The Irish standard., 1919-04-05
BY Rev. James ponal,oe.


specialize in many ways. Progressive
church leaders note the advantage Of
specializing in the various fields of
I human endeavor and employ or advo-
cate the use of special methods and
agencies that will help greatly to in
crease the number of followers of
Jesus Christ. Ecclesiastical superiors
know that natural endpwmenta of
members of the clergy can be put to
god use-that for every important
work there can be found the man
with q decided penchant for that kind
Of endeavor, that because of those
special endowments this man can be
quickly trained to achieve success in
this particular avocation. In the
great work of the salvation of souls
the specialist has his place and the
church takes advantage of native
gifts of many of her ministers to
achieve eminent success in fulfilling
her divine mission.
The average Catholic looks upon
the work of priests as circumscribed
by definite parish lines, and It is true
that generally the pastor of. souls is
permitted to exercise his zeal among
limited number of people. The great
majority of our people have little
knowledge Of the work of the special.
ist-especially Of the scope of opera
lions of city missionary. AS this
true shepherd needs generous assist
ance from the laity a brief summing
up of his onerous labors is here given
The City Missionary may not have
church and yet have Jurisdiction
over a very large congregation. He
never gathers all his spiritual chill
dren together and still he knows them
as we'll as the pastor who meets his
people every week. In many instances
he knows them much better. He may
not administer the sacrament of Pen
ance to more than one out of five
hundred and still many of them make
known to him the secrets of their
hearts as we'll as their privations,
their troubles and sorrows. The
greater Importance of his work over
other pastors arises from the fact that
his sheep are nearly all strays,. and
in consequence he is not circum-.
scribed by parish lines because he
must go far and wide to gather the
wanderers into the fold. There are
also more wolves trying to scatter his
flock than are found around a parish
group. The City Missionary needs
more courage than the average shep-
herd and If he has not superabund-
ance of zeal Joined to a love for this
kind of work he cannot succeed.
A City Missionary enters intimately
into the lives of his people for three
reasons. First: He provides mater
ial relief for many of the needy. This
relief is not confined to sending gro
ceries to the hungry. When ably as
sisted by a generous laity he covers
the entire field of relief, even to con.
Quoting the last funeral rites and pay
ing the expense of burial. Secondly:
He comes in special intimate relations
with many through his connection
with the courts. Many are placed on
probation to him; and to better each
individual means finding out the pre-
dominant sin of each, informing him
<self Of the character of the home and
the moral conditions existing in that
locality. To carry out the wishes of
the court and make good as a proba-
ton officer he sees his legal wards at
least once month, makes more
direct and stronger appeal to his
spiritual children than a pastor does
from pulpit; far more important
still he instructs many who had not
listened to sermon for many years
and prepares children for the worthy
reception of the sacraments who new
er would have received Holy Com
munion II he had not met them in the
Office of children's protective asso-
citation, in court, or sought them
out in the Goddess locality where they
reside. Thirdly: The City Mission
airy is daily coming in contact with
under-valued philanthropists, with
agents Of various NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
and Protestant organizations from
whom he learns the names and ad-
dresses Of very many Catholics who
are not recorded on any parish list.
These people become the special OBJ
tects Of his solicitude because he
knows that in many cases church
Affiliations will ultimately depend on
the amount of relief and the extent
of Kindness received from lovable men
and women. He soon learns that no
religious group has a monopoly on
tender heartedness and true sympa-
thy; and meeting 30 many real char
fty workers and helpful friends of the
unfortunate belonging to different