OUR SUNDAY VISITOR, whose foremost aim is to serve the pastors of churches, has condensed in these few pages information which the busy priest will be glad to have. It is calculated to help the pastor both in his parochial work, and in his efforts towards combating hostile influences in his community. Call on us, please, whenever you think we can be of assistance to you. We employ one person whose office it is to impart information. We have pamphlets dealing with nearly every doctrinal, devo- tional, historical and parochial subject. We are not in competition with the N. C. W. C., but rather take care of the field which it does not cultivate, and we are called on to serve it in many ways. We assume that every priest in the United States is well acquainted with the character and purpose of OUR SUNDAY VISITOR, because more than one-half of them order it for their parishes. But what we have to say about Catholic literature in general, and about our paper in particular, is in- tended primarily for a sertmon for “Catholic Press Sunday.” We would suggest, therefore, that you preserve this booklet, and use our argument in your own way in the sermon, which the Catholic Hier- archy will ask every pastor to preach early in the new year. “We owe you a great debt of thanks.”—POPE PIUS X. “You are following the right path.”—POPE BENEDICT XV. “You supply the religious needs both of Catho- lics and non-Catholics.”—^THE APOSTOLIC DELE- GATE. CONTENTS Our Enemies S The Sources of Prejudice 4 The Press Does the Greatest Mischief 5 The Only Way to Meet the Evil 8 The 90,000,000 Non-Catholics S Our Sunday Visitor—The Dilference 9 The Monthly Edition 12 Catholic Press Sunday 13' How to Keep Religious Peace in the Community 14 Advertising in Local Papers 16 The Ku Klux Klan IT A Harmony Movement 19 Latest Methods of Parish Finance 20 How to Have Active Church Societies 25 Parish Clubs 26 A Parish Magazine 27 The N. C. W. C. News Service 2S Why 4,000 Pastors Distribute O. S. V 29 OUR ENEMIES. (1) There are, according to their claim, 6,000,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan, everyone of whom has been instructed individually in the anti- Catholic school of hatred and calumny, everyone of whom is cotnmitted to a program of boycott of Cath- olic business men, to vote against even those who are on friendly terms with Catholics, to ostracize Catholics socially. Politicians in and out of office, exclusive of the few, who represent populous Cath- olic districts, are afraid to antagonize the Klan. The same is true of journalists; for fear of losing readers they aim at taking a neutral stand. (2) Most of the 5,000,000 Masons, Odd Fel- lows, and Knights of Pythias. Individual members of these organizations are frequently friendly, but their official papers and magazines, the resolutions proposed at their conventions, betray the organiza- tion’s hostile spirit. (3) The solid South, where anti-Catholicism is the heart of religion, where anti-Catholic litera- ture is the people’s daily bread. (4) At least, 10,000,000 persons in the North and West, (who fear for the stability of the Eigh- teenth Amendment through the extension of Catho- lic influence. It is quite generally believed that the Catholic clergy, as well as people, are wet. (5) The 2,000,000 persons, who belong to the various rationalist and free-thought organizations. (6) The 1,000,000 members of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, Sons and Daughters of George Washington, Guardians of Liberty, etc. (7) The Order of de Molay, which is for “the sons of Masons and their chums,” an organization which initiated one million members last year. These youths are being trained against the Church for the next generation. 4 SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. (8) Numerous influential and wealthy Jews, who are, according to the findings of Henry Ford, and according to data which we have on hand, con- tributing large amounts of money through other organizations, to injure the Catholic Church, par- ticularly by attempting to cripple our Parochial School system. The Jews favor the Public Schools chiefly because Christianity is not taught in them, (9) The bulk of the 10,000,000 divorcees, whom the Church charges with living in sin. (10) Several of the Protestant denomina- tions, as such, notably the Methodists, the Baptists, the United Brethren, the Seventh Day Adventists, and the Lutherans, whose combined membership of 18,000,000, is three-fourths of the total Protestant affiliation. Of course, many of these different groups over- lap. There are many, who belong to the Masons and Knights of Pythias as well ; and most influential Jews are Masons. So also do many Masons and imembers of other Secret Orders belong to the Ku Klux Klan. Then millions who are strong for Blue Laws are affiliated usually with one of the Protes- tant churches. However, comparatively few of the 90,000,000 non-Catholics are altogether friendly, or even wholly indifferent towards our Church. At heart a large percentage among these would wish to be fair, but they have been under inimical influence. It is not their fault, while it is, to a considerable degree, ours. We have done little to win them over to a better feeling. THE SOURCES OF PREJUDICE. (1) More than 200,000 ministers, whose text- books of theology and history must, as a matter of course, have influenced them in an anti-Catholic , SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. 5 direction. Every anti-Catholic organization sends its literature to the preachers in the hope of con- firming their prejudices and of eliciting their sup- port. Protestant ministers must be popular in the community where they are located, and, there- fore, are often not openly inimical, but they wish well to all sorts of anti-Catholic propaganda. (2) The influence of the ten groups of enemies enumerated above. (3) More than one hundred sectarian papers and periodicals, which, in nearly every issue, con- tain bitter criticisms of the Catholic Church, or mis- representation of her teachings. (4) The many anti-Catholic, infidel, socialist, and rationalist organs. These are aggressively anti- Catholic and are patronized by a multitude of readers. (5) The scores of men and women, who make a comfortable living by delivering anti-Catholic tirades from the lecture platform. (6) The anti-Catholic books, which are sold from door to door, and can be found in the library of nearly every Protestant home. (7) Some standard works, such as the “En- cyclopedia Brittanica,” Lord’s “Beacon Lights of History,” Ridpath’s “History of the World,” and many other historical works. (8) The general unpopularity of the Catholic Church, even among people who know not why. THE PRESS DOES THE GREATEST MISCHIEF. Nearly all the religious prejudice by which the harmony of the world is disturbed, is due to the poison, which millions of people have imbibed in the hostile literature