CFM and the priest






AND THE

by Dennis J. Geaney, O.S.A.

PUBLISHED BY THE COORDINATING COMMITTEE OF THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY MOVEMENT

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Table off Contents

Introduction 5

The Chaplain Is a Spiritual Guide 7

2 The Family Apostolate 13

J Some Characteristics of CFM 21

4 The CFM Meeting 29

0 Preparing for Meetings 37

0 Opportunities for Spiritual Guidance 43

y The Spiritual Life for Laymen 49

0 Time for Reflection 59

0 The Federation Chaplain 63

APPENDICES

I Outlines For Evenings of Recollection

II Related Readings 77

69



Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2016

y

https://archive.org/details/cfmpriestOOgean



CFM
AND THE

Introduction
There are many ways by which a priest becomes a

Christian Family Movement chaplain. He may be assigned
the work by his pastor, or if he is the pastor he may inherit it
from his predecessor with other spiritual and material

responsibilities. He may stumble into it when a married couple

take the initiative and ask him if he will be the chaplain

of a group which they would like to form with his permission.

Or he may have thought out—in theoretical fashion
in the seminary and now through experience—the needs of
the parish and have concluded that the formation

of a unit of the Christian Family Movement in

this particular parish is a pressing necessity.

This booklet is directed to priests who have been assigned

to or who have voluntarily assumed the role of CFM chaplain.
It is an effort to answer some of the questions which pose

themselves in this new form of pastoral endeavor. It is

an attempt both to orientate new chaplains and to widen

the horizons of and further challenge experienced ones. This

booklet is not the cataloguing of the opinions of a

single chaplain, but the culling and synthesizing of the

experiences of chaplains throughout the country over the past

fifteen years. CFM and The Priest is a companion volume
to A Guide to CFM. An effort has been made to avoid
as far as possible any duplication.

In an appendix we have included short readings

to introduce the reader to authorities and sources.



.

.



chapter

1

The Chaplain is a Spiritual Guide
By vocation a parish priest is not one given to armchair

philosophy or specialization. Of necessity he is a general

practitioner. He uses a pragmatic rule of thumb dealing with

parish organizations: “What will it do for my parish?” He has
not been assigned to the care of souls for the universal church.

Canon law and his? Ordinary have limited his jurisdiction to a

geographic area and a specific group of people.

“What can CFM do for my parish?” It is the common expe-
rience of pastors to be enthusiastic about CFM simply on the
basis of what it has done for them as pastors. After a year the

couples become the parish workhorses. They head up the parish

societies when other parishioners demur because of lack of time

and interest. They lead in financial drives when it comes to

doorbell ringing and in giving according to their ability. Their

telephone numbers are on the same rectory pad with the

insurance agent, the boiler repair service, and the chancery

office numbers, yet it cannot be insisted too strongly that

BEING THE RIGHT ARM OF THE PASTOR IS NOT THE RAISON D’ETRE
OF CFM. GIVING ASSISTANCE TO THE HARRIED PARISH PRIEST

CAN BE INTEGRAL BUT IS NOT ESSENTIAL TO CFM.

If the priest takes this limited view of CFM, he will approach
it with a paternal attitude. He will attend their meetings, pat
the heads of members’ children, and in general “be nice” to

them. If he fails to see CFM in its totality he will fail to
challenge them. If they are spiritually and intellectually under-

nourished, they may become hesitating and unwilling servants.



the art of arts

The Christian Family Movement is an answer to a modern

pastoral problem. A priest is a CFM chaplain only because
he sees it as a means to fulfilling his pastoral vocation. An
ancient classic work on pastoral theology is St. Gregory the

Great’s Liber Pastoralis Curae. The bishop according to St.

Gregory is to be a physician of souls. This is what he calls

“the art of arts.” The priest participates in the bishop’s work

of spiritual physician when through CFM he practices his heal-
ing arts. The chaplain’s role in CFM is to give specific expression
in present historical circumstances to the counsels of St. Gregory

through a medium that is adapted to our times.

The pastoral vocation includes many roles to be played or
tasks to be performed. Every priest gradually establishes his

own hierarchy within the framework of his life. A group of
forty priests in an annual meeting in England agreed that

priorities should be established in the following order: 1)

liturgy, by which they meant ministry within the church build-

ing; 2) visiting; 3) lay apostolate; 4) instruction of converts

and engaged couples; 5) social activities; 6) societies. One

8 may well question this precise order, but experienced CFM
chaplains would generally agree. While subordinating their

part in CFM to the liturgy, they would place it at least on
the level with instructing converts and teaching catechism and

a number of levels above the purely administrative duties of

keeping a plant solvent and in shipshape. They insist on the

intimate tie-up of the priest’s role as CFM chaplain and his
mission of spiritual paternity.

St. John Vianney

The Cure d’Ars is held up to priests by Pope John and his

predecessors as the model pastor. Yet the Cure was not a CFM
chaplain. The truth is that the Cure had no need for CFM
in his nineteenth century rural parish of some three hundred

people. With a total of sixty households, he needed no convent

of sisters to teach the children. He needed no Legion of Mary

to visit families. He needed no IBM or multi-colored census
cards. He could teach the children himself, visit the homes

personally, and carry a spiritual progress report of each parish-



ioner in his head. He did not need CFM because the evils of
the day as he saw them were clearly defined: drinking, objection-

able dancing, and immodest dress. By sheer force of his spiritual

leadership and his direct approach with the saloon keepers, he

was able to close the four taverns. His denial of absolution in

the confessional was effective. Since the majority of his people

were illiterate and mass media communications were still un-

known, there were no outside influences undermining his sway

over their minds. Ars, had one voice—the Cure’s, which waxed
eloquent and undisputed for an hour at Sunday Mass.

a modern Cure

The Cure today as an urban pastor would do well to average

seven minutes in the pulpit exclusive of announcements, letters,

and appeals. The confessional would provide no social control

over his flock in an era when people can shop around for a

confessor. If he attempted to close a movie house for showing

indecent pictures, his efforts would have one of three probable

results: he would either be an advertising medium for the
owner, reinforce the public image of the Church as a pressure

group, or at best, transfer the business to a more distant theatre.

He would find that in this age of discussion flowing from
democracy, people resent the authoritarian approach which

was accepted by a tradition-orientated rural people.

The priest today knows that the pastoral techniques of another

century are not geared to his problems. He may not be able
to give a sociological analysis of the evils of society, but he

knows that they are not as simple as alcoholism and immodest

dress. In the face of his inability to define the problem and

cope with it, he is tempted to take a defeatist approach and

stay sheltered in the rectory away from the wicked world
and wait there for the phone to call him to the bedside of an

ailing parishioner, or await the summons to the parlor to bless
a rosary or give an instruction. When this kind of retreat



is made, the rectory has become a fire station with someone

always on duty to deal with disaster, a fortress keeping the

clergy in and the laity out, or at best a monastery sealed off

from the world.

It would seem at first blush that the modern urban priest

who wants to pattern his life after the Cure’s would have to do
some creative thinking about his ministry if he wished to have

the effectiveness of the Cure. If his prayer and ascetic life had

the intensity of St. John Vianney, undoubtedly the Holy Spirit

would give him the insights or bring him in contact with the

books or the people who have them, so that an effective urban

pastoral approach would be a reality. Are we projecting our

own thoughts too far when we maintain that if the Cure were

a priest in a twentieth century parish he would be a CFM
chaplain ?

more work for the busy priest

One of the serious objections a hard working parish priest

has to CFM is the demand it makes upon an already over-
crowded schedule. The minimum time demanded of a chaplain
is attendance every two weeks at a meeting which runs about

an hour and a half. The chaplain also spends another hour

every two weeks in preparing this meeting with the couple that

is to lead it. How can the busy parish priest justify this
expenditure of time with a half dozen couples when he has been

assigned to be spiritual guide of a thousand families?

The only justification is that he is training six or
more couples to be apostles. It is the justification we
offer for Our Lord’s spending three years of His life
in the company of twelve very ordinary men when he
could be preaching to crowds. It is the justification which

the Church offers for confining young men to a seminary for

from four to sixteen years. It is the justification which large

corporations offer for the expensive training courses they give

to bright young men. In an era of specialization the parish

must institute its own training program for promising members.

Another common objection to CFM is that it is “saving the
saved.” First, the objection implies that there is a saturation

point in the spiritual life, that the love of God is not subject



to the laws of growth. Secondly, it implies that God is more

interested in the quantity of people loving Him rather than in
the quality of love. Thirdly, it is like saying to a successful

football coach, “No wonder you had a good team last year. You

took the most promising athletes. Try to beat Army with the
fellows who can’t do push-ups.” CFM usually starts with the
families who are at the core of the parish because these are

usually the people capable of getting it rolling, and the only

ones the chaplain knows well. Experience teaches us that these

very people show tremendous growth in the spiritual life as a

result of their participation in CFM. Fourthly, as CFM expands
in a parish, the number of core families increases or, in the

language of the objectors, more souls are “saved.” Fifthly, the

objection denies that a parish needs a training course for lay

leadership.

While the essential role of the priest as a spiritual guide is

timeless, the expression it takes in a particular culture at any

moment in history must be timely. The priest in fulfilling the

role of CFM chaplain gets to the heart of his priestly vocation.
It is not to be regarded as something nice for one who has the

time or interest, or too highly specialized for the average priest.

It is nothing more than a modern form of the age-old pre-

occupation of priests, the “care of souls.”



f



chapter

The Family Apostolate
Just as a young man leaves home to go to a Maryknoll

Seminary because he believes that it is through a missionary

life that he can best fulfill his destiny, which is to be a saint,

so a person in CFM should in time see his vocation as union
with God in and through this family apostolate. There is no

sanctity for the layman without his witness in the lay life to

which he is called, and there is no lasting witness unless there

are deep roots in the divine life. Just as in the real order grace

and nature are never separate, so also are the apostolate and

sanctity joined in holy wedlock.

lay apostolate as old as the church

It is important to understand the nature of the lay apostolate

in order to situate the priest’s relation to the apostolate of the

Christian family. In a sense, the lay apostolate is as old as the

Church. There have always been a lay people helping the

clergy, or, vice versa, clergy helping the laity in the apostolate.

Because the problem of the Church at the time of the Council

of Trent was to build or re-build the ecclesiastical structure, the

emphasis in the Church during the past 300 years has been on

the clerical side of the Church. The whole work of the Council

of Trent was a re-emphasis and re-establishment of doctrine and

of discipline in the structural aspect of the Church. After Trent

the Church had to deal with Jansenism, Gallicanism, rationalism,

and modernism. These were attacks at the very life of the

Church. The Church was in such a defensive position that it

was actually in retreat from the currents of the world. By and

large, special consideration to the growing importance of the

layman was sidetracked.

All the modern emphasis on the lay apostolate, therefore,

comes to us priests as a new thing—a sort of new revelation.
Leo XIII pleaded with bishops and priests and the laity that the

laymen take a responsible part in their world. And of course.



in that day this world was the new Republican regime that

came about as a result of the French Revolution. And Leo XIII
pleaded that these regimes be recognized and that the people

cooperate with them. He pleaded also that the labor movement
be recognized, and finally he worked to save the family from

disorganization.

The result was European Catholic parties, Catholic labor

unions and Catholic family associations. Since then, we know

that Pius X put the emphasis on a deeper spiritual life because
because he saw that the message of Leo XIII was not very

easily accepted, by either clergy or laity. So he emphasized

the liturgical renewal, participation in Mass and the sacraments,

and it is he who first popularized the word “Catholic Action.”

Pius XI defined Catholic Action and promoted it most

ardently. Pius XII in a certain sense enlarged the whole concept

of the lay apostolate and continually pleaded and addressed

lay groups, men and women, to take their part in economic and
political movements. He addressed professional groups of
doctors, engineers, journalists, midwives and others to urge

them to full participation in the work of the Church. Pope John

in his inimitable way has continued this tradition. In his talk

to the garbage collectors of Rome he accentuated the value
of pedestrian occupations.

modern pressures for a lay apostolate

The restoration and adaptation of the lay apostolate in our

times has resulted from sociological conditions as much as from

theological tracts or papal exhortations. On the local level,
pastors are forced increasingly to consider the possibilities of

lay assistance. The bishop informs a pastor that no assistant

is available for his burgeoning parish; mother provincial

informs him that there is no possibility of adding another

sister in the Fall. Besides the encouragement of vocation to



the clerical and religious states, there must be an effort to enlist

the layman in work that will free the priest for his purely

spiritual tasks. In the past priests have performed such roles

as recreational director, substitute school-janitor and sexton,

chauffeur for vacation schools, fund-raiser, bookkeeper, archi-

tect. These are tasks for which there should be an abundance of

lay volunteers.

Even in the priest’s spiritual ministrations that get to the

core of his priestly vocation he needs lay helpers. He needs

groups like the Legion of Mary, which visit families and indi-

viduals whom the priest cannot reach. He needs the CCD
(Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) to assist him in his

teaching mission.

The layman helping the pastor carry out his pastoral duties

is an important part of the lay apostolate. Without this lay

effort, the saving work of Christ’s Church will be hampered.

There is, however, another and wider area for the lay apostolate.

It is lay life itself for which the layman, and not the priest, has

a primary responsibility. One might conceive of the lay role

of priest’s helper being dispensed with or mitigated by an

increase in religious vocations, but no increase in the number

of priests can lessen the layman’s importance in the world of

work, the family, recreation, political, and international life.

the layman’s mission field

The “Employees Only” sign over the entrance to the indus-

trial world reminds the priest that here he is an intruder or at

best a guest, but never a citizen. Inside, the layman is supreme.

This is his citadel. Here he makes decisions in his own right.

Yet this industrial world belongs to Christ and must be re-

stored to Him. It must reflect His truth, justice, and love. In

a sense, it must be “redeemed.”



Historically, this problem was ushered in with the industrial

era and the rise of democracy. This development came about

at a time when the Church was at its weakest, a time when the

teachings of Karl Marx were going unchallenged and were

stealing the initiative from the Church. Education in the West,

once under the control of the Church through the medieval

university, was becoming mass education, taking place, to an

ever greater degree, outside the sphere of the Church’s in-

fluence. Tremendous advances in the social and technical scien-

ces were being made without the guiding presence of the Church

and with only a token contribution from it.

Every parish priest knows that something has happened to

the family. He has had the frequent experience of being called
to the rectory parlor or a parishioner’s home to meet one or

both, parties of a shattered marriage which began with the

promise of never-ending bliss. So grave has the problem become

that large parishes may some day employ lay counsellors to
assist the priests in marriage counselling. The increased demand

for counselling services by married people points to deep-

rooted illness that must be analyzed in terms of change in the

family as an institution and of change in the other institutions

which affect the family.

the autonomy of the layman

Today the world recognizes,the legitimate autonomy of our

modern secular or lay society, but it fails to see that it must be

animated by the spirit of Christ. The hierarchical Church has

no competence or mission to direct the affairs of the temporal

order. It does have a mission to witness to truth and justice.

The teaching Church proposes no solutions to purely technical

problems. The spiritual and temporal orders can be bridged by

lay people, who have membership in Christ’s Mystical Body

and citizenship in this world. People who can legitimately pass

the “Employees Only” sign, whether in a factory, a brokerage

house, a TV station, or a government office, or people who open
the door of a home or apartment without knocking, form what

Pius XII called, “the front ranks of the Church.”

The priest, therefore, must respect the autonomy of the layman

in his proper field of responsibility. And it is the laity who are



responsible in the domestic area—the area of the family. The
clergy in this context are assistants to this great effort of the

Church to make the world safe for Christian living. It is the

laity who, like John the Baptist, must level the hills and fill the

valleys so Christ can come in the person of the priests and

bishops to sanctify the world.

The priest and people must work together, but they are

responsible for different spheres of action. When it is insisted
in this booklet that the priest remain in the background, that

he allow the layman to take the major role in the meetings,

for example, it is not a trick to involve the layman in the group.

