ELLIOTT ELLIOTT
E LLIOTT ELLIOTT
PgaDILLYAR4DF P[RTH
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John U104 mss. Ex-marisF Ores! Sludenf Tel.
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PERTH, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 1946,
PRICE THREEPENCE.
SEVENTYZECOND YEAR.
-- Catholic Action Goes to War' God Will be Better Known and Loved by the Defenders of Australia 'Soldiers Must Be Their Own First Apostles — Companies of the Cross for Modern Crusaders The "Companies of the Cross," established in the 'Australian Forces, is, Ferhaps, the first movement of speA- alised Caho}ic Action in the Englishspeaking armies. It is founded on the principle that "the first apostles of the soldiers must be soldiers" and, like other Cahelic Action movements in Australia, broadly follows well-known Jocist methods of apostolate. The following article outlines its ideals and development: high in the North of Australia a band of Augustinian Fathers have lab"" red for years, planting the seeds of the Faith; seeds that have blossomed now into a compact little Catholic community with church and convents as its centre. into this district, recently there cage a division of the A.LF., and soon the little church saw a ceremony that was impressive and unusual. Impressive, as the devotion of soldiers always is, and unusual because, apart from little service chapels :sc;ittere d through",it the laud, few churches in -lttstrahall can have tyitncsscd the ceremony by which Australian soldiers are admitled to the membership of the Companies of the Cross. Providentially, five chaplains were grouped with their units around the church and on this night each had brought his squad of leaders for the • combuugd reception. The Pledge. So it was one hundred men knelt to recite the solemn pledge of membership. Men who had seen service in the \Vc•stru 1)ctcrt rnhbed ..houlde-s with veteranof s the New Guinea trails and with stripling recruits. Within a few clays, they knew, they would be again on the waters bound for some other past of danger and death; but for the rnllment there was only the chapel, the silence of the hush with straggling sen• tinel gums and, high above, appropriately, "nailed upon the mit, the terrible cross of stars." The Blessed Sacrament w•as exposed, and the Holy Hour began, the hour that was to be accolade of a new band of knights imbued with the chivalry that shone in the ages of Faith The Rosary was recited and perhaps more than one was distracted with the thought of Lepanto and its Rosaries.
A chaplain spoke upon the rules and object of the Companies and the spirit that in>pired their mm ebers. The pledge was spoken: "Lord God, we kneel before You here present in the Blessed Sacrament, and before this image of Christ Crucified; we consecrate ourselves to Your service in a life of prayer and action, that You may be better known and better loved by the defenders of Australia Humbly, yet eagerly, we pledge ourselvc: to say at least line decade of the Rosary daily; to receive lloly Communion as often as possible to lab. our always to promote reverence for You and for religion; respect for par• ity, recognition of Our Lady and knowledge of the Church's teaching, through Christ Our Lord, Amen" The disciplined masculine accents ended, and after a moment of silence the hymn:. of Benediction came, now in children',, voices, sweetened, purified and sharpened: for the girls of the Convent of Merev sang the Benediction that will he unforgettable for the him. Bred. In the English hymns that follocvecd the ervstal of child voices and the strength of soldiers blended in fervent and fiery prayer and praise. For the men it had been a moving event. One of them with the inspira• tion still fresh upon his spirit, wrote enthusiastically: ' an indelible impression ... on A.I.F. representatives of the six States ... whose lives are now de• dicated to God and to Australia. From the coldness of camp life we had stepped for one evening into ' that city where the human heart has warmth' Outside it is night." The Soldiers' Apostolate. One hundred leaders went back to their units pledged to the age-old vocation, to be "other apostles; ready to
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become " all things to all rhen that they u;ight gain all for Christ" "The first apostles of iworkers must be the workers themselves" the Pope had said; the inference was clear; the first apostles of the soldiers must be soldiers. That is the destiny set for the Comuanies of the Cross: They are the official Catholic Action of the Fores. It was at the command of the Chaplain General, His Grace Archbishop Alannix, they came into being. The hand• book is the work of a priest who was himself a chaplain, who checked and collated with his own, the experience of other chaplains in all fronts where Australian soldiers were fighting. lfonths of experiment and prayer went into its fashioning; societies and sodalities already in existence were tried; all had to be changed drastically to suit service conditions. From the men themselves came an insistent demand for their own organisation which would develop its own methods and emblems, and a spirit borne of the twofold in• spiration, the soldiers' strength and the apostles ardour.
Why the Cross? In those days of experiment the idea of a crusade kept recurring, and always, unhesitatingly, the Cross was chosen as symbol. That was natural. Hardship and heroism are the pattern of the soldiers' life; both reach their climax ill the Victim of the Cross. Amid the alternate enervation and fierce hardship of the soldiers' life the Cross is bracing in its refining fierceness of suffering; the sight of it steadied them and gave them the necessary sternness to face life sturdily. Then they had, too, so much in common with the Crusaders. The very word Crusade came from Crux—a cross. bearer. The Crusaders fought con• sciously for Christ and for acceptance of His teachings in all the details of life. That is precisely the object of the Companies. They wore the cross on their breasts; the men of to-day ,all at least enshrine it in their minds— the badge and character of the Conn panies. It is not a mass movement. part of the work of its members may often be the arranging of general Communions, and, where circumstAnces permit, the establishing of a Holv Name Society. The Small Group. But the movement itself k one of small groups; the model is the group of apostles around Christ Himself. He chose them, trained them, imbued them with something of Ilis own zeal and sent them to preach and teach and act as Ile had shown them. So in camps, stations and field units to-dav: the chaplain, the "other Christ" follows the example of the Jfas•
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ter and collects around him the " other apostles" who become men after his own heart, sharing with him the intolerable burdens of his chaplaincy. Con. sumed with something of his own unresting anxiety to have men loyal to Christ, and the whole conditions of service life consistent with the teachings of Christ. New men must be contacted, careless Catholics encouraged, men must be steered, shretwdly and goodhumouredly, from the thousand temptations of service life.
And beyond all this, every aspect of that service life must be investigated, judged according to Christ's teach. ing. Slowly and perseveringly the whole of life must be taken to pieces and built anew according to the plan of Christ the leader. After all, that is what Catholicity means; Christ taught not merely concerning Mass and Sacraments; He gave men the " good news," the Gospel, that was meant to be a pattern of all life for all men. And Catholics, baptised as followers of Christ, confirmed as fighters of Christ, are responsible to f lint for the spreading of that teaching today. From the realisation of that have sprung the Companies of the Cross. Organised (Movement. The lesson of our civilian life is all too plain; Christians, Catholic and nonCatholic alike, have neglected that side of the Christian mandate; and the ene mies of Christ have done so much to disgrace, and deChristianise the Australian tray of life. Slowly the average decent Australian has realised that he had sold the pass; now steadily he is re-asserting himself and the way back is difficult. Our armies are fighting for Christian civilisation; it will be too bitter an irony if in the process of their fighting their own Christianity should fail. The Companies of the Cross are not meant as a vague gesture with pious and futile yearnings. It is an organised movement, tightly knit and disciplined: it is realist in its method and in its inspiration; it is planned in our own day to meet an existing situation. Chaplains have been provided with Handbooks and groups are operating in nearly every sphere of action in navy, army and air force. Hlen in isolated units, stationed far from the nearest chaplain, are running highly successful groups. In many places girls the services have either joined with men's or formed groups of their own. J.O.C. Technique. The method is that already familiar to those who have known Y.C.W. N.C..11 \V.. N.C.G.\1., and the other developments of the well-tried J.O.C. technique. (Continued on Page 13.)
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