Armed with his maiden effort, the beginner asks to be heard in the Practice Class, and early arrangements are made for him.
He will find himself faced by an audience of Catholics who, for about twenty minutes, are determined to be anything but. Some of them have several tests to their credit, and are curious to see how newcomers will take the same hurdles. Many of them are converts with clear memories of life and thought outside the Faith, and quite ready, on this occasion, to recall the voice of other days. Here we have what I believe to be a unique feature of the Guild, i.e., the fact that any member can assist in the training of others within a week of entering the society.
The beginner lectures for about ten minutes, and then receives questions and objections. He must aim at being clear, firm and decisive. If questions are wide of the mark, he must say so, and decline them. Playing a wide may very easily result in being caught out. Good humor, as well as caution, is essential. His hearers, having worked all day, may be inclined for a little relaxation at his expense. This, too, is an important element in his training.
The chairman listens with care, for he must notice exactly what is the gap between the requirements of the subject, and what the candidate is in fact supplying. Sometimes between the two there is a great gulf fixed, but whether it be a crack or a canyon, the chairman will explain just what is needed to fill it and ensure a safe crossing.
This, of course, takes time, and the beginner may need this sort of treatment again and again before his lecture assumes clarity and his manner confidence. But if he is thirsty for criticism, he is, I believe, certain to arrive, and to be informed in due time by the chairman who has watched the closing of the gap, that he must “take a test”.
This latter ordeal takes place in private before an audience of two. One of them is a priest, for it is essential that the chairman should know and be able to express the mind of the Church on his subject. The other, a senior guildsman, represents this very mixed and complicated world of ours, and brings to the test-room the memory of very many outdoor meetings. So the beginner must, within the limits of his subject, satisfy the Church and the world.
This being so, he should suffer no despondency if he is given certain advice and asked to return in a few weeks. If he is successful, some of the credit is due to the people who trained him, and if he fails, much of the fault probably lies in the same direction. Failure in the test-room frequently spells success on the platform, for it ensures that our weaknesses are hammered out before we go into action.
Just Who Is the Guildsman?
When the passage has been safely made, and one or two tests stand to his credit, the new speaker should review his position. Most people like to know just where they stand, for only when their own feet are on solid ground can they securely reach out to help others. What is the status of the guildsman, or, more briefly, what is he?
He is a layman still, but unlike other laymen he is authorized by his bishop, through the society, to teach the Faith in public. He is a teacher–a catechist of the diocese–and truly represents the Church to those who gather round him.
This truth is rather strikingly brought home to a guildsman on the Hyde Park platform. From where he speaks he can see a long line of some forty meetings winding its serpentine way towards the Arch. Some of the speakers point accusing fingers in his direction, others are friendly or indifferent towards the Catholic cause. Yet in status he is essentially different from them all. He is not simply a man on a platform airing his views, or the representative of just another human society. He is a member of Christ”s Mystical Body, and authorized by that Body to teach in His name.
His Restrictions
There are two important limitations to his privilege. His field is bounded by the subjects in which he has been tested and passed, and he must speak under the guidance of a chairman.
In regard to the first, it should be noted that the most hoary senior, with a General License to his credit, does not despise the boundaries. He who can wander over all the wide domain of Catholic doctrine, prefers to follow a clear-cut road–always the most satisfactory way of getting somewhere. And the beginner”s restriction has the effect of putting his hand upon a particular plough and sending him in a definite and useful direction. His one junior subject may absorb his attention for months, and his harvest may be as rich as any man”s.
The presence of a chairman, too, is a source of strength, for it enables him to focus his attention upon his immediate problems, leaving the meeting as a whole in more experienced hands. To the speakers under his care, the chairman represents the Guild itself He brings to them, not merely his own ideas, but all the technique of a teaching society. It follows that he must be obeyed implicitly. He is the man at the helm, and the wheel must turn easily under his hand. As already hinted, these limitations are not with us always. The guildsman can widen his field in every direction, and reach the status of Senior and Chairman. Beyond this he may even be licensed, in course of time, to lecture and answer questions upon any point of Catholic doctrine within his diocese, so great is the confidence that the Church is prepared to repose in the trained layman.
It is not in status only that the guildsman differs vastly from the average man on a platform. The distinction lies also in his material, in which he is fortunate indeed. The fact is that we have exactly what all men need, and i~ abundant measure. Their souls require what we have to offer, as their bodies need sunshine, air and food. Our teaching matter has been supplied by God, who alone knows all men utterly. The position of the teaching Catholic is therefore unique.