It is his rightful place, and he must be taught to assume what

is his. The initiative belongs to the laity in the temporal order,

even in the work of the apostolate.

the family apostolate

The Christian Family Movement embraces every aspect of

lay life. It is obvious that a family apostolate must concern

itself with relationships within the immediate family; for ex-

ample, husband-wife and parent-child relationships. Likewise

it should concern itself with such subjects as family prayer and

family play as well as child discipline. There are some who
think that CFM should confine itself to these limits since civic,
political, and economic affairs only remotely concern the family.

It would leave an inquiry on mental health to the Mental

Health Society, racial problems to the local Catholic Interracial

Council. Why should a family movement extend its boundaries
beyond the frontiers of the home ?

First, CFM is not coextensive with the family apostolate. It
is only one movement within the total family apostolate of the
Church. It does not attempt to specialize in any area of family

life. It leaves specialization to other groups; for example, pre-

marital education to the Cana Conference, and the advocacy

of breast feeding to La Leche. Second, CFM believes that sancti-



fication of the family in the modern world demands an aware-

ness on the part of the family of all the institutions outside the

family which have a bearing upon it.

This approach does not eliminate the need for Mental Health

Societies and Interracial Councils. It actually contributes to

them by making people aware of their existence and aims. The

concentration of the spiritual life to ones own family appears

quite simple and attractive, but it is quite naive and ostrich-like

to consider it a total family spirituality in the face of the com-

plexity of modern family living. It supposes that a couple can

seal off the world from their family life like a Poor Clare

Monastery does for its cloistered nuns.

The Catholic family is a part of a neighborhood relationship

with the other families in the building, the block or farm

community. If the family zealously goes about its round of

pious practices and ignores the concerns of the neighborhood,

the members of the family are bad neighbors and to that extent

bad Catholics. If the family prays together but never shows

concern about the needs of the parish, its members are, by

the same token, bad parishioners.

18

CFM as a family apostolate forms concentric circles around
the family unit. Like the rings formed in the water when a stone

is thrown they vary in intensity. The first concern or the

first ring of the CFM apostolate is the relationships within the
immediate family. The second ring is concerned with the neigh-

borhood and parish. The third circle is concerned with the

myriad influences on the family beyond the local confines of

home, street, and parish.

the chaplain9s role

The breadth of the Christian Family Movement apostolate

raises questions in the minds of many priests, on first considera-

tion. How can a priest ever be expected to be an expert on



such subjects as prenatal care, the Landrum-Griffin Labor Law,

and the implications of the population explosion in the East?

How can a parish priest be a walking encyclopedia of papal and
episcopal teaching on modern social problems? Obviously the

ordinary priest cannot be expected to be an expert on these

subjects. His seminary course was restricted to scripture, moral

and dogmatic theology with only a smattering of sociology,

economics, and Catholic social teaching.

CFM depends upon the chaplain primarily for doctrinal
guidance. Yet doctrinal guidance within the framework of the

family apostolate demands more of the chaplain than a passing

acquaintance with economics, politics, and international affairs

and something less than the comprehensive knowledge of an

expert on the problems of our day.

The minimum that can be asked of the chaplain is that he
have a sensitivity to these areas of lay life and begin a reading

program on these subjects as they appear in the CFM programs.
First and foremost on that reading is the doctrine of the popes

who articulate Christ. Once he sees the inner connection between
lay life in all its ramifications and life in God, he will gradually

acquire the background to be helpful to couples who are search-
ing for sanctity and an apostolate through their daily lives.

19





chapter

Some Characteristics off CFM
CFM is a training school in the Christian life

Bishops and priests are always talking about the role of the

laity in the world, but it cannot always be taken for granted

that they are aware of the dimensions of the herculean task of

preparing even one layman to be an effective witness in a world

not simply pagan but exasperatingly complex. Because CFM
faces up to the complexity, it must provide a training that is

of necessity demanding and intensive.

Intensive training demands selection. CFM works with the
couples who are willing and capable of receiving and using

such training. It is limited in extension by the other demands on

the time of the chaplain. CFM does not specifically train apostles
simply for the family, the parish or the business world. It

offers an integrated approach to all of these areas. Eventually

some of the couples may become specialists in one or another of
these areas.

CFM is couple-centered

CFM is dedicated to the task of training married couples for
total Christian living. It is not open to husbands or wives as

individuals but as couples. Should a partner die, however, the

survivor is encouraged to retain membership.

The stresses and strains of life in our frenetic society have

a tendency to pull a couple apart as the years go on. While

they share bed and board their lives together can be superficial



to the point of seldom experiencing together their joys and

sorrows. CFM considers it essential to the training that both
husband and wife be present at each meeting so that they may
share with each other the experience of the apostolate. CFM
demands that couples not only attend meetings together but

that they prepare them together and accept common responsibil-
ity for apostolic action.

The fact that one evening every two weeks a couple will

have to put their family in charge of a babysitter must be

weighed against the advantages that will come to their children

as their parents come to live and love together at increasingly

deeper levels of life.

CFM is parish-centered

CFM began with group membership drawn from parishes
scattered over an entire city or area. Growth and effectiveness

demanded that ultimately it be developed in the parish. The

parish offers proximity to the meetings, a greater sharing of

common problems, a greater facility for sharing experiences

between meetings, a vehicle for concerted action within the

neighborhood and parish, and above all, a claim to the spiritual

assistance which the pastor or an assistant has to offer. The

parish is an already existing spiritual unit to which parishioners

have made a commitment. In joining a parish CFM group
couples are strengthening their ties with the parish and intensify-

ing their own share in parochial life.

CFM is particularly interested in centering the lives of its
members around the parish altar. The liturgical life of the

parish is the subject of many meetings. CFM members are
eager to implement the Instruction of the Holy See on active

participation at Mass. CFM seeks ways, also, to assist the Home
and School Association (PTA) and other parish organizations

achieve the purpose for which they were founded.

It is a mistake, however, for a pastor to exploit the willing-

ness of these generous people by assigning parish chores to

them of which others are capable and willing to do. CFM is an
educative process which helps its members discover problems

of lay life and the solutions to these problems. Clerical inter-

ference with this process can have only disastrous effects.



CFM is community centered

Because CFM is centered in parishes the people usually live
in the same general neighborhood and almost always within

the same political community. CFM members look upon the
neighborhood as a missionary looks upon his territory as a

sector of the Lord’s vineyard. CFM’s first approach to the

neighborhood through its initial meetings is one of service t

This requires more than a nodding acquaintance with the people

on the block or apartment building. It demands the embrace of

Christian love.

CFM knows that each family has a great stake in the neigh-
borhood. The family rosary is not sufficient to protect the

children and adults from the possible pernicious effects of un-

Christian ways of living; neither is it an adequate way of

bringing Christ’s love to the neighborhood. If the charity of

CFM couples is to extend beyond the walls of their homes, the
logical place to begin is with a consideration of what one’s

block is like, what goes on in the schools and playgrounds, and

how effective are the local city services. CFM couples are
concerned not only with an institutional approach to local

needs but also with the personal needs of the neighbors. In

every neighborhood there is the distraught wife who must be
listened to, the aged who need our kind attention, the sick

mother of a brood of children, the couple who cannot go out
together because they cannot procure a babysitter. The cata-

logue of human needs that only loving neighbors can fill is
endless. A few CFM couples filled with this love could make
the neighborhood an ante-room to heaven.

CFM is civic-minded

Why should a family movement concern itself with politics?
Should it not leave politics to the professional politicians? The

modern state has taken a paternal interest in the family. Be-



cause of the impersonality of our economic system and unpre-

dictability of the business cycle, legislatures and government

agencies have taken over many of the functions of the family.
The government has entered into the fields of housing, aid to

dependent children, insurance programs of all kinds, and sundry

programs which since pre-historic man were considered the
prerogatives of the family or clan and the common bonds of
family living.

One may argue whether the government has done too much
or too little for the family. But one is faced with the reality that

in modern society for weal or woe politics and the family are

locked. CFM as a group does not envision aid to a particular
party or picking slates of candidates, but rather introducing

couples to the interconnection of the family and politics. Beyond

this the members are on their own politically.

CFM is concerned with economics

The reasoning behind CFM’s concern with economics is

similar to its concern for the neighborhood and politics. In our

economic society many families do not have a sufficiency of
things necessary to rear a family, and many do not have securi-

ty. In the United States, for example, many wives and mothers

must work, and many men must have two jobs to make ends

meet. Pius XI said that a layman’s sanctity, and even his

salvation, may often be linked to economic life.

CFM is world-conscious

CFM does not limit itself simply to our national concerns.
It is interested in such subjects as the United States, foreign

aid, foreign students, and lay missionaries. No one is so naive

to think that CFM can do the job of the State Department in
foreign affairs or the United States Secretary of Labor in



economic affairs. Yet in these areas which are seemingly remote

from the warmth and intimacy of the family circle a family

apostolate must at least apprise its members of these wider

world problems and awaken their sense of responsibility to

them. Changes in economic, political and international life will

be made by businessmen, politicians and diplomats, but they

will be made in response to an enlightened and articulate public.

CFM is based on small groups

CFM groups are limited in size. The size is limited to the
number that makes for a good discussion. Experience in group

dynamics places the optimum somewhere between four and

seven couples. The meetings are usually in each other’s homes

by rotation.

In a home, people are so much more at ease than in the
rectory parlor. It is this voluntary, friendly and relaxed setting

that is so conducive to the acceptance of new ideas. All the

counselling experts insist on this kind of atmosphere. However,

local circumstances may dictate that the parish hall or rectory
would better suit a particular group. Such decisions should

rest with the group.

Six couples meeting fortnightly for a year or two and dis-

cussing and living intimately the deepest convictions in their

lives will gradually bring about a group solidarity. Apart

from the apostolic effects of the meetings this group cohesiveness

is one of the greatest by-products of CFM. Catholic education
through our schools and pulpits teaches truths by which we

must live. However, they cannot apply them as well as a small

group nor can they give the emotional support of the small group

in living them. CFM applies these truths above all to their
own lives, and through the group it offers mutual support in
living by these newly formed convictions. For the generality

of people the small group seems a demand of our times for

apostolic training.



CFM is a modern device for Catholics to preserve and apply
their faith in a pluralistic society. In a typical American neigh-

borhood we have every strain of belief and practice. Every
family seeks to be like the “typical” or “ideal” modem Ameri-
can family. What agents create this type or “ideal?” Chiefly
two: Madison Avenue’s ubiquitous advertising and the pressure

of what everyone is doing and saying in each family’s social

circle. The Catholic family has little protection against this

form of secularism unless it has the support of other couples

who are actively concerned with what is both hostile to and

what is congenial to the ideals of Catholic family life.

CFM fissions

CFM usually starts in a parish unostentatiously. Either the
chaplain will contact the initial couple or one or two couples

will agree on whom to invite and make the contacts. A personal
visit to the couple’s home is more effective than a phone call.

The length and type of explanation one gives to a prospective

member will depend on the person’s capacity to grasp the

message and our ability to transmit it. Some recruiters are

satisfied with the couple’s acceptance of the invitation. Others

feel that the greater understanding which is reached before one

begins the faster will be the progress. All agree, however, that

the experience of the initial meetings teaches many things which

cannot be communicated through a conversation.

There is no preparatory course of instructions as we have for

converts. The first group simply begins with meeting one in

For Happier Families, following the printed instructions as

they proceed. As the months go on the couples begin to explore

a new way of life. They look at themselves, their spouses, their

children, the other couples in the group, the chaplain and

their neighbors with better fitting lenses. It is simply a re-

assessing of established human relationships in terms of the

gospel teaching on love.

The re-discovery of the implications of love in terms of

everyday living awakens the idea of CFM as an apostolate.
The chaplain should help them see from the beginning that

CFM is not a social outlet—enjoyable evenings of likeminded



people, but is a dynamic movement of the Church which extends

its membership with interest and love to other couples.

After a few meetings the chaplain should help condition

the group to the fact that this group, the first in the parish, is a

nuclear group which is expected to form other groups while

retaining the present one. The normal procedure is for each

couple after six months or a year to take the initial steps to

form a group which will follow the identical pattern of meetings

of the original group. Each couple then will retain membership

in the original (section) group and be a part of and assume

responsibility for a new (action) group. Since this demands

one more meeting every two weeks for the leadership group,

some couples will feel they cannot manage the time. Such

couples eventually will leave the section group and join an

action group.

The section group functions as an executive committee tying

all parish CFM groups together. Without it the chaplain would
be the link between all the groups, and CFM to that extent
would be destroyed as a lay movement. Just as there is a con-

necting link between groups in a parish so we have a diocesan

federation to tie together all CFM groups in the diocese. CFM
is not “organization happy.” It is primarily interested in the

development of members and uses only the minimum organiza-
tional structure to support it.

CFM is a school of sanctity

One of the major reforms of the Council of Trent was the

legislation for seminaries. The primary aim of the Tridentine

seminary is to form priests in holiness. Everything is ordered

to making it a school of sanctity. The studies necessary for

the ministry are to be fitted into this overruling purpose. CFM
must be seen in terms of a calling or a vocation. It must be



seen as the providential means for these particular couples to

achieve sanctity. Without this conviction couples will eventually

either drop out or drag their feet. CFM is a school of sanctity
for couples. Because CFM believes there is no sanctity for
couples without involvment in temporal concerns, it introduces

people to all areas of lay life, trusting that they will eventually

assume responsibility for them to the degree of their com-

petency and opportunities.



The CFM Meeting

chapter

What most people want, notwithstanding their complaints

to the contrary, are rules. But who can set up rules for CFM,

since CFM is a social movement designed to help couples cope
with changing situations in their daily relationships. If anything,

CFM proves to couples that Christianity for the layman cannot
be tightly structured as it is for the monk or cloistered nun.

Eventually CFM does help people to construct for themselves
and their families a kind of loose framework or structure for

their lives with a built-in facility to respond to change.

few rules

CFM as an organization has only a minimum of rules. What-
ever rules CFM does adopt must be construed only as pro-
visional. It is explained thus: “On the basis of experience this

is what we have found best. We shall operate this way until
we find a better way.” CFM is a response to the inability of
many existing Catholic institutions to deal realistically with
change. If CFM in response sets up a rigid system, it is making
the mistake it set out to correct.

CFM’s introductory meeting booklet, For Happier Families

and other literature seemingly set down minute prescriptions,

e.g., “scripture discussion, fifteen minutes.” These instructions

are guides for beginners. Beginners, like children, need the

security of ironclad rules. When they have been through a
number of meetings they gradually understand the structure

and purpose of each part of the meeting.

It is the better part of prudence for both beginning couples

and chaplains to follow the suggestions that are offered on the

basis of fifteen years of experience. Experienced couples and

chaplains, on the other hand, are encouraged to work out with

the approval of the local officers controlled experiments which

might offer changes in the form or content of the meeting.



If CFM canonizes its present form it will take the shape of an
unchanging monastic rule, ill-suited as a guide in dynamic

surroundings.

meeting format

The CFM meeting has five major parts. The first is a dis-
cussion of a short passage from scripture. The second is a

discussion of some aspect of the liturgy or a related doctrine.

Thirdly, we have the report. This roughly corresponds to a

business meeting where reports on actions are made, and

where old and new business are reported on or introduced. Next

is the social inquiry followed by the remarks of the chaplain.

A more detailed explanation of the structure of the meeting
can be found in Chapter III of A Guide to CFM. In this chapter
we shall confine our remarks to the scripture, liturgy, and

social inquiry.

scripture

The logical place to begin a CFM meeting is with the scrip-
ture. The reason for putting the scripture discussion at the

beginning of the meeting is to provide an atmosphere for the

entire meeting. Couples arrive at a meeting after a busy day

at work or a battle, eventually won, to get all the small children

in bed without being late for the meeting. The questions and

discussion should not be rushed. People need time to make the

transition from the stresses and strains of daily living to the

peaceful contemplation of some scene or words from our

Lord’s life.

