John A. O'Brien, "Causes of Catholic Leakage" (1932)

[Much of this essay could have been written very recently.]

[412] To the Editor, The Ecclesiastical Review.

The discussion of Catholic leakage in the December issue of the Review has occasioned widespread interest and stimulated a discussion from which certain conclusions would now seem to emerge. (1) The statistics of The Official Catholic Directory, not only in regard to population but also in regard to baptisms and deaths, are apparently so "unbelievably untrustworthy" as to afford no reliable basis for the determination of the gain or loss of the Catholic population for the year 1930. (2) It follows, therefore, that the basis for the estimated loss of half a million for the year 1930, is undermined. While Dr. Ross writing in The Commonweal, 17 February, 1932, seems to contend that the essential framework of his statistical computations still stands, the evidence presented by both Dr. Shaughnessy and Fr. Bernarding is sufficient to shake the confidence of the writer in the reliability of any conclusion based on the figures of the Directory.

It is probably a matter of astonishment to most priests, as it is to the writer, to discover as a result of the excellent studies of Fr. Bernarding and Fr. Shaughnessy just how freakish, untrustworthy, and deceptive these figures really are. Fr. Bernarding puts the case in a nutshell when he reaches the following conclusion concerning the reliability of the Directory figures: "That they are faulty, most priests realize; just how faulty they are, probably very few know. It is only by tables of the returns extending over a number of years, such as the writer has kept for the past decade, that this comes to light. These tables show that out of 108 dioceses and vicariates recorded in the Directory, only thirty-eight, or about one-third, have never sent in the same population figures two years in succession. All the rest have duplicated figures repeatedly, most of them as often as five or six times, and in this some of the large dioceses are the worst offenders."

The gratitude of all the readers is due to both of these writers for the abundant evidence they have presented showing that the figures in the Directory are "unbelievably untrustworthy," and for all practical purposes either utterly meaningless or positively deceptive. Their studies raise in more acute [413] form than ever the question, "Can not some uniform system or method be worked out for the gathering of these vitally important statistics, so that they will be at least substantially reliable?" This appears to be urgently needed if we are to secure any dependable measurement of the annual gain or loss of Catholic population. As Bishop Noll points out, we can not at present determine "whether the Catholic population is growing or declining".

Before taking up the discussion of the sources of leakage, may I refer briefly and impersonally to two criticisms? Dr. Shaughnessy characterizes my presentation of the statistical groundwork published by Dr. Ross in The Commonweal as "slavish copying," and because I presented one of these computations twice, I am convicted of "absurd logic". Careful reading of my article will disclose my express acknowledgment of Dr. Ross's study as the source of the data presented, coupled with reference by name to Dr. Ross not less than six times. This shows that I made no pretense of originality and was content to play the humble role of reporter. Furthermore, I secured a more detailed statement of the statistical method used by Dr. Ross than appeared in The Commonweal, and presented it in a footnote so that it might be subjected to the most searching scrutiny. While presenting his thesis as cogently as I could, I invited refutation of the statistical groundwork by the presentation of factual evidence. Both Fr. Bernarding and Dr. Shaughnessy have presented abundant evidence and have the gratitude of the readers and of myself for so doing. In stating the above I do not wish to shift any onus to Dr. Ross. For carrying the discussion of the Review, where it would receive due attention and scrutiny, I assume sole responsibility.

It will be remembered that earlier in the year a story had appeared not only in every Catholic paper but in practically every secular newspaper in the country, stating that according to figures released by the Directory, the Catholic population of the U. S. for the year ending Dec. 31, 1930, was 20,091,593. This, the news story stated, represented a gain of but 13,391 over the preceding year in spite of the addition of 39,528 converts. On the very face of the story, there was apparently a loss in the number of born Catholics, which became disturbingly [414] large when one realized that the natural increase by excess of births over deaths, would alone mount into the hundreds of thousands. A few months later appeared Dr. Ross's article. What better place to have this disturbing problem solved than in the Review, a magazine for the discussion of problems affecting the priestly ministry? Like every other priest in the country, I am glad to learn that any story based on the Directory figures is, as Mark Twain observed of the report of his death, "slightly exaggerated".

Secondly, Fr. Shaughnessy pictures the writer as charging that the Church in America is "decadent, corrupt, and corroded to the heart," and as attacking "the good faith of bishops, priests, and people". Why? Because of the view I expressed that "we have unwittingly and unwillingly contributed vast annual quotas of born Catholics to swell the ever-growing army of the churchless around us." But this is a complete non sequitur. Even if the loss were so great as one out of every forty, it would not be a direct reflexion [sic] upon our bishops, priests, and people. The unfairness and the illogicality of such a charge can be clearly shown by a simple reductio ad absurdum. One out of twelve left Christ. Shall we say, therefore, that Judas's defection is a direct attack upon the character of Jesus Chrsit? Qui nimis probat, nihil probat.

Causes of Leakage

Let us come now to the causes of leakage. There is probably no priest in America who will question the fact that there are defections from the Church here, as there are in every country in the world. Not only now, but in every age since Judas sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver. What is the size of the annual leakage? There are apparently no reliable statistics by which this can at present be determined. But that it is too large to be ignored, is also the conviction of every priest out on the firing-line. There is probably scarcely a parish in America but has its quota of sheep "lost, strayed, or stolen". That few from our ranks are to be found in the constantly increasing army of over sixty-five millions of people, surrounding us on every side, who are unaffiliated in any active way with any church, is an illusion held by none of the bishops or priests with whom the writer has convassed [sic] the subject.

