A Complete Story

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 31, 19 August 1925, Page 11

A Complete Story

Bobbed heads and bubbling laughter lighted' up the dingy parlor of St. Mary's Rectory for a few brief moments, and. then Father Casey said : ' ': "Now, you girls will excuse me. I must get ready I for the Young Ladies' Sodality meeting." "The bivouac of the Old Guard," laughed Rosemary. , "The Daughters of the Revolution," supplemented Loretta. "Say, Father, why don't you have them give 'Daily, Daily' a rest and sing instead, ' Tenting To-night "on the Old Camp Ground' That's the appropriate melody for a veteran encampment." ■ Ruth, not to be outdone by her companions, broke in: .r« "They must have been daring flappers in the ancient days when they drew up the charter of the Y.L.S. Why even now they are not more than five or six years behind the current styles." ; • \ "There are many girls in the sodality no older than yourselves," said Father Casey. .."Some duds like Doll Riordan or Louise Mohr," was Rosemary's bomment. -' "Doll and Louise are bright and popular. Many a girl, I am sure, would be happy to have either of them for a chum." t-.:■■■■'-.'y The priest's shot hit the mark. Rosemary would have given her marcel wave to have Doll Riordan or Louise Mohr for her intimate friend; but, her head and her conversation were too empty to interest these young women.";,- * ;' : ' "'■"""'.':l'.'' "And as for the older members of ; the sodality," continued Father Casey, "they are goodnot only good, but, according to the verdict of.; those > who. know them best, women of far | more than ordinary excellence. Surely you have not heard anything gainst

them, have you?"

FATHER CASEY AND THE SODALITY

“Oh, no, Father,” all hastened to declare. “Then, why have you been stabbing them with your wicked little tongues—giving ;> them thrusts far more painful to their sensi- v; tive natures than slaps in the face?” “Oh, we wouldn’t say anything like that for them to hear.” < “Is that honorable say behind one’s" back .what you would not say to one’s face? And haven’t you learned enough about human nature to know that your sarcastic re- c marks are promptly carried to the victims?” “Oh, Father,” gushed Ruth in a burst of ; repentance. “I’d be so sorry if they heard; because —because—’ \ ' V “Then why do you hurt them with your sharp, biting ridicule?” .. 't . * “We didn’t meanit wasn’t' the girlsit was thethe sodality—” “Oh, oh, Ruth!” remonstrated the others.:'; " “Of course, the sodality’s all. right—but-.; —well, you know, Father ” And poor - Ruth floundered deeper and ; deeper until “ at last she gave up in despair and stopped in the middle'of a sentence. ; : “Let help,you, child,” said the priest. “You would never have thought t of ridiculing these excellent ~ women if j they were npt > members of the sodality. It was not your better judgment but your bad conscience i that ridiculed them.” ; ; ' “What do' you mean, Father —‘ bad con- ; science-’?” they asked in chorus. - ! : ““When you are too cowardly to perforin ; ■ some duty, the i easiest thing *is« to ridicule i those who have courage enough to . perform “ it. ' Ridicule -is the -cheapest and, at. the> ; same time, the most powerful weapon, for destroying any good work. Ridicule is the weapon, by which the coward Voltaire killed the .faith in hundreds of thousands of souls. i _ \ ' . - •

Reasoning could -never have done it, but {| ridicule / did. Recourse to ridicule : , is the logical tendency of a bad conscience: /We ;; are too cowardly to perform a certain duty. i Our peace "?^conscience h is disturbed when /1 we see others performing > the duty we neglect. By c^ ridicule we can prevent them from performing it. Then, our bad: conscience will rest quietly with nothing to remind it of its guilt." ; 7 ' ?>/ - .' "But,- Father,' it's not a mortal; sin not to belong to the sodality, is it?" v "Committing mortal sin is not the only thing that disturbs the conscience," said Father Casey. "Committing venial sin disturbs the conscience; rejecting grace disturbs- the conscience; neglecting the good works proper to our circumstances and position in life, even though they are not strictly commanded, disturbs the conscienc." .'/'■". IP "Can't we be just as good without belonging to the sodality?" demanded Ruth. -'-.,. "It's like buttering bread with your \ thumb—you can, but you don't." , ,• "Why not?" v Father Casey looked at the girl for a moment. Then he asked: • ."Did, you ever give scandal?" "Father, I don't, know." "Did you ever say anything or do anything that had a tendency to make somebody else less obedient or less respectful or less industrious or less prayerful or less prudent, or. less charitable or less truthful? If so, you gave scandal. You are bound tc repair the scandal you have given give those persons a pull towards good which will counteract the pull towards evil. You can do this in many ways; but, as a matter oi fact, it is not likely that you will unless you | join the sodality." ' "But/Father," objected Ruth, "I can'l see what joining the sodality has to do with repairing scandal." \ "It is quite plain," said the priest. "Yom fidelity to all the pious practices of th« sodality would be a public influence for good £ counteracting your former influence for evil Loretta, when did you receive Communion?' , "Father, I- go every month." ' ': , "When did you receive Communion?" ht repeated. "Let's see. Oh, yes, the Holyday." "The Holyday was August the fifteenth: to-day is October the sixth. Receiving one* in seven weeks is not receiving once a month Any girl that wants to be good and staj good should receive Communion at least onct a month." .N •. - ( .•.' . ' \ "I really aim to receive once a month, : replied Loretta, ''but I just—well,. I didn'l . notice that it was so long." "If you belong to the sodality, you arc always reminded of your regular Communion. You can go just as regularly withoul belonging to the sodality; but, as a mattei of. fact, you will not. Rosemary, I wdi thinking of." you; girls the other day I j Rosemary couldn't see what else she coulc say to this. -■ She \ said: ■'/ "Yes, Father." •/■.;/■ .-;•/-/ , , p "It was about six i o'clock in the evening. I went down to the church to put some pamphlets in : the racks.; There was only one person in the churcha girl kneeling before our Blessed Mother's altar. She did

