The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-01-03
OF CONVERTS FROM
ALL CLASSES ENTER THE
CHURCH EVERY YEAR-ANGLl-
CAN OR RITUALIsTIc GROWTH
-TRANsLATIoN OF THE ROMAN
MIssAL THE sARUM RITE
THE BRANCH THEORY.
THE BRANCH THEORY.
written for The Catholic Bulletin by
Cecil Underwood.)

cecil OnoerWoo0.)
In recent lecture Father Vaughan,
the Jesuit orator, observed mo
matter how you may divide English
society into rank, mental attainments,
wealth, refinement, etc., you will find
each division from the highest to the
lowest, furnishing it's quota of con-
verts to the Catholic faith And
should you form separate classes for
the radically vicious, and the consti-
tutionally insincere, it may be that
under these two headings you will find
even here, for the psychology of scon-
versions battles methodical analysis.
Catholic leaven is at work through
out the whole mass, with the result
that very often those are converted
whom one would least have suspected
of any tendency toward the faith.
Perhaps our greatest gain is from the
higher, and better educated classes;
as these converts pass through easy
steps from low church or noncon-
formist ground to the loftier altitude
of broad and High Church Anglican
isms; thence the way is compara-
lively easy to Rome. All types and
classes, indeed, are represented, and
many become converts whom every
human tie, every earthly considera-
tion seemed to hold back with grip
of steel. Gods work is done in a
supernatural way, and man can only
look on and wonder
The Romeward Movement.
The road pointed out by Father
Vaughan is the usual one; it was
taken by Newman and Faber and
Manning; it is followed today by
thousands who are received every
year into the true fold. They come
slowly but surely, as if the law of
grace were similar to that of nature
7natura nunquam agit per saltum.
But the growth Of Catholicism Is not
measured by the actual thousands
who come over every year; far
greater number are drawn to the
very borderland of the faith; so that
whereas Catholicism quarter Of a
century ago was something maligned
and tabooed, it is now quite the
fashion to talk about an Anglo-Catho-
| lie Church and Catholic" priests and
services. In fact the branch theory"
just now is very much in vogue. So
strong is it's hold upon the High
Church party that the very name of
Protestant has become hateful. Only
the other day a Canon of St. Paul's
called Luther ga boor," and the Re-
formers "a pack of ruffians." And
just as in America, the Episcopalians
are endeavoring to drop the word,
Protestant, from their legal title,-so
in England at the present time the
ritualists are trying to erase the hate
full word from the liturgy. So that it
is no longer the Protestant Church
of England by the grace of good
King Harry, but the anglo Catholic
branch of the Church Universal" !"
The translation of the Roman Missal
and the Roman Breviary, the extern
sive use of the Sarum Rite at MASS"
and "Vespers," the employment of
French manuals of prayer and devo-
ton; the eager and repeated attempts
to secure valid orders from the Rus
sian orthodox and Old Catholic schis-
matics; all these signs point to the
working of the Catholic leaven. At
the present moment, the invocation
of the saints and prayers for the
dead are heard on every side from
Anglican pulpits. If we believe in
Spirits and in a church triumphant,
why should we not invoke the aid of
the saints? IL we are branch of the
Catholic Church, why should we not
have missal and prayer-book and
vestments and candles and the full
Catholic rite and ceremonial like our
Roman neighbours? Why not, indeed!
And SO the Catholic supply houses OF
London carry on sixty per cent OF
their trade with High Church Wears
of pronounced Catholic tendencies. 1t
is straw which tells how the wind
is blowing.
Odd Position of Anglican Bishops.
An amusing development of High
Church ceremonial is the odd position
| in which the Piehona find themselves.