2 JULY 1965, Page 36

Holy Show

By MARY HOLLAND `AN exceptional service for the exceptional man' reads the slogan on the Madison Avenue-type stand of the American Fathers of the Holy Paraclete, whose sales leaflet goes on to say that they welcome ap- plications from 'mature secondary school and col- lege men.' The Sisters of

the Sacred Heart offer 'a career with Christ,' but they don't specify age or qualifications. The whole tone of Challenge '65, which has 150 orders of monks and nuns on show at Earls Court until July 4, is militant, but methods of recruiting vary. So does recruit- ing literature, from pop market coy—Trancisco Bernadone was a very modern youtig man, or, so the townsfolk of thirteenth-century Assisi used to say as they saw him strumming his guitar and leading a rowdy bunch of teenagers in the latest hit from France'—to officer-class inspira- tional—`The vocation of a Daughter of Charity is one of total dedication to God, developed by a sound spiritual formation, sustained by a strong life of prayer, sealed by vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and service to the poor.' In between the emphasis is on career guidance and scope of opportunity. The mission fields are described with an enthusiasm which would gladden the heart of Mr. Callaghan if these were sales managers looking at foreign markets. 'The harvest is there for the reaping' are words which occur again and again. And • there are subtler appeals: one -notice reads: 'Follow me in the fruitful chastity of one only love—Mine.'

About a third of the exhibition (taking its• cue from the sophisticated grey and white posters bearing a dove in flight and the words 'Chal- lenge 'EIS—presenting a world of opportunity in Faith') is aggressively hip and worldly wise. The stands have grainy photographs, art- directed lettering, and the nuns wear their n habits which were shown last Tuesday in a shy of .`the most exclusive fashions in the wort The rest is naïve, and, of course, infinitely m moving. The stands are • home-made with models of nuns and priests constructed as a .mission-school classroom, and childish lett ing which proclaims a certainty which does need, has never thought of, professional pub relations to sell itself.

The fresh-faced boy' and girl novices and t jolly mission fathers do break through the p1 tensions of admass design but it takes a bit doing. The first impression is of unnerving ch and salesmanship. Not that the business r vocations has ever been anything but busine§ like. During our school •retreats when they trig more or less haphazardly, to con us into a ser of vocation, the emphasis was on a &oink facing of facts. Only the most, exceptional 001.1, . us, it was implied, stood much chance of savi%si her soul 'in the world' and anyone else wout;d01 be well -advised to get 'herself to 'a nunnery she could.-But at least we were allowed the tl dulgence of thinking that it was a rather spec' destiny and that negotiations would be c ducted on a person-to-person basis with Chr At Challenge '65 He seems more likely to w through the University ,Appointments Board.

There are vocation clubs, vocation hou and any 'amount of vocational guidance. 'I' emphasis everywhere is on action, so mach that contemplative orders seem to feel it nec sary to say that their life of prayer and povell doesn't necessarily mean that they are 'clro in the hive.' Also, of course; there is England an the harvest here. The Catholic Inquiry Cent gets 20,000. inquiries a year and sends out a corn spondence course which is free to non-Catholi though it costs 7s. 6d. to the faithful. ',It's real' big business now, of course. We send out two les sons a month to each applicant, because we kno if we sent them all at once they would just rea the, lessons on marriage, confession and the Pope, A few stands farther on the Society of Saint Pa trains its lay brothers as technicians in the whol field of mass media, and its priests as an eli of journalists, editors and translators. The Italia edition of 'its magazine, La Famiglia Cristin (entirely produced by priests) is the fourth ma circulation magazine in Europe, coming aft Woman's Own, Paris Match and the Germa Quik. `To tell you the truth,' said the charmin and wilfully anonymous father in charge of th stand, 'I can't for the life of me see why. 1 doesn't seem very special to me, but then if an of us knew what makes a 'magfazine sell, we'd have a winner every time, wouldn't we?' By this time, of course, he knew most' of what there was to know about me and urged me to go away and get my facts right. At most ex. hibitions the exhibitors are aggressively clubby unless they see a chance of making a sale. There may be selling at Challenge '65, but it is done with the instinctive flair which makes secular TR men 'seem sadly unsubtle. Everyone asks you who you are, what you do, whether you like their stand, what you think of their cap. tions. One pale and pretty nun told me that mainly they were there to explain the Church and was delighted because she had just had a long, long conversation with a young man who, `is seriously considering becoming a Catholic. When I'd heard this story from three different young sisters, all young and innocently beautiful, I was moved to a certain cynicism about the prospective convert. But I'm sure the sisters themselves would not be, and I'm sure they are right.