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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18378-8.txt b/18378-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..065baa8 --- /dev/null +++ b/18378-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9096 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Catholic Problems in Western Canada, by +George Thomas Daly + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Catholic Problems in Western Canada + +Author: George Thomas Daly + +Release Date: May 11, 2006 [EBook #18378] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHOLIC PROBLEMS IN WESTERN *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +Catholic Problems + +in + +Western Canada + + + +By + +George Thomas Daly, C.SS.R. + + + + +_With preface by the Most Reverend O. E. Mathieu, + Archbishop of Regina_ + + + + +TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF + CANADA, LTD., AT ST. MARTIN'S HOUSE + + + + +Permissu Superiorum + +ARTHUR T. COUGHLAN, C.SS.R., Provincial. + + + + +Imprimatur + +EDWARD ALFRED LEBLANC, Bishop of St. John, N.B. + + + +St. John, N.B., December 8th, 1920. + + + + +Copyright, Canada, 1921 + +BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LIMITED + +TORONTO + + + + +RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED + +TO + +THE CATHOLIC HIERARCHY + +OF CANADA. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +INTRODUCTION + + +PART 1.--RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS + +CHAPTER 1.--THIS CALL OF THE WEST + +A Call from the West--The Call of the Catholic Church in the West--The +Response of the East--The Specific Object of the Catholic Church +Extension Society. + + +CHAPTER 2.--BRIDGING THE CHASM + +The Catholic Church Extension Society in Canada--Its Principles and +Policy. + + +CHAPTER 3.--PRO ARIS ET FOCIS + +The Ruthenian Problem--A Religious and National Problem--Its +Phases--Its Solution. + + +CHAPTER 4.--WHY? WHAT? WHO? + +The necessity of a Field Secretary for the Organization of our +Missionary Activities. + + +CHAPTER 5.--PLOUGHING THE SANDS + +The Church Union Movement; its Causes and Various Manifestations--The +Protestant and Catholic View-point. + + +CHAPTER 6.--"THEM ALSO I MUST BRING" (Jo, v, 16) + +The Apostolate to non-Catholics; its Obligation--What have we +Done?--What Can we Do? + + +CHAPTER 7.--PROS AND CONS + +Obstacles that Impede. . . . Circumstances that Help the Work of the +Church in Western Canada. + + + +PART 2.--EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS + +CHAPTER 8.--WHY SEPARATE? + +A Moral Reason--A Social Reason--A Political Reason--A National +Reason--A British Reason--A Religious Reason . . . for our "Separate +Schools." + + +CHAPTER 9.--A WINDOW IN THE WEST + +A Crusade for Better Schools in Saskatchewan: Its History--Its +Lessons--An Invitation and a Warning. + + +CHAPTER 10.--UNICUIQUE SUUM + +Principle on which should be Based the Division of Company-taxes +between Public and Separate Schools. + + +CHAPTER 11.--DREAM OF REALITY + +Higher Education in Western Canada--Duty of the Hour--University +Training, Condition of Genuine leadership--For Catholics Higher +Education means Higher Catholic Education--The Concerted Action of all +Catholics in Western Canada can make a Western Catholic University a +Reality. + + + +PART 3--SOCIAL PROBLEMS + + +CHAPTER 12.--BEYOND BERLIN + +After-war Problems from a Catholic view-point--Reconstruction--The Duty +of the Hour. + + +CHAPTER 13.--"WHOM DO MEN SAY THAT THE SON OF MAN IS?" (Matt. xvi, 13) + +Public Opinion and the Catholic Church--What is Public Opinion--Its +Power--How it is Formed--The Catholic Church in its Relation to Public +Opinion--Our Duties to Public Opinion. + + +CHAPTER 14.--"TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE" (Jo. viii, 32) + +Facts--Principles--Policy of the Catholic Truth Society--Its Value for +the Church in Western Canada. + + +CHAPTER 15.--A SUGGESTION + +Importance of the Catholic Press--Requisites for its Success in the +West. + + +CHAPTER 16.--THE NEW CANADIAN + +Immigration--Are we Ready for it?--Outline of a Plan of Action. + + +CHAPTER 17--"UT SINT UNUM" + +A Catholic Congress of the Western Provinces, the Ultimate Solution of +all their Problems--What is a Congress?--Its Utility--Its +Necessity--Tentative Programme of a General Congress. + + +CHAPTER 18.--"ULTIMA VERBA" + + + +APPENDIX + + +I.--AMERICANIZATION + +A Thought-compelling and Illuminating Article, by L. P. Edwards, in +"New York Times," on Problems that Confront Canada also. + + +II.--THE FAD OF AMERICANIZATION + +By Glenn Frank in the "Century," June, 1920. + + +III.--AMERICANIZATION WORK MUST PROCEED SLOWLY + +By Rev. D. P. Tighe, "Detroit News," Aug. 24, 1919. + + + + +PREFACE + +_Letter of the Most Reverend O. E. Mathieu, + Archbishop of Regina, to the Author_ + +REVEREND G. DALY, C.SS.R., + St. John, N.B. + +Dear Father,-- + +Quebec Province claims you as her son. There you lived for many years; +there you learned to admire the peaceful life and to appreciate the +genuine happiness of our patriarchal families; there you were an +eyewitness of the "bonne entente" and noble rivalry which exist between +the ethnical groups that go to make up its population. + +At various times your sacred ministry has brought you in touch with the +other Eastern Provinces of our broad Dominion. A keen observer, you +readily grasped existing conditions and the mentality of the various +elements of our Canadian Population. + +The year 1917 found you laboring in our beloved Province of +Saskatchewan, as Rector of our Cathedral. For three years you lived +with us. The possibilities of our great West soon appealed to your +enthusiastic heart. The various problems which here engage the +attention of the Church fired your soul with noble ambition. I shall +never forget the good you have done in the parish committed to your +care. I shall be ever grateful for the zeal with which you devoted +yourself, heart and soul, to the guidance of those under your charge. +You found your happiness in making others happy, remembering that +kindly actions alone give to our days their real value. Your priestly +heart understood that when one is in God's service he must not be +content with doing things in a half-hearted way or without willing +sacrifice. + +But the voice of your Superiors called you to another field of action, +and with ready obedience you hastened to the Eastern extremity of the +Dominion. I can assure you, dear Father, that, though absent, your +memory is still fresh among us. Your old parishioners of Holy Rosary +Cathedral, and others with whom you came in contact through missions +and other work throughout the Province, have kept a fond and faithful +remembrance of your Reverence. The citizens of Regina who are not of +our Faith still remember the noble efforts you always put forth to +promote good will and concord in the community at large. Your charity +proved to them that we were not born to hate but to love one another. +It affords me great pleasure to see that since you left the West you +have continued to have its welfare at heart, its problems ever present +in your thought. For you tell me that you are just about to publish a +book on "Catholic problems in Western Canada." + +The West, you have known, studied and loved. The tremendous obstacles, +as well as the great possibilities which there face the Church at this +critical hour of our history, have left on your mind a lasting +impression. You fully realize, dear Father, that our Western problems +are not sufficiently known by the Catholics of the East. Were the +importance of these issues fully appreciated by all, a greater interest +would be taken in regard to their immediate solution. Catholics +throughout the Country, you rightly state, are obliged to further the +influence of Holy Mother Church in our Western Provinces, which will +certainly be called upon within a very near future to play a most +important part in our Dominion. + +To draw the attention of Catholics to the critical issues which +conditions, during the last decade or so, have created in our great +West, and to offer solutions which will be beneficial to the Church, +are the noble motives that have prompted your important work and guided +you on to its completion. + +Even though some may not fully share your views, or see eye to eye with +you on the means of action you suggest, you will have nevertheless +attained your object. You will have, I am confident, awakened interest +in our Western problems which, I repeat, are unfortunately not known, +or at least, are not fully appreciated by too many of our own. + +There is a saying that the heart has reasons which the mind does not +fully grasp. I feel sure that the many hours you have spent in the +composition of your book, coupled with the strenuous work of the +missions, to which you have consecrated yourself with unrelenting zeal +since your departure from our midst, have been calculated to weaken +your health. But your heart, unmindful of self, did not consider time +and fatigue so long as your fellow-man was being benefited. Your love +for God and His Church induced you to undertake this work and carry it +through to completion. Your book, I am sure, is destined to produce +happy results. This will be your consolation and your reward. Asking +God to bless your work and wishing you to accept this expression of my +constant gratitude and sincere friendship, I remain as ever, + +Devotedly yours, + +OLIVIER ELZEAR MATHIEU, + +_Archbishop of Regina._ + + +ARCHBISHOP'S HOUSE, + +REGINA, November 21st, 1920. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +Praesentia tangens. . . . . + Futura prospiciens. + +Problems characterize every age, sum up the complex life of nations and +give them their distinctive features. They form that moral atmosphere +which makes one period of history responsible and tributary to another. +And indeed, in every human problem there is an ethical element. This +imponderable factor, which often baffles our calculations, always +remains the true, permanent driving force. For in the last analysis of +human things, morality is what reachest furthest and matters most. + +Problems may vary with the times and the countries, and yet, the moral +issues involved never change; for, right is eternal. To detect this +ethical element amid the ever restless waves of human activities has +ever been the noble and constant effort of true leaders. Like the +pilot they are ever watching for the lighted buoy on the tossing waves. + +This moral element underlying all our national problems is what affects +Catholics as such, or rather the medium through which Catholics are +called to affect them. No period should prove more interesting to +Catholics than our own, for the very principles of Christian Ethics are +now being questioned and vindicated in the lives of nations, either by +the benefits accruing from their application, or by the evils +consequent upon their neglect. + +Our neo-pagan world is learning by a cruel and sad experience that +Religion is the foundation of morality, and morality that of true +legality. "For unless certain things antecedent to conscience be +granted and firmly held, 'conscience' becomes synonymous with +'sentiment.'" + +Mr. Lloyd George himself, addressing a religious gathering in Wales on +June 9, 1920, recognized Religion as the only bulwark able to resist +the rising tide of anarchy. "Bolshevism is spreading throughout the +world," said the British Premier, "and the churches can alone save the +people from the disaster which will ensue, if this anarchy of will and +aim continues to spread." The task of the churches, he continued, was +greater than that which came within the compass of any political party. +Political parties might provide the lamps, lay the wires and turn the +current on to certain machinery, but the churches must be the power +stations. If the generating stations were destroyed, whatever the +arrangements and plans of the political parties might be, it would not +be long before the light was cut off from the homes of the people. The +doctrines taught by the churches are the _only_ security against the +triumph of human selfishness, and human selfishness unchecked will +destroy any plans, however perfect, which politicians may devise. + +This period of history, to quote Gladstone, is "an agitated and +expectant age." The world is travelling fast into a new era. The +modern social fabric, built on the shifting sands of selfishness and +injustice is rocking on its foundations. Amid accumulated ruins +nations are searching for the basic principles of true Reconstruction. +This period of unrest is in itself a challenge to Christianity, to the +Church. But the vitalizing force of Christianity can solve these +problems of a decrepit civilization just as it solved the problem of +tottering Rome. Problems therefore must be faced and solved. Every +Catholic has his place in this world-wide work. If our religion does +not make its influence felt in every phase of our life's activities, it +is--as far as our life and its influence on others is concerned--a +gigantic fraud. Bishop Kettler understood this pressing obligation +when, breaking away from a too conservative programme of action, he was +the first in the Church to give an impetus to the study of the modern +social problem. His policy and action were said to have prompted the +celebrated letter of Leo III, _Rerum Novarum_. The words of this great +democratic Bishop still bear his timely message to Catholics of to-day, +"To save the souls of countless workmen entrusted to her by Christ, the +Church must enter the field of Social reform, armed with extraordinary +remedies. She must exert herself to the utmost to rescue the workmen +from a situation which constitutes a real proximate occasion of sin for +them, a situation which makes it morally impossible for them to fulfill +their duties as Christians." + +"The Church is bound to interfere '_ex caritate_,'" as these workmen +are in extreme need and cannot help themselves. Otherwise, the +unbelieving workingman will say to her: "Of what use are your fine +teachings to me? What is the use of your referring me, by way of +consolation, to the next world, if in this world you let me and my wife +and my children perish with hunger? You are not seeking my welfare, +you are looking for something else." + +Our fair and broad Dominion has not escaped from that spirit of unrest. +Spasmodic eruptions in the East and in the West indicate the same +central fires of the universal volcano upon which the world now sleeps +uneasily. Yet, various reasons have urged us to limit our +investigation and reflections to Western Canada. The predominating +interests of the West have of late become more and more evident in the +economic and political life of our country. Lord Salisbury, when +trouble was brewing on the far-flung border of India, gave to the +people the famous warning "Look at big maps." To get a just +appreciation of our mighty West we may well follow that same advice and +"look at big maps." The sudden and rapid growth of our Prairie +Provinces particularly, the unlimited and perennial resources of their +fertile soil, the progressive spirit of the population have made of the +West the land of great possibilities and mighty problems. The future +of our Country, the peace and prosperity of the nation depend to a +great extent on the reasonable and just exploitation of these resources +and on the adequate solution to these problems. + +There is no place in Canada where problems develop more rapidly and +meet with more radical solutions than in Western Canada. This is the +case in every young and prosperous country. No dead are behind the +living, to link the past to the future with the steadying influence of +tradition. Who has not heard of "The Spirit of the West?" Broad in +its vision, sympathetic and ambitious in its plans, over-confident in +its powers and most aggressive in its policies, that spirit grips you +as you pass beyond the Great Lakes into the unlimited horizons of the +rolling prairies. Those who have never experienced its secret +influence, will never fully understand its tremendous power. J. W. +Dafoe, of the Manitoba Free Press, welcoming to the West the Members of +the Imperial Press Conference (1920), assured them that they would +observe in the West evidence "of a newer Canadianism, the Canadianism +of to-morrow; not hostile to the East, but, we think, a little better." + +As the West has forced itself on the attention of our economic and +political world, so also have its Religious problems loomed up many and +great on the horizon of the Church. The Catholic Church, there, as in +many mission countries, is in process of formation: immense fields +await the scythe of belated reapers. Yet, notwithstanding this state +of imperfect organization, the Church stands out as one of the great +moral factors which outsiders are the first to respect, and politicians +too willing at times to exploit. Through her teachings and her +children, she is bound to make the beneficial influence of her presence +felt, even by her enemies. Her teachings indeed create for her loyal +children issues which have to be faced squarely and unflinchingly. The +influence of the Church on Society depends on the manner Catholics +understand their social responsibilities and translate into action her +doctrine. We may well apply to the life of the Church in a country +this biological truism: "life consists in adaptation to environment." +From a Catholic viewpoint Our West will be vitalized only in as much as +the Catholics in Western Canada, thoroughly patriotic in their +aspirations and thoroughly Catholic in their ideas and feelings, will +bring their influence to bear on our national life. Their example and +their influence will lead to the silent and "pacific penetration" of +the Society in which they live. And the Catholics throughout Canada +cannot stand aloof, disinterested in the upbuilding of the Western +Provinces, where the Canada of to-morrow is being created. There +indeed the clash of ideals is more marked, the fermentation of thought +is stronger, issues are more vital. Our national life, to a great +extent, will depend on how these conflicting elements are absorbed into +the blood and sinews of the Country. + +The problems on which we dwell are, in our humble estimation, of +paramount importance and should arrest the attention and elicit the +co-operation of every Catholic alive to their seriousness. No doubt we +have been sleeping at our posts. Red lights spot the darkness of the +future and speak of danger ahead if the problems upon which we dwell +are not pressed home with constancy and energy, if some concerted +action is not agreed upon. Behind these problems lurk mighty issues. +They strike at the very foundations of Christianity and Christian +civilization, and cannot be disposed of by Parliament-Laws or +Orders-in-Council. + +We are a minority, some may say, and without influence. Yes, we are a +minority, but were we a militant minority, our ideas would make their +way. "Small as the Catholic body was in England," said H. Belloc, "it +knew what it thought; it had a determined position. That was of +enormous importance. A minority which was logical, reasonable, and +united was a very much stronger thing than its mere numbers would +suggest." Did not the ideas of a few Oxford men revolutionize the +Church of England and bring on a movement the results of which we still +witness throughout the English-speaking world. The men who see clear +and far, who feel keenly and deeply will necessarily be leaders. The +hand that leads is always governed by a warm heart and a clear eye. +"Devotion is the child of conviction," said Lord Haldane. + +The non-Catholic may be inclined to look upon our exposition of these +Western Problems as a merely sectarian viewpoint, and therefore, of no +value to him. He may even look upon our work as an open challenge. I +would answer in Newman's words: "_Our motive for writing has been the +sight of the truth and the desire to show it to others._" + +The serious minded non-Catholic, whose soul has not been wholly warped +by prejudice, will at least consider the Catholic Church as one of the +great moral factors in the nation. He will naturally wish to know the +mind of the Church and the reasons for its stand in many problems +common to all Canadians. Our candid explanation will help to give him +a better understanding of facts and a better appreciation of our +position on issues to be faced by us all. We are prompted by a sincere +love for our Country in offering these solutions for the various issues +with which we are confronted. "Preconceived opinions and inherited +prejudices, particularly in religious matters tend to make men either +blind or indifferent to the merits of systems other than their own." +We do not expect our non-Catholic readers to see eye to eye with us in +the discussion of the various problems under examination. Our +viewpoint is naturally the Catholic one. But we do believe that the +broad-minded Westerner is open to conviction and willing to take an +argument on its face value. 'Give us a hearing' . . . . this is the +burden of our message to our non-Catholic countrymen. This book is not +written in a spirit of controversy. Were some to see it in this light, +then I would claim for the author what Birrell said of Newman: "He +contrived to instil into his very controversy more of the spirit of +Christ than most men can find room for in their prayers." Moreover; we +are persuaded that the great war has mellowed the minds of men and made +them more receptive. The contact with other countries has softened the +contours of certain controversies and given to all a broader outlook. + +However, should our arguments fail to prove satisfactory or should they +give rise to contradiction, we would repeat here what Newman wrote in +his Preface to "Difficulties of Anglicans," "It has not been our +practice to engage in controversy with those who felt it their duty to +criticise what at any time we have written; but that will not preclude +us under present circumstances, from elucidating what is deficient in +them by further observations, should questions be asked, which, either +from the quarter whence they proceed, or from their intrinsic weight, +have, according to our judgment, a claim upon our attention." + +The problems we touch upon are of a general character. They are not +new, but the war and the loose and hysterical thinking which has +accompanied and followed it, have forced them into startling +prominence. We have grouped them under three headings: _religious_, +_educational_, and _social_. We do not pretend to present an +exhaustive treatment of the matter. To do so, would be on our part a +stroke of temerity and for the reader, an assured deception. Human +problems are ever the same. The surface may be somewhat changed, the +handling a little different, but the principles upon which depends +their solution do not change. Our effort is to throw a new light on +old subjects. + +To be of service to the Church, and, through Her to our Country, is the +sole ambition we have had before us in gathering together in book-form +stray sheaves of thought, published here and there, during the course +of the last few years. We are quite convinced that a clear vision of +the problems facing the Church in Western Canada will awaken a sense of +the responsibility which they entail for every Catholic in the land. + +Our views and suggestions in the matter are but those of a humble +soldier who belongs to the rank and file of the great Catholic army. +But often a private in the firing line can suggest a plan of action +which, when corrected or modified at headquarters, proves to be of some +benefit to his battalion. This explains the dedication of our humble +effort to the Hierarchy of Canada. For in problems which affect the +Church, we would not lose sight of this supreme truth: "The Holy Ghost +has placed the Bishops to rule the Church of God, which He has +purchased with His own blood."-- + +(Act XX, 28) + +ST. PETERS RECTORY, + ST. JOHN, N.B. + +On the Feast of the "Immaculate Conception," December 8th, 1920. + + + + +PART I + +RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS + +"It is surprising how at the bottom of every political problem we +always find some theology involved." + + --(Proudhom) + + + + +CHAPTER 1 + +THE CALL OF THE WEST[1] + +_A Call from the West_ + +Who has not heard the call of the West? Like the blast of the hunter's +horn in the silent forest, its thrilling and inviting sound has +awakened the echoes throughout the land. Springing from the granite +heart of our mighty Rockies, that call comes through their valleys, is +heard over the "Great Divide" and whispers its way to the foothills. +Soft as the evening breeze, strong as the howling blizzard, we hear it +across the prairie, gathering as it were, on its triumphal march to the +East, something of the immensity of the plains and freshness of the +lakes. + +In the din of our manufacturing cities, in the quietness of our towns +and villages, by the rivers and winding bays of our Maritime Provinces, +along the peaceful shores of the St. Lawrence, the call of the West has +been heard. + +Its alluring sound has cast a spell upon our youth, the hope of the +country. Faces flushed with the bright hues of life's dawn, eyes +sparkling with the fires of early youth, instinctively turn to the +West. From all points of Eastern Canada young men and young women are +leaving for that mysterious land of brilliant promise and great +possibilities. + +The Call of the West! All Canada is eager to hear its message. Has +not the merchant his ear to the ground, listening to the throbbing of +the growing harvest on our Western prairies? He knows that in the +furrows of that rich loam lie the wealth and prosperity of the country +at large. The Eastern manufacturer anxiously scans the daily paper to +be posted on crop conditions in the West. They regulate to a great +extent the activities and output of his plant. And when college and +university days are over, where does the young professional man turn +his eyes? To the West. Westward, with the sun, he travels; its fiery +course is an invitation to and a harbinger of his bright career. + +The Call of the West! Across the ocean it has gone and awakened the +dormant energies of old European nations. Settlers of every race and +creed have rushed to our shores, like the waves of "the heaving and +hurrying tide." + +The attraction of the Canadian West has become general, at home and +abroad. Nothing can stop this onward march to the land of promise. A +new Canada is being created beyond the Great Lakes. + +A very small fraction of the Western fertile soil is under cultivation +and already the phenomenal yield has prompted the nations at large to +call the Prairie Provinces "the granary of the world." Already in +Canada the industrial, commercial, and to a great extent, the political +world hinges on the Western crop. It is the great source of Canada's +national wealth. For, the prodigious resources of our mines and +forests, and the annual yield of our harvest are the two poles upon +which revolves the credit of our country abroad. But the growing value +of the West to the economic and national life of Canada is a mere +shadow of its increasing importance in the religious world. Above the +hum of the binders and loud clatter of the threshing machines, above +the sharp voice of the shrieking steel rail, counting, as it were, one +by one, the freighted cars on their way to the Eastern ports, above the +clamor of commerce and industry, ring out the voices of immortal souls. +The West, for the Church of God also is the land of great possibilities +and brilliant promise. The waving sea of its wheat fields calls to +mind the words of the Master: "Lift up your eyes and see the countries +ready for the harvest. . . . The harvest is great indeed but the +labourers are few. . . ." + +On his return from a visit to our Canadian West Cardinal Bourne, in the +course of conversation, spoke of Canada with almost exclusive reference +to the Western Provinces. Some one remarked to him, "Your Grace is +referring to conditions in the West?" "Yes, the West, the West is +Canada!" he replied. + +No one can over-estimate the importance of the West from a Catholic +standpoint. It is a new empire that is being formed beyond the Lakes, +an empire with tremendous and perennial resources, with ambitious +ideals and progressive policies, with forward-looking people and +youthful leaders. There the ultra-conservatism of the East has been +brushed aside and space made for a new democracy. The question of +paramount importance for us is: "What will be the condition of the +Church in that coming part of Canada? What share will She have in the +solving of the social, educational and economic problems of that new +domain?" + +Every Catholic should be interested in this vital issue. The call of +the West for a Catholic is the call of the Church, the call of a Mother +to a loyal son. She has a right to a hearty response from every +Catholic throughout our broad Dominion. It is, therefore, a duty of +conscience for every son of the Church in Canada to come to the +assistance of his mother, to take her honor to heart. At the present +hour this duty is most imperative, this obligation most pressing. +There is nothing in the wide sphere of our Catholic social duties so +immediate in its urgency or so far reaching in its consequences. The +Church depends on the loyalty of her children. + +To bring this call of our Western missions to the attention of every +individual Catholic, to make every soul a co-operator in the extension +of God's kingdom in Canada, to develop that sense of responsibility +which makes one consider the Church's business his own business, to +rally our disbanded forces, to unite our sporadic efforts around the +great work of the "Catholic Church Extension Society of Canada"--such +is the object of these few pages. To place facts before the reader, +and suggest remedies; to sound the call of the West, loud and sonorous +as the bugle pealing a great "_reveille_," strong and clear as the +trumpet blast that stirs the blood; to prompt a timely and generous +response in the East, by uniting the Church of Canada in a crusade of +prayers and sacrifices for our Western Missions: this is our aim and +hopeful ambition. + + +_The Call of the Catholic Church in the West_ + +The call of the Church in the West is a cry for help. Great indeed are +the pressing needs of the Western Church, for numerous and various are +the difficulties with which Catholics have to contend on the prairie +and in the small towns. + +The first barrier to surmount is _distance_. The very layout of the +country is to a great extent a hindrance to the efficient working of a +parish. The survey of the land has been made from a strictly economic +point of view. Large farms,--vast wheat fields--were the final object +of the survey. The social, educational, and religious phases of the +situation are in the background. This renders church and school +problems particularly difficult to solve, as was outlined in Dr. +Foght's report of the educational survey in the Province of +Saskatchewan (1918). This difficulty--let us not forget--will persist +for years to come in Western Canada. According to competent +authorities wheat growing, being essentially a large unit undertaking, +demands extensive farming. This statement is very important, for its +consequences in Church organization are far-reaching. + +The planless settling of the Catholic homesteaders here and there on +the prairie, has also created for the Church one of its greatest +difficulties. Living often 30, 40 and 50 miles from a Catholic chapel, +these settlers drift away from the authority, teaching and sacraments +of the Church. To form self-supporting parishes in the sparsely +settled districts is often an impossibility. + +To this barrier of immense distances are added for long months, +_unfavourable climatic conditions_. The very severe cold, the high +winds which have such a sweep on the boundless prairies, the terrific +blizzards of the long winter months, will always remain great obstacles +to an intense Catholic life in rural parishes. Many Sundays, from +December to March, it is a real impossibility for those who live at any +distance to go to Church. + +And who are those who have settled on our Western plains? This is not +the place to discuss the immigration policies of the past. We are +dealing with facts. We have the _most cosmopolitan population_ one +could imagine. The most divergent factors go to make up the racial +composition of our western population. We know of a city parish that +counted 16 different nationalities within its boundaries. During the +first and second generation, during what we would call the period of +Canadianization of these various national elements, the Church has to +face a most difficult and complex situation. + +Diversity of nations means _variety of ideals, differences of customs +and traditions_. The disassociation from former relations and the +sudden transfer to new conditions of life, have proved to be such a +shock to many settlers that they fail to readjust their lives to the +arising needs. "Separated from the influences of his early life the +immigrant is apt to suffer from disintegrating reaction amid the +perplexing distractions, difficulties and dangers of his new +environment. Frequently it happens that old associations are destroyed +and there is no substitution of the best standards in the new +environment. A vacuum is created which invites the inrush of +destructive influences." How many foreigners have been lost to the +Church because the teachings of their Faith were no longer handed down +to them, wrapped up, we would say, in the folds of their national +customs and celebrations! The oriental and southern mind is more +particularly susceptible to the influence of this national tinge with +which religion itself comes to them. + +The fusion of so many ethnical groups and their adaptation to new +surroundings are the result of a very delicate and slow process, +especially in rural communities. "You cannot play with human chemicals +any more than with real ones. You have to know something of +chemistry," said Winston Churchill. Thousands of foreigners have been +lost to the faith because many of our own, clergy and laity, did not +know the first elements of "human chemistry." The great leakage from +the Church in the West is among Catholic immigrants. Unscrupulous +proselytisers on the specious plea of "Canadianization" have weaned +them from the faith of their fathers. This nefarious process is still +at work, especially in the Ruthenian settlements. + +_The number of languages_ complicates still more this ethnical problem. +Not hearing the Catholic doctrine in his own language and crippled by +that instinctive shyness and extreme reserve which seem to grasp him as +he steps on our shores, the foreigner often loses contact with the +Church. Like a transplanted shrub in an uncongenial soil, he +languishes for years in his faith and its practices. + +_The very atmosphere_ of the West is another great cause of defections +among the faithful. You must live for some years "out West" to +appreciate the full meaning of this statement. + +Moral atmosphere is to the soul what air is to the lungs; it is health +and life. Two elements constitute that factor which plays such a vital +part in our religious life--tradition and environment. _Tradition_ +links the past to the present and gives to the soul a certain stability +amidst the fluctuations of life. It is made up of details if you wish, +but, like the tossing buoy, these details betray where the anchor is +hidden. This absence of the past has a great influence on our Western +Church. People hailing from all points of Eastern Canada, of the +United States and of Europe, have not yet formed religious traditions +which are to the Catholic life of the family and of the parish what +roots are to a tree. + +And what _environments_ surround our scattered settlers on the prairie? +Only those who have come in close relation with the lonely homesteader +can understand how much he is debarred from the influence of Catholic +life. Very often not even a chapel is to be found for miles and miles. +A chapel, no matter how humble it may be, is in the religious world of +a community like the mother-cell; in it life is concentrated; from it +emanates activity. Mass is now often said in a private house, a public +hall or a school house. Children who have not known the beauty and the +warmth of Catholic worship will hardly appreciate its lessons. + +Moreover, _social relations_ often bring our Western Catholics in very +frequent contact with the different Protestant churches and their +tremendous activities. _Mixed marriages_ are the outcome of these +circumstances. God alone knows how many of our Catholic boys and girls +have been lost to the faith through "mixed marriages" and marriages +outside of the Church. + + * * * * * * + +These various obstacles, _geographical_ (distance and climate), +_ethnical_ (race and language), _religious_ (absence of Catholic +tradition and surroundings), are the ever open crevices through which a +tremendous leakage has been draining the vitality of the Church in +Western Canada. So the call of the West is like the frantic S.O.S. on +the high seas, that snaps from the masts of a ship in danger. It is +the cry of thousands of Catholics sinking into the sea of unbelief and +irreligion. In the wreckage there is still a gleam of hope. Great +numbers yet cling to a remnant of the old faith of their fathers; it +will keep them afloat until helping hands come to their rescue. + +The Call of the Church in the West is a call of distress. Has the +Church in the East heard it? What is its response? + + +_The Response of the East_ + +Has the Church at large in the East heard the call of the West? Has +that cry of distress gone through the ranks of our Catholics like the +shrill blast of the bugle call? Has it awakened our Catholics from +their torpid lethargy and quickened their sense of responsibility? Has +the call been answered, or has it gone out like a cry in the +wilderness, lost in the noise of our busy world, stifled by the clamour +of other voices, smothered under other diocesan and parochial claims? + +In the Church of Canada there have always been generous and noble souls +for whom the missions of the West have had a mysterious attraction. +Who can read without emotion of the heroic deeds of the first Jesuits +who followed the explorers and _courreurs-des-bois_ in their perilous +adventures? What tribute of admiration and gratitude do we not owe to +the Oblate missionaries who lived and died with the wandering children +of the plains, who have kept the fires of Faith burning, from the banks +of the Red River to the Pacific Coast, from the winding shores of the +Missouri and Mississippi to the everlasting snows of the Arctic. Their +lives of heroism furnish a bright splash on the rather drab and bleak +landscape of what was known as the Northwest Territories. The Church +of Canada will ever remain indebted to these noble pioneers of the +cross, apostolic bishops and priests of the first hour; their saintly +lives are forever emblazoned on the pages of Canadian history; the +western trails murmur their names in gratitude and the children of the +prairie still bless their memory by the dying fires of their camps. + +Indeed the Province of Quebec for years sent her money to help the +struggling schools of Manitoba. The Catholic Church of Canada has +pledged itself in the Plenary Council of Quebec to help the Ruthenian +cause; the Catholic Church Extension Society of late years is enlisting +the sympathies of Eastern Catholics for our Western missions. With the +help of their motherhouses our various sisterhoods have dotted the West +with convents, schools, hospitals and charitable institutions. We all +recognize the beauty and the heroism of their Catholic charity and +apostolic zeal. Notwithstanding these noble efforts, can we safely +state that the Church of Eastern Canada, as a whole, is deeply +interested in the Catholic welfare of the West? Have we kept pace with +the changing conditions the last decade has brought throughout our +Western Canada? _No_. _And this is our national sin_. The Church as +a whole, has not awakened to its responsibility. As individuals, as +parishes, as dioceses, Catholics here and there have nobly done their +duty. As a body, as a living Church of Canada, we have failed to help +the struggling West as we should have done. We have not thrown all the +energies of our great living, organizing Church into this missionary +work. The Catholics of our Eastern Provinces are not yet united in one +great, generous effort to protect and spread the Kingdom of God in +their own fair Dominion. The call of the Church in the West has not +been heard. + +Never has the importance of the West loomed up before the public mind +as it has since the beginning of the war. To realize this you have +only to remark its growing influence in our political life. It cannot +be otherwise; the possibilities of the West are so great and so +numerous. Immense virgin prairies are still waiting for the plough. +After the war, during the period of reconstruction, necessarily so +pregnant of great events, the producing powers of our agricultural West +will be tremendous. This is, therefore, a trying period for the Church +in the West. Beyond the waving wheat of the prairie we should +contemplate the ripening harvest of souls. Like a growing youth, the +Church in Western Canada needs more than ever, help and support from +the Mother Church of the East. This assistance in the present stage of +the Western Church is a pressing duty of conscience, not only for the +individual Catholic, but particularly for the Church as a whole, in +Eastern Canada. + +This duty is a duty of the hour, a duty most serious, most imperative. +How can it be accomplished? By the united action of the Eastern +dioceses of Canada. + +Each diocese is a constituted unity in itself, but not for itself +alone. Like each particular organism in the human system, it exists +for the benefit of the whole. The Catholicity of the Church implies +this idea of solidarity whereby the strong help the weak and the rich +come to the rescue of the poor. Never, perhaps, has the Church +suffered so much from the wasting of energies. The torrent, if not +directed, spends its energy on itself; turned into the mill race, every +drop counts. + +One of the great lessons the war has given to the world is the absolute +necessity of centralized effort and the advisability of central +organization rather than multiplying organizations. We are living in +an age of _efficiency_ through _co-operation_. + +_Fas est ab hoste doceri_.--The lesson coming from our separated +brethren should strike home. One has to go West to see the feverish +activities of the different denominations in that new field. Ask the +mission organizers of the various non-Catholic bodies how much money +comes from the East to support the struggling Protestant churches of +the West; visit their immense printing establishments which are +producing and distributing the literature you will find on the table of +the lonely Western settler; study these organizations which are +supplying field secretaries, teachers, social workers to our foreign +Catholic settlements, then you will begin to understand this word of +Pius X.: "The strength of the enemy lies in the apathy of the good." +The mass of evidence, which can be had by the simple reading of the +non-Catholic missionary reports, as to their activities in Western +Canada, is nothing short of staggering. What examples! What lessons! +Should they not turn our apathetic Catholics into enthusiastic +apostles, stir them into watchfulness and action? And what could we +not do _with more unity of action_? + +Two conditions make united action possible--_uniform plan_ and +_authoritative leadership_. It would be rather preposterous on our +part to attempt to formulate what we could call a plan of campaign for +our Western apostles. We wish only to submit a few suggestions which +may help to group our scattered energies and bring rescue to the +Church, particularly in the unorganized districts of Western Canada. + +To readjust our methods to conditions as we find them _means efficiency +with the least waste of energy_. Therefore, we claim that a "survey" +of membership and conditions of the Catholic Church in unorganized +districts is an absolute necessity. It is the only _logical basis_ for +true _knowledge of conditions_ and for development. This "survey" will +bring us into immediate contact with the fallen-away Catholics. As it +is now, are we not too often _waiting_ for the fallen-away to come to +us? If the survey has proved essential in the solving of educational +and social problems, why should it not commend itself in religious +matters? Proselytizers--especially the English Biblical Society, with +headquarters at Toronto and Winnipeg, have the survey of the West down +to a science. Their map room in the Bible House of Winnipeg is a +perfect religious topography of Western Canada. We are firm believers +in what we would call the "Catholicization" of modern methods that have +proved beneficial to any cause. "Without this survey and the grasp +which it yields of the relative proportion of things, a vast waste of +matter and energy alike is inevitable." + +This Catholic survey of unorganized districts may appear to some as "a +dream," a desk-policy of apostleship--as too modern, etc.[2] The only +answer I can give are the facts and figures of the American Catholic +Church Extension, whose work along similar lines proves their +efficiency and high value. + +The specific and ultimate object of the survey would be to keep +Catholics who live out of the radius of parish life, in constant touch +with the Church, its teaching, its sacraments and its authority. The +mailing of Catholic literature pamphlets, devotional and controversial, +and newspapers, the teaching of catechism by correspondence, as is +practised in certain districts of Minnesota, the selection of teachers +for foreign districts and of boys for higher education, the +establishment of a central Catholic Bureau of information in each +Province, which could serve as a clearing house and centre of Catholic +activities, and other means of apostleship, these would be the natural +consequences of the survey. Who cannot see what a help this would be +to our scattered Catholics? A great help to keep the faith among the +scattered home-steaders. + +The service of an _auto-chapel_ would bring them also, at least once a +year, the benefit of the sacraments and the blessing of the priests' +visit. For, let us not forget it, one family now lost to the Church +means several families in the coming generation. This absence of +contact with the Church has been for our scattered English-speaking +Catholics especially, one of the great causes of the loss of faith. + +And what about our mission to non-Catholics? We have the truth; are we +doing enough, not only to keep it among our own, but to spread it among +others? Are we aggressive enough? And still I hear the Master say: +"And other sheep I have that are not of this fold; them also _I must +bring_ and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and +shepherd" (Jo. X, 16). _We must bring_ them back; they _shall hear our +voice_. . . . On the strength of that command and of that promise +should our policy not be more saintly aggressive? What an immense +field awaits the zeal of true apostles! Nowhere more than in the West +has absolute disintegration set in among the different denominations. +The universal desire for Church Union is, in our mind, the best proof +of our statement. The most elementary principles of Christianity, of a +supernatural religion, have lost their grasp on the mind of the average +Protestant Westerner. Nominally, he belongs to a denomination, in +reality he belongs to none. And what are we doing to give them the +faith? + +A uniform plan of action, once adopted, requires for execution, _an +authoritative leadership_, if desired results are expected. In the +Church of God the Bishops are our authoritative leaders--_Posuit +Episcopos regere Ecclesiam Dei_. In the ordinary life of the Church +this authority in matters spiritual is delegated to and operates +through the parish priests. The parish is with the diocese, the +established unit of religious organization. For the work in +unorganized districts, which is here the special subject of our +attention, could there not be in each Province or in each diocese, four +or five "Free Lances?" [3] Let them be diocesan missionaries, priests +chosen by the Bishops because of their special fitness for this great +work. They would be to the Church what the R.N.W. Mounted Police have +been to the Northwest Territories, or what the itinerant preachers are +to certain denominations in sparsely settled districts. Their mission +would be to visit, preach, baptize, say Mass in the distant districts +not visited by a parish priest. They would be the advance-guard of the +Church throughout the land. During the winter months they could +continue their work by attending to districts within reach of a +railway. The religious Orders,--and they alone can more easily supply +reserves and train subjects for this special work--the religious Orders +surely will be able to enter into this field of missionary activity, at +the same time protecting their subjects with the safeguards of the Rule +as also of paternal vigilance and guidance. An itinerant "regional +clergy" radiating from a centre where they are fortified by the +advantages of common life, is one of the Bishop of Northampton's +remedial suggestions among possible "new methods devised to meet new +needs." This suggestion is to be found in his Lenten Pastoral of 1920. + +The Church in the East, through the Catholic Church Extension Society, +would gladly, if well informed on the matter, furnish the financial aid +for the support of these "free lances"--and their apostolic activities. +The Catholic Truth Society would gladly, contribute all the literature +needed to spread the truth and to keep the fires of faith burning on +our prairies. Grouping forces, co-ordination of efforts, is what we +need most in Canada. In the rank and file of the Catholic laity +treasures of enthusiasm, latent powers of energy go to waste because +there is no leader to awaken and direct them. The policy of the +_Catholic Church Extension_ is to act on these long unspoken desires, +to loosen the pent-up energies of the Catholic heart throughout the +land. + + +_The Specific Object of the Catholic Church Extension Society_ + +Through its press, literature, auxiliary societies and various other +activities, this apostolic society is ever trying to quicken among +Catholics a profound sense of responsibility to the Church Universal. +The welfare of our Western missions depends on how the Church in the +East understands and shoulders its obligation. + +By financial aid we do not only mean donations and contributions, here +and there, from wealthy Catholics. What we have in view is the +financial assistance of the Church in the East, as a whole, as a +corporate body. Every Catholic in Canada must become more or less +interested in "Home Missions" and be willing to do "his little bit." +As the small fibrous roots are the feeders and strength of the tree, so +also the small and continued donations of all Catholics in the East +will be the support of our missions in the West. In the various +Protestant denominations, for every dollar given to support of the +local church another dollar goes to the "Home Mission Fund." At the +last general Methodist Conference (Hamilton, 1918) that Church pledged +_eight million dollars_ ($8,000,000.00) for their missions in the next +five years. With the enormous sums these various religious bodies +receive from the East they support the non-Catholic institutions of +higher education to be found in all cities of Western Canada, they +distribute free of charge tons of literature throughout the prairie, +they defray the expenses of their social workers, field secretaries, +etc. Among the Catholics of hundreds of parishes does not the +prevailing policy seem to be: "Charity begins at home"--and we may add, +often ends there. When one has paid his pew-rent and his dues, bought +a few tickets for a sacred concert or bazaar, thrown on the collection +plate each Sunday a few coppers or a small piece of silver, he thinks +he has accomplished all his duty to the Church. The vision of too many +Catholics does not go beyond the boundaries of their parish or their +diocese. Circumscribed in their views, they remain illiberal in their +sympathies. + +Floyd Keeler, a neo-convert to the Catholic Faith, made recently this +most instructive statement. "Perhaps the greatest problem which the +convert is the most surprised to find existing in the Catholic Church, +is the problem why the average American Catholic is so supremely +selfsatisfied and seems to have so little thought for the propagation +of the Faith which he professes. Coming from a body which has had for +many years a well-organized system of missionary propaganda and which, +in spite of its many and grave doctrinal difficulties, is fairly well +permeated with missionary spirit, _it is a shock_ to find that within +the Fold so little attention is paid to what really ought to be the +very breath of life to its people, the Extension of the Kingdom of God +on earth, the carrying out of our "Lord's Last Will and Testament." To +find Catholics whose ideals are bound up within their own parishes, who +possess no sort of vision of the world beyond, still lying "in darkness +and in the shadow of death" and no concern over its redemption, is a +phenomenon which is hard to explain." + +"It distresses us more than we can tell to find those who are nourished +at the breasts of the Bride of Christ, callous to Her charms, unmindful +of Her privileges, thoughtlessly and grudgingly rendering their minimum +of service, for we realize how Christ is thus being 'wounded in the +house of His friends' and His Bride made to lose Her comeliness in the +sight of men. But the Catholic press and the Catholic pulpit, fired +with the zeal of this new apostolate can, and we believe will solve the +problem."