they have read and continue to read. Ministers of other churches would not reap 6 SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. much success from their denunciations of Rome if the people in the pew were not so disposed from the literature they have read, to receive them. Now, it is plain that Catholics alone can remedy this situation. The saintly Piux X declared that we must meet the offensive literature of our enemies with both offensive and defensive literature of our own. Pope Benedict declared in the following words that we must acquaint our people with the machina- tions of our enemies : “It is your duty, and that of all the other bishops and the clergy and especially of the priests who have the cure of souls, to guard the Christian people against the enemies of the faith; it is our duty to let the faithful know the truth of things, that they may not be drawn away from their lov- ing mother the Church, but may remain ever close- ly united to it and to its supreme pastor, who has been constituted by God Himself guardian of the truth, minister of justice and charity/^—POPE BENEDICT XV. to the Bishops of Lombardy. We live in an age when everybody reads, and when, therefore, those who publish newspapers, magazines, write books, etc., take account of the widespread prejudice against the Catholic Church, and cater to it. To do otherwise would be to have a much smaller sale for their goods. Invented by a Catholic, and first employed in the interests of the Church, it is sad to observe that the printing press has become the most powerful agency of the world and of the devil. In some coun- tries the most infiuential papers and periodicals are positively anti-religious; in other countries, like our own, they are at best non-religious and material- istic, but given much more to the furtherance of error than of truth. Their editors are always with the churchman, who attacks some vital point of Christianity, and with the university professor, who preaches evolu- SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. 7 tion, or advocates a variety of immoral practices. A distinguished writer has said “the Church is now relegated to the organ loft, and to psalm singing; its place as public teacher, moralist, etc., is assumed by the press.” People look to the press, and not to the pulpit, for opinions and for general information. Yet the average editor is not a deep student; he is not a philosopher; he certainly is not infallible; he voices opinions, not convictions. When he writes he is actuated by the wishes of the political party he represents, or of the employer for whom he works, or of the people, who support his paper. The daily paper, the secular magazine, the popular novel, are seldom on the right side of moral questions. The novel writer usually writes for money; therefore he must seek to please the largest number of prospective readers. Since the taste of the pub- lic is depraved, so must the tenor of his book be. Bead one hundred novels, selected at random, and see how often God is reverently spoken of, how often the Christian virtues of purity, patience, humility, self-sacrifice, are extolled. If the world of today is full of frivolous men and women, it is principally because of the litera- ture upon which they feed; if it is full of doubters and skeptics, and of those who have no definite con- victions, it is because the literary guides are such. What is responsible for the indifference and apathy of the bulk of the population of France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Mexico, Central America? Nothing so much as irreligious and anti-Catholic literature. Materialistic literature was as responsible for the social errors in Germany before the war as the Catholic press was responsible for a vigorous Catholic life; the same may be said of Holland and Belgium. 8 SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. THE ONLY WAY TO MEET THE EVIL. The pernicious press evil can be met in no other manner than by getting the whole Catholic body be- hind a printing press, dedicated to the cause of God. We cannot counteract the evil, even for our own people, through the pulpit; it can not be met in the school-room, where the immature minds of the children are not capable of grasping the argument. The grown-ups must be enlightened, and then be- come apologists for the faith. Every Catholic home is reached by the secular paper ; every Catholic home must be reached by the religious paper; the truth must reach every home visited by error ; the antidote must be co-extensive with the poison. Take a sur- vey of your parish and you will discover that those, whom you would class as your good people, who need religious literature least, usually receive several Catholic papers, that the ones, who are of the indif- ferent class, the ones who need instruction most, do not patronize, or at least do not read any Catholic paper. In this latter group are unfortunately in- cluded oair young men and ladies, on whom the Church must depend tomorrow; in it are included the Catholic men who are most in the public eye, the business and professional men. They write to us when they are in an argument, and quite fre- quently for an answer to an objection, which was exhaustively given in a late issue of the paper. They, therefore, did not read that particular issue, and it is safe to conclude that they seldom read any Cath- olic paper thoroughly. They peruse the secular paper every day; the least they could do is to read a . Catholic paper once a week, and when it contains valuable information, to file it away for ready refer- ence. Until the whole Catholic body receives the same information, it cannot be united; until it be- comes united, our enemies will never cease opposing SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. 9 our rights and scoring victories against us ; and only that paper, whose circulation is natioTi-wide can unite the Catholic people. THE 90,000,000 NON-CATHOLICS. But even if every Catholic family in the land re- ceived OUR SUNDAY VISITOR, or some other paper, whose aim it is to defend the Church and her teachings, we >v^ould not be counteracting the evil scattered by the secular and irreligious press among the 90,000,000 Americans who are not Catholic. I speak for your interests, for the interests of your parishioners, for better relations between the Catholics and Protestants of your Community, for the benefit of the Catholic Church herself, when I beseech you to give thoughtful attention to the claims of 0. S. V. OUR SUNDAY VISITOR^THE DIFFERENCE. You possibly would like to have the local Catho- lic paper introduced into every home of your parish, and so would we ; but you would also like to see OUR SUNDAY VISITOR in every home, because it deals with matters of graver importance. The local Catholic paper is first of all a Catholic newspaper. OUR SUNDAY VISITOR purposely abstains from publishing