[415] In a recent address, Cardinal Mundelein pointed out that, with the streams of immigration stopped, the growth of the Church will be effected [sic] by gaining converts and stopping defections. But in order to stop defections it is necessary first to discover their causes. In order that the study might reflect something like a cross-section of the observations and experience of the bishops and priests of the country, about forty personal letters were sent in December and January to prelates, pastors, and priests engaged in education and acting as editors in various parts of the United States. In addition, about ten laymen who are distinguished for their services to the Church, and who have unusually wide contacts, were consulted. The response manifested a degree of interest on the part of bishops, prelates, members of the secular and regular clergy, as well as of laymen, that was little short of a revelation to the writer. All but about three responded. Many went out of their way to say that the investigation was most timely and that nothing but good could result from a frank and courageous facing of the causes of leakage.

1. Lack of Priests and Churches.

One of the fundamental causes for leakage has been the lack of an adequate number of priests to provide ministrations of religion for a population which in a little more than a century and a half has spread over a vast wilderness of forest and prairie stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In this incessant trek of vast migrations to the West, it was inevitable that great numbers of people would find themselves in settlements where there was neither priest nor church, and where a priest would not be seen for years. Despite the heroism of those pioneer priests and missionaries, the vast expanse of territory made it simply impossible for them to reach the myriad settlements which sprang up everywhere in the marvelous epic of the making of America.

The carving of a vast empire out of a virgin wilderness covering an expanse of over three thousand miles in a little over a century and a half, has had as its inevitable concomitant the dispersion of uncounted numbers into settlements where the ministrations of religion could not possibly be secured. The result has been that great numbers—whose magnitude we can [416] only conjecture—deprived of contact with priest, sister, or teaching brother, have been lost to the faith.

The conditions described are still to be found in some degree in the missionary diocese of the South and West. A bishop in the Southwest informs the writer of parishes in his dioceses which cover over a hundred miles before the nearest parish is reached. There are families in remote parts of these parishes, comprising a territory larger than some whole dioceses in Europe, which can be reached only a few times a year. Priests who have labored in missionary dioceses in the West and South have reported visiting out-of-the-way settlements and encountering families who had not had the ministrations of a priest either to baptize their children or bury their dead for over a decade.

It was because of the conditions such as this that Bishop Kelley established the Extension Chapel Car, to bring the comforts of religion at least periodically to thousands of scattered settlements in remote districts of our country. The erection of hundreds of little mission churches by the Extension Society and the sending of priests to minister to them occasionally have undoubtedly served to rescue many thousands who otherwise would have lapsed, due to circumstances over which they had little or no control.

The evidence of lapses due to this factor are not, however, confined to the South or West. There are scars to be found in probably the great majority of counties in our land. Take, for instance, the heart of Illinois, where the Church is vigorous and well-organized. From the church in which the writer ministers you can travel in one direction over an arterial highway thirty-five miles before you come to another Catholic church. Yet along that highway you pass through eight towns, villages, and settlements in which there is not even an out-mission. For fifteen years the writer has read in the local newspapers of marriages and burials of scores of people with distinctively Irish Catholic names—the services taking place in Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, or Disciples' churches.

According to pioneer priests they are the descendants of families which settled there in the early days when priests were very few and they have been for over half a century without [417] the ministrations of priest or church. The result is that there is scarcely a vestige of Catholicity left in the families throughout this particular territory. Priests have informed the writer of many such territories where a similar story could be told. Indeed the question might well be raised as to whether there are many counties in the country in which evidence of the ruthless operation of this factor could not be found.

Dr. Charles P. Neill, who has brought honor to the Church by the distinguished record he has achieved in the friendly settlement of disputes between capital and labor, from the administration of President Roosevelt to the present time, lays great stress upon this factor. Incidentally Dr. Neill reports that Archbishop Ireland, strongly convinced, as a result of his long ministry and his wide observations, of a tremendous leakage, urged Dr. Neill to make a thorough investigation of its extent and causes. It is a real misfortune that the pressure of many duties prevented so able a scholar in the social and economic fields from undertaking such a systematic investigation many years ago. "I think there is no doubt," says Dr. Neill, "that there has been a tremendous leakage, and some valuable studies might be made in this field. A very thorough investigation should be made." Perhaps it might still be possible to secure Dr. Neill to direct such an investigation on a nation-wide scale, if it could be properly financed. The writer knows of no one more competent. The results would be invaluable.

Stressing especially the lack of priests, Dr. Neill relates how this was driven home to him at Johns Hopkins. "At an earlier period," he writes, "I think there was a tremendous falling off due to an environment in which there was lack of opportunities for the practice of the Catholic faith. This was brought forcibly to my mind a good many years ago when I was a student at Johns Hopkins. Another Catholic student and myself who were in the graduate department decided to attempt the organization of a Catholic society from among the graduate students in the Department of Economics. We went over the list of names and found such names as Riley, Callahan, Moran, and similar names which gave us reason for believing that they might be Catholics. We approached these students, to find that none of them were Catholics. Going into [418] the matter with them we found in practically all cases, that the families had originally been Catholic a few generations back. Some of them were from southern states where in the early generations the Church was very poorly organized and where probably they did not see a priest as often as once a year. One particular case impressed me very strongly where the student's name was M . . . , from Michigan. He told me that his family had moved to Michigan in the early days and were Catholics, but that there was no church organization in the section to which his grandfather had gone and that gradually they had drifted away from the Church entirely, although the descendants of his father's brother, who had remained in the east, were all still members of our Church."