not hear me enter, and she was weeping, bitterly weeping: I induced her to tell me/ ,;.;■. the cause of her grief. -{She was a girl-from ' « the country, the/oldest'of/a large ' family /■ *' i •; and she must have been a brave, good girl. ■/ . She had come to the city— was ,no '■'. employment to be found in her own neigh- ■ ■ borhood—to try to earn money to;help her parents to give her ; younger brothers and sisters good Catholic education. She had, r ; been coming to Mass here at St. Mary for a year; but, she was riot acquainted ; with : a soul in the parish. She said it nearly broke i her heart to come here Sunday after Sunday \ \ and feel so utterly strange alonein her '\ old home it had been so different:';,She had ..found friends, first in her boarding house, and afterwards in the place where she work- ] ed. But, in both cases, she soon discovered that -they were not fit companions for. a \ pure-minded Catholic girl/and' she abstain- ,! ed from any further association with them.:.. ; She would have gladly returned home, but she felt it her duty to help educate her brothers and sisters. Of course, she did not' tell her parents how pitifully lonesome and ■-;. unhappy she was, otherwise they would have insisted on her coming back ' at once." The priest paused for a moment. Rosemary cried: "But, Father, you said you • were thinking of us." Her curiosity had riot yet been satisfied. , ./ ''Yes,' I was thinking of you girls with' i your happy homes and all your delightful -companions' and this heartbroken child here : ' in your midst for a year, as lonely and ; ! friendless as if she were in a desert. And ] I was thinking how, if our Young Ladies' i Sodality was flourishing and every girl in the parish, whether living at home or. in a i boarding-house, a member of it, such an I unfortunate thing could never have happen--1 ed. Of course, even without belonging to the sodality, you could make it a point to look after girls of this kind that come here to Mass; but as a matter of fact, you will ! not. Ruth, do you know how we can pay off the mortgage on the school?" "■/< "Who? Me? No, Father." . • "My child, neither do I. However, if we were well organised it would be an easy 1 ( matter. We should have nothing to do but formulate our plan, assign the various duties to. the various' sodalities, and go over.. ; the top with bang. That would hold for • getting necessary money; but it would hold even more for the more' important work of getting souls';,, making a mission a success 1 packing the church for a novena; giving due honor to Our Lord during the Forty Hours' Devotion, or to the Blessed Mother in the ; May Procession, defending our;holy faith, i . defeating an anti-Catholic candidate. It" i gj is true that the people could organise and • do all these things without belonging to so- ■ dalities; but as a matter of fact, they will "v ; not. And now, let me tell you girls a fairy 1 | i story. Once upon a time there were two <* pastors. The bishop told them both to es- • , l> tablish parish sodalities, and- they did so—.'a sodality for the married men, a sodality I for ■ the married women, -j sodality for the I boys, a sodality for the girls. In each pari ish the entire six sodalities went practically / ;| the same way as the young ladies' sodality. t ; | Therefore I-shall narrate , the fate of the - • y° un S ladies' sodality;/and you ■■- will know % '

the fate of all the others.. In one parish the / young " ladies : responded to : . the appeal of their parish; and joined the sodality. A* soon «s a young woman moved into Sittojglf parish ". they approached | her and induced her to join also. On ■ their Communion Sunday the pastor T: had the comfort of seeing practically every young '. lady in his parish approach the altar. When he prepared hii%| instruction for the meeting," he ' knew that practically every young lady in t the 'parish \ ? would be there to listen and learn how "a/ Catholic young woman should conduct her-] & self. Whenever he arranged for a mission ;'- or a Retreat or a novena or a .bazaar, he*.".,* knew that the young ladies of the parish would be solidly behind him, , and so he never had one moment's worry or doubt regarding// the outcome. Such : was the experience ,'of fijti, one pastor. And what of the other? When he appealed to the young ladies to join the Cft sodality,. some joined ' and some didn't/Of=;'§ those that remained some lived up to the V/. rules and some didn't. Those that didn't /'; belong, ridiculed and sneered at those that ■/' did. This, of course, hurt the good mem-; i: bers; but, it hurt the poor pastor far more.; > When he turned to distribute a Holy Communion on the young ladies' Communion -i Sunday and saw only a pitiful handful at :. the rail, a pain would begin gnawing at his ,: heart. If you have ever felt the pain caused by disappointment and the pain caused by . igratitude and the pain caused by failure and the pain caused by hopelessess, and if you put all these pains together, you will 1 have some idea of the pain that gnawed at this good : pastor's heart. He always pre-/ pared the instruction for the young 'ladies' sodality meeting as carefully as he could, but he knew in advance that not more than . five out \of a hundred of the young ladies , of his parish would be there to hear it and '.■/ that he would still have the. disheartening • task of trying to find some method for communicating these necessary instructions to - the other ninety-five. /f hat's the end- of 'the// story. If you were to be a pastor/ which / pastor should you like to be?" f ' A f;/;/ "Girls Ruth cried in excitement over her discovery, "I think Father Casey wants V us to join the sodality! .Don't you, Father?"— Church.Progress. /./':/■■'/'•■'•'