Catholic ne!ws, in order that it may not be a rival of the local paper. It could furnish all the news, except that which is purely local, for an extra twenty-five cents the year. We could publish an eight-page paper instead of a four-page, for twenty- five cents the year additional, since it would entail no more press work, no more work in the mailing department. But if we did this it would hurt the diocesan or local paper. Our aim is to be a kind of correspondence school for adults, and to interest all 10 SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. Catholic people in their faith, to give them the an- swer to every objection that uninformed Protes- tants, the acknowledged enemy, or false philosophy may raise against her. Our aim is also to supply all this information at the lowest possible cost, so that there can be absolutely no excuse for the poorest family not to receive our paper even in conjunction with another Catholic paper. Ours is a little Catho- lic magazine in newspaper form, its contributors are all scholarly men, and specialists in their line. Our paper is not published for the personal profit of anyone. Its earnings, chiefly from advertising, must be devoted to charitable and religious works. TRY IT. If you have not yet given OUR SUNDAY VISITOR a trial, by having it distributed at the church, or sent directly to the homes of the people from our office, let us ask that you do so. If you have had it, or now have it distributed at the church door, and if many people do not seem to care for it, this is only a weighty reason why you should try harder, since it means that the negligent ones need to have interest in their faith aroused. Because many people leave church in such a rush, they pass by those who would sell theim the paper ; they do not think of the paper until they confront the person who is selling it, and do not stop amid the crowd to be waited on. The best method, according to the re- port of many priests, is to have the paper distributed to the people after the Communion of the Mass, when they are still in their pews, and then to have persons at the different exits to receive a little offer- ing for the paper given to them. In this way the pastor is likely to dispose of more papers than he has families, and by doing it this way he places the strongest possible emphasis on its importance. A SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. 11 religious paper is given out every Sunday at Protes- tant Sunday schools, both to children and adults. Several hundred priests, in order to make cer- tain that the paper will reach every home, have it sent directly to the people from our office by mail. Some pastors pay for the subscriptions from parish funds, and tell us that it is the very best investment they could make ; they say that the effects are notice- able in better contributions, and in a livelier re- ligious life. Others have the parish canvassed by parish sodalities, in which case we allow a slight commission. Others take up one collection during the year in payment of O. S. V. Other priests add seventy-five cents or one dollar to the Pew Rent. IT BRINGS IN REVENUE. In big cities OUR SUNDAY VISITOR is the mainstay of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. The people are told that everything given over and above one cent goes to help the poor of the parish, and most people give five cents or a dime, or even more, every Sunday, for the paper. In this way every family is a contributor to the work of the St. Vin- cent de Paul Society, and when all pay fifty-two times the year their little offerings produce a large fund. In those parishes the sale of the paper at the church door is conducted by the St. Vincent de Paul men instead of by children. In St. Louis the St. Vincent de Paul Conferences cleared more than $20,000 last year from the sale of 0. S. V. IN SCHOOL. Numerous pastors use the paper in school, the children bringing one or two cents each week for it, and when they are through with it, they take it home. OUR SUNDAY VISITOR has a Sunday School Lesson in every issue, and in many schools this lesson, after being perused on Friday, furnishes 12 SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. the subject-matter for the instruction on the follow- ing Sunday. An incalculable advantage of using the paper in school is the missionary training it gives the children and the lesson of reading Catholic lit- erature it inculcates. School Mission Crusade Units may use the profits for the missions—one cent the week for each child, THE MONTHLY EDITION. On the last Sunday of every month our entire paper is occupied with one teaching or practice of the Church, or with one point of history, and we have more than 100,000 Protestant readers for this edition. We accept subscriptions for these twelve numbers at 20c the year—less than the actual cost of production. In hundreds of towns every Protes- tant business and professional man, and many bigots are receiving the edition regularly. It is cus- tomary for the one, who sends in their names, to mark the same in a copy of the Telephone Directory and mail it to us. The stock charges made against the Catholic Church at this time have been persistently circulated for a century, yet there are more people influenced by them than ever before. The reason is that the Catholic answer to the same does not reach the non- Catholic. Our special Monthly edition, costing only 20c the year, gives the decisive answer for Protes- tants. THE CHURCH’S CHEAPEST PAPER. OUR SUNDAY VISITOR is only eleven years old, yet it is a household word throughout the United States and Canada, and has a good sprink- ling of subscribers in every part of the world. It has the strong approbation of the Supreme Pontiff, and of practically every member of the American Catholic Hierarchy; it is distributed at the door of SOME GOLDAN HINTS FOR PASTORS. IS about half of all the Catholic churches in the United States; its circulation is as large as that of all our other Catholic weeklies combined; it reaches more people than any other Catholic paper in the world. But how much greater would be its influence if it entered every Catholic home? If your people are not acquainted with it, may we not expect you to introduce it with the re-opening of school in Sep- tember? We sell the paper to pastors at $1.00 the 100 copies weekly, and we prepay the postage. When it is sold at the church door, and the people pay two cents the copy, it is equivalent to only one dollar the year, and the 100 per cent profit goes to the pastor or to the parish, or to the person in charge of its sale. When the paper is sent direct to the homes of the people the subscription price is 75c the year, or $1.00 for 16 months, or $2.00 for 3 years. It will be seen, therefore, that people may have our paper for three years for the same price they receive another Catholic paper for one year. We have no agents, but permit pastors to delegate sodalities to gather subscription for us, and we allow 15 cents com- mission from every subscription. Owing to the low subscription price, orders can be taken very quickly, and the small commissions, in the aggregate, are worth while. Every time the people subscribe for another paper, one-half of the price goes to the agent. This agent’s commission would itself more than pay a year’s subscription to O. S. V. CATHOLIC PRESS SUNDAY. Since some Sunday near the beginning of Lent will be designated Press Sunday by the Catholic Hierarchy, we would kindly ask you to keep this pamphlet until that time, and from its contents pre- pare a sermon for the people on Catholic Literature. 