--("America," March 13, 1920.) + +Our parishes and dioceses will never suffer from an increased zeal in +the broader interests of the Universal Church.[4] There can be no +conflict of interests in the Church of God, if seen from the proper +point of view,--the glory of God and the salvation of souls. "It is +because we have need of men and means at home that I am convinced we +ought to send both men and means abroad. In exact proportion as we +freely give what we have freely received will our works at home prosper +and the zeal and number of our priests be multiplied. This is the test +and the measure of Catholic life among us. The missionary spirit is +the condition of the growth, and, if Faith is to extend at home it must +be by our aiding to carry it abroad" (Card. Manning). Was it not while +he was building the Cathedral of Westminster, that Card. Vaughn founded +the "Mission Society?" + +This missionary spirit has also a bearing on the spiritual welfare of +the flock in which it is fostered. For those who would object that +giving money to our Western Church is "carrying coals to Newcastle," we +would state that the West now needs more the help of the East than at +any other time. The organized parishes are indeed beginning to be +self-supporting; but the work we have outlined in these pages, if it is +to be done, has to be supported by the Catholics of Canada at large. + +The spiritual aids will be the prayers, Masses, sacrifices of all kind +offered for our Home Missions. Nothing strengthens faith and +stimulates genuine piety, as prayers and sacrifices for the great cause +of our missions. They are so disinterested, they reveal true love for +our Blessed Lord. + +Only a chosen few are called to go into the field at home and afar and +reap the ripening harvest. But all are commanded by the Master to pray +the Father for harvesters. This sublime apostleship of prayer is the +privilege and duty of every Christian. Is there anything more +instructive and more pathetic than the invitation of the Saviour to +co-operate with Him in this great work of the Redemption. "And seeing +the multitudes he had compassion on them: because they were distressed +and lying like sheep that have no shepherd. Then He said to His +disciples: the harvest indeed is great but the labourers are few. Pray +ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he send labourers into the +harvest." (Math. IX, 36, 37, 38.) + +The Divine Master cannot but hear the prayer asking Him to send +"labourers to the ripening harvest." And could we give better proof of +devotion to Church and Country? + +Great is the seriousness of the present hour, tremendous the task that +confronts us after the war. Never has any generation in history been +so freighted with the responsibilities of the future as ours is, +marching home from the battlefields of Europe. We are living in +stirring and changeful times. Nowhere in the Dominion of Canada will +the period of reconstruction have more far-reaching effects than in the +West. The after-war problems will meet there with rapid and very often +radical solutions. To understand this issue that faces our country, to +grasp it in all its breadth and fulness, should we not broaden our +vision, readjust it, we would say, to the new scale of changing +conditions? Only then will we be able to marshal our forces and throw +the weight of Catholic principles into the solving of the social, +economic and religious problems of the hour. "The Church cannot remain +an isolated factor in the nation. The Catholic Church possesses +spiritual and moral resources which are at the command of the nation in +every great crisis. The message to the nation to forget local +boundaries and provincialism is a message likewise to the Catholic +Church. Parochial, diocesan and provincial limits must be forgotten in +the face of the greater tasks which burden our collective religious +resources." (Card. Gibbons.) Let us give to the people that broad, +Catholic vision of our present duty to our country and to our Church. +The broader the outlook, the deeper the insight. The measure of their +vision will be the measure of their action. No leader can meet with +success without a certain receptivity to work upon. This receptivity +is formed by spreading ideas, by an educational propaganda. + +It may take time before the vision struggles into consciousness and +wins its way to the dominance of the mind. What we need is a +systematized, continuous effort that will gradually crystalize that +vision into a definite workable project. A flourish of trumpets and +blaze of Catholic zeal, as we are accustomed to witness on the occasion +of some special sermon and appeal by a missionary, will only prompt an +act of passing generosity. + +The special object of the _Catholic Church Extension Society_ is to +awaken the collective consciousness of the Catholic population and to +give to Catholics that vision of their social responsibility and +religious solidarity and to keep it, by its organization, in a healthy +condition. It realizes that co-operation from the Church at large will +exist and maintain itself only if preceded, accompanied and upheld by a +strong and vigilant Catholic public opinion. In return public opinion, +once created in the ranks of our Catholic laity, will make the +_Extension Society_ a live-wire, a dynamic force of the Church in +Canada. Let us not forget, vision--and public opinion is the vision of +the multitude--is the first and primary of constructive forces. + +To have Catholic action we must first create a Catholic mind. + +A publicity campaign, followed by a dominion-wide drive for funds, +would be now in order. The spirit of giving and of giving for great +causes is in the air. A campaign of that nature--we have seen it often +during the war,--is in itself an education. It spreads information and +arouses the sense of duty. + +From the clearness, breadth and depth of that vision will spring the +conquering spirit of united action. Forgetting then our lingual and +racial differences that have created in the past among us so many +unfortunate misunderstandings and have weakened our forces before the +enemy, we will rise to the level of our faith, to the creative powers +of true Catholicity. + +The "Call of the West" has been heard. It comes to you with the +_burning problems_ of the _present_ . . . _praesentia tangens_ . . . +and the _vision of brilliant promises and heavy responsibilities_ of +the future . . . _furtra prospiciens_. + +WHAT IS YOUR ANSWER? + + + +[1] This Chapter formed the matter of a series of articles published in +the "Catholic Register" of Toronto. The Catholic Church Extension +Society republished them in pamphlet form with the following +introduction by Archbishop McNeil. + +"The author of this pamphlet has lived in the West and has felt--I was +going to say--the need of Catholic co-operation, but that falls short +of the reality. Co-operation among Catholics is more than a means to a +missionary end. It is an essential part of Catholic life. Boundaries +of jurisdiction are conveniences and means to an end. In the first +centuries of the Christian era it was centres rather than +circumferences that marked divisions of work and of jurisdiction; but, +in any case, administrative divisions were never intended to be +divisions of brotherhood. In places where we are well established we +are inclined to look upon Christian brotherhood in an abstract way. In +the West they feel it as a necessity of Catholic life, not only as a +source of financial help, but as brotherhood in sympathy, interest, and +mutual helpfulness. The West can help the East by its growing +influence, and Catholics in the West can do their part in defence of +Catholic ideals and Catholic institutions. The more we do for them the +more they can do for us. Father Daly describes the Call of the West, +and it is fittingly through Catholic Extension that the call is now +made and will be answered." + +[2] "The Universe" the great Catholic Weekly of England, had in its +editorial notes the following remarks on this suggestion of ours: + +A "DESK-POLICY" OF APOSTLESHIP + +The Catholic Church in Canada possesses a Home Missionary problem of +the extent of which we can scarcely form an idea. In making his appeal +from the West to the East of the vast Dominion, Father Daly, C.S.S.R., +who has just issued a pamphlet on the subject through the Church +Extension Press, Toronto, brings out some salient truths on the subject +of co-operation and organization which Catholics all the world over can +well take to heart and apply to themselves. "Two conditions (he says) +made united action possible--uniform plan and authoritative leadership. +To readjust our methods to conditions as we find them means efficiency +with the least waste of energy, and acting on this principle Father +Daly advocates a 'survey' of membership and conditions of the Catholic +Church in unorganized districts as the one means of getting at lapsed +Catholics. 'Too often,' he observes, 'we are waiting for the fallen +away to come to us.' This is true indeed. Protestant proselytizers in +the west of Canada have the whole 'survey' scheme worked out on a +scientific basis. Father Daly is more willing to learn from them. "I +am a firm believer," he writes, "in what I would call the +Catholicization of modern methods that have proved beneficial in any +cause." The problem of unorganized districts and of a scattered +Catholic population in our own case is, of course, minute compared with +that of Canada; but it is there, and sufficiently in evidence to +justify the Redemptorist Father's "desk-policy of apostleship." There +is no reason, in short, why the interorganization of the members of the +most perfect organization in the world should be committed to a kind of +spiritual rule of thumb." + +[3] The following letter prompted by the reading of this very article +was received by the President of the Church Extension, dated, March 14, +1919, at a point of Saskatchewan we know quite well; it is illustrative +of conditions prevailing in many districts of our Great West: + +Very Reverend and dear Father,-- + +I have just read your article in the Febr., 15 issue and I am so +pleased with your suggestion for relieving the situation for scattered +Catholics throughout the West that I must write my appreciation. I am +sure that very few people in the East realize what a veritable +necessity those _Free Lances_ you spoke of are to so many Western +people, or what a God-send those _auto-chapels_ would be. Western +homesteaders do not stray far from home for two very good reasons, lack +of transportation facilities and lack of funds. + +We live 12 miles from the church, that is my own family. The others +live thirty-five and fifty miles away and up to this year we have had +nothing but a waggon to travel in, and now those that live farthest +away have still only a waggon. So you will understand that we have not +made more than necessary trips or not many more. And I wonder if my +brothers would make those, were it not for my mothers insistence. They +are surrounded by such bad influences. It's not that it is a sectarian +influence, but rather a total lack of religion altogether. The only +things that matter greatly are the material things of this world. To +confess yourself religious, especially Catholic, is to confess yourself +old fashioned and to cause people to smile. You know that is harder to +combat than bigoted opposition. Your plan to send out pamphlets would +be appreciated by many--But above all we need the personal touch of a +priest. We need it as our crops need rain, etc. . . . + +[4] As an illustration of what in a simple and unostentatious way can +be done by any parish in the mission cause the editor of the Annals of +the Propagation of the Faith (N.Y.) refers to an invitation extended to +him to attend a Christmas sale. It took place in a parish of the +Brooklyn diocese on Dec. 3, 1919, the feast of St. Francis Xavier, +patron of the mission cause. Thanks mainly to the efforts of an +energetic lady, but with the consent and patronage of the pastor, a +Xavirian Mission Circle had been formed. Within eighteen months after +its organization the newly found circle had paid off a $500.00 mortgage +for a heavily burdened priest in the South, had adopted eight abandoned +children of the Chinese Missions, had sent 1,000 Mass intentions, was +supporting seven catechists in Africa, India, and China, was educating +a Chinese seminarian, had given 150 volumes to the parochial library of +a bigoted section in the South, and was able then to place upon +exhibition a number of sacred vessels that were to be forwarded as +gifts to poor priests. "And did all these activities not interfere +with your parochial work?" Mgr. Freri asked the pastor. "Not in the +least"--was the answer--"My collections have never been larger." "EVEN +PROTESTANTISM FINDS THAT HOME COLLECTIONS ARE IN DIRECT PROPORTION TO +THE MISSION GIFTS." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +BRIDGING THE CHASM[1] + +Most touching in its divine simplicity, most sublime in its inspired +lessons was the invitation of the Master to His Apostles: "Behold I say +to you lift up your eyes and see the countries, for they are white, +already to harvest," (John IV, 35)--As He stood by the well of Jacob, +facing the slopes of the hills of Samaria, He pointed out to them the +crowds that were hastening to listen to His Message and believe in His +divine mission. The fields around lay desolate and lifeless, for it +was then winter. "Do you not say," asks Jesus, "there are yet four +months and then the harvest cometh? Behold I say to you lift up your +eyes and see the countries for they are white already to harvest." +This human harvest, of which the Master speaks, is but the prelude of +that immense harvest of souls ever ripening under the rays of God's +divine grace in the great field of this world. The Church, like +Christ, also invites us to contemplate that waving harvest and to pray +the Lord to send labourers into the field. + +This divine invitation, the Catholic Church Extension Society makes its +own, to plead the cause of our Home Missions. Pointing to our Western +Provinces, to that great Dominion beyond the Lakes, that missionary +organization says to every Catholic in the land: "The harvest is great, +but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest +that he send labourers into the harvest." + +The Catholic Church Extension Society has been founded in Canada, for +the conservation and propagation of the Catholic Faith in our mission +districts. Its very name, as we readily see, shows forth its object +and explains its existence. Canada, as we all know, possesses vast +areas, in her Western Provinces particularly, where the Church has not +yet established the influence of her permanent organization. There, +her children suffer from the prolonged absence of her teaching, of her +sacraments, of her authority, and are struggling against the abiding +presence of numerous, rich, aggressive, and unscrupulous proselytizers. +Yet, on the vast stretches of prairie, where the lonely homesteader has +just broken the virgin soil, amid the snows of the bleak North, by the +rushing waters of the Fraser, the Mackenzie, the Peace, and the +Saskatchewan Rivers, in the far distant valleys of the Rockies--the +words of the Master are still a living reality. . . . "The fields are +ready for the harvest and the workers are few." The Extension Society +has been established in Canada to point out to our Catholic laity these +fields where the harvest is waiting and to help to send labourers into +them. Its sublime mission is to _bridge the chasm_ which separates the +East from the West. It is the binding and living link between the +organized Church and the mission field. This sublime object of the +Society makes it most worthy of our commendation and of your loyal and +generous support. + +Principle and policy are the basic ideas of organized action. If the +principles upon which an organization rests are true and elevating, if +the policy it advocates and which governs its activities is practical, +easy, and attractive, the organization itself is bound to meet in time +with an unlimited success. The higher the principles, the more +inviting the policy, the more living and telling will be the resultant +action. Therefore, to place before our readers the principles and +policy of the Catholic Extension Society will no doubt help them to +understand better its claims and respond more generously to its appeal. + + +_I.--Principles_ + +The Kingdom of God comes upon earth through the Apostolate of the +Church. "As the Father sent me, I also send you," said Christ to His +Apostles, and to all who were to take their place in succeeding +generations. For, these words of Christ created the Catholic +Apostolate and maintain it. His words, indeed, are words of life. + +The Apostolate of the Church is an absolute necessity, the very +condition of Her existence and progress. The Catholic Church Extension +is one of the most beautiful expressions of that Apostolate, for its +object is, as we stated, the conservation and propagation of the Faith +in the Mission districts of Canada. + +The principles upon which the activities of this Society are based may +be reduced to two: the _doctrinal_ and the _historic_: + +1. _Doctrinal Principle_.--All appeals for sympathy and help in the +great cause of Catholic Missions rest on one of the most fundamental +doctrines of our Faith, the Catholicity of the Church. "The Church +Catholic," says the great theologian Suarez, "means the Church +Universal--_Ecclesiam esse catholicam, idem est ac esse universalem_" +(Disput. de Ecclesia IX., sect. VIII., No. 5). This universality of +Christ's Church implies the idea of solidarity, whereby in her living +and indivisible unity She is always and everywhere the same. The +Church, like a perfect vital organism, is a divine organic whole, +solidly constituted, identical to itself, and in all its parts, +throughout time and space. The whole is reflected or rather found in +each part, and each part reflects and possesses the whole. The +Catholicity of the Church is but the expansion of its Unity. It stands +therefore as its permanent and outward manifestation. Should we now +wonder why the Church of Christ is called Catholic? We name things and +persons by that characteristic feature which conveys to our mind the +most accurate concept of them. The very name of the Church is, as you +see, an ever living proof of her divinity. And of that name, we may +well say what is said of the name of Jesus . . . _signum cui +contradicetur_ . . . it will be forever "a sign of contradiction." + +The moral aspect of this solidarity of the Church is responsibility. +The Church at large is responsible for each particular diocese and +parish, and each individual diocese and parish is in return responsible +for the Church universal. This responsibility is to be shared by every +Catholic. And as by its Catholicity the Church overcomes the two great +barriers to all human power, time and space, so also should every +Catholic manifest in the affairs of the Church universal an interest +equally as great as that he shares in his own particular parish. +"Co-operation among Catholics," as Archbishop McNeil justly remarked, +"is more than a means to a missionary end. It is an essential part of +Catholic life. Boundaries of jurisdiction are conveniences and means +to an end. In the first century of the Christian era, it was centres +rather than circumferences that marked divisions of work and +jurisdiction; but in any case administrative divisions were never +intended to be divisions of brotherhood. The divisions of the Church +into dioceses and parishes are to further increase, and not to weaken +or destroy its Catholicity." + +And what we say of these divisions of space, may also be said of those +of time. As the glorious memories of the divine history of the Church +belong to each individual Catholic, so also should the possibilities of +her future destinies in our country and throughout the world, preoccupy +his thoughts and affections in the present. + +This is one of the most comprehensive and most pregnant aspects of the +Church. It throws open the whole world to the zeal of every individual +Catholic. Wherever the tents of Israel are, there he finds his home, +be it in the wilds of Africa, or on the islands of Oceanica, under the +scorching sun of the tropics or in the snows of the lonely North. But +as we are more closely united with those among whom Divine Providence +has cast our lot in this world, our home-missions have the first claim +on our zeal and generosity. For, according to St. Thomas Acquinas, the +more or less close relationship with our neighbor is the measure of the +_intensity_ of our love and devotedness. + +We now understand what the Church Extensions' claim means for the +missions of Canada. The intention of the Society, as we may readily +see, is not to limit our zeal to any national issue, but rather, to +develop more easily the missionary spirit and direct its first effort +to the welfare of our own countrymen by the consideration of our own +wants. + +2. _Historic Principle_.--The lesson of facts is very often more +striking than that of doctrine. They are here the concrete expression, +in the various nations, and through the course of centuries, of those +fundamental principles we have just considered. It is indeed a law of +Catholic History, that the more Catholic a nation is, the more +apostolic, the more missionary it will prove itself to be. The +missionary spirit is the test of Catholicity, the abiding proof of its +solidarity. + +The history of Catholic nations justifies this statement; their zeal +for the propagation of the faith will explain their rise and downfall +in the eyes of the Church. Ireland is a classical illustration of this +point. Poor, persecuted, downtrodden, the land of the Gael still +remains the seminary of the world's apostles. The foreign missions +always appealed to the Irish people and "the limits of the earth have +heard the voice" of its zealous missionaries. Does not France, +notwithstanding the persecution of the Church by its government, still +remain the great missionary country of the world? She sends more +missionaries and gives more monetary aid to the "Propagation of the +Faith" than any other Catholic nation. England's return to Catholicism +is most promising, for her converts of yesterday are already in the +field afar. The awakening of that same apostolic spirit in the Church +of the United States is the most convincing sign of the great strides +Catholicity is making in that land of Liberty. + +This unwritten law which prevails throughout the history of Catholic +nations and expresses so forcibly and so persistently the doctrinal +principle of which we spoke, justifies the claims of the Catholic +Extension and gives strength to its appeal. + +Such are the two principles upon which rest the Extension +Society--_dogma_ and _history_. They strike the very bed-rock of our +Faith. But if its _principles_ are sublime and inspiring--its _policy_ +is simple and effective. + + +_II.--Policy_ + +The policy of an organization is the direction of its activities, the +plan of campaign for the furtherance of its principles, the line of +action in the realization of its ideal. _The Policy of the Church +Extension is twofold: education and action_. To give to all the +Catholics of our country, an accurate knowledge of conditions in our +various mission fields, to develop in them the true missionary spirit, +to make them think in terms of the Church Universal . . . this is its +_educational policy_. To organize in every parish a branch of the +Society and through it to enlist the sympathy and receive the spiritual +and financial assistance of every member, to develop, co-ordinate and +direct the missionary activities of all our dioceses in favor of our +home missions; in other words, to promote efficiency through +organization, centralization of efforts with the least waste of energy +. . . this is its _policy of action_. + +1. _Policy of Education_.--The acuteness of our sense of duty depends +largely on the breadth and depth of our vision. This principle +explains the importance of the Catholic Extension educational policy. +Through its official organ, "The Catholic Register," by means of +pamphlets, leaflets, and lectures and sermons, the Society is most +intent on giving to the Catholics of Canada, first hand knowledge of +conditions in our mission districts. We are perfectly convinced that +when all our Catholics will have fully realized the truth of these +conditions, they will immediately understand their responsibilities and +fulfill generously their duty. But what is that "call of the West" +which the Catholic Church Extension is sounding like a cry of alarm +through the country? You all know, what I would call, "the Romance of +the West." + +A few decades ago Western Canada was but a bleak, lifeless plain, +extending from the Great Lakes to the foothills of the Rockies, dotted +here and there with the Indian wigwam, the roving herds of buffaloes, +the solitary chapel of the Catholic missionary, and the lonely posts of +the Hudson Bay fur-traders. Suddenly under the magic steel of the +plough, that immense waste of land woke up from its age-long slumber. +The desolate prairie became within a few years the greatest granary of +the world. The Indian trail gave place to transcontinental highways, +to those "long, long, and winding," steel trails that have led the +youth of our Country and the exiles of Europe "into the lands of their +dreams." These trans-Canada roads have conquered distances and linked +the Atlantic to the Pacific. They may well be considered as the +arteries of our Dominion; through them indeed flows rapid and warm the +blood of our national life and in them one can hear, as it were, the +pulsations of its great and noble heart. The transcontinental lines +are responsible for the birth and phenomenal growth of our Prairie +Provinces. + +What are the conditions of the Church in these new and promising +Provinces? It is not the time, nor is it the place to discuss errors +or absence of policy that have crippled the Church's work and growth in +that period of rapid transformation. We take facts as they are now. +The Church in Western Canada to hold its ground, to extend its work and +develop its institutions, has an absolute need of the help of the East. +The barrier of immense distances to which are added, for long months, +unfavorable climatic conditions; diversity of nationality, variety of +racial ideals, differences of language, customs and traditions; absence +of Catholic traditions and a prevailing atmosphere of unbelief and +irreligion; such are, in a few words, the tremendous obstacles against +which the Western Church in its infancy has to contend. + +This vision of distress, the Extension wishes to place before every +Catholic in Canada; this call for help, it wishes him to hear. + +But particularly the _future_ of the Church in these Provinces forms +the subject of the Extension's preoccupations. We all realize the vast +possibilities of our Western Provinces, and the important part they +must of necessity play in the future affairs of our Dominion. The +Church's influence then will be what we make it by our efforts now, and +its progress will be in exact proportion to the amount of our foresight. + +This responsibility of the _present_ and the _future_, the Church +Extension preaches to all in season and out of season. Like the beacon +by the sea, it is ever turning its revolving lights over the immense +uncharted ocean of our Western missions and hopes that with time, every +Catholic in Canada will take his course on them. For, let us not +forget it, if we do not take care of our mission districts, others +will, and that to the detriment and loss of the Church.--_Fas est ab +hoste doceri_! It is permissible, says the proverb, to receive a +lesson from an enemy. Only those who have worked out West on the +missions know to what extent unscrupulous and most aggressive +proselytizers are always on the ground, ever at work among our people. +They are digging broad and deep trenches around the settlements of our +Catholic foreigners, particularly Ruthenians, draining to their profit +the dormant energies of the new Canadian. The invasion is slow but +sure, the leakage, great and continual. This lesson that comes from +the tremendous activities of the various Protestant denominations +should strike home more forcibly. The more stinging the lash, the more +sudden the rebound. + +This educational policy of the Church Extension appeals to the Catholic +mind and tells it something it desires to know. It awakens that latent +Catholicity which Baptism has given us and on which the narrow +limitations of time and space have no claim. This education of our +Catholic laity in the value and necessity of the missionary spirit, in +the perfect knowledge and true appreciation of its character in the +Church of God, is the end and result of the Extension policy. To make +that spirit the inspiring, guiding and testing power of Catholic life, +is the definite aim of its educational work, of its publicity campaign. +When our laity will have absorbed the lesson, it will be ready for +action. This knowledge will awaken our sense of responsibility and +prompt our sympathetic support. This leads us to say a word on the +Society's policy of action. + +2. _Policy of Action_.--Vision resolves itself into action. When the +mind sees deep and clear, the heart feels warm and generous, the will +acts promptly and decisively. As the spark leaps bright and sharp from +the silent battery, ignites the fuel and drives the piston, so will a +broad vision give a generous impulse to action. You readily see the +value of an educational policy, and its intimate connection with that +of action. + +Action to be efficient and lasting must be organized. Grouping of +forces, co-ordination of efforts, are what we need most in the Church +of Canada. In the rank and file of the laity, hidden treasures of +enthusiasm, latent powers of energy go to waste, because there is no +leader to awaken them, or if aroused, no organization to direct them. +The policy of the Catholic Extension is to bring to vigorous activity +these long slumbering desires, to give an effective vent to the pent up +energies of the Catholic heart, to group all Catholic missionary work +for the conservation and propagation of the Faith in our mission +districts. + +Have we not been working too much as separate units? Has not our zeal +been limited by the boundaries of our parishes and dioceses? What +activities have been absorbed by side-issues, while the great cause of +the Church at large should have occupied our attention! We were +deliberating . . . and the West was being lost to us! The time has +come to rally around the Church in our mission fields and prove +ourselves worthy of our name--"Christian" and our surname--"Catholic." +The policy, therefore, of the Extension is to enlist the organized +effort of every parish, of every diocese in a great missionary +movement, and to throw the weight of the Catholic influence of the East +into the immense field of our Western missions. It is not for the +promotion of any project, for the benefit of any particular section of +the Church in Canada, that the Extension Society exists. True genuine +Catholicity is the only inspiration of its activities. + +This united action will manifest itself first and above all in +_prayer_. The preservation of the Faith, and the conversion of souls +are supernatural works depending primarily and in the final analysis on +the grace of God. Never has it been more necessary to emphasize this +trait of the Catholic Aspostolate. Confronted with elaborate schemes +of finance and the co-operative action of various denominations, we may +take lessons from them, but should never forget that there is something +more fundamental; we mean, the grace of God. Our prayer--the prayer of +every child, the prayer of every man and woman within the fold, the +prayer of every nun and priest, should be the prayer of the Master to +the Heavenly Father: "Send harvesters into the fields!" How powerful +should not that prayer be! How strong a binding link between the East +and the West! + +But prayer, like faith, without works is dead. The Extension, +therefore, not only solicits our prayers, but also our help to meet the +needs of our home-missions--_Men and money_, financial aid and +apostolic vocations, these are the needs of the hour. Money to build +chapels, schools, orphanages, hospitals; money to help the Catholic +press, the spreading of Catholic Literature; money to forward the great +and vital cause of higher education. This organized financial +assistance of the Church in the East, as a whole, as a corporate body, +is the best expression of the reality and sincerity of Catholic +solidarity. To boast of our beautiful churches and sumptuous +cathedrals in the East and to leave our priests in the West without a +decent chapel to say Mass denote either painful ignorance of actual +facts or the fallacy of our Catholicity. + +Great is the need of money, but greater still the need of men. The +principal work of the Extension is to foster, develop and bring to +fruition missionary vocations for the West. Burses are founded to +assist young men in their studies, and in a few years, it is the hope +of the Extension to be able to send to every diocese of the West +zealous harvesters for the harvest that is awaiting them beyond the +Lakes. Could we be invited to share a more noble task than to +contribute to the education of the heralds of the Gospel, of the +ambassadors of Christ to that Western Kingdom of ours? + +Let us conclude. + +These are the _principles_ on which rests the Church Extension Society; +this is the _policy_ it pursues. The adoption of these principles and +the furtherance of this policy will, we are confident, develop the true +type of the Catholic Laity. The parish, its works, its pastor, will be +the first to benefit by this missionary spirit of the laity. Long +enough has the priest, the missionary, laboured alone in the harvest +field and borne the heats of the day; long enough have but a few loyal +and generous souls shouldered the burden of the missionary work in +Canada; long enough have our Catholics limited their zealous efforts to +the confines of their parish or their diocese. The time has come for +every Catholic in Canada to answer the call of the Master, to take his +place in the harvest field, to share the responsibilities of the +present and prepare a glorious future for the Church in our great and +prosperous Dominion. + +The appeal that comes to the Church of Canada from the Catholic +Extension is straightforward. It needs no apology. It stands its +ground on its own merits. It is not--let us never forget it--an appeal +to our charity. It is a pressing call to accomplish a sacred duty, a +timely warning not to neglect it. And indeed, active co-operation in +the work of Extension is, we repeat, an unfaltering belief in the +reality of our Catholicism. It knits our soul to the very soul of the +Church, our heart to Her heart. + +Strengthened by these highest motives of Catholic Solidarity and +Christian Charity we should give joyfully and generously. Let us levy +a tax on our income, no matter how small it may be, remembering the +fiduciary character of our earthly possessions. Let us give our time +and our services to this noble Cause. Let us give lovingly and +willingly our children to the great harvest, if it be God's will to +call them to His service. But above all let us pray that the Kingdom +of Jesus Christ may come in our beloved Country through the Extension +of His divine Church. + + +[1] This chapter formed the substance of a Sermon preached on +"Extension Sunday" in St. Finnan's Cathedral, Alexandria, Ont. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PRO ARIS ET FOCIS[1] + +Militancy is the characteristic feature of God's Church on earth. New +dangers, fresh struggles await Her at every turn of the road in Her +onward march to eternity. Assailed from within by her own children, +attacked from without by bitter enemies, she is ever working out +through the frailties of human nature her sublime destiny. Not of this +world, but passing through it, She has necessarily to suffer from the +inherent weakness of her children. It is the human side of the divine +Church. Those who would be scandalized at this ever renascent warfare +against the Catholic Church, in all times and in all countries, should +remember that this hall-mark of true Christianity is the fulfillment of +Christ's promise and the realization of his prophecy. + +In this great firing line of the Church militant every Catholic has his +place. His marked duty is to make the divine triumph over the human in +his individual life and through it--no matter how limited his circle of +influence may be--in the great life of the Church and in society at +large. He should make his own the various problems confronting the +Church in his country and help, within the sphere of his activities, to +offer a happy solution. + +Two great problems now face the Church in Canada, and tax to the utmost +the wisdom of its leaders: The race problem and the Ruthenian problem. +In many centres the former has weakened the principle of authority and +paralyzed our efforts of co-operation; the latter means a tremendous +leakage through which the Church, particularly in Western Canada, is +losing every day an important and vital factor. + +The race problem has always existed and will always exist in the Church +of God. This problem is imbedded in human nature. It plunges its +roots into the very depths of the human heart. Language is the +tap-root which gives life and vigor to its various manifestations. +Language is indeed the best expression and highest manifestation of the +race. The race problem therefore is generally complicated with the +language problem. + +The Catholic Church has always respected the racial feelings and the +language of nations, for they are based on natural law, and natural law +is nothing else but the expression of the fundamental relations +constituted by God. Yet history can tell what the Church had to suffer +from racial and language differences. We all agree on principles, but +often differ on policies. The angle of vision varies; facts are +misrepresented; ideals misinterpreted; feeling and not judgment is +appealed to, in these racial conflicts. But it is not our intention to +deal with this great problem. Only let us ever remember the words of +Benedict XV. in his letter "_Comisso Divinitus_" to the Catholics of +Canada. He sees in our divisions a source of weakness for the Church, +a subject of scandal for our separated brethren and a cause for him of +sadness and anxiety. Let us therefore hope that the wishes of the +Common Father of Catholicity will soon be realized and that the Church +in Canada will see the clouds of misunderstanding lift and a brighter +day break on the horizon. + +The problem to which I would draw again the attention of our Catholics +throughout the land is one that has been frequently of late placed +before the Catholic public. But as its aspects are ever changing and +its importance growing, I would wish to throw light on some new factors +at play in this momentous issue. + + * * * * * * + +Immigration has brought to the Church of Canada many serious and knotty +problems. Among these stands first and foremost the Ruthenian +question. Only those who have followed the various developments of +this perplexing problem and are fully aware of the unceasing activities +of the various Protestant denominations among Catholic foreigners, +grasp their meaning and understand their importance to the Church. The +average Catholic, we are sorry to say, is not awakened to the reality +of this live issue and fails therefore to meet his responsibilities. + +Over 250,000 Catholic Ruthenians, of the Greek rite, have settled in +Canada within the past decade or so. They are scattered throughout the +length and breadth of our immense Dominion. You will find them in the +very heart of our large industrial centres, from Sydney to Vancouver, +and in compact groups on our Western prairies. The vast majority of +these Ruthenians belong to the Catholic Church and are our brethren in +the Faith. To protect them against unscrupulous proselytizers, to help +them to keep the faith in the trying period of their acclimatization to +our Canadian national life, in a word, to make the Church of Canada +assume the proper responsibility which Catholic solidarity imposes on +all her children in regard to this new factor of Catholicity in our +country, . . . this is the Ruthenian problem as it presents itself to +us with its various aspects and critical issues. Problems of the moral +and religious order are of a very complex nature. Principles remain +but circumstances change with the fancies of imagination, the impulse +of passion, the whims of the will. This explains how, in the great and +everlasting war between right and wrong, truth and error, the line of +battle is ever shifting, the methods of attack ever changing. Various +therefore have been the phases of the problem under discussion. But, +we presume, they may all be related to two periods: the period of +settlement and the period of assimilation. + + +_The Period of Settlement_ + +When a few years ago our shores were heavily invaded by the rising tide +of an intense immigration from the British Isles and Continental +Europe, the Church had to face conditions heretofore unknown. Without +doubt, the most complex in its elements, the most serious in its +consequences, was the Ruthenian issue. It was a case of providing for +the spiritual wants of over a quarter of a million souls. The dearth +of priests, the difference of rite, the difficulty of language, and the +great number of Ruthenians, created for the Church an almost +insurmountable barrier which nothing short of a miracle could +otherthrow [Transcriber's note: overthrow?]. This sudden and large +influx of Catholics belonging to the Greek rite, into a Country where +the Latin Church alone prevailed, constitutes a fact that has never +been seen before in the history of the Church. Thousands and thousands +of these Greek Catholics were scattered through the prairies; roaming +flocks without shepherds, a prey to ravening wolves. Heresy, schism, +atheism, socialism and anarchy openly joined hands to rob these poor +people of the only treasure they had brought with them from the +old-land,--their Catholic Faith. Presbyterian ministers were seen to +celebrate among them "bogus masses"; schismatic emissaries tried to +bribe them with "Moscovite money"; fake bishops were imposing +sacrilegious hands on out-laws and perverts; traitors from among their +ranks, like Judas, bartered away their faith for a few pieces of +silver; a subsidized press,--"The Canadian Farmer" and "The Ranok"--was +ever at work, playing on their patriotism and exploiting their racial +feelings, to cover with ridicule their faith and pious traditions. The +public school became in the hands of the enemy the most powerful +weapon. Government itself, through its various officials, often went +out of its way to thwart the efforts of our missionaries. + +It is not without poignant emotion that we have followed, at close +range, this struggle for the mastery of the Ruthenian soul. We hardly +know which we should admire the more, the faithfulness of the +simple-minded Ruthenian, or the devotedness of the few missionaries +who, for the last fifteen years, have lived, worked and died among +them. We all remember that cry of distress, that demand for help which +came from Archbishop Langevin in favor of his Ruthenian children. It +broke upon the land as a clarion call and its voice was heard in the +first Plenary Council of Quebec. The Oblates of Mary Immaculate--the +pioneer missionaries of the West, the Basilians, the Redemptorists, and +a few French-Canadian secular priests, were the first to answer the +call. They divided among themselves that immense field of labour. God +alone knows what sacrifices, what heart-burnings, what hours of +discouragement and loneliness, were theirs in that strenuous period of +settlement when the wilderness began to blossom, when homesteads were +seen to spring up on the bare soil. We have a faint idea of these +difficulties when we read the "_Memoir: 'Tentative de Schisme et +d'heresie au milieu des Ruthènes de l'Ouest Canadien_," of Father +Delaere, C.SS.R., (1908), and Father Sabourin's pamphlet, "_Les +Ruthenes Catholiques_" (1909). + +Let us hope that the Church in Canada will keep sacred the memory of +these harvesters of the first hour. The Catholics owe them a debt of +gratitude. We sincerely hope that the history of their heroic efforts +will not be lost and that the first to appreciate them will be the +coming Ruthenian generation. Father Delaere, C.SS.R.--who has laboured +among the Ruthenians in Western Canada for the last twenty years will +one day give us, we sincerely hope, the history of the settlement and +struggles of his adopted people. + +Little by little the Ruthenian Church in Canada is emerging from its +first chaotic state. The visit of Mgr. Septeski to Canada, the +appointment of the Very Reverend N. Budka as Bishop of all the +Ruthenians in Canada, marked a turning-point in their history. +Authority is, in the Church of God, the only great vital centre from +which proceed true order and permanent development. The war, it is +true, complicated the Ruthenian issue. We all know what difficulties +the Ruthenian Bishop had to face during this trying period, under what +dark clouds of ungrounded suspicion he lived. But the most painful +feature of this long and cruel ordeal was the absence of sympathy and +the lack of co-operation in those from whom, as a Catholic Bishop, he +had a right to expect them. + + +_The Period of Assimilation_ + +The period of settlement has passed, and already a young "CANADIAN" +generation has sprung up sturdy, thrifty, progressive from the +transplanted Ruthenian stock. The numerous children of that prolific +race are gradually passing from the home into the schools and from the +schools into the community life of the country. This Slavic race is +striking deep roots in Canadian soil, particularly in our Western +Provinces. The loss of faith has been heavy, we believe, especially in +our large cities. Naturally, allowance must be made for the drift-wood +which always follows the tide of immigration. In our rural centres, be +it said to the praise of that simple-minded people, and to the +confusion of the enemies of their faith, the great majority have kept +their allegiance to the Church of their baptism. But, where the "bogus +mass," the false priests and "Moscovite money" have failed, the +neutralizing process of a so-called "Canadianization" may succeed. The +flank envelopment has often a greater success than the frontal attack. +This leads us to dwell on another phase of the Ruthenian problem. + +In the history of the human race there is nothing more complicated than +ethnic assimilation. It is a slow, delicate and, in many cases, very +dangerous process. In the laboratory of the world many explosions are +due to the ignorance of what we would call "human chemistry." "One +cannot play with human chemicals any more than with real ones. We know +by experience that at times they are _fulginous_ and ready to break +into open flames." But there are two elements which have to be treated +with the greatest care: Religion and Race. They are the two _foci_ of +the ellipse in which moves history; the two shores between which +oscillates the tossing tide of humanity. Lord Morley calls them "the +two incendiary forces of history, ever shooting jets of flame from +undying embers." This explains why the soil of history is so volcanic, +so filled with burning lava which time itself has not cooled. + +_The racial element_ in ethnical assimilation is gradually modified by +the imperative adjustment of the immigrant to his new conditions of +life. For the observer and student of history there is nothing more +instructive and, at times, more pathetic than that borderland which +lies between what has been and what is to be in the life of the +immigrant. This violent breaking away from the past and gradual +assimilation with the present has its dangers. Unknown and occult +factors are at work with the blood of several generations, pulsating in +the veins of the new Canadian. Whilst beckoning hands stretch out to +receive him on our shores and initiate him into our national life, +other hands, the hands of the dead, stretch out through several +generations to lay claim on him. Like everything in nature this change +or rather this transformation should be imperceptible. Mutual +toleration is the factor of a healthy assimilation. This has given to +the United States a greater solvent power than has been shown by any +other nation, ancient or modern. Coercive assimilation arouses +national feelings, alien elements, and racial self-assertion. The +worst enemy of Canada is the political power which, to please a +blatant, ultra-loyal faction, pursues the policy of crushing into +uniformity the heterogeneous elements invited to the country and +allured to our shores with the bait of liberty. This patriotism may be +well called the last refuge of scoundrels; it is nothing but +Prussianism wrapped up in the very folds of the Union-Jack. Therefore, +when in the great work of Canadianization this law of social psychology +is not observed, we not only prevent assimilation, but we deprive the +nation of the fertilizing contact and invigorating contrast of various +ethnical elements and ferment future conflict. + +_The religious element_ belongs to a higher plane. Although +independent in its nature of any particular racial feature, yet it +co-exists with the love of country, giving to our patriotism something +of its sanctity and durability. But the point at issue here is: Can +the religious element prevent racial assimilation? In the eyes of many +Canadians the Ruthenian's religion is looked upon as one of the +greatest obstacles to his Canadianization. Under the cover of that +specious plea, many agents are at work in our Ruthenian settlements. +With the preconceived idea that their religion with its ritual, +language and traditions, is the greatest obstacle to their +nationalization and to its inherent benefits, these agents are +multiplying their efforts to wean new Canadians from the faith of their +fathers. The last report of the Methodist Missionary Society--1918, +openly states the designs of this Church in the matter. "_Many of +these Ruthenian people are ignorant and degraded; and under the +sinister leadership of their priests are resolved to resist all +Canadianizing influences. . . . For the Christian Church to act at +once is the need of the present hour, if the foreign peoples are to be +made Christian citizens of the great West._". This statement is +symptomatic of the curious Christianity that now prevails among the +various non-Catholic denominations. With them Christianity is nothing +more than social welfare inspired by a vague philanthropy. Differences +of creed are being cast to the winds, and _Social Service is the basic +idea of their forward movement_, around which they are trying to rally +their dwindling forces. It is then but consequent to have the burden +of their message and the policy of their apostolate bear on +Citizenship. The inevitable and perfidious neutrality of state +officialdom unconsciously seconds their efforts in this direction. But +the most efficient co-operators in this nefarious work are the +fallen-away Ruthenians. They have a smattering of education which +makes them the more dangerous among their own. + +This organized opinion and co-ordinated action of the "churches" +against the CHURCH should give to all Catholics food for thought. To +be indifferent would be criminal. We can say with Augustine Birrell: +"It is obviously not a wise policy to be totally indifferent to what +other people are thinking about--simply because our own thoughts are +running in another direction." + + * * * * * * + +This diagnosis of the Ruthenian problem should suggest practical lines +for individual and group action. It would be preposterous on our part +were we to assume an attitude of destructive criticism without having a +remedy to propose. But what we have in mind is to suggest means +whereby the Church as a whole, and the laity in particular, will come +to the help of a few heroic, struggling missionaries and to the rescue +of their Ruthenian flock. + +The Ruthenian people in Canada are now going through their assimilation +period. In another generation or so they will be, at least they should +be, all full-fledged Canadian citizens. This "land of opportunity" +that has adopted them has a right to see them all become good citizens, +as ready to shoulder their share of the common burden as they were to +receive the benefits of our liberties. + +In our large industrial centres their transformation is rapid. The +stranger is swallowed up in the vortical suction of the city and is +soon carried away in the maelstrom of its strenuous life. He rapidly +loses his identity; only the strong individual will survive, bearing +the features of his race. In our rural settlements where the foreigner +has established colonies, the assimilation is slow and gradual. The +change affects the community and, through it, the individual. But in +all cases this transformation is a necessity, and necessity should be a +deciding factor. + +If this process of assimilation, we contend, is not surrounded with +Catholic influence, if it is not carried on by Catholic agents--and is +left only to those who see in the faith of the Ruthenian, a "relic of +the Middle-Ages," an obstacle to Canadian citizenship--the danger to +the faith of our Ruthenian people is greater than in the days of open +attack. This method of neutral proselytism is more insidious, and in +the long run, more telling. We know perfectly well that if the +Canadian Ruthenian is "to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar" he +must first "give to God what belongs to God." + +It is therefore our bounden duty to help our Ruthenian brethren to +swing into the main stream of our national existence; and there is no +reason why our religious duties and patriotic endeavors should work at +cross purposes. In fact, if in the present crisis, the two are not +merged into one, there will be a distinct loss to the Catholic Church +in Canada. Have we not waited long enough for the immigrants to come +to us? We contented ourselves with giving them as often as possible a +priest of their language; and have left to others, to neutral and, most +often, openly anti-Catholic agencies the duty of initiating them to +Canadian life. The American Bishops have understood this necessity, +and with what marvellous foresight and wonderful organization have they +thrown into the work of reconstruction the whole weight of the Catholic +Church! Their joint letter--the most timely and most luminous +pronouncement on the labour problem,--their general meeting in +Washington, the constitutions of the Catholic National Board with its +various departments, all go to prove that they grasped the signs of the +times and have readjusted the sails of the Ship of Peter in America to +the new winds that are sweeping over the world. We should never forget +indeed that the Church of God is not of this world but is in this +world. To strip ourselves of crippling "formalism" and to bring the +Church nearer the realities of the times, is, in Byron's words, making +"realities real." Is it not indeed time to broaden our apostolate and +give more scope to the laity? If the non-Catholic denominations are +able to find young men and women who consent to live among our +foreigners as teachers, social workers, field secretaries, lay +missionaries and catechists, surely we should be able to find the same +among our own to protect the faithful against apostasy. We must +remember that the Ruthenians who have come to this country belong, +generally speaking, to that class for whom even existence was a problem +in their native land. They are the very ones who have been protected +in their faith by language, tradition, customs and all that goes to +make up the mental atmosphere of the uneducated mass. When that +atmosphere disappears these poor people are exposed to all pernicious +influences. We are therefore responsible to the Church to build around +them the protective wall of Catholic life. The initiation to their +Canadian life should not be at the price of their Catholic life. + +This is the situation. What can be done? Naturally, to quote Lord +Morley: "A settlement of foolscap sheet, independent of facts, of local +circumstances and feeling, and passion, and finance, and other +appurtenances of human nature" . . . will lead nowhere. To do +effective work along the lines suggested in this chapter we must take +facts and circumstances as they are, and work into them the idea, and +then work the idea into the people. The LANGUAGE, the SCHOOL, the +COMMUNITY LIFE are the THREE GREAT FACTORS that the enemies of the +Ruthenian's faith unscrupulously exploit in their nefarious work. We +must meet the enemy on this common ground and beat him with his own +weapons. + +_Language_.