It is expected that both couples and chaplain have previously

read and pondered the passage. The selections, particularly in

the introductory booklet, teach some of the most elementary

lessons of Christianity which we cannot assume people know.

People get to know Christ in a surer way by talking about Him.



In the beginning this proves to be a novel and thrilling ex-

perience. Christ had been for them a Person whom they heard
about from the pulpit or through the blacked-out slide of a

confessional. Now, in CFM, Christ becomes someone familiar,

discussed with like-minded people in the congenial and familiar

setting of a neighbor’s living room. Under these circumstances,

our Lord’s words have a truer ring and a more pointed appli-

cation.

mm f«
pondering God’s word

The scripture discussion is a form of mental prayer. In a

religious community a superior reads from a book at meditation

time to create a dialogue between the author and each member

of the community with the hope that it will lead to an intimate

conversation with God. In a CFM meeting the people learn
how to do this in a way that comes easily to them—talking the
matter over with friends. This experience should help couples

to learn mental prayer or conversation with God.

“What we are trying to do through the scripture,” says

Monsignor Hillenbrand, “is to probe into the meaning of the

words. We are trying to know Christ, to hear his words, to
see his actions, and this is to see God; to see the goodness

of God and the power and the wisdom and the beauty of God,

in Christ. As He himself says ‘Phillip, he who sees Me, sees
the Father,’ so that we are glimpsing God when we glimpse

the human life of Christ.

“Through the scripture discussion we become aware that

Christ lived the incident for me and He had something in mind
for me. He wishes to form a part of His image in me through
this incident, some fraction of His own image or likeness in

me. What we are aiming at is to get this better glimpse of

Christ, and this in itself deepens our spiritual resources. Given

the time and the circumstances, this will tell for action in the

life of the lay apostle.”



scripture actions

In For Happier Families it is suggested that this part of the

meeting terminate in a common agreement to perform an action
which would be an application of the scripture lesson. This

is not a denial of meditation on our Lord’s life as an end in

itself, but, in the beginning, actions are encouraged for psycho-

logical reasons.

Beginners might find some insecurity in the simple discussion

of a passage and, on the contrary, a sense of accomplishment

if they left with something to be done by the next meeting.

Also, doing is a way of learning. It forces us to face a situation.

This takes the scripture out of the clouds and gives it a street

level reality. After the beginning booklet agreement on actions

is not insisted upon lest it detract from the common action

which concludes the social inquiry.

liturgy

The scriptures teach us our Lord’s life and offer us His

example, but the example of our Lord’s life is not sufficient. “I

have come that you may have life,” said our Lord. This Christ-
life, divine life, comes to us pre-eminently through the liturgy.

The liturgy for the most part is something done in the parish

church, not at a CFM meeting. Yet if CFM as an apostolic
movement is dependent upon its members’ sharing ever more

in the life of Christ as God, their awareness of this must be

heavily underscored. If CFM members are to be good parish-
ioners and apostles or even grasp the message of Christianity,

they must be indoctrinated in the mystery and worship of

the Church.

In For Happier Families the whole gamut of the doctrine

of the Mystical Body, the Mass, and the sacraments are cov-

ered summarily. The annual programs spell out the detail.

This part of the meeting is purely didactic. Some chaplains

feel that since this is strictly a learning effort and that a subject

like the Mystical Body might be so novel to couples, they have

no qualms about using the whole time to explain the matter.

The majority opinion, however, holds that the learning process

is best advanced by permitting the people to stumble a bit and

then by gathering the loose ends together in the form of a

summary or amplification.



CHRISTIAN

FAMILY

MOVEMENT



mg together to p
l-hrough spiritual c

ission and action,
les from the pa
cs in each other
trate many aspect
c, political and
than 5.000 CFh/l



HOW IT WORKS
In keeping with CFM philosophy, the pro-
gram is administered at the grass roots
level—at the parish and Diocesan Federa-
tion level. CFM groups keep in touch with
college and university foreign student ad-
visors, student organizations, Newman
Club chaplains and others to reach the
many students in their immediate area.
They cooperate with other organizations
such as the Diocesan Council of Catholic

Men and Women, alumni groups, hospi-
tality centers and others.

CFM also works with the Foreign Visitors
Office of the National Catholic Welfare
Conference and the State Department in
their international visitor programming.



THE CHRISTIAN

FAMILY

MOVEMENT
CFM is an organization of married couples
working together to promote happier family
life through spiritual development, practical

discussion and action. Groups of about six
couples from the parish meet every two
weeks in each others' homes. Discussions
penetrate many aspects of family, social, eco-
nomic, political and international life. The
more than 5,000 CFM groups cooperate in



WHY IT IS NEEDED
Each year between 80,000 and 90,000 visitors

come to the U. S. for study, training, or ori-

entation. Their length of stay generally varies

from a few weeks to several years. Before the

visitor comes to this country, he draws a men-

tal picture (often distorted) of life in America

from our motion pictures, television, and

press. After he arrives he is in much the

same position we would be as a visitor in his

country. He is a stranger. He finds it difficult
to make friends. He will take home with him

a picture of this country as he saw it, a de-

scription of our people as he found them and

an opinion of our culture as he was exposed

to it. How accurate can that view be just from
a college campus or an airplane window?

preparing an annual program through a coor-

dinating committee.

HOW TO JOIN
Interested couples should talk with their parish

priest. If there is no group in your parish, he may
suggest other couples who may be interested in
belonging.

Before starting, see if there are other CFM groups
in your diocese. They may help you start. The
office of the Christian Family Movement Coor-
dinating Committee has a list of the groups known
to exist. Write CFM
Room 2233, I I I West Monroe St., Chicago 3, III.

Telephone: RAndolph 6-2468

WHAT IT DOES
Hospitality for College Students

Because their stay will usually last several

years, students are encouraged to visit

often and feel that they have a “home
away from home.”

Housing

Many CFM couples take a student into
their homes for a school year in coopera-
tion with the NCWC High School Ex-
change Program. Others open their homes
to college students who are on scholarship
but do not have funds available for food
and housing.

Hospitality for Visitors and Dignitaries

Many individuals tour the country observ-
ing technical practices in industry and
government. Hospitality consists of an

evening with a family, a home cooked
meal, an exchange of personal understand-
ing and perhaps the opportunity to attend

• 1
• /» i •

PUBLICATIONS
FOR HAPPIER FAMILIES: An introduction to CFM con-
taining twenty-five introductory meetings and information

on how to start a CFM section. .75

ANNUAL INQUIRY PROGRAM: The annual Gospel-Litur-
gy & Social Inquiry. 1.00

CFM AND THE PRIEST: A Chaplain's Manual by Father
Dennis J. Geaney, O.S.A. 1.00

A GUIDE TO CFM: Successful methods and ideas for
training leaders. 1.00

ACT: Monthly paper containing news of CFM. 1.00 per
year 0

CFM, YCW, YCS: An explanation of the three related
specialized apostolates. .25

CFM BROCHURE: What it is, how it works (3 min. read-
ing time ) . cost 2c '



The Christian Family Movement car-
ries on a hospitality program for

international students and visitors in

many parts of the United States. An
awareness of the need for this pro-

gram resulted from CFM work in
promoting happier family life and a
better understanding of the problems

involved in the community, nation

and the world.

WHAT IT ASKS OF THE
STUDENT OR VISITOR

The hospitality program asks nothing
more than that:

• Visitors accept our friendship and the
opportunity to learn how we live.

• We have the privilege of knowing
them and their homeland.

• We share the opportunity to promote
good will on a person to person basis.



WHY IT IS NEEDED
Each year between 80,000 and 90,000 visitors

come to the U. S. for study, training, or ori-

entation. Their length of stay generally varies

from a few weeks to several years. Before the

visitor comes to this country, he draws a men-

tal picture (often distorted) of life in America

from our motion pictures, television, and

press. After he arrives he is in much the
same position we would be as a visitor in his
country. He is a stranger. He finds it difficult
to make friends. He will take home with him
a picture of this country as he saw it, a de-
scription of our people as he found them and

an opinion of our culture as he was exposed
to it. How accurate can that view be just from
a college campus or an airplane window?

WHY WE ARE CALLED
We have a responsibility to see and act with
the eyes and mind of Christ in promoting in-
ternational understanding on a people to

people basis. Hospitality promotes understand-

ing. Understanding is charity and love. As
the United Nations hungers for a world unity,

Christ hungers for a united family of man.
He is calling to us to share in this work. As
citizens and Christians we have an obligation
to promote charity and to “love one another

as I have loved you.”

WHAT IT DOES
Hospitality for College Students

Because their stay will usually last several
years, students are encouraged to visit
often and feel that they have a “home
away from home.”

Housing

Many CFM couples take a student into
their homes for a school year in coopera-
tion with the NCWC High School Ex-
change Program. Others open their homes
to college students who are on scholarship
but do not have funds available for food
and housing.

Hospitality for Visitors and Dignitaries

Many individuals tour the country observ-
ing technical practices in industry and
government. Hospitality consists of an
evening with a family, a home cooked
meal, an exchange of personal understand-
ing and perhaps the opportunity to attend
a parish or civic function.

Hospitality for Professional Groups

When certain professional groups tour the
country, CFM couples work together to
schedule visits of technical and sightseeing
interest, provide local transportation and
arrange for socials. CFM usually arranges
hospitality for such groups in several cities

of their itinerary.

In each of these areas families try to give

visitors an opportunity to see American
family life as we live it daily. Emphasis is
placed on normal family living rather than
“pretentious entertainment.”



CHICAGO FEDERATION

Christian Family Movement

r/JDl f>n, 720 NORTH rush street

CHICAGO 12Xm
wMm

For hospitality, students are

invited to contact:

CFM HOSPITALITY COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVES

This leaflet is a service of the

Foundation for International Cooperation

Sponsored by the Christian Family Movement for the promotion of

international student, visitor, and cooperation programs.

CHRisTWTliiLviovaiar
165S WEST MFBLVb

CHICAGO 12, ILL

CHICAGO II, ILLINOIS



the social inquiry

The heart of the CFM meeting is the social inquiry. The
other parts of the meeting prepare for it. Conceivably the

scripture and liturgy discussions could be dispensed with and

the essence of the CFM meeting be retained by simply having
the social inquiry. One of the great contributions CFM is making
to pastoral and ascetical theology is the linking of life in the

world with life in God through the social inquiry.

Writers and preachers usually discuss this in general terms.

They repeat St. Paul’s dictum that “the will of God is your

sanctification.” But, what is the will of God concretely? How
do we determine it? Does a priest tell us how to vote, what

job to take, what car to buy, where to live, what stand we

should take on foreign aid or the race problem, and whether

to be permissive or authoritative in the raising of children?

The will of God can be a glib phrase on the tongues of Christi-

ans who are working at cross purposes with the Church through

ignorance of its social teaching.

People are told that they are growing spiritually by living

according to their “state in life.” But what are the specifics

of this state? Actually, the layman must play many roles in
life. He may be an efficient worker at the shop, yet a demon
behind a wheel, a drone to his wife, a fuddy duddy to his

children, a hail-fellow-well-met at the club and a die-hard

isolationist in politics.

To find the will of God in each area of life needs sharp

analysis. Because of the complexity of our civilization, an

array of facts and wide experience are needed before a judg-

ment is made. The practical judgment on what course of action

to take can only be a here-and-now attempt to define a pattern

of Christian action. A girl who was a senior in high school
remarked: “I wish our Lord wrote a gospel on dating.” She



wanted a neatly packaged formula for this aspect of her life.

All that can be done for the girl is to give her a device which

she can intelligently use in arriving at a specific conclusion

about the thing to do, given the present dating patterns.

Because patterns of action change rapidly, the method of

arriving at conclusions is very important. CFM’s method is the
social inquiry. Through it we can investigate each role we
play to find out what the will of God is for us here and now,
and what apostolic opportunities the situation presents.

the thrust into life

The social inquiry is the piece de resistance of CFM. It

thrusts people into life. Since the desert fathers, Christians in

the quest for holiness have wanted to withdraw from combat

in the world. Even people in CFM want to use the scripture
and liturgy discussion as protective cloisters by spending almost

the entire meeting on them at the expense of the social inquiry.

Congar writes trenchantly of this problem: “Lay people are

called to the same end as clergy or monks—to the enjoyment
of our inheritance as sons of God; but they have to pursue and

attain this end without cutting down their involvement in the

activities of the world, in the realities of the primal creation,

the disappointments, the achievements, the stuff of history.”

If the chaplain does not appreciate the legitimacy of lay

tasks; unless he understands the Christian humanism of St.

Thomas, he is going to produce schizo-Christians. He is going

to have little patience with a social inquiry that is forever

probing “worldly” affairs and not concerned with religion. The

hydra-headed monster of Manicheism is forever raising its

head under the holiest of guises.



observe

The inquiry method of Catholic Action stems from Monsignor

Cardijn and the YCW movement. It has three parts: observe,
judge, and act.

The first, the “observe,” asks a series of questions about a

factual situation. If the subject is neighborhood recreation, the

members before the meeting, must do some on-the-scene report-

ing such as talking to parents about facilities and services,

interviewing the park board or the local playground director

to obtain detailed information about the situation. When mem-
bers have compiled and assorted these facts, a realistic picture

unfolds before the group.

This realism of the Observe was scored by Monsignor Reynold

Hillenbrand at a CFM Convention: “The inquiry probes into
our problems and therefore probes into life and keeps the

whole thing realistic. If people have congratulated you upon

the fact that you are ordinary people, not dilettantes, not people

up in the clouds, this is not due only to the fact that you happen

to be people like that by nature. It is because the movement

has left you that way. The movement has reinforced the search

for truth, for reality in you. It has made you more genuine

people because it has so strictly rooted you in the problems

of your life through the inquiry method.”

t

judge

The second phase of the inquiry is the “Judge.” By means

of a series of questions the facts are viewed through the lens

of scripture, papal teachings, reason, and the testimony of

experts, non-Christian as well as Christian. In the second inquiry

in For Happier Families on the benefits of neighborliness, the

first of two judge questions reads: “If Christ lived in your

neighborhood would He be pleased with the way people knew
each other?” This question could contain a fruitful twenty

minute discussion. The people must recall the words, examples,



and parables of Jesus on charity, and then see how they apply
to the particular observations which people have made during
the past two weeks.

If the inquiry were on the subject of attitudes of people in

a neighborhood changing in racial composition, the “Judge”

might become extremely involved. What our Blessed Lord said
about prejudice in the parable of the Good Samaritan and what
the American hierarchy said in its 1958 statement are clear

and unquestionable as statements of principle. But what should

families do in particular circumstances? Here is where reason

and the experience of the group have great weight. Here is

where we must rely heavily on experts on race relations.

In quoting experts, their training and competence may be
more important than whether or not they themselves profess

Christianity.

act

The “Act,” the third and final phase, terminates the inquiry.

The leader tries to find a consensus of thought on some prac-

tical thing which can be done about the subject under dis-

cussion. The action must be something that is realistic and

gets to the heart of the problem. The size or scope of the action

is not the major consideration. The aim is to have each in the

group commit himself to changing, by some effort, the situation

which they all may have scored heavily as un- Christian.

If no action is taken in these circumstances, the group has

become a discussion group. Discussion groups are excellent if

their purpose is simply to discuss and learn, but when a CFM
group discusses only, there is something dishonest about the

meeting. In effect, they are telling themselves that they have

faced up to an un-Christian situation when in actuality they

ran for cover with verbal subterfuges. Yet allowance must

be made for the occasional social inquiry in which no relevant

action can be determined.



chapter

Preparing for Meetings

In an average urban parish it requires no particular skill for

a priest or a couple to gather six couples together to start CFM
in the parish. The motivation for coming to a first meeting

is seldom apostolic. People might come to get acquainted with

other parishioners, to know the priests better, to acquire the

status that comes with having a priest come to their home

occasionally, to have an evening out together, or simply because

they know somehow it is for the good of the Church. Most

likely it will be some combination of these motives. With such

mixed motives and a little encouragement from an apathetic

chaplain, a CFM group could limp along almost indefinitely.
Whether the Church is served by such groups is questionable.