14 SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOE PASTOKS. Again we repeat, and you will agree with us if you will reflect a moment, that the future standing of our Church in this country will depend almost altogether on an enlightened Catholic laity, who will ever remain loyal to the Church because of their convictions, and on a better disposed non-Catholic body, who must depend upon us to tell them the truth about the Church. The problem of meeting the situation seems to be a formidable one when the entire country is viewed as a whole, but a comparatively easy one, if ten thousand local congregations each took care of its own little territory. If pastors could build up our mighty school system by insisting, in season and out of season, on the need of religious training for the little ones, they can also, with the same insistence, develop a taste for Catholic reading among the grown-ups, and set in notion a live lay-apostolate. HOW TO KEEP RELIGIOUS PEACE IN THE COMMUNITY. Remonstrate, in a diplomatic and friendly way, to his Church Board whenever a minister of your town attacks the Catholic Church or encourages some anti-Catholic propagandist. While we have data on hand which tell of the successful efforts of Catholics in handling such situations elsewhere, a brief relation of what was done in our city plight interest you : (1) Two years ago a speaker was engaged by the Methodist Brotherhood of our city to speak for its membership at a banquet. No one knelw that he was to say anything against the Catholic Church, but he^ did calumniate her. As soon as we heard about it, the priests delegated the officers of the K. SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. 15 of C. Council to write a letter to the local minister, and to send copies of it to each member of his Church Board. In this letter regret was expressed that a man, who had no interest in the community, who had never paid any taxes, who never did any- thing to build up the city’s institutions, should in- sult a local group of people and shamefully slander their Church. The following dilemma was placed before the addressed : “Either you believe the charges to be true or untrue; if the former, then you (Methodists) cannot be honestly friendly to the Catholic people; if the latter, then surely you will want the same body of men, who heard the accusa- tions, to be told of their slanderous character.” In a few days, a letter was received from the minister, signed by everyone of the ten members of his Church Board, regretting that the imported speaker had attacked the Catholic Church, and promising the proper correction. The members of the Church Board, being mostly business and pro- fessional men patronized by the Catholic people, were full of apology, and exacted from their min- ister a promise that he would never again open his mouth to say anything about the Catholic Church unless it were to say something good. From that tihie on this minister has gone out of his way to praise the Catholic Church. Even where people are not friendly, they want to appear to be so, unless it be behind masks. (2) The head of the Shriners in our city was President of the Rotary Club last year. One of the members of the Club let him understand in a friend- ly way that Catholics are aware of the fact that the Masonic body is committed to the passage of the Sterling-Towner Bill, and asked him whether the local Masonic Lodge would encourage this program of the supreme body. The Mason informed the 16 SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. Catholic gentleman that he would not do anything to help it along. (3) When it was first heard that a K. K. K. organizer was in our city, we called the editors of our local papers to our office and asked them to be loyal to the Catholics of the community rather than to lend encouragement to outsiders, who had no other motive than to capitalize and stir up bigotry. After a little persuasion they consented to do this. Then we found it easy to get several non-Catholics to prevail on the City Council to pass an ordinance forbidding any masked parades within the city cor- poration. This was all done in time to prevent the Klan from gaining a foothold in our city. Now it is clear that if we had a VIGILANCE COMMITTEE in every town constituted of Catholic men, who had some influence, we could cover the whole country, and keep peace, even if many among the non-Catholic body would prefer otherwise. There is always a sufficient number of Protestant men, who are willing to do a favor for the Catholic peo- ple, and they will gladly be at the service of the Vigilance Committee. ADVERTISING IN LOCAL PAPERS. Some priests have striven to acquaint the non- Catholic element of the community with the truth about the Catholic Church by running small adver- tisements in the local papers, but in nearly every instance it has provoked controversy. They are not judicious in selecting “copy” for the advertisements. The average Protestant is not at all interested in knolwing what we believe, or what the members of any other church believe ; and those who do emphasize doctrinal matters immedi- ately think of the answer to our arguments in favor SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. 