confraternities have existed, but the membership of these was practically made up of women. A few devout men, of course, sought the spiritual advantages of these societies. So far as I know, I have not learned of a confraternity or society on the continent for the past four decades, requiring corporate action in the practice of the essentials of their religion, that has been successful in uniting the majority of the men of the parishes throughout a diocese.
Thank God, our priests here in the United States appreciate fully how necessary it is for the Church to have a hold on our men through the organized effort of a church society. It is recognized that such an organization can not ask too much of our men without failing to hold the majority of them. The Holy Name Society in the providence of Almighty God has filled just the requirements tbat our priests would have asked for had they been assembled in council with the authority of the Holy See to form a society peculiarly adapted to the Catholic men of America. The Society says to our American Catholic men: "No decent man can refuse to do what the Holy Name Society requires of you. It asks nothing but what the Church asks, but in discharging the obligations imposed on you by the Church, the Holy Name Society merely requests you for a corporate action, that you may have strength in unity and that strength of your numbers may be an example and an invitation to all weak-kneed men, who, left to themselves, would be devoid of courage or indifferent or careless about the practice of their religion." Writing of the Holy Name Society, his Excellency, our present Most Reverend Apostolic Delegate, Monsignor Falconio, says: "Example is a powerful force for good or evil, and the example of a large body of men in a parish practising their religious duties faithfully is at once a stimulus and a help to the members to fervor and perseverance and an inducement to others, who, without this example, might be careless and indifferent."
While rejoicing at what has been done and what is being done by our priests, and while thanking God for the firm hold the Church has on our American men, we must not fail to recognize the Divine element that has been at work.