In favor of such situations is Chesterton’s dictum that what is

worth doing is worth doing badly. But such minimal perform-

ance is a pernicious example given to other parishes which

plan to begin.

A CFM group worthy of the name demands the loving care
and attention of a chaplain who sees his job as cooperating with

the Holy Spirit to form apostles for the Church. His immediate

job outside the meeting is to prepare the couple that is to lead

the next meeting. If CFM is starting in the parish, he has the
unique opportunity and responsibility for helping them arrive

at a genuine understanding of the basic concepts of the move-

ment. During the first six months the chaplain should realize

that his time is well spent in these preparatory sessions with

the same six couples. It is these people who ordinarily will be
the ones to expand the movement widely in the parish at a later

date. If the foundation is not well laid, the superstructure may
be forever shaky.



the time and place

The chaplain should make it clear to the couples that a time

should be set aside so that he can prepare the next meeting with

the one who is assigned the responsibility of leading the meeting.

In beginning groups the leadership is rotated so that the

chaplain and the couple can get to know each other better

and to discover the leadership ability of each. The preparatory

meeting is either held in the priest’s house or in the couple’s

home if babysitting poses a problem. If it is begun with a

prayer, the Holy Spirit will be more surely present and set a

tone to the meeting so that it might not become too casual and

descend to chit-chat.

33 scripture preparation

In preparing the scripture with the couple, the chaplain

should play the role he expects them to play at the meeting.

He asks one of them to read the passage. Instead of using the

questions in the book he might merely ask them what this

passage means to them. He should give them time to form their
answer and time to unravel it. After that he might ask a question

or two that might bring out some aspect of the passage not

pointed up or pull together what was loosely presented. He

does not play the role of a biblical exegete. But if there is

something not clear about the passage itself, he comments

briefly upon it.

The chaplain must learn to use the Socratic method, drawing

the couple out rather than telling them. This is extremely dif-

ficult for the chaplain who knows and loves the scriptures. He

may want them to master the passage by listening to him, but
he must be satisfied with their own halting efforts to grasp in

their homely way some small part of it.



liturgy preparation

The liturgy part of the meeting does not terminate with an

action. In preparing this section with the couple the chaplain

cannot hope for more than that the couple grasp the kernel

of the subject. The chief responsibility of the couple leading

the meeting is to keep a lively discussion kindled and to the

point. The final word on the theology of the subject must be

left to the chaplain. Couples leading the meeting must be advised

against using “Father said” in order to press a point.

social inquiry preparation

In preparing the social inquiry the chaplain asks the couple

for their observations. If they fail to have prepared them, he

should gently and firmly remind them of what is expected of

them. If the couple is unfamiliar with the techniques of ferreting

out the information, he should patiently give them how-to-do-it

tips.

The subject matter of the inquiry dictates the type of observa-

tion. Some inquiries deal with neighborhood facts which can

be picked up over a backfence conversation or a kaffeeklatch.

For other types of inquiries, as in the fields of economics and

politics, reading is a sine qua non. Still other types call for

interviews with people in positions of authority. Most inquiries

would probably call all these approaches to play with emphasis

on one or another.

The judgment part of the inquiry deals with values. Ordinarily

this is where the priest has the greatest opportunity for mak-

ing his contribution. The level of his contribution will depend

upon the type of inquiry and his competence on the particular

subject. If the subject deals with the neighborhood or parochial

relations he should find no difficulty. If the inquiry deals with

a specialized field as the industry council plan or foreign aid,

he should prepare himself by referring to books or consulting

people unless he happens to be an authority on the subject.

With groups which have been in operation for some time it

might be well to bring an expert to the meeting when the subject

is a complicated one. The inquiry method presumes that the

truth lies buried in the group and comes to the surface by the



pooling of the resources of all. It should be frankly recognized

that meetings can be a pooling of common ignorance and have
the effect of adding zeroes.

The preparation meeting should be used for bringing up

matters that deal with the over-all welfare of the section. Such

things as personality clashes, delinquent members, and matters

that cannot be brought up before the group without em-

barrassment can be thrashed out. In a later chapter we shall

refer to the possibilities of using this meeting to help the

couple with their own spiritual difficulties.

multiple preparations

When there are many groups in the parish, does the chaplain
prepare each couple? The minimum should be to prepare the

couple which is to lead the section meeting. Because the couples

leading the action group are section group members, they will

have previously gone through the meeting with the section.

Yet the chaplain should try to have direct contact with action

group members. One way is to have a couple from each action

group in the parish meet in the rectory and prepare the meet-

ing with the chaplain in a group.

m m
V A^ w w
We add, parenthetically, that rotation of leadership within

the action group develops future leaders and gives the members

a greater stake in their group. Experience will dictate when

to start rotating and whether to rotate the entire meeting or

simply the gospel and liturgy.

If there are only a few action groups in the parish and the

chaplain is not pressed for time, he might well prepare more

leader couples individually. Ultimately the chaplain is left to

his own ingenuity and generosity to determine how many and

in what manner he will prepare couples for leading meetings.

Prudence cautions a chaplain not to try to do so much that he



puts a strain upon himself and ultimately abandons the whole

project as something too demanding. Budgeting time is an art.

the chaplain’s role

At the meeting itself the priest has his own unique contribu-

tion to make. The most obvious contribution is his presence.

The presence of a priest at any parish meeting or function gives

status to the work in the eyes of parishioners.

If a parish has a section with six action groups, this means

there will be seven CFM meetings in the parish every two
weeks. No parish priest can make CFM his total work. Since
the section group acts as an executive committee, the basic

minimum would be to attend the section meeting regularly. If

possible, it would be good to be present for at least such action

groups as he can fit into his schedule. A sociological study has
shown that there is a direct ratio between the presence of the

chaplain and the success of a group.

At the meeting the priest spends most of the time as a

listener. Because this is not the role he plays most of the time,

he may feel uncomfortable. Yet if CFM is to be a lay movement
he must respect the discussion and democratic processes. The

priest who comes to lecture will always be an obstacle to the

group. The chaplain does have a speaking role in the meeting.

After the scripture and liturgy, the chaplain can take a few

minutes to comment on the subjects. If he has been attentive

during the discussion, he will have a few valuable thoughts

to share with them. If he has no contribution to make, he

should say so and let the meeting proceed. Again at the end

of the meeting the chaplain has an opportunity to speak.

Ordinarily his comments should be brief and always related

to the apostolate.

When a chaplain visits action groups infrequently, he could
take the liberty of speaking at greater length than he might



otherwise. There is no rule of thumb about how long a priest

may speak at a meeting. He must learn from experience and
the reactions of the group whether the length of his remarks

is promoting or hindering group discussion and the purpose

ofCFM.

The chaplain’s comments should be encouraging even when

he has adverse criticisms to make. However, if he continually

tells a group that they are doing well when they are doing

poorly, he will separate himself from the group. They will

conclude that he does not understand their difficulties. He might
have a comment on something that came up in the report or a

project they are working on which is related to the parish.

He might have something to add about the social inquiry. Never
should it be a canned speech.

If the chaplain is alert during the meeting, he may find
it a very great help to jot down a few notes as the meeting

proceeds. Not only should his words be encouraging but they

should always try to challenge the group and stir them from

complacency. After the meeting concludes with his blessing,

he should feel no obligation to join in the coffee hour. However,

if he can afford to stay awhile, his relationship with the group

will be strengthened.

If the chaplain is faithful to his role, he will have an un-

paralleled “listening post” for constructive comment on the life

of the Church which will find its way into his sermons and talks.



chapter

Opportunities for

Spiritual Guidance

We began this manual by stating that the CFM chaplain is
following the admonitions of St. Gregory in practising his

spiritual arts. It cannot be too heavily underscored that the

chief function of the CFM chaplain is to help people discover
the riches of Christ and make these riches the impulse of their

action. Yet we have talked only of the meeting. The meeting

itself does for people what it would take an impossible number

of hours for the priest to do with each individual.

Every chaplain who has sat through the scripture discussion

of the introductory meeting has seen this spiritual group therapy

at work. In the discussion the neophytes try to discover what

the will of God is for them in their human situations. The group
haltingly comes to the amazing personal discovery that the will

of God is found in one’s daily round of work and leisure. The

next day as a truck driver patrols the roads and his wife changes

the baby’s diapers they will experience the joy of union with

God through their routine tasks.

developing through the group

Through the group, many people can develop spiritually with
a minimum of individual help. This is one of the reasons why
we feel sure the Cure d’Ars would be a chaplain today. To

make this statement is not to detract from the urgency of

individual spiritual help which the chaplain gives to as many
people as possible. It is merely underscoring the insistent

demands of his other time-consuming tasks, and the little time

he can squeeze out of a busy week for individual counsel.

Nor is group therapy a second rate substitute for individual

help. In some areas of the spiritual life, the group can offer



greater help than a priest. For example, how can a priest help
people to discover what is the charitable thing to be done in

a neighborhood where other small children seem to be a harmful

influence on one’s own children ? Only a discussion with parents
in similar situations could help people through the complexities

of conflicting obligations to one’s own children, the neighbor’s
children, and the neighborhood.

couples help themselves

In preparing for the meeting the couple is expected to go

over the entire meeting with each other. As the years of

married life go on, a couple tend to take each other, the

children, the home, and all they have in common, for granted.

Conversation has a tendency to descend to the trivial, except

in moments of crisis. Couples, without being aware of it, can

be growing apart.

When a CFM couple discuss in the quiet of the evening
when the children are in bed what our Lord means in a

particular passage, they are really discussing with each other

the deepest issues of life and getting to know each other again

at ever deeper levels of their lives. This sharing of spiritual

experiences gives mutual support to their spiritual strivings.

guidance through preparation

Although it would be naive to think that all spiritual counsel

emanates from those in Holy Orders, yet we must see the

sacrament of priesthood as a God-given fountainhead and

instrument of the Holy Spirit for spiritual guidance. Every

priest has suffered the burden of the rectory parasite; the

insecure woman, who by visit or phone is always asking what

she must do in these particular circumstances. Yet the priest

knows that well-balanced people who are capable of making

their own decisions need his priestly counsel and encouragement

for advancing in the ways of the Lord. The preparation of the



meeting with the chaplain' offers a unique opportunity for the

chaplain and a particular couple to get down to the realities of

the spiritual life.

Without strain or pain the chaplain can use the scripture,

liturgy, or social inquiry for a cor ad cor discussion. Couples,

too, can be encouraged to use this time to bring to him their

personal problems. A climate should be established so that
problems can be aired without their being presented as Senate

investigation cases. The chaplain should not hesitate to ask

them about prayer, spiritual reading, offering Mass and partici-

pation in it. If the chaplain could meet with just one couple

a week, that is, a different couple each week, for an hour and

get down to the meat and potatoes of the spiritual life, one would

find in a few years a revolution in an American parish.

chance opportunities

There are a number of ways for a priest to keep alive a

fruitful dialogue with his CFM couples. When he reads a
good article or book, he passes it on to someone or calls

someone on the phone to tell them they have not lived until

they have read it. This is a far more effective way of getting

his people to read than lecturing them on the subject. When
he calls to have Johnny serve a funeral, he asks Dad or Mom
how the last meeting went. He sees John and Jane outside the

Church and he asks them about their action group or the book

he loaned them. There are myriad ways he can encourage and

gently nudge couples along without revamping his already

crowded schedule. In order to offer this casual but continuing

help to the people in the action groups, he must know them and

establish an easy rapport with them. If he can afford the time

to stay occasionally for a short time for the coffee hour at the

action meetings, people will feel that they can approach him

easily at another time.



regular guidance

So far we have not discussed the possibilities of CFM mem-
bers receiving spiritual guidance regularly. It would be quite

reasonable to expect them to have a regular spiritual guide or

confessor after they are in CFM a year. The subject can be
broached by the chaplain at a meeting and then taken up with

individuals. The chaplain should in the beginning deftly make

it known to them that he is available without their thinking

that it is a requirement.

Spiritual guidance or counselling can be separated from the

sacrament of penance. A priest whose schedule is predictable
and not overloaded may be able to take on a number of clients.
For the ordinary priest these extra-confessional clients will, of

necessity, be limited. Also, to some this face-to-face approach

may pose psychological difficulties.

Most people must settle for something less that what is held up

as an ideal. The confessional is available to all. Combining

spiritual guidance with the sacrament of Penance has a number

of advantages. The obvious practical advantage for the priest

and lay person is the element of convenience. People know the

hours for confessions. If the priest to whom they wish to go to
is not there, they can receive the grace of the sacrament from

another priest. There is no need of calling the rectory for an

appointment and no need to send a telegram when an out-of-

town appointment detains either party. On the priest’s side

there is no new demand upon his time. The time has already

been allotted for the purpose by the pastor. People can learn

from experience at what time there are the least people in the

Church so they can talk at some length, for example, the

Thursdays before the First Fridays.

The Church allows its children the freedom to seek spiritual

help outside the parish. The chaplain may have some leads for

them. They may find a confessor in a downtown church which

is near work, or a neighboring church or monastery.



initiating the dialogue

People should likewise be given a few tips on how to seek

guidance. If an unidentified woman asks a priest in confession

to be her spiritual director, he may be diffident to accept the

request. If the same woman merely said, “Father, I am con-
tinually nagging my husband, could you help me?” she might
get a hearing and gradually the area of assistance could be

extended to all of life.

When a priest is asked to be a spiritual director, he is apt
to think of all works on mysticism he has not read and of his

personal limitations in living a deep spiritual life. If the same

priest is confronted with human situations and particular spirit-

ual problems, he may prove to be another Cure d’Ars. After
the initial and favorable response it could be suggested that

people identify themselves in subsequent confessions, “Bless

me Father, this is Joe” or “This is a CFM wife,” so the priest
can tie one confession to another.

There is something about our American culture which inhibits

a priest from speaking about God except from the pulpit or the

emotion-choked funeral parlor. In the confessional he has

the similar inhibitions about referring to God for anything

more than warnings about future occasions of sin. Lay people

who are interested in something more than absolution, a

penance and a quick exit can, by asking for help, assist him

over the hurdle which curtails his priestly ministrations.

the skilled counsellor

How does a priest go about helping a lay person along the
paths of sanctity? One method is to deal with whatever diffi-

culties the penitent or client brings to the visit. The priest tries

to interpret these spiritual difficulties in terms of human nature,
the Cross, and the sacramental and non-sacramental aids to

increasing the divine life. He does not use the difficulties
elaborated as springboards for his ferverinos on particular

virtues and practices which could be as well played from a

record. Rather, he listens attentively to locate the person’s

spiritual level and their needs upon which to build.

This is not a classroom procedure. It is the method parents

use in training and teaching children. The lesson always begins



where the shoe pinches. Since the spiritual life is all of a piece,

every difficulty in the spiritual life can be ultimately related to

all the other aspects of it. A skilled counsellor over a period of
time would draw all the time-honored means of sanctity into

the discussion.



The Spiritual Life for Laymen

CFM offers no new or sectarian spirituality. It merely points
up for contemporary married couples what it considers of

particular relevence in the scriptures and liturgy, and offers

suggestions for implementing these truths in one’s relations

with God and fellowman.

It draws particularly from the teachings of St. Pius and Pius

XII in the area of the liturgy. It has drawn from the American

liturgical movement of the past two decades, from the accu-

mulated experiences of priests and laymen who have dedicated

themselves to the lay apostolate during the past quarter century.

