Catholic Evidence Guild

CATHOLIC EVIDENCE GUILD. - An apostolate movement for the conversion of England, supported by laypeople of both sexes, who, after duly preparing themselves for this mission and having duly obtained the faculty for it, bring Catholic truth to those who have no thought of going to hear it in church or wherever the Catholic priest speaks. They therefore preach in the squares, in the parks, at the crossroads, wherever there are people ready to hear, at least out of curiosity, the word of the layperson, spoken from a platform or an improvised pulpit.

The method, not new, was embraced by Catholics, moved by certain public demonstrations of atheism on the part of adherents of the Metropolitan Secular Society, and begun in 1918 by James Redwood, in London, in Hyde Park. A league of laymen and laywomen was immediately formed, supervised by priests for preparatory instruction; a program was prepared; from London, where its effectiveness was soon noted, the league quickly spread to several other cities of the various dioceses, reaching a considerable number both of members (now about 580) and of pulpits (about 80). Every month about 450 conferences are organized in Westminster.