Page 361 - 聖母軍團員手冊（英文版，2014年5月-2022年1月更新版）

Legion HANDBOOK D10944_1 26/02/2014 15:53 Page 356

356 STUDY OF THE FAITH APPENDIX 10
that the study is not based on a lecture system; partly because
the latter could not be accommodated to the praesidium
system; but still more because it is a human tendency to relax
in the face of a situation where one or a few assume all the
work and all the responsibility, as the lecturer does. Moreover,
in practice a lecture is graded to the maximum intelligence of
the audience, and hence presents difficulties to the bulk of the
hearers. The result is that the subject matter is not completely
comprehended, and as an inevitable consequence is quickly
forgotten. Again, the proportion of those who listen to a clever
lecture in an appreciative, but otherwise completely inert
mental condition, is quite remarkable.
On the other hand, in the Legion system the member is not
allowed to relax. Each one is called upon to render an account
of his work. This ensures in his case — on a different grade, it
is true, but with equal intensity — the assumption of the
effort and the respons ibility which in the lecture system falls
practically entirely on the lecturer. The member is not merely
a listener. His mental state is active, not merely receptive. He
is definitely at work. At the same time his progress is checked
and supervised.
The report of each member is delivered sitting. His textbook
is before him. Any notes he may have taken are beside him.
There is nothing in the surroundings to deprive him of
confidence. His report is couched in his own phraseology, and
conveys his own thoughts and difficulties in a way which
rings simple and familiar to every other ear. There may be
comment or questioning from others. Then the next report is
taken. It will be seen that the meeting progresses, not as a
motor swiftly carrying its passengers over the ground, but as
the plough and harrow painfully tearing it up. By the time the
chapter of a book has been dug and re-dug by the succeeding
reports of the members of the praesidium, it will certainly be
understood by all, and therefore remembered.
The work of study being one with the general work of the
praesidium, it is certain that it will be animated with the active
spirit of the Legion, which will urge the members to put their
knowledge to practical use. To that end, praesidia which have
made progress in studies, should consider the taking up of
classes, instruction work, Catholic Evidence Guild work, and
other means of radiating the special knowledge which the