In this chapter we have sorted out under separate headings

some of the points with which a spiritual guide should concern

himself in helping to strike deep roots of sanctity in members

of the Christian Family Movement who seek his counsel.

spirituality of action

The emphasis in CFM’s “Yellow Book” is not on the intel-

lectual virtues as much as it is on charity. It helps people to

see new facets to problems and situations which they experience

hundreds of times in a week. It helps them to discover with the

help of others the Christian implication in these situations and

turn the will through action to the good.

This is an appeal to the will rather than an intellectual one, and

no apology need be made for it, provided it is understood that

we are dealing with beginners in the spiritual life. Billy Graham

is very much aware of this. lie is never satisfied with merely
thrilling an audience with an electrifying speech and having

them articulate a few “Amens.” He asks them to make “deci-
sions for Christ,” wherein they disclose their allegiance to Christ

by stepping out of the crowd and into the aisle, thus making

a public declaration of intention.



While we start with involvement in an action or project, the

involvement must in time take on the substance of a cause

outside ourselves to which we devote ourselves unselfishly. This

dedication can have a transforming effect upon the entire

personality.

Books on the spiritual life seldom treat this approach. Too

often the person is regarded as a disincarnate spirit who is

involved in the religious arithmetic process of counting acts

of virtue. Dietrich von Hildebrand gives lie to this approach

in a masterful sentence. “It is not from what we undertake

with a view to our transformation, but from the things to which

we devote ourselves for their own sake, that will issue the

deepest formative effect upon our habitual being.”

Obviously, it is the quality of unselfishness and dedication

to others that is the transforming power that flows from involve-

ment or commitment. CFM members learn to be involved, not
for the sake of involvement but for the good of others. They may,

in the beginning, come to a meeting because they wish to

make new friends, because they are tired of TV or for a
multitude of self-centered reasons, but out of this real commit-

ment can evolve. It is the necessary first step of an infant or

of a person recovering from paralysis.

The chaplain or the spiritual counsellor must be forever help-

ing couples to relate their activities in behalf of others to the

love of God. When they are giving the cup of cold water, he
must remind them it must be a disinterested or unselfish action

done in the name of Christ and done to slake the thirst of the

Christ. Action must be seen as fulfilling the injunction that

we love in deed and in truth.



66formation through action
99

It is contended in some quarters that the CFM formula of
“formation through action” can lead to an activism which is

a hollow form of doing for the sake of doing, what Pius XII

called “the heresy of works.” These are indeed profitable

warnings which should be thoughtfully and charitably heeded.

There are some who come to the apostolate by learning first

to appreciate the divine life, the sacraments, and the Mass.

The scholastic axiom, action follows being, certainly supports

this position, as does the dictum: one cannot give what one

does not have.

Great Christian lay people have become witnesses for the

Church after they have come to drink deeply of the scriptures

and tapped the wellsprings of the liturgy. After they have found

the Christian sources of holiness the natural brilliance of their

minds and their refined human instincts led them intuitively

to Christian action. For them, the techniques used in the

specialized movements would only have been a means of

practising patience which they could have learned as well at

home or in their professional life.

CFM is built from wide experience on the principle that
for the generality of married people group support and an

insistence on action motivated by love are proved ways of

leading people to desire to reach for the heights of sanctity,

the riches of the Christ-life. While CFM makes no apology for
its emphasis on action, it claims no monopoly of the ways of

helping people achieve union with God.

the social inquiry

The social inquiry is both an instrument of social reform and

personal sanctity. When we speak of the spirituality of action
and formation through action, we are talking about the thrust

of the Christian into life through the inquiry. The spiritual

life of the layman is not a reality until he has made operative

his belief in Christ in terms of his daily encounter in the world.

This is why CFM stresses the social inquiry as a means of
growth in the spiritual life. The prayer and sacramental life

of the members must sustain and support them in the actions

flowing from the social inquiry and eventually from all of life.



living a liturgical life

The second strand in CFM’s spiritual life-line is participation

in the liturgy of the Church. Logically the liturgy comes first.

Worship or loving God directly is first in the order of nature,

but given our secular culture and the present state of liturgical

participation it is hardly to be expected that people will gravitate

to the altar immediately. CFM patiently takes people step by
step to God’s altar. CFM does not foster the liturgy primarily
because it is a tool for action but because the public worship

of the Church is the raison d'etre of the Catholic.

o

A spiritual guide should be concerned with the manner and
frequency of participation in the sacrifice and sacraments of

the Church. In reference to the Eucharist the priest should

help his clients understand that Mass with Communion is the

normal thing. The frequency of daily Mass should be discussed.

It should not be posed in such a way that a person who cannot

come because of distance, work, or family will have a guilt

complex about not going. If Saturday Mass can be added to

Sunday’s, people will find that a gradual approach to daily

Mass is not such a chilling prospect. To what has been said

in the last chapter about confession we add here that people

should be encouraged to a regular reception of the sacrament

of penance. Every two weeks should be a minimum.

the word of God

A third requirement of the spiritual life is reading. For monk
and layman alike the chief source is the Bible. With the recent

scriptural studies inaugurating a renaissance in Bible reading,

the priest who is alert to these currents has the necessary tools

at his disposal. For example, Lupton’s Guide to Reading the

Bible” offers a plan for lay people finding their way through

the scriptures in a more meaningful manner than beginning

with Genesis and wading through to the end.



Besides the scriptures and their commentaries, the chaplain

or the spiritual guide should have on his fingertips a list of

books which he has read and which may be of assistance to
a person at particular moments of his spiritual growth. In

suggesting books, as in sports, timing is of the essence. With

a very few dollars of his personal money, a priest could invest

in a small quantity of paperback spiritual classics like This

Tremendous Lover or Many Are One. The priest will save in
the long run by giving away paperbacks than by loaning hard-

covers. The chaplain should inquire from time to time about a

person’s progress with a particular book. This can be another

source for fruitful dialogue.

In ages past spiritual reading was confined to the Bible and

its commentaries. While we can never depart from the Bible,

the complexity of modern living demands that we keep abreast

of current developments in theology or the applications of

Christianity by scholars. Commonweal
,
America

,
Ave Maria,

Jubilee, Today, Sign, Cross Currents and others can be called

spiritual reading only in a wide sense, but each family should

be encouraged to fit the subscription price of one of these

into its budget. Furthermore, each couple in a group could

subscribe to a different magazine and exchange them at

meetings.

CFM people have “good” excuses for being poor readers.
They are usually involved in a wide range of activities that

leave little time for reading. The acceptance of this fallacy can

be CFM’s eventual downfall. Nothing is more apt in an aposto-

late that addresses itself to social change than the dictum:

Readers are leaders. Monsignor George Higgins has said,

“The biggest single need of the American Church is more lay

people who read.”



prayer

There will be no apostolate unless there is at the basis of

it people who have an intense prayer life. One of the chaplain’s

tasks is to teach people to pray. People understand prayer

almost exclusively in terms of vocal prayer. Even here people

need help, since they find that any formula of vocal prayer

can become empty and mechanical. Distractions and aridity

are common difficulties which a priest can handle quite easily.

Mental prayer is often presented as something entirely new,

yet people pray this way without an awareness of it. When a
person finds himself reflecting upon God and His mercies at

odd moments during the day, he is engaging in a form of

mental prayer. These reflections come even as distractions

during one’s work. The priest should help people have regular

periods of reflection every day, instead of leaving it entirely

to chance.

Mental prayer should not be presented as an involved methodi-

cal approach to God. The inherent difficulties of lovingly fixing

one’s gaze on God for any length of time should not be mul-

tiplied. Any way people can arrive at this loving conversation
with God is a suitable way. Resolutions are not of the essence

but, rather, the movement of the mind and heart to God.

For lay people to move from the myriad distractions of work

and home to the contemplation of the mysteries of Christ is

not a simple feat of mental gymnastics. If mental prayer is

tied to spiritual reading, the approach is easier and quite

natural. This is the way of the liturgy. After a reading is

finished in a liturgical service there is a pause during which

a musical interlude is provided for. This gives the listener

time to sort out and ponder what was read. This is the Church’s

traditional way of meditating.

The length of time for reading and meditating should be

left to the individual to work out. When, during the day,

people can find the time, must likewise be left to the individual.

Busy people can find odd bits of time either on their way to

or from work, during a long lunch hour, while the children

are napping, or when the house is quiet after the children have

gone off to school or have retired. Fixing a time and making



it habitual is necessary. It should be pointed out that there

will be days when the best laid plans will have to be put aside

for the unpredictable events in life. If one is so busy all day

long doing God’s will to the extent that he has not once found

time for the usual prayer, he must be reassured that he was

through his actions at every moment praying the Lord’s prayer:

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

a framework for living

What can be done to work out an entire framework for

one’s life—a rule of life? The first principle is flexibility. “Never
say never” is another way of expressing the same. Besides

time for prayer, Mass, and reading there should be time for

a couple to have serious conversation as well as time for attention

to the needs of each member of the family. In no case can a
chaplain tolerate a couple’s placing their own family on the

altar of sacrifice for the sake of other people’s families.

When the individual goes over these human, spiritual, and
familial requirements he will find out that there are limits to

how far he can extend himself in the service of his fellow

man. He must learn to say “no” to undertaking new obligations
which cannot be undertaken without prejudice to prior ones.

These are decisions which the layman must make and the priest

must respect. Experience will teach the priest that lay people,

without compromising their family commitments, achieve a

greater capacity for tasks as the years go on. In the beginning

they will need more time for themselves to put their spiritual

houses in order. Likewise, the age of the person’s family will

determine how much outside-the-home activity is feasible.

poverty

When people in upper income brackets take CFM seriously,
they find the words of our Lord on poverty disturbing. If CFM



is interested in relieving people from material poverty, it cannot

at the same time hold up material poverty as an ideal to its

members. Also, some of what might seem superfluous or luxury

items may be justified by necessary social exigencies. The
apostle, to be effective, must identify himself as far as possible

with his peers. Rather than material poverty, the chaplain

should stress sharing or the stewardship of property. Actually

the majority of people in CFM, like the rest of Americans,
are heavily mortgaged, and probably spend a greater part

of their income for babysitters in order to do the work of

CFM than do people in similar circumstances.

Yet CFM must keep before its minds the almost universal
material poverty of the world. The inequitable distribution of

goods within this country and between this country and Asia

must be painfully borne in mind. Most Americans in the

face of the grinding and involuntary poverty of others are

like the stranger, who while riding through the slums of an

Asian city, wished he were enveloped by a London fog. The

chaplain has the difficult job of prodding and nagging members

to face up to worldwide responsibility while they enjoy the com-

forts of the American way of life.

We can establish a rapport with our suffering brethren all
over the world by our interest in the politics, economics, and

cultures of these peoples. One’s love for them can be shown

by a willingness to pay taxes for foreign aid, by sharing homes

with foreign students or visitors. We can find many ways of
showing our love for people once we are aware of who, in

concrete circumstances, our brother is.

mortification

Emerson wrote a century ago that “things are in the saddle

and ride mankind.” In the last quarter century “things” have

multiplied in such proportions that the average American

Catholic has made a prodigious economic advance. This multi-

plication and availability of material goods and opportunities

for social advancement demand unprecedented restraint in

their use. In our religious vocabulary we call restraint in the

use of material and spiritual goods by the dour, forbidding

word, “mortification.”



Restraint for the layman can be more difficult than renunci-

ation for the monk. Mortification in the use of material goods

and the senses has more relevance today for the Christian than

at any time in the history of mankind with the possible excep-

tion of the days of Roman paganism. The chaplain must help

people make affluence not a goddess but a docile servant.

The hairshirt, the discipline, and chains are not the tools

of a penitential life for the layman today. Attendance at meet-

ings, faithfully carrying out actions, making observations, and

offering one’s services cheerfully for the extra chores are

ways of continuing the Passion of our Blessed Lord in one’s

own life. The work of CFM can be, at times, so demanding
that nothing less than the carrying of the cross can be adequate

motivation to continue. The absence of this motivation may
sometimes be the explanation of apathy and dropping out.

Eventually couples must see it in terms of St. Paul’s ship-

wrecks, sleepless nights, fastings, and every manner of trial.

Only in these terms can it be an exciting adventure after the

Yellow Book fever or fervor has passed.

CFM couples must eventually adopt the Open Door policy
which teaches the spirit of penance to the entire family. The

stability of their married lives and their proven generosity

in the neighborhood will bring the lonely and poor in spirit

to their door. Each guest should be greeted and treated as

Christ. People in every neighborhood are searchingly asking

St. Peter’s question, “To whom shall we go?” In the ordinary
course of events their way to Christ will be through the family

who receives them as Christ for Christ.

To permit oneself to be imposed upon is probably the safest

form of mortification. There can be little place for self since

others are determining the disposal of our time and our re-

sources. It is simply filling our Lord’s injunction of going the

extra mile.





Time for Reflection

chapter

The American way of life stemming from our unprecedented

type of industrial culture, offers more leisure hours per week

than working hours to the mass of wage earners but in return

demands a heavy toll in the form of ulcers, coronaries, and

psychic problems. In our treadmill kind of life, there is little

time allowed for silence, meditation, reflection or contempla-

tion. Even the activities of CFM at times seem to add to our
frenetic activity.

A few minutes everyday given to reflection, as necessary as
this may be, cannot substitute for occasional longer periods
during which the soul can ruminate and reach into hitherto

unexplored empty caverns of the soul. Time is one of the ele-

ments necessary for spiritual experience, If Canon Law pre-
scribes these lengthy periods for reflection for priests and

religious lest they become dissipated by their daily routine, it

is equally valid that lay people who share the apostolate with

priests and religious should have these periods built into their

lives.

couples retreats

Happily, the number of retreat houses, seminaries, and col-

leges which provide facilities for laymen’s retreats are steadily

increasing. CFM is particularly interested in retreats for
couples. A retreat is unlike a Cana Conference. The emphasis
of the Cana Conference is on a re-examination of a married

couple’s love relationship. A retreat for couples has the same
objective as a retreat for members of the same sex, namely,

an examination of one’s relationships with all of life, human and
divine. The advantage for the couple making the retreat together

is that both can make a fresh start together on the path of

sanctity and in the weeks subsequent to the retreat they can

discuss the conferences. The mutual support which is one of

the reasons for marriage can be furthered by a couples’ retreat.



The obstacles to a week-end away from home are quite

formidable for most couples. We would be quick to write olf
a couples’ retreat as a spiritual luxury which few couples can

afford if we were not aware of how many couples in the course
of a year manage to leave home for a weekend without their

children, whether it is for a football game, a class reunion, a

business trip, or a visit to a resort. The possibilities of CFM
finding estates which could be used for inexpensive retreats and

a system, as is already working in one archdiocese, of exchang-

ing sitter services with couples making retreats on different

weekends should be explored.

evenings of recollection

Whether the weekend couples’ retreat is a luxury item or

not, the obstacles for the majority may well be insurmountable.
The CFM evening of recollection has become the popular form
of retreat. On the basis of obtaining available facilities there
is no comparison with the difficulties of engaging a retreat

house. Every parish has adequate facilities for an evening of

recollection. If the evening of reflection is held in one’s parish,

no transportation problem is posed. The babysitter difficulty

is diminished to the proportions of an evening out together.

A parish CFM evening of recollection committee can reasonably
set its sights on a one hundred percent turnout.

place

Evenings of recollection or reflection are usually held on the

parish premises. Many chaplains prefer a meeting room or hall
rather than the church for giving the talks. This allows for a

less formal approach, more after the pattern of a conversation

than a sermon, wherein he can share his thoughts with them

rather than labor for rhetorical effect from a distant pulpit.