2. Lack of Religious Instruction.

In the judgment of Bishop O'Hara and of a considerable number of the contributors to this investigation, lack of religious instruction is the largest single cause of leakage at the present time. Bishop O'Hara gives the following succinct statement of the case: "We have 18,000 churches and only 8,000 schools. Consequently, there are 10,000 groups of children who, under our futile system of Sunday schools, have very little chance to know what their religion is about. Our 2,500,000 children not in Catholic schools need to be better cared for. Real religious instruction, on the intellectual plane, is of course, by necessity, a matter of adolescents and adults. A mastery of the abstract principles of religion is only possible to minds somewhat developed. Here is a great weakness. The vast majority of young folks in America get secular training in high schools and large numbers in colleges, but comparatively few Catholics have religious education beyond the eighth grade. Adult religious education must keep pace with adult secular education—or religion must suffer a loss. The large number who cannot be brought to Catholics schools, have been very largely neglected."

The importance of this factor is likewise stressed by Monsignor Joseph H. McMahon, who ranks it as one of the two most prolific causes of defection. "In regard to this factor," Monsignor McMahon writes, "we find it almost impossible to get the children attending the public schools to come for religious instruction, or even to Sunday school. Once they [419] have been graduated from the elementary grades they are lost to us as a rule unless the home be thoroughly Catholic. This is unlikely, as, if it were so, the children would not be attending public schools. Of course parishes are to blame where there are not Catholic schools. In some cases the higher authorities have all the blame . . . Unless our children go from our elementary schools to Catholic high schools, (1) they never get more than an elementary education in their religion; (2) their association in public high schools dulls their faith, weakens their hold on the religious knowledge they possessed when leaving the elementary schools; (3) kills all devotional practices; (4) destroys any idea of making sacrifices for their faith; (5) gradually eliminates the supernatural from their lives and leaves them with the secular standard of worldly success as the one object worthy of achievement."

Similar stress is placed upon lack of religious instruction as second among the causes why so many Catholics are falling away to-day, by Fr. Joseph McSorley, C.S.P., who says: "there is too little education of the sort which will fit the soul of the individual for the trials—moral and religious—of life." Our people do not know their religion. We do not equip them with a personal apologetic with which they can meet the onset of hostile criticism, or even their own difficulties arising from modern unbelief and indifferentism."

That the problem of devising more effective means of reaching with careful systematic religious instruction the 2,500,000 children not in our parish schools, is one of the most urgent facing us to-day, is becoming increasingly apparent to pastors everywhere. Until this gap is plugged, it seems inevitable that a continued leakage of large proportions will occur. Readers are probably aware of the two means which Bishop O'Hara has devised of meeting this problem, at least in part—the religious vacation school and the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Dr. Matthew Smith of The Denver Register calls attention to another practice instituted by Bishop O'Hara for reaching with a religious message people who would otherwise go untouched.

"It has always been my opinion," says Dr. Smith, "that our rural churches were used too little. If a priest goes only once a month, that is no reason why the church should remain locked [420] at other times. Bishop O'Hara has the people gathered together in every mission each Sunday morning for the recitation of the Rosary, reading of the Epistle and Gospel by one of the men, and then a catechism lesson for the youngsters and a study-club session for the adults. The results have been startling. The idea is very old—it is merely an adaptation of the catechist method to our rural missions. If it had been followed a generation ago, thousands who are now Methodists, Baptists, or nothing, would be Catholics. May the movement started in Great Falls spread!"

3. Lack of Home Training

It would seem difficult to overstress the basic importance of proper home training. Church and school will labor in vain, unless the home supports and reenforces [sic] the ministry of the other two agencies. It has been the experience of priests, sisters, and teaching brothers that a bad home environment will often speedily nullify the teaching imparted in church and school. A zealous priest who has spent about a quarter of a century in the ministry states the case well. "My experience has brought me into contact with thousands of young Catholics, and I am convinced that the kind of home they come from is much more important than whether they went to a Catholic school or not. Generally speaking, neither the church nor the school can make up for home deficiencies. The home remains the most important agency for religious training and the formation of character. One reason, of course, for the failure of so many homes to give proper Catholic training is the general break-down of the home. But another reason is the emphasis placed on Catholic schools. In September our people hear sermons that seem to say they fulfill their responsibilities as parents if they send their children to a Catholic school. For every such sermon, there should be a second one to emphasize the duties of parents at home for the religious education of their children. In line with this, our schools—at least high schools and colleges—should be doing more than they are to train our young people to fulfill their parental duties later on. And our parishes should strive to develop some machinery for adult education looking in the same direction."

Proper home training is of supreme importance. It must be made focal in our thinking. There has been apparently [421] too much reliance upon other agencies, too great a tendency to shift the unescapable duties of parents to the shoulders of sisters and priests. There is need of driving home to parents the stern realization that upon the fidelity with which they discharge their divinely appointed duties of training their children in the knowledge, love, and practice of their holy religion, the continued growth of God's Church in America will largely hinge.

While the above is only the scratching of the surface of the causes of leakage, and only a fragmentary reflexion of the convictions expressed in over a hundred pages of letters on the writer's desk, it may suffice as the first study of the causes of leakage and of methods of stemming them. Loyalty to Christ and His holy Church does not require that we ignore defections, but that we search for them with eager and open eyes, and upon finding them that we strive by might and main to lessen and eliminate them.

