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MEN OF MALVERN
(1! Monthly Publication Presenting
Same 77>ouglm In ll): IVovlm fat
ST. JOSEPI-I’S-IN-THE-HILLS
LAYMEN’S WEEK-END RETREAT HOUSE
MALVERN, PA.
Address All Communication: to the
Headquarters at
I57 N. I5t.I1 Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
PHILADELPHIA-JUNE. 1924
MAN'S OUTLOOK ON LIFE
The work, in which the Laymen's Week-
End Retreat League is so earnestly engaged,
is deserving of universal support and the
widest publicity. ‘While those of us who
have spent week-ends at Malvern, are fully
aware of the very great attractions of this
beautiful place and of the enormous benefits
which can be derived from a well-spent Re-
treat. it is only too evident that the great
majority of our Catholic men have either
never heard of the Retreat Movement at all
or else have an entirely wrong conception
of what it is all about. If the Retreat idea
be once “sold” to the men in the diocese, the
number of applicants could not possibly be
taken care of. This being a Laymen's Move-
ment, conducted by and for laymen, it is
entirely in our hands as to whether or not
it shall succeed.
No account of what takes place at Malvern
can scarcely do it justice. Men who have
never been there can have only the faintest
idea of what a properly conducted Spiritual
Retreat is. Many of them seem to have the
mistaken idea that it is something for old
women to take up in times of great sorrow,
but not at all the sort of thing which real
men should stoop to. "A Retreat"? "Why,
that means prayers and more prayers. Ser-
mons, confessions and lectures. What
makes you think I need that sort of thing?"
Then those “silence" periods, “stations,"
"Angelus," "Meditations," "Conferences,"
“Rosary,” and what not. "That may be all
very well for old women or even for young
girls, but what do I, in my strong, physical
manhood, tine mind and profound knowledge
of the Faith, need with that sort of stuff?"
"No, thanks! I'm going to spend my week-
ends this summer at the shore or playing ball
in the country, because I get all the religion
I need at church on Sunday. Anyhow, what
is the sense of doing what you call my duty
only once in the year, for I will probably fall
back into the old rut soon afterward, and so,
my going out to Malvern with you won't do
me any good so far as I can figure out, and
it will be only a waste of time."
Another line of argument (so called) is:
"I'm awfully sorry, old man, that I can’t go
out with you, but I've got an important en-
gagement for that very week-end." (This,
regardless of whether you have asked this
friend to go with you next week, next month
or six months from now).
So, the fact remains that it is the ex-
ceptional Captain who can so "sell" the
Retreat idea to his friends that the Retreat
House will be filled over any given week-
end. The responsibility, therefore, for broad
casting information concerning this splendid
movement rests primarily on each and every
man who has had the privilege of spending
a week-end at Malvern; and it is his bounden
duty, in the absence oii other methods, to
take upon himself the obligation of urging
every one of his Catholic friends to go. The
amount of profit and pleasure he will be the
means of giving his friends cannot be cal-
culated, but they will spend such week-ends
as they have probably never spent before,
and not only that, but they will, nine out of
ten of them, go back another time.
There is nothing sanctimonious about these
‘ week-ends at Malvern. There is no rolling
of eyes, long faces and intertwining of beau-
tifully manicured hands. But there is a lot
of wholesome, sound and helpful instruction
to hear, and a lot more of earnest. and inter-
esting work to do; wholesome food to eat and
comfortable, clean beds to sleep in; and,
further, there is the feeling of satisfaction
of work well done, when a retreatant leaves
there Monday morning. He is convinced that
for once in his checkered career he has
accomplished something really worthwhile,
and that he will come back again next year,
maybe sooner.
The average man's ordinary outlook on life
will be completely changed; he will find that
what he thought were events of the utmost
importance, are worth little if anything; on
the other hand, he will have been given an
insight into the things of life that really
count, and concerning which he had only the
vaguest ideas previously, if he had any ideas
at all. He will realize as he never did before
what tremendous advantages he has over
those not of the Faith and he will leave Mal-
vern with his mind made up to doeverything
in his power to spread the gospel of Retreats
for Laymen. In addition, he will finally re-
aiize that his friends, who continually pes-
tered him about making 9. Retreat. knew
Well, indeed, what they were talking about.
L JOHNSON, JR.
“LEADING CATHOLIC LAYMEN”
There is a character all too frequently
met and upon whom all too frequently Pro-
testants base their conception of a "leading
Catholic layman.” He is usually a person
who has met with-some success in financial,
political or professional circles. He is a
dress-parade Catholic, LUHSDICIIOIISIY on hand
when he can smirk or pose on a platform
or in some colorful celebration; but the ring-
ing call of service to his God elicits feeble,
if any, response.
As a rule his religious knowledge has re-
ceived no increase since his school days.
while his concept of Church history recog-
nizes no event further back than the date of
his baptism. Despite these glaring deficien-
cies, he is ever ready to sit in judgment upon
the declarations of the official teachers of
the Church, or, with an airy wave of the
hand, to set aside questions that offer dim-
culties to trained theologians. Too often he
airs these views to the detriment of the
Church. Nor is there any stopping him, for
he is convinced that he knows everything
there is to be known on the subject.
Upon meeting a “leading Catholic" of this
Wile. flight is the only recourse. By your
Own 110110115. however. let it be known that
this impossible creature not only is not a
leading Catholic. but that he is not even a
typical Catholic layman.