Evening star., 1909-06-06
The Missionary Conference.


The fourth missionary conference will
convene Wednesday evening, June .. at
McMahon Hall, the Catholic University,
closing Friday night. There will be two
sessions daily, in the morning from
TO l. and in the afternoon from 3 to 6.
All the Catholic religious orders in the
United States will be represented. Rev.
Father Himmel, S J.. will represent the
western province of Jesuits. Rev. A. T.
Doyle. rector of the Apostolic Mission
House at Brookland will take a prom
inent part in the sessions.
The plan and scope of the congress
will include papers specially prepared
on the following topics:
The Diocesan Bands and Their Spe-
cial Work" The Chapel Car as Mis-.
sonary," The Italians in America.
Literature at Church Doors. Church
Extension and Mission Work. The OPP
portunties in Canada, ITO Develop the
Missionary Spirit in Seminaries,' Con
vert Misunderstanding and Their
Perseverance," Missions Among the In
dians.' The Leakage, Its Cause and
Remedy. Some Avenues of Missionary
Activity" Lecture Platform Chautau.
auas," "Evangelizing the Negro" 'Voca-
tions to the Life of the Missions" Mis-
sicns Among Children. Pushing Pap
ish Machinery to its Highest Efficiency,
Every Diocese to Have Its Own Mission
Band Gospel Problems in the South
The Catholic Young Men at the Secu-
lar Universities" "A Central Missionary
College," The Field Afar and Its De-
mands.'
According to the rule of order of the
congress after paper has been pre-
sented each of the congresststs will have
an opportunity to discuss the subject
matter in a five-minute speech. 1t is
hoped by this method soto thresh out
the subject matter that many practical
suggestions will be arrived at.
Letters have been pouring in from
every quarter, from diocesan mssion-
aries well from religious. advis-
ing the committee OF arrangements that
they will be present at the congress.
Father Charles Martin will come from
Cleveland. as well as others who have
been working in the Cleveland apostle
late. Father Kelly of the Josephites.
who has been evangelizing with wonder
ful success in southern Mississippi. Faith
er Bresnahan from Florida, the Norben
tines from Wisconsin will be present.
Father kirkfeet of this band has been
working in the diocese of Natchitoches.
where, in the last three months, he has
given ten missions, baptiZing number
of converts. admitted eightythree adults
to their first communion and heard two
Thousand and more confessions. Father
Likely q. the LaZariStS writes that 1t
will be a pleasure for Father IcGill to
send some of the confreres to represent
the congregation Of the mission at the
Washington congress.
Father Martin Callaghan. the Sulp-
clan, is coming from Montreal to rep
resent Father Lecog and his Sulpician
brethren. The Benedictines Will be rep
resented from their many monasteries,
north, south. east and west Father
Meyer of the western province of the
Jesuits writes that he will send some one
10 represent the Jesuits in the west. These
are but few of the numerous accept
ances received, and they Indicate a uni
versal interest in the work Of the con-
gress.
The statsticians at the Apostolic Mis-
sion House have been gathering during
the past few weeks in preparation for
the congress some accurate figures of
converts received into the church in this
country. They find that during the year
1?oS there were -, 100 converts of record
These figures were received from the
report Il Chancery offices. and while
soVe few returns are missing. still. with
these few exceptions. this figure. 2S. 100,
represents the aggregate OF adult bap-
tisms In all the dioceses OF this coun-
try.
In 1906. in preparation for tho congress
OF that year, there were found 10 be
25o'5 converts TWO years later the
number had grown 10 =. 109 or 3,6il
more. In 1906 il was difficult to get at
exact figures, for in many chancery
Offices there was no note taken of CON
verts al all. In some dioceses they were
a neShglbln quantity. Since that con
gress of 1906 the idea has grown SO
that with very little difficulty accurate
results have been secured.
In compiling the returns the Impress on
mas grown that quite percentage of con
verts are never recorded. None of the
converts who have been yalidly shaptized
a ProfeStants and therefore received into
the Catholic Church on simple profession
OF faith are included in this list and also
a percentage of adults baptized on recep-
tion into the church are not recorded for
some reason or another. Probably 10 per
cent would cover these Categories. Add
Ing this TO the actual figures of record il
would run the aggregate to 81 $50 How
ever. 10 be conservative il has been ac-
oepted aS a stereotyped figure for convert
making in the United States in one year
Is, ,1ts,.
The figures range from / i91 in New
YORK TO a vanishing quantity in some
places. Ii Is noteworthy that in the dio-
csses whore apostolate bands are estab-
liShed that the numbers rise above the
averages. for example. New York,
1,4al converts: Cleveland, T31: Mobile iSS
In New England convert-making is very
mucu below the mark. There were only
1,H2 converts In population OF over
2tpFD, or one in 100. while the aver
age for the country at large is about oue
in five hundred The southern states have
an enviable record OF about 2OoO converts
in Catholic population of 100000. in
these states an active and aggressive mis-
sionary work has gone on for the last
few decades