--The right of a man to his language is an incontestable +right; the free use of it is a primary human liberty. The Church has +always respected this right as one of the most elementary laws of +nature. In the evangelization of nations She has always accommodated +Herself to the ways and language of the people. In this, She is +faithful to the illuminating lesson the Master gave to Her on Her +birthday, Pentecost Sunday, when the Apostles were heard each speaking +his own language. "They began to speak with divers tongues according +as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak . . . _Every man heard them speak +in his own tongue_." Since that day the true Apostle of Christ has +respected the language of the people he evangelized. + +The theory of compelling a nation to learn a certain language as if it +were the only vehicle of the "Great Message of Christ" or of waiting +until the people know the missionary's own language . . . is not +Catholic. The Church of Christ is not a nationalistic Church. No one +has to deny his race nor to give up his language to become or to remain +Her faithful child. + +But, facts are facts and one must face them and take from them one's +bearings. They stand as the tossing buoy on the drifting waters of our +ordinary life. To ignore them often spells disaster. Now, the fact of +paramount importance is that the English language is fast gaining +ground among the Ruthenians. The recent school laws (we do not discuss +here their wisdom)[2], the anti-foreign feeling that has held the +country in its grip during the war, the violent campaign of a certain +element, the general drift of the various annual conventions, the +studied plan of action of Provincial Governments, the eagerness of the +Ruthenian rising generation to know English[3], and above all the +unbounded zeal of non-Catholic denominations who make the learning of +English the trump card of their game, these are facts, and have to be +reckoned with. The sooner our Ruthenians are made to grasp these +conditions, the better will they be equipped for the struggle of +Canadian life and for the preservation of their Catholic faith. Is it +not time, therefore, for some English-speaking priests to go out among +the Ruthenians and share the work with those valiant missionaries who, +the great majority at least, are strangers to our country, and who have +learned the language, embraced the rite and for the last twenty years +have been doing our work for us? Their presence is a stimulating +lesson and an abiding reproach. A dozen or so of young +English-speaking priests would be a great boon to the Ruthenian +mission, particularly in the West with its present mentality. + +The _School_ is the great melting pot. One has to read "The New +Canadian," by Dr. Anderson, to understand the full meaning of this +statement in its relation to the Ruthenian problem. The schools among +the Ruthenians in the Western Provinces are practically all public +schools. The number of Catholic teachers is exceedingly small and yet, +were they available, the Ruthenian trustees would be at liberty and +glad to give them the preference. Only those who know the influence +the teacher wields in a Ruthenian settlement will fully appreciate the +presence of a Catholic teacher. Were a good Catholic teacher to give +to this cause a year or two of her teaching life she would be doing a +great missionary work. If the Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists +can get girls and young men to go, surely we could also, were we to +organize and try it. This is the reason why the foundation, in +Yorkton, of the English speaking Brothers of Toronto, is one of the +wisest moves in the right direction. The idea is to prepare teachers +for the Ruthenian settlements by giving them the benefit of a higher +education under Catholic influences. The Governments of the various +Western Provinces made several attempts to equip the Ruthenian schools +with Ruthenian teachers. With a few exceptions, these embryo teachers +proved to be a failure and from a Catholic view-point a real calamity. +We remember personally how in a certain normal school the special +Ruthenian class was nothing but a hot-bed of infidelity and anarchy. +The students were collaborating with the worst subversive elements in +the country. Therefore, our practical suggestion would be to encourage +the recent foundation of the Christian Brothers by contributing +liberally to its support and to the extension of the work of which it +will become a natural centre. Could there not be a bureau in the East +for the recruiting of teachers? A campaign of education to this +effect, in the Catholic press, would be in season. + +_Community work_ is without doubt a deciding factor in our civic life. +Considered from a Christian angle it is nothing else but the practice +of charity. When animated by mere philanthropy it may play havoc with +souls, particularly among our foreign element. The Church in the +United States has realized its importance and has outlined a social +service programme for Catholic agencies. They have field-secretaries +and instructors--often Knights of Columbus--throughout the country, +carrying on this welfare work. I would refer the reader to the monthly +Bulletin of the National Catholic Welfare Council for an idea of the +extensive work of their Catholic social activities. It is simply +wonderful. As times change our activities also have to be modified. +New questions call for new treatment. The initiation of the Ruthenian +people to Canadian life should be our work. Being Catholics they are +our wards in this new country and it is our sacred duty to see that +they receive true ideals of Canadian citizenship without losing the +higher ideal of their Catholic life. At times Canadian liberty has +proved to be to some extent too strong a tonic. It is through a sound, +intelligent, local government exercised in the school district and our +municipal life that the new Canadians can learn best to play their part +in the greater life of Provincial and Federal politics. If any one +desires more details on this subject we refer him to the National +Catholic Welfare Council's Reconstruction pamphlets No. 5 and 7. + +Who has not followed with pride the launching of the great educational +programme of the Knights of Columbus, particularly their nation-wide +scheme of supplementary schools for the explanation of the "American +Constitution" to foreigners? It is an open challenge to radicalism. +To educate a citizen in the chart that governs his country, in the +right use of his franchise, is an act of real patriotism and real +Catholicism. Picture to yourself the results of the Ruthenian vote on +an issue in which the Church is involved. Eventually time will bring +such issues. + +We would say to our laity what the editor of the 'Columbiad' wrote in +the October number: "The vista of the glory of service that opens +before the mind musing on the power for good within our grip is +sublime. To each the image rises. An army, a host of faces keen with +knowledge, calm with contentment, eager with honest ambition looks up. +Men, women, boys, girls--humanity gazes at the beholder. The eye does +not glimpse the last face, far out beyond the faint horizon of the +panorama. . . . The vista is unending." + +Yes, the apostolate among the Ruthenians is, we claim, a necessity of +the hour; its possibilities are beyond realization. Procrastination in +this matter is nothing short of treason and will prove a disaster to +the Ruthenians, and to the Church. Turning to the Knights of Columbus +in Canada and pointing to the feverish and unceasing activities of +other agents among this our people I say: _Go and do likewise_. + + * * * * * * + +Our conclusion is obvious. The Ruthenian Question stands to-day as a +religious problem to solve and a national duty to fulfill. Church and +Country present a united and pressing claim for our co-operation. This +appeal to the two strongest feelings of the human heart should awaken +patriotic sympathies and quicken Catholic conscience into action. The +issue is serious and far reaching in its consequences. Only organized +opinion with united and determined action can successfully meet it. + + + +[1] This chapter was the matter of a series of articles in the "North +West Review," of Winnipeg. The Editor prefaced them with the following +remarks, to give emphasis to the importance of this Problem: + +"We wish to draw the attention of our readers to a series of +authoritative articles now appearing in the Northwest Review on 'The +Ruthenian Problem.' + +"The writer is one of our foremost educationalists and knows his +subject thoroughly. Furthermore his manuscript has passed through the +hands of Bishop Budka and other members of the Hierarchy of the West +who have given it their warm approval. + +"It is, we think, very essential that the Catholics of this country +should thoroughly understand the problem before them, so that when +called upon to perform their duty in the matter they may be able to act +promptly, wholeheartedly and with conviction. + +"Our thanks are due to the author, 'Miles Christi' for having put +before us such a clear presentation of the problem which sooner or +later we shall be called upon to solve. + +"The matter is one that to a very large extent concerns the laity and +we think it should be thoroughly discussed in every council of Knights +of Columbus throughout Canada. In districts where this society is not +organized, any other existing Catholic societies might very +appropriately co-ordinate in this good work. + +"The question is also one of national as well as Catholic moment and so +entitled to its due share of any 'forward movements' now anticipated." + +[2] Judge Buffington, of Pennsylvania, gave a lecture lately on +"Americanization." From it we cull the following paragraph on the +foreign language question:-- + +"The solution is not in the abolition of foreign languages in this +country. I have heard loyal patriots who found English twisting their +tongues, and Bolshevism has come from the lips of those of New England +culture like Foster. This country has not only been remiss in failing +to teach the foreigner but in teaching the native. I believe in the +English tongue and in the amalgamation resulting from common speech, +but we do not accomplish our aims by destroying other languages." + +[3] In a recent report of the Department of Education of the Province +of Saskatchewan, of 177 schools in Ruthenian settlements only 28 have +engaged teachers holding provisional certificates or permits; all the +others are fully normal-trained and perfectly qualified. In many +school districts salaries range between $1,000 and $1,500. The +Ruthenians are among those who pay the best salaries to teachers. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WHY? WHAT? WHO? + +_The Necessity of a Field-Secretary for the Organization of our +Missionary Activities_ + + +No one can read the Encyclical letter which His Holiness has recently +addressed to the Catholic Church on the Propagation of the Faith +throughout the world, without being deeply moved by the yearnings of +the apostolic heart of our Common Father, and vividly impressed by the +lessons that come from his inspired and timely message to each and +every one of us. + +Without doubt our own dear country is witnessing that movement which, +inspired by the Holy Ghost, is being felt throughout the Catholic world +in favour of home and foreign missions. The growing interest of our +people in the Catholic Church Extension Society; the enthusiasm with +which the great and noble work of Father Fraser, for Chinese Missions, +was greeted everywhere; the recent foundation and marvellous +development of the community of the "Missionary Sisters of the +Immaculate Conception" in Montreal, for service among the lepers of +China; the wonderful response which the call of Africa met with among +the college and convent youths of the Province of Quebec; the +increasing number of vocations to the missionary orders, both for men +and women,--to mention only a few outstanding and significant +facts,--are evident signs of the "_stirring of the waters_" in the +Church in Canada. + +To help to promote and develop fully this providential movement in the +Church of God, we beg to submit a few suggestions which may be of some +use in the great cause of _Home_ and _Foreign Missions_. + + +_I--Why?_ + +The continued progress and abiding success of a movement depend on its +organization. For, to realize its proposed aim and accepted plan of +action, organization alone can enlist and keep secure the sympathies of +patrons and members, co-ordinate the various forces, and call into +play, when necessary, new and fresh energies. The greater the number +to be reached by the society or societies which embody this movement, +the more efficient should be the organizing power. + +Experience and reason prove that an organization destined to affect the +masses and hold its grip on them, will not live and thrive only on an +occasional appeal or a printed message. These are indeed of great +value, particularly the insistently repeated message in print. We are +great believers in the force of a persistent, regular and frequent +circularization. But, in our humble estimation, there is something +more essential in the matter under consideration, and that is the human +contact and continued influence of a "field-organizer." An extensive +organization without this factor will not be efficient, will not last. +As Floyd Keeler wrote in "America" (July 10, 1920): "It is the personal +equation between the organizer and the various units of the Society +that counts. . . . The masses are accustomed to think in concrete +terms. . . . Long distance appeals and those made to total strangers +do not produce permanent results." This influence of the +field-organizer is so great that we may safely state that the life of a +society fluctuates with the various impulses it receives from him. He +is the very heart which gives health and vigor to its organism. + +Here lies the secret of the mission-organizations in the Protestant +Churches, to which, of late, we have referred so frequently in our +Catholic papers, under the heading of: "_Fas est ab hoste +doceri_." . . . Every denomination has its field-organizers entirely +consecrated to mission activities among its people. Financial results +tell to what extent they are effective in their work. + +We have also among our own missionary societies, examples that +illustrate the point we wish to emphasize. Since when has the Society +of the Propagation of the Faith, in the dioceses of New York and +Boston, leaped into prominence, and headed by generous contributions +the list of the whole world? How did that change come about? Where is +the secret of this success? The establishment of permanent diocesan +organizers is the answer. What they have done, why could we not do? +"_Quod isti--cur non et nos_?" + +Never, we claim, will the missionary potentialities that lie dormant in +Canadian Catholicism, be actuated to bear its message of spiritual +light, heat and power to the Church at large, until we establish in the +field at various points, secretaries or organizers, whose life-work +will be to call into play, to systematize the mission forces of the +Church in Canada. If on the contrary, as in the past, we content +ourselves with an occasional appeal for missions, a collection now and +then, a spasmodic effort here and there, a subscription to a Catholic +paper or missionary magazine, the work for Home and Foreign missions +will remain exterior to the corporate life of the Church, will not be +woven into its very fibre to permeate its activities. As shadows on +the wall, they will suggest rather than reveal the possibilities of our +missionary effort. The great and pressing call of the White Shepherd +of the Vatican will go unheard. If there is a response that comes from +Canada, it will not be from the Church at large. + + +_II.--What?_ + +The "_raison d'être_," the definite function of a field-secretary is +organization. This work implies the double duty to spread, by an +intelligent and well thought-out propaganda, the knowledge of the Home +and Foreign Missions and of the responsibility it entails, and to found +and maintain efficient the various societies established to promote and +help their great work. + +1. _Vision_. The effective presentation of the case of Catholic +Missions, both to the clergy and to the laity, is the field-secretary's +first and important duty. Nothing indeed can be hoped for, nothing can +be accomplished until the Catholic people fully grasp and intensely +feel what their help and co-operation--however little it may be--mean +to the Church, to the salvation of souls, to the honour of our Blessed +Lord, to the glory of God. _Fac ut videant_! The clear, broad and +deep vision of these great possibilities in the mission fields will +alone overcome selfishness and apathy, awaken interest, stimulate +energy. + +The field-secretary is the official expert in mission-matters. He will +be able to accumulate strong evidence, sum up striking statistics and +draw burning comparisons for the effective presentation of his case. +An enthusiastic advocate, he will plead with thrilling appeals, the +great cause placed in his hands. + +During his absence from the field of action, the vision he pointed to, +will be kept bright by the recurrence, at stated intervals, of the +printed message. Missionary literature receives its life, vigour and +impulse from the field-organizer and continues his work in his absence. + +2. _Action_. To realize that vision and incarnate it in work for the +Home and Foreign Missions, the Field-secretary will take the diocese as +a unit of his organization. In each diocese, with the permission, +authority, and co-operation of the Ordinary, he will establish the +Societies recommended by our Holy Father in his Apostolic Letter, and +others that have been created to meet the specific needs of the country +or to favour certain particular missionary work. Therefore:-- + +(a) _Among the Clergy_ will be founded "_The Missionary Union of the +Clergy_", which our Holy Father desires to see established in every +diocese. For loving sons and faithful priests of the Church of God the +desire of the Sovereign Pontiff is a command. This, we think, could be +easily done by the field-organizer when he visits each parish for the +purpose of organizing missionary parochial units, as we shall see later. + +The beautiful programme of action which is so easily combined with the +ordinary work of the priest in the parish, the facility of his moral +and material co-operation in this great work of missions, the spiritual +favours and wonderful privileges which the "Union" grants to its +members, together with the explicit desire of the Holy See, these are +so many motives and incentives, which should induce all the members of +the clergy to enter the ranks of the "Missionary Union" and assure to +the Church their co-operation in the great mission work, both at Home +and in the Field-Afar. + +(b) _Among the laity_ of each parish will be founded: + +The "_Propagation of the Faith_"--for Foreign Missions; + +The "_Church Extension_"--for Home Missions. + +The permanent success of these societies, once established by the +field-organizer, will wholly depend on the selection and appointment of +trustworthy _promoters_, who will distribute the missionary literature, +and collect from their respective circles of 10 or 20 members the +monthly fee, stipulated for each society. This monthly collection +comes as a reminder and is more effective, both morally and +financially, than an annual collection taken up in the Church, as is +now the prevailing custom in several dioceses. The monthly call of the +promoter is a fresh awakening of the missionary spirit in the home, and +stands as the continued call of the Master of the harvest. It keeps +the interest alive and awakens anew the sympathy for the missions. + +(c) _Among the Children_ of our Separate Schools and Sunday-Schools, +can be established, with great profit, The "_Holy Childhood Society_." +It is wonderful what interest the kind and sympathetic hearts of +children will take in missionary work. The results obtained by the +distribution of mite boxes are marvellous. To quote an example given +to us by the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, we would +say that through their Sunday-School classes, they raise annually the +sum of $200,000.00. + +But above all, the great asset to be considered in this educational +work, is the broad Catholic spirit we create and maintain in the soul +of the child. This is far more important than his actual financial +contribution, and at the same time it prepares him to be, in later +years, a generous contributor. Without any doubt, the Protestants can +teach us here a lesson of organization. + +(d) In _Colleges, Boarding-Schools, Convents and Universities_ why +should we not have branches of the "_Catholic Students Mission +Crusade_?" This organization is doing wonderful work in the United +States, and will prove soon to be a potent factor in the Missionary +activities of the Church across the boundary. 250 delegates from +various institutions of higher learning, throughout the country, +gathered in Washington, last August (1920), for the second annual +Convention. Among the delegates, we are proud to note, were a few +Canadians. + +(e) The "_follow up_" work is what counts in the long run, in a +movement of this kind. If we do not wish to see all this beautiful +zeal for missions burn away in a passing blaze, we must have a _Central +Bureau_, which will keep in touch with the promoters, and act as the +centre of Missionary activities, in the diocese. There all lines will +converge, gathering information, bringing results; from there, as from +the power-station, will go out to the workers in the field, enthusiasm +and energy. "Unity," says F. Kinsman, "cannot be created by agitated +fragments of a circumference; it must issue from a central force and be +sustained by a centripetal instinct." The Central Bureau, or Clearing +House could be confided to a trustworthy person, who would willingly +give his spare hours to this great Catholic work, until it would grow +to the point of necessitating a permanent and salaried secretary. + +It is useless, we believe, to state that a _crusade of prayers_ would +be the sustaining force of this movement. We all know that the +salvation of souls is above all a supernatural process. We may sow, +another may water the seed,--but it is for God to give the +growth,--_Deus autem incrementum dat_. + +The _development and fostering of "missionary vocations"_ would be the +natural sequel to this movement at large, in the Church of Canada. How +many young men and women could not the field-secretary find here and +there, and direct to the mission fields where the harvest is plentiful +and the harvesters few. + + +_III.--Who?_ + +The function of a field-secretary or organizer is a delicate one, we +fully understand. But we are firmly convinced that priests can be +found, who, with tact, intelligence and enthusiasm for the great Cause +of Missions, and backed with the authority and sympathy of the +Ordinary, are bound to make this work a success. There is a wave of +the missionary spirit passing over the Church of God. The clergy and +the people are eager to help missions at Home and Abroad. But they +desire a concrete, workable plan to pin their activities to; they are +waiting for something definite to act upon, and a responsible +representative of the cause to work with. + +Until the development of the organization would call for a diocesan +organizer, _one priest_ could act for a _Province_ or _Region_ of the +Country. The ordinary objection which our proposal here would meet +with, would be the lack of personnel. There is, we know, a shortage of +priests everywhere. But would not the Church, as a whole, in Canada +and throughout the world, receive more benefit from the life of a +priest entirely dedicated to this work of Missions, than if it were +given to a specific parish or diocese. Even were a parish or small +country mission to be deprived for the time being of a resident pastor, +should not that sacrifice be made, generously and cheerfully, for the +sake of a greater cause. It is assuredly a short-sighted policy to +sacrifice hundreds of thousands of souls for the care of a few, to +prefer the welfare of a parish to that of the Church at large. This +reasoning and its disastrous consequences are surely not Catholic. + +We emphasise the necessity for the organizer to _consecrate his life +solely to this proposed work_. At this price alone will he make it a +success. Without doubt, it is the work of a man, the work of a life. + +God grant that we may see the day when all the latent Missionary forces +of the Church of Canada will be awakened and united in one great +gigantic effort of apostolate! These forces form an invisible army of +reserves on which the Church is to draw, to fill, as it were, the +depleted ranks of Her Missionary units throughout the world. The lack +of organization is the weakness of our strength. Let the leaders come +forward, and we ourselves shall be astonished at the latent powers of +Faith in the Church of Canada. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +PLOUGHING THE SANDS + +_The Church-Union Movement: its Causes and Various Manifestations. The +Protestant and Catholic View-Point._ + + +Church-union is to-day the outstanding feature of the Protestant world. +The possibilities and promises, the necessity and advantages of this +movement are widely discussed in the press and magazine, in the pulpit +and on the platform, in Church conferences and synods. Denominational +barriers are being swept away; creed lines lowered; inevitably great +changes are impending. This universal unrest is assuredly symptomatic of +a chaotic Christendom outside of the true Church. The peace and +self-confidence of the Catholic Church pursuing the even tenor of Her +life is indeed in striking contrast. + +No serious-minded Christian can be disinterested in this supreme effort +of the various Christian denominations for unity. We are not allowed to +doubt the good intentions that animate and direct the promoters of this +inter-church movement. For, as Lord Morley said, "in the heat of the +battle it often happens that men manifest towards the _heretic_ feeling +which should be exclusively reserved for the _heresy_." Yet we believe +that the explanation of _our_ attitude, so much misunderstood and +misinterpreted, cannot but help to hasten the day of the true and +everlasting union, when in accord with the great desire of the Master, +there will be but "One Fold and One Pastor." Gladstone said: "Any man +who advances one step the cause of Christian unity in his life may well +lie down to die content that he had a life well lived." + +We said advisedly "_our_" attitude, for it is a vastly interesting point +to note with Hilaire Belloc: "The Catholic understands his opponent, +whereas that opponent does not understand him. A similar contrast +existed once before in the History of Western mankind, to wit, in the +latter days of the Roman Empire. The Catholic understood the Pagan; the +Pagan did not understand the Catholic." + +Church-union was always more or less an ideal in the various non-Catholic +denominations. Periodically efforts were made to realize this ideal; but +they always failed in the presence of the bitter antagonism that existed +between the leading factions. The Church-union movement manifested +itself, timidly at first, in the interchange of pulpits, the united +services and inter-communion of several denominations. This exchange in +the ministerial field now prevails among the Nonconformists and has also +affected to a large extent the Anglican communion. But the multiplied +divisions and multiplying sub-divisions among the conflicting creeds, a +wasteful overlapping and disastrous competition in the mission field, the +enlightening experience of the great war, have forced an issue upon the +Churches. + +In Scotland the "Old Kirk" is trying to bridge the chasm that has +separated it from the "Free Church" in the past years. In England, under +the leadership of Mr. Shakespeare, the Nonconformists are fusing their +differences and presenting a united front to the Established Church. +Only last year, (1919) in Kingswall Hall, did not the Bishop of London +make most remarkable overtures to the Wesleyans and propose to them a +scheme of union! By the introduction of Evangelical methods and +particularly by the association with Nonconformists on doctrinal grounds, +or in services in which doctrines are involved, the Anglican Church has +been engaged--to speak with Newman--"in diluting its high orthodoxy." + +Last August, 1920, Geneva was the meeting place of "The World Christian +Congress." The Congress adopted a resolution to form a "League of +Churches" whose object is to put an end to proselytizing between +Christian churches and promote mutual understanding between them for +Christian missions among non-Christian peoples; secondly, to promote an +association and collaboration of Churches to establish Christian +principles; thirdly, to help the Churches to become acquainted with one +another; fourthly, to bring together smaller Christian communities, and +unite all Churches on questions of faith and order. + +But it was reserved for America, the land of daring schemes and audacious +plans, to formulate the most chimerical project of all. + +The Episcopalian Church has promoted "_The World Congress on Faith and +Order_." Bishop Weller, of Fond-du-Lac, Wisc., is directing this +gigantic movement. A committee of bishops has already called on the +various heads of Christian Churches, and we all know of their visit to +the Vatican and of the refusal of the Holy See to participate in the +Pan-Christian Congress. + +Sponsored by the Presbyterian Church of America, "The United Churches of +Christ" were formed some months ago, with a complete organic union of the +Protestant Churches of America in view. This is . . . "an advance of the +present existing organization of the Federal Council of the Churches of +Christ in America, as it opens the way for consolidation of +administration agencies and the carrying forward of the general work of +the Churches through the council of the United Church." + +But the most ambitious scheme is that of the "_Inter Church World +Movement_." It has been called into existence (1918) for the purpose of +developing a plan whereby the Evangelical Churches of North America may +co-operate in carrying out their educational, missionary and benevolent +programme at home and abroad. To discover and group the facts concerning +the world's needs; to build a programme of inspiration and education +based on these facts; to develop spiritual power adequate for the task; +to secure enough lives and money to meet the needs: such is the +tremendous task the "Inter Church World Movement" has set itself. At a +meeting in Atlantic City it was voted to raise the stupendous sum of +$1,300,000,000 to meet the requirements of this Pan-Protestant project. +Two thousand men and women are now (Feb. 1920,) busy at the head-office, +in New York, preparing the world-wide survey and financial campaign.[1] + +The Protestant Churches in Canada are also falling in line in this +universal movement for unity. "_The United National Campaign_" which +marked 1919 with thirteen national conventions, represented the +co-operative feature of various churches in a general "_Forward +Movement_." The war, we all know, has impeded the projected union +between the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregationalist denominations. +There is hardly any doubt that this union will be effected in the near +future. But as usual, while the East was deliberating, the forward and +aggressive West was acting. Church-Union is an accomplished fact in many +centres, particularly in the Province of Saskatchewan. Last October the +"Union Church of Western Canada" held a convention in Regina and reported +progress. Conditions in the West, especially in the rural districts, +naturally favour this movement. The strong denominational feeling is +becoming more and more a thing of the past. The identity of churches is +being absorbed in "social service" work, and sectarian peculiarities +considered "obsolete impertinences." + +These are the various manifestations of the "Church-Union Movement." +Although loose thinking and indefiniteness of purpose characterize most +of these various moves, a close analysis reveals two different underlying +principles which support and explain them. As an Anglican clergyman +stated: "There are two courses open, uniting on points of agreement and +allowing the differences to settle themselves, or facing differences with +a view of settling them." The first course promotes a "_co-operative +union_" in social and Christian work. This union does not interfere with +matters of belief, but aims solely at the co-operation and co-ordination +of all services which the Churches can render in the missionary, +educational and social fields. It means a League or Federation of +Churches, with a view to "greater efficiency." + +The other course goes deeper into the problem under discussion, for it +has as object an "_organic union_." This union means the fusing of all +denominational creeds and forms of worship, or, at least, the acceptance +by all of a certain doctrinal minimum as a basis of the _entente +cordiale_. The Anglicans in the Conference of Lambeth, 1888, formulated +the famous "Quadrilateral" whereby the Scriptures as Rule of Faith, the +Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, the two sacraments of Baptism and of +Eucharist, and the Episcopacy or apostolic succession, are "as the +irreducible minimum on which they would open negotiations for reunion." +[2] + + +II. + +The Protestant Inter-Church Movement is a fact; we know its causes, its +various manifestations, its ultimate aim. To what extent this universal +movement reflects the general, deep and conscientious convictions of the +masses, it would be hard to say. The prevalent indifference and profound +ignorance as regards the specific tenets of each denomination would lead +us to believe that this movement does not spring from the very +soul-depths of the masses. Yet the fact is there, and assuredly of +importance in the religious realm. What is the meaning of this fact? +What is its message? For, every universal fact of that kind reveals and +interprets an ideal. + +Naturally the view point of the Protestant will be different from that of +the Catholic. The explanation of the attitude of both, as we stated, +cannot but help to hasten the coming of true union in Christendom. The +non-Catholic mind sees in this Inter-Church Movement the ultimate triumph +of Protestantism, the vindication of the leading principles of the +Reformation. The Anglican Archbishop DuVernet wrote in the "Montreal +Star," May 10th, 1919: "Reviewing the movement towards Christian Union in +Canada, a very natural evolutionary order is at once detected, which +gives us the assurance that a spiritual cosmic urge is at work behind +this united action of the Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist and +Congregationalist Churches of Canada, _the great evolutionary movement +towards the comprehensive Church of the Future_." + +We all know of the sensation created in Anglican circles by the extreme +views of the Bishop of Carlisle. In a recent article on the "Nineteenth +Century and After"--entitled "Monopoly of Religion," he protests against +the claims of right and the privilege of monopoly in Religion, either in +doctrine or in form of government. He says that the Free Churches have +been right in resisting unto death the doctrines of religious monopoly. + +Robert H. Gardner, in the "The Churchman," (_Episcopal_), acknowledges +that "The unanimous recognition of the plans (Interchurch World Movement) +is only a beginning; the hope of all that it will lead to a more perfect +union, and the evident anxiety to leave the Catholic (?) churches free to +maintain their principle without compromise or surrender, have converted +him to the belief that God the Holy Ghost is guiding this movement, and, +therefore, that it is truly Catholic (?)." + +If such are the views of the Anglican Church, which, among other +denominations, has always been considered as most conservative, what may +we not expect from the other Churches? And indeed, the reading of +addresses made at their different Conferences and General Assemblies, the +resolutions passed, and the very atmosphere of these meetings tend to +uphold the Church-Union Movement as the realization of unity in +Christendom. "The Christian Century" (organ of the Disciples of Christ) +says: "It marks out the best path yet that has been described for the +attainment of unity. It outlines the goal and bravely takes the first +step towards its realization." The New York "Christian Advocate" +(_Methodist_) thinks: "It will mark a definite step toward that fusing of +Protestant forces whose absence hitherto, is responsible in large part +for the failure of Christianity to make powerful headway among men." As +the Presbyterians were the originators of the movement, "The Continent" +takes a justifiable pride, in quoting from a contemporary, that: "They +are perfectly ready to contemplate a Christian unity that involves the +passing away of this particular organism called the Presbyterian Church, +finely wrought though it be," and exhorts: "Presbyterians, this sort of +reputation is a lot to live up to. But we must not fall from it." + +The principles of evolution--principles which we find underlying modern +thought--are freely called upon to explain this movement and justify its +consequences. Our millennial-minded doctors and preachers are +celebrating already the apotheosis of the Universal Church of the future. + +And what does the Catholic Church think of Church-Union? What is its +point of view on this "Movement" which has now such hold on the +Protestant denominations? As the Catholic Church is in itself the +largest Christian body, it is but natural to presume that all Christians +will be interested in knowing Her views on this vital subject. For is +She not that Church which Gladstone himself calls, "the most famous of +Christian communions, and the one within which the largest numbers of +Christian souls find their spiritual food!" (Gladstone to Acton, Nov., +1869.) + +The Catholic Church sees in this movement of Church-Union the complete +disintegration of Protestantism and the open condemnation of its +fundamental principles. Those who are not of the "Fold" will perhaps +resent, but not be astonished at this sweeping statement. We would only +ask them to follow our argument and then judge for themselves. + +_Union--and therefore unity--will not and cannot be the result of the +present Inter-Church Movement_. This statement involves a question of +fact and of right. _In facto_.--Let us examine first the question of +fact. Union, as now promoted, is either "_co-operative_" or "_organic_." +_Co-operative union ignores differences of creed or form of worship; +organic union suppresses them or merges them into a neutral mixture_. + +Co-operative Union,--as a basis of religious unity affecting the religion +of the individual, can be at once dismissed. For, what _religious_ +action,--_i.e._, action prompted and guided by a principle, a religious +doctrine,--is possible without that principle, that doctrine? Moral +action,--and Religion is at the same time the foundation and the highest +expression of the moral order,--pre-supposes immutable and recognized +principles. "The mental attitude defined on paper as 'undenominational,' +Miss M. Fletcher says rightly, has no existence in the human mind. Below +all sustained enthusiasms lie strong convictions."--Therefore to ignore +the directing principles of their various denominations in a common +religious action, and yet to pretend to keep their denominational +identity, involves, on the part of the Churches, an absolute +impossibility. Because doctrine is the very foundation, the "_raison +d'être_" of intelligent Christian action. Diversity of opinion is bound +to bring, in religious matters, diversity of action; for, to be +consequent one must act according to his belief. Baptism, for instance, +is necessary or not necessary for salvation. On this doctrinal point +will necessarily hinge a diversity of action in the mission field alloted +to this or to that denomination. The position is quite different when +common action is confined to merely social work. But "social service," +stripped of all its Christian principles and reduced to pure +philanthropy, is not Christianity; it is mere naturalism or neo-paganism. + +The great majority of those for whom Christianity is yet a _living +reality_ understand the nefarious consequences of _"co-operative-union_." +To protect themselves against this scheme of a perfidious neutrality, +they advocate an "_organic union_." This even is to the fore in the +Philadelphia plan of the "Inter-Church World Movement." "The plan of +federal union will have this result, that after it shall have been in +operation for a term of years, the importance of _divisive_ names and +creeds and methods will pass more and more into the dim background of the +past and acquire, even in the particular denomination itself, a merely +historical value, and the churches then will be ready for, and will +demand, a more complete union; so that what was the 'United Churches of +Christ in America' can become the 'United Church of Christ in America,' +and a real ecclesiastical power, holding and administering ecclesiastical +property and funds of such united church." + +The promoters of "_organic union_" do not ignore the differences between +creeds, but they are trying to reduce them. This union strikes at the +very bed rock of Divine Revelation. For, the suppression of differences, +or their limitation to a certain doctrinal minimum, implies a compromise, +and a compromise, in matters of truth, is unacceptable. Truth is eternal +and therefore does not change. If the Westminister and Augsburg +Confessions were true yesterday, why should they not be also true to-day? +If the 39 Articles were the rule of Faith for the Anglican Church in the +past, why should they be to-day but "definitions of theological opinions +of the time of the Reformation," as Anglican Bishop Farthing, of +Montreal, recently stated.--"You change . . . therefore you are not +true," we may say, with Bossuet, to those Churches. + +_In jure_.--This universal readiness to compromise should not astonish us +when we know that the very fundamental principle of the Reformation is +"_private judgment_" in matters of Faith. The divine message of +Revelation is to be interpreted as each one sees best. This principle +makes, "_de jure_," every Protestant independent in his religious belief, +and opens the door to the most conflicting interpretations of the Divine +Message. "The High Church clergyman to-day," writes A. Birrell, "is no +theologian, he is an opportunist." Dogma degenerates into religious +emotionalism. Doctrine becomes nothing but a "_scheme of theological +impressions_." To tolerate every doctrine is, for a Church, to teach +none. Doctrinal chaos, such as we now see outside of the Catholic +Church, is the inevitable result of compromise. Winston Churchill's +famous novel, "Inside of the Cup," is nothing but the diagnosis of this +disintegration which Protestant Churches are now witnessing. + +The history of Protestantism is but the history of its changes of +religious belief. For "between authority and impressionism in matters of +Revelation, there is no alternative." As Christianity is not the product +of the human mind, but a Revelation from God, authority,--a divinely +constituted infallible and living authority--is a necessity, and the only +possible bond of unity. + +This disintegrating principle of "private judgment" in matters of Divine +Revelation has been at work since the inception of Protestantism. By the +very force of its dissolving power the primary elements of a supernatural +religion have fast disappeared from the various creeds. One by one the +different Churches have drifted away from their Christian moorings and +taken to the high seas of Rationalism. Assailed by the storms of +unbelief they are breaking on the rocks of religious indifference. Empty +churches are the natural outcome of empty creeds. "The dominant +tendencies are indeed increasingly identified with those currents of +thought which are making way from the definiteness of the ancient Faith, +toward Unitarian vagueness." If Bishop Kinsman, Anglican Bishop of +Delaware, a recent convert to the Catholic Faith, gave this statement as +one of the reasons for leaving the Anglican Creed, with how much more +truth could it not be made of the kaleidoscopic tenets of other +denominations? + +This process of dissolution of doctrinal grounds is bound to continue. +The fluid condition of the various churches testifies to the uncertainty +of their actual position and forces them to seek the lowest doctrinal +level. "Their standard is determined by the minimum, rather than by the +maximum view tolerated, since their official position must be gauged, not +by the most they allow, but by the least they insist on." (F. Kinsman.) +The remnants of Christianity that were still to be found in their +teachings are now looked upon as "obsolete dogmas" and, as such, +obstacles to unity. The very fundamental mysteries of the Incarnation +and the Redemption are fast growing dim in the minds and hearts of men.[3] + +The Protestant Churches will never come back to their former position. +In this Church-union movement they are burning their bridges behind them. +The gospel of pure "humanitarianism," which is the absolute negation of a +supernatural religion, will eventually be the last result of this present +unity. + +Destructive criticism, to be profitable, should be followed by +constructive suggestions. + +"_That they may be all one!_" This ideal of the Master, this supreme +wish of His last hours, remains the ideal, the wish of His Church. But +its realization cannot be at the expense of truth. Cardinal Gasparri +outlined to the promoters of the "World Congress on Faith and Order" the +view and position of the Catholic Church in this most important issue. +"The Holy See has decided not to participate in the Pan-Christian +Congress which it is proposed to hold shortly, _as the Catholic Church +considering her dogmatic character, cannot join on an equal footing with +the other Churches_. The feeling at the Vatican is that all other +Christian denominations have seceded from the Church of Rome, which +descends directly from Christ. Rome cannot go to them; _it is for them +to return to her bosom_.[4] The Pope is ready to receive the +representatives of the dissenting churches with open arms, since the +Roman Church has always longed for the _unification of all Religious +Christians_. Pope Leo XIII. was deeply interested in this question and +wrote two famous encyclicals on the subject of the _unification of the +Christian Churches_." + +The divine Founder of Christendom did not leave to several Churches the +conservation and propagation of His doctrine. He founded only one Church +and gave "unity" itself, as the supreme test of its divinity. Therefore +the Church, that has remained "one" through time and space, and has +conquered those two great enemies of unity, bears the birth-mark of its +divine origin. The Catholic Church alone makes that specific claim. +History is there to substantiate it. Matthew Arnold himself could not +help acknowledging this universal fact. "Catholicism is that form of +Christianity which is the oldest, the largest, and most popular. It has +been the great popular religion of Christendom. Who has seen the poor in +other churches as they are seen in Catholic Churches? Catholicism +envelopes human life, and Catholics in general feel themselves to have +drawn not only their religion from their Church, but they feel themselves +to have drawn from her, too, their art, poetry and culture. _And if +there is a thing specially alien to religion, it is division. If there +is a thing specially native to religion it is peace and union. Hence the +original attraction towards unity in Rome, and hence the great charm when +that unity is once attained_." The sharp contrast between the actual +restlessness and uncertainty of the dissident Churches, and the calm +assurance and self-possession of the Catholic Church, is not that an +abiding proof of the security of the Catholic position? + +Father Palmieri, O.S.A., Ph.D., D.D., who has made the problem of +Christian Unity a life-study, made, in a recent article, these pertinent +remarks: "The reunion of Christianity in the Catholic sense is not a +Babel-like confusion of different sects which oppose creed to creed, +which proclaim their absolute indifference in the doctrinal field, which +take the individual reason as a judge of Christian revelation or +Christian discipline. It would be an absurdity to suppose for a moment +that Catholicism or Catholic Theology would propose this hybrid confusion +of concepts and human caprices under the name of unity. For Catholicism +and Catholic Theology, the reunion of Christianity is the return of +dissident Churches and of the non-Catholic sects to Christian unity, to +the one Church of Jesus Christ, which not only teaches this unity +theoretically but also puts it into practice, in its doctrine, in its +government, in its dogmatic and moral teaching, in its principles of +authority. By logical sequence the Church of Jesus is one. This unity +is not broken by political barriers, by ethnic divisions, by opposing +national aspirations. To tend therefore toward Christian unity signifies +to tend toward the only Church of Jesus Christ, and to effect this unity +is the same as to adhere to it." + +Father Palmieri concludes his study with these words: "An impartial study +of many years' duration has fully convinced us that the union of the +dissident churches can be brought about only under the leadership of the +Catholic Church. Outside of Rome there is a principle of dissolution +which breaks up and disintegrates the most solid organisms and which will +cause the breaking up even of the Orthodox Churches. It is therefore in +the supreme interest of Christianity that the Catholic Church addresses +its appeals for union to the dissident Churches, and it will never cease +to exercise this, its noble mission. Its efforts have been crowned with +success several times, and I am convinced that that day will come in +which by means of prayer and action the aspiration of Christ's Vicar for +union will be realized." + +Our non-Catholic reader may say that the position we take tends to +strengthen that exclusiveness, that narrowness, that aloofness with which +he has always charged the Church of Rome. But we would ask our +dissenting brethren, can it be otherwise? Truth is indivisible and +unchangeable. Were the unity of the Church Universal to exist only in +the Church of the future we would have to conclude that there was a time +when the Church of Christ did not exist on earth. This would be absurd +and would destroy Christianity in its very foundation. The true Church +of Christ has a right to claim the monopoly of Christianity. The Church +which, through a so-called spirit of broad-mindedness, accepts the +conflicting claims of the various dissident bodies, and is ready to merge +its entity with other denominations, immediately, _de facto_, invalidates +its claim to be "The Church of Christ." For, its position involves a +contradiction and is in itself a self-condemnation. + +Yet, the Catholic Church cannot feel indifferent toward this general and +supreme effort of the various fragments of Christendom towards unity. +Confidently she waits for the hour when all will return to her as to the +only centre and source of permanent unity. Yet, we would say with the +Bishop of Northampton, "If we may not compromise the very object of this +remarkable movement towards unity by accepting the pressing invitations +of our separated brethren to make common cause with them, neither can we +rest content to be mere spectators of their perplexities like those who +watch from the shore the efforts of distressed seamen to make their +port." Let us hope that Divine Providence, always gentle and strong in +its dealings with human liberty, will hasten the day when there will be +but "One Fold and One Pastor." In the meantime the efforts made to +constitute unity of Christianity outside of its true centre will prove as +futile as _ploughing the sands of the desert_. + + + +[1] The withdrawal of the Northern Presbyterian and Northern Baptists and +the failure of the financial drive have imperilled the existence of this +ambitious project. Is it not a case of repeating with the Psalmist: +"Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build +it?"