entrance to,
a number of churches throughout the,
land; or they may learn of the Guilds
existence in some other way. What
ever be the medium through which it
a scoInes known to them, they have in