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The Roman Catholic Church and Evangelism in Twentieth-Century Wales Trystan Owain Hughes The importance of evangelism in twentieth-century Roman Catholic teaching should not be underestimated. Typical of the rhetoric in support of conversion were the words of Pope Pius XI in his encyclical Rerum Ecclesiae in 1926. 'The Church,' he wrote, 'has no other reason for existence than, by developing the Kingdom of Christ on earth, to make mankind participate in the effects of His saving Redemption.' The prominence that Rome itself gave to missionary activity was reflected in Wales with its efforts both to win back lapsed-Catholics and secure fresh converts. With the growth in numbers and confidence of Catholics in Wales during the first half of the century, the conversion of the nation to the Catholic faith came to be regarded as a distinct possibility.' Wales, it was frequently claimed, would soon be triumphantly re-united with its pre- Reformation faith. 'There is not the smallest doubt that the ancient affinities of the Welsh will assert themselves,' enthused The Tablet in 1924, 'and that Cambria will some day rival Hibernia in her Catholic faith and zeal. As a consequence, and in light of the concern about decline constantly expressed by Welsh Nonconformists, calls for lay and ordained Catholics to make evangelism a priority became more marked and sustained in press and on platform. 'Of one thing I am certain,' announced Fr Owen Dudley in a meeting of the Catholic Mission Society in 1936, 'there has never been since the Reformation an opportunity such as is ours to-day. Protestantism is on its death-bed." England and Wales had officially ceased to be a missionary district with the 1908 Apostolic Constitution Sapienti Consilio, and, with the code of Canon Law in 1918 (officially constituted in Wales in 19254), all 'missions' became 'parishes'. Essentially, however, Wales continued to be regarded by the Church as a mission area for many years to come. Catholicism was, after all, numerically weak in vast areas of the country. 'Wales,' wrote Fr Oswald J. Murphy in 1953, 'is essentially a missionary territory.'5 This very fact, combined with the influence of the growth of Catholicism in Wales during the twentieth century and the general trend in England towards winning converts (especially in the