On October 13, 1951: "Their (the people's) support is not yet loud, but hidden. We have so far been able to win their love and trust.

"The American bishops sit in a Washington conference and agree on a course of action; they inform their priests at home who take care, in turn, of the Catholics in the parishes. They tell them we are everything and anything they feel like."

In following their scheme, it is true, the inhabitants of St. Benedict's have been persecuted. Building inspectors made them add costly improvements to the Center under penalty of having it condemned. Lately, these same men have tried to get into the homes of Feeney and several of his teachers for the same reason. The cases are now being fought out in court.

The police once tried to close the Center. Mrs. Clarke tells the story in one of her letters to Hall.

"Two years ago, the police captain in charge of crime prevention in Cambridge actually set the stage for the perpetration of a crime, as far as we were concerned. He threw a cordon of police cars around the Center. He placed one of our most belligerent enemies (Evelyn's father) on the steps of St. Paul's across the street from the Center.

"This man for months had accosted our students, parked in front of our houses, and scared our professors' little children. A few nights before the set up, Hugh McIsaac, a wonderful, upright, American boy, a veteran, had told this man that if he didn't stop his persecution of us he would 'push him through the wall,' He said it in righteous anger, not meaning it literally, but as any red-blooded man would.

'Enemy Set Stage'

"Our enemy and the police captain, as a result of this, set the stage. Monseigner Hickey, (Msgr. Hickey presides at St. Paul's Church opposite St. Benedict's. An eminent leader in the Boston clergy, he has no connection with St. Benedict's.) our pastor, abetted them. He turned on the porch lights of the church, and waited behind the front doors.

"And so here was our sworn enemy, with his arms folded, standing on the church steps--a man in plain clothes on either side of him. T.M. recognized them as policemen. He told Father and Father said, 'Go out and say, 'Good evening, officers,' and see what happens.' He did and much happened.

"For, in the meantime, Hugh came along, saw only Evelyn's father on the steps, and said to him, 'Are you hanging around here again? Didn't I tell you to stay away the other night? I have a mind to push you through the building.' Whereupon the two men at Evelyn's father's side came to life and arrested Hugh for assault and threat. There was no lecture that night."

The school also had their G. I. approval taken away suddenly so that veterans could no longer receive government aid if they studied there. The boys who belonged to the Center and worked on the outside for money were all fired from their jobs. According to Hall and Feeney's supporters, the New York Times and Herald-Tribune were asked by Cardinal Spellman not to publish reviews of Feeney's latest book. Cushing has similarly silenced the Boston press, Feeney claims.

Money from Whom?

One might wonder how the Center is supported and its followers clothed, fed and housed. In answer to questions, followers will look upward and say. "We don't know where it all comes from. Our Lady takes care of us. Isn't it wonderful?" Further questioning shows their sincere belief in this answer.

Actually, Feeney receives contributions, mostly from local areas, from priests, businessmen, and devotees, who, according to Feeney, "like what I'm saying, but don't dare say it themselves."

When he finishes his Sunday sermons, and passes out through the crowd, many people gather around him to touch or kiss him, and pass money into his hand which he quietly pockets. He brags openly, "right over there on Charles Street there's a car full of priests, waiting for me and giving me moral support from a distance, too cowardly to come out in the open like I do."