Seated at Jacob's well, the Master pointed toward the Samaritans thronging toward Him, and addressed to His apostles the message that comes to us to-day with peculiar urgency: "Behold! I say to you, lift up your eyes and see the countries: for they are white already to harvest." Until the last sheaf of human souls is gathered unto the eternal hills, and placed at the feet of the Divine Master, the priests of America will struggle and labor and pray, conscious that the stars in their courses are fighting for us. No matter how the tide of victory ebbs and flows, we know that God, and everlasting truth and the "victory which overcometh the world, our faith" are on our side.

John A. O'Brien.

Champaign, Illinois.

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Source: John A. O'Brien, "Causes of Catholic Leakage," Ecclesiastical Review 86 (April 1932): 412–421.

The Power of Hymns to Refresh (1890)

[552] We were delighted with the hymns, we sung them with all our heart, and gradually, by the sweetness or the energy of the singing, the thoughts and the maxims, and the most noble sentiments of the faith, were grafted in our souls. To say the truth, it was the life of the Catechism. Without the hymns, in spite of the zeal and the skill of our Catechists, it would all have been very cold. When, at the signal given by M. Lacombe, we all began to sing, it was like a revival of zeal and energy throughout the Catechism. After a very serious Instruction, which had kept us closely attentive for half an hour, and bent down, pencil in hand, over our note-books, we sometimes felt wearied and our thoughts began to wander; but all at once some beautiful hymn was given out, which cheered us up and at the same time made us attentive again, which often touched us, and always interested and rested us. Certainly, for me, it was the hymns more than anything which converted me and bound me for ever to religion.

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Source: Félix Dupanloup, The Ministry of Catechising, trans. by E. A. Ellacombe (London: Griffith Farran Okeden & Welsh, 1890), 552.

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In a book called The Ministry of Catechising, which originally appeared in French in 1868 (an English translation appeared in 1890 in London), Bishop Felix Dupanloup recalled memories of his First Communion:

We were delighted with the hymns. We sung them with all our heart, and gradually, by the sweetness or the energy of the singing, the thoughts and maxims of the faith were grafted in our souls. To say the truth, it was the life of the Catechism. Without the hymns, it would all have been very cold. For me, it was the hymns more than anything which converted me and bound me forever to religion.

While we know that the Mass itself is not the optimal place for hymns, which belong more correctly in the Divine Office (with the exception of the Gloria and, if one considers it a hymn, the Sanctus), nevertheless there is an important truth to which Dupanloup bears witness: the value of singing together beautiful vernacular religious songs that have the power to shape the senses, imagination, and memory, and through them, to shape the heart and mind.

We are so blessed with a rich repertoire of famous Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany carols, hymns, and songs, and we should use them abundantly in our homes, in youth groups, in prayer meetings or Adoration, when caroling in the neighborhood, visiting a nursing home or prison, or any other appropriate setting. Let us not surrender the world of sound to secular content, but fill it with joyful singing! It is, in more ways than one, a corporal and spiritual work of mercy.

Children, especially, deserve to have glowing memories of carols, just as Dupanloup recounts. This is a preaching of the Gospel “before the age of reason,” a preaching to all the powers of the soul, not just to the intellect, which has been excessively emphasized in recent decades. Catechesis begins with the senses and the imagination.

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Source: Peter Kwasniewski, "Happy 200th Birthday, 'Silent Night' — and Why Singing Carols is So Important," New Liturgical Movement (Dec. 24, 2018), http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2018/12/happy-200th-birthday-silent-night-and.html.

The Power of Hymns to Move (1890)

[66] But it is not only parents who are influenced by the Catechism, gentlemen; I have seen men of the world, worldly women, high and great personages, laid hold of, conquered, overcome by the sight of a Catechism, by these holy hymns, by the voices, by the souls of these little children.

[67] You will tell me, perhaps, this is difficult to understand, for that after all these hymns are very indifferent poetry. Not always, gentlemen; among these hymns there are some that Racine would not have been ashamed of, there are even some of his; but whatever they were, they were sung with such an enthusiasm, with such expression, with that deep and powerful expression which only the pure feeling for heavenly things gives to the soul;[1] and I have seen the irreligious subdued, conquered by the irresistible power of these holy songs. And observe, too, gentlemen, I am speaking of times which were not favourable [sic] to religion; it was the time when the Archbishop's palace was pillaged, when crosses were thrown down, when Priests were publicly insulted in the streets of Paris.

I can see now one of these men, who had had the curiosity and the patience to remain throughout the whole two hours of the Catechism, and who at the end said to me with a tone of great emotion, "It is really wonderful that you can thus keep together all this little audience; it is a strange secret—to be able to keep four hundred children, for two hours, quiet, motionless, and happy."

He understood nothing about it, and I saw that he did not.

I replied to him, "Ah, sir, it is true; you have seen it, these two hours have passed like one minute; but believe me, it is God Who has done it; if He were not with us in this Chapel, we should not succeed in this; and it seems to me that you yourself have been interested."—" Yes," he said, "it has singularly touched me, and I shall come to it again, if you will allow me."

I remember also a Priest, a great preacher, but a stranger to the work of the Catechisms; he had come there to see what was going on. When it was over, he could not contain the emotion he had felt, and he said to me, "I thought I saw the sanctifying Spirit Himself hovering under the vaults of this [68] Chapel, over these dear children." I did not refuse this praise—it was true. It was on the Monday evening of the Retreat for the first Communion; they had sung the hymn "Hélas, quelle douleur!" It was this hymn specially which had so thrilled the heart of this Priest, and I had been as much moved by it as himself.