17 of Confession, Infallibility, Purgatory, the Holy Eucharist, etc. Most prejudice against the Catholic Church is not due to our teachings, but rather to the attitude which people believe our Church takes towards the Public School, Church and State, the Marriage of Protestants, the Masonic Order, the Bible, etc. Hence, the first “copy” should deal with these sub- jects, and be calculated to dispose people to discredit the charges of all anti-Catholic propagandists, be- cause their whole message is misrepresentation of the Catholic attitude toward the matters just refer- red to. In case you should be interested in supply- ing your local newspapers with “copy” bearing on such subjects we shall be glad to supply you with same free of charge. When such advertisements are run in the papers, they should be signed, and a little notice printed to the effect that any person interest- ed may receive information concerning the real teaching of the Catholic Church in other respects by addressing the one, whose name appears at the foot of the advertisement. The answer may be sent to the inquirer in the shape of a little pamphlet, which deals with the subject matter in which he is interested. THE KU KLUX KLAN. The people of every community naturally as- sume that the. Catholic people are opposed to the K. K. K., and therefore the Catholic argument is not readily hearkened to. The best way, in our opinion, to deal with the Klan is to represent that since it claims to be a Protestant organization, the Protestant churches must either repudiate it or assume responsibility for it; that it is not injuring Catholic life, but rather intensifying it, like persecution is calculated 18 SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. to do ; that, at best, it only engenders religious hate by poisoning people against the Catholic body. If the Catholic priest must deal with the situa- tion, then he should call attention to the facts just enumerated, and infoimi the people that the Klan has its greatest following in places where there are few Catholics, few Jews, and few Negroes; that, therefore, the basic argument for its existence is untenable. If the Catholic Church were the menace which her enemies represent her to be, then the Klan should be strongest where Catholics are numerous. liMien this organization secures a foot- hold in communities which have considei-able Catho- lic strength, it is not by emphasizing its anti- Catholic attitude; it rather proposes to stop boot- legging, to have the law enforced, and it promises merchants the trade of the Klan membership for miles ai'ound. Usually it is easy to get at least one grocer, one butcher, one baker, one of every other business classification, including a physician, and lawwer, by promising them the patronage of the Klan members, who' are pledged to deal only with Klansmen. Many business men hear the anti- Catholic argument only after they are members of the organization. Another secret of Klan establish- ment and gro'wth everj'where is its alliance with a group of politicians, who welcome its promised votes. If it be claimed that many people of prominence belong to the Klan, you may grant this for sake of argument, but you are safe in sajfing that the lowest element also is connected with it, and that its pro- pagandists are, in the main, men who have very unsavory reputations. Thousands of professional anti-Catholics, including those who falsely pose as ex-priests and ex-nuns, work for the Klan solely for the income which it affords them. Its publications SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. 19 reek with slander and bogus documents, which only the most unscrupulous editors would think of scat- tering broadcast. A HARMONY MOVEMENT. Lafayette, Indiana, has launched a movement which it were well for other cities to emulate. In the hope of breaking down the obstacles to harmony and general co-operation in the community, some- one succeeded in interesting every pastor in the city, Catholic and Protestant, to send a layman to attend a meeting, at which was formed the nucleus of a “Laymen’s Council.” At the first meeting a tem- porary chairman and secretary were elected, and a coimmittee was appointed to draw up a Constitution and By-Laws, which defined the scope and gave direction to the work of the Council. The Constitution, as finally adopted by the directors, declares that the purpose of the Council is to “create a better understanding among the mem- bers of the co-operating churches and to eliminate racial and sectarian prejudices.” The Constitution furthermore provides that “each co-operating church shall be represented in the Council by three of its members in good standing, who are twenty- five years of age or older. The active work of the Council will be performed by standing committees.” Although this Laymen’s Council has been func- tioning only a short time, excellent results are al- ready noticeable. The President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer, are, respectively, a Prot- estant, a Jew, a Catholic, and a Negro. Since we are Americans all, why should there not be the best feeling between all groups in all that pertains to the interests of the local community, the state, and the national government? When an organization is formed like the one to which we 20 SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. refer, there is no cause for suspecting ulterior pur- poses, such as gain on the part of the promoters ; there will be no initiation fees, no gowms to sell, no dues to pay. Such general co-operation is the need of the hour now, as it really has been the need of every generation during the life of our country. George Washington expressed his anxiety for the perpetuity of our Government because of the racial and religious prejudices of his day; Abraham Lin- coln announced the same fear ; and President Hard- ing, on several occasions, has declared his mind, though not in terms as forcible as present-day con- ditions warrant. LATEST METHODS OF PARISH FINANCE. Pastors of Catholic parishes are adopting more and more the “budget” way of financing the opera- tion of the parish plant as a unit. It is the modern business way, and the most judicious way. The old method was to depend on the people, after strong pulpit announcements, renting pew space in church, and on unsystem.atized collections. If these sources of revenue were not adequate, then the residue would be made up from a special month- ly collection, from frequent socials, and possibly an annual bazaar. In addition to all this, many priests had a special Cathedraticum collection, a Fuel col- lection, a School collection, etc. The most objection- able feature of this method of parish support is that, because of the many varieties of obligations, most parishioners carry the idea that they are giving much more than they actually do, and they are bored by the too-frequent calls from the pulpit. The criti- cal class of parishioners, and there are always many belonging to it, believing that the exactions are too heavy, do not respond; the pastor becomes worried SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. 