Successful Conversion Methods

      "The human soul is naturally Christian." This isthe key of conversions everywhere. There is no difference in this between thepeople of China, America or Africa. It is simply a question of reaching as manyas possible of them, with the message of Christian love. This obviously canbest be done by the laity who are one of themselves, who have the samebackground and are in daily contact with them. The head of an insurance agencyconverted three girls in his office; a housewife converted a neighbor family; afactory worker converted two fellow workers-that is the idea. Any priest willtell you that most of his converts come to the rectory or to classes onlythrough contact with a lay Catholic whom they love and respect. A successfulconvert program consists simply in promoting and multiplying these contacts, inhelping more Catholics to realize how they can imitate the insurance man, thehousewife and the factory worker. In America and China, as once in Palestine, aPhilip says to a Nathanael, "We have found the Messias. Come and see." Atpresent most of the laity feel themselves excluded from convert making becausethey think it consists chiefly of explaining doctrinal questions tonon-Catholics, which they do not feel capable of doing. We must help themunderstand that it is rather in bearing witness as Philip did.  

 

      We must appeal to man's inner need of Christrather than to his intellect. This is something any Catholic can do. If fiveper cent of our Catholics each made one convert each year, the number in thiscountry would be 1,500,000 annually instead of the present 120,000. Americacould be converted in forty years. To call this visionary and impractical wouldbe to put that label on the command of Christ Himself. God's grace is unlimitedand meant for all. Increasing the number of instruments God can use, by makingCatholics more alert to the apostolate and organizing them for it, would bringthis grace to a proportionately greater number. We are not putting all thepeople we should into contact with divine grace. Competent observers estimatethat there are 5 million persons in the United States ready to become Catholicsif properly approached. Father Clarence Krull wrote in The Priest that, on thebasis of replies during the last war by prospective and actual members of theArmed Services to the question: "What is your religion or religiouspreference?" there are in the United States, in addition to 30 millionCatholics, 30 million others who have some interest in the Church and wouldlike to know more about it." What a fertile field for a zealous laity! The MostRev. Charles F. Buddy, Bishop of San Diego, California, describes in America aconvert campaign organized throughout his diocese during 1951.  

 

      Committees of the most zealous and competentlaymen were formed in every parish under the chairmanship of the pastor, whobriefed them intensively on the technique of a tactful approach. The parisheswere divided into blocks or sections, with a captain and lieutenant for each.Special cards were used to get a report on each visit. In the whole diocese95,000 homes were visited by the workers in pairs, who introduced themselves asneighbors and extended an invitation to come to the Parish Inquiry Forum. Theyalso gave a cordial letter to the same effect signed by the pastor, and a smallpamphlet. All met with a gracious response, perhaps because the visiting teamswere mostly married couples who came as neighbors. Over 6,000 persons expressedinterest, 2,000 came to the classes, and nearly 5,000 lapsed Catholicsreturned. An insurance salesman who sold a million dollars worth of insurancein a single year has described his method. He kept a record, from which he knewthat for every fifteen calls, he got three interviews and made one sale,averaging about $6,000 per policy. Thus he knew just how many calls he wouldhave to make in a week to reach his goal. In the San Diego convert campaign italso took about fifteen calls to bring one person to Christ. In other words, ifwe had an organized program, we could count on about the same ratio of success.

 

     The trouble is, we do not have the program; the fifteen calls are not made andthere is no follow-up. In a Maryknoll parish in Japan, where the interestedpersons found by the visitors in convert making program were followed up by theLegion of Mary, about one in ten came to the Inquiry Class. This illustratesthe value of division of labor according to what each one can do. Many morepeople can be found to take part in an occasional visitation program, while thefollow-up by trained apostles makes it more effective. Some priests use husbandand wife Census Teams, who visit all the families in their area. Holy Name menand their wives could do this very well. Such teams can easily develop contactson a neighborly basis. The census should not be merely to discover theCatholics living in the area. It is also a valuable means of contact withpossible converts. If the one answering the door is a non-Catholic the visitorsdo not simply walk away, but try to enter into a friendly conversation. Theycan imitate Saint Francis Xavier, who praised the home or the children. Thismay be that family's first personal contact with Catholics, and it is vitalthat it make them feel these are neighbors worth knowing. The best hours tomake calls are from 11 A.M. to 4 P.M. on Sundays, and from 6:30 to 8:30 on weeknights. Census Teams have a tactful way of finding out what church the familybelongs to, and are ready to praise the zeal of its members. If they are notchurchgoers, the team says something on the value of religion to meet today'sproblems, how it contributes to the happiness of family life, how it has helpedthe speaker in these matters. Many people today feel the need of some guide andhelp in their lives; sects like the Jehovah's Witnesses are growing becausethey seek them out. Personal witness is the most effective kind of argument,and one that any Catholic can present. A little experience will show them howto suit it to the people they meet. A large proportion of our converts comefrom among the good people who belong to no church. They form over half thepopulation of this country. These methods of contacting converts apply theprinciples of Pope Pius XI, who said, "It is a great law of nature, as well asof grace, that similarity opens the door to rapprochement and affection . . ."   

