Part 4. The Material and Moral Strength of Roman Catholicism (Cont.) (8)

As for the number of converts, it is impossible to determine it with precision, due to the lack of more or less complete and reliable data. But one can still form an approximate idea. The Catholic writer Robert Mullen determined in 1852 that the number of conversions over the previous twelve years, when precisely the period of conversions after the Oxford movement began, amounted to 20,000.[1] Fifteen years later another Catholic publicist determined this number at 30,000, thus showing an increase of ten thousand over fifteen years.[2] If one accepts this process as normal, then for the present time the number of converts can be determined at 40,000; but since in recent decades, due to the clarified causes, it has received greater intensity, it is necessary to add several thousand to determine the present figure, so that a figure of 45 or even 60 thousand will more correspond to reality. With this number is determined all the number of converts to the Catholic Church since the political independence of the country. In quantitative respect this number, as is evident, appears very insignificant and in this respect constitutes a barely noticeable ingredient in the general Catholic population. If it had only quantitative significance, then as not constituting one of the principal causes for the spread and strengthening of Roman Catholicism in America it could hardly even have a place in this investigation. But it has another important significance – qualitative or moral – and therefore deserves detailed investigation. It constitutes that vital root by which Roman Catholicism, as an exotic plant, is attached to American soil. Without it, it would be entirely a foreign plant on alien land and as such would not have organic connection with this land and at the same time would not have the pledge of its future organic development. Meanwhile, this root shows that Roman Catholicism has in itself sufficient vital force to become acclimated on new soil, and on this basis rest its chief hopes for the future. Such significance it acquires even greater importance in view of the qualitative composition of this number. A Catholic publicist said that the greatest number of converts comes from the most educated classes of society[3] and in this respect he is largely right. When reviewing a list of converts one is inevitably struck by the fact that they are predominantly indeed educated people, even by their very station – those people who consciously seek religious truth. From the examples of conversions cited above one could already have noticed that among them there is a considerable number of priests and teachers of various communities and particularly of the Episcopal Church, which has given even several bishops to Roman Catholicism from its midst. This fact is confirmed by more precise data. Thus according to the statement of a Catholic writer, in the course of the last fifty years (1815–1865) from the American Episcopal Church alone not fewer than 41 spiritual persons – priests and bishops – converted to Roman Catholicism.[4] This statement could be suspected of exaggeration, but it finds confirmation in Episcopal sources. Thus, in the Episcopal journal “Banner of the Cross” was printed a list of Episcopal clergy who converted to Roman Catholicism in the period 1815–1858 and in this list were entered 38 persons.[5] Among these are counted both priests and bishops, and some of the converts at present hold the position of bishops in the Roman Catholic Church.[6] Not a smaller number of spiritual persons, in the opinion of the Catholic writer, converted also from each of the other sects, especially from the Congregationalists and Unitarians.[7] And at the present time in newspapers one can often read of cases of conversion of priests of various Protestant communities to Catholicism, which testifies to the continuing process of acclimation of Roman Catholicism on American soil.[8] The qualitative significance to this phenomenon is given even further by the remarkable fact that converts are the most active and energetic champions of Roman Catholicism.[9] To confirm what has been said it is sufficient to name only two names – Brownson and Hecker. Brownson, who died in 1876, was one of the most remarkable men in America. Born into Presbyterianism, from early childhood he began to seek the true Church, passed through the religious sects of Protestantism until the most extreme sect of Unitarians, and, finding in them no satisfaction of his thirst for religious truth, finally turned to the Catholic Church and dedicated all his strength to its cause. Possessing high philosophical education and enormous literary talent, he founded his own journal “The Brownson’s Review”, which for thirty years served as a repository of his brilliant efforts and apologies in favor of Roman Catholicism. “As a Catholic publicist he was truly a great man, says a Catholic author, and accomplished a great work for which he deserves eternal remembrance. To this labor he dedicated the last thirty years of his life with gigantic energy”.[10] The other person named, namely Hecker, is none other than the well-known founder of the American order of Paulists, the present editor of the best Catholic monthly journal at the present time, “The Catholic World”. He was born in New York to Protestant parents and also devoted himself to the seeking of the true Church until he found it in Roman Catholicism. Hecker is a highly educated man, as are all members of the order he founded, and his articles constitute an ornament of the journal he edits. He is also the founder of the “Society of Catholic Publications”, which the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore pointed to as a model and which has brought incalculable benefit to the cause of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.[11] Finally one can point also to Mother Seton, daughter of a bishop of the Episcopal Church. Having converted to Catholicism, she dedicated herself with all her soul to the new Church, founded several charitable and educational institutions and the famous female Catholic college of St. Mary in Baltimore. “Without exaggeration it can be said, says a Catholic historian, that in this century there has not yet been a woman to whom the Catholic Church in the United States has been as much obliged as to Mother Seton”.[12] From other well-known converts to Roman Catholicism we name Bayley, who converted from the Episcopal confession and was archbishop of Baltimore until 1877,[13] and Wood, who after converting from Protestantism attained the highest sacred rank as archbishop of Philadelphia, which position he occupies at the present time.[14] The qualitative significance of the number of converts is further strengthened by the fact that many of the lay converts belong to distinguished and influential American families. “Romanism understands well the influence of persons with high social or political position, says a Protestant author, and therefore is always ready to take advantage of this influence. It will cross sea and land to make only a proselyte in the family of a senator, or governor, or judge, or someone in high military rank”.[15] The principal agency for these acquisitions is of course those numerous colleges and schools which are directed by Jesuits and other orders, both male and female, and many of which are specially intended for the children of the upper classes.[16] The significance of this agency in the work of conversion is witnessed by the fact that “at one time out of forty Protestant girls sent for education in a monastery in Montreal, thirty-eight became papists”,[17] and in general by the calculation of the Catholics themselves out of ten educated in monastic schools, seven convert to Catholicism.[18]

Given the importance of the Roman Catholic school in the sense of an agency for strengthening and consolidating Roman Catholicism on American soil, the question of the organization of this school acquires serious significance. But the Roman Catholic school serves not only as an agency for new acquisitions but also has greater significance as a means of protecting the Roman Catholic population from Protestant influence. In this respect Roman Catholicism, in order to preserve for itself this powerful means of catholicization, even entered into struggle with the State, which offered its own secularized school. Both this struggle and the goals and means of the contending sides revealed in it present valuable material for clarifying the position of Roman Catholicism in America, and therefore we devote a special section to the school question.

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