21 and agitated ; and those who do give, give with much greater reluctance than they would if there were no slackers. The more modern way, adopted it is true, from the Protestant churches, is introduced thus : The pastor calls the best disposed of his par- ishioners together and acquaints them with the ap- proximate amount of money needed to finance all parish obligations during one year. This done, they calculate the number of wage-earners, single and married, in the parish. Then they figure out how large a per capita assessment is needed to take care of all salaries, fuel and light, insurance, interest, etc., besides the desired payment on old indebted- ness. The next step is to employ the means of get- ting the stipulated amount. Every pastor has received literature from dif- ferent Collection Envelope Houses, and he is ac- quainted with the every Sunday payment plan; and the Catholic clergy are adopting it in great num- bers. In fact, OUR SUNDAY VISITOR itself sup- plied collection envelopes to nearly 1000 churches last year, and from letters received from the priests, we learn that they are highly satisfied, and that the new method of Church Support will be a fixture in the parish. Permit us to say, incidentally, without any intention to get business, that we supply such envelopes cheaper than any other House. Very often we are asked by priests, who would introduce this method, what the basis of assessment should be. Experience has taught us that a 3 per cent assessment on the wage-earner’s income is adequate for running expenses for a moderate size parish, and a 5 per cent levy is about right when the collection, besides meeting current obligations, must net a respectable sum for payment on a debt or to create a building fund. This would mean that a man, or lady, whose income is $25.00 a week, would 22 SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. give 75c the Sunday on a 3 per cent basis, and $1.25 on a 5 per cent basis. There are usually two wage- earners in every family. While all do not earn $25.00 the week, many will be earning more, and in almost any community it is safe to calculate on get- ting 50c per wage-earner, or $1.00 the family, every Sunday. This would mean an average of $52.00 per year from every faimily, or $10,000 revenue from a parish of 200 families. While, at first blush, it might seem quite diffi- cult to get this method in smooth operation, it is not so after the first work of introducing it is com- pleted. It should not be introduced by the pastor through a pulpit announcement. He should prepare a luncheon, at which at least twenty per cent of the select wage-earners, men and ladies, of the parish, will be present. If he can get more of them out, so much the better, because during enthusiasm there will be no slackers. At this luncheon, he should ex- plain the Weekly Payment Plan, and have three or four laymen, with whom he had previously con- ferred on the subject, to speak in its favor. It- were well if he had samples of envelopes to distribute among those seated at table. They should be re- minded that while they may give more to the church in this way than they had hitherto given through pew rent and collections, there will be no other parish collections, neither for fuel, nor for interest, nor for school (nor for bazaar tickets). They should also be told that the average person- spends more money each week for unnecessary things than he is asked to give to Almighty God. Their atten- tion should be called to the amount they spend for tobacco, candies, movies, and other shows; to the amount they spend for tires, gasoline, house parties, etc. They should be informed that when God Him- self made the law covering Church Support He SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. 23 exacted one-tenth of the person’s incdme. They should be told that today nearly every Protestant church in the United States not only has an Every Sunday Envelope Collection, but that in three- fourths of the Protestant parishes people give two offerings every Sunday, one to meet the expenses of the parish, and the other to take care of the national and international interests of the church, including home and foreign missions. In many cases more than half of the revenue coming to the parish in the Protestant denominations is sent out of the parish to take care of the works fostered by the church at large. The priest should remind the young people that they can better afford to give than their fathers, who usually must meet most of the house- hold expenses, clothe the little ones, pay the rent, etc. In order that there might be no uncertainty about the effort, each wage-earner is approached and asked to sign an agreement to give a definite amount weekly to the church. After he has pledged himself, he is given a carton containing fifty-two envelopes (so;me priests include other envelopes in the pack, e. g., for Holydays) each one numbered and dated. Since he has agreed to give fifty-two times, the pastor gets his offering even if he attends Mass elsewhere at times. Even in the big cities, where the people may not be in any parish the whole year, the Every Sun- day Envelope Collection would be the best thing. Pastors could divide the territory of their parish into blocks, and have a man to keep his eye on that block, noting people moving in as well as people moving out. These transients would give during the time they are in the parish, and the parish revenue would be considerably swelled, without the need of collecting the dime at the door. This method has other advantages besides the 24 SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. increase of “Church Revenue.” It keeps the pastor in constant touch with all his people; it stimulates zeal among the laity ; it furnishes a complete census of the parish ; and it reduces the work on the parish books; it saves the priest the time required to re- ceive the pew rent or the payments on assessments at his office. It is true that the collections must be entered in an account book every week, but since the names are all entered numerically (it were well if they were also entered alphabetically), it does not require much time, and the work could be assigned to a lay person if necessary. The Pew Rent way has been so long in vogue in parishes having a more or less permanent member- ship, that many priests do not like to abolish it. But it is not a practical method, because too fre- quently the poor, who need more pew space, con- tribute more than the wealthy; and young people, regarding the pew space as a family possession, are not renters themselves. Another objection to the Pew Rent way is that the obligation is paid in four installments at the most, and many people have not the ready cash when it is due. If they should leave it run the whole year, it is a real burden on a multitude of them to pay it. Since most of our people live from hand to mouth, and are accustomed to purchase on the monthly installment plan, and to pay money on the weekly installment plan, they would give much more, and give it uncomplainingly, if they could pay their church assessment in monthly, or, better, weekly installments. When the Every Sunday plan is followed, the pastor always has ready revenue to meet current obligations, the people are always paid to date, andi money sermons are wholly unnecessary. SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. 