--Ps. 126. + +[2] In the last Lambeth Conference--1920--the Church of England has again +reduced this minimum by implicitly recognizing the Nonconformist ministry +and abandoning its claim to reunion through the absorption of all sects +in the Anglican communion. It has so shifted from its former position +that it has openly expressed in the Bishops' manifesto the desire to +place itself on some "no man's land" where all the dissident Churches may +safely meet and unite. + +[3] Canon E. W. Barnes, of Westminster Abbey, in a sermon to the members +of the British Association, at their meeting at Cardiff, Aug. 29, 1920, +declared that, to harmonize Christian Doctrine with modern science, +particularly with the theory of evolution, he found it necessary to +abandon the doctrine of the Fall of Man and arguments deduced from it by +theologians, from St. Paul onward. + +[4] Father Leslie Walker, S.J., in a recent work on "The Problem of +Reunion," suggests we should enquire rather how we came to differ than +what we differ about. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +"THEM ALSO I MUST BRING" + +(Jo. X, 16) + +_The Apostolate to Non-Catholics--Its Obligation. + What have we done? What can we do?_ + + +The spiritual influence of a Christian is commensurate with his +appreciation of responsibility. The breadth and depth of vision give +to this moral feeling its field of action. The circle of our influence +ceases with the limits of our spiritual outlook. The boundless and +clear visions of all the Great Apostles in the Church of God give us +the key to the generosity and artfulness of their zeal. Just as the +narrowness of our views explains the restrictiveness of our charity and +the limitations of its activities. This is particularly noticeable in +our dealings with the spiritual needs of those outside the Fold. The +claims of our non-Catholic brethren to our charity do not seem to +affect us, because our spiritual outlook has not the proportions of +that of the Master. With Him we do not stand on those heights from +which we could see beyond our own green pastures, "Other sheep that are +not of His Fold and which we must also bring." This explains how the +claim--"_Oportet_" . . . "_We must bring_"--awakens in us no sense of +responsibility and meets with no answer in the ordinary activities of +our life. Every one seems more or less contented with the lines of +denominational demarcation as he finds them around him in the +community. Not to discuss religion, not to busy oneself with the other +man's belief, to be very frequently rather reticent about our own, is a +policy generally accepted in the West. This habit of evasiveness is +not Christian and often leads to the sacrifice of Catholic principles. +Far from us be the idea of advocating rash obtrusiveness, of untimely +aggressive and inconsiderate zeal. But between this excess and that of +a "_laissez faire_" policy there is a golden mean. What is then wrong, +our method or our zeal? + +A right understanding and a deep conviction of our duties in the matter +under consideration are of the greatest value for the Church in Western +Canada. May we preface our chapter by asking the reader to keep before +his mind the illuminating distinction of St. Augustine between the Body +and Soul of the Church. Many souls outside of the visible Body of the +Church are nevertheless within the beneficial influence of her +invisible pale. This is a commonplace of theology, we all know, but +evidently, very often forgotten. + +Are we in conscience bound to spread the true faith among our +non-Catholic brethren? Most undoubtedly we are. The examples and +precepts of the Master, the canons of the Church, the love of God and +our neighbour, are among the pressing motives which should appeal to a +true Catholic and make him zealous within the sphere of his influence. + +"Thy Kingdom Come!" That prayer of the Lord, which has become our +morning and evening prayer, is vain, if in the ordinary course of life +we do not try to extend the boundaries of that spiritual kingdom in the +very souls of those with whom we come in daily contact. Is not the +light of our life to shine out so that it may serve as a beacon to +those outside the Fold? But nothing is more striking than the words of +the Good Shepherd: "And other sheep I have that are not of this Fold; +them also I must bring and they shall hear My voice" (Jo. X., 16). Who +could explain the profound yearnings of the Divine Master's heart and +the deep feeling of obligation that are summed up in these words: "Them +also I must bring." The Divine Shepherd finds Himself responsible for +the sheep that are not of His own Fold and His only ambition is to +bring them in. + +This recommendation of Our Lord, His Church understood when in her +Canon-law She makes it a duty for all bishops and priests to look upon +the non-Catholics residing within the boundaries of their jurisdiction +as recommended to them by the Lord and placed in their charge. (Canon +1350, No. 1.) + +The Plenary Council of Quebec, the authoritative voice of the Church in +Canada, is most emphatic in its recommendation of our separated +brethren to the zeal of all Catholics. (No. 331) + +The obligation of conscience to come to the help of our non-Catholic +neighbour is moreover founded on the precepts of Christian charity. If +Christ will condemn to Hell those who did not give Him to eat and to +drink in the person of the needy, what will He not say to those who +neglect the spiritual works of mercy. The activities of Christian +zeal, to one who rightly understands the spirit of the gospel and the +economy of the redemption, have the same binding force as alms-giving, +and fulfill in the spiritual world the part charity has to play in the +scheme of Christian economics. + +The obligation of alms-giving is complementary to the right of +property. For, as St. Thomas says, "It is one thing to have a right to +possess money and another to have a right to use money as one pleases." +(II. _a_, II. _ae_, Q. XXXII., art. 5, ad 2.) This duty when +conscientiously performed re-establishes that economic and social +equilibrium which strict justice alone is not able to create. For, the +inequitable distribution of wealth greatly depends on the inequality of +power of production. This inequality of natural gifts in man remains +an unchangeable fact which faith alone in a Divine Providence can +explain, an ever renascent problem which Christian charity only can +solve. + +This mystery of Christian solidarity reveals itself also in the +spiritual world. We may say of each Catholic what St. Ambrose said of +the priesthood: "_Nemo Catholicus sibi_,"--no one is a Catholic for +himself alone. By a mysterious law of Divine Providence the +conservation and propagation of the faith are, after Divine Grace, +largely dependent on the influence of man on man. We are all verily +"Our brothers' keepers." We are commissioned by Christ not only to +keep the faith but also to hand it down to others, not only to keep its +fire burning in our hearts but to spread it, and to fan it into a +conflagration. The gift of faith implies the charitable obligation of +weaving our belief into our every day life and, through that life and +its influence, into the lives of others. The plenitude of some make up +for the penury of others. If St. John, to urge the precept of +alms-giving, said: "He that hath the substance of this world and shall +see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him: how +doth the charity of God abide in him?" (I. Jo. III, 17), with how much +more truth cannot the condemnation of the Beloved Apostle be applied to +one who, rich in Faith--"that substance of things unseen," makes no +effort to help his brother who is deprived of it? Therefore charity, +through its spiritual works of mercy, re-establishes the equilibrium in +the spiritual realm and stands out as a vital factor in the economy of +our religion. To understand rightly this principle and to reduce it to +action, is to be a true and ardent apostle. Then, and then only, are +we able to say in truth, with the martyr, St. Pacien, "Christian is my +name, but Catholic is my surname." + +How pressing is this obligation to be an apostle, to be truly Catholic, +among our non-Catholic brethren? Why should we particularly turn the +energies of our zeal to the conversion of non-Catholics? What special +claim have they to our prayers? + +The supernatural element of Faith, often the fruit of a valid baptism, +which still lingers in the souls of many non-Catholics; the fact that +numbers of them, because they are in good faith, belong thereby to the +"Soul of the Church;" the rising tide of indifference and unbelief +which is now burying under its water the last remnants of Christianity +to be found among the conflicting creeds: these are the predominant +motives which, according to the principles of St. Thomas Aquinas, +should attract the preference of our zeal. For the order of the +charity, says the Holy Doctor,[1] depends on the _relations_ of those +we love, to God and to ourselves, and on the _urgency_ of their +spiritual needs. By this doctrine, among those outside of the Church, +those professing Christianity have the first claim to our apostleship. +Therefore missions to non-Catholics, _caeteris paribus_, take +precedence over foreign missions. + +We all recognize the reality of this obligation and understand, vaguely +perhaps, the burden of its responsibility. We all indeed, at times, +say with the Divine Master: "There are other sheep that are not of this +Fold; them also I must bring."--But, what have we done to bring them? + +Outside of a few casual cases of conversion prompted often by marriage, +and of some spasmodic efforts during a mission, are we not bound to +admit that our policy in our relation with non-Catholics has been one +of aloofness and waiting. This attitude of aloofness may be traced to +many causes. The certainty of his faith gives to the Catholic an +assurance which he carries with him into his every day life. A sense +of superiority is its natural result. It gives him that +self-confidence in religious matters which our separated brethren are +so prone to call "Roman Pride." + +There exists in the Catholic soul that feeling we might name "The +timidity of faith." This sensitiveness is but the instinct of +preservation. We have been impressed from our youth that faith is the +greatest heirloom of our Christian heritage. To protect it against any +influence that would endanger it, is always considered a sacred duty. +This is particularly remarked among the masses, whose chances of +education finished with the grammar schools, and in countries or +localities where Catholics are the minority. + +The natural result of this attitude and feeling is an estrangement from +those of another faith, a bashful reluctance to meet them and to +co-operate with them in social or civic matters, an unconscious +tendency to see motives that do not exist and, at times, to refrain +from the most elementary acts of charity and courtesy. "It often +happens that we manifest towards the heretic the feeling which should +be exclusively reserved for heresy." (Lord Morley.) That this is +precisely the frame of mind of the ordinary non-Catholic in his +dealings with us, is by no way an excuse for our own unkindness. +Retaliation is not Christ-like. Does not our aloofness confirm our +separated brethren in their false ideas, wrong impressions and bitter +prejudices. We must not forget that centuries of strife and untold +antagonism of misunderstandings and ignorance, stand as a granite wall +between their souls and ours. The teachings and influence of their +home, of their school, and of their church lie in their minds, strata +upon strata, as the silent and lasting mementoes of the great religious +upheaval of the Reformation. Only the influence of a genuine, frank, +Catholic life, seen and felt in daily intercourse will gradually wear +the barrier away. It is a long and slow process, we know, but one +worth trying. Like the ever returning tide it eats its way into the +most solid rock of prejudice and bigotry. + +That this aloofness carries with it for the unguarded soul and +untrained mind a great protection, is made evident by the too many +examples of lukewarm Catholics, who by their continued association with +those outside of the Fold have lost the right appreciation of their +faith and are open to compromise. Principles in their lives often +yield to a policy of so called broadmindedness and alleged charity. +But those we have in mind, are the leaders, among the clergy and the +laity. They are grounded in their belief, know its principles and +should be prepared to throw off that aloofness which shades the light +of their faith and prevents it from being seen by those who are bound +to them, in the everyday life, by national, social, commercial, and +often by family ties. + +This _quasi_ universal attitude of aloofness has developed among us +what we might call "The policy of waiting." The festive board of +Christ's faith is ready, but the guests from another fold are wanting. +Have we gone "by the highways and byways" and forced ourselves upon +their attention by our pressing invitations . . . "_compelle intrare_?" +No, we stand at the door of the Banquet Hall, receiving politely and +with joy, it is true, those who ask to come in; and there, for the most +part, ends our apostolate. This naturally leads us to say frankly what +we think could be done. For we believe that our methods of apostolate +call for revision, need readjustment. The way to become like St. Paul, +"All things to all men, that we may save them all," (I. Cor. I., 22) +changes with the times. + +In the great drama of life the stage-settings are ever shifting and the +_dramatis personae_, changing. The success of the actor is to fit in +as the play goes on. This he does by adopting ways and methods most +appropriate to his surroundings. The problems we face are always the +same, but to be efficient our methods of handling them must evolve and +adjust themselves to the temper of the age. What should be then the +characteristic features of our apostleship among non-Catholics? The +neglect of readjustment of our methods in dealing with our separated +brethren is the avowed cause of the tremendous waste of energy and the +explanation of meagre results. "An enormous amount of energy," said +Father Benson,--and he had the experience,--"has been expended +uselessly in the past, assaulting positions that are no longer held, +and by lack of appreciation of present conditions." In this age of +loose thinking and of rapid dissemination of ideas, _aggressiveness_, +supported by active propaganda, characterizes every world-wide movement +in government, industry, science and religion. Every doctrine, every +theory comes into the open and makes a strong bid for our hearing, for +our following. Why should not the true doctrine of Christ assume this +new shining armour of sane aggressiveness, come more into the open, and +throw down the gauntlet to unbelief and indifference everywhere rampant +and openly defiant? For, if conviction is the father of devotion, if +our belief in the mastery of ideas is genuine, we cannot help but be +aggressive. Needless to say we are not asking for vulgar +aggressiveness, we are not asking for cheap sneers and attacks on the +ignorance and the illogical position of others. By aggressiveness, we +mean coming out in defence of truth which it is our privilege and +responsibility to possess. Never have times been more inviting for an +aggressive Catholicism. The great war has been for Protestantism the +acid test. The result is for the Anglican and Evangelical Churches a +complete failure,[2] and, as the soldiers said "a wash-out." They have +lost their grip on the masses who are rapidly slipping into a religious +chaos. The universal disintegration of creeds, strangely combined with +a secret thirst for truth and unity now sweeps the English-speaking +world. Are not these portentous events that manifest, as "The stirring +of the waters," the movement of the Holy Spirit. + +Our policy of aggressiveness, if it be true and resolute, will find +expression in an intelligent, active and persevering propaganda. +Propaganda is the dissemination of ideas, with the view of giving them +a strong foothold in the mind. The gradual development of the message +it carries and the recurrence of its lessons at stated intervals are +the principal factors of this great force. To be efficient and +successful our propaganda among our non-Catholic brethren will assume +two distinct forms: The open and the silent form. + +The _silent propaganda_ is the spreading of Catholic ideas through the +contact of our every day life with those who are not of our own Faith. +Willingly or unwillingly we are bound to leave an impression of our +belief in the business and social circles into which our life is cast. +Our silence and abstention alone often militate against the Church. +Let then the purity and spirituality of our lives, the honesty of our +commercial relations, the sanctity of our home, bear witness to the +sacredness of our religion and to the seriousness of its teachings. + +A true Catholic life is in itself a living antithesis of the prevalent +neo-pagan ideals, and stands as the best proof of our Faith's sincerity +and of the depth of its conviction. "If life is the test of thought +rather than thought the test of life," wrote Van Dyke, "we should be +able to get light on the real worth of a man's ideals by looking at the +shape they would give to human existence if they were faithfully +applied." For, as Cromwell said, "The mind is the man." + +The participation in civic, social and national activities will afford +the occasion of meeting our non-Catholic neighbours. This personal and +repeated contact, particularly with the leaders of the community, on +occasions when the best brains can concentrate together without clash +of principle, is, in our humble estimation, of the greatest value. The +participation of the Knights of Columbus in war activities and +reconstruction work is a striking illustration of this point. Nothing +has more helped the Church in the American Republic, in breaking down +the barrier of anti-Catholic prejudice, than the stand its Catholic +laity took during and after the Great War. Have we not in Western +Canada been rather remiss in our participation in public activities? +If we have not had our share in public life, it has often been, we must +confess, our own fault. + +The strength of the silent propaganda lies in its _persistency_ and +_consistency_. A silent continuous and intelligent activity, and not a +mere passivity, on the part of Catholics, is what characterizes this +tremendous force. Like the tide, it creeps from pebble to pebble, from +rock to rock, submerging every thing under its conquering waters. + +The logic of Catholic life lends its consistency to this silent force. +Our life is indeed the best proof of our principles. No one on the +contrary does more harm to the Church than a Catholic whose life is not +in harmony with his belief. The non-Catholic points to his life, with +a sneer, and says: "See, he is no better than others!" This reasoning, +we know is false, but for the unthinking masses, very often conclusive. + +This silent drive is the necessary background of the _open propaganda_ +of which we would now say a few words. + +The sincerely aggressive Catholicism of the laity cannot confine its +activities to the home and narrow circle of friends, no more than that +of the clergy can find its limit in the pulpit and the confessional. +Let us go into the open. The sun of liberty is blazing bright for us +all, under the blue skies of Canada. To witness at times, our cringing +spirit, our childlike timidity, our cowardice, one would think that we +were still under the penal laws and legal disabilities known by our +fathers and forefathers. "What is there to check our dash forward?" we +would ask with Father Vaughan. "Absolutely nothing, but ourselves, +nothing but what we term prudence." Prudence! thin veneer, hardly able +to conceal our apathy and unwarranted timidity. + +Has not the time come to throw off this false timidity and "To go out +into the highways and hedges and compel our separated brethren to come +in, that the Master's house may be filled." (Luke Ch. 14). Long enough +have we waited for them to come to us. An intelligent Methodist was +recently asked the question: "What do you think is the greatest +obstacle to the spread of the Catholic Faith?" And he answered: +"Ignorance,--because Protestants do not understand what Catholic +teaching is, and if your people have the courage of their convictions +and claim that they know the truth, why do they not come out like the +Socialists, Radicalists, Salvation Army, and other bodies who have come +out, and explain to the public what they believe and why." + +Did not Cardinal Newman in the conclusion of his lecture: "The Position +of Catholics," make similar statements? "Protestantism," he says, "is +fierce because it does not know you; ignorance is its strength; error +is its life. Therefore bring yourselves before it, press yourselves +upon it, force yourselves into notice against its will. . . . Oblige +men to know you. . . . Politicians and Philosophers would be against +you, but not the people, if it knew you." + +Yes, we willingly endorse what the English Dominican, Father Hugh Pope, +advocated in his article, "The Modern Apostolate," in the August issue, +1919, "The Ecclesiastical Review," and in several other English +newspapers and magazines. Has not indeed the time come when we should +revolutionize all our methods, when we should apply to Home Missions +something of the methods which now we have fancied pertained solely to +the Foreign Missions. Some we know will criticize this forward policy +as bold, open to ridicule, an innovation, an undignified intrusion, a +Billy-Sunday method, etc.--"On analysis what does all this opposition +come to, but that we are afraid." "Afraid!" our critics will exclaim, +"of what? I should like to know?" Is not the answer: "Yes, afraid of +what the people will say" (Father Pope, O.P.). Anchored in the past +they will continue to spend their energies in giving what we would call +"spiritual delicacies" to the few good souls around them, while at +their very doors crowds are dying of spiritual hunger for want of +bread. And in all tranquillity of conscience they will raise their +eyes to Heaven and thank the Lord that they are not like them. If +indeed we wait until the non-Catholics come to our churches and to our +rectories and ask to be received into the Church, we shall wait until +Doomsday. After all, what we here advocate, is nothing new. Is it not +the modern interpretation, suited to our times, of the "_Omnia +Omnibus_"--"All things to all men," of St. Paul? + +Along what definite lines should this aggressiveness be developed? +Zeal, we know, is very ingenious in its ways and means, and has in +their use the freedom of the spirit of God. Yet, there are certain +methods, certain activities, which have proved successful and could be +adopted to suit the circumstances of each community. Missions to +non-Catholics and lectures in public halls, if well and intelligently +advertised, will always draw an audience. Nothing appeals more to the +mind of the inquirer than a lucid and simple exposition of the Faith. +Controversy beclouds the issue. Were there any particular doubt in +mind, the Question-box affords an opportunity to elucidate it. The +distribution of literature will confirm the message of the spoken word +and continue to carry on its work, helping the seed to germinate in +God's own time. Inquiry classes and information bureaus are of a great +help to those who are reluctant yet to meet a priest, or to be known as +wavering in their faith. + +The great error in connection with this matter is to expect immediate +results from such work. Truth and Divine Grace work slowly. To +measure the success of a lecture or a mission to non-Catholics by the +number of immediate converts is completely unfair and against reason. +The main and direct object of these lectures is to combat the three +obstacles in the way of conversion, indifference, ignorance, and +prejudice, and to prepare the soil for the Great Sower. The important +point we should not forget is that, as in all propaganda, the +"_systematic follow-up work_" counts. The persistency and recurrence +of the message give it its strength and influence. + +In all we have said and suggested it must not be supposed that we +forget Faith to be a gift of God . . . _Donum Dei_. The salvation and +sanctification of a soul are essentially a supernatural process. We +can no more trace the ways of God than we can forecast the ways of the +wind. Therefore the greater our activities are, the greater should be +the supernatural force behind them. Prayer, constant and fervent +prayer, for the conversion of our separated brethren should be ever on +our lips and in our hearts. Yet, strange thing! We hardly ever hear +of public prayers and masses said for this great work. If our desires +were more real, should they not find expression here and there in some +public form of prayer. + +We should close this chapter with the instructive and inviting example +that comes to us from our Catholic brethren in Protestant England. A +wonderful Catholic campaign is now on through Scotland and England. +Various societies have grouped the active Catholic laity into various +units, with the one great object in view, to give back to England the +faith she has been robbed of centuries ago. + +The "Catholic Truth Society" stands in the background as the heavy +artillery that has been firing at long range at positions the enemies +are gradually leaving. For the last thirty years it has been breaking +the way to victory. "The Catholic Evidence Guild" and "Social Guild," +like the light cavalry are reconnoitering the lines and positions. The +"Motor Chapel" and "The Bexhill Library"--that Catholic Post-Library, +with its 16,000 volumes--are what we call the flying corps of this +great Catholic army. And while the various militant units are pushing +forward their lines, the members of "Our Lady of Ransom's League" are +praying on the mountain with up-lifted hands for the conversion of +their Country. + +The Catholics of the United States are following suit. The Paulist +Fathers with their missions to non-Catholics, their press and "Catholic +Missionary Union," devoted to the conversion of America, have +undoubtedly done splendid work. The Catholic laity have also been most +active under the auspices of the Knights of Columbus. MM. Goldstein +and Peter Collins, Dr. Walsh and Mrs. Avery are lecturing through the +country and have met with great success. This awakening of the +missionary spirit is one of the most healthy signs of the Catholicity +of the Church across the border. It is with reason that the Holy See +looks to America for the future wants of the Mission Field. + +These examples of an apostolic awakening that come to us from countries +where religious conditions are very much the same as those that prevail +in Western Canada, are most illuminating. They sound to us like the +Master's voice: "_Why stand idle all day . . . go you also into my +vineyard_." + + + +[1] Since the principle of charity is God and the person who loves, it +must needs be that the affection of love increases in proportion to the +nearness to one another of these principles. For wherever we find a +principle order depends on relation to that principle. (Summa. II, II +Qu. 26 art. 7.) + +[2] Cfr. "Army and Religion."--Book written by Protestant Army +Chaplains. It is a candid record of the failure of the Churches, +Anglican and Evangelical, at the front, during the great war. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PROS AND CONS + +_Obstacles that impede. . . . Circumstances that help the work of the +Church in Western Canada._ + + +The opening of the North West Territories to immigration, and their +creation into distinct Provinces of the Dominion stand as land marks of +portentous meaning in the History of Canada. The settlement and +development of these immense fertile prairies of the West were bound to +react on the economic powers and political outlook of our Country. By +the sheer weight of their economic value these new Provinces have +leaped into prominence and forced themselves upon the attention of the +Country at large. The Western issues are now so weighty that only the +greatest prudence and wisest statesmanship will maintain the +equilibrium between the conflicting forces of the East and the West of +our broad Dominion. Canada now stands at the parting of the ways in +its home and foreign policy. Every true and patriotic Canadian is +proud of the progressiveness of these new Provinces beyond our great +Lakes and anxious to see them bring their contributions to the +Commonwealth by sharing in the direction of its government. Their +presence around the family table is not that of strangers or intruders, +but of young, stalwart and rightly ambitious sons. + +Yet, as Religion is the necessary factor of true prosperity, the +religious outlook in these young Provinces is what naturally appeals to +the Catholic mind. What are then the prospects for the Church in +Western Canada? A rapid survey of conditions will enable us to take +our bearings and impress upon our minds the value of our co-operation +at this juncture of our History. The Church in the West is in its +making and we cannot over-emphasize the responsibility of every +Catholic in the matter. The knowledge of existing conditions will be +to us what the topography of the country under survey is to the +engineer. It helps to adjust the vision, to give the sense of +proportion and to suggest the easiest grades. + +To know well an obstacle is often the best means to overcome it, just +as in modern warfare to locate the enemies' batteries is to silence +them. In our Chapter, "The Call of the West," we have explained the +obstacles with which Catholics have to contend on the prairie and in +small towns. We pointed out those obstacles, _geographical_ (distance +and climate), _ethnical_ (race and language), _religious_ (absence of +catholic traditions and surroundings), and marked how they were as wide +crevices through which vitality is being lost to the Church in Western +Canada. It is our intention here to dwell only on difficulties of a +general character, inherent to the state of this new country and +effecting the Church in its corporate existence. + +_The materialistic spirit_, in all its forms, characterizes the West. +The youth of our Eastern Provinces and foreigners from every shore +flocked to this Eldorado by the thousands and hundreds of thousands +with the one particular aim in view, to better their material +condition. Their success has been so great that we may well say that +the very atmosphere of the West is surcharged with commercialism. The +"crop" is the ever-recurring factor and eternal topic of Western life. +No better picture reflects this attitude than that which is offered to +the traveller as his train goes rolling on through the even prairie. +Ever emerging on the horizon and dotting the landscape of the bald +plain the _grain elevator_ stands indeed as the most conspicuous land +mark of our Western towns. The elevators are in our prairie landscapes +what the church spires are in the Quebec villages, along the shores of +the St. Lawrence. Here and there they stand as symbols; they interpret +an ideal. Naturally a population so immersed in material pursuits and +frequently, not to say always, separated by the very force of +circumstances from the vitalizing contact of spiritual influence, +rapidly loses grasp of the supernatural and becomes refractory to the +doctrines and practices of the Church. Nothing is more adverse to the +influence of Christianity than material prosperity combined with the +absolute ignorance of its divine teachings. The wealthy and prosperous +farmer out West is inclined to look down on the Church and consider Her +"out of date." [1] + +This materialistic atmosphere and the absence of catholic traditions +and associations act also as a corrosive on the faith of Catholics, +particularly of our young people. Like a strong acid it eats away the +teachings of good Christian parents and the impressions of a Catholic +home. Only those who have seen at close range these sad soul +transformations can believe in their painful reality and explain their +frequency. + +The _activities of non-Catholic bodies among the foreign element_ are +another obstacle to the work of the Church. Like the locusts of Egypt +a cloud of proselytizers have alighted on those parts of the Provinces +where the new Canadian is in the making. We have seen in another +chapter (_Pro aris, et focis_--or, the Ruthenian Problem) how under the +cover of Canadianization, the foreigner is being weaned away from the +Faith of his Fathers and what menace this is for the Church. + +This systematic effort of the various denominations is being supported +by the combined action of their clergy and laity in the East. Men and +money are flowing into the West to Christianize (_sic_!) our Catholic +foreigners. The final result of this proselytizing effort is not a +permanent increased membership for these churches, but rather +indifference and irreligion among our foreign element. Facts and +figures prove it. And to re-establish these souls in the Faith of +their Baptism is no easy task, we all know. It is far easier to tear +down than to rebuild. + +This united action of the different Churches stands out in sharp +contrast with the _lack of co-operation_ among Catholics throughout +Canada. The absence of co-operation of the East with the West affects +very seriously the welfare of the Church in the new Provinces. We all +willingly and gratefully acknowledge the contributions in men and money +that have come from the East through the channels of the Religious +Orders, of the Catholic Church Extension and from other sources. But +absorbed by parochial and diocesan interests the Catholic Church in +Eastern Canada has not as yet fully realized the seriousness of our +Western problems. With its co-operation only can the weight of the +Church as a whole be brought to bear in their solution. + +This policy of unity of action is also most urgent for the Catholics of +the Western Provinces. We are a minority in each Province; concerted +action can alone press our legitimate claims and bring to us success in +these activities which necessarily overlap the boundaries of dioceses +and provinces, as is the case with the Catholic Press and Higher +Education. Diocesan isolation, if we are not careful, can become the +weakness of our strength, in these critical stages of rapid +development. Yet, there are no Provinces in the Dominion where the +Church faces so many identical problems under identical conditions as +in the Western Provinces. Should not this alone suggest to our leaders +a unity of plan and realize among our Western Catholics concerted +action? + + * * * * * * + +As there is a silver lining to the darkest cloud, there is a bright +side for the Church in conditions out West. + +The striking feature of the Canadian West is the _newness of the +country_. Youth is stamped everywhere clear and bold; the dash and +buoyancy of the people reflect it faithfully. Optimism is the +predominant note in that land of immensities and great possibilities. +Untrammelled by set traditions and cast-iron customs, every one is +there to start a new life. The past does not seem to exist for the +Westerner; the future is his sole concern. + +This newness of the country and the optimistic mood which it creates +can be called into the service of the Church. They form an atmosphere +of tolerance which proves most helpful for the preaching of Her +doctrine and the maintenance of Her institutions. + +The youthfulness of the country has left its mark on the _character of +the Westerner_. There is something of the vastness of the prairie in +his mind. He is generally broad, and boasts of it most willingly. +This trait is very noticeable in his passion to revaluate theories, to +redefine notions brought from the East. The great success with which +he has met in various co-operative schemes has also developed in him a +high sense of self-reliance. The only danger is that he carries that +same self-assurance into domains where he often over-reaches himself. +This fact is very noticeable in the various annual Conventions. +Unconsciously, in matters beyond his grasp, he is at the mercy of a few +leaders. Resolutions are passed, legislation is suggested, without +realization of their consequences. + +The rapid _disintegration of Protestantism_ is another factor with +which the Church can count. Church union is in many places an +accomplished fact. This alone is a convincing proof of the want of +grasp, of definiteness that exists in religious matters. We would +refer our reader to the Chapter "Ploughing the Sands." To what extent +this rather negative disposition will hasten the spreading of the true +Faith, is difficult to state. Will it, as is evident in England, +promote a movement of return to the Church or accentuate, as in the +United States, indifference and unbelief, the future alone can tell. +But, is it not our duty in the meantime to make use of every tide and +wind to bring the ship to port? The tide, as it is now running, shall +bring to the Church many a shipwrecked soul. + +This is our firm belief. + +This rapid survey of Western conditions in their relation with the +Church, without being a searching examination, outlines, as it were, +the actual religious topography of our new Provinces. Our sole +ambition is to help to wipe away, in our work, useless curves, make +easier the grades and map out the straightest and most direct route to +success. With the knowledge of conditions, less energy will be lost +and more time will be gained. Time and energy are the necessary +factors of true and permanent progress. + + + +[1] "Catholics to a certain extent will remain an alien body. We +differ from those around us in a profound fashion, not in matters of +direct doctrine, for which the modern world has largely ceased to care, +but in the effects of that doctrine. The Catholic's whole conception +of man and of the fundamentals of human life is a different thing from +that held by those about us."--H. Belloc. + + + + +PART II + +EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS + +"To-day's boy is to-morrow's man." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHY SEPARATE?[1] + +_A Moral Reason--A Social Reason--A Political Reason--A National +Reason--A British Reason--A Historical Reason--A Religious Reason--For +"Separate Schools."_ + +The West is without a doubt the classical land of the "School problem +in Canada." The Prairie Provinces will remember the struggles that +have marked their birth in the Dominion. The words, "_separate +schools_," rang loud and angry over the cradle of these youngest +partners in our Confederation. The conflict has not subsided with +years. Although the rights of the minority, at least in Saskatchewan +and Alberta, are partially recognized by law, there are yet some who +seem to have a mission to reopen the conflict by ever dragging the +problem into the open arena of our political life. Under the specious +pretext of national welfare they would foist upon the Canadian Public +opinions and measures opposed to our existing system and to the broad +spirit of liberty that inspires and maintains it. But we all know that +in this persistent and methodical opposition to our separate schools +the fundamental issue is a religious one. Life, after all, is a +spiritual value. The school is the great loom on which the rising +youth weaves its thread into the great and amazing tapestry of the +nation. Who has the mastery of the school, has in the making that +mysterious tapestry of human life. + +This problem is but an aspect of the eternal struggle between the +Christian and the Pagan ideal. The pagan ideal of civilization is the +absorption of the individual by the State, the confiscation of liberty +by the political monopoly of the nation. + +The Christian ideal is the State at the service and for the protection +of the individual and of the family. "To Caesar what belongs to +Caesar; to God what belongs to God." Before the ever recrudescent +forces of neo-paganisim it is most useful, we contend, to reassert in +plain, terse language the principles, the reasons that explain and +justify our persistent attitude on the school problem. They will be +our answer to the question which is ever thrown at Catholics in Western +Canada: + +"_Why separate_?" We have placed the discussion of this problem on the +higher plain of the unchangeable and unchanging principles of truth and +justice, for, we are firm believers in the pacific penetration of ideas +and in their conquering power. In truth alone, the Master stated, is +true and abiding liberty: "You will know truth, and truth will make you +free." Every true Canadian readily grasps the transcendent importance +of the problem under examination and should bring to its discussion +open-mindedness and sincerity. + + +_I.--A Moral Reason_ + +It is the right and duty of the parent to educate his child. This +right is founded on nature. The child is the offspring of the parents, +the continuation as it were of their own life. They are therefore the +natural educators of their children. When they commit them to the care +of others for instruction it is their right to have them educated as +they wish. As by the supreme and sacred right of conscience man is +free to give to his life its moral direction, so also does the same +principle apply to the education of a child for whose conscience, as +for whose life, the parent is responsible. The moral right of the +parent, which is one with that of the child in that period of life, is +fundamental. It constitutes the bed-rock on which rest all other +rights in matters of education. To deny that principle, to deflect it +from its proper meaning, to recognize it only partially, is to blast +the very foundation of human nature. No reason of common good, of +citizenship, can overthrow this right; on the contrary, it presupposes +it; for, the State can only interfere to protect and help this right. +It can never suppress it, and only supplement it when the parents are +deficient and fall short of this sacred duty they owe their offspring. + + +_II.--A Social Reason_ + +Society is made up of various units, lending to one another support by +the mutual participation in the activities of life. The family--the +first in order of time and dignity--is beyond doubt the principal and +central unit. The other social factors presuppose it and exist for its +protection. Is it not the source from which springs the very life of +the individual and wherein society replenishes its forces? The placing +of the individual as the specific social unit of our modern democracy +is a pernicious error. This fallacy has destroyed Society by upsetting +the essential order of its units and has robbed the individual of his +most elementary rights. + +The substitution of the State for the family is most detrimental in any +sphere of life. In matters of education it is nothing short of a +disaster. The "State School Teacher" is an anomaly. It is the +subversion of true social order for it constitutes "an unwarranted +interference of the State in a function preeminently social. Education +is a social function and cannot be converted into a governmental charge +without violence to it." What Treitsche said of the Judiciary Power in +a country may well be applied to education. "We find the first and +fundamental principle of jurisprudence to be that no one should be +withdrawn from the jurisdiction of his natural judge." The natural +school of the child is the family; the common school should be nothing +but an extension of the home. The mission of the school is to +supplement the home and not to supplant it. The child and the parent +therefore are entitled to have the same atmosphere pervade both school +and home. Everything that is relevant to education belongs to the +family. A policy that favours intrusion of an undue influence of the +State in the school and destroys home authority and parental influence +is unnatural and therefore anti-social. The State is not the natural +teacher of the child. + +This fusion of the political and social orders--which in reality means +the suppression of the latter to the profit of the former--is the fatal +error of the day and producive [Transcriber's note: productive?] of +great evils. An Educational Department is the open door through which +any Government may force its particular views on the growing +generation. The monopoly of State education is nothing else but the +conscription of the minds, an "intellectual militarism," which +eventually leads to the absorption of the individual and the family and +to greater disasters than war. Under the cover of citizenship it will +legalize a country into servitude. The school ambitions of Prussia +prepared the catastrophe the world has just witnessed. Always and +everywhere the same cause will produce the same effects. + + +_III.--A Political Reason_ + +Authority and liberty are the two poles on which revolves Society. The +perfect equilibrium of these two contending forces, one centripetal, +the other centrifugal, make for its safety and welfare. The +encroachment of one upon the other displaces the social axis and throws +a nation out of its natural orbit. Political Society then oscillates +between autocracy and anarchy. The infringement of this supreme law of +moral gravitation has strewn the paths of history with the ruins of +kingdoms and empires. The violation of a natural law bears always with +itself its own punishment. For, society is not the conventional +creation of man; it is governed by laws that man does not make, but, +which his reason and experience discover and to which he must submit. + +This perfect equilibrium of authority and liberty is perfectly +expressed in Lincoln's famous definition: "A sane democracy is one of +the people, by the people and for the people." The reason of this law +of the political order is that liberty is previous to authority, for +authority only exists to protect liberty against tyranny and to +safeguard it against its own excesses. He is best governed who is +least governed. LePlay, the celebrated French economist, made this +just and pertinent remark: "The truly free nations are those who, +without compromising this prosperity, extend the benefices of private +life at the expense of public life." (Réforme Sociale II, page 92.) + +Therefore the ideal State exists when all civil or social rights--which +stand for the _public enjoyment_ of all natural rights--are fully +protected by political rights. These political liberties moreover +claim not only the negative protection or non-interference of +authority, but also its positive financial help. For political liberty +exists for the protection of civil liberty, and not _vice versa_. The +collective forces of a society are for the benefit of the individual +and not the individual for them. A State is an institution for the +protection of rights inherent to a free people. + +The negation of this principle leads to the State paternalism which +stands for the interference of State in matters which by right belong +to the individual and the family. Never has State interference and +State protection been more exaggerated than they are nowadays. The +passing and pressing emergencies of the great war have accentuated +these tendencies. The nations have kept the habit of being governed by +orders-in-council, by arbitrary censorship and dictatorial methods. +"The Executive has usurped the functions that rightly belong to the +legislative assembly, with a virtual dictatorship as the inevitable +result." The consequence of State Paternalism is the death of +individual liberty either through socialism or autocracy. Man becomes +the chattel of a bureaucratic government. + +Of all civil liberties there is none more sacred, more fundamental than +that of education. The freedom of education means the right of a +parent to give to his offspring an education in harmony with his +concept of life, with the dictates of his conscience. As education is +nothing but a preparation for life, its theory goes hand in hand with +the theory of life. To this liberty of the parent should correspond in +society a political right. To deprive a free citizen of this right is +to penalize him and oblige him--as is the case in Manitoba--to buy +twice over a right of conscience. This condition wherever it exists is +a flagrant abuse of political authority and consequently a social +disorder. + +Some may object to our argumentation and answer that in a modern +democracy the majority rules, and the majority in the West are against +"separate schools." The political right of the majority cannot cancel +a moral right of the minority. It is a case here of repeating the +statement of Burke: "The tyranny of a democracy is the most dangerous +of all tyrannies because it allows no appeal against itself." This +autocracy of numbers is often more dangerous and more brutal than that +of a caste, of a czar, or of a king. Russia is giving us an +illustration of this autocracy of number. Did not Germany use the same +argument to crush Belgium and to try to dominate the World? Our sons +have fought and died in this war against Prussianism and yet some of +our Canadians--not worthy of the name--would willingly vote drastic +measures of governmental repression which would make the Kaiser smile +and the Czar Nicholas turn in his grave. The velvet glove may cover +the mail-fist, but the blow is the same. + +Others may claim that the State has a right to "Uniformity in the +education of its citizens." This is the pretension of those who now +are advocating so strongly and so widely the "federalization of our +schools." We will not discuss the value of this plea for uniformity. +It would open a very interesting pedagogical debate and we are inclined +to believe that the "anti-uniformists" would carry away the honors. We +do not pretend that the State has no rights in matters of education. +But its interference should be consistent with the prior and more +fundamental rights of the individual and the family and not become a +usurpation or abrogation of them. Otherwise it would be the wrong way +of doing the right thing. + + +_IV.