If the parish church is close to the room or hall in which the

talks are given, the people can move to the church and pray

before the Blessed Sacrament between the talks.



time

The chaplain will ordinarily have a large part in planning

the evening of recollection, but he should not impose a retreat

schedule without consultation. A 8:30 to 10:30 period would
provide for three twenty-minute or half-hour talks interlarded

with short meditation periods. This would probably be the

maximum time any group could arrange. Sunday evening has
proved the most popular evening for this type of abbreviated

retreat.

Although the chaplain consults on the details of the evening,

he should never compromise on silence as a requirement. It

should be as simple as: “no silence, no evening of recollection.”

There is no need to find things for people to do between the

talks, such as saying the rosary. The periods are for prayerful

reflection. If the chaplain does not feel the people know how

to use the time in meditation, the first talk might well be given

on this very subject.

the retreat master

The simple requirements for a retreat master are that he can

be heard, that he has the ability to move an audience, and

that he have a “feel” for CFM. The last requirement would

eliminate many “name” preachers and by the same token make
the local chaplain highly desirable. Since many like the fresh
approach of a stranger, the local chaplain should be willing to

make arrangements to exchange places with another chaplain

in a different part of the city or diocese.

retreat topics

The retreat talks should simply cover the traditional Christian

themes in such a way that they show graphically their relevance

to people engaged in an apostolate of couples. The conductor

must remember that he is trying to deepen their spiritual life

by challenging people who have already made more than the
ordinary commitment of lay Catholics.

The mystery of God, the Mystical Body, the Mass, the divine

life are subjects which get to the core of the objectives of CFM
as well as of Christianity. These subjects are usually familiar

themes to the listeners but unfortunately our religious teaching



in schools suffers from nominalism. Religious truths are con-

cepts or terms to be learned and the great and wonderous

realities are not vitally grasped and cherished. To translate

these abstract truths into realities which touch the mind and

heart, the speaker must penetrate the mysteries himself and

try to present them in fresh but simple language.

Many chaplains shuffle their feet and bite their lips during
a doctrinal discussion at the bi-weekly meeting, saving their

brief remarks lest they inhibit discussion. During the evening

of recollection the roles are reversed and the chaplain should

feel at ease talking instead of impatiently listening. This is

the supreme opportunity for him to unfold, for example, the

liturgical themes which need a whole evening in themselves.

He can play the role of expert without suffering guilt feelings,
as he might at a meeting.

how often

It is suggested that every CFM couple attend two evenings
of recollection annually. If a number of neighboring parishes

join together for the evening of recollection the parishes could

rotate arranging and hosting for the evening. Combining efforts

is a great apostolic saving. Since there is no discussion or report-

ing the evening should not lose its effectiveness if seventy-five

couples were present rather than twenty.

parish meetings

A parish meeting differs in purpose from an evening of recol-
lection. Parish meetings are usually held twice annually. They

are held to introduce a new inquiry book topic or deal with a

special parish problem. The parish meeting, unlike the evening

of recollection, is an activity the chaplain leaves in the hands

of the laity and merely makes himself available for consultation.



chapter

The Federation Chaplain
The Christian Family Movement is a lay apostolic movement

of the Church Universal. Each bishop has complete jurisdiction

over CFM in his diocese. It can exist only with his approval,
and should this be withdrawn it must vanish.

One reason CFM has prospered is that bishops have under-
stood the mission of CFM in the Church as a lay apostolic
movement. They have not tied it down with stringent con-

stitutions, nor have they used it rigidly for specific ends, such

as fund raising. They have understood that it must have a wide

berth for initiative. Never have they conducted heresy hunts

because lay people are discussing theology. Maybe it is because

they somehow are aware that nearly all the heresies of the

Church were started not by lay people discussing theology but

by priests or professional theologians. Bishops have presided

and spoken at national and diocesan gatherings and attended

local meetings always with one objective — to encourage. In
brief, CFM is trusted.

On the local level, it is the chaplain who guides for the
bishop. He does not assume that it will never make a mistake,
but he does shield it from committing the Church adversely.

For example, if he anticipates that a parish project such as a

Sunday nursery will be a failure, it might be the more prudent

thing to permit a group to learn by this failure. Responsibility

demands elbow room for growth through failures. However, if

CFM were to endorse a candidate for a political office, the
chaplain would be quick to use his veto power. If a group were

to take an action wherein they in effect would be representing

the Catholic Church in a controversial matter, he would consult

with his Pastor or the chancery office if he were not sure of the

implications of the action. In these instances he is participating

in the ruling mission of the bishop. In other phases of his

work previously outlined, he is participating in the teaching

work of his Ordinary and in sanctifying people.



The bishop of a diocese is a man of a multitude of cares.
If he is to give CFM the care it deserves, he must appoint a
priest to be his alter ego in matters pertaining to CFM. This
priest is known as the federation or diocesan chaplain. With

the rapid growth of the lay apostolate since the last revision of

the Code of Canon Law, we have no written legal norms to

guide the chaplain who must mediate between a hierarchial

chain of authority and a lay movement which must use the

democratic processes. What are of great help are the two
addresses of Pius XII to the World Congresses of the Lay

Apostolate in 1951 and 1957. If the diocesan chaplain con-

ceives his work as that of a bureaucrat who issues directives

like a commanding officer, he will bring CFM to a grinding
halt. He can only learn the working out of this delicate relation-
ship by “playing it by ear.”

federation officers

The federation chaplain deals directly with the federation

officers. (In A Guide to CFM, Chapter V, there is an explana-
tion of the organization of a federation and the roles of the

officers). The diocesan chaplain has a relationship to the federa-

tion officers which parallels the parish chaplain’s relationship

to the parish CFM’ers. He attends their meetings. If he has
been appointed to the office because of proficiency as a parish

chaplain, he wifi be sufficiently skilled in the art of guiding

without the use of the heavy hand.

Besides being a consultant and the liaison with the bishop

he is above all a guide of souls for the federation officers.

Because they have been in CFM a number of years and have
shown generosity and understanding, he should not consider

that the work is complete. He must be forever challenging them

to widen their horizons and deepen their vision.

federation chaplain’s responsibility

Since CFM is a relatively new form of pastoral endeavor,
priests must learn on the job. It cannot be presumed that the

seminary adequately prepared them for the work. (This can

be said without its being an indictment of the seminary). Many
priests during their seminary years learned the theory and



techniques of Catholic Action. These priests need to exchange

their practical experiences with their fellow priests and re-

evaluate their earlier acquired theoretical views. It is up to the

ingeniousness and unselfishness of the diocesan chaplain to

discover ways and means.

Once an organization is efficiently structured, to the point

that the diocesan chaplain feels there is no further need for

concern about the education of priests, his house of cards will

begin to fall. The federation chaplain must make himself avail-

able to all the priests of the diocese who want to discuss CFM
with him informally. He must encourage priests to meet formally

or informally when they can, even if he cannot be present.

If the diocese covers a wide area, he should suggest names to

the Bishop for the appointment of chaplains who would assume

responsibility for regions or deaneries. Regional and deanery

chaplains are in the best position to have luncheon or evening

meetings for the chaplains of their area. In the ordinary course

of events this should be the way the young priest learns from

the seasoned chaplain.

chaplain’s meetings

Chaplain’s meetings tightly structured like the couples meet-

ings have never been enduring. In fact there is no pattern

which can be offered on the basis of proven performance. One

type of meeting proves successful for a time and then at-

tendance drops off. A new approach then must be found. Finding
ways of reaching chaplains through meetings suited to the

present needs of the chaplains must be the pre-occupation of

the diocesan chaplain. Unless the chaplains are continually

deepening their knowledge and solidifying their convictions,

CFM will never represent more than the enthusiasm of a few
scattered priests and dedicated lay people. The CFM chaplains
through these meetings must form a team. The isolated chaplain

cannot fully develop without the support of a team.



u

the chaplain’s study day

A study day is a diocesan-wide form of chaplains’ meeting.
The study day is a formal attempt to indoctrinate and to

discuss subjects related to CFM and particularly to the role
of the chaplain. These should be held at least twice a year. A
typical day would begin about 10:30 A.M. on a week-day and

end about 3:00 P.M. These two lengthy sessions would

ordinarily include a talk by an expert followed by floor and/or

small group discussion. If the federation chaplain attends the

national convention and is in contact with the parish chaplains,

he will not find it difficult to choose topics and to know whom
to invite to speak.

new chaplains

Special attention must be given to the young clergy. Many
of the older chaplains had a hand in shaping CFM as it now
exists. It is these priests who must cultivate the friendship of

younger chaplains and share their experiences with them. Since

the new chaplain, unlike the older one, may have inherited
CFM as he did the Holy Name Society or Ushers Club, he may
see in it no challenge and be satisfied with the routine perform-

ance he gives to other chores.

seminarians

Since the seminary by its nature cannot offer practical

experience in the lay apostolate, the diocesan chaplain should

lend the assistance of his office to this aspect of the training of

priests for the ministry. He should be in contact with the rectors

of whatever seminaries, diocesan or religious, which are in his

diocese and offer to arrange for a panel of lay people and priests

on CFM. The chaplain should also make himself available to

the seminarians of his diocese or city when they are home on



vacation. He can easily arrange for them to attend a CFM meet-
ing or to meet with any priest or layman they may desire to
interview.

bulletins

If the diocesan chaplain has a mailing list of the chaplains,

he could use it to keep the priests up to date on CFM develop-
ments. Even more important than the mere chronicling of

events is the supplying of chaplains of reprints or mimeo-

graphed copies of articles or speeches which might be helpful

for the chaplain. The federation chaplain must not limit his

view of the education of priests to the learning of techniques.

He must help them to see CFM in terms of the total mission of
the Church and of the total responsibility and opportunity of

the layman in our changing world.

dialogue

In the dioceses where CFM is taking strongest hold, there
is at the core of the operation a group of priests who meet
with some regularity and discuss common problems. In some
areas, priests wisely decide to meet on a wider basis than a

particular apostolic movement, so they can deal with the broader

aspects of the priesthood and in order that many who are not
chaplains may be included.

If discussion on common problems has such a good effect
upon lay people, is it not equally necessary for priests? If lay

people continually need to re-discover their vocation in lay

life, do chaplains have less need to examine their work? These

meetings follow no single pattern. Some are in the form of
lectures on recent developments in theology, scripture, or the

sociology of religion. Some groups are primarily for discussion
whether the discussion is structured tightly or loosely. The

important thing is the dialogue or the vital exchange of ideas.



In every city there are priests who have greater insights than

the average or have more time and inclination to read. These

priests are invaluable to the Church, and there must be some

medium through which they can communicate what they

acquire. These very priests need the group as much as the

others. Without the group the sage lacks a challenge. He may
“blush unseen and waste his fragrance on the desert air.”

Such a group of priests is to a diocese or city what a healthy

CFM is to a parish. They form a creative minority at work
within an institution. They themselves may not make the
necessary changes in the institution, but they are ceaselessly at

work studying the situation, uncovering new facets, suggesting

fresh approaches. Gradually those not directly involved in the

group but in touch with members of the group see what must

be done and take advantage of the climate the group has created,

and the change is made.

Much more interesting than the history of political parties is
the study of the creative minorities with which the sprawling,

lumbering, stooped and bent parties have to deal and make

peace. A great hope of the Church throughout history has always
been in its creative minorities—initiating, suggesting, always
obedient and never interested in personal conquest. The CFM
chaplains in the United States are one of the Church’s most

potent creative minorities. In these minorities lies a strong hope

of the Church. The obverse is also true. When the prophets lose
their vision, the people perish.



Outlines for Evenings off

Each priest brings to the pulpit a unique personality. It is

formed from a life of experience which no one else encountered.

This is why a talk should be more moving and meaningful than

a reading. Unlike the sophisticated huckster in TV commercials,
the retreat master lives his lines. It is for this reason that

seasoned priests have little patience with the possibility of

adapting canned speeches or using another’s outlines. The

beginning chaplain, on the other hand, may feel the chore
quite formidable and thus feel insecure without the props which

outlines provide. It is with reluctance, therefore, that the follow-

ing outlines are submitted.

1,

The Mystery of God

1. A 1960 Look survey reports “all but three percent
believe in God.” There is more church going but

hardly a deep religious revival.

2. Views of God: the Great Abstraction, the Taskmaster.

3. Who is God?
a) The method of scholastic theology is to study his

perfections by way of negation.

b) A better method for our purposes seems to be to
let God speak of God by way of the scriptures, e.g.,

Exodus 3.

4. “My ways are exalted above your ways and my
thoughts above your thoughts.”

5. Without this exalted and profound notion of God,

there is no consciousness of sin. Parents in teaching

their children about God should be more concerned

with teaching them about God than sin.



6. Reasons why people do not love God more

:

a) They do not feel that they can be loved by God
or man. St. Peter “Depart from me, for I am a
sinful man, O’Lord.” Our society breeds this feel-

ing.

b) They fear the demands of being loved—its ad-
venture and responsibility. Christ to Angela of

Foligno: “It is no laughing matter that I have

loved you.”

7. What about our response to God’s advances?

a) Our unwillingness to go the extra mile.

b) Our cringing from accepting new responsibilities

as though we were to depend on our own resources.

Reference: “The Meaning of God in The Church
Today

,
Suhard.

2,

Christ

1. We know God through seeing Christ.
a) “He who sees me, sees the Father.”

b) Preface of Christmas. Through the visible we love

the invisible.

2. If Christ walked the earth, it cannot be such a bad

place. He loved His country to the point of weeping
over it. He observed its rituals and customs.

3. Christ was more a man than any of us. He was not
acting. He was really angry and compassionate. He

was tender, strong, discouraged, patient. He suffered

the discomforts of the body.

4. He was able to give free reign to His emotions be-
cause He had perfect control of them. Parents can

hardly imitate His anger lest they punish unjustly.

Children can hardly imitate Christ’s friendship with

sinners lest they be contaminated.

5. Christ became an apostle by reason of the Incarna-

tion. He embraced humanity. Christian lay people
must embrace all of the world they touch.



6. Lay people must not only “be incarnate” but they

must be “redeemers.” “There is no redemption with-

out of the shedding of blood.” Suffering is inescapable

for the apostle or the Christian.

Reference: The Salvation of the Nations, Danielou,

Chapter 4.

3. Divine Life

1. “I have come that you may have life . . .” Point up
differences between historic life of Christ and our

possession of the Christ-life today.

2. The new life, supernatural life, sanctifying grace, the

Christ-life and divine life are synonomous. Explain.

3. The impact of the new life in the world is not ap-

preciated because we have lost the sense of the divine.

Christianity has been reduced to a moral code —
devitalized.

4. Explain how we are in St. Peter’s words “sharers of

the divine nature.” Disney gives human life to a

mouse through fantasy. God gives divine life to man
in reality.

5. Implications for daily living.

Reference: Of Sacraments and Sacrifice, Clifford

Howell, S.J., Chapters 2 & 3.

4. Mystical Body

1. Divine life comes through being grafted on to the

Body of Christ.

2. One or more scriptural passages could be developed.

a) “I am the vine; you are the branches.”

b) “That all may be one as Thou Father in Me and I
in them.”

c) “Members one of another.” “Christ is the Head;

we are the members.”

3. The purpose of the Mystical Body.

a) the extension of Christ in space and time.

b) the fullness of Christ.

c) the adequate praise of the Father.



4. Our relation to the Mystical Body.

a) incorporation in Christ.

b) priesthood of the laity.

c) confirmation.

d) sacrament of matrimony.

5. The Mystical Body needs the world; the world needs

the Mystical Body.

6. Pius XII says: “Christ requires his members.” Each

member in God’s plan is irreplaceable.

Reference: The Living Christ, John L. Murphy. This

hook is a commentary on the encyclical.

5. Mass

1. Mass is the action of the Mystical Body.

a) It is something not only watched; it is also some-

thing done.

b) “Because the Bread is one, we though many are
one Body.”

c) This union of the Mystical Body reaches its climax

in the Mass (Pius XII).

