The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-02-19
INTERESTING ADDRESS TO CONVERTS BY
A PROFESSOR OF CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY

ot Ihrist---lectul
A Great Paulist
The Washington correspondent Of the
Standard ana Times gives the follow
ing report OF an address by Prof. Rob-
ainson. OF the Catholic University. at
q meeting Of the Converts' League,
which was organised about two months
ago in the nations capital: u,
It 10 with no ordinary pleasure that
I join with you this evening in this
meeting OF the Converts League" be-
cause at the same time celebrate the
forty-seventh anniversary of my own
reception into the Catholic church, in
the year 1853. by the great Paulist mis-
sionary. Rev. Father Deshon. In those
days such step was not only a mo-
mentous one to him who took it, but
m amazing one to all his associates
and friends; and scarcely any Of them
could believe that 1t was the result OF
'a deliberate judgment, based on long,
continued study, and embraced only
when no alternative was possible. /.
iaas FeW indeed had been the American
converts before that day. Rarely
ever did q layman cross the Rubicon,
and among the convert clergy nearly al,
were Episcopslian ministers whom the
Oxford movement had fioated from
their mootings. and driven. fortunately
ssos VI VI MAJ N :harbor ss ot ~
Eat1olic sctlufc Yet of even these
1.-THE number was comparatively small.
| In 1860 careful search was made In
the catalogues OF the Episcopal church
/ in this country for all the cases o.
such conversion, and It was found that
from the settlement, Of jamestown in
! 1908 to sths year 1915 no such case oc-
CURED; and that up to the year 1850,
!, out Of more than Ave thousand clergy,
only thirty eight conversions to the
Catholic church had taken place. +.
How vastly different Is the spectacle
that greets our eyes today! An indi-
vidual conversion no longer disrupts
| friendship, divides brethren or ostra-
cizes families. on the contrary, a new
i convert at once becomes . center from
which converting influences how. And
thus during these recent years we count
conversions not by scores or hundreds
Ibut by thousands, while the Episcopal
clergy still furnish noble vanguard
for the vast army which is marching
onward into the Catholic fold. 4@
Under these circumstances we con-
yerts are confronted by tremendous
i duty. It is inevitable, as Father Faber
says, that the true convert should be
consumed by an. Unsuitable zeal for the
conversion OF his neighbors, ana in
proportion as their receptivity increases
the question presses home more strong.
ly on each one OF us: ~
j .What can J. do to spread the knowl-
4 edge Of the truth and lead my fellow
. men into the ark Of Peter and the faitt
Of Christi" sa. !.
10 the divinely appointed priest and
missionary the answer to this question
I is clear and eminently practical. ''Gt
4 " and preach my Gospel" says th'
4 Lord, "and, am with you" and viii
4 take care Of the rest; and in all per
n iods of the church the Lord has done
i 1t. we need not look back to the
8 apostolic eyes for the fulfillment OF thi'
i promise. Seventy yearssago the Eng
ssslish- spsakins world layFsin the dark
k ness Of an apathy and error almost q
4 lcomplete. and hopeless as that Of: tf''
!, Gothic nations Id the. days Of Attila
j But when Gods time arrived the sun
d rise came. The iconoclaam Of Wesle,
and the Methodists. of Emerson AM
il the. Unilsrians. conyulsed the feeling
Il and pr0bed, tho intellscts Of Protestant. I.
/, and compelled their earnest eyes 4!
4 look to- other SOURCES than the relig
Ions ~ Luther, Henry the Eighth ati.
j Calvin M hope ana help and consols
j l.tion. 10 them the Lord sent Wiseniar q
J. Newman Faber, Manning in England
b and IIscker, Baker. Walworth, Hewi
!, and Dsshoni m msriea, who. With Y, =
u order which they founded, have. BY q
!, vine ssjstancs. accompI pIished the won =!
!. dsrfgi rssitlts We zee today. The, cans
j M god ana holy church y safe a
hahds sIile q There. Their path of q dut