 Duff, having concern for people he saw as materially and spiritually deprived, got the idea to picket Protestant soup kitchens as they were giving aid in the form of food and free accommodation at hostels for not attending Catholic services.Duff set up rival Catholic soup kitchens and, with his friend Sergeant Major Joe Gabbett, who had already been working at discouraging Catholics from patronizing Protestant soup kitchens, succeeded in closing down two of them over the years.In 1916, Duff published his first pamphlet, "Can we be Saints?