2. Who are the “we?” We are the little child, the teen-
ager, the young married couple, the old man, the

student, the union man, the management man, the

negro, the white.

3. The gift at Mass is tainted or enobled by the lack

of or presence of generosity when I offer myself. I

do not offer myself completely, if my life does not
square with my offering. Sunday Mass and Monday
work are related. A defect in our work makes our
part in the Mass to that extent defective.

4. At the offertory our gift is bread and wine and our-

selves. At the consecration Christ’s gift is Himself and

His whole Mystical Body (us)

.

5. In exchange for our work, our life, our love, we

receive Christ. It is a banquet whose purpose is to

bring us into a closer unity. It is necessary food for

the apostle. The sacrament of love.

Reference: The Sacrifice of the Church, Joseph A.

Jungmann, S.J.



1. Prayer is an essential element of the Christian life.

If required by Church law for priest and religious,

it is for like reasons necessary for the apostolic layman.

2. Prayer is an art. Apostles asked to be taught by Our

Lord. The petitions of the Our Father can be used to

point up the elements of prayer.

3. Prayer is a loving conversation with God. It can be

also a communing without language as with lovers.

4. There is no one method. Each must seek his level

and way of union with God.

5. Vocal prayers, family and private, are prayer forms.

The prayer comes from the inward assent to the

words. Families should have some originality in their

prayer forms. Try to relate them to the Bible and the

seasonal liturgy, but above all they must be meaning-

ful to those who say them.

6. Meditation or mental prayer. Traditional ways to begin

with a passage of the Bible or a commentary or a

text from the missal. The next step is to ponder leisure-

ly the words. The last step is a brief genuine movement

of the will and heart to God.

7. Aids to prayer: a) recollection, b) detachment from

creatures, c) spiritual reading, d) persistence.

Reference: “Meditation as a Biblical Reading,” Le-

clercq, Worship
,
October, 1959.

7. Fasting (suffering)

1. “This kind is cast out only by prayer and fasting.”

Necessity of suffering from Christ’s words and actions.

“Ought not Christ to have suffered . . .”

2. The passion of Our Lord is redemptive and also an

example.

3. Think of all the suffering in the world that is wasted

because it is not accepted.



4. The Church is not the product of Madison Avenue.

The history of the Church is the story of unending

persecution, misunderstanding. CFM as an organiza-
tion and its members as individuals should expect

and embrace suffering.

5. Forms of suffering: physical ailments, fatigue, mis-

understanding, detraction, calumny, difficult people.

6. Acceptance of our vocation in all its details is the

greatest form of suffering. This is demanded for

canonization.

7. The true Christian has a spirit of self-denial without

a puritanical attitude towards fun.

8

.

The Theory of Love

1. Love is as necessary for living as food and drink.

After the hungry two thirds of the world have their

fill, their problem will be the problem of the well-fed

American—loneliness, the feeling of not being loved.
2. We desire to be loved rather than to love.

a) Our culture puts emphasis on being lovable rather

than on loving, e.g., charm schools rather than

schools of service.

b) Love is wrongly considered as something that

happens to us—falling in love. This denies that
love is active and an art.

3. Love is an attitude toward life rather than toward an

object. We love all people or we don’t love any. If we
love the least, we love all.

4. Love is basically a respect for the other person because

he is a person, not because of what he can do for us.

Do parents really love each other and their children,

or do they use them ?

5. Love demands service. Our service is specified by the

needs of others. We give to those who need us most,
not to the most grateful.

6. The CFM Yellow Book forces people to acquire the
art of loving. When spouses learn to love people who

were previously unlovable neighbors, they acquire a

deeper love for each other.



7. The social inquiry is a technique for the practice of

love.

8. Love is the badge of the Christian. “By this . . .” “God

is love.”

Reference : St. Paul I Cor. 13. Also, The Art of Loving,

Fromm.

9.

The Layman is the Minister of Love in the World

1. Christ is the light of the world.

2. Today’s world is the world of

a) population explosions

b) race hatreds

c) mass production

d) threats from nuclear bombs

e) the alienation of man from society and himself,
(loneliness)

3. The layman must be the Light of the World today.

4. Last Judgement scene Matt. 25. The examples Christ

gave were not a complete enumeration of the ways we

minister to the world. We must discover the applica-
tions for our times and opportunities. E.g., cheerfully

paying income tax (included is foreign aid) is feeding

the hungry. We shelter the homeless when we take an
interest in urban renewal programs and city planning.

5. The Good Samaritan does not find people by the way-

side bleeding. He binds other types of wounds by acts
of kindness in the neighborhood, participation in

union and management affairs, preparing his com-

munity for peaceful racial integration. Preventing

wounds is of a higher order than binding wounds,

although less glamorous without the blood and band-

ages, e.g., mental health societies, interracial councils.

6. “Come ye Blessed ...” The life of heaven a com-
munity of praise and love which has its exemplar in

the life of the Trinity.

10.

The Will of God

1. “The will of God is your sanctification.”

2. Growth in the spiritual life is not so much a conquest

as a surrender.



3. Abraham sacrifices Isaac. Christ in His agony says
“Not my will but thine . .

4. St. Paul’s life is to let Christ shine through his. “I

love now, not I, . . .”

5. The Little Flower felt incapable of doing anything

great. Her greatness was in understanding the im-

portance of the commonplace in God’s plan.

6. The will of God is determined by the circumstances

of life—all are providential.
7. Sanctity comes from the facing up to the realities of

our present situation, unmasking ourselves and leav-

ing our defenses drop. “Mankind cannot stand too

much reality.”

8. Our neighbors by their charitable and uncharitable

remarks can tune us in on our true selves if we are not

too sensitive and will listen. People pay $25 a visit

for this kind of help.

Mary

1. Life of Mary . . . Nazareth was an obscure town. She
cooked, mended, swept the house with the most primi-

tive appliances; carried water on her head. She was

a woman of her times. Mary today might be going to
a political meeting instead of a well.

2. Trip to Elizabeth—not afraid to work for someone
in need.

3. Cana showrs her concern for everyone.

4. The desire to be like the Mother of God means a

willingness to suffer, a) her child was born after a

long journey in a stable without friends; b) she had

to move to Egypt without warning; c) her son left

her at the temple at tw7elve and later left her per-

manently; d) He permitted her to see him die, e) He
consigned her to John who had not time to take care

of her because Our Lord commissioned him an apostle.

5. If you choose to follow Mary, you are choosing the

path of suffering.



.



,



EXCERPTS FROM

Can a Layman Be a Saint?

JACQUES LECLERCQ

At the outset it is well to recall that the Christian life is

the life of Christ within souls, that Christian activity is not Christian

in the strict sense of the word unless it is the activity of Christ in

His disciple. In consequence, when a Christian works in a purely

secular job, for example
,
as a butcher, the question is whether and

under what conditions the exercises of this occupation can be the

activity of Christ in His disciple.

In this context, then
,
a theologian would define a layman

as one who takes the temporal order seriously. A man who estab-
lishes himself as a butcher so that he can talk religion with his

customers is not taking the temporal order seriously. This is not

true of a man who recognizes the need for a butcher in a certain
place and sets up shop there in order to render service.

We can hardly conceive that a good priest should become
a butcher solely to give good service to his customers. Priests who
engage in similar jobs and prefer them to their proper sacerdotal

work lack something precisely as priests. Considered in this way

,

the question of lay sanctity presents a serious difficulty . . . What
is still sorely lacking are laymen who will “take a truly serious
interest in the temporal order ...”

Some such laymen there have been, but they did not
have the religious formation needed to approach temporal questions

with a Christian originality entirely inspired by the scale of values

found in the gospel. The good Christian has always had the
impression that he cannot be completely Christian, if he remained

completely a layman.



We have all known Catholic doctors who were extremely
devoted to conducting pilgrimages to Lourdes but were little con-

cerned about following the development of their science and even

negligent in the care of their patients. We have known businessmen

,

too, who were exemplary in their religious practices but were
engaged in questionable business affairs.

How seldom do Christian writers on social order do any-
thing more than comment on papal teaching when it is the layman's

role to go farther. He must search out concrete solutions to social

problems in accord with the principles taught by the Church, but

on a different level than that of ecclesiastical authority. Moreover,

all the great masters of political economy have been non-Christian.

Do we have to conclude from this that our Catholic faith kills
inspiration and originality in this field of thought? . . .

Another example of the clergy's failure is in international

problems. The absence of a developed Catholic opinion in regard

to the wars and conflicts of our time is a disgrace. The work of

the Popes has been and is important. But we still need to develop
a Christian mind in these matters by the thorough application of

moral teaching to these concrete temporal contingencies.

As long as priests believe that they ought to engage in

temporal affairs and the laity believe that their holiness consists

in imitating religious, the Church will never accomplish her work.

Priests who devote themselves to temporal affairs, apart

from teaching, are becoming more and more rare, and find less

and less support for their position. The justification for such secular

endeavors, of course, is the prestige which this work brings to

the Church. But, to speak only of writers, it would be difficult to

find a priest who could accomplish for the Church what Maritain,
Claudel, or Chesterton have done . . . But not to lose sight of their

vocation as priests requires exceptional supernatural virtue.

In our own day a great number of priests believe that

they must labor wherever Christ and the Church should be present.

Besides the priest-workers, many others have been led into secular
work, e.g., of the press, the cinema, radio, etc. Fascinated by im-

mediate results and impatient of the delay required to form the

laity, they long to see the fruits of their labors. But this desire is

not supernatural and leads astray a generosity otherwise pure

and admirable. With the intervention of the Church in the priest-

workers movement, we are again brought back to the question
of the role of the laity.



The priest must form the layman; the layman must trans-

form the world. The Church is Christ changing the world by chang-

ing the men in it. The Church must go to the world. And this she

does through her laity who engage in the temporal order in itself

and for itself
,
but in the light of a Christian vision of life . . .

THE LAY SAINT

Thus to be a Christian is not only to have a creed. It is

not only to give oneself to certain practices. It is to live in and

by Christ, to think and act with Him, to react to every situation

as He would.

The work of the Church has two stages: to transform

souls by giving them grace; then to transform the world through

those who are living in grace. The second step is the work of the

laity accepting the responsibility which Christian laymen bear in

the world. It is the layman who will show to the world the value
of Christianity or the world will never see it. If so many zealous

priests are still attached to the old idea that the priest ought to

go every place where Christianity ought to be present
,

this is so

because there are not enough laymen capable of carrying out

their temporal responsibilities as Christians in the world.

We come now to the important question of this paper:
Can an authentic layman be a saint? The Kingdom of God cannot
reach its fulfillment on earth without authentic laymen. It is incon-

ceivable, therefore
,
that the quality of being a layman is not in

accord with sanctity. If the layman is dedicated to temporal affairs

,

his dedication is that of a Christian soul
,

living fully the super-

natural life
,
impregnated with Christian values. If the authentic

layman is so necessary for the Church, we must conclude that lay
Christians who desire an integral Christian life have a lay vocation.

All this is simply a return to primitive Christianity, to a

laity composed of Christ's authentic faithful, to Christians who are
such because they choose to be and who are prepared to suffer
for their faith. The doctrine of the Incarnation can be fully realized

only with the help of authentic lay Christians. The layman who
arrives at complete Christian authenticity is a saint. The Church

itself will realize true sanctity—one of Christ's attributes—if it
has a group of authentic laymen at the side of authentic priests

and authentic religious.

FROM THEOLOGY DIGEST, WINTER, 1956



EXCERPTS FROM

Pope John XXIII’s encyclical on the missions

In our first encyclical we recalled the multiple grave
reasons that make necessary today in all nations of the world

the recruiting of laymen “in the peaceful army of Catholic Action

with the intention of having them as collaborators in the apostolate

of the ecclesiastical hierarchy .'
1 We have also shown our satisfaction

with “what has been done in the past
,
even in mission territories,

by these valuable collaborators of the bishops and priests,” and

we wish here to renew with all the urgency of the love that urges
us, the admonition and appeal of our predecessor Pius XII con-

cerning the necessity that all the laity in the missions collaborate

actively with the ecclesiastical hierarchy in the apostolate . .

FORMATION OF LAY LEADERS

Catholic Action is an organization of laymen “with proper

and responsible executive functions.’’ Laymen then compose the

directive cadre. This requires the formation of men capable of

impressing on the various associations the apostolic drive and

of assuring its better functioning. Such would be men and women
who

,
to be worthy of being entrusted by the hierarchy with the

central or peripheral direction of the association, must furnish

the most ample guarantee of a most sound Christian intellectual

and moral formation
,
by virtue of which they are able to implant

in others that which they already have themselves with the help

of divine grace. . . .

In attributing to schools this special and particularly

efficacious task of forming leaders of Catholic Action. We certainly
do not wish to lessen the responsibility of families or deny their

influence, which can be even more vigorous and more effective

than that of the school, in nourishing within their children the

apostolic fire and providing a Christian formation always more

mature and ready for action. The family in fact is an ideal and

irreplaceable school.

FROM THE CATHOLIC MESSENGER, DAVENPORT, IOWA, DECEMBER 10, 1959



EXCERPTS FROM

The Lay Apostolafe

From An Address of Pope Pius XII to the Second World Congress of the Lay
Apostolate, October, 1957.

The term “emancipation of the layman " is abused at times

when it is used in a sense that distorts the true character of the

relations existing between the “teaching Church" and the “Church

that is being taught “ between priests and laymen. Concerning these

relations
,
let us simply note that the tasks before the Church today

are too vast to leave room for petty disputes. In order to preserve

the proper sphere of action of both priest and layman , it is

enough that all should have a sufficient spirit of faith
/
disinterested-

ness
,

mutual esteem
,
and mutual confidence. Respect for the

priestly dignity has always been one of the most characteristic

traits of the Christian community; on the other hand
,
laymen also

have rights
,
and the priest must recognize them.

The layman is entitled to receive from the priest every

spiritual benefit, to the end that he might achieve the salvation

of his soul and attain Christian perfection. (Canons 87 and 682.)

In what concerns the Christian's fundamental rights, he may assert
his demands. (Canons 467, 1; 892, 1 .) The meaning and aim of the

Church's whole life is involved here, as well as the responsibility

before God of the priest and the layman . . .

The exclusive consideration of the Church's social activity

inevitably creates uneasiness. This activity is not an end in itself—
either in general or in the Church—for the community is ultimately
at the service of the individual, and not vice-versa.

History shows that from the Church's earliest days laymen

have taken part in the activity which the priest carries out in the

service of the Church, and today more than ever they must co-

operate with greater and greater fervor “for building up the Body

of Christ ” (Ephesians 4, 12) in all forms of the apostolate, especially

by making the Christian spirit penetrate all family, social, economic,

and political life.

THE SHORTAGE OF PRIESTS

One of the reasons for this appeal to the laity is certainly
the shortage of priests, but even in the past a priest expected the

cooperation of laymen. Let us mention only the considerable con-



tribution which lay Catholic men and women instructors
,
as well

as religious
,
have made to the teaching of religion and

,
in general

,

to Christian education and the formation of youth. Think
,

for

instance, of the Catholic schools of the United States. The Church

is grateful to the laity for this contribution, for it was a necessary

complement to priestly work. There still remains the fact that the

lack of priests is especially noticeable today and threatens to

become even more so. We are thinking especially of parts of Latin
America, whose people and countries are undergoing rapid de-

velopment at the present time. The work of laymen there is all

the more necessary.

THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE WORLD

Furthermore, aside from the small number of priests,

the relations between the Church and the world require the inter-

vention of lay apostles. The “consecratio mundi” is essentially the

work of laymen themselves
,
of men who are intimately a part of

economic and social life and who participate in the government

and in legislative assemblies. In the same way, only the workers

themselves can establish the Catholic cells which must be created

among workers in every factory and bring back to the Church
those who have strayed from her.