The Hungry Feel No Hunger
But here we strike our supreme difficulty, and at the same time find the clue to our method. If our work is to give out to hungry men the food they essentially need, surely it should be easy! By this time they ought to be clamoring for baptism, and the erection of the Guild Crucifix should draw such crowds as no platform ever knew. By what 6trange perversity do men turn from that which alone can satisfy them? If the Faith is what they need, why do they not want it?
The answer is largely to be found in the fact of the Fall, which resulted in a shadow falling upon man”s intellect and a weakness entering into his will. But with regard to the average Englishman facing us today, a further explanation is to be found in our own recent history.
Until about four centuries ago the soul of our country had always been held in the firm hands of the ancient Church. At about that time, the arrival of a doctrine which relieved men of moral responsibility, the intrigues of a determined king and ordinary human weakness, combined to rob Our Lady of her dowry.
Average Listener an Indifferentist
In the centuries which followed many conflicting hands were laid upon the soul of England, but from the nature of the case these could never secure her as the single hands of the rejected Faith had done. The inevitable result was that, in the course of time, she shook herself free from them all, and stands before us today naked and unashamed, officially Christian but in fact pagan. The average Englishman is not a Catholic, but neither is he an Anglican, a Baptist or a Plymouth Brother. He is an indifferentist. And yet the old needs are with him still. He cannot escape them, for they are bound up with God”s purpose in creating him. He cannot kill them, he can only bury them alive, and that is what he has done. He cares little for past history. All he sees now is a hundred competitive sects, not one of which is in possession of England”s soul.
It is difficult for us to realize in our time the profound effect of a united Christian front from one end of the country to the other. As things are, religion appears to him highly speculative, and in any case he cannot be bothered. If any time is left over from his business and family affairs, he feels he deserves a little recreation. It seems that the ultimate question cannot be answered, and therefore he has ceased to ask it.
These considerations should leave us in no doubt in regard to our policy towards him. He has buried his need because he sees no hope of satisfaction. We, who can give him satisfaction, must resurrect his need.
Because that need is alive within the tomb, its resurrection needs no miracle. We have only to break down the walls, and this must be our first concern upon the platform. In our preparation we must look squarely at our subject, and see what vital human need is met and satisfied by it. The first section of our lecture must concentrate upon that need–not upon its satisfaction, but upon the need itself. We must show a man his present poverty before displaying to him the riches of the Faith.
And while we are doing this, our crowds will listen. People are always interested in themselves and their problems. They will be certain that no speaker would spend so much time and care upon a great human need unless he believed that he had some solution to offer. They will be ready to hear what it is. Against this white background we can paint the glowing colours of the Faith, and we must paint well. Just as our first section dealt with need without reference to satisfaction, so our second must deal with satisfaction without reference to proof. We must show that where the need was deep and far-reaching, the satisfaction is complete and comprehensive–so much so, that it bears the mark of the Divine and is too good not to be true.
If our subject is Confession, our crowds must understand the marvel of hearing a human voice saying, with divine authority, that our sins are forgiven. If it is Purgatory, they should appreciate the relief of doing something really practical for the dead, whose memory stirs so freshly within us. If it is Our Lady, then they should see the, consolation of a motherly and mighty intercession before the Throne of Christ. In the Catholic Faith reposes the answer to all life”s deeper problems, and we should let our crowds miss none of it. We must get them to see that what we have to offer is precisely what they need, if it happens to be true.
Proofs Should Come Last
Our final effort must be the abolition of that “if”, which means, in effect, the proofs, and these must be sound and suitable. To many people it will seem odd that this item should be placed last upon the agenda. Surely the whole point about Catholic doctrine is that it is true and revealed, not that it is attractive and palatable!
But our method is not a substitution for truth, or even a postponement of it. The fact that the Faith fits man”s needs like a glove has its own evidential value. Further, men must come to the proofs in a receptive frame of mind, or they will scarcely glance at them. Make a man want the Incarnation, and he will look very carefully into those records which tell us that sick men felt the human hands of God upon them.
A sound proof will be given a fair hearing by a sincere non-Catholic, once he sees that the point is worth proving. After all, it would be a strange gardener who first scattered his seed over hard virgin soil, and then afterwards brought out spade and fork to prepare the ground. Clearly, the seeds of truth must be sown in soil made ready to receive them, and after many years” experience this is certainly the accepted method of the Guild.