But enough. In our next discourse we will go yet more into the bottom of all these things.

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Footnotes:

1. I have no hesitation in saying that through this, a harmony, a musical perfection is attained, which I have never met with elsewhere.

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Source: Félix Dupanloup, The Ministry of Catechising, trans. by E. A. Ellacombe (London: Griffith Farran Okeden & Welsh, 1890), 66–68.

The Importance of Hymns in Catechism (1890)

[179] SIXTH DISCOURSE.

THE HYMNS (Cantiques).

One of the things which can best help to give an interest and to put life into Catechisms,—as it is in all Confraternity or other religious meetings,—is the singing of hymns.

The singing of hymns makes children love the Catechism, it rests them, it charms them though still edifying them, while refreshing them it leads them to God, it gives an impulse to everything, and sometimes produces the very deepest impression upon souls.

A hymn well sung often does more for the conversion of children, and even for the greatest sinners, than the most moving exhortations.

I have been always so convinced of this, that if it had been proposed to me to conduct a Catechism without singing hymns, it would have been proposing to me an impossibility; and one year, when I had only seven children to prepare for their first Communion, three boys and four girls, yet nevertheless I made them sing hymns, and they sang them with delight.

But here I must enter into some preliminary details; I must also trace back these things to their highest source.

I shall therefore treat in succession: (1st) on sacred singing in general; (2nd) on the particular advantages of singing hymns at the Catechisms; (3rd) on the Manual of hymns for the Catechism. And first of all, on Sacred Singing.

I.

Next to the Divine sacrifice and the Sacraments, two things are all-important in religion and in public worship: the Word of God and sacred music.

[180] The one supports, animates and strengthens the other. By the one, God causes His voice to be heard by the people; by the other, the people lift up their voice to God. And thus we may venture to say that the music of the Church is equal to the Word, and that it is also inspired by God. Who, indeed, has not felt the Divine inspiration in our admirable liturgical chants?

Yes, the singing the praises of God in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, this singing being led, strengthened and improved by the organ, which seems to belong to religion, is one of the most powerful means we possess for influencing souls, and lifting them up to Heaven. If we would save them, it is not enough to speak to them of God, we must make them speak to God, and how? By prayer, by adoration, by thanksgiving, and above all by that worship which consists in singing the praises of God; there, besides the expression of our needs, we have thanksgiving and adoration; there the most lukewarm become fervent, the most fervent are lifted up yet higher; sinners are moved, subdued, they sing out their remorse, the condemnation of their faults, the happiness of repenting of them.

If you do nothing but preach, whether more or less well; if you do not let them sing, their souls will sink into weariness, and soon they will not know what to do or to say in relation to God.

You know how S. Augustine relates his experience: "What emotion I felt, how many tears did I shed when listening to the melodious concert of hymns and sacred songs which echoed in Thy Church! While my ear yielded to the charm of these Divine harmonies, my heart was sweetly flooded with the pure waves of Thy truth, with impetuous ardour [sic] it broke out in holy impulses; my tears flowed in torrents, and it was happiness to me to shed them."

This, gentlemen, is one of the secrets of nature, or to speak more rightly, of Providence. Singing is one of the noblest and strongest ways of expressing the feelings of the soul. As S. Augustine again has said, "Cantat amor!" Singing is love; thus everything sings in nature, everything sings in [181] heaven. It is the enthusiasm of the heart. When any kind of feeling within us reaches a certain degree of depth and strength, it naturally gives itself out in song, and then all at once it acquires a wonderful power of communicating itself to others. It moves souls. Whence comes it! What is the secret of this mysterious relation between musical things, cadence, rhythm, harmony, melody, and the deepest powers of our being? I know not. But it is a fact; this is why everything in the soul sings; why all that is noble, ardent, generous, passionate breaks out into song. And sacred song also, and more than all, is enthusiasm; but it is the enthusiasm of all the greatest, the purest, the best feelings of man's heart. Thus, in a Christian congregation, it affects all, it animates, it lifts up, it charms; it excites the weak, the strong, the lukewarm, the fervent, the good, and even the wicked; who has not at some time seen it? Who, for instance, has been able to listen without emotion to the united voices of the crowds under the vaulted roofs of our churches, or to a chant sweetly echoing from the deep and inaccessible retreats of a monastery? But if the singing of the Church is to produce such an effect, it must be really religious singing, as perfect as possible; and above all, it must be popular, that is to say, sung by all the faithful.

I have said to you often, gentlemen, and not without reason, that when the time comes that you have taught your parishioners to sing the Psalms and hymns, then your parishes will be won. From that time, they will love their Church and their Pastor. People who have sung joyfully and with all their heart, love what they have sung, they love the place where they have sung, the pleasant recollection attaches them to it; also they love those with whom they have sung. Would you then have them love God and virtue, and the Church, let them in the church sing the praises of God and virtue.

You have difficulty in bringing them to pray; begin by giving them a taste for hymns; make them sing; for to sing is to pray, it is to pray fervently, sometimes even with transport.

[182] This is true above all with children. The singing of the hymns in well-conducted Catechisms, as also at any time, the singing of Psalms, may sometimes become, on the lips and in the heart of these dear children, the most fervent prayer.

Not only is to sing to pray; but you need only think for a moment, and you will see that even in the singing of hymns there is included the two great means of religious influence of which we spoke a few days ago, Instruction and Exhortation.