In this matter ecclesiastical authorities should apply the

general principle of subsidiarity and complementarity. They should

entrust the layman with those tasks that he can perform as well

or even better than the priest, and allow him to act freely and

exercise personal responsibility within the limits set for his work

or demanded by the common welfare of the Church . . .

FROM THE POPE SPEAKS, AUTUMN, 1957



EXCERPTS FROM

Parents and Culture

The following is based on a talk given by Sister Francis Borgia to a group of
CFM’ers. Sister is vice-principal of Alvernia High School in Chicago.

Thesis: Mr. and Mrs. Family are responsible for the cultural

welfare of their children.

Objection I: People concerned about being cultured are

queer.

Explanation: Unhappily
,

it is true the word culture has

come to be associated with a peculiarity of beard style or esoteric

dress or arty club membership or leisured travel or some such

sickness. Unhappily. But the word culture has a sound, virile mean-

ing that should be restored. The loss of the meaning of the word

has coincided with the loss of the reality.

The culture of a person is not a shellac or polish added

as an afterthought. Culture is a quality of a person. It is the mark

of a person who is living meaningfully, aware of values. The cul-
tured person approaches life differently, establishes a different

way of life from the mediocre or utilitarian or pleasure approach.
The cultured person (whether he names himself so or not) enters

into life more fully, loves more intensely.

In a sense the cultured person is making the most of his

true humanness: living thoughtfully and working artistically. In

the return to integrity, that wholeness disturbed by the Fall, the

cultured person puts into right order his thinking and his making.

I) His thinking. Instead of merely using his mind to be

informed, to devise plans for making more money, to work cross-

word puzzles and evaluate baseball players—all of which may
have their rightful place in a healthy mental life—the cultured
person also uses his mind to search out the meanings of things.

Man must divine the meanings of things before he can
live fully, reverently

,
and freely. What is the meaning of freedom,



love
,
work

,
creation

,
suffering

,
authority

,
woman

,
friendship

, beauty?

The uncultured person floats along
,
absorbing his system of values

from the current “atmosphere."

2) His making. The cultured man is a true maker, not
just a doer, not just someone who gets a job done as quickly as
possible and gets as much out of it for as little as he can possibly

put into it. A maker creates. The product made is what it ought
to be, whether that product be a piece of furniture, a law, an

English class, a goiter operation, or a symphony. When this quality
of rightness is present in a thing made, beauty is there.

Note the difference in a home when a cultured woman
is the heart of it. She has thought through with her husband what

a home is, what the education of children is, what clothes and
recreation and meals are. And when she can bring a craftsmanship
in making a genuine community of minds and hearts as well as

skill in making cheese souffle that doesn’t taste like soap lather,

“far and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her."

If follows then that people who are concerned about being
cultured and about the culture of their children are certainly not

queer; on the contrary, as they become cultured they become more

truly themselves.

Objection II: It is more important for parents to assume

responsibility for the holiness rather than the culture of their chil-

dren.

Explanation: Certainly holiness precedes culture in worth.

But holiness is first the work of God. It is for parental educators

“to cooperate with divine grace in forming the true and perfect

Christian." That cooperation may too easily be seen in a very
narrow sense, that is, seeing to it that children say their prayers,

go to Confession and offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, checking

sinful habits, helping to form right moral judgments
,
and the like.

But there is also a broader interpretation of cooperation.

By helping a child to become cultured, we help him to develop
a natural basis for sanctity. Instead of trying to coax or coerce

him into a friendship with God, he is attuned and readied for

actual grace. The cultured person is not automatically holy, but

the cultured way is the “natural way for men to become holy."

Objection III: The responsibility for the cultural welfare

of the child belongs rather to the school than to the family.



Explanation: Very frequently children see their parents

as providers and correctors: providers of roof
,

clothes
,

meals

,

allowance
,

TV, and car: and correctors of emotional outbursts,

moral lapses, and boorish inetiquette. Very rarely do they consider

their parents to be educators or teachers. As a result both parents

and children are cheated.

The school certainly should assume some of the responsi-

bility for the cultural development of students and in this matter

must often say, “Mea culpa." But the family has the prime responsi-
bility and in this matter must often say, “Mea maxima culpa." It is
in the free curriculum of rich family living that a child acquires

that wealth of experiences, discussions, creative working and mak-

ing, reverence for being, an alert sensory life—all of which are
necessary for his cultural development.

The school may set up a curriculum to provide for a more
systematic study and for the organization and clarification of

understandings, but unless the family supplies the well-spring for

this study it will be stifled.

FROM ACT, MAY, 1958, VOL. 11, NO. 5



EXCERPTS FROM

Roots of the Inquiry

REV. JOSEPH M. CONNOLLY

At this late date the formula “ observe
,
judge

,
and act

"

may assume the ambiguous position of a magical incantation. “You
put your money in the slot and out comes your package neatly

cellophaned" or “I guess we should keep it as a valued talisman
handed over by those who started the specialized movements in
Europe but it really has no practical application here in America.''

Obviously the first attitude is dispelled whenever it is

applied in practice because it inevitably leads to failure; but the

second attitude has much more disastrous effects. If we reduce the
“ observe

,
judge

,
and act'' technique to a mere traditional mumbo-

jumbo, we have deprived the movement of its only valid reason
to exist.

CFM is a process of formation or it is nothing . . . The
movement is in reality an educational institution. The one instru-

ment by which this educative or forming process is carried out is

the “ observe
,
iudge

,
and act ” technique ... If the actual process

is found explicitly in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas; if the

fundamental basis of the “ observe
,
judge

,
and act” technique is

rooted in the human person; if in practice we see that it works
in Asia

,
Africa

,
and South America

,
in mission territories as well

as in older
,
more established regions; if it finds its counterpart even

in current American ventures which are not Catholic; if it is ex-

plicitly adopted by the popes; if all of these are true
,

then it

behooves us to obtain a better grasp of the process itself and to

use it and not merely bow reverently at it every other week.

Let us look first at St. Thomas. In his treatise on the virtue

of prudence, he says: “Prudence is right reason applied to action.

Hence, that which is the chief act of reason in regard to action

must needs be the chief act of prudence. Now there are three
such acts. The first is to take counsel, which belongs to discovery,



for counsel is on act of discovery . ,. . The second act is to judge

of what one has discovered and this is an act of the speculative

reason. But the practical reason which is directed to action goes

further and its third act is to command, which act consists in
applying to action the things counselled and judged." 1

In this statement
,
St. Thomas sums up the whole scholastic

foundation for the action of a human being as human and, of

course
,
as Christian. As we know, mere action unguided by reason

is capricious and can lead to shipwreck more often than to good.

On the other hand, mere knowledge which is not reduced to
action is sterile and, indeed, can lead to that flight to ivory towers

which is more vicious than other forms of escapism.

It is possible for St. Thomas to discuss prudence in this

manner because it closely follows the scholastic theory of knowl-

edge. If we investigate this, we can see how “ observe
,
judge, and

act" is firmly rooted in the human person. According to scholastic

philosophy, knowledge is not merely the passive reception of im-

pressions such as the reception of ink by this paper. Rather it is

the active process of the human person reaching out of himself to

the objective reality in which he is immersed and drawing this

reality into himself, first through the senses and then through the

process of intellection.

Now we normally think of this process as happening in 89
a classroom in which a professor teaches his knowledge and his

students absorb it. Every teacher knows how frustrating this
method can be as he literally wears himself out and is greeted

merely by yawns. The intense joy he experiences when one stu-

dent, with eye aglow, responds to his teaching and gives evidence

of having learned something
,

clearly shows by its infrequency

that this is probably one of the most hazardous ways to knowledge.

The reason for this inherent weakness of the classroom situation

is that the student is not fully engaged as a human person. The
problems being discussed are not real to him. As he sees it, the

link between his life as he lives it and this particular topic is

tenuous, to say the least. Although we do regard the classroom
as being rather tragic, in no manner of means are we to be
interpreted as wishing to abandon classrooms in schools. They are

a very necessary instrument for society and for the Church.

The real beauty of the “ observe
,
judge, and act" tech-

nique is that it completely bypasses this impasse of the classroom.

When a fellow is taught to observe, he is not looking for an

1. S.T. ,11-11, Q. 47, Art. 9, Corpus.



abstract
,
academic situation but a real fact of his life. This note

of the “real" is the hallmark of the method. Things as they are

,

not as they should be
,
are the materials with which he works.

Our Lord spoke to the Samaritan woman about the one thing that
was most real to her at that moment

,
“water." Then gradually He

led her to more sublime things.

Now
,
when the person becomes aware of a thing or more

specifically of a situation
,
he is then posed with the need but not

the predetermined necessity of judging it. While interest is still

at its peak
, a further step is available. The new data can enter

more fully into him or rather he can enter more completely into

reality
,

if he then judges in the light of past knowledge and of

principles. We see how personal this can become
,
how far removed

from mere abstraction. The principles by which he judges are not

merely verbal slogans or pious phrases
,
but rather the principles

of Christ which, once they are accepted, become the reaction of

a man as a person . . .

Actually, we do not need a vindication of the major
technique of the movement. What we need is to understand it and
to be true to it. It is not magic, but it is serviceable and will

continue to be only if we are faithful to it.

FROM APOSTOLATE, WINTER ’55



EXCERPTS FROM

Parish Life

The parish is Christ. Simply and emphatically stated
,
that

is the reason for the extraordinary importance of parish life and

its place in this year's program. If the parish is not functioning as

it should, Christ is hindered in His work.

We must constantly regard the parish as our Blessed Lord,
as Christ set in the midst of His people, worshiping the Father,

working for His people. Any other concept of the parish falls far

short of the truth. A parish today does what Christ did in His
day, or to phrase it more pointedly, Christ does today through

the parish what He began in His own day. He did three things
and He does three things: His work as priest, teacher, and ruler.

He spoke of His priestly work when He said, “I am the Life,"
because this work meant giving divine life to people. He spoke

of His role as teacher when He said, “/ am the Truth." He said of
His work as ruler, "I am the Way," because it is the function of
a ruler, a shepherd to lead us along the way.

In the parish these functions of Christ are shared by

priests and lay people, each in their own degree. Every act you
perform in the parish takes its significance from this: that you are

helping to do precisely one of these works of Christ. It is this

which gives your work in the Christian Family Movement its deepest

meaning and its widest dimension.

In the liturgy of the Church, it is said that the altar is

Christ. Since this is so, then the center of the parish is not the

recreational facilities for teen-agers, not the organizations of

parishioners, not the Christian Family Movement. It is not all the

feverish activity that a parish may have. It is the really essential
action of the altar, the Mass.

The parish is Christ, the altar is Christ, and, in a sense,

the pastor is Christ, because with Christ he makes parish life pos-

sible. He teaches for Christ. He leads the people for Christ. We



must have an appreciation of a priest as a priest
,
and we must

not judge him by other standards. Divinely speaking
,
supernaturally

speaking, the priest is nothing as a man. In the parish, he is Christ,

doing the work of Christ, making the Mass and Sacraments possible.

The job, therefore, for the Christian Family Movement, as

it is for all Catholics, is to assist the pastor in restoring the parish

to what it ought to be. And that, primarily, means restoration of
the Mass.

What impedes Christ more than any other single thing?
It is the fact that there is so little participation of the lay people

in the Mass. And the mere fact that we say there is a lack of
participation by lay people indicates that this is a problem which

should concern the laity. This is sufficient warrant for the Christian

Family Movement to consider it.

Why does lack of active participation in the Mass ob-
struct our Blessed Lord? To put it very simply, at present our wor-

ship at Mass is not as human as it should be. We are trying to
worship God like angels, with our minds and wills only. Our
bodies are inactive, except that intermittently we sit, stand, and
kneel. This is the largest single factor why such great numbers have
left the Church, have discontinued going to Mass. It never was a

truly human experience for them.

We must regard the parish, then, not just as a physician's
office where you go when there is something ailing you. We must
begin to regard the parish as a problem that has to be dealt with

because, just like so many other things in the world, it has been
adversely affected. To begin with, we have to see the parish as
dramatic and exciting, as a living thing, because Christ is the Life

and because the parish ought to be pulsating more and more with

divine life. The parish is Christ in space and time. Christ in our

time. Christ, in brief, working for His people through His people.

FROM 1957-58 CFM PROGRAM



EXCERPTS

The Mystical Body

The following is from an article on the Mystical Body Appearing in the
1959-60 Annual CFM Program.

Christ made people one with Him so that he could work

through them. They are his hands to do his work, his feet to take

him places, his lips to articulate him. He uses their hearts to love

other people. He chooses to work through them because as God
he appeals to their freedom, as He always did in his life. He

chooses to work through them also because as man he has our

instinct to share in things. He would, therefore, give people a

sharing in the one lasting work in the world, His redemptive work.

One reason why Christ needs lay people is the lack of clergy,

but even if there were enough priests the laity would still have an

indispensable role to play. What a layman can do, no one else

can do because no one is ever in the same set of circumstances.

“It would be a misunderstanding of the Church's real

nature and her social character to distinguish in her a purely active

element, Church authorities, and a purely passive element, the

laity. All the members of the Church as We Ourselves said in the
encyclical, The Mystical Body of Christ, are called upon to co-

operate in building up and perfecting the Mystical Body of Christ.

They are all free persons and should, therefore
,
be active." (Pius

XII, Guiding Principles of the Lay Apostolate, address to the Sec-

ond World Congress of the Lay Apostolate, paragraph 14)

“ Today more than ever they must cooperate with greater

and greater fervor ‘for building up the Body of Christ’ (Ephesians

4:12) in all forms of the apostolate, especially by making the

Christian spirit penetrate all family, social, economic, and politi-

cal life." (Pius XII, Guiding Principles of the Lay Apostolate,

paragraph 17)

Christ has divided his work between the clergy and the

laity. There is an immense area of work which he has entrusted

to the laymen—the area of ordinary human life.
“ The lay apostolate consists in this, that laymen under-

take tasks deriving from the mission Christ entrusted to his Church."

"... the apostolate of prayer and personal example
should be referred to as an ‘ apostolate ' only in the broad or

improper sense of that term."



‘The consecration of the world is essentially the work

of the laymen themselves, of men who are intimately a part of

economic and social life and who participate in the government."

(Pius XII, Guiding Principles of the Lay Apostolate, paragraphs 25,

26, 19)

These areas, therefore, are marriage, political life, eco-

nomic life, international life. These are the ordinary relationships

of human living. And they spell out human communities: family

,

country, United Nations, and the necessary groups in economic

life, which for the most part are not yet created. Add to this the

fact that today the disastrous problems in the world are not in

the area of the clergy but in the areas of lay life. Examples are

many: divorce, apathy in voting, poverty, war.

A problem which 'discredits the United States before the

world is our racial problem. This is disastrous because we are in

a position of leadership. Often we do not treat others (negroes,

Mexicans, Puerto Ricans) as fellow human beings or as fellow

citizens. And we do not treat those who are Catholics as fellow

members of the Mystical Body. Parents have a special responsibility.

Children are born without prejudice
;

they acquire it, in large

measure, from their parents.

Pius XII said war is outmoded as a method of settling

differences. Nuclear war is dreadful, beyond imagination. A father

of the Church said "war is suicidal" (we kill members of our own

Body). It is also fratricidal (we kill our brothers). Nuclear war could

be justified, but we must with all our strength work to prevent it.

The largest single hope for peace is the United Nations, as our

bishops have said.

"A convinced Christian cannot confine himself to an easy

and egotistical isolationism,’ when he witnesses the needs and

the misery of his brothers,- when pleas for help come to him from

those in economic distresses; when he knows the aspirations of

the working classes for more normal and just conditions of life;

when he is aware of the abuses of an economic system which puts

money above social obligations; when he is not ignorant of the

aberrations of an intransigent nationalism which denies or spurns

the common bonds linking the separate nations together and

imposing on each one of them many and varied duties toward

the great family of nations."





_