25 / HOW TO HAVE ACTIVE CHURCH SOCIETIES. Most priests do not utilize, as they should, the Parish Societies, and because of this the members are nearly all “dead” ones. It is very difficult to get either men or ladies to attend a meeting of a Sodality, or of any other organization, if the meet- ing is to be a very formal affair. The Sodality should be divided into different sections, one of which will have charge of social activities, another of St. Vincent de Paul work; another of mission work ; another of literary work, etc. At the monthly meetings, someone representing these different sec- tions should report on the activities of the month. Then it were well, in order to bring people out to socials and other parish gatherings, if over every fifteen or twenty men or ladies there were a Cap- tain, who would make it his or her business to give tickets to his or her band, and to bring them out one hundred per cent. Among the men, there should be a group interested in higher education, both of themselves and the youths of the parish. A Catholic physician, a Catholic lawyer, a Catholic business man, should be invited to speak to the members on the things which he can treat with authority. In fact, it were a good thing if Protestant professional men were asked to address the Men’s Sodality from time to time. The Protestant churches would die if it were not for the laymen’s activities. Laymen teach Sunday School, Bible classes, collect the reve- nue, and look for new members. We priests are so accustomed to nearly one hundred per cent attendance of the people at Sun- day Mass that we feel like abolishing the Society which cannot muster more than a twenty or thirty per cent attendance at meetings. This attitude is 26 SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. wrong. Quality counts for more than quantity. In the Protestant churches mid-week prayer meetings are held if onlj' a dozen people are present. Bible societies are conducted by la>Tnen even though the class has only a few members. We should encourage the ones who are willing, and seek to make Apostles of them in the direction of building up a bigger meeting. We cannot expect that all of our people should be interested in the same cause, and we should be satisfied if we can prepare half a dozen good Catholic leaders in the community. Our men could take up the census for us every year; they could have a kind of supervision over one or more blocks within parish territory; they could see that instructive literature reach all bigots in the com- munity as well as all non-Catholics of prominence; they would gladh' render a helping hand towards arranging parish entertainments. In fact, our National Holidays should be kept by the Catholic men with a luncheon to which the city and county officials, the leading business men, should be imuted to hear a speech by some able Catholic lajTnan. This la\Tnan could, without making it appear it is in- tended, explain awaj* some objection which is raised against the Church. On this same program some Protestant lajTnan of the city should appear, as it would help take away the suspicion that the Protes- tants were brought in to be captured. PARISH CLUBS. Every pastor is acquainted with the Rotary, the Kiwanis, and kindred Clubs. TMtere these Clubs exist, one of the priests in the community should be a member, because the personnel of the clubs is usually composed of leading citizens of the town or city, whose acquaintance the priest makes, and whose prejudice he can largely remove. Only one SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. 27 priest can be a member of the Rotary Club, while two priests can be members of the Kiwanis Club. No time is lost in lending active membership, be- cause they meet at the noon meal. How fine a thing it would be if every parish had a Club of its own, modeled after the Rotary Club, where they would meet, say once a month, at even- ing luncheon, and discuss lively topics among them- selves? How fine a thing it would be if some man in every parish was led to interest himself in a promising school boy, who has poor parents? If this boy were educated to the priesthood, or sent to college by a wealthy parishioner, think what effect it would have on the congregation, and if it were done by thousands, throughout our land, on the life of the Church, in this country. A PARISH MAGAZINE. For more than fifteen years we have been sup- plying pastors with a very excellent Parish Maga- zine with very little labor or cost to themselves. We pride ourselves on publishing by far the most excel- lent parish periodical in existence. It contains 32 pages of good, instructive, and devotional reading matter, and no advertisements whatsoever. To this 32-page “body” pastors add whatsoever they please of parish items, and advertisements from their local merchants. They are free to have their local printing done in their oWn town, in which event we send our 32-page “inserts” to their printer once a month. We accommodate about 100 pastors by printing their local items here, and then we send them the magazine for distribution. In this event they mail their announcements, reports of collec- tions, etc., to us, as well as their “copy’ for adver- tisements, and we charge $1.50 the page for setting in type, printing, folding, and binding, the local matter to our 32-page “body.” When tabulated col- 28 SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. lections are sent in, our charges are a little higher. Our prices for the 32-page ‘‘body’’ are $4.00 the 100 ; $18.00 the 500; $35.00 the 1000. These prices in- clude blank cover stock. In illustration : Let us suppose that the priest orders 500 copies of our 32-page “body” and adds thereto 12 pages of reading matter and advertise- ments. The charge would be as follows : 500 copies of the “body” $18.00 12 pages of local reading 18.00 Paper used for local items. . . . 1.50 $37.50 We prepay the express in order to get the pastor a bet- ter rate, but we charge it on the bill. The 12 pages would be made up as follows: (1) Title page; (2) three other cover pages for advertisements; (3) eight pages for parish an- nouncements, and anything else the priest wishes to use the space for. THE N. C. W. C. NEWS SERVICE. The Catholic newspapers of the United States and Canada are enabled to give their readers a full first page of live, interesting, and, what is most im- portant, dependable world news, because of the ex- cellent service which the N. C. W. C. News 'Service has built up. Neither the Associated Press, nor the United Press, has on its pay-roll foreign correspon- dents who are as scholarly, honest, and as careful to get hold of the truth, as those in the employ of the Press Service of the N. C. W. C. Catholics should be informed about this, and told that, even if the local Catholic paper was not so interesting in by- gone years, it should have an appeal for them today ; they should be told that for a knowledge of the true religious conditions in the various countries of the world, they must read the Catholic newspaper . Paramount as this is, it is more necessary that the Catholic layman be further instructed in his SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. 