For my own part, I believe without any doubt that the singing of hymns during the Catechism is one of the most powerful means for at the same time instructing the children soundly, touching their heart, lifting up their soul, and converting them. And what I say now of the Catechisms and the children, you know that I would say the same for the parochial services provided for all the faithful.

And, in fact, all the truths of the faith, all the great moral precepts, all the most urgent motives for flying from evil and practising [sic] goodness, are to be found on every page in a collection of hymns and sacred songs. And what is also most valuable is, as S. Paul says, that in sacred singing, every one instructs and exhorts himself, without need of any other preacher: "Docentes et commonentes cosmetipsos psalmis, hymnis et canticis spiritualibus" (Col. iii. 16). Now is it not a matter of experience that the mind accepts more readily what in this way it says to itself, and that the heart is more strongly though gently impressed? Above all, if the words are helped, as in this case, by that powerful influence which music exerts over the senses, the imagination, and the feelings; that sort of influence which we call a charm.

Hymns, then, both instruct and exhort, but they have further this very great advantage, that they oblige the children at the same time to make all sorts of religious acts, acts of faith, of hope, of love, of contrition, of good resolve, &c. All these acts, in fact, are to be found in the hymns.

It will be said perhaps by several, that these acts are only on their lips. No, gentlemen, such acts cannot be only on their lips, they cannot be frequently brought into remembrance by sacred singing, without the heart gradually [183] becoming familiar with them, taking pleasure in them, and at last thoroughly entering into the feelings they express.

Besides, in the Catechism, one is not confined to having the hymns sung; they are explained; they are developed; the beauty of them is shown to the children; they are made to feel their force and unction; and there is no kind of discourse to which they are more alive.

I have had a thousand experiences of this, all more astonishing and delightful one than another. It was by the singing of the hymns that I could do something even with the most hopeless children. If a child with whom we had been able to do nothing, up to the very end of the week-day Catechism, all at once began to sing the hymns, we said: He is saved. And in fact, every day we saw the most delightful changes being worked in him. He became thoughtful, attentive, pious, very soon even penetrated with compunction, and by the end of the Catechism and the Retreat, he showed some times a fervour [sic] which was most touching.

And even when we were uneasy about an entire Catechism of first Communion, when the great work of converting all these young souls was not being accomplished according to our desires, we redoubled our zeal, not only in instructing and exhorting them, but also in making them sing the hymns well. We all sang with them.[1] The parents who were present at the Catechism often sang with us; we never allowed a single child to be there without his Manual in his hand, and without singing with all his heart; and not a week, not a fort night passed that we did not discover in them those signs of progress which made us happy again.

Thus I have always believed, gentlemen, and what I see every day in this diocese confirms me in the belief, that every Curé who knows how to organize perfectly—not only in his [184] Catechisms, but throughout his parish—the sacred music, to be sung not only by the choir but by all the people, will not have to wait long before he sees faith and piety flourishing again, together with a love for the Church and her holy offices. Several of you have already gained this result in the Catechisms of Perseverance and in confraternities, and it is most desirable that you should have the same success in the general congregations of the parish, by letting the faithful sing, whether at High Mass or at Vespers.

But if you desire that this sacred music should become altogether popular in your parishes, the way is to teach it to the children in the Catechisms. Yes, teach them to chant, in Latin, the Kyrie, the Gloria, the Credo, the Psalms for Sunday, these which have been consecrated by the usage of the Church, and which are so easy to understand, and some well-known hymns.

The most beautiful sacred hymns have been inspired by the real Presence of our Lord in the Eucharist: the Ave Verum, O Salutaris, Tantum ergo, Adoro Te, supplex, Lauda Sion; if possible, let your children learn these by heart; let them learn also the Litanies of the Blessed Virgin, the Inviolata, and even our admirable Stabat; and besides all these, some of the hymns in the vernacular from the Manual: thenceforth, the spirit of grace and of prayer will not be slow to descend upon them, and through them on all your parishioners. The parish in Paris, where the congregational singing is best, is Saint-Sulpice, for it is the parish where for so long a time sacred singing has flourished in the Catechisms.

Besides, nothing is more easy than to teach the children to sing all this. I see, in the greater number of parishes, if the Curé only throws a little zeal into it, that not only the children, but the whole congregation, sing gladly and very well, if the choir and the ophicleides [i.e. a brass instrument] allow them.

[185] II.

Singing hymns has, besides, gentlemen, other advantages, less exalted apparently, but yet greatly valued by those holy and famous Catechists whose example I have set before you.

And first, if well arranged, and alternating with the other parts of the Catechism, the singing prevents weariness in the children, it refreshes them, it rests them after the more serious exercise which has just finished, and it prepares them for that which is about to follow. And with these young natures, nothing is more necessary, in a Catechism which ought to last two hours, and in which so many serious and important things have to be said.

"It must be considered," says Fénélon, "that children's heads are weak, that at their age they are only alive to pleasure; and yet people expect from them an exact propriety and seriousness which they themselves would not be capable of."

The admirable S. François de Sales was quite alive to this, when desiring, by singing hymns, to rejoice the hearts of the children whom he was catechising [sic].

"The hour over, a devout hymn was sung, either to a tune, or simply intoned, or with the organ, the hymn itself being composed by the blessed man, or some other; certainly he did sometimes, as a sort of recreation, give his mind to this sort of poetry; or else he would choose some psalm of David, and give it to the musicians to set to a tune."