 

      Thus in order to bring back to Christ thedifferent classes of men, it is above all necessary to recruit and form intheir midst auxiliaries of the Church who understand their mentality, who knowhow to speak to their hearts in a spirit of fraternal charity." "...  

 

      Each state of life will have its correspondingapostles: workers, apostles of workers; farmers, apostles of farmers; sailors,apostles of sailors; students, apostles of students." The Study Clubs of theConfraternity of Christian Doctrine are ideal for training Catholics to contactnon-Catholics. This practical application of their discussions would deepen andsustain their interest by giving them a feeling of personal achievement. Wehave only half learned anything until we are able to communicate it to others,and this is especially true of our Faith. The study-action technique is theideal method of instructing our people. At each meeting the members wouldreport on their contact activities. The Christopher News Notes tell of a nun ina Chicago high school who used Father Keller's You Can Change The World as asupplementary text in religion. The class resolved to get one convert apiece,and the result was thirteen converts within a few years. In many parishes theSaint Vincent de Paul Society has little to do because welfare organizationshave largely taken over assistance of the poor. What a field the members of theSociety would have if they undertook to visit non-Catholics, especially thosewithout church affiliations. Each member could easily find out who they are inhis own neighborhood. Today in many parishes few people need the corporal worksof mercy, but more than ever are in need of the spiritual ones. The originalpurpose of the Society was to perform the spiritual as well as the corporalworks of mercy. This is clear from the insistence of Frederick Ozanam, thefounder, on personal visits to homes to demonstrate Christ's spirit ofneighborly affection. Many exemplary Catholics, people with plenty of abilityand initiative, are unwilling to be members of the average parish societybecause they feel that the meeting is largely given up to routine details. Yetif they were pointed towards making convert contacts, the Holy Name Society,the Altar and Rosary, the Laymen's Association and other parish organizationscould be revitalized. The more zealous members could be formed into groups toplan their work and report on it at the meetings, e.g., Census Teams,Visitation Teams, or just plain good neighbors who take every opportunity tobring the love of Christ to others. The work of the teams would am be a matterjust between themselves and the priest; reports should be made to theorganization so that everyone in it feels that he has a share and be encouragedto participate. Much will depend on the emphasis and inspiration for convertmaking given by the priest. The fuel is there but the spark that fires it mustcome from him. If the attention of the people is constantly drawn to it, ifthey are guided and encouraged, they will make converts. That is what occurredin the cathedral parish of Denver, Colorado, which was among that pioneeredInquiry Classes in this country. Many Catholics brought inquiries to theclasses every year.  

 

      Father John A. O'Brien tells in his NCWC columnhow a husband and wife, themselves recent converts, brought thirty-six in oneyear. They studied each one and tried to show him how the Faith would satisfyhis particular need, his hunger for spiritual security in a cold andindifferent world. To contact the millions who feel something lacking in theirlives, Our Lord needs many more hands like those of this devoted couple. Thereare many of them to be found in every parish; they need only encouragement andtraining. The converts will come exactly in proportion to the number ofcontacts they make. That is the secret. Experience in China convinced us thatit was impossible to expect the congregation to become convert-minded withoutapostolic preaching, "in season and out of season." In the seminary we bad beentaught to plan dogmatic and moral sermons, but we had to add a third category -apostolic sermons. At least, every dogmatic and moral sermon was given anapostolic application. If our people are not apostolic, is it not because wepreach to them almost exclusively about their individual spiritual lives,rarely turning their mind outward towards the needs of others, which simplyfixes more strongly their natural tendency to individualism in religion? If wecould get each adult to make one apostolic contact a day the parish would bequickly transformed. Probably the greatest obstacle to developing theapostolate is inertia arising from deep-rooted habits and outlook. On the partof the laity, they have never had to do more than be on the receiving endspiritually; on the part of the clergy, we have always done everythingourselves. Clergy and laity must form a team. They already do it in financialdrives; why not an apostolic partnership for Christ?