29 faith, not in the cold way of the Catechism, but in that popular form, in which the argument can be easily understood and repeated. A paper committed to this particular field of journalism has been the need of the hour for many years, and at this time there is only one such popular, instructive Catholic paper. While it has a circulation as great as all other Catholic weeklies co|mbined, it is still limited in its infiuence, because it does not enter every Catholic and non-Catholic home. OUR SUNDAY VISITOR contributes towards the support of the N. C. W. C., and aids it in many ways. It has not the same contact that we have with the enemies of the Church, 100,000 of whom receive our paper, and many of whom send us this litera- ture. WHY 4,000 PASTORS BACK OUR SUNDAY VISITOR. “I want an intelligent, well-instructed laity.”—Cardinal Newman. Every pasterns ambition is to have a congregation both instructed and spiritual. Catholics who appreciate their re- ligion are always of the militant type; the indifferent are of the jelly-fish kind. Catholics who are spiritual will always support the Church cheerfully. ERGO—Four thousand pastors distribute OUR SUN- DAY VISITOR among their flock, because it is the most in- structive Catholic weekly the Church has; because it pro- duces spirituality; because it leads the people to pray and to pay. Every pastor realizes that the very greatest danger to faith and morals is the huge quantity of pernicious literature in circulation, the effects of which Catholics cannot escape. ERGO—Four thousand priests have OUR SUNDAY VISITOR distributed at the church door every Sunday as an antidote to the literature poison. Good Catholics subscribe to several Catholic papers and 30 SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. magazines, while the ones who are in sore need of Catholic literature, take no Catholic paper. These people constitute the slackers (in general) whom every priest must contend with. ERGO—Four thousand priests have OUR SUNDAY VISITOR sold at the church door after Mass on Sunday — because no argument from the pulpit is half as powerful to arouse the Catholic reading habit as the presence of boys or men at the church door with a bundle of Catholic papers in their arms. It is the only argument for the ‘‘slacker.” He must SEE zeal on the part of others. Nearly every priest has experienced that a taste for Catholic literature must be cultivated, since most people have it not. ERGO—Four thousand priests begin with OUR SUN- DAY VISITOR, the cheapest, the most spicy and interesting Catholic paper published. Our spiritual leaders are now agreed that the weakness of the Catholic body in the United States is the absence of unity, and that disunity exists because all our people are not reached by the same information. ERGO—The plain need of a periodical, which is not only national, but so popular and so low in price that every Catho- lic can be reached by it. OUR SUNDAY VISITOR has been the only/ national, popular weekly for the past eleven years. OBJECTIONS. (1) I must urge the support of our local or diocesan Catholic paper. ANS.—OUR SUNDAY VISITOR is the very best ad- vance agent for the diocesan or local Catholic paper. Oiirs is not a newspaper; it leaves that field to the diocesan weekly. Its aim is to instruct the people; to acquaint them in a popu- lar way with the false philosophy underlying many social and religious movements of today; to supply devotional read- ing; to assist pastors in their work of promoting spirituality , among the people and to do the “Church Support” talking for the pastor. SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. SI (2) Our people are requested to subscribe to so many Catholic papers now; hence, I do not care to urge them to take another. ANS.—But why should they not have the one they cau best afford to take, and which will benefit them most? Do they read the ones which they do receive? We are certain they will read OUR SUNDAY VISITOR. Thousands write us that it is the one paper which they do read from beginning to end. And remember ours costs less than the agent re- ceives as his commission on a subscription to another Catho- lic paper. (3) I do not favor the sale of a paper at the church door. ANS.—Hundreds of other priests took the same stand until they learned, from neighboring pastors, how beneficial to the parish at large is the zeal shown by men who become ‘‘newsboys” in behalf of their Faith. Where there are many Masses in the same church, there is so little time for a sermon. The instructions and devo- tional reading in OUR SUNDAY VISITOR will supply this omission. (4) I have too many things to look after now and can- not assume new work and worry. ANS.—It is not necessary that you look after OUR SUNDAY VISITOR in person. Let the School Sisters ap- point boys for the different Masses on Sunday and let the school have the proceeds. Or, better still, have the Holy Name Society, or the St. Vincent de Paul Society, take charge. In Chicago, St, Louis, Milwaukee and other cities, the St. Vincent de Paul Society realizes more from OUR SUNDAY VISITOR than from all other sources combined. A huge sum is built up when hundreds of people give only a few cents fifty-two times a year. We pride ourselves that OUR SUNDAY VISITOR is the ONLY One Cent paper published today. While it retails at TWO CENTS we receive only ONE CENT for it. No other paper exists today whose price to the individual 32 SOME GOLDEN HINTS FOR PASTORS. for 52 issues is only 75c, or whose price on an order of 50 or more is only Ic the copy. DIFFERENT METHODS OF DISTRIBUTION. (1) Place papers on tables at all exits of church. Let people help themselves. (This method is not very satisfac- tory, because people leave the church in a rush). (2) Have school boys or girls, Boy Scouts, Holy Name or St. Vincent de Paul Society, take charge of sale. (In cities the St. Vincent de Paul Conferences raise most of their money for the poor from the sale of 0. S. V.) (3) District your parish and give school boys regular routes. Boys charge 10c the month, making 6c on each sub- scriber. (4) Have some Sodality canvas entire parish for sub- scriptions at 75c, and let paper be sent direct to subscriber’s home by mail. (5) Have ushers or altar boys distribute 0. S. V. to the people while in their pews, after the Communion of the Mass; then after Mass at the different exits receive the offer- ing of the people. V^Tien you want any kind of service calculated to assist you in your parish work, or any kind of print- ing done, write to OUR SUNDAY VISITOR, Huntington, Indiana. We have the most instructive paper, the best parish magazine, the most practical pamphlets—and our prices are the lowest. We alone are in touch with Catholic, Protestant and anti-Catholic life in every corner of the country. Our paper reaches more than 100,000 Protestant readers. J^.4t