Fénélon has remarked that it was by the pleasure of poetry and music that maxims of virtue and polish of manners were introduced among the Hebrews and the Greeks. "Little as one knows of history, we cannot doubt that it was the common practice for many centuries." It is at least certain that, from Apostolic times, it has been the practice of the Church, which has desired, by means of sacred music, to offer to the faithful, and specially to children, an easy way of being instructed in religion, and also to excite earnest and sublime feelings after virtue in their souls.

We read in the Life of Saint François Xavier that he composed hymns for his Catechumens, and that he went so far as [186] to set to music the Lord's Prayer, the Angelic Salutation, and the Apostles' Creed. His historian relates that not only did he by this means banish all the bad songs which the new Christians had sung before their baptism, but that he also supplied this Christian community with a new means of edification. "For the hymns of the holy missionary so pleased men, women, and children, that they sang them day and night, both at home and out in the country." S. Charles Borromeo produced similar effects at Milan, by the hymns which he caused to be sung at his Catechisms. M. Alain de Solminihac, Bishop of Cahors, also put into verse the Ten Commandments and the Apostles' Creed, so that his people might be able to sing them.

Finally, and this last advantage is not unimportant, singing the hymns helps to keep up order and silence, and prevents the distraction of the children, at certain moments when it is almost inevitable. For instance, those who are accustomed to Catechisms know that when an exercise comes to an end, the children make a confused noise, such as one hears in churches after the first point of a sermon; they take their books, they hastily open their hymn-books, sometimes they will ask their neighbours [sic] a question, or even the Catechists; as if, wearied with the attention they have been giving, they are trying now to make up for it. The same sort of thing happens when they are going away after the Catechism; one form after another gets up all together, they defile [sic] into the aisles while other children are leaving their places to follow them, and others again to follow on. Well, if the precaution has been taken to make the children sing at that time, the sound of the music will cover the noise; they will not be aware of the noise which their movement must cause, and by this pious device you accustom them to feel that calmness and quiet are never absent from the Catechisms.

I borrow these practical observations, which are of real importance, from the excellent Méthode de S. Sulpice.

But, I ought to add, if the singing of hymns is to be really profitable, the Head Catechist, ought to give it his greatest attention, he ought frequently to remind the children that [187] their hymns are prayers, and he should explain them in such a manner that the children will understand the sense and enjoy the words. One very necessary point is that they should never be allowed to scream in singing, the youngest are certain to do it. It must be stopped at once. It should be immediately and very severely rebuked and warned against. Neither must there be any hurry in the singing, though at the same time it must not be allowed to drag—slowness is sometimes unbearable to children. It is easier, particularly for boys, to sing a little fast than too slowly.

The Head Catechist should be constantly occupied in making those sing who are not singing, in moderating the voices, in directing the whole; and for this purpose, his great duty is to arrange, prepare, and study the hymns well which he means to be sung at the Catechism, and to have the list, of which he gives a duplicate to the organist, quite ready. Without this precaution, the chances are that the same hymns will be always sung, perhaps two or three which do not suit either the circumstances,[2] or the festivals which are being celebrated, or the needs of the children. The Manual of which I have already spoken to you is a great help, gentlemen, in this respect, not only for the children, but also for the Catechists. In conclusion, I will say a few words concerning this book.

III.

The Manual for Catechisms has been composed chiefly with the view of helping such of the parochial Clergy as have the charge of the important ministry of Catechising. It sets forth to the Catechists and to the children the whole thing, the order and course of all that is done in the Catechisms of first Communion and of Perseverance, and serves as a guide to their piety through the whole course of the year; it is like a Paroissien, like a book of offices, where every meeting, every festival, every solemn time is presented in succession with [188] everything which belongs to it, and which helps to teach the spirit of it, and grasp its special object, as Billets, Admonitions, Hymns, Prayers, &c.

It is easy to see how useful all this order is, and what interest it gives to the different parts of the Catechism. How different, for instance, it is on the day of first Communion, when you are desiring to stir up the piety of the children, and make them feel the beauty of the services, if they have to look out in a collection, in the midst of a thousand different things, for here a prayer, there a hymn, for the acts of thanksgiving, &c., in another place; or on the other hand, everything which goes to make up this great and touching function is given to them in order and completeness!

I need not say, gentlemen, that in well-arranged Manuals the first Communion, Confirmation, and the week-day Catechism which prepares for them, have always been the object of very special care, and they form the most interesting part of the Manual. The first Communion is there treated as a great event, the approaches to it being gradually unfolded. The children are followed step by step, from the first meeting of the week-day Catechism, from their consecration to the Blessed Virgin, up to the important day on which, after most serious self-examination, they make their general confession. Then begins the immediate preparation for the first Communion. And then come the solemn meetings in Retreat, up to the great and happy days of Absolution, of first Communion, and of Confirmation. Finally, all this is crowned by the Renewal of Baptismal vows in the first Communion, by the festival devoted to perseverance, and by the gathering for farewell; and all so well combined that one feels the powerful influence of that Divine Spirit, Who, in the Church, has inspired the men of God, to whom we owe all the present beautiful organization of our Catechisms.

In the Manual upon which I was engaged, and which I can venture to recommend to you, because of the extreme care which was bestowed on it, I was afraid at first that we had given too many prayers for this particular time; but we could only congratulate ourselves when we saw how eagerly the [189] children seized on them as food for their devotion, and what fervour they kindled in them; never had our first Communions been so happy, above all never had the Confirmations been so edifying and so devout.

