inate
humanity which rushes to hear them, to pray, to confess their sins,
to listen with mute attention--long before day-break and in the hours
of rest after work--all regardless of social differences or of moral
ones, soon become well known to the public and generally excite
comment in the press. All this contributes to prepare non-Catholics
to hear from the same teachers the invitation which our Lord intended
in saying: "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also
must I bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one
fold and one shepherd."

Furthermore, it was necessary that Father Hecker should be made
personally known to the bishops and priests of the country. The time
was coming when he would have a public cause to advance, and their
approval is a necessary sign of divine favor. Now, the missionary is
closely studied by them and soon is intimately known, for there are
too many things in common between priests but that they can readily
test each other. Before the Paulist community had been organized,
Father Hecker had been the guest of the most prominent clergymen of
the entire United States, and of many even in the British Provinces,
and was a well-known man throughout the Catholic community. Meantime
the humiliations of his study-time had been quickly recovered from,
if they had ever been a real hindrance to public effort, and we find
no sign of protest on his part or of request to be let off from
giving instructions beyond his answer to Father Bernard as above
recorded. As he loved his vows as a Redemptorist, so he loved the
work of the missions, because they were God's will for him; because
they are a work of the highest order of good for souls; because the
reputation of Catholicity is always raised in a community by a
mission, and a good name is necessary for a controversial standing;
because in them he daily learned more of men and of the means to win
them; and because the members of the divine order of the episcopate
and secular priesthood must be well known by him and he well known to
them before any extensive work could be done among non-Catholics; and
the missionary becomes a familiar friend everywhere he goes. Hence
controversial sermons were sometimes preached during the missions,
lectures of the same sort given after them, and during their
continuance many converts received into the church. Father Hecker, as
we have tried to show the reader, was a very observant nature, alway