--A National Reason_ + +The Constitution of a country has as its specific object the +maintenance of the perfect equilibrium between authority and liberty. +"It is the charter of a people's liberties, the shield of the +individual against the possible tyranny of government, the effective +check upon the ambition of every government to extend the sphere of its +delegated powers. Unlike the law, its primary purpose is to restrain +the Government, not the citizen. . . ." (P. Blakely, S.J.) America, +Sept. 18, 1920. + +The greatest liberty for the individual, combined with the greatest +good of the commonwealth, has always been the ideal aimed at by the +Fathers of a democratic country. To tamper with the Constitution on +vital issues, to conceive it as an experiment, to ignore its +spirit,--that obvious intention of its framers--is always eventually +fatal to the peace and welfare of the nation. No one lays hands with +impunity on that Ark of the Covenant. The essential changes in the +Constitution of a country act as a time-fuse. An explosion necessarily +follows, although it may take years and generations for a faulty +legislation to disclose its real consequences. This is particularly +true in matters of education. Laws of the educational departments may +change to become more efficient in their administration but should +never touch the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. + +In Canada the protection of the minority rights is a principle embodied +in our Constitution, in the Imperial Statute of the British North +America. Act. Even where the letter of the Provincial Law has +established the "public school,"--as is the case in the Maritime +Provinces--the spirit of the law is generally observed, and by a +compromise and tacit agreement the rights of the minority are to a +great extent recognized. + +In the West, Manitoba stands out in Canadian History as the battlefield +of educational rights. Although the British North America Act, +1867,--that intangible charter of Canadian liberties--stipulates, +section 93, that in the carving out of new Provinces in the vast +domains of the North West Territories the existing educational rights +guaranteed to the minority should be respected, yet, the Manitoba +Legislative Assembly has broken away from the letter and spirit of the +Constitution and constituted a grievance which demands rectification. + +The Federal Parliament partially recognized the principle of Separate +Schools in the formation of the Provinces of Saskatchewan and of +Alberta, by introducing, in section 17 of the Autonomy Bills of 1905, +the section 93 of the B.N.A. Act, and by reasserting the existing +rights granted by the N.W.T. School Ordinances of 1901. We say +"partially," for it is not the right of collecting separate taxes and +teaching Religion during the last half hour of the school-day that +constitutes a really Catholic school. + +The "Separate schools" in Saskatchewan and Alberta stand on the solid +granite of our Constitution. The highest tribunals of the land and the +Empire have implicitly recognized the principle of the minority-schools +in many of their decisions. Moreover, let us not forget it! the +separate school system in Canada is "_protestant_" in its origin. It +was to protect the protestant minority of Lower Canada that this +system, Catholic in Ontario, Protestant in Quebec, was adopted on +September 18th, 1841. In the West the minority school-law was also +enacted to protect the protestant minority of the Territories. Our +Non-Catholic opponents should not forget this origin of our separate +schools. What their fathers appreciated then for their children, we +appreciate now for ours. The principle remains unchanged. + +Some may be surprised at our contention to make an argument in favour +of separate schools out of the very point on which rests the +scaffolding of those who oppose them. They claim that the minority +school principle is the greatest enemy of Canadian Unity. What we +need, they say, is to standardize our schools, and bring all Canadian +children under one system. No genuine "Canadianization" is possible +without this unity of education. The advocates of these ideas are now +at work promoting through the country the "nationalization of schools." +The Conference of Winnipeg, 1919, was the first tangible result of this +movement. A National Bureau of Education--a non-government +institution, at least for the time being; a survey of school text-books +throughout the Provinces, a study of matters affecting the status of +the teaching profession--such are the duties that this National Council +of Education has assumed at its first gathering. + +This movement towards Federal control of schools involves the denial +and the eventual suppression of the minority-principle in our system of +Education. This nationalization of Education, we claim, is erroneous +in its principle, anti-constitutional in its operation, and dangerous +in its consequences. Uniformity in education, as a source of +efficiency, is one of the fallacies of our materialistic age. Schools +to be successful have not to be submitted to the same laws of a +commercial or industrial combine. Ethnical and moral values do not +follow the laws of the mart and the stock exchange. If in our +extensive Dominion even a unity of tariff, readily acceptable to the +East and to the West, is Utopian, how much more so would be the unity +of the school system? Education, to be effective, must take the colour +of the environments to meet the needs of the community. The levelling +process would be most detrimental, for uniformity in education is the +seed of decay. + +And it is on the plea of making better Canadians that the promoters of +"national schools" are drifting from the very basic principle of our +educational system, from the law and spirit of our Constitution. Our +form of Government, as we all know, is dual. Matters of education are +relevant to the Province. The more the Province will abdicate its +claims, and submit to the growing influence of the Federal powers, the +greater will be the danger of losing the political equilibrium of +Confederation. Unstable equilibrium, once disturbed, is hardly ever +re-established. The centrifugal forces of the Province protect our +liberties against the possible excesses of the centripetal forces of +the Federal Government. Any movement that tends to break the harmony +of these forces is, we claim, anti-Canadian. The Premier of Quebec +speaking to the Deputy Ministers of Education and Superintendents of +Public Instruction, at an inter-provincial Conference sounded this note +of warning: "The absolute control by each Province of its educational +system is the keystone of our Confederation; and the whole structure of +Canada would crumble away if any attempt were made at suppressing that +which holds its several parts together." (Nov. 4, 1921.) Quebec is +blamed for being the great obstacle to the realization of the dreams of +our nationalizers. Quebec, we maintain, is the most sane Province of +the Dominion, and the greatest help to the maintenance of +Confederation. This is now an admitted fact by every serious and broad +minded Canadian. Its conservatism acts, we would say, as the governor +on the complicated machine of Canadian political life. It regulates +its speed and keeps it within the limits of safety. Moreover, we ask, +how could a system which would deny the principles and rights of over +forty per cent. of the population be rightly and justly named +"national"? No one has the right to assume the monopoly of +"nationalism." + +"The self-appointed or State-appointed nationalizer, we would say with +Father Millar, S.J., ignorant of our real history or its true meaning, +is fast becoming a menace to the sanity of our laws and to the supreme +wisdom of a traditional national policy." [2] + +And what will be the consequences of this levelling uniformity that +crushes parental right and fuses the powers of Provinces into a Federal +unit? The Prussian ideal is the answer. We all know what that means +and where it leads. Its principles are the solvents of what remains of +Christianity--unconscious to many, it is true--in the political life of +our country. The armies that our boys fought on the fields of Flanders +were formed and trained in the national schools of Germany. + + +_V.--A British Reason_ + +The great misfortune of many who clamour against our separate schools +is their total ignorance of our history and of the spirit that the +liberty-loving Fathers of the Confederation have breathed into our +laws. To them "national reasons" may not appeal. This is very often +the case of the average Westerner. The West is in its making and has +no past behind it. This fact alone can explain how easy the Western +mind is open to influences opposed to the spirit of our Canadian +institutions. It has no traditions, and traditions are the hidden +roots that plunge down into the soil of history, into the hearts of +past generations, and give to a people, its real national life. +Therefore, a "British reason," a reason founded on British traditions, +on the British way of doing things in the Colonies, may make a stronger +appeal to our Western mentality. + +Freedom and fair play for every citizen within the Empire, the +recognition of racial and religious rights, have been the strength and +success of the British Government in its Colonial policy. (We +underline "colonial policy" for, we cannot say the same of England's +policy with Ireland--) We would quote here what a well known Western +public man wrote some years ago when, under the pen-name of "Daylight" +he discussed the "Separate School problem" in the columns of "The +Regina Leader," January 3rd, 1916. + + +"In conclusion there are one or two general remarks I should like to +make. It has always appeared to me that there is among our +English-speaking people of Canada a section of the community that holds +extreme views on all matters pertaining to nationality and religion. +This section holds and advocates the idea, that there must be no +compromise in dealing with matters pertaining to race and religion. In +a word, they would set about at once to "Prussianize" our complex +population. They forget, or entirely ignore, the fact that this is not +the British plan. If the British Empire is the glorious Empire it is +to-day is it not because of the fact that long ago the British +statesman and the British citizen have learned the lesson of tolerance? +To-day, Great Britain with its forty-five millions of people rules over +hundreds of millions of people of diverse nationalities and religious +faiths, and throughout the whole scheme of government and constitution +runs the idea of reasonable and just tolerance and compromise. Were +this not so the British Empire would quickly fall to pieces. Why then +should we not have more of this spirit in Canada, and particularly in +Western Canada? Some people are mightily concerned about our +foreign-born population. They imagine that the process of assimilation +can and should be accomplished in a day. Nothing is further from the +truth. The process is necessarily a slow one. It is bound to take two +or three, and in some cases, more generations. In the meantime we +should strive to make these people feel that they are welcome to our +broad open plains and to our citizenship. As to the final outcome no +one need have any doubt." + + +The principle that has created the British Empire is the only principle +that will keep it on the map of the world. This is history, +philosophy, and common sense. + +And when we see England recognizing the Catholic elementary schools and +subsidizing to a certain extent our secondary schools, when Scotland +has just brought the Catholic schools of several cities into its +system, is it not painful, to say the least, to hear our +ultra-loyalists ever up in arms against our separate schools? To them +we feel like saying, "Go back to England and Scotland, from whence you +or your forefathers came and learn from the Home Country the lesson of +tolerance, of sane political government." + + +_VI.--A Historical Reason_ + +In the discussion of many problems we are liable, particularly in the +West, to limit our vision to conditions as they present themselves to +the observer. This is more noticeable in the educational field. This +frame of mind may be traced to various causes. But there is one cause +which, we believe, is more responsible than others. + +Unconsciously our age is "_evolutionist_." "The intellectual movement +of 'evolution,'" said Glenn Frank, "was not the private plaything of +biologists in sequestered laboratories, but a force that altered men's +conceptions in every field of affairs." ("Century," Sept., 1920.) The +theory of evolution has such a grasp on the modern mind that its +concepts of government, of economics, of education are looked upon as +the last and improved effort of man in his eternal struggle to express +an unknown and always receding ideal. This has accustomed the mind to +look upon the past but as a rudiment, an outline, a preparation of the +future. + +Without entering into the discussion of the objective evidence of the +theory of evolution we may say that as far as education is concerned +its premises are false. The human soul remains substantially the same +and the process of its education has not varied very much with +centuries. Those therefore who look upon our modern Educational system +as the apex, the summing up of all past phases, are greatly mistaken. +"The lessons of past history," writes Dr. Walsh, "are extremely +precious not only because they show us where others made mistakes but +also because they show us the successes of the past. The better we +know these, the deeper our admiration for them, the better the outlook +for ourselves and our accomplishment." + +The State-school is an institution comparatively of very recent date +and has no right to be heralded as the final expression of an +educational system in a democracy. The history of education shows a +lineage of men who can be more than favorably compared with the sons of +our common schools. The mass of the people have indeed more +instruction but, at times, we doubt if they are better educated. +Results are the best judges of educational values. History and +experience prove that success in education depends more on the sense of +responsibility in the parents and of duty in the children, than on +palatial school-houses and elaborate programme of studies. This sense +of duty and the feeling of responsibility are not a necessary +consequence of state schools. On the contrary they are more liable to +be found in independent institutions. For, as we have seen, when the +State substitutes itself for the family, the first consequence is the +unchallenged yield of parental rights. + +Those who would make an excursion into history and compare our modern +educational systems with those of the past will find illuminating +points of comparison and instructive conclusions. We would advise them +to take Dr. Walsh, M.D., Ph.D., Litt.D., as guide. His books: +"Education, how Old the New"--"The Thirteenth Century"--will prove most +interesting reading. + +Already a reactionary policy is being enacted in several countries +where for years the State-School was the only one to share in the +public treasury. In Holland, the Parliament of June, 1920, by a vote +of 72 against 3, passed a new school-law which recognizes and +subsidizes all separate primary, high and normal schools. In Italy, +the Minister of Education, Benedetto Croce, in a speech on the +"reorganization of education," stated publicly that the neutral school +was theoretically absurd and practically impossible. In Spain,[3] by a +Bill of May, 1919, the State universities have passed out of the hands +of the Government. France, Portugal, Argentine Republic are fighting +for the same freedom. In Poland's new charter of liberties, granted by +the Treaty of Versailles, the rights of the minority in school matters +are guaranteed. Our Canadian representatives signed this document. We +were granting then to the new Republic a sacred right which we still +refuse to our own at home, in the Province of Manitoba! + + +_VII.--A Religious Reason_ + +The creation of the state-school, necessarily undenominational in +character, has made the "separate school" an absolute necessity. If +religion has any meaning in life this reason of our separation should +be most convincing. + +In education one cannot separate the utilitarian side,--the fitting of +the child for the struggle of life,--from its main purpose,--the +development of moral character. The moral aspect alone gives to human +life its true character, its real value. As there is no morality +without religion, the system of education that would debar this +essential feature falls short of its full meaning. With this principle +in view any fair-minded man will understand how true Christian parents +demand a school where their children will receive religious education. +They are in conscience bound to exact for their offspring such +education, and, where the State refuses them their own money to support +their "separate schools" they willingly penalize themselves to give +them this benefit. The child's eternal welfare is not to be sacrificed +to a school system that has not even accomplished the purpose for which +it was established. For, as we shall see, a neutral school is a +practical impossibility. + +Those who fail to understand the pressing force of this viewpoint have +in our opinion lost the sense and sacredness of religion. They are +astonished at the bitterness that characterizes at times the conflict. +Are not religious and racial issues so intimately united with the very +conception of life that they hold to the most intimate fibres of the +human heart? For a Catholic, Religion is life itself in its most +sacred aspect. + +But, our opponents will argue, in a country like Canada, where +"organized" religion--to speak their language--is so denominational, +religion in school is an impossibility. Is it because other +denominations cannot agree as to their religious tenets that we, who +count over one-third of the total population and who stand united in +our faith, are to surrender what we consider most essential in +education and--lest we forget it--most protective to the best interests +of our Country? + +What does the State give us to replace the "separate school"? A +neutral, undenominational, irreligious school. This neutrality we +claim, is erroneous in theory and impossible in practice. The theory +of the neutral school is erroneous because it is against the teaching +of sound psychology and true pedagogy. + +The soul of the child cannot be, as it were, divided into watertight +compartments so as to segregate religious influence from its daily +training. As Cardinal O'Connell stated, "We Catholics believe that as +character is by far the most important product of education, the +training of the will, the moulding of the heart, the grounding of the +intellect in clear notions of right and wrong, obligation and duty, +should not be left to haphazard or squeezed as an afterthought into an +hour on Sunday. The moral and spiritual growth of the child ought +normally to keep pace with his mental growth and the Church is +convinced that taking human nature as it is, the result cannot be +obtained effectively without including a judicious mixture of religious +training with the daily routine of the school." + +In fact a neutral school is an impossibility. We will simply ask our +readers a few questions and rely on their fairmindedness to formulate +the answers. Can the teaching of history be neutral? The Catholic +Church and the Reformation are historical facts: how are they to be +judged? How are ethics to be treated, without reference to God, to +Jesus Christ, to an eternal sanction? Can a teacher divest himself of +his mental attitude in the teaching of these subjects and answering the +questions of the pupils? + +Were the teaching really neutral, the very atmosphere of the +school-room is what counts. This atmosphere is indefinable and yet +everywhere felt. It is made of trifles, but of trifles that count at +that receptive age of childhood. As a subtle perfume it impregnates +the soul of the child with ideas and impressions which it will carry +through life. Therefore the atmosphere of the class-room, we claim, +should be as near as possible, that of the home. The parents have a +right to see that it should be so. Is this possible in a neutral +school? Its very negative character impregnates the class-rooms with +an irreligious feeling which the impressionable mind of the child +cannot but notice. How is the child to grow up with the feeling of +Religion's importance in life if the ban is placed upon Religion the +moment he passes the threshold of the school-room? "What we most +dread," said Bishop McQuaid, "is not the direct teaching of the +State-school, it is the indirect teaching which is most insidious and +most dangerous. It is the moral atmosphere, the tone of thought +permeating these schools that give cause for alarm. It is the +indifferentism with regard to all religious belief we most of all fear. +This is the dominant heresy that, imbibed in youth, can scarcely ever +be eradicated. It is one that already has in our large towns and +cities decimated Protestant Churches." + +Even the provision of optional religious instruction at the dying hour +of the class-day cannot redeem the neutral school. In fact the Survey +of School conditions in Saskatchewan conducted by Dr. Foght, in 1918, +revealed there a state of things which in our mind is an eye-opener in +the matter under examination. Out of over 4,000 schools not more than +212 reported as availing themselves of the law on religious +instruction. We leave to the reader to draw the conclusion these +recent statistics suggest. + +To conclude this already too lengthy argument, facts are vindicating in +every country the saneness of the Catholic view-point on religious +instruction and atmosphere in the school. The alarming increase of +religious indifference, the rising tide of anarchy, the universal +feeling of unrest, have prompted the unequivocal admissions of leaders +of thought as to the moral failure of the neutral school. + +Mr. William Jennings Bryan, in an address before the constitutional +convention of Nebraska, a few years ago, brought this striking +indictment against the State educational system of the United States. +"The greatest menace to the public school system of to-day is, in my +judgment, its Godlessness. We have allowed the moral influence to be +crowded out. When I say moral, I mean morality based upon religion. +We cannot build a system of morality on any other than a religious +basis. We have gone too far in allowing religion to be eliminated from +our schools. I would not have religion taught by public school +teachers, but all sects and creeds should have equal opportunity to +furnish at their own expense to students whose parents desire it, such +instruction not to interfere with the hours of school. Our people will +be better citizens and stronger for their work if along with the +trained mind there is also an awakened moral sense." + +In a recent report of the Interchurch Movement, based on a survey of +American Education, prevailing conditions that now threaten the safety +of State and Church are openly imputed to the neglect of religious +training of childhood and youth in the schools. This deficiency in +religious education on the part of the Evangelical sects is called by +the authors of the report "Protestantism's weakest spot." Emphatic +endorsement is given to the "denominational school" and full credit is +not denied to the emphasis placed upon religious teaching in schools by +the Catholic Church. + +"It would be absolute madness," said Cardinal Bourne, at an Educational +meeting in Edinburgh, "on the part of any civil authority at the +present day to spurn and reject the educational assistance and +educational power the Catholic Church was willing and ready to place at +their disposal." + +In our own country, the urgent necessity of introducing religion in our +public school is now for every serious-minded Canadian an agonizing +problem. How many attempts have been made to solve it? Was it not the +principal topic discussed at the Educational Conference of Winnipeg +(1919)? + +The neutral school, we conclude, has been weighed and found wanting. +The hand-writing is on the wall of every country where the experiment +has been made and tells the same tale. _Facts_ and _principles_ give +reason to our "Separate Schools." + + * * * * * * + +_Why "Separate Schools?_"--Because it is our right and our duty to have +them.--This is our simple and straightforward answer to the ever +renascent objection of those who are not of our opinion. That _right_ +rests on the solid rock of Justice, of History and of Religion; that +_duty_ we owe to our children, to ourselves, to our Church, and to our +country. + + + +[1] This chapter formed a series of articles in the North West Review +of Winnipeg. The following editorial comment accompanied our +concluding article. + +"This week we publish the last of the series of articles by Father +Daly, C.SS.R., dealing with the separate school question. + +"We consider his contribution on this ever topical and historic problem +one of the best reasoned and for the average man the most concise and +useful yet published. It might well be issued in pamphlet form and +kept for reference in every Catholic home in Western Canada, because +the subject is one likely to be controversial for an indefinite period. +Sometimes one finds Catholics who are not as well acquainted with the +fact as they should be that the question of Catholic education can +never be compromised. A solid and reasoned knowledge of this fact is +in some respects as essential as if it were an article of faith, +especially in Western Canada, which, as Father Daly points out, is the +classic land of the school problem. + +"Doubtless attempts will be made in the future to bring elementary +education through the pretext of Canadianization, under the "invisible +head" of this country. Or as in the United States segregated attempts +may be made to abolish parochial schools altogether. + +"Where there are so many probabilities and so much at stake it might be +well for the average Catholic to be in a position to give a good +account of himself by showing a thorough understanding of the question. + +"If the present civilization succeeds, it will do so by adopting the +methods of some, if not all, of our big corporations of to-day, and +thus make of nations, huge Trust socialisms where the individual will +hunger no more for freedom because of his having never tasted it. The +one great desideratum to this end is the absolute control of +education--an end that will never be reached so long as the Catholic +Church continues to save Christian civilization through its religious +schools. + +"Would that our fellow citizens of other faiths knew the ruin that they +court by relinquishing to a material power control over the minds and +hearts of their children. + +"In every country the public school is bringing young minds under the +spell of worldliness. The result is selfishness, jingoism, narrow +nationalism--an unthinking, a gullible generation to become the easy +prey of exploiters and the docile slaves of commerce. + +"No man who has drunk into his heart and mind in youth the truths of +religious education can readily become the willing dupe of a +materialistic state. + +"Commerce to-day is the God of nations. It makes wars, compels peace +and tramples upon morality and justice. Surely then Catholics should +study in a particular way the only safeguard left them against such a +fate--the sound philosophy of a religious education." + +[2] America, Aug. 21, 1920. + +[3] Cfr. Article by Father Vaughan, S.J., on this subject--America, +Feb. 21, 1920. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +A WINDOW IN THE WEST[1] + +_A Crusade for Better Schools in Saskatchewan--Its Lessons: an +Invitation and a Warning._ + + +"A Window in the West!"--This was the suggestive title given to a +course of pedagogical studies instituted in a Folk High-School of +Denmark. The object of this course was to promote the study of these +English and American educational ideals which Denmark may assimilate +with profit. They looked to the West for light! + +May we be allowed also to open here, in this Educational +Conference. . . . "A Window in the West." Through that window will +come to you the bright vision of the educational activities of our +Western Provinces, and, with that vision, I hope, the sunny and breezy +atmosphere of new and progressive ideas. I will limit my present +remarks to a brief sketch of what was known in Saskatchewan as the +"_Better School Movement_." This educational movement has an +interesting history and carries with it a very profitable lesson. As +the object of this Conference is to forward the cause of education in +this part of our great Dominion, we thought it would be both +interesting and instructive to hear that history and learn that lesson +that comes to us from beyond the Great Lakes. + +The West, we know too well, has many things yet to learn from the East; +but good old Mother East should at times forget "what has been"--and +consider more "what is to be." In many points her growing western +daughters can give her helpful suggestions. Moreover this exchange of +ideas in an immense Dominion like ours is, we claim, absolutely +necessary to keep the mental equilibrium between East and West. There +are let us not forget it, many other problems beside the tariff problem +which are widening the breach, deepening the chasm between these two +sections of our Country. True patriotism demands co-operation, and not +antagonism, between these two main sectors of that immense firing line, +which is flung between the Atlantic and the Pacific. + +1. _History_.--The history of the "Better School Movement" in +Saskatchewan is not very old, but, like the vegetation on the western +prairies had a rapid and healthy growth. It crowded into a few years a +whole epoch of the educational life of the Province. On June 22, 1915, +the Hon. W. Scott, then Premier and Minister of Education, made his +epochal speech which launched the idea of a reform movement. The +object of this movement was the re-adjustment of the school system, of +its curriculum and administration, to conditions existing throughout +the Province. The people of Saskatchewan were invited to constitute +themselves a grand committee of the whole on education, to study facts +and to suggest means. This invitation of the keen-sighted Premier was +accepted by the people without any distinction of race, creed or +language. The leader of the Opposition indorsed the idea and pledged +the support of his party. This non-partisan movement crystallized +itself in the "Saskatchewan Public Education League" which was formed +at the general meeting of delegates from all over the Province, held in +Regina, in Sept., 1916. The league became a forum for the expression +of public opinion. The newspapers of the Province gave wide publicity +to the new movement and threw open their columns to a public +discussion. Teachers' associations, inspectors' conventions, church +synods, grain growers' meetings, labour unions, medical councils, +trustees' conventions particularly, made school improvements a fruitful +topic at all their meetings of the year. Educational problems and +reforms were in the air: never have we better understood the +educational value of a publicity campaign; never have we seen it +crowned with such a success. The climax of this campaign was a public +holiday, June 30th, 1916; meetings were held in all the school +districts of the Province, speeches were made, resolutions passed. +Public opinion had been moulded and was ready for a "Survey" and +Legislation. + +By order in Council, June 7th, 1917, Premier Martin, successor to Hon. +W. Scott, whom ill-health had forced to retire--made definite provision +for an educational Survey. "This survey is in no sense of the word an +investigation; for investigations are necessarily based on assumption +of some sort of misfeasance or malfeasance. It is instead a +sympathetic inquiry into the schools of the people as the schools +actually exist. Suggestions for enlargement and re-direction are made +throughout." + +These are the very terms of Dr. Foght's report to the Government. This +specialist in rural school practice, of the Bureau of Education, +Washington, was engaged in this survey from August to November, 1917. +His report was dated Jan. 20, 1918. At the session of that year it was +submitted to Parliament and served as the basis of new legislation. +Its reading will prove most interesting to friends of education, and +most suggestive in the outlining of new policies of administration and +in the remodelling of the curriculum. + +II. _Lesson_.--This Saskatchewan Crusade for better schools carries +with it a pointed lesson. In our humble estimation and from our +view-point this lesson is a call for action; at the same time it sounds +a warning. + +1. _An Invitation_.--There is nothing, we believe, nothing more +inviting than the readiness of our Western Provinces in dealing with +problems. Here we have a beautiful example of that boldness of western +youth, so confident in its resources, so optimistic in its views. + +Like the West, let us diagnose our educational problems; a survey of +prevailing conditions will show facts and figures. Let us see and +admit the truth; camouflage is a poor policy in matters of such +importance. + +This diagnosis will naturally suggest remedies. Although there are +certain standards in education, which are as stable as human nature +itself, nevertheless, we must not forget that the human mind is a +living thing--ever re-adjusting itself to environments that various +factors have created. This readjustment of our methods in teaching and +of our policies in administration, we know, is a very delicate process. +But it has to be done and done rightly if education is not to be a +misnomer. + +This re-adjustment will demand the co-operation of the educational +expert and the masses. The expert has his ear to the ground, his hand +on the pulse to grasp the trend of human thought. He walks ahead to +blaze the way. To find or, at least, to train specialists to direct +the forward march is the easiest part of the problem. The greatest +difficulty in all great movements is to overcome the profound and +widespread indifference of the masses. Yet through this co-operation +of the people will come the only valuable and permanent reforms. +Without it our experts will court failure. + +Two initial tasks impose themselves if we wish to enlist in this great +educational movement the sympathies of the people: 1. To arouse +interest in local communities. 2. To organize individual and group +action. + +A wide publicity campaign (in the papers, by means of lectures, +distribution of literature, in season and out of season) is the only +means of arousing the people from their apathy. It takes time to see +the ideas of leaders and experts filter down into the lower strata of +society. Yet we should always have faith in the mastery of ideas, in +the ultimate triumph of truth and right. + +The organization of units for a concerted action is a work of time and +patience. Like the incoming tide it creeps in. This will suppose, to +be efficient, a recognized leader and an established and well +thought-out plan. This should be the definite result of this +conference. + +2. _Warning_.--But all is not gold in the El Dorado of the West. Many +schemes and laws have its lustre; but they have the brassy sound of the +neo-pagan state-monopoly ideal. This thought of the supremacy of State +in matters of education permeates Dr. Foght's report from cover to +cover. In general, legislation is looked upon in our new Provinces as +the universal panacea for all evils. The West is the land of +experimental legislation. In this we should not imitate our younger +sisters. Let us beware of fads! Let us never forget that legislation, +to be just and beneficial, should but help the individual and the +family in the forwarding of their true interest and in the protection +of their inalienable rights. + +This extent of State Monopoly is noticeable in two of the most +important recommendations of Dr. Foght's report. They are the +enlargement of school districts, so that the limits of the district +will coincide with those of the municipality, and the consolidation of +rural schools. Reasons of better administration and great efficiency, +no doubt, militate in favour of this change. Particularly +"Consolidation" is on a working basis in many Provinces. But the great +danger we see in this change is the placing of primary schools further +away from the influence of the parents. The school ceases, to a great +extent, to be "the extension of the home." The control of the parents +is less direct. The doors are wide open to State interference. + +These are the lessons we may take from the "Better School Movement" in +Saskatchewan. Let us accept the invitation and heed the warning. + + * * * * * * + +One parting word.--Let the people of Nova Scotia be up and doing! The +West is draining the East to its advantage. Your sons and daughters +are doing the thinking for those new Provinces and creating another +Dominion beyond our Lakes. If conditions are not changed, the +Provinces "down by the sea" will lose their influence and cease to play +their part around the family table of our vast Dominion. "Light comes +from the East"--our Maritime people will proudly claim. "Yes! . . . +and it travels westward!" . . . answers the Westerner. + + +[1] This chapter is the substance of a lecture given in Antigonish, +N.S., at the Educational Conference, Aug. 11, 1919. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +UNICUIQUE SUUM[1] + +_Principle on which should be Based the Division of Company-Taxes +between Public and Separate Schools._ + + +When a point of law is ever before the courts it is an evident sign +that the legislation governing that issue has been either defective in +its basic principle or deficient in its proper application. Such has +been the case of the "Company-School-taxes" in the Provinces of +Saskatchewan and Alberta. Every court in the land has had to deal with +this problem, and if legislation is not changed and placed upon a more +just and solid basis, it will ever be a source of trouble for the +community. + +Before dealing with the merit of this school question, we beg to state +that the time for co-operation in educational matters has come. The +day of wrangling and narrow conceptions has passed, we hope. If there +is a sacred liberty ever protected by the British flag it is surely +that of education.--The recognition and protection of ethical and +religious ideals are the most potent factors of the British Empire. He +is a true lover of British ideals who places himself upon that higher +level to judge the rights of minorities and the duties of majorities. +If our Province of Saskatchewan has not known the sterile struggles of +a sister Province it is because this principle has been respected and +protected by our legislation. In suggesting a remedy to our laws +governing Company-school-taxes, I appeal to that broad and fair minded +spirit which seems to characterize our banner Province of the West. +The solution we propose would give more satisfaction to the interested +parties and relieve the problem of its acrimony. + + * * * * * * + +In the Provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta the separate schools are +an integral part of the public primary educational system. They are +not parochial nor private schools, but public separate schools. Their +existence is not a favour conceded to the Protestant or Catholic +minority, but rather, the acknowledgement of a natural and +constitutional right. Therefore the separate schools come under the +common law. With the purely public schools, our separate public +schools share equal obligations and equal rights. The same official +inspection, the same qualifications for teachers, the same curriculum +of studies, the same school text-books are required in both cases by +the Department of Education. Equal right to public money is recognized +in the indiscriminate distribution of Government-grants. So both +schools stand side by side with equal duties and equal rights. If this +point of law had been kept in view no painful issue would ever be +raised; co-operation, and not antagonism, would be the aim of the +community at large in the great and sublime work of education. Hard +and bitter things have been said in the press, on the platform and even +in the pulpit: but they do not change a right. Might itself cannot +stamp out RIGHT. + + * * * * * * + +Public service is the principle of taxation. In return for the benefit +which a business corporation derives from dealings with the public, +distributive justice demands that part of the profits made, return to +the community under the form of taxes. This feature of a business +corporation makes it, I would say, _soulless_. One goes into business +not to make a profession of faith, but to make money. He deals with +every one indifferently. The dollar of a Christian or of a heathen has +the same value as the dollar of a Jew. Were a company to discriminate +with the public on lines of creed the public would be justified in +retaliating. + +Public utility, in matters of Company-taxes, is the basic principle of +assessment; it should also be the reason of their equitable +distribution. As the money of the public goes to Companies, +irrespective of creed, so also should the taxes of these Companies come +back to the community, irrespective of creed. As Companies are +assessed in school matters for the _benefit of the children_ of the +community, the proceeds of the assessment should be therefore +divided--_not according to the faith of the shareholders of the +company, but according to the number of children in each school +district_. And as the majority rules, the school district in the +majority should strike the rate of taxation for both districts. + + * * * * * * + +The division of Company-taxes according to the faith of the +shareholders is _neither just, nor practical_. It is not _just_ for +the reason we have brought forward. The principle involved in the +present law is _just when the individual is concerned_, especially when +the individual is the father of a family. As such, one has a right to +support the school which his conscience obliges him to support. This +natural right, our present law recognizes. _But in the case of a +company the principle of public utility and not the test of faith +should be invoked, we believe_. + +This present law governing Company-taxes is not _practical_. The onus +is on the Separate School-Board to enlist each year the sympathies of +the companies. Before how many Boards of Directors is the matter +brought up? The local manager is the one who deals with the problem, +and he often is a stranger to the laws of the Province, with no +sympathy for separate schools. Facts, stubborn facts, are there to +prove our contention. In no city of the Province of Saskatchewan is +the Separate School Board getting its part of Company-taxes. This is +one of the reasons why our rate is often so high when compared with the +Public School rate, and why our Boards are crippled in their finances. + + * * * * * * + +This simple reasoning should appeal to every fair-minded man. This +change of legislation we advocate in the matter of Company-taxes, is +not a favour we beg--but the mere recognition of a principle of +distributive justice we ask. + + +NOTE. 1. The argument as presented herein is still stronger when +applied to Companies of public utilities such as tramways, express +companies, etc., for their nature and profits depend absolutely on the +public. + +NOTE. 2. SCHOOL LAW OF QUEBEC PROVINCE IN THE MATTER. No. 2892. + +"When immovable property of such corporations and companies is within a +territory, placed under the administration of two corporations of +school commissioners of different religious beliefs, established in +virtue of Article 2590, the corporation which comprises the greatest +number of rate-payers entered on the valuation roll, shall be bound to +levy the taxes affecting such property and to divide the same +proportionately to the number of children from five to sixteen years of +age residing in each municipality."--62 V. c. 28, s. 399. + + +[1] This memoir was presented to the Premier of Saskatchewan at a time +when this problem was widely discussed in the Press. As the +legislation, then enacted, did not bring a satisfactory solution we +thought that the argument as presented would be of service for a future +date. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +DREAM OR REALITY[1] + +_Higher Education in Western Canada--Duty of the Hour--University +Training Condition of Genuine Leadership--For Catholics Higher Education +means Higher Catholic Education--The Concerted Action of all Catholics in +Western Canada can make a Western Catholic University a Reality._ + + +Never has the world manifested a keener and more general interest in +higher education. The facilities which Governments offer to place within +the reach of the mass of the people; the benefits of university +education; the enormous sums left by wealthy individuals for the +endowment of chairs and the foundation of scholarships; the eagerness +with which these offers are grasped by men of all classes; the +extraordinary success of the Overseas University in the American Army, +which had a student body of 10,000--these are, without doubt, manifest +signs of public opinion on the matter of higher education. The +world-struggle, we all feel, has shifted to another battlefield, and the +future in every realm of human activity rests on the mastery of ideas. +In that intellectual conflict, the primary school rooms are the trenches +on the first line of defence; the college and university lecture halls +stand out as the strategic heights from which the heavy artillery of +ideas smashes the way to victory. Hold the college and university +heights to-day, and the hinterland of industry, commerce, science, art +and politics will be yours to-morrow. + +Catholics throughout our Dominion begin to realize that higher education +is the price of leadership. "Of the many points of contact between the +Church and the modern world, education is the point where Catholicism has +most to gain by energetic thought and action, and most to lose by an +atmosphere of indifference." We are waking up from our deep lethargy and +beginning to understand that we shall not have our share in the shaping +of the destinies of our own Country until our leaders, particularly among +the laity, impose themselves upon the nation by their number and their +value. The magnificent campaign of the "Antigonish Casket" in favour of +higher education and the exchange of views this point at issue brought +from various correspondents, the successful drive in favour of Loyola +College of Montreal, the growing influence of the Catholic student bodies +in the various universities, the creation of Laval, in Montreal, as a +distinct unit from Quebec; the tremendous success this newly born +organization met with in its drive for $5,000,000; all these facts +indicate concentration of forces in the direction of higher education. +The national Catholic conscience is awakened into action. "One of the +most pressing needs of the Church at the present time, is to have a +well-connected body of university-trained Catholics." This statement of +Father Plater, S.J., is true also for Canada and more particularly for +Western Canada. And indeed, this pressing need of higher education has +come home of late to our western Catholics as is evidenced by the great +efforts made to establish colleges in the various Provinces. As this +move is of the greatest importance for the welfare of the Church in that +promising part of our country, we thought to be of some service to the +Western Church in drawing the attention of Catholics to this important +issue and bringing to a focus certain indefinite, hazy views on the +subject. + + +_Higher Education--Duty of the Hour for Western Catholics._ + +"When a reflective man of middle life walks along the embowered paths of +Oxford and Cambridge or through their quadrangles whose walls have echoed +to the footsteps of so many brainy men of England, he realizes what these +institutions have been and still are to Great Britain and the Empire." +From the lecture halls of these seats of learning have gone, generation +after generation, the men who framed and directed the course of studies +of other universities, the legislators and statesmen that have shaped the +destinies of the British Empire. "There is not a feature or a point in +the national character which has made England great among the nations of +the world, that is not strongly developed and plainly traceable in our +universities. For eight hundred or a thousand years they have been +intimately associated with everything that has concerned the highest +interest of the country." (W. E. Gladstone.) This example of the power +of Oxford and Cambridge is so typical that one immediately grasps its +meaning and appreciates its full value. On that immense background of +the Empire they stand out indeed in bold relief as the embodiment of +higher education, as the great portals that open on the highway of true +leadership. Is not the affiliation, that subtle intellectual bond which +units our universities of Canada to those two great seats of learning, a +permanent and living proof of this fact? + +A university is the vital centre of a nation's life. Around it, by a +gradual process of elimination and a natural force of gravitation, centre +the master minds; from it, as from a fountain-head, flow with true +leadership in every branch of human society, progress, wealth and +prosperity. On the force of this _centripetal_ and _centrifugal_ +movement of a university depends its value in the community. "The +increase in number and efficiency of universities," said Bishop Spalding, +"is the healthy proof of the vitality and energy of a nation." + +In the educational system of a country the university stands out as the +apex, the culminating and crowning point of its intellectual life. For, +as the college course develops the studious and acquisitive powers of the +mind, the university course has in view its creative and formative +powers. "Glorious to most are the days of life in a great school," says +Morley, "but it is at college that aspiring talents enter into their own +inheritance." "It is the function of education in the highest sense, to +teach man that there are latent in him possibilities beyond what he has +dreamed of, and to develop in him capacities of which without contact +with the highest learning, he had never become aware." (Haldane.) We may +well call the university "the brains of a nation." It equips the student +with standards and tests of objective truth. . . . It makes him dig down +to the bed-rock on which truth in its various manifestations rests. . . . +Universities are indeed the nurseries of the higher life, the living +sources from which knowledge and culture flow in abundant streams. They +do the thinking for the teeming masses who have neither the leisure nor +the opportunity to think for themselves and who live on that mental +atmosphere we call "public opinion." From the heights of our +universities, ideas and principles gradually filter down into the lower +strata of the nation. The novel, the Sunday supplement, the stage, the +cinema screen--these post-graduate courses of the working man--are +popularizing to-day the theories and ideals that were yesterday honoured +in our secular institutions of higher education. It may take time, +perhaps centuries, for this process of intellectual filtration; but +ideas, like the stream, are bound to follow the incline of the water-shed. + +If the change that takes place in the mind and conscience of the +individual is a slow and subtle process, what should we not expect when +there is question of a nation? Yes, the process is slow but it is sure. +The permeation of evolutionism into every domain of human thought is a +recent and most striking illustration of it. This fact stands out +conspicuously on the pages of history. "Lord Acton's view of history," +said Shane Leslie, "was that ideas, not men or events, made the +differences between one era and the next." The mind is always the storm +centre of revolutions, the breeding ground of the most conflicting +theories. The great storms that sweep over humanity always gather on the +high summits of religion and philosophy, blackening the mental horizon; +sooner or later, they break out on the lower plains of the economic +social and political world, spreading everywhere revolution and +destruction. The blasphemous Proudhon gave utterance to a great truth +when he wrote: "It is surprising how at the bottom of every political +problem we always find some theology involved." We lay stress upon this +aspect of universities, for, in our mind, from a catholic view-point, it +is of the greatest importance in the discussion of the present issue. + +The university is not only the focus of the intellectual life of a +country; by its research work, by its applied science it becomes also the +very fountain head of all national progress and prosperity. The natural +resources lie dormant, the soil--that perennial source of wealth, is +stagnant, the export-trade of manufactured goods and agricultural +products is at its lowest ebb, until touched by the magic wand of the +university expert. It is he who discovers, develops and shows how to +make use of with profit, the hidden wealth of the land. The research +bureaus instituted by the Government of Canada and the United States, +co-operating with the various universities, are now considered as the +most important factors of national prosperity. The Reclamation Service +of the U.S. by irrigation, drainage and the pulling of stumps will +reclaim nearly 300 million acres for colonization. To bring the economic +value of a university nearer home to us, who does not know the beneficial +influences of Saskatoon University on the agricultural pursuits of +Saskatchewan? This relation of the university and the material +prosperity of a country is so marked that the Mosely Educational +Commission sent by England to the United States, most strongly emphasized +that living connection and necessary correlation between the universities +and the industrial and manufacturing prosperity of the United States. + +A university is therefore not a mere luxury, but rather a necessary asset +in a nation's life. "The development of the true spirit of the +University among a people is a good measure of the development of its +soul, and consequently of its civilization" (Haldane). "No country," we +will conclude with "Catholic" in the Antigonish Casket, "ever attained to +any degree of political influence, nor have any people ever risen from a +lower to a higher level of intellectual and social culture, without the +light and inspiration that flow from a genuine university." This vision +was before the eyes of Cecil Rhodes who founded scholarships throughout +the British Empire. These scholarships glean every year in the wide +fields of the Empire the brightest minds and throw them as a beautiful +sheaf at the foot of the great English Alma Mater, Oxford. Millions and +millions have been left for the same purpose to the American Universities. + +The university may well then be called the Alma Mater--the nursing +mother, of the leaders of a nation. From its halls "emerge those who +have that power of command which is born of penetrating insight. Such a +power generally carries in its train the gift of organization, and +organization is one of the foundations of national strength." (Lord +Haldane.) The belief that the self-made men were the real successful men +is a thing of the past. A careful investigation has proved that ninety +per cent of the men who stood at the head of large financial, political, +philanthropic, economic, industrial and commercial institutions of the +world were graduates of universities.