We also inserted, at the end of the morning prayer, a method for meditation, simple, short, and within the children's grasp. At the end of the work also there are a considerable number of meditations composed solely for them, and we have had the opportunity of seeing how easily children of all classes understand and practise this form of devotion, which is the foundation of all Christian living and the most certain guarantee for perseverance.

We hope also that we have made a happy choice of festivals for the Catechism, and that they may be suitable in all parishes. For the first festival in the little Catechisms for boys and girls, we have those of S. Joseph and the Childhood of the Blessed Virgin, and for the more solemn festival, the Love of Jesus for children; as the first festival of the Catechisms of Perseverance, we have that of S. Louis of Gonzaga for the boys, and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin for the girls; and for the more solemn festival, the Holy Childhood of Jesus. 

The repetition and explanation of Billets is undoubtedly one of the most interesting features of our meetings. It pleases the children wonderfully; instruction is conveyed in the most pleasant manner, sometimes even so playfully as to excite a smile, and it reaches their hearts with all the greater ease. At one time this exercise was very rare, and often lost a great deal of its interest, because the children, whose place it was to repeat, could hardly be heard. We have brought it back into more frequent use, and upwards of a hundred Billets, written for all the important festivals of the year, supply the children with a consecutive course of useful instructions; and since, by the help of the Manual, they have been able to follow the recitations, we have observed the quite new interest which they take in them. We have also added for each festival an act of consecration, suggested by the festival itself, and likely to lead the children on to form generous resolutions.

[190] As to the hymns, we have bestowed great pains on them; the greater part have been corrected, and moreover:

1. We have distributed them according to the festivals, the periods or times to which they belong; and thus, joined with the Billets, the Admonitions, prayers, &c., they form so many complete offices.

2. We have placed a title at the head of each hymn, which marks and explains its subject sufficiently to draw the attention of the children to it beforehand, and thus prepares them to enter into the spirit and feeling of the hymn.

I have now given you the contents of this book, which is called the Manual for Catechisms.

IV.

I will only now add two very important practical observations, and with these I shall conclude:

1. If you wish the children to sing, and to sing well, I cannot too often repeat, you must sing with them; every Catechist must also have his Manual, and use it. I have known children who for half an hour have not sung a verse, all at once begin to sing delightfully; simply because their Catechist had turned to them, looked at them, and said, " Sing, my children"; then singing himself, they were incited to sing too.

2. You must also know how to give out the hymns well, always saying the page as well as the hymn, so that the children may never be uncertain, nor the singing feeble. These simple words, well pronounced, with an audible voice, are enough: "Hymn p. 273, 'Mon bien-aimé ne paraît pas encore,'" or perhaps, "We are going to sing the 'Laudate, pueri,' p. 29." Having said this, then immediately begin to sing with vigour [sic] and boldness.

But for all this, I repeat, the Priests who support the singing, and above all the one who leads it, must stand, conversâ facie ad pueros, facing them, like the leader of an orchestra, who does not stand behind his musicians, or at the side, but at their head and facing them.

3. Hymns à refrain have an excellent effect, and are [191] generally very popular. The alternating of voices sung by the choir, with the refrain sung by the whole body, is sometimes exceedingly good.

The effect is not the same if the voices are alternated by the organ. The interruption of the voices by the organ playing alone, nearly always stops all ardour [sic] or enthusiasm. The choir, with the refrain, on the contrary, keeps it alive.

I have never had a single experience favourably [sic] to the use of the organ in this way. I have, on the contrary, always found that the organ played between the couplets or verses had an undoubtedly bad effect. It stops all enthusiasm.

4. It must be an understood thing, the organ is only really of use for accompanying the singing, and strengthening the voices, unless it may be during the coming in or going out, or possibly that the voices may rest on occasion of any great fatigue. An organ playing alone and alternating with the voices is a thing never known but amongst ourselves. Besides, who has not heard complaints against these organs, on which are sometimes played such unsuitable tunes? What is wanted is, that the organ shall accompany all the verses to strengthen the voices, and that the children and the congregation shall sing everything themselves from one end to the other, without any interruption from the organ breaking in alone.

In this discourse, gentlemen, I have entered into many practical details; but I do not think any man of experience can regret it. Theory is necessary, and first of all I set myself to show you the theory of the Catechisms, in all its truth and all its beauty; but the more beautiful the theory, the more is it necessary, if it is to be realized, that we should be thoroughly instructed in practical details; for in this case the details alone contain a real teaching, they have an undoubted use of their own.

In our next discourse, gentlemen, we shall treat on a subject which is again of very chief importance for the great work of the Catechism, and for the Christian education of the children: we shall speak of Prayers at the Catechism.

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Footnotes:

1. It is needless to say that all Catechists ought to sustain and lead the children's singing. A Catechist who docs not sing with the children surprises them, does them no good, and with reason, for evidently he is not a man who understands his business. Either zeal or piety is wanting in him, or health. If it is his health, the children ought to be told of it. We never allowed ourselves even to say our Breviary during the singing of the hymns.

2. I have seen deplorable examples of this; I have known a hymn on the Last Judgment sung at the beginning of Mass, and the hymn which should precede Communion, "Mon bien-aimé ne paraît pas encore," ["My Beloved does not appear yet"] sung as the hymn for an act of thanksgiving.

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Source: Félix Dupanloup, The Ministry of Catechising, trans. by E. A. Ellacombe (London: Griffith Farran Okeden & Welsh, 1890), 179–191.