The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1918-03-30
SOCIAL SERVICES
and THE CHURCHES
PROTESTANT BODIES TENDING
TO MAKE SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
THEIR CHIEF BUSINESS.
Spirituality Has Become Secondary
Matter-A Vindication of Cath
Ollie Practice, Which Sub
ordinates the Natural
to the Supernatural.

Under the title Social Service and
the Churches" Mr. B. l. Bell has con-
tributed to the Atlantic Monthly an
article on the wide-reaching attempts
Professionalism is making today to re-
tain the dwindling clientele of it's
churches. 1t tries to hold fast it's men,
bers by alluring promises of social
service for themselves, their families
and friends. The article in question
recognizes that the Protestant church
es are being put to severe test, the
author admits that they are even call
ed upon to justify their very existence
in this changing era. He writes:
Nowadays, when (P ro e "a n t)
churches seek to justify their exist
ence they tell of the number of social
clubs, penny lunches for working girls,
gymnasium classes, mems clubs, kin
dergartens, penny savings banks, chill
dren's story-hours, sewing schools
manual training classes for little boys
and so forth, housed under their roofs
managed by their clergy and laywork
ers, and financed by their people. In
stead of sermons, dealing with eternal
verities, we are apt to hear from the
rulpits of the really advanced
churches, continual treatments of local
politics, the vice question, prison re-
form, and so on. 1t used to be thought
that clubhouse was an excellent
adjunct to church. Now it is quite
commonly assumed that possibly a
church is a right pretty thing to have
attached to a clubhouse"
In the next paragraph the author
says that to Neo-Protestant these
ameliorative social activities seem en-
nently the churchs business. en-
deed to many of them, if one may
judge from their writings, these seem
to be the church's only legitimate bust
ness. This attitude is the natural
outgrowth of their non-supernatural
beliefs. To the Catholic, how
ever, or to the old-time Protestant, it
seems that in furthering none Of these
good things lies the church's real bust
ness. In the opinion of the believer in
supernatural religion, the imparting
of spiritual assistance to man, where
by he may be transformed from crea-
ture merely of environment, a mere
product of the world, into creature
of spirituality, who shares with that
Christ who overcame the world, is the
true function of the church"
The writer continues: ITO a super
naturalist it seems thing not to adj
mire but rather to wax wrothful about,
that many churches, whose real pur
pose is to SOW spiritual dynamite and
to encourage men to explode it, should
be found substituting for this COM
bination of inexpert sociological teach
ings, and usually inefficient social set
Element activity. When the
churches completely metamOrphOse
themselves from supernatural agencies
into natural agencies, at that instant
they sign their own death warrant.
There is not a single bit of So
called social service work, now being
attempted by the churches, which is
not being done more efficiently by
some one else."
The writer concludes with this sound
advice: There is among us today
great soul-hunger. Let the churches
cease their dilettante concern with So
Geological minutiae, and as did the
prophets, as did Christ, let them once
more lift their mighty voice in cry
for spiritual regeneration and revolu-
ton. Let them reason once more of
Righteousness and temperance and
judgment to come and it is just pos