[2] The self-made man as a leader +is the exception and has necessarily his limitations which he is the +first to feel and acknowledge. Munsterberg in his book "The Americans" +has a page which is very much to the point. "The most important factor +of the aristocratic differentiation of America is higher Education and +culture and this becomes more important every day. The social importance +ascribed to a college graduate is all the time growing. It was kept back +for a long time by unfortunate prejudices. Because other than +intellectual forces had made the nation strong, and everywhere in the +foreground of public activity there were vigorous and influential men who +had not continued their education beyond the public grammar school, so +the masses instinctively believed that insight, real energy and +enterprise were better developed in the school of life than in the world +of books. The college student was thought a weakling, in a way, who +might have fine theories, but who would never help to solve the great +national problems--a sort of academic "mug-wump," but not a leader. The +banking house, factory, farm, the mine, law office and the political +position were thought better places for the young (American) man than the +college lecture halls. . . . This has profoundly changed now, and +changes more, with every year. . . . The change has taken place in +regard to what is expected of the college student; distrust has vanished +and people realize that the _intellectual discipline_ which he has had +until his twenty-second year in the artificial and ideal world is after +all the best training, less by its subject-matter than by its methods, is +the best possible preparation for practical activity. . . . The leading +positions are almost entirely in the hands of men of academic training +and the mistrust of the theorizing college spirit has given place to a +situation in which university presidents and professors have much to say +on all practical questions of public life, and the college graduates are +the real supporters of every movement toward reform and civilization." +(Munsterberg--"The Americans" 600-602.) + +The true _leaders_ in society are like the snow-capped heights of a +mountain range: they are the first that the new light of a breaking dawn, +of a coming period, is wont to strike with its rays, to be then reflected +on the silent and sleeping valleys. The men who hold to-day the pen or +draughting pencil in the university are the men who will handle the +levers of the world's intricate machinery. There they grapple with the +various problems of the scientifical, economic and political world and +their views, later on, will gradually influence the whole mental attitude +of the masses, who, in their daily life, are confronted with these same +problems. + +This leadership of _thought_ and _action_ is no more the privilege of a +few; in our democratic country every one can aspire to it. The days when +primary education was for the masses, secondary or college education for +the middle classes and university training for "the quality," have passed +away and gradually the benefits of higher education are being extended to +all. The _equality of opportunity_, not that of wealth and position, is +_the test of true democracy_. This condition has created the aristocracy +of brains and character before which the aristocracy of wealth, of blood +and lineage fade into insignificance. + +The predominance of the "vocational feature" over the "cultural" in the +scope of our modern universities, the vast "extension work" [3] carried +on in the various fields, the multiplicity of "free scholarships" open to +the competition of the brainy and ambitious boy, are other proofs of this +democratic trait of our modern higher education. + + * * * * * * + +Since higher education is the stepping stone to leadership, the question +most vital to Catholics in this particular and most momentous period of +our history is: "What share have we in the college and university life of +the country?" "The progress of the Church in any country is attributable +to the _indwelling Spirit_ which guides the Church.--Next, to the piety, +zeal and education of its _priesthood_,--and lastly, though in no mean +degree, to the devotion, activity and education of the _laity_. Where +these three features combine, then the Church is writing the brightest +pages of Her history." (Archbishop Glennon.) + +I will not repeat here what "Catholic" in the Antigonish Casket, and +Henry Somerville in his pamphlet, "Higher education and Catholic +Leadership in Canada"--have been writing on for the past year or so. +With them we conclude that outside of the Province of Quebec, the +Catholics of the Dominion have not the influence they should wield. +Naturally there are many reasons to explain this fact. But we will say +with the Editor of the North West Review, "facts cannot be ignored with +impunity, the sooner they are admitted and faced with courage the more +readily shall difficulties be overcome. And the necessity for an +awakening to the demand for higher education is very real." + +In the firing line of the world's gigantic struggle we shall never hold +the strategic points to which our number gives us a right in our Canadian +Democracy, unless our leaders are strong in number, and in power. +Catholic leadership will give us the occasion to present, explain and +promote "our solution" to various problems confronting the world. During +this period of universal upheaval and momentous crisis, when all the +ingredients, we would say of the social and economic fabric are in a +state of flux,--like bronze in fusion,--Catholic leaders should be to the +front to supply the casts of Christian civilization. If in the public +press, the legislative assemblies, the labor meetings, public gatherings, +where mind meets mind, ideal clashes with ideal, knowledge with +knowledge, where facts are being examined and weighed, where ideas are +thrown into the melting pot of public debate, if then and there, there is +no one to stand for Catholic views in the various matters under +discussion, can we be astonished that we are absolutely ignored, and our +views not considered? "We believe that an attitude of merely destructive +criticism, of aloofness, scepticism, pessimism, is a deplorable mistake. +It is not by standing aloof from the movements of our day, but by going +fearlessly into them with the message of truth entrusted to our charge, +shall we best fulfil our high mission towards our fellow countrymen. We +must seize these opportunities in the spirit of high confidence and +dauntless zeal which befits those who have the Truth, know they have the +Truth, and are assured that the Truth is great and shall prevail." +(Universe--June 13, 1919.) + +Never has a greater opportunity challenged the Church and her leaders +than at this great turning of the tide in the history of the world. +Canada itself is on the threshold of the most eventful and decisive +period of her national life. "The war has brought our country into the +broad stream of internationalism . . . and a new _national consciousness_ +is being born and is sweeping over the land." In the future, as in the +past, our Dominion will remain divided by race and creed. But let us not +forget that the various religious and ethnical groups will have only the +influence that gives true leadership. The value and the measure of +higher education among Catholics will therefore give the value and the +measure of their participation in the remodelling of their great country. + +If such is the case of Catholics throughout Canada, what would we not say +of Catholics in our Western Provinces. In this reconstruction of our +Dominion the prairie Provinces are without doubt to play a preponderant +part. One has only to open his eyes to see the trend of our national +policies, and immediately grasp the growing importance of our Western +Provinces. The West is gradually passing from the pioneer conditions and +becoming conscious of its importance. With the beautiful qualities and +unlimited resources of youth, it has also its dangerous shortcomings. +Daring, venturous, over confident, the western mind is easily and +frequently hasty and radical in its conclusions. Intoxicated with wealth +and success, inspired and aroused by the great possibilities of his new +home, the Westerner is ever tempted to experiment in legislation, make +extreme views prevail and believe the newest is always the best. He will +boast of broadmindedness, of love of freedom and at the same time will, +under the deceiving tyranny of number, suppress the most sacred rights. +Nowhere we claim in our Dominion, is Catholic leadership and therefore +higher education, more needed at the present hour than in the West. Our +Catholics there need indeed higher education, for, at this hour +particularly, the nation's business is our business; they cannot remain +an isolated factor in presence of the tremendous issues that stare the +world and our country in the face. But if we wish to make our influence +as Catholics felt, let our leadership come from "_Higher Catholic +Education_" as from its fountain head. + + +_Higher Catholic Education for Catholics in Western Canada._ + +There is a decided distinction between higher education for Catholics and +higher Catholic education. This leads us to place before the reader the +principles upon which rests the catholic ideal in matters of higher +education and to suggest means of its speedy realization in Western +Canada. A friendly exchange of ideas on this most important and very +interesting topic will be profitable to all at this juncture, and help, +we hope, to clear up hazy notions and cloudy conceptions which some may +entertain on the subject. + + * * * * * * + +In matters of Catholic education, the most weighty argument is that of +the authority of the Church. Her views and practices, particularly on +questions of education, should be the views and practices of every good +Catholic. In the New Canon-Law, in the Councils and Letters of the +Popes, is to be found the only authoritative direction in this momentous +problem. The Church is most emphatic and most precise in its +pronouncements on the matter of higher education. The Canon 1379, +paragraph 2, of the new Canon-Law, is very explicit on the subject. "If +the public universities are not imbued with Catholic doctrine and +surrounded with a Catholic atmosphere, it is most desirable to found in +that country or region a Catholic University." The Plenary Councils of +Baltimore and of Quebec (Tit, VI-C, VII) command in the most pressing +manner the Catholic youth to frequent only Catholic universities. When +circumstances necessitate attendance at non-Catholic universities, +safeguards are exacted to minimize the danger. These recent dispositions +of the Church's legislation reflect the stand the Church has always taken +on this ground of higher education. Is She not "_Mater universitatum_?" +Modern civilization owes its universities to the Catholic Church, as the +very stones of Cambridge and Oxford still proclaim . . . _lapides +clamabunt_! And in these days of religious indifference, after heroic +efforts and great sacrifices, in spite of the allurement of our wealthy +state and independent institutions, the Church counts in every country +seats of higher learning, where her children may receive the benefit of +university training without danger for their conscience or their faith. + +This stand of the Church in primary, secondary and higher education is +the logical conclusion of her doctrine. "The theory of life," said +Father Little, S.J., "and the theory of education go hand in hand." As +the Church has a definite teaching on life, its value and its purpose, +She has necessarily fundamental principles upon which education must rest +if it wishes to be in harmony with Christian life and Catholic belief. +In her eyes education, in all its degrees, must be primarily and +profoundly religious. "If indeed, the Catholic Faith which makes such +tremendous and such confident statements about God and His ways with men, +is true, then obviously it takes the central place in human knowledge, +and all other knowledge groups itself round and is coloured by Faith." +Therefore, the principle, "every Catholic boy and girl in a Catholic +college or university" should be to us as sacred as is "every Catholic +child in a Catholic school." One is the consequence of the other; both +are the practical conclusions of our faith. This close connection +between theories of education and the attitude towards problem of life is +evident in history. + +The Pope, Benedict XV, in his recent letter to the American Hierarchy +(March, 1919), writes: "The future of the Church and State absolutely +depends on the condition and organization of the schools; there will be +no other Christians than those whom you will have formed by instruction +and education. . . . We have followed with joy," he adds, "_the +marvellous progress of the Catholic University at Washington, progress so +closely united to the highest hopes of your churches_. We have no doubt +that henceforth you will continue even more actively, to support an +institution of such great usefulness and promise as is the University." + +The Most Reverend Dr. O'Dwyer, Bishop of Limerick, in 1904, vindicated +for the Irish people not the privilege, but the right to a Catholic +University. "For us Catholics," he wrote, "the Gospel as taught by our +Holy Church, is our philosophy of life and we hold that any attempt to +educate a youth in what we call secularism is a retrogression to a lower +level than that of pre-Christian culture. For this reason we have +withstood every attempt to force _secularism_ on this country and we +shall resist it to the last. We have equally withstood _mixed +education_, which, false as it is in itself and pernicious, is in this +country a specious pretext for Protestant educational ascendancy." +(University education in Ireland.) + +If such is the case with Catholic Ireland, what should we not conclude as +regards our Western Provinces? Here, more than anywhere else in Canada, +does the Church need staunch, genuine, Catholic leadership. In it the +future of Catholicity beyond the Great Lakes is involved. Reason and +experience prove that the training which makes for genuine Catholic +influence is plainly out of question unless it be received in a college +and university whose atmosphere, teachings, aspirations and ideals are +thoroughly Catholic. The recent foundations of a Catholic University in +Milan and in Nimeguen, Holland, justify this claim. + + * * * * * * + +Conditions existing in our modern neutral universities vindicate our +stand and strengthen our position. The tendency in these universities +is, without doubt, towards infidelity or to say the least, towards +diluted Christianity.--"The transformation from the old denominational +education to the new undenominational education was in point of +fact due to an antitheological--and even in some of its +manifestations--anti-religious movement. If it included a sense of the +justice of equal treatment for all creeds and a sense of the liberty +necessary for science, it also included some of the anti-Christian spirit +of Continental liberalism. The undenominational movement was the +practical expression of the liberal and scientific movement." (Life of +Newman--L 306.) + +A few years ago there appeared in the "Cosmopolitan Review," under the +glaring title "Blasting at the Rock of Ages," an article which startled +the intellectual world. It was a crude and biting exposure of the +intellectual license and unhealthy moral atmosphere of the great American +universities. To follow the author of this powerful indictment in the +proof of his facts and statements would be beyond the scope of this +paper. Only we would advise some of our near-sighted Catholics who +through that snobbishness which money often gives them, have a sort of +worship for non-Catholic universities, to read this indictment. In +giving them a glance of the "inside of the cup" it may change their +opinion. + +Dr. James Henry Leuba, professor of psychology at the Bryn Mawr College, +Pennsylvania, gave out to the public the answers he received from +sociologists, biologists, psychologists and teachers of universities and +other institutions in the United States, as regards their belief in the +existence of God. More than fifty per cent. admitted that they had no +belief whatever in the existence of God; forty per cent. denied the +immortality of the soul. The great majority, said Dr. Leuba, were +university teachers and none could compare with them in influence over +the rising generation. (Cfr. Archeological Report 1917--published by +Ontario Government.) + +When subversive theories based on an absolute materialistic conception of +life, and from which God, Divine Providence, Christ, Christianity are +systematically excluded and ridiculed as myths of by-gone days; when, we +say, such theories are rampant in the halls of our modern universities, +should we be astonished to see outright infidelity, political socialism, +religious anarchy, stalk the length and breadth of the land? "Impurity, +obscenity, moral corruption in many forms, with the ever consequent +cynicism and pessimism, forerunners of moral decadence, destruction of +the original, creative, shaping, joyous, confident energies of society, +come daily more boldly to the front of the stage and defy criticism or +mock at the archaic sanctions of yesterday. One does not need to peruse +the great modern historians of Roman morals to foresee the results of +such an educational debauch, when allowed time enough and the working of +its own, unholy but intimate and inexorable logic." (Mgr. Shahan--at the +Catholic Educational Convention, U.S., 1919.) Sow the wind, you will +reap the whirlwind. + +Should not such atmosphere of infidelity or diluted Christianity in +non-Catholic universities be for Catholic students a source of danger to +the vigour and even to the integrity of their faith, to their constancy, +in the full and faithful observance of their practical religious duties? +Familiarity with error, at the age of youth principally, breeds contempt +of truth and jeopardizes faith. The suppression of truth in its various +forms, the concealment of religious profession and observance, +necessarily lead to religious indifference. How many sad examples could +we not give to back this statement? This danger which Catholic youth +meets with in the very atmosphere of our neutral universities is still +greater when we consider the method of teaching now in honour in these +schools of higher learning. The tutorial method, still in vogue at +Oxford, has given place to the _professorial_. The systematic lecture +has replaced the exposition of texts. The professor, with his frame of +mind, his views on facts and ideas, is the living book from which our +youth read their daily lesson. His personality dominates the mind of the +pupil. We all know what fascination the science, reputation and +eloquence of a professor have on the unarmed and impressionable minds of +youth. The "_Magister dixit_" is very often the supreme law, the last +criterion of truth. President Garfield's ideal of a college, "Mark +Hopkins on the other end of the log," recognizes the educative value of +the contact with a master-mind. + +Authority and reason militate in favor of higher Catholic education for +Catholics in Western Canada, this is the logical conclusion of our +statements. + + * * * * * * + +Yes, nice theories, some may say; but we are facing facts. How are we to +contend with these well equipped, richly endowed, neutral institutions of +higher education? Where shall we find the resources to pay efficient +teachers, to establish the various faculties that go to form a university +worthy of its name? Have we not a state-university marvellously well +equipped and for which our Provinces are yearly spending fabulous sums? +Why not take advantage of our own money that goes in taxes for the +support of these institutions? + +To argue along these lines is to concede to our enemies our position on +the Separate School question. All these objections have been met with in +other countries and other provinces, and the answer to them was the +creation of Catholic colleges and universities. + +The great fallacy of the age, and particularly in this part of the +country, is State Monopoly in educational matters. This is looked upon +as the great triumph of modern democracy and the palladium of liberty. +The monopoly over the human mind by this monopoly of education is the +most dangerous of all state-monopolies. It is the resurrection of the +pagan ideal, the magnification of the state to the detriment and +absorption of the individual and the family. Germany has given us an +example of where "the standardization of thought and outlook" by the +State education leads to. The Prussian ideal, in its last analysis, is +nothing else but the pagan ideal. + +But no country in the British Empire has pushed the policy of +monopolisation of education so far as our Western Provinces. Under the +specious plea of efficiency and absurd reason of uniformity, they will +not even grant charters to independent institutions of higher learning. +This policy surely does not reflect true statesmanship and makes British +liberty a misnomer on the lips of many of our ultra-loyal Westerners. We +would ask our Western Governments to take lessons in this matter from +England. When some few years ago the question of converting the +university colleges into Universities was before the English public there +was much talk of the danger of Lilliputian universities and of low +standards of teaching and examination. But this question was brought to +trial by the State before a high tribunal and a firm decision was given +in favour of the principle. A special committee of the Privy Council +conducted a semi-judicial enquiry and gave sentence on Febr., 1903. The +result of this decision was that the colleges of Liverpool, Manchester, +Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Bristol, Durham, blossomed out into +teaching universities. This is the real British way of doing things. + +The United States[4] have granted university charters to the various +Catholic institutions of higher learning which dot that land of Liberty +from coast to coast. And let us not forget,--facts and figures will bear +us out,--the independent universities in the United States, in England +and in Belgium, only to mention some, have been in many Faculties more +efficient and more successful than the state institutions. The +remarkable record of St. Louis University, a Jesuit institution, is +illustrative of this point. A comparison of the respective medical and +dental records of this institution with perhaps two of the greatest +professional schools of the United States, John Hopkins and Harvard, +gives proof of higher efficiency to St. Louis University. The official +bulletins of the Medical Dental Associations give the statistics. + +The right of Catholics to their own schools--primary, secondary, +university, is a birthright we must always fight for. It is the +elementary right of a civilized people to educate her sons as she sees +fit. In the battle for this right the best strategy is to offer the +accomplished fact of a college and a university which by their +efficiency, their intellectual and moral value, impose themselves upon +the community and win their way to acceptance. Let us blaze the trail +and to-morrow, it will be the great highway of Catholic education for the +coming generation in Western Canada. + +But instead of this policy of "_isolation_" which in school matters is +the ordinary policy of the Church, some Catholics, in view of +circumstances, rather advocate that of "_permeation_." The presence of +Catholics in State Universities will, they claim, create a better +atmosphere, abate or soften prejudice, beget a better feeling among the +future leaders of the community. In England, it is true, Catholics are +allowed to attend Oxford and Cambridge; in Germany, they attend State +Universities. The Catholics of Australia have since 1916 also a College +in conjunction with the Melbourne State University. Student societies +have been formed, Catholic halls opened, courses of apologetics are given +to help the Catholic youth in the "steady daily pressure working against +them in a non-Catholic university," and to influence religious thought in +those centres of higher learning. + +Has this "_modus vivendi_" brought about by various circumstances which +it would be too long to analyze here, produced the desired results? In +Germany it has not created a Catholic atmosphere in one single +university. Have not, on the contrary, the German universities been the +hot-beds of Modernism and many a young cleric has come from their halls +inoculated with this virus. + +As for Oxford and Cambridge, we all know the controversy which divided +the Catholics for so many years. As Catholics have been allowed to +follow the courses there for only a few decades, we are not yet, we +believe, in a position to judge of the influence of these universities on +the Catholic body of England as a whole. Time only will tell. But one +thing is certain, no comparison can be established between our state +universities and these colleges. Although in the halls of Oxford, +Christianity "is often attuned to the outlook and temper of the age" as +the book "Foundations" (a statement of Christian belief in terms of +modern thought, by seven Oxford men) sadly reveals it, nevertheless, +there is not to be found in the English Colleges that atmosphere which +the absence of religion has created in our state universities. The +presence of various denominational colleges on the grounds of our +Provincial Universities only gives them a tint of Christianity. The +teaching of history and philosophy will tell the tale. "It must be +remembered that an Oxford scheme was never Newman's ideal. It was a +concession to necessities of the hour. His ideal scheme, alike for +education of the young and for the necessary intellectual defence of +Christianity, had consistently been the erection of a large Catholic +University like Louvain. This he had tried to set up in Ireland. In +such an institution, _research and discussion of the questions of the day +would be combined_ as in the middle ages with a Catholic atmosphere, the +personal ascendancy of able _Christian professors_ and directly +_religious influence_ for the young men." (Life of Newman)--by Ward. + +Were there question only of postgraduate work, of some special course in +agriculture, domestic science, there would be no difficulty, we believe, +to see Catholic students take advantage of the marvellous facilities our +state universities offer. The matter, the short term of these courses or +the advanced age of the pupil would be in themselves sufficient +guarantee. _But what we strongly object to is the Arts Course, and +particularly undergraduate work_, even were the contentious subjects, +such as philosophy and history, be given by Catholic teachers to Catholic +students separately. The Arts Course, we must remember, is the real +dominating factor in higher education. For we maintain with Cardinal +Newman that a University is a place of teaching universal knowledge and +that its object is primarily intellectual. It has in view the diffusion +and extension of knowledge, rather than its advancement, which is +reserved to Academies. It is the Arts Course of a University, +particularly its Philosophy, that gives this general knowledge and +enlargement of the mind. Its influence is most telling in the various +Faculties where students specialize for their future career. For +Philosophy plays such a large part in _human life, the movement of +opinions and the direction of minds_. The Catholic student in those most +plastic years, in that critical period of receptivity, wherein ideas are +analyzed and synthesized for life time, cannot help but imbibe ideas and +doctrines opposed to his belief. The elite alone, we believe, can resist +in the long run the influence of that indefinable quality called +atmosphere, and maintain among so many cross-currents, the right course. +The ordinary and inexperienced mind will be, if not contaminated, at +least weakened and this alone is disastrous in a leader. Many changes, +many transformations, we know, take place in the mind of youth as it +emerges "from collegiate visions into the rough path of real life." As +Morley wrote, "We know after the event, the tremendous changes of thought +. . . of conception of life, that coming years and new historic forces +were waiting to unfold before the undergraduate when he had once floated +out beyond the college bar." Yet, the solid teachings of Catholic +Philosophy will remain to him as the charter and compass when his ship +has taken to the high sea. This is the principal reason why we vindicate +the right to our own higher education. To push the argument further, we +would ask why should we be obliged to pay taxes to have doctrines opposed +to our conscience propounded from the professorial chairs of our State +University? The granting of a Charter by the State is but the minimum of +our rights. + + +_Dream or Reality?_ + +A Catholic University for Western Canada! Is this but the dream of a far +off future or can it be a reality within a few years?--There is the +problem which now faces the Catholic Church of our Western Provinces and +upon which, in our estimation, rests the influence the Church is to have +in the formation of the new and most promising part of our Dominion +beyond the Great Lakes. A high conception of the duty of the present +hour and the whole-hearted co-operation of every Catholic unit in the +West, will without doubt bring its happy solution and make our dream a +reality. To act on ideal principles with little or no attempt to +forecast accurately what is practicable would be to court failure. We +are gradually passing the mile-stone of pioneer life in the West, and the +Church is slowly but surely being organized and entering into full +possession of her normal life. The duties which Catholic solidarity +imposes upon us as regards the Church and the community at large are +growing apace with the status of the Church in these new Provinces. +Among these duties none, we believe, are more important than that we owe +to the cause of Catholic education. Naturally, the burden of the +responsibility falls here upon parents whose bounden duty it is to see +that the school, college, university, be, as much as possible but the +extension of their Catholic home. _The rising generation in the West has +a right to the benefits of a higher education; to this right corresponds +in the community a duty imposed upon its members by Catholic solidarity_. +For in the growing youth we see the Country and the Church, with whose +future welfare it is necessarily united. A true Catholic must have his +vision of what the Church ought to be in his Country and must work to +make that vision come true. + +Through a Catholic University, and through it only, will the Church give +its full _contribution to the national life of Western Canada_ by +creating as we said, Catholic leadership. We have as Catholics, ideas to +give to the nation, to its up-building, and to its prosperity. The sun +of Canadian liberty is shining for our doctrines as it does for other +ideals. And, strange to say, the most subversive theories seem to take +the greatest and most frequent advantage of this freedom. We have no +apology to make for our ideas. They stand on their own merit and have +been vindicated by the acid-test of time. To bring our message to the +country, to spread its beneficial influence is the mission of our +Catholic leaders. Only a large number of truly educated Catholic men are +able to make their influence felt on the life and thought of a country. + +This identification of a Catholic university with our Western Provinces +will be an asset to our public life and beneficial to the people at +large, notwithstanding their aloofness and unreasoned opposition to our +principles and methods. The evils of the times are the direct result of +the secularization of education. Catholic higher education is the only +antidote and remedy to this evil. Its principles are a vigorous protest +against materialistic philosophy. We believe in the mastery of ideas and +in the final victory of truth. + +_The Church also for her own benefit needs true Catholic leaders_. +Leaders in a Catholic Community, who are not thoroughly Catholic in their +training, who have false notions, warped views, biassed conceptions of +vital questions, are most detrimental to the cause of Catholicity. +Distorted and confused ideas, in religious matters particularly, always +lead to a compromise. After school days they fail to find their Catholic +faith correlated with the _problems_ and _experiences_ which never +troubled them before, and which now, lack of higher education will not +allow them to solve and to face. Have we not indeed in Western Canada to +guard ourselves against latitudinarianism in our Catholic life? Material +prosperity, success in business or in farming, associations with men and +women who have practically no belief whatever, erroneous conceptions of +broadmindedness in religious matters, absence of traditions, lack of +Catholic education, all these causes and many others have created +especially in our cities, where such a large floating population is to be +found, and in our country places where there is no resident priest, a +compromising Catholicism, apologetic Catholics. How many Catholics in +the West are always ready to cringe in presence of those who are not of +our belief and to apologize for their faith. To react against this +abiding danger we need all through the country well instructed and +thoroughly educated Catholic leaders who will be in our world of +agnosticism and irreligion, the protagonists and apologists of +Catholicism. The fearless proclamation of the truth combined with a good +moral public life is in itself a tremendous power. Indeed, we need in +all the avenues of life men whose university training will give them +influence in public life. But let it never be forgotten those captains +of industry, those brilliant and successful professional men, those +progressive farmers--valuable as they all may be--must count more as +leaders of Catholic thought than as money-makers. If not, they will be +found wanting when the Church needs them the most. We emphasize this +point, for in the plea for higher education very often our attention +seems to be more on the successful business man than on the Catholic +thinker. + +Love of Church and country will therefore inspire us with a high sense of +duty in relation to the establishment of a seat of higher education in +this promising part of our great Dominion. And this duty, let us not +forget it, _is urgent_. Every decade means a new generation that should +have passed from the halls of our university to the commanding heights of +the country's leadership. Our hesitancy means a further postponement of +the triumph of the Catholic Cause. + +This high conception of an urgent duty gives the vision. From the +clearness, breadth and depth of that vision will spring the conquering +spirit of co-operation. Co-operation to be efficient and persevering +demands a united plan of action and an authoritative leadership. + +The Catholic population of Western Canada is yet very limited. We cannot +afford to scatter our forces and multiply our institutions. One +university for all Western Canada would be sufficient to meet the present +requirements. The multiplication of inefficient universities is a +calamity for genuine higher education. This has been the contention of +"Catholic" in a recent series of brilliant articles in the "Casket." The +policy would therefore be for all to agree on one college as the +non-Catholics have done in the different Western Provinces. This +naturally requires the sacrifice of parochialism and provincialism. But +if the Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists have each agreed on the +establishment of one educational centre for their students, surely the +Catholics can also sacrifice local interests to the welfare of the cause. +How many efforts our bigoted provincialism has neutralized in the past! + +Authoritative leadership only can unite our efforts on this unity of plan +of action. Nothing in this matter can be done without the direction and +support of the Hierarchy of the West. The division among Bishops was, +according to Newman, one of the main causes that made the Dublin Catholic +University scheme a failure. Naturally this problem of higher education +is one that overflows diocesan boundaries and remains common to all. +"Boundaries of jurisdiction, as wrote so advisedly, Archbishop McNeil, of +Toronto, are conveniences and means to an end." Beyond the +responsibilities of each separate diocese there are other +responsibilities which affect the Church of Canada as a whole. Let one +man with vision, judgment, energy, and action, make the creation of the +Catholic University in the West the work and ambition of his life, let +him have the sincere approbation and efficient co-operation of all the +Hierarchy . . . that man, we claim, will rally the Catholic forces around +him and will give to the West and its rising generation the blessing so +much needed of Catholic university training. Newman was fond of +repeating that it is only _individuals_ who do great things. + +And what will, this Catholic university mean to Catholic life in Western +Canada? Well established upon the highest academic level by its success +in the competitive field of learning, it will stand out as the embodiment +of Catholic intellectual life and the centre of Catholic activities. It +will be the counter-ideal to the ideal of agnosticism and materialism so +fostered and so prevalent in our neutral universities. Just as the +cathedrals are the expression of the Catholic faith in Christ's abiding +presence in the Sacrament of His love, so is a Catholic university the +embodiment and accomplishment of the Church's ideal in education. By its +extension work, summer courses, circulating libraries, correspondence +courses, lectures, etc., the university would unite our activities, +eliminate waste of energy and direct our combined efforts. Cardinal +Newman believed that a Catholic university was essential for thorough +health and efficiency in the Catholic body at large. To realize all that +a Catholic university would mean one has only to know what Washington +stands for in the life of the Church in the United States. In his +beautiful letter to the American Hierarchy, Benedict XV said of it: "The +University, we trust, will be the _attractive centre_ about which will +gather all who love the teachings of Catholicism." + + +_What is the Conclusion?_ + +We may summarize our argumentation in favour of our contention in the +following statements: + +1.--THE INTERESTS OF CHURCH AND COUNTRY, PARTICULARLY IN THE WEST, DEMAND +CATHOLIC LEADERSHIP; + +2.--NO GENUINE LEADERSHIP WITHOUT UNIVERSITY TRAINING; + +3.--FOR CATHOLICS HIGHER EDUCATION MEANS HIGHER CATHOLIC EDUCATION. + +Now, Patient reader, allow us to conclude these already too lengthy +pages, by this pointed question: "_Is a Catholic university for Western +Canada within the possibilities of the near future?_" + +Our answer will be simple, direct, conclusive, and, we hope, convincing. +If all Catholics in the Western Provinces, under the direction and with +the continued support of the Hierarchy, unite in one sublime and +persistent effort, we have the utmost confidence in its immediate +realization. Some Catholics, we know, will distrust its expediency, +despair of its success or even feel an obligation to oppose it. +Difficulties, most undoubtedly, we will have numerous and great. With +time, patience, perseverance and self-sacrifice we will overcome them. +Nothing succeeds like success. The establishment of a work of that kind +is the work of years and even of centuries. There must be some day a +start, a foundation to build on. The policy of nihilism leads nowhere. +The frequentation of our State universities would indefinitely postpone +all efforts for the Catholic ideal, and be a surrender of the whole +situation. But let us not be carried away with the modern fallacy of +materialistic grandeur. Spacious and beautiful buildings, nice grounds +and attractive surroundings are not to be despised when the finances are +good. But all these things are secondary; they do not give the intrinsic +value to a university, they are not "the pulse of the machine." The +great business of a university is to teach; the highest academic level +should be its worthy ambition. The teachers are the real makers of a +seat of higher learning, they pitch high or low the standard of learning. + +This great work will demand from every Catholic a continued effort of +loyal and generous support. The Canon-law, the Councils, the +exhortations of the Pope insists on this support of Catholic +universities. Particularly those who are blessed with the goods of this +world and to whom Providence has been generous, should remember that +"their wealth has a fiduciary character; a character that entails duties +towards the Catholic community at large, none less obligatory because +they are rooted in the virtue of _charity_, instead of the virtue of +_justice_." + +But experience tells us that our Catholic institutions are founded and +supported more by the "widow's mite" than by the millionaires' donations. +The support will come from the Catholic communities of Western Canada; it +will indeed come with most gratifying results _if the appeal is lofty in +its motive and proposal, concerted and systematic in its action_. + +We are not to go to the Catholics of the West with an appeal in one hand +and an apology in the other. A straightforward, self-respecting +presentation of our cause will bring a no less straightforward and +self-respecting response. To make this appeal an unqualified success +there must be also concerted action. Intensive efforts alone bring +results. This means the canvass of the West for this single purpose, at +a stated time. But any canvass of this kind, to be effective, must be +prepared by an educational campaign. Give the Catholics, we maintain, +the vision of their duty, sound the call . . . and they will respond. +For indifference, profound and widespread,--fruit of ignorance more than +of ill-will,--would be the greatest obstacle to overcome. Arousing +interest will be the initial task. In Australia, Archbishop Mannix +organized a campaign, in co-operation with his suffragan bishops, for the +purpose of the Catholic College of Melbourne and from June to December, +1916, half a million of dollars was collected. The Catholics of Western +Canada are just as ready, we claim, to furnish such annual payment as +would be wanted: if only they are properly called upon. But this proper +calling involves first a systematic and periodical recommendation of its +claims by the clergy and influential laymen. + +System will avoid a conflict of claims for other great causes equally +worthy of our generous support. The war has in this matter taught us at +home a great lesson. There were appeals for the Patriotic Fund, the Red +Cross, the Belgium Relief, the French Aid, etc., etc. They all came to +us in rotation. No apology was made, every one felt in duty and honor +bound, and the money was always there with an extraordinary readiness. +Organization is the first element of success. + + * * * * * * + +Who will be the promoters of this great work? Naturally the Hierarchy of +the West will be its inspiring and moving spirit. But, should not the +Knights of Columbus, that body-guard of Catholic laity, be called to the +honour of "seeing it through." This great undertaking would be a most +appropriate background for all the activities of our valiant Knights in +Western Canada. + +A society, Catholic in principle and membership, must, to last, and be an +asset to the Church, have a definite programme of action in harmony with +its aim and constitution. If it keeps its energies pent up behind the +walls of the council-chambers and only finds them an outlet in social +functions and friendly gatherings, it will soon go to seed or die of dry +rot. When on the contrary an organization, such as the Knights of +Columbus, throws the full weight of its energies in the forwarding of a +great cause, the possibilities of its influence are limitless. The war +activities of the Knights and their splendid results for the Church and +the nation are a tangible proof of it. + +Could there be a work more in harmony with the aims of the great Catholic +organization than that of higher education. At the national convention +of 1912, held at Colorado Springs, the committee on Catholic Higher +Education ends its report by saying: "In the newer impetus that will come +to Catholic education as the result of better understanding (its +necessity and value), the Knights of Columbus must make themselves an +important factor. We owe it to ourselves and to that special loyalty to +both Church and State which we pride to claim as the special note of the +order. It is often asked what are the Knights of Columbus doing that +they should be so proud of their organization, and the best possible +answer would be for all of us to be able to point to benefits that were +conferred by Knights individually and in bodies upon our Catholic +education. There can be no mistake about the benefit to be conferred on +Church and State by progress in Catholic education." + +The active and persevering co-operation of the Knights in the forwarding +of the great cause of a Catholic University for Western Canada, would be +their contribution to the great period of reconstruction which the world +is now facing. + + * * * * * * + +On one of those beautiful mellow autumn evenings, of which the Prairie +alone has the secret, the traveller, as his train steams into one of our +Western Cities, will behold a stately cupola tipped with a golden +cross.--"What is that new building, yonder on the outskirts of the city?" +will he inquire. The answer will be: "_That is the Catholic University +of Western Canada_." + + + +[1] This chapter appeared as a series of articles, in the North West +Review of Winnipeg,--under the signature of "Miles Christi." + +[2] "Less than one per cent. of American men are college graduates Yet +this one per cent. of college graduates has furnished: 55% of our +Presidents, 36% of our Members of Congress, 47% of the Speakers of the +House, 54% of our Vice-Presidents, 62% of our Secretaries of State, 50% +of the Secretaries of the Treasury, 67% of the Attorney Generals, 69% of +the Justices of the Supreme Court."--Dr. Jones, of the University of +Missouri. + +[3] Lord Haldane addressing the Co-operative Educational Association +(May, 1920) made this statement: "The universities of England must be +made able, as national institutions, with a larger range of activity than +at present, to undertake extra-mural work on a scale so great that it +will be of general application throughout the land, and they must be put +in a position to be fitted to bring this about." + +[4] Speaking of Publicly and privately supported institutions of learning +in the U.S., Dr. Cappen, assistant commissioner of the United States +Bureau of Education stated that there are 93 of the former in the U.S. +and 477 of the latter. About 62 per cent. of the college students in the +country attend voluntarily supported colleges, and the private schools +have about 68 per cent. of the educational funds of the country at their +disposal. This includes of course such very wealthy endowed institutions +as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Cornell and Stanford. + + + + +PART III + +SOCIAL PROBLEMS + +"The political and economic struggles of society are in the last +analysis religious struggles; their sole solution, the teaching of +Jesus Christ."