Many of the guildsman’s platform difficulties are closely related to his own attitude. Thus, if he mounts the platform looking like a lion-tamer, he will find a partly annoyed and partly amused crowd, very ready to express both moods. If, on the other hand, he really loves his audience, and that love finds expression in his manner, he will need no books on crowd psychology.
It is, of course, easy to love the sincere questioner, but the noisy heckler seems a very different proposition. He comes to us with rude interruptions and a biased frame of mind. There is a temptation to reserve a special attitude for him, which might be expressed as follows:
I speak severely to the boy,
And beat him when he heckles.
He only does it to annoy,
Because he knows it nettles.
But the nastiest heckler was created and redeemed, and we must love him on those grounds, quite apart from any question of feeling. We must deal with him carefully for his own sake, for miracles of grace are worked in soil which seems to us like solid rock: and also for the sake of the silent crowd, who must see that the Church has a perfect case against all comers. The fact is that we can afford to be sweet-tempered, for we have such backing as no man ever knew, and we shall find that our crowds are never inclined to support a scowl as against good humor.
Jesus’ Compassion to Be Ours
There must be real pity in our hearts. I say “real”, because “pity” is a very badly treated word. As used today it frequently carries a sneer, or at least a sense of superiority, and both elements we must avoid like the plague. There must be a genuine sorrow within us that anyone should be facing the difficulties of life and the terrors of the grave without the consolation and the light that is ours. Perhaps a safer word to set before us is “compassion”. “And He looked upon them with compassion, for they were as sheep having no shepherd.” Or, to quote the Guild Prayer-Book: “We must look unto our crowds as Christ looked down upon them from the Cross.” It will be seen at once that here we are treading upon ground where we need our clergy, our retreats and our spiritual life. There are many things ministering to what might be called the “head” of the Guild. There is a Master responsible to the bishop, and there is a governing Council. There are Committees and officials dealing with the training, the outdoor work and business in general. But the Guild must have a heart as well as a head, if it is to be a living, teaching body. The society, therefore, has its chaplains, its retreats, its prayers and meditations.
Cooperation of Guilds
Each guild makes its own arrangements and lives its own life, for it is diocesan, and responsible to its particular bishop. But there is not the slightest reason why the guilds should not talk and pray together, and a great many reasons why they should. The inter-guild retreats at Whitsun, although not, perhaps, famous for their silence, have, I believe, a quality all their own. Unity of work and purpose adds its usual warmth and strength to these gatherings, but there is a further consideration in the mind of every guildsman in retreat. There are many excellent works for the Church, and many admirable societies engaged upon them.
But teaching has the distinction of being a work of the Church, i.e. an operation for which the Church exists. It is a priestly work, although the Church has opened the door for laymen to do it. In consequence, there is an understanding and sympathy between priest and guildsman which finds full expression at a Guild retreat.
A further consideration lies in the question: Why are we Catholics? The secondary causes, as we have seen, may give us good lecture material, but ultimately, of course, we are Catholics because of the grace of God. Now there are millions of good-natured people around us who have never been captivated by the beauty of Catholic doctrine or had their minds flooded by its light–apparently through no fault of theirs. Why has God lifted the curtain for us? Is it because we are more good-looking or more intelligent, or naturally better men and women? No Catholic thinks so, and in any case it is quite de fide that we cannot deserve the grace that brings us to the font, although we can deserve to increase it later.
But some reason there must be, and one suggests itself which gives to the guildsman both humility and encouragement. The Church is the Universal Society, fashioned by God for all men, and we ourselves have been carefully drawn into it. It is hardly likely that this is entirely for our own sakes, and the probability is, therefore, that in the highly mysterious designs of Providence we are seen as a means whereby others may be drawn across the threshold. It is true that when we take a good look at ourselves this seems to be out of the question. But when we also consider the strange oddities that God has in fact used with remarkable effect, it becomes evident that He is not limited by the defects in the tools He uses.
In short, the love of God places us head over heels in debt, both to Himself and to the world in which we live. By the nature of the cage, we cannot repay the ultimate Creditor, but we must certainly serve our fellows, to whom we stand indebted for His sake. There are few better places for the honourable discharge of our obligation than the platforms of the Catholic Evidence Guild.