--(John Stuart Mill.) + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +BEYOND BERLIN[1] + +_After-War Problems from a Catholic View-Point--Reconstruction, the +Duty of the Hour._ + + +The heavy clouds of war and the bloody mist of battles are lifting; +once more the sun of peace bursts forth triumphant over a sad and weary +world. The storm has wasted its fury. The landscape is washed clear +and bright, the atmosphere is glowing and transparent; destruction and +ruins everywhere stand out in sharp and ghastly relief. On the distant +horizon, beyond the Rhine, the dark clouds drag their tattered shreds; +the angry lightning still flashes and thunder yet rumbles yonder--on +German and Russian soil. + +The war is over. The muddy trench, the deadly shrapnel, the perfidious +gas, the roaring cannon, the forced marches on the slimy roads of +Flanders, the heroic dashes and agonizing retreats of struggling +armies, the lurking submarines, the treacherous, owlish zeppelins, the +long-protracted vigil on the deep--all these grim realities of four, +long, endless years have melted away in the blaze of a glorious +victory. Now the German Armada rides at anchor, prisoner, in British +waters, the armies of the Allies bivouac on the banks of the Rhine, and +our Canadian boys, flushed with victory, come marching home. + +The day of the German surrender, Clemenceau, Premier of France, made +this significant statement: "Great have been the problems of the war, +but greater will be the problems of peace." Nations, indeed, now face +one of the most momentous periods of history. The world has struck its +tents and is once more on the march. Never, we believe, have such +tremendous responsibilities weighed upon a passing generation. The +future will be greatly imperilled if at this critical juncture great +questions are fought out between ignorant desire for change and +ignorant opposition to change. The handwriting is on the wall, and our +economic and social life, foreign to Christian morality, has been found +wanting. Will a new and better social order rise from the ashes of +this world-conflagration? There is the searching problem which presses +itself upon the mind of every thinking man. "On every side," writes +Father Plater, S.J., "there is talk of reconstruction, economic, +political, social, educational. Government departments are hard at +work gathering information, elaborating schemes. Numerous organized +bodies, such as the Labor party, are putting forward their programmes. +Conferences and lectures on reconstruction are multiplied and +literature on the subject pours from the press." + +"Great ideas," said Wilson, "at last have captured the hearts of the +common people and directed into positive channels and constructive +programmes the very energies which otherwise may have spent themselves +in the acts of retributive destruction." Reconstruction! This is now +the world's watch-word. It sums up the various problems with which +nations will have to grapple in every realm of human activity. It +speaks of conditions that are no more and suggests new outlines of the +social order. Our present and pressing duty then is to weigh the +anchor, to swing out into the middle stream and take our course on the +permanent principles of Catholic Truth. These principles stand on the +shores of History as the great revolving lights that sweep the high +seas in the darkness of night. + +Canada, after having bravely and generously solved the problems of war, +is now also facing "the greater problems of peace." This period of +reconstruction, more than that of the war, will test our national +fibre. The strain will be greater for the conflict is being lifted to +a higher plane, that of ideas. But nowhere in Canada will this vast +work of readjustment be more tangible than in our Great West. The +youth of that part of the country, and the dominating factors of the +national problem will, we believe, make the West the classical land of +reconstruction. A gradual evolution will bring our Eastern Provinces +to readjust themselves to the changing conditions of political and +economic life. The West, on the contrary, has in such matters the +beautiful qualities, the unlimited resources of youth, but also its +dangerous shortcomings. Daring, venturous, over-confident in +democracy, the Western mind is frequently most hasty and radical in its +conclusions. It has not been matured by time, that great teacher of +patience and moderation; experience has not, as yet, tempered that +feverish and progressive youthfulness, so prone to speedy and often +drastic legislation. The heat of fever is often mistaken for the glow +of health. And as legislation is in the minds of the Western people +the panacea of all evils in society, will not the common tendency be to +carry on the work of reconstruction by parliament bills and +orders-in-council? Is there not here a great danger? "The danger of +premature commitment is much greater than that of more cautious policy, +proving a stumbling block in the way of future progress." + +Moreover, the most vital factors of reconstruction in Canada will +affect more particularly the Prairie Provinces. The back-to-the-land +movement, demobilization, settlement of returned soldiers on the farm, +intensive immigration policy, extensive agricultural production are +indeed Western problems. + +The choice of the Hon. J. A. Calder of Saskatchewan, as chairman of the +Reconstruction Committee in the Federal Cabinet; the prominent part +given to him and to the Hon. Mr. Meighen of Manitoba, in the formation +and discussion of plans at the recent meeting of the Premiers of the +Provinces; these are in themselves striking illustrations of our +contention in the matter. + +Although the West will, in the period of reconstruction command the +attention of the country at large, there are, nevertheless, problems, +particularly those affecting our social and economic life, which will +weigh heavily on our Eastern Provinces. So reconstruction will be a +nation-wide work. + + +_The Duty of Catholics_ + +What is, therefore, the duty of Catholics, at the present hour? Are we +to fold our arms and let others rebuild the very framework of society +according to plans which our faith, reason, and history disapprove of, +and very often condemn? Our ideas in the matter may not prevail, but +how would we be justified in deploring the consequences of a +legislation which we did not even try, by our influence, to suppress or +modify? To abstain as Catholics from this great work of reconstruction +is profoundly un-Catholic. It is the act of a traitor to the Church +and country. As Burke so gloriously said: he was aware that the age is +not all we wish, but he was sure that the only means to check its +degeneracy was heartily to concur in whatever is best in our time. + +The Church depends upon her children to spread the beneficial influence +of her social doctrines. "The great work of the Catholics, after the +war, will be," said Father McNabb, O.P., "to bring the vision of the +Bride of Christ, the Catholic Church, before the millions of our +countrymen." "These countrymen of ours are blind and often bigoted," +adds Henry Somerville. + +There are Catholics who make this blindness and consequent bigotry an +excuse for their own narrowness and selfishness, for their neglect to +share in the nation's work, for their refusal to co-operate in +patriotic, civic and social undertakings as if they were none of our +business. The nation's business is our business. If we serve the +nation efficiently, we serve the Church. We take then the best means +to open the eyes of our fellow-countrymen to the fact that Catholicism +is not uncivic. If we make ourselves valued, anti-Catholic prejudice +will be dispelled. + +Cardinal Bourne in his letter on "Social Reform" speaks very pointedly +of the duty of every Catholic in this matter. His pronouncement and +that of the American Hierarchy are the most notable declarations from +Catholic sources on "Social Re-construction." "It is admitted on all +hands," says the English Primate, "that a new order of things, new +social conditions between the different sections in which Society is +divided will arise as a consequence of the destruction of the formerly +existing conditions. + +"The very foundations of political and social life, of our economic +system, of morals, of religion are being sharply scrutinized, and this, +not only by a few writers and speakers, but by a very large number of +people in every class of life, especially among the workers." + +The nation's business is our business. The true love of country +demands from Catholics at this critical stage of our history to throw +all their energies into the various social activities. Society +throughout the world is shaken in its very foundations. This universal +unrest in the political, social and economic spheres is a decided mark +of the birth-throes of a new social order. Therefore, we will conclude +with Cardinal Gibbons; "The Church cannot remain an isolated factor in +the nation. The Catholic Church possesses spiritual and moral +resources which are at the command of the nation in every crisis." + +The reform or remodelling of the social fabric, if it is to be +effective and abiding, must ultimately rest on the definite and +unchanging principles of morality. These principles constitute the +moral law, as physical principles are the basis of the physical law. +Ernest Fayle, in a very instructive article on "Reconstruction," in the +October number of the "_London Quarterly Review_," makes a statement +very pertinent to this matter; "The economic, political and social +factors in human life are so inextricably entangled that if we accept +quality of life and not mere power or wealth as the touchstone of +national success we dare not, even in the consideration of economic or +political questions, lose sight of the moral issues." + +The Catholic Church has always been the teacher and guardian of that +natural moral law which stands as the foundation and buttress of the +social edifice. Her plans of Reconstruction rest on the eternal +principles of equity which God has engraved on the human conscience and +which the teachings of Christ have sanctioned and perfected. In the +light of Catholic doctrine moral laws are definite and unchanging, for +they are the deliberate expression of the necessary and fundamental +relations upon which rests human nature. They are the living, free +expression of man's place in creation. The most elaborate schemes and +powerful organizations are soulless without these basic principles of +morality and have but an ephemeral existence. + +Is it not, therefore, a great act of patriotism to try to throw into +the scales of the nation's destinies the mighty weight of +indestructible and tried principles? A growing respect is to be found +for the soundness, the wisdom and the justice of Catholic social +principles, even in circles where our beliefs have not yet found +acceptance. True statesmen have always recognized the influence of the +Catholic Church's doctrine in social matters, although they may not +believe in the truth of her teachings. They always looked upon her +principles of social life as the ballast that steadies the ship on +heaving seas. To make the Church a spiritual ally, to recognize her +moral power and her far-reaching influence has always been considered +good diplomacy and clear-sighted statesmanship. + + +_Catholic's Patriotism in Public Life_ + +Reconstruction is the great work of the hour; co-operation is a duty +every Catholic owes to Church and country. What definite and concrete +form of co-operation will that responsibility assume? There is the +problem. Our first duty, in the matter, lies, we believe, in a greater +participation in public life. Too long have we stood aloof from +movements that aim at the social welfare of the community. A false +timidity and an erroneous conception of our responsibilities have +estranged us, to a great extent, from the various activities of +national life. This isolation has been most prejudicial to our +Catholic laity, for it has fostered in their ranks disinterestedness +and often apathy. "With regard to the necessity of Catholics to obtain +positions on public bodies, Cardinal Bourne stated that very often +Catholics were urged to take part in public affairs, by becoming +elected to public bodies in order that they might safeguard Catholic +principles. That was a great good--a very laudable object--but it was +not the highest object. The great object was that out of the fulness +of their Faith they might give to their fellow-countrymen the +principles that flowed from that Faith, so that little by little there +might be built up in the consciousness of the nation that belief in and +use of those sound principles of the Catholic Faith which contained the +only solution of the difficulties with which they were faced." + +"Too long have Catholics lived in isolation, allowing others to think +and act for them. It is indeed, high time that they felt the pulse of +life that beats in the real statesman, as distinct from mere +politician. Duty demands that Catholics add their power of intellect +and will to the similar power of other citizens anxious to help the +commonwealth. We are not aliens in this land, not aliens by birth or +principle. As to the latter, I may say with all truth, that no one has +given clearer expression to the basic principles of democracy than the +Catholic theologians, Suarez and Bellarmine." [2] + +This attitude of aloofness, during the coming period of reconstruction +especially, would be profoundly un-Catholic. Our active participation +in public life will give us occasion to dispel prejudice, to offset +subversive doctrines, to advocate in spite of failures and bigotry the +principles of Christian sociology. We are firm believers in the +prevailing strength of ideas. They are indestructible; they rule +sooner or later. They may take time to crystalize into convictions, +but the force of mental gravitation must ultimately prevail. And after +all, Reconstruction, as Dr. J. J. Walsh stated, is more a question of +remaking the map of man's mind than that of remodelling the map of +Europe. + +The Catholics of England give us, in this matter as in many others, a +beautiful example to follow. During the war they formed a "British +Catholic Information Society," having at its service "the Catholic War +News Office." The result of their aggressive policy is the public +recognition of the value of the Catholic Church by the English people +in the national work of Reconstruction. We would here refer the reader +to Father Plater's letter on "Catholics and Reconstruction" for further +details in this interesting matter. Like our Catholic brothers of +England, let us also take our place boldly in the broad daylight of +public life. We have ideas to give to the Nation, let us give them. +Canadian liberty, without doubt, exists for our doctrines as it does +for the subversive theories of State-Socialism. We have no apology to +make for our ideas. They stand on their own merits and have been +vindicated by the great acid test of time. Yes, we possess the great +curative and creative forces for social Reconstruction; We have only to +call them into play. + + +_The Catholic Solution_ + +In season and out of season, in the press and on the platform, in +private gatherings and public meetings, through every medium of social +control, let the people hear the Catholic solution of the problems now +facing the nations of the world. We have a message to deliver. That +message, if it comes to the people shining like a steel blade, sounding +like the blare of a trumpet, if it wells up from a fiery heart and +drops from burning lips--that message will be heard. In this period of +strain and suffering the public mind is keyed to its highest pitch, +ready to snap at any moment. Strong feeling has generated in many +minds intellectual hysteria. "In war time," says E. H. Griggs, "there +is a curious paradox of widening radicalism of thought, with constantly +decreasing freedom of action and expression. When the discrepancy +becomes too great, you have the explosion,--a revolution." Therefore +in this time of intellectual ferment, the continued affirmation of +truth, and the persistent statement of principles are in themselves a +highly valuable service, which we are bound to give to the world. The +thought of the human mind, like rays of sun-light, focused on one +point, acquires the burning power of conviction. + +Participation in public life develops conviction; conviction repeatedly +asserts itself; continued assertion creates opinion; and public opinion +is without doubt one of the most universal powers at work in the world. +In every sphere of life you can feel the constant pressure of this +tremendous influence. It may well be named the "current" of public +opinion. Draining to its profit the latent and loitering powers of the +individual thinker, silently, irresistibly it moves on; checked, it +becomes an angry whirlpool of confused and gyrating waters; harnessed +to the wheels of national life, it will transform its energies into +light, heat and power. + +The creation and the spreading of Catholic opinion in social matters +should be in our mind, the ultimate goal of our activities, for it is +the greatest asset we can contribute to the vast work of +Reconstruction. As Lord Morley said, "great economic and social forces +flow with tidal sweep over communities half conscious of that which is +befalling them. Wise statesmen are those who foresee what time is +bringing and try to shape institutions and to mould men's thought and +purpose in accordance with the change that is silently surrounding +them." + +Time, you readily understand, will not allow us to dwell upon the +various problems which Reconstruction will bring before the country. +Our aim, now, is rather to awaken the sense of responsibility, stir the +sleeping conscience into watchfulness, and give to our Catholic men and +women the stimulating thought of co-operation. Our country is being +re-created in its political, social and economic life; to be a living +factor in that "re-creation" is the duty of the hour. + +Before bringing these remarks of a rather general character to a close +allow us to mark for your attention the leading problems. They will be +as landmarks planted to guide you on the way. In the international +order, the problem of resetting nations on a new basis by a "just and +durable peace" now faces the world. Racial and language problems +command our attention in the national order. In the political world +ideas are to be readjusted as to the nature, powers and obligations of +the State. Of late, the monopoly of the State has been asserting +itself so strongly that one is led to believe the old pagan principle +of the supremacy of the State will once more reign supreme. When +nations have ceased to give to God what belongs to God, they give to +Caesar alone what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God. + +The social order will witness demobilization and immigration. Who +cannot grasp the importance of these great problems with their various +and intricate issues? The greatest transformations are, perhaps, +reserved for the economic order; capital and labor, efficient and +greater production of industry and agriculture, the living wage, and +uplifting of the workman's status, etc. In the educational order the +battle will be greater, for there is a great tendency to centralize, to +federalize education, under the plea of "national schools." + +The religious order will see tremendous efforts for union among the +various non-Catholic denominations; "social service" will be their +center of unity, the common field of action. + +Various and important, as you see, are the problems that confront us in +the realms of human activity. Now, bear in mind, the Catholic doctrine +has a solution for each problem and it is your duty to give it. +Knights of Columbus, as you helped the Church to solve the problems of +the war, so will you also help to solve the greater problems of peace. +If you wish to be the body-guard of the Church, your mission is to lend +your noble and generous efforts to your spiritual leaders in this great +work of reconstruction. For, of this reconstructive period and its +great opportunities for militant and active Catholics, we may say what +Carlysle said of the period that followed the French Revolution; "Joy +was it, in that age, to be living--and to be young, was very heaven." +The task indeed is enormous, but the incentive most inspiring. + +We are bound to meet with the fluctuations and uncertainties of the +human mind, particularly in such times of readjustment and intellectual +unrest. Let us then never forget that since the coming of Christ and +the establishment of His Church on earth the principles of His teaching +are for all nations. The sun of truth has its meridian in Rome, on the +rock of Peter. There it stands at its zenith, in the permanent blaze +of a perennial mid-day; there it sets the time for the Catholic world +amid the ever-changing and conflicting problems of human history. +_Stat Crux dum volvitur orbis_. + + + +[1] A speech delivered in the Assembly Hall of the Knights of Columbus, +St. John, N.B., December 22, 1918. "The Catholic Mind" of New York +reproduced it in one of its issues. + +[2] R. H. Tierney, S.J., Editor of America, at the Catholic Federation +meeting, Brooklyn, September 15, 1918. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +WHOM DO MEN SAY THAT THE SON OF MAN IS? (MATH. XVI.-13.)--PUBLIC +OPINION AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH + +_What is Public Opinion--Its Power--How is it Formed--Public Opinion +and the Catholic Church--Our Duties to Public Opinion._ + + +Numerous and strong are the influences at play in human life. Acting +and reacting on the free will of man they are ever at work moulding his +character and shaping his destiny. Like the waves of an incoming tide +they are beating the shores of our heart; their triumph is to carry +away our liberty on their receding waters. + +Surrounding influences for good or for evil are indeed, to a great +extent, the determining factors of our moral life. Day by day they +write our history and with it the history of the world; for, the life +of every man is but a line on the great page of his nation's history +and the history of a nation, but a chapter in that of humanity. + +Of all the influences underlying human activities in the moral, social, +economic, and political world, one of the most universal and most +effective is beyond doubt, nowadays, _Public Opinion_. We may well +name it the "_current_" of Public Opinion. In every sphere of life one +can indeed feel the constant pressure of its tremendous power. Like +the waters of a mill-race constantly and irresistibly the stream of +Public Opinion sweeps on. It is very difficult to determine exactly +where lies its strength; it is nowhere and everywhere. Unconscious of +its swollen powers it spends its energies for the welfare of the +community, or, unfortunately too often, loses itself in an angry +torrent of destruction. + +You thwart its onward march: it will bury your barrier under its +laughing waters or . . . sweep it away. You ride with it: it will +gladly carry you. You check it: its troubled waves will rise angry +around you and engulf you. + +Such is the "_current_" of Public Opinion. To direct this great power, +to harness its tremendous forces, to convert them into light, heat, and +energy and set the wheels of moral, social, and political life running +with greater smoothness, rapidity, and strength, should be the noble +effort and the great task of every serious-minded man. + +By no idle whim or sheer literary piquancy have we coupled _Public +Opinion and the Catholic Church_. The inevitable relations that exist +between Public Opinion and the various predominating factors of a +nation should necessarily interest every true Canadian. Among these +factors the Catholic Church stands pre-eminent. Her beneficial +influences and her ready solutions to the various social and moral +problems that confront the world, cannot, even to the most prejudiced, +be passed unnoticed. So no matter what our spiritual allegiance may +be, the relation of Public Opinion to the Catholic Church should be of +the greatest interest to any one who has at heart the common welfare. +In Western Canada particularly, where Public Opinion has such a sway, +this subject, we presume, must be of service both to those of the +Catholic Faith and to those of a different persuasion. + + * * * * * * + +_What is Public Opinion--Its Power--How is it Formed?_ + +1. _What is Public Opinion_? + +Ideas rule the world, but various are the effects ideas have on the +minds of men. On some minds they exercise only a passing influence; +they are then what we call "_Impressions_"; variable as lights and +shadows over a summer lake they come and go. Impressions are indeed +only on the surface of the mind, like foot-prints on the sand washed +away by the next tide. + +When ideas take a stronger footing in our intelligence and are accepted +with a certain confidence, on their face-value or on the authority of +some leader, they become "_Opinions_." Loosely entertained and readily +exchanged, opinions are the ordinary mental pabulum of the masses. + +Few minds see their ideas crystallized into "_Convictions_." +Convictions are permanent, unchangeable ideas: based on facts and +supported by satisfactory evidence, they rest on the bed-rock of truth. +Few minds indeed, particularly on the larger and fundamental issues, +can claim the right to convictions. For, convictions demand a breadth +of vision and grasp of detail which are given but to few souls. These +minds, few in number, are the minds of leaders. Their noble duty and +great responsibility is to _Awaken_, _Stimulate_, and _Organize_ the +thinking of the people. Their thoughts, their ideas, are on the +unchartered sea of truth as the tossing buoy or lighted beacon from +which the unthinking masses take their course. Rather than go to the +pains of thinking for themselves the crowds leave this task to a few +and content themselves with ready-made opinions, as these float by with +the tide of the hour. Few make up their minds; they are made up for +them. + +The common opinion which reflects the mind of the great majority, +embodies the prevailing idea, the universal sentiment, and directs the +common action is called. . . _Public Opinion_. + + +2. _Power of Public Opinion_. + +You readily see, by its very nature, the tremendous power of Public +Opinion. It is the "reason why," the basis of appreciation, the norm +of conduct of the great mass of the people. As we stated before, +Public Opinion is like the stream that drains to its profit the +loitering energies of the individual mind, and makes them tributaries +that swell its volume and compress its course. Who can analyze the +powers of this "_Organized Thinking_" of the people in a democracy? +Who can measure the force of these sweeping currents, of these tidal +waves of Public Opinion? + +In fact, Public Opinion may be considered in our modern societies as +the greatest driving power. For, Public Opinion is the vision of the +unthinking multitude, and vision is the first and foremost of +constructive or destructive forces. It lights the way and invites +action accordingly. Marvellous indeed is the sweep of the tide of +Public Opinion in various realms of human activities. Its ebb and +flow--although frequently beyond analysis, are felt on every shore. + +In the world of finance,--and this is the lowest in the scale of real +values,--is not that fragile but mighty factor we call credit based on +Public Opinion? For, credit is but the general opinion of the +community on the possibilities of the industry or undertaking in which +its capital is involved, and on the honesty and ability of the +management. + +What has weakened the moral fibre of our modern society so much that at +times one wonders if we are living in the Christian era? If the home +is now so often desecrated by theories of free love and trial +marriages, if the cradles are empty, if the very sense of shame is a +thing of the past, if the most elementary principles of morality are +questioned, is it not because the public conscience is being warped, +chloroformed, deadened by a frenzied propaganda of a corrupted Public +Opinion? + +Has not the politician and the legislator the ear to the wind, the eye +on the running tides and cross currents of thought, to know and sound +Public Opinion? Like the skilful and watchful pilot, he counts with +the set of the tide and catches it at its crest. He knows the exact +height of the rising tide that will float him and his cargo over the +bar . . . of a coming election--. This tide of public feeling has +carried some to the high seas of success but left many stranded on the +desert shores. Many public men indeed have set out on its angry waters +to brave its fury . . . and have never returned. "In our times of +Democracy when the "competitive" principle has replaced the +"hereditary," not the kings, princes and nobles, but bankers, +merchants, railroad magnates, capitalists, politicians, editors, +educators, writers and artists occupy the high seats, hold the baton +and beat the time for the great social orchestra." (Ross-Social +Psychology.) "Power and influence," said Morley, "no longer reside in +the Crown but in the strong, subtle forces called Public Opinion: and +that Public Opinion is apt to involve fatal contentment with simple +answers to complex questions." + +In the great international life of nations Public Opinion also holds +the reins. This power manifests itself particularly at the great +turning points of History, such as we are now witnessing. There is +always then resistance between conflicting forces; and resistance, we +know, strengthens the current. What power was at work for the last +fifty years and marshalled, on that fatal August day of 1914, the +formidable army that swept over Belgium, France and Russia? Public +Opinion created by the military caste in Germany! What secret and +growing force made of the Allies' contemptible army of yesterday the +crushing victorious army of to-day?--The invincible power of Public +Opinion!--It leaped from the very depths of the wounded heart and +outraged conscience of nations, and created in a few months that +unconquerable army of inexhaustible reserves upon which the Allies +relied until their final triumph. It fired the morale of our armies +and smashed the way to victory. For those who could not go to the +battle-field, it kept the homefires burning and fringed with the silver +lining of radiant hope the dark clouds that hung over our horizon for +four long, dragging, weary years. + + +3. _How Public Opinion is Formed_. + +You may ask how are the thoughts of the multitude so marshalled as to +make the unit of Public Opinion. As we already remarked, the thinking +power of the ordinary man does not go _far_, _wide_, nor _deep_. His +facility of absorbing ideas is far greater than his power of valuating +them. He generally accepts as real value any thing that bears the +stamp of current opinion. His belief in the value and weight of number +is without recall; his absolute trust in what Bryce calls "the fatalism +of multitude" is beyond appeal. He lives and thrives on the +_surrounding mental atmosphere_. + +How is this atmosphere created? By the continued, persevering +repetition of the same ideas; by the vesting of these same ideas in the +attractive garb of self-interest, passion, fancy and vogue. On this +process, we all know by experience, is based the ever youthful power of +_Advertisement_ . . . and of _Fashion_. + +Advertisement! Modern business is built to a great extent on the +mysterious allurement, the attractive invitation and innocent +camouflage of the advertisement that you find sparkling everywhere, on +the flashy poster, in the show-window, in the magazine, in the daily +paper. Without willingness to admit our weakness, we fall victims to +this wizard that we despised yesterday and court to-day, and line up at +the counter . . . for a _Special Sale_, an _Astonishing Bargain_. "We +are so thoroughly accustomed to the exploits of the advertiser that we +take them as a matter of course, rarely pausing to appreciate the art, +or at least, the artfulness with which we have been lured into the +acceptance of his ideas." + +_Fashion_! Who can analyze this power so great, so universal? Who can +explain the psychology of this fact? Every spring and fall of the year +Dame Fashion has an opening-ball--Paris plays the tune, New York wields +the baton, the ladies of the world . . . keep time . . . and the +gentlemen pay the piper. + +We mention these facts of every day life to illustrate the permeating +and driving force of an idea, when constantly kept before the mind. +And what advertisement and fashion are in the commercial and social +life, _Propaganda_ and _Publicity_ are in the world of thought. The +policy of propaganda is to enlist the active co-operation of every +vehicle of thought for the furtherance of an idea and to keep that idea +ever before the public. One readily sees the tremendous +responsibilities, and understands the flagrant abuses of those called +to create and direct Public Opinion. "The supremacy of ideas," it was +stated, "gives the greatest places of opportunity to those who awaken, +stimulate and organize the thinking of the people and especially the +thinking of a people in a democracy. The teacher's desk, the +preacher's pulpit, the orator's platform, the writer and editor's +sanctum--these are the places of true leadership, the thrones of real +power." + +This analysis of Public Opinion, of its power, of its formation will +now make us better understand its relations with the Catholic Church. + + +_Public Opinion and the Catholic Church_. + +Nowadays the relation of Public Opinion to the Catholic Church is, +generally speaking, one of suspicion, frequently of silent contempt and +very often of open hostility. This statement of fact may appear to +many too sweeping; its broadness may trouble the peaceful faith of +others. Yet, history and every day experience prove the truth of our +assertion. We go further and claim that for the Church this condition +will, and must exist. The Church, like Christ, her Founder and Master, +is to be a "_Sign of Contradiction_." Her very name "Catholic" is a +perennial witness to her sublime and admirable Catholicity, and thereby +an abiding proof of her Divinity. A Church that modifies her tenets +and adjusts her moral standards to accommodate herself to the +conveniences and fancies of the world is not, and cannot be the Church +of Christ. Now, as in the times of the Apostles, the Church "_Is a +Sect that is everywhere spoken against_"--"_If ye were of the world_?" +said the Saviour, "_the world would love his own; but ye are not of +this world, therefore the world hateth you_." Yes, suspicion, contempt +and hostility are the hall-marks of historic Christianity, for they are +the realization of Christ's promises to His Church, the fulfilment of +His prophesies. This fact for a Christian who has eyes to see, and +ears to hear, is particularly noticeable when periodically a tidal wave +of bigotry or open persecution strikes the Catholic Church, lashes +itself into fury, washes the Rock of Peter with ugly foam . . . and +dies away, ashamed of its own powerlessness and unfairness. + +Viewing this relation of Public Opinion to the Catholic Church--not as +an evidence of that spiritual conflict, often unconscious but ever +real--but as a fact, a historic reality, some may ask the proof of our +rather bold statement. Even those who are not of our Faith, and yet +always wish to be fair and broad in their dealings with the Catholic +Church, may question it. + +The proof is very simple to give. Public Opinion is against the +Catholic Church, because the powers that create and maintain Public +Opinion are against the Catholic Church. Facts here speak for +themselves. + +The Press--the Novel--the Periodical Literature--the Cinema--the +Stage--the Public School--the Academy and University Halls--the +Legislative Assemblies . . . are without doubt the high voltage-wires +that receive, carry and distribute the current of Public Opinion. Or +rather, like the wireless stations they gather those invisible and +imponderable waves of thought and feeling that are ever flashing +through the intellectual and moral atmosphere of nations, and translate +their message to the masses. Between these powers and Public Opinion +there is a continuous action and reaction. They are at the same time +the _moulders_ and _mirrors_ of Public Opinion. They are its +_masters_, but with the condition of being first its _servants_. + +Of all these creative forces none is greater and more universal than +the _Press_. If Public Opinion is the king and master of the modern +world, the Press is assuredly his faithful and most active Prime +Minister. This chief executive has extended the kingdom of his master +to the very confines of the civilized world. Nothing has contributed +more to the rule of Public Opinion than the Press. With it ideas and +opinions run through the public mind as rapidly as the dispatches that +carry them. "Mental touch is no longer bound up with physical +proximity. With the telegraph to collect and transmit the expressions +and signs of the ruling mood, and the fast mail to hurry to the eager +clutch of waiting thousands the still damp sheets of the morning daily, +remote people are brought as it were into one another's presence." +(Ross-Social Psychology.) + +The ordinary man now sees the world through his newspaper. He absorbs +facts and principles with the shades and variations the daily paper +gives them. Reports of events and announcements of policies are +colored to suit the aims and opinions of the editors and proprietors. +Windy platitudes--at least for those who know facts and have studied +principles--become gospel truth for the unthinking mass. Public +Opinion is thus conscripted by an "irresponsible power." This +irresponsibility of the Press is without doubt the greatest menace of +the day. For, the opinions,--we mean to say--the propelling forces of +the silent millions are at its mercy. . . . And these silent millions +make and unmake the world. + +This great power of the Press is inimical to the Catholic Church. By +press, you will readily understand, we do not mean any particular +paper, or a certain group of papers, but rather that formidable +ensemble of tremendous financial backing, of world-wide +information-services, of chains of papers that encircle the globe, of +these various agencies that tap the telegraphic wires of every country +and keep the cables hot. The Hearst papers alone reach simultaneously +four or five million readers daily. From New York to San Francisco one +man is leading the minds of these millions "to conclusions that he +wants them to arrive at"--What Hearst is for the United States, Lord +Northcliffe is for England. + +This great press is against the Catholic Church. The total suppression +of truths and of facts; the conspiracy of silence--often more dangerous +than an open attack; the coloring of news with shades of thought suited +to a definite purpose; the partial admission of truth and the maimed +relation of facts; the bold assertion of deliberate falsehoods; the +deceptive headlines--and the people live on headlines; the insinuating +title which is often in flagrant contradiction to the dispatch it +underlines:--these are a few of its various strategies of attack. "The +Pope and the War," "Quebec and the War," "The Guelph Novitiate +Incident," are recent instances of what we refer to. + +Some may object that the Catholics are of a rather susceptible nature +and always expect "privileges"--No, we only want the privileges of +truth, we mean fair play, equality, and justice. + +What we say of the Press can also be said of periodical literature and +modern fiction. "The very nature of periodical literature," says +Cardinal Newman, "broken into small wholes and demanded punctually to +an hour involves the habit of extempore philosophy . . . and that +philosophy, we know is not Christian philosophy. The writers can give +no better guarantee for the philosophical truth of their principles +than their popularity at the moment and their happy conformity in +ethical character to the age which admires them." + +Any one who has kept in touch with the stream of modern fiction is well +aware to what extent its waters are polluted and have contaminated the +mind and heart of our present generation. When the world has been +slaking its literary thirst at sources such as H. G. Wells, Galsworthy, +Ibanez--only to mention a few--should we be astonished that public +opinion is drifting to paganism? If theories of "Free Love" and +Divorce are rampant in our society, the responsibility to a great +extent lies with our modern novel. The novels that are written and +read, indicate the mind and morals of a people. + +What could we not write of the _Moving-Picture_ and the _Stage_? +Suffice it to state with Rev. R. A. Knox--then an anglican minister, +and now a catholic priest: "When a nation has lost its hold of first +truths and its love for clear issues, which has had its morality sapped +by sentiment, thinks of Christian marriage in the light of the +problem-play . . . the moral fibre of that nation is gone." For, the +vision of life and the interpretation of its pleasures and sorrows, +that come from the glare of the foot-lights, or the dimness of the +Movie-Screen, are surely not that given by the Catholic Church. Over +the screen of the movies and the proscenium of the stage could we not +very often write what the author of the play "Enjoy Life," Max Hermann +Neisse, said lately to a Berlin sensation-seeking audience that was +underlying with frantic applause the unsavory remarks and filthy +inuendos of the closing act: "Pardon me, I did not write this act.--You +dictated it to me." + +In pandering to the morbid curiosity and lustful passions of a +pleasure-mad world, the stage, the moving-picture, the novel, the +illustrated weekly are leading Public Opinion to depths before unknown. +The abyss calls to the abyss. Ways of living always follow ways of +thinking. Should we then be astonished that crime-wave after +crime-wave is sweeping the shores of every country. + +Existing conditions in our universities, public academies and schools +are not of a nature to conciliate Public Opinion with the Catholic +Church. We know perfectly well that in our seats of higher-learning +the Church is looked upon as an effete Institution, as something of the +past that has kept a certain air of respectability. Her teachings and +her history are there viewed in the light of the "evolution theory." +Who has not read, a few years ago, that terrible indictment against the +antichristian education of the American Universities, as it appeared in +a celebrated article, under the title: "Blasting at the Rock of Ages?" + +In our legislative assemblies, here and abroad, do we not find the +educational problem the burning problem for Church and State? Over the +head of the child swords clash, for the child of to-day is the man of +to-morrow. The stand the Catholic Church takes on the educational +problem--from which She never deviates--has always stirred Public +Opinion against her in political and social circles. We have only to +mention "separate schools" to awaken the memories of a long and bitter +struggle. + +The same inimical relations dominate the International Order. Rome and +its world-wide moral influence have been deliberately ostracized in the +recent and unhappy attempt to form a League of Nations. + +So the tide of Public Opinion sweeps upon tide. Everywhere its heavy +waves break into a foamy froth on the Rock of Peter. We conclude: +_Public Opinion is against the Catholic Church_. + + +_Our Duties to Public Opinion_. + +The antagonism against the Catholic Church is an overt fact. What are +the causes? _A distorted vision_, born of misrepresentation of facts +and misrepresentation of doctrine and practice; the _blind prejudice_ +against which our refutation of facts and explanation of principles are +of little avail: _these are the two main causes to which can be traced +this universal opposition_. And indeed no one will tax us with +exaggeration were we to repeat here what Tertullian wrote in his +"Defence of the Church," a hundred years after St. John's death: "_They +think the Catholics to be the cause of every public calamity, of every +national ill_." Have we not in our own country, organizations that +live and thrive only on enmity to the Church of Rome? They cannot meet +without passing resolutions of condemnation of the Church, of the Pope, +of separate schools, etc. We all know how often Public Opinion, in our +country, has been inflamed by prejudiced appeals to racial and +religious feelings. Racial antagonism itself is only a cover for +anti-Catholic fanaticism. + +Let us, by clear and sound thinking, by definite and bold expression +_enlighten Public Opinion_. To-day Public Opinion is shifting as the +winds, swinging like a boat with the ebb and flow of the tide. These +are days of loose thought, wild words, catchy phrases, especially in +social and religious matters. Words and phrases are passed off as +ideas, and fragments of an idea as the whole idea. Let ideas always be +clear-cut, with a sharp, definite relief. Hazy notions are of no +constructive value, and always full of danger, particularly in times of +intellectual ferment, such as we are now going through. They are on +the great sea of Truth as the smoke-screens, behind which lurk the +destroyers of error. + +Cardinal Newman concludes one of his letters on "The Position of +Catholics"--which bears on the subject of Catholics making themselves +known: "Protestantism is fierce because it does not know you; ignorance +is its strength; error is its life; therefore bring yourselves before +it, press yourselves upon it, force yourselves into notice against its +will. Oblige men to know you. Politicians and philosophers would be +against you, but not the people, if they knew you." + +_Create Public Opinion_ by _individual and concerted action_, that is +our next duty. Truth spreads, not like the devastating torrent, but +like the tide. From individual to individual as from pebble to pebble +it slowly creeps in and spreads the silent power of its rising waters. +"No one ever talks freely about anything without contributing +something, let it be ever so little, to the unseen forces which carry +the race on to its final destiny. Even if he does not make a positive +impression he counteracts or modifies some other impression, or sets in +motion some train of ideas in some one else, which helps to change the +face of the world." Godkin "Problems of Modern Democracy." 221-224. + +By the continued repetition of truth and the persevering refutation of +falsehood we will help to create around us, in our limited sphere of +action, a sane Public Opinion. But it is above all by the radiance of +our moral life that truth, particularly religious truth, will spread. +Religion, as we know, is of the moral order; its dogmas, precepts and +sacraments reach out into that domain. Paul Bourget, the celebrated +French writer sums up one of his most striking novels in this phrase: +"_At Forty-three_" which he calls the noon hour of life--"_man must +live what he believes or he will eventually believe as he lives_." To +live up to our principles is always the best proof of our belief in +them. + +_Concerted action_ will extend the benefits of this individual action +to the creation of Public Opinion in the Community, in Society at +large. As all great powers, Public Opinion is courted; this courtship +is "_Propaganda_." Truth requires propaganda as life needs +transmission. An efficient propaganda takes myriad forms but its +purpose is always the same, i.e., give to others our ideas and through +them organize the public mind. Distribution of literature, lectures, +the press, the novel, the cinema, bureaus of information, active +participation in public life are vital factors of an efficiently +organized propaganda. The recent Northcliffe propaganda, followed by +the Hearst propaganda are typical illustrations of how the public mind +of a Country was swayed from a pro-British to an Anti-English attitude. + +_The Direction of Public Opinion_ is the ultimate triumph of +propaganda. This is obtained when our principles pass into the warp +and woof of the social textures which are always in the making on the +great loom of our nation's life. Ideas have their full value when they +are extended to social and political issues. It is only then that they +influence a nation as such. For our lives are knitted with the lives +of others, and their action and reaction upon them form our public +life. "In the formation and guidance of the public opinion which +ultimately determines public action, Catholics bear responsibility and +must take their part." (Cardinal Bourne, at the Catholic Congress of +England, 1920.) + +As Catholics we have a contribution to make to the great upbuilding of +our Country. There is in every problem an ethical side, an unchanging +and unchangeable principle, the bedrock on which it rests. This +principle, the Catholic doctrine possesses; we know it, we are sure of +it. Why not then have that aggressiveness of militant Catholics who +take advantage of every opportunity, without being obtrusive? Are we +not too apologetic in our Public life? We would not suggest in the +least to be discourteously aggressive, although at times we are tempted +to do so and seem justified in our retaliation. But there is no reason +why we should apologize for our principles, for the solutions we have +to offer. The sun of Canadian liberty shines also for us and for what +we stand; we have our place under the shade of the "Maple Leaf." + +May we add a word for our non-Catholic friends. They also have duties +towards Public Opinion in its relation with the Catholic Church. + +_Receptiveness of mind_ is, in our estimation, the first and most +important duty of the non-Catholic. Open-mindedness was named by +Confucius "mental hospitality." It opens the door to truth by allowing +ourselves to be convinced by the strength of argument and the weight of +evidence. This state of receptivity permits the mind to correct its +distorted vision, and to see facts and principles as they really are. +Freedom of mind enables those who possess it to see things in their +true proportions. + +_Fair-mindedness_ will overcome prejudice, the great obstacle in +matters of Religion. Prejudice is made of a coarse and impenetrable +fibre, of a close woven texture; it is the product of numerous and +various influences. The ordinary causes of this pre-judgment or mental +torsion are an habitual intellectual outlook resulting from education +and surrounding influences, and a mental laziness which fails to +question its own attitude and to pursue principles to their logical +conclusions, and problems to their solution. This explains how +reluctantly the mind, in religious matters particularly, will accept +views contrary to those with which it has been familiar since early +youth and which time and surroundings have but strengthened. A +straight-forward appeal to _fairmindedness_ is alone able to break down +this barrier. + +Duties are in proportion to the responsibilities they entail. Public +Opinion, as we have seen, is a tremendous power but it is the power of +a high explosive which misdirected and ill-used will spread disaster. +Leadership is the spark that ignites the charge, is responsible for its +driving force. In the days of real intellectual leadership the mastery +of ideas prevailed and Public Opinion was considered as the triumph of +an idea. But in our days of so called democratic equality the centre +of gravity of this power has shifted from the leader to the multitude. +De Tocqueville in his book "Democracy in America" [1] has a remarkable +page, illustrating this point. "The nearer the people," he writes, +"are drawn to a common level of an equal and similar condition the less +prone each man becomes to place implicit faith in a certain man or +certain classes of men. But his readiness to believe the multitude +increases and opinion is more than ever the mistress of the world. Not +only is common opinion the only guide which private judgment retains +among democratic people, but amongst such a people it possesses a power +infinitely beyond what it has elsewhere. At periods of equality men +have no faith in one another by reason of their common resemblance; but +this very resemblance gives them almost unbounded confidence in the +judgment of the public; for it would not seem probable, as they are all +endowed with equal means of judging, but that the greater truth should +go with the greater number. The public has therefore among a +democratic people a singular power which aristocratic nations cannot +conceive of; for it does not persuade to certain opinions, but it +impresses them and infuses them in the intellect by a sort of enormous +pressure of the minds of all upon the reason of each." + +To this prestige of vast numbers Bryce has given a name. "Out of the +mingled feelings that the multitude will prevail and that the +multitude, because it will prevail, must be right, there grows a +self-distrust, a despondency, a disposition to fall into line, to +acquiesce in the dominant opinion, to submit thought as well as action +to the encompassing powers of numbers." + +"This tendency to acquiescence and submission, this sense of +insignificance of individual effort, this belief that the affairs of +men are swayed by large forces whose movements may be studied but +cannot be turned, I have ventured to call it "_The Fatalism of the +Multitude_." It is often confounded with the tyranny of the majority, +but is at the bottom different though, of course, its existence makes +tyranny by the majority easier and more complete. . . . In the +fatalism of the multitude there is neither _legal_ nor _moral_ +compulsion; there is merely a loss of _resisting power_, a diminished +sense of personal responsibility of the duty to battle for one's own +opinion, such as has been bred in some people, by the belief of an over +mastering fate." [2] + +One can readily grasp the dangers of Public Opinion at the mercy of +blatant agitators and unscrupulous leaders. They have no idea to +promote, but only a feeling to exploit. They flatter Public Opinion to +gain it. They appear to consult it when in reality they are creating +and directing it. They catch the restless and undirecting currents of +popular feeling when they are seeking an outlet and swing them slowly +at first but with a growing impetus in the channels of their own +interest or of the party they represent. The people are deluded into +thinking that they are their own leaders and masters. The feeling of +unrest that now prevails is due to this abuse of Public Opinion. Like +children the leaders of nations have been playing with this wire of +high voltage. Should we be surprised to see the world suffer deadly +shocks from whence it should receive light and power? + +We are now at one of the most momentous periods of history. Never +have clear thinking, earnest expression and concerted action been more +needed than now. The world is ringing with wild words and dying from +loose thinking. "The persistent statement of principles and the union +of all true conservative forces are absolutely necessary, if we wish to +bring the nation safe through this agonizing period and make the world +safe for democracy," as President Wilson said. + +Therefore we claim that it is for the greatest benefit of the community +at large to have Public Opinion enlightened as to the value of the +Church as a reconstructive factor. + +"_Great have been the Problems of War_!" But, with Clemenceau, we also +are realizing--and some countries, with bitter deception and depressing +sorrow, "_That greater still are the Problems of Peace_." + + + +[1] Vol. II., Chap. II. + +[2] Bryce--"The American Commonwealth," Vol. II., Chap. 84. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE[1] + +(Jo. VIII, 32) + +_Facts--Principles--Policy of the Catholic Truth Society--Its value for +the Church in Western Canada._ + + +Truth and liberty, error and license are inseparable partners. The +measure of truth gives the measure of true liberty, just as the degree of +error tells the degree of bondage. This is a logical necessity, a +natural consequence. The Master emphasized it when He said: "And you +shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free." These pregnant +words of Christ are the charter of Christian civilisation and mark the +passing of expediency as the supreme rule of human liberty. + +This explicit confidence in the abiding power of Truth and in its +necessary relation with our moral and religious life has prompted the +creation of the Catholic Truth Society and inspired its policy. Never +was any Society more useful nor so well adapted to the conditions of +present times. + +The world nowadays is fast drifting from its Christian moorings and +taking to the high seas of modern paganism. The outlook on human life is +as in the days of Greece and Rome. The old cry: _panem et +circeuses_!--is to be found on the lips of our multitudes and reflects +the aspirations of their life. In the social realm, State-monopoly is +fast absorbing the individual and the family, and is heralded as the +supreme ideal of human society. A speedy and complete return to +Christian principles will alone re-establish the world on its proper +axis. Christian Truth shall again make the world free and save it from +the bondage of neo-paganism. For, history and experience prove that +there is nothing more tyrannical than that bondage--let it be the bondage +of Czardom or Bolshevism--which comes to man under the cover and name of +liberty. In the present universal unrest, so widely and so emphatically +voiced throughout the world, the mission of the Catholic Truth Society +appears as most providential. The spreading of Catholic Truth will help +the world to reconquer its liberties and, with them, true civilization. + +To state facts, discuss principles and advocate policies, in connection +with the Catholic Truth Society of Canada, particularly in the West, is +the object of this chapter. + + +_Facts._ + +The Catholic Truth Society was born in England; November 5th, 1884, was +its birthday; Mr. Britten,[2] its honored and devoted parent. The +activities of the Anglican Church inspired this great Catholic layman to +counteract the influence of its propaganda. Tract for tract, pamphlet +for pamphlet, lecture for lecture, advertisement for advertisement was +the plan of campaign of our new militant leader. To marshal all the +tremendous forces of the "printed word" for the service and defence of +Mother Church was his noble ambition. He had implicit faith in the +everlasting vitality which lies concealed in the divine seed of the Word +of God. He knew that by spreading it broadcast, it would necessarily +fall on prepared and expectant soil, germinate and produce a hundred +fold. With the approbation of the Hierarchy and the generous support of +a few intelligent associates, the Society issued devotional, +controversial, historical and dogmatic pamphlets. Small in form, compact +in doctrine, living in expression, these messengers of Truth winged their +way through the world. Little by little the Society's influence has +spread everywhere and proved beyond doubt to be a great factor of +Catholic apostolate in our time. + +For twenty-one years (1888-1909) the annual meeting of the Catholic Truth +Society was the outstanding event of Catholic life in England. It became +the field on which Catholic forces--clergy and laity--met yearly to +exchange ideas, formulate plans, co-ordinate purpose and concentrate +activity. This gathering gave rise to the "National Catholic +Congress"--which now stands out as the annual review, the +"mass-manoeuvre," of the Church militant in England. These meetings have +made of a handful of Catholics, many but neo-converts of yesterday, the +aggressive body we all admire, and from which we, in Canada, have many +things to learn. + +The Editor of the "Universe" in his issue of Sept. 22, 1919, on the +occasion of the C.T.S. Conference in Nottingham, paid a beautiful tribute +to the Society. "This summing up of its activities is in itself an +inspiration and incentive. We are reminded by this Conference of the +debt and duty we owe to the society under whose auspices it meets. The +debt is all-pervading. How many Catholics in this country are there, +teachers or taught, who have not profited directly and personally by the +labour and enterprise, freely given, of the comparatively few who, since +that memorable day of its foundation, November 5, 1884, have maintained, +written for, and contributed to the expenses of the Catholic Truth +Society? It has provided the apologist with an armoury and the teacher +with material; it has saved the scholarly many an hour of troublesome +research; it has given the unlearned instruction suited to their needs; +it has given the masses of our people the popular Catholic literature +they want; it has been a veritable sleuth-hound on the track of traducers +of the Church; it has explained and commended her cause to even greater +numbers outside her pale who were simply ill-informed; it has helped more +souls than anyone will ever be able to count, into the Fold. Moreover, +it has been the fruitful parent of progeny (not always filially grateful) +which extends to-day to the uttermost parts of the earth. And always it +has maintained a standard--which, in fact, it created amongst us--of +material high quality, of intellectual respectability and of religious +solidity, the more worthy of grateful appreciation because not everywhere +fully appreciated. Nor can we forget that the Society is in a real sense +"the work of one man," though never has it been that very different +thing, a "one-man work." No one layman (and very few ecclesiastics) has +done a larger definite and objective work for the Catholic Church in our +time than Mr. Britten." + +Such a record should shame the faint-hearts among us who seem to think +that no corporate efforts are of any use in the world now rushing on to +its own destruction. That it should shame those who take no interest at +all in the progress of their religion, would be too much to hope. + +The mustard seed has become now a great tree; branches have been detached +from the main trunk and transplanted in the various parts of the world. +Ireland, Australia,[3] India,[4] America, Canada, each now has its own +Catholic Truth Society. + +In 1887, six years after the foundation of the parent Society in England, +Canada had a first branch in Toronto. Halifax,[5] Montreal, Winnipeg, +Regina, Saskatoon, Vancouver soon followed suit. Silent and powerful as +the incoming tide, the Society in Canada is working its way into every +diocese and parish of the land. The Society is now incorporated by act +of Federal Parliament, with Head-Office in Toronto, 67 Bond St. Its +noble and just ambition is to weld into one great efficient organization +the various other branches that are in operation here and there +throughout the Dominion. Organization means efficiency, strength and +success. + +The time has come for the Catholic Truth Society in Canada, to create its +own literature, to issue its own pamphlets dealing with the needs and +problems of our own Country. We have been importing from other countries +and have lived until now on their mental activity. But this move demands +unity of purpose and concentration of effort. Moreover, should not this +Dominion-wide organization serve marvellously to rally our dispersed and +disunited forces? There is indeed a sad need of unity in our ranks +to-day. + + +_Principles._ + +The assured possession of truth and the pressing obligation for Catholics +to spread it: these are the two main principles upon which is founded and +exists the Catholic Truth Society. As Catholics, we are absolutely sure +that we have the Truth; as Catholics worthy of the name, we feel in +conscience bound to give it to others. + +The Catholic Church, like Christ, stands at the cross-roads of humanity +and cries out to the passing generations as they come tramping down the +avenues of time: "_Ego sum Veritas, Via et Vita_--I am the Truth, the +Way, the Life." Her kingdom is that very same Kingdom of Truth of which +the Master spoke to Pilate when the latter had asked Him so insolently: +"What is Truth?" Faith gives to everyone of Her children the right to +all the wealth of that Kingdom. + +The self-assurance of the Catholic mind in matters of Religion is a noted +and universal fact which implies necessarily the tranquil possession of +Truth. This certainly is not a blind adherence dictated by fear or +fatalism as some would lead the unwary to believe; but rather, as St. +Paul states, the reasonable subjugation of the mind . . . "_Rationabile +absequium_." The universal unrest and chaotic condition of Christendom +outside of the Catholic Church are in sharp contrast with the unity and +tranquillity of the Catholic mind. This is not the place to prove for +our own pleasure and benefit the security of our position. Christian +Apologetics have vindicated it. + +This security of the Catholic mind extends beyond the sacred domain of +Religion. Catholic philosophy has been justly named the "scientific +justification of common sense." Its principles do not rest on the +capricious fancies of the versatile human mind, as is the case with the +philosophy of the dreamer of Koenigsberg. We only mention here Kant, for +his influence has in our days been tremendous and far reaching. In +Catholic philosophy the mind indeed reflects the objective order of +things and from that order evolves universal laws. This basic truth of +our mental attitude is still more evident when considered in the moral +order. For, when God becomes but a "pure abstraction," and the moral law +solely dependent on the human will, one readily sees where such +philosophy may lead. This "_ego-centric philosophy_" is responsible for +the frame of mind which gifted the world with German "Kultur." Nietzche +taught Germany how to think, and Germany had set out to teach the world +the lessons she had received. As some author remarked, Kant and Nietzche +are responsible for the firing of the Krupp guns. Thus the war has shown +the fallacies of anti-Catholic philosophy. + +From these serene heights of Philosophy, Catholic Truth flows into the +political, social and economic fields of human life. Our principles on +Authority and Liberty, on Capital and Labor, on Family and State, on +Marriage and Education are as solid as the rock, and are recognized as +such, even by leaders who have a different religious persuasion. + +Yes, religious, philosophical, social, political, economic truth we do +possess. But of what use to the world, to the laborer, to the patriot, +to the inquirer, is this truth and the solutions to problems it offers, +if they are not known? If we have the light we cannot hide it under the +bushel. We must place it where it can be seen, where its beneficial rays +can light up the way for those who are "sitting in darkness, in the +shadow of death." + +No Catholic is a Catholic for himself only. Christian Charity imposes +upon us the duty to help our brother. The spreading of Catholic Truth is +one of the great works of Mercy and is as binding as alms-giving for the +relief of temporal want. The love of God and of our neighbour is the +foundation of this obligation. This consciousness of Christian +solidarity whereby the rich come to the rescue of the poor, the learned +help the ignorant, is the driving force behind the Catholic Truth Society. + +With the vision of the Truth and the conscientious impulse to spread it, +the Society is bound to grow in a genuine Catholic soil. We say it +frankly, there is something wanting in a parish where the Catholic Truth +Society meets with no response, creates no interest. The sense of real +Catholicism and the consciousness of the duties it implies are +conspicuous by their absence. There, Christianity does not run deep +enough. This also stands true where the Catholic Church Extension or +other organization of its kind, has no hold. The same principle is at +stake; in both cases deficiency reveals a negative, rather than a +militant Christianity. + + +_Policy._ + +The world nowadays, like Pilate, asks the Church: "What is Truth?" But +like Pilate also, proud of its power, its wealth, and success, it will +not wait for the answer. Yet the Church's mission is to give to the +world that truth after which humanity thirsts. Her mode of dispensation +will vary from age to age. New times, new duties. Her policy is often +suggested by the change of front in the line of the enemy. + +As the "printed word" is now the great vehicle of propaganda, the great +message of Catholic Truth will be given more by print than by speech. +This new apostleship has opened the doors to Catholic lay activity. The +Catholic Truth Society is one of its many forms and should, to be +faithful to its origin, remain a specifically Catholic laymen's movement. + +The policy of the Catholic Truth Society is very broad and embraces a +great variety of activities which all tend to the propagation and defense +of Catholic Truth. + +_Pamphlets_.--The printing and diffusion of pamphlets are characteristic +features of the Society. These winged booklets have come to be most +fruitful transmitters of Catholic Truth. Silent Messengers of truth, +they steal their way into homes and circles where the priest, and even at +times the catholic layman cannot penetrate. Eloquent Preachers, their +voice is heard to the extremities of the earth. Perpetual Missionaries, +they continue the work when the apostle has passed to another field. +They keep the light of faith burning bright in many a lonely +homesteader's cabin on the Prairies of our Great West. How often have we +not seen farmers coming into the Regina Cathedral to fill their pockets +with pamphlets from the book-rack before they returned to their farms +often situated at thirty or forty miles from a Church! Silent +Controversionalists, they give Catholic information and drive the +argument home without offence to the pride of the reader, for, the +personal element of the controversy is eliminated. Their unobtrusiveness +is what the inquirer appreciates in matters of religious research +particularly. + +The _Circulation of Catholic Papers_ and their _remailing_ to those who +live far from large centres and are out of touch with the Church are +other forms of the Apostolate of the Catholic Truth Society. By these +means Catholic printed matter is capital, bearing compound interest and +more. + +Free distribution of leaflets; the Mass register in the hotels and public +places; the information bureau; the bill-board; information about +Catholic Faith given by a Correspondence Guild; circulating libraries; +reading and study circles; reference library; the introduction of +Catholic literature into Public Libraries by creating the demand for +it, . . . these are some of the means through which the Society pursues +its policy. To every wind, we may say, it sows the good seed of truth. + +To fully understand the principles and forward with energy and +perseverance the policy of the Catholic Truth Society, demands an +enthusiastic love of the Church and an abiding confidence in the +conquering power of Truth and in its ultimate triumph. Only a zealous +and aggressive Catholic can grasp this vision and walk in its light. But +the example of the enemy's activities alone should be sufficient to give +us that zeal and aggressiveness. The Dominion is flooded with the +literature of the Methodist Social Service, of the Bible Society, of the +Christian Science, of the Rationalistic Press Association. Their +activities should act on our apathetic Catholics as the gust of wind that +scatters the ashes and fans the smouldering embers to a flame. + +Generous are the hopes founded on the future of the Catholic Truth +Society of Canada. With its far-flung line, from coast to coast, great +are the services it can render to the Church. But there is no field with +greater possibilities for this apostolate of the "printed word" than our +Western Provinces. There the pastors are yet few and the flock very +scattered. The little pamphlet, the Catholic paper will keep the watch +around the lonely settler's faith until the living contact with the +Church's authority and sacraments be renewed. And in the great battle +against religious indifference and profound materialism which are rapidly +spreading over our West, the Catholic Truth Society will make us realize +the saving power of Christianity. . . . "_And you shall see Truth and +Truth shall make you free_." + + + +[1] This Chapter was published in pamphlet form by the Catholic Truth +Society of Canada. + +[2] Cardinal Vaughan and Lady Herbert are the real Founders of the C.T.S. +But Mr. Britten carried out the idea.--It was to be essentially a +lay-movement. + +[3] Australian Catholic Truth Society.--At the annual meeting of the +Australian Catholic Truth Society the report stated that during the year +1919 152,309 pamphlets had been put into circulation, while the total +number published since the foundation of the Society was 1,837,947. The +executive had decided to publish in future 36 penny pamphlets each year, +instead of 24, and trusted that their enterprise would be rewarded with a +substantial increase in the number of subscribers. + +[4] The headquarters of the C.T.S. of India are in Trichinopoly. They +have already their own publications. + +[5] Although the Halifax branch of the C.T.S. does not form a unit of the +C.T.S. of Canada yet it is one of the most active branches in our Country. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A SUGGESTION[1] + +_Importance of the Catholic Press--Requisites for its Success in the +West._ + + +Nowadays the Press is assuredly the greatest factor of the public mind. +For, if public opinion is "King" and "Master" of the modern world, the +"Press" is his "Prime Minister." Between these two great forces there +is a continuous action and reaction; the Press is at the same time the +moulder and mirror of public opinion. + +We all know how the world has turned this mighty weapon against the +Catholic Church. To create an anti-Catholic opinion, to surround the +Church--its authority, its practices--with an atmosphere of prejudice +and antagonism has always been the aim of the non-Catholic press. Of +late this campaign has become so universal and so violent "that were +St. Paul to live among us, he would become a journalist," said +Archbishop Ireland. Repeatedly the Pontiffs of Rome have urged the +faithful to contribute to the support of the Catholic Press. "In vain +you will build churches," said Pius X, "give missions, found schools; +all your works, all your efforts will be destroyed if you are not able +to wield the defensive and offensive weapon of a loyal and sincere +Catholic Press." + +The Catholics of Western Canada should have these words of the beloved +Pontiff continually before their minds. There is no place in Canada +where this vital factor, the Catholic Press, is of such an absolute +necessity. In our sparsely settled Provinces the Catholic paper is the +greatest help of the priest. It prepares, keeps, and perfects his work +and very often is the only silent messenger of the Church's teachings +on the lonely prairie. Isolation from all Catholic life, from its +teachings, its authority, its sacraments, has created through Western +Canada a tremendous leakage in the Church. This leakage can be stopped +to a certain extent by the active service of a good Press. The +Catholic paper, indeed, reacts as an antitoxin against the virus of +unbelief and indifferentism which a non-Catholic atmosphere is bound to +spread. In its columns we find the answers to the misrepresentations +and slanders which bigotry is ever throwing at the Church. But above +all it is through the medium of the Catholic paper that the lonely +Western settler enters into what we would call the larger life of the +Church. We are too prone to think of and judge the Church by what we +see of Her in our own nearest surroundings. We lose sight of Her +Catholicity and forget that greater life which is ever pulsating +throughout the world. The reading of the Catholic paper breaks down +the narrow walls of parochialism, provincialism and nationalism, and +introduces its readers into the more serene and more spacious regions +of Catholic life. This is, in our opinion, the greatest benefit one +can derive from the assiduous and intelligent reading of a good, +active, Catholic paper. + +Australia and New Zealand have understood the imperative necessity, the +paramount importance of a Catholic Press. "The Freeman's Journal," +"The Southern Cross," "The Catholic Press," "The New Zealand Tablet," +are widely circulated weekly papers that keep Catholic life so intense +in those distant colonies. What the Catholics of Australia have done, +why can we not, in Western Canada, do likewise? + +One cannot, indeed, over-estimate the value of a Catholic paper, +especially in a sparsely settled country where the Church has yet but +missions, where the visits of the priest and the teachings of the +Gospel are intermittent, where the Catholics are lost among people of +different faith and often of hostile feeling. But, if we wish our +Catholic Press to fulfil its noble mission, it must be received as an +expected and welcomed friend, and not, as often is the case, as an +intruder, a sickly visitor who imposes himself more or less on our +faith and generous nature. + +What then are the conditions of genuine success for a Catholic paper? +_Vigour in policy, extensiveness in circulation_: these are the two +essential conditions of success. The Catholic paper in a community +must be a live-wire of high voltage, carrying light, heat, and power, +and not a mere telegraphic-cable repeating what others have already +said, or serving as a safety valve for the overflow of local gossip. +The news and issues of general interest should be so combined with +local topics as to awaken and keep the attention of the reader. + +Circulation is also fundamental in journalism as well as in the human +system. It carries life into the whole organism and is the warrant of +success. The moment circulation becomes stagnant and loses hold of the +people, the paper is but a ghost. Poor circulation is what gives to so +many Catholic papers such languid existence. + +How can we create these conditions of success for the Catholic Press in +Western Canada, where its need is so deeply felt? There is the crux of +the present situation. Our scattered and comparatively small +population, even in our cities, the extreme difficulty of securing and +keeping managers and editors suited for this work, the indifference and +spirit of commercialism which characterize Western Canada: all these +factors tend to render precarious the life of a Catholic paper. And +still the crying need is there; how are we to meet it? + +This leads us to make a suggestion which would help to solve the +problem of the Catholic Press in the West. The beautiful work of the +Catholic Press in France has prompted it. + +The society of "La Bonne Presse" issues a weekly paper, "La Croix." +This paper has different issues for the different parts of France. At +the central office, in Paris, exists a well organized "boiler-plate" +service for general Catholic news and opinions. These "boiler-plates" +are shipped to all the sub-stations, where, during the week are +composed the pages of local news, editorials, advertisements, etc. +This is the most economical and most efficient modern method of +publishing several papers or different issues of the one paper. + +Our circulation in Western Canada would not perhaps yet warrant such an +organization. But working along the same lines, could we not have _one +paper_, with _different issues_ for the different Prairie Provinces? +This would necessitate a chief editor for the editorials of general +character, common to all--and a sub-editor in each Province who could +also act as manager in his section of the country. To write editorials +adapted to the ever-changing needs of his Province, answer those who +attack the Church in our local papers, guide our Catholics in the +various issues which are discussed in the Province, and control the +correspondence for the different news centres, would be the duties of +this sub-editor. + +One central printing plant would be sufficient. Being a weekly paper, +the printing and mailing do not matter much, provided the plant were +not too far from the extreme points of circulation. With the exception +of the composition of the specific pages of each issue, according to +Provinces, the general overhead expenses of printing and remailing +would be the same, and yet we would have a _local Catholic paper_. +This plan of unification would allow us, without heavy expenses, to +answer efficiently the local needs of each diocese and each Province. + +We have the "Northwest Review." It possesses a splendid equipment and +could easily duplicate its actual out-put. Why could we not take that +paper, and have a Manitoba, a Saskatchewan, and an Alberta edition? +The plant is there, and why could not all Catholics take full advantage +of it, at a price with which no local or provincial Catholic paper +could compete, at least in the present circumstances. It would require +"a subeditor-manager" in each Province to direct the provincial policy +of his specific edition and manage its circulation in every Catholic +community. This plan would be workable until the time when success +would warrant in each Province a local printing plant, having at its +service a "boiler plate" supply from the main office. + +The possibilities and opportunities for the Catholic Press have never +been greater than they are now. Never and nowhere has its need been +more commanding than it is now in Western Canada. In this period of +social reconstruction, efficient organization and combination of all +energies are necessary. Organization implies leadership, and able +leadership needs the support of publicity to create sane opinions, to +spread and defend them. + + + +[1] This Chapter was published as an article in the "North West +Review," Winnipeg, June 1st, 1918, under the following caption--"Timely +Suggestions on needs of Catholic Press in West--Constructive attempt to +solve problem which has engaged attention for many years." + +The following editorial remarks accompanied its publication. "We are +indebted to Rev. Father Daly, C.SS.R., of Regina, for a thoughtful +contribution on the needs of the Catholic Press in Western Canada. +This subject is by no means new. Most people have had a fling at it +one time or another, and those have been most insistent as a rule who +have known least about it. The article under consideration, however, +which may be found upon another page, besides pointing out the +difficulties which must be encountered and overcome, outlines a +constructive policy which should engage the earnest attention of the +Catholic public. A scheme of development is there in broad outline and +it is with particular pleasure that we call our readers' attention to +it. We would ask them to study it--particularly those who have had +some practical experience in newspaper work--and to give us the benefit +of their thought and experience. A special invitation is extended to +our staff of faithful correspondents and contributors who have stuck to +their posts through fair weather and foul at considerable expense and +inconvenience to themselves. They are in a position to realize in a +very special manner the difficulties of the situation and their +suggestions should prove invaluable. If everyone interested would +expend a fraction of the energy wasted in destructive criticism in +working out a scheme of practical operation along constructive lines +much good would result therefrom. Suggestions need not necessarily be +for publication. Any communication marked "not for publication" shall +be, needless to state, regarded as private and confidential. But let +all help. An old newspaper maxim is to the effect that the printer's +devil has ideas that the editor or business manager would pay good +money for." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE NEW CANADIAN + +_Immigration!--Are We ready for It?_ + + +Demobilization is over. Canada has settled down to the work of +"Reconstruction." Already the eyes of every serious minded Canadian +scan the horizon, wondering if these transatlantic liners now bound for +our ports carry in their dark hulls hosts of new settlers. Immigration +is the topic of the hour. Confronted as we are by a fabulous national +debt, GREATER PRODUCTION is the only solution. This intense and +extensive development of agriculture and industry necessarily involves +immigration.--Immigration is therefore an economic necessity. + +War-wearied nations of Europe are just waking up to the realities of +conditions. The dark cloud has lifted only to show everywhere silent +industries and desolate fields. Thousands and hundreds of thousands +are turning their eyes to the "New World"--as to the "_Land of +Opportunity_." They need Canada to break away from a gloomy past, just +as Canada needs them to build a bright and prosperous future. + +Opinions may vary as to the time when immigration will be once more at +its height, but all seem to agree on the certainty of the fact.[1] +Probably the British Isles will open the march in the onward rush to +Canada; Continental Europe will follow in their wake. Already the +various philanthropic and religious organizations are preparing to +welcome the new-comer to our Shores. + +Misdirected and unsupervised immigration has been for the Church in the +past a great source of leakage. Here and there noble and zealous +efforts have been made to prevent these losses; but they were local and +spasmodic. It was only a few years previous to the outbreak of the war +that a Catholic Immigration Society for the Dominion was formed. The +Reverend Abbe Casgrain was its Founder and Director. Homes and +agencies were opened in every large city. Let us hope that this +Dominion-wide organization will once more soon become a reality. A +priest in full charge of its organization and responsible for its +efficiency is, we believe, the main condition of success. And indeed +immigration is in Canada one of those problems that over-lap the +boundaries of dioceses and provinces and call for the co-operation and +co-ordination of all forces. A leader, with the sanction and backing +of the Hierarchy, will be the binding link between the various helping +factors and will prevent immigration becoming "nobody's business" just +because "it is everybody's business." This method of an organized and +responsible unity will alone straighten out our line of defence from +Halifax to Vancouver, and pinch out the various salients of enemy +forces that are always and everywhere at work. + +But who will carry out this leader's policy, once thought out and +approved of? As our Catholic Immigration Society is about to +reorganize its forces to meet new conditions, may we be allowed to +offer a suggestion? The Knights of Columbus have just finished the +great work of their "Army Huts." During the war and particularly +during the demobilization, they had trained secretaries, hotels, +recreation rooms, for the welfare of our soldiers. This work has +placed them in the field of "Social Service" and given them a standing +in the community at large. Now why could not that organization be +maintained and serve the purpose of Catholic Immigration? + +The Knights of Columbus are indeed ready for the task. Their chain of +huts from coast to coast link together our main centres; their trained +secretaries who have enlisted the sympathetic co-operation of devoted +ladies; the very nature of the Order, Dominion-wide in its organization +and spreading beyond the boundaries of any particular Province, +everything seems now to invite them to turn their efforts to the great +Cause of Immigration. During the war they worked side-by-side with the +Red Triangle (Y.M.C.A.) and the Red Shield (S.A.). As these +organizations are now intensely taking up what they call +"Canadianization" work in its various aspects, is it befitting, would +you think, for our Knights to drop out of the field? Should they not, +on the contrary, prepare to "carry on"--as their brother Knights are +doing across the border? The example they are giving there to the +Catholic laity is simply wonderful. It is an object lesson that has +awakened the tremendous energies that lie dormant in the ranks of the +Catholic laymen and only want the spark of "leadership" to ignite them. +And indeed no work should appeal more to the Knights, for it places +them in their true sphere of action. It opens up long vistas of +"Social religious work," by giving them the consciousness of the +religious solidarity and the feeling of their social and national +responsibilities. With that vision, under that impulse, they walk from +their Council Chambers into the very life of the Church and of the +Nation. They assume in all reality their office of a _Loyal +Body-guard_. For, in this matter, our contention is that where the +Knights of Columbus' Order is not wedded to some definite programme of +action, in harmony with its aim and constitution, it ceases to be an +asset and will soon go to seed, or die of dry rot. + + * * * * * * + +The following would be a summary of activities to be undertaken in +connection with Immigration work. This is merely an outline that may +help in drawing up a more exhaustive plan of action. + +1. _Permanent Secretaries_.--In our estimation, a permanent, trained +and well-paid secretary is the condition of genuine success. The time +has passed to have to depend on voluntary and untrained service. Times +have changed and methods also. The permanency of a secretary gives to +our work stability and promise of intense life. This has been the +secret of the success of other organizations that we could afford to +imitate. + +Moreover this secretaryship can become the mother-cell of various +activities which eventually will branch off--_i.e._, Welfare Bureau, +Information Bureau, etc., etc. This therefore should be our first +preoccupation, for on it depend the life and prosperity of our +Immigration Work. + +2. _Ladies' Auxiliary_.--Local Women's organization can be called upon +to bring their sympathetic support to the carrying out of this work of +Catholic Immigration. Generous and devoted women are always to be +found to whom this work will appeal. Their natural sympathy and their +great faith make them always the "Real Workers." The very same ladies +who helped so wonderfully in our patriotic work could continue to place +their kindness and devotedness at the Service of this great Catholic +Cause. We only need, we are sure, to call on them, and organize their +various forces. Why should not "The Catholic Women's League" have its +branch from coast to coast and take up everything of interest to the +Catholic Womanhood of Canada, and thereby, to the Church also? + +This would have a great bearing on various issues and offer a great +medium for organized opinion and co-ordinated action. Has not the time +come when our women forces have to organize and unite into one great +Canadian Catholic Body? + +3. _Literature, Publicity_.--We are living in an age when literature +and publicity are the great vehicles of public opinion. We need, to +carry on the work successfully, plenty of good literature and +efficient, sane publicity. The hour has come to walk right out in the +open and nail our sign to the post at every cross-way. Our Catholic +Immigrants are entitled to this service which will offset the +influences of dangerous agencies that meet them too often as they set +foot on our shores. + +A new map of Western Canada with designations of Churches and Missions, +with resident or non-resident priests is needed. The map published +before the war would have to be revised, for the growth of the Church +has been wonderful--in certain dioceses particularly. Attractive +booklets giving useful information and warning the incoming immigrants +against the specific dangers he is liable to meet with; folders and +cards with addresses of the nearest Catholic churches and rectories, +with 'phone number of the Catholic Bureau, should be ready on hand. A +list of the various offices of the Society and of other Catholic Social +Centres should also be now prepared. This, we may remark, is very +important and demands careful study and experience. A short snappy +leaflet very often goes further than a diluted booklet. What others +have done or are doing in this line will be of great help. Before the +war the Catholic Immigration Society of Canada had such literature. +The Catholic Truth Society of Canada could co-operate in this matter. + +To reach the Catholic immigrant and emigrant is very often a problem of +_publicity_. Posters on the docks, in the railroad stations and other +prominent places, cards, notices on the bulletin-boards of the steamers +and hotels, distribution of leaflets on boats and trains, copies of +current activities in the newspapers, advertising in our papers and +papers abroad, listing of the Catholic Bureau with other similar work +in the city, are some of the means to keep our work before the public. +Let us not be afraid to place our name where it can be seen. We cannot +afford to hide our light under the bushel. Let it burn bright, to +attract and guide our Catholic brother as he comes to our shores and +goes through our country. + +4. _Co-operation_.--Co-operation of all our bureaus with our Catholic +Societies of Emigration of England, Ireland, etc., with Canadian +Government bureaus, Federal and Provincial and various other benevolent +organizations in Canada, as Traveller's Aid, etc., will be a marked and +appreciated aid to our work. And when others will see us at "Our +Father's work," they will refer our own to us. This is the ordinary +experience of all engaged in Social Service activities. + +The Catholic Emigration Society of England has been recently formed and +is preparing for the exodus that will follow the inauguration of the +Government schemes for assisting ex-Service men. This Society will +work on national lines with international co-operation. The "Universe" +of Sept. 26, 1919, gives us an account of the first meeting. The +movement is endorsed by the Hierarchy and representatives of Catholic +life in the British Isles, Canada, Australia and South-Africa. + +5. _Finance_.--Naturally this work will demand funds. Catholic Charity +will come to our rescue as this is certainly a work of preservation +which should appeal to any zealous Catholic. And what others have been +able to do, why could we not find means to do? + +But in this work the Canadian Government will give a helping hand. The +authorities in Ottawa will be the first to appreciate what we will do +for our new Canadians. In a recent memoir submitted to the Premiers of +our various Provinces the social welfare of the immigrants was one of +the topics to which particular attention was given. We can see that +the Government will be ready to subsidize social work in Immigration, +provided there is no over-lapping. There will be subsidies for our +work, if we are organized and ask for them. When looking over the +amounts distributed to various Immigrations Societies, we see, for +instance, in 1913-1914 the Salvation Army receiving a subsidy of over +$22,000, while all the Catholic Immigration Societies received only +about $6,000. We conclude that it is simply because we did not ask for +our "Pound of Flesh." + + * * * * * * + +Should not, therefore, the work of Catholic Immigration with all its +wonderful possibilities for the welfare of Church and Country, appeal +to our Canadian Knights of Columbus? Many and many a settler has been +lost to the Church--he, his children and future generations--because +perhaps no one was there to receive him on his arrival in his new +Country, to help him to settle where there was a church, a priest, and +a Catholic school. No one needs more the help of his Catholic brother +than the immigrant, who has just broken away with a past made up of +customs, friendships, racial feelings, of all that is dear to man's +heart, and faces an enigmatic future. + +The long procession which we have seen in the years of intense +immigration, winding its way through our cities and losing itself on +the plains of the West, is about to start again. Shall we be there to +welcome and direct it? + +_Knights of Columbus, what is your answer_? + + + +[1] 200,000 are expected to come to Canada in 1921 from the British +Isles alone. Hon. J. H. Calder, Minister of Immigration, made this +statement. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +UT SINT UNUM + +_A Catholic Congress of the Western Provinces, the Ultimate Solution of +Their Problems--What is a Congress?--Its Utility--Its Necessity--A +Tentative Programme._ + + +To know a problem, to probe its nature, and to analyze its various +factors frequently lead to an easy and happy solution. But as Church +problems are mostly of a complex nature and cover a wide range, they +necessarily depend for their solution on the co-operation of the +various component units. This explains why we would now appeal to the +Church of the West as a whole, for the solving of the problems dealt +with in this book. Of their nature they out-distance the boundaries of +parish and diocese, for they affect the Church as a whole. Without +wishing to disparage the value of parochial and diocesan activities, we +claim that the issues we have placed before our readers are not +confined within the imaginary lines of the parochial unit or the +boundaries of jurisdiction. They will not be met with rightly and +successfully, if the Church as a unit does not agree on a uniform plan +of action. For, to prevent a deplorable waste of potential powers, of +misdirected energies and of overlapping work, to forward the great +cause of the Church and realize its Catholic aspirations, to present a +united front to common dangers, the union and co-operation of all the +parishes and all the dioceses are an absolute necessity. + +Never has the Church in Canada felt so keenly the necessity of this +union and co-operation. An acute sense of uneasiness has spread, far +and broad, apathy and lethargy. Instinctively eyes turn to the heights +from whence they have a right to expect direction and help. The +necessity of some INTER-DIOCESAN ORGANIZATION, along the lines of the +National Catholic Welfare Council of the United States, is the +outspoken conviction of many and the unexpressed desire of all. We are +weak in our divided strength. The criticism of both clergy and laity +in this matter is widespread and very often justifiable. We could +willingly endorse what Cardinal Newman wrote to a friend: "Instead of +aiming at being a world-wide power, we are shrinking into ourselves, +narrowing the lines of communion, trembling at freedom of thought, and +using the language of dismay and despair at the prospect before us, +instead of the high spirit of the warrior going out conquering and to +conquer."--(Life, by Ward II, p. 127.) + +"_Ut sint unum!_" "That they may be one!" This is the supreme +solution of the weighty problems now facing the Church at this crucial +period of readjustment and reconstruction. A general Congress would +crystallize, we believe, our desires for unity into a concrete fact. +It would help to group the various thoughts and workable schemes around +a definite plan and stimulate activities in view of its realization. +Some may find it rather presumptuous on our part to formulate such a +proposal. Our sincerity and loyalty to the great Cause in view is our +only excuse. + + +_What is a Catholic Congress_? + +A Catholic Congress--be it provincial, regional, national or simply +diocesan--is the meeting of Catholic clergy and laity under the +guidance of the Hierarchy, for the _study_ of various problems, the +_development and coordination of energies_, the _unification and +concentration_ of purpose. + +The members of the Congress are delegates from the various parishes, +from social, mutual and diocesan organizations. It is of absolute +necessity that the laity be well represented, for the Congress is the +great school of "social action," the great medium of educating the +Catholic body and developing the sense of Catholic social +responsibility. + +The guidance of our Fathers in Christ, the Hierarchy, ensures to the +Congress its value, its authority--_Posuit Episcopos regere Ecclesiam +Dei_. + +The object of the meeting is to give to Catholic life, by the perfect +organization and coordination of all its moral, social and religious +activities, its maximum of efficiency. This necessitates the _study of +the problems of the day_ in their relation with Catholic principles. +Therefore the Congress is a readjustment of our vision to the +everchanging conditions of society; desuete methods are dropped and +methods more in harmony with the necessities of the times are examined, +approved of and adopted. It affords an opportunity to discuss public +questions, to educate and crystallize public opinion on the Catholic +view-point of pending problems. This readjustment is, in our +estimation, one of the greatest benefits of a Congress, for without it +there is waste of energies and danger of compromise on the part of the +most zealous. + +The _development_ and _co-ordination of energies_ will be the natural +sequel of this general exchange of ideas, of this universal +consultation of the Catholic body. When we shall have counted our +resources we shall then easily marshal existing forces, create new +battalions for the defence and peaceful promotion of Catholic doctrine, +liberties, and influence. + +_To give unity of purpose_ to the various Catholic organizations, to +direct the loyal active co-operation of every unit towards the greatest +welfare of the Church, in one word, to create Catholic solidarity, is +the ultimate aim and supreme triumph of a Catholic Congress. + +This congress therefore, stands for the mobilization of the Catholic +army for manoeuvres, and does not mean a mere pageant, a complacent +exhibition of our numbers, the platonic rehearsal of our past glories +and great achievements. "We are here to do a work, and not to make a +show," should we say with Cardinal Manning. + +The _Golden Rule_ that presides over, and directs this exchange of +thoughts, this study of problems, this marshalling of our forces, has +always been: _In necessariis unitas, in dubiis, libertas, in omnibus +charitas--Unity in essentials; liberty in non-essentials; charity in +all things_. There is no reason whatever why a Congress should be ever +aggressive. Destructive criticism leads nowhere. But there is every +reason why a Congress should be perpetually active and "destructively +constructive." + + +_Should We have a Catholic Congress of the Western Provinces_? + +The utility and necessity of a Catholic Congress will be an adequate +answer to this question-- + +_Utility of Catholic Congresses_. + + +Benedict XV in his letter to the American Hierarchy, March, 1919, +underlines very strongly the utility of these Catholic Meetings, "We +learn," says the Holy Father, "that you have unanimously resolved that +a yearly meeting of all the Bishops shall be held at an appointed place +in order to adapt means most suitable of promoting the interest and +welfare of the Catholic Church and that you appointed from among the +Bishops two commissions, one of which to deal with _social questions_, +while the other will study _educational problems_, and both will report +to their Episcopal brethren. This is truly a worthy resolve and with +the utmost satisfaction We bestow upon it our approval." + +"It is indeed wonderful how greatly the progress of Catholicism is +favored by those frequent assemblies of the Bishops, which our +Predecessors have more than once approved. When the knowledge and the +experience of each are communicated to all the Bishops, it will be +easily seen what errors are secretly spreading and how they can be +extirpated; what threatens to weaken discipline among clergy and people +and how best the remedy can be applied; what movements if any, either +local or nation wide, are afoot for the control or judicious restraint +of which the wise direction of the Bishop may be most helpful." + +"It is not enough however, to cast out evil; good work must at once +take its place and so these men are incited by mutual example. Once +admitted that the _harvest depends upon the method and the means_, it +follows easily, that the assembled Bishops returning to their +respective dioceses, will rival one another in reproducing those works, +which they have seen elsewhere in operation to the distinct advantage +of the Faithful." + +Great indeed are the advantages that accrue to the Church, in its +social influence particularly, from a Congress. And indeed, since on +Catholic principles alone depend the solution of the social problem, +the welfare of Church and State alike requires that Catholics in every +condition of life should co-operate in the application of those +principles. The influence of the Church in these matters depends not +only on her official teaching, but greatly on the social activities of +Her children. These activities translate into tangible facts Her +doctrines on justice and charity, and thus spread the beneficial +influence of Her teachings. + +The specific end of the Congress is to develop, co-ordinate, and direct +these social activities of Catholics and bring their influence to bear +upon the community at large. _Instaurare omnia in Christo_ . . . is +the programme of such gatherings. + +The Congress (1) establishes a Catholic platform and rallies our forces +around it, by creating a social solidarity, (2) enables our existing +institutions and societies to extend their activities by the +co-ordination of efforts; (3) facilitates the creation of new +organizations to meet specific needs. "We cannot," writes Father +Plater, S.J., "stand aloof from secular movements, neither may we +wholly surrender ourselves to them. We must by common study bring them +to the test of Catholic principles and we must by common action bend +them to the great issues of which the world is losing sight." + +Moreover, once the Catholic laity has been lured into taking active +part in social work, once it feels that it is no more a dead unit but a +living factor, the Congress becomes a necessity, for it then serves as +the mental background that throws its work in relief and keeps the +fires of enthusiasm burning. + + +_Necessity of a Catholic Congress at the Present Time_. + +The absolute _absence of unity and cohesion_ in our various social +activities; the momentous _period of reconstruction_ with its +far-reaching consequences in our national, political, social and +economic life; the _examples_ given to us by other _Catholic countries_ +and by our own enemies; these three and potent reasons urge, in our +estimation, the calling of a Congress to get our bearings and to +discuss ways and means of action. + +The deplorable lack of unity in the Church of Canada is obvious and can +be traced to many causes. Racial and language conflicts particularly, +have divided our forces, absorbed our activities, narrowed our views +and made us forget the Catholic view-point of greater problems. But +times and ideas are changing. Never, we believe has the feeling of our +divisions and dissensions been so acute; never has the demand for +united action been so imperative as now. The distressing times through +which the world is passing have forced upon us issues which will +require the united strength of Catholic forces. + +United action, so much desired and so desperately needed, requires a +_uniform plan_ and an _authoritative leadership_. A Congress will give +us these two elements of a much desired unity. + +Too long, we believe, have Catholic social activities been directed +along purely parochial and diocesan lines. The isolated action of +parishes, especially in our cities, is no longer able to grapple with +and solve our modern complex problems. Parochialism is conducive to +the enjoyment of the Church's beneficial influences, but often leads us +to forget our responsibilities to the Church Universal. "Parochialism +is the clog on the wheel of united Catholic Action in Canada." +(Canadian Freeman, Nov. 13, 1919.) And even on a broader field have we +not seen conflicting directions and abstinence of necessary +interference, precisely because the issues were seen in different +quarters from different angles. So, a united plan of action which is +so absolutely necessary for efficient work cannot be obtained without +consultation and exchange of ideas. + +This unity of plan will bring the Catholic consciousness to a focus. +It will create an intelligent interest in Catholic social work, and +lead to the gradual formation of various specific social organizations. +When luminous rays are brought to a focus their light and heat are most +intense. + +The best concerted plans, the greatest enthusiasm to execute them, will +be of no avail without leadership. For the secret of the success and +usefulness of an organization is to be found in the ability, character +and ideals of its leader. Never perhaps in Canada, has the absence of +authoritative leadership, especially among the Catholic laity, been +felt so keenly as at the present trying period. Let us hear an +authoritative writer on the matter: + +"When the great buzz and stir of rebuilding comes and the interchange +and counterchange of ideas begin, the newly awakened folk will begin to +enquire what the Church has to say and to suggest on every ethical and +religious problem that comes up in the course of planning and +discussion. But they will wish to know, not in the terms in which +great minds of the past have formulated Catholic teaching, but in the +speech and with the illustrations of contemporary life. What we need +is Catholic intellectual leadership to interpret in a way they can +understand, the deep ethical truths of Catholic ethics, dogmas, which +are a guide to the reconstructive activities of all time. Without +changing a jot of the unchangeable truth, new series of interpretations +can be given to Catholic dogma, morals, ethics, with explanations that +will catch the ear of the intelligent non-Catholic, give him in his own +idiom the solid gist of Catholic Doctrine and appeal to him with the +simple eloquence that Truth always has, when presented in the proper +way." (Father Garesche, S.J., America, Dec. 28.) For, as the Editor of +the Universe said, commenting on the death of Sir Mark Sykes, "The +secret of ideal Catholic leadership lies in a passionate desire for the +Catholic good inseparable from the common good, combined with a +complete aloofness from any sectional interest." + +Now, we may ask, what has given to Catholic France, Catholic Belgium, +Catholic England, these eminent leaders who in public and social life, +are by their fearless courage and ceaseless action, the very +personification of Catholicism? It is without doubt their Catholic +Congresses. There, the contact with the great problems of the day gave +them the vision of things before unseen, made them emerge from the +common mass, and marked them as leaders. There, they learned to think +just, broad and deep. The great Congresses of Catholic Germany brought +Windthorst to the foreground and made him the leader of the greatest +Catholic organization. What the Congresses have done for Catholic +Germany, Belgium, France and England, they will also do for Canada. +They will give us true leaders, men of clear vision, of indomitable and +fearless will, of patient and persevering action. For _mistaken +leadership is still a greater calamity than the absence of it_. The +Plenary Council of Quebec urges the Catholics of Canada to meet in +Congress: "_Qui quidem in talium caetuum frequentia liberius poterunt +et validius sui nominis professionem sustinere, hostiles impetus +propulsare_." In the mind of the great Pope Leo XIII, whose words are +here quoted, "a Congress is the most powerful offensive and defensive +weapon." Quebec Plenary Council--No. 441, d. + + * * * * * * + +We may then conclude with a French writer: "_A Congress is a sacrament +of unity_." It will visualize to the modern pagan for whom unity of +doctrine means nothing, the tremendous powers, the living influences +that flow from that same unity on the world. And for the Catholics at +large it will now answer to a widespread, deep-seated longing for a +more effective national Catholic unity of action. + +Yes, at all times, a Congress is a necessity for united action; but in +the troubled periods we now face, after the war, it becomes a factor of +supreme interest and of the most vital importance. + + * * * * * * + +_Reconstruction_ is the world's watch-word as nations rise from the +ruins a long protracted and universal war has accumulated around them. + +The period of reconstruction, more than that of the war, will test our +national fibre. The problems we face are in extent, in character, in +complexity greater than at any other period of history. The strain +will be greater, for the conflict is being lifted to a higher plane, +that of ideas. And ideas are the supreme realities, the dynamic forces +that rule the world, the fulcrum that shifts the axis of the world's +civilization. + +In these momentous times, the isolation of Catholics would be a +_calamity_; their participation, a _blessing_, for Church and country. +To stand aloof from the solution of the problems that stare us in the +face and insistently demand attention and solution, to confine our +efforts solely to parochial institutions and not enter into the broader +field of public life is for Catholics, at this hour, nothing short of a +calamity. The consequences of this abstention will be to limit our +action to mere protestation and often useless defence, when our +principles are assailed and our positions in danger, when a leakage, +through the social activities of others, is but too manifest. Let us +on the contrary, turn the energies we lose in mere defence to +constructive work, and our positions will be safer, and our principles +better appreciated. "_Our liberties are best defended when Catholics +throw themselves into the stream of public life_." + +And does not Catholic doctrine stand essentially for constructive +forces in the social, political and economic life of a country? We +possess the foundation, the plans, the material of all true and lasting +social reconstruction. The Gospel and the natural law form the +rock-bottom foundation; the definite and unchanging principles of +morality are its structural lines; justice is as the steel girders and +charity the fast-binding cement. + +"At the present day," wrote Professor G. Toniolo, the eminent Catholic +Italian economist, "the great Encyclicals of Leo XIII, which, sustained +by the common light of the Evangelical teachings of Christian +philosophy and Revelation, have illuminated all the phases of social, +civil and political knowledge in harmonious, logical connections. At +the present day we possess a unified complex of sociological teachings, +brought together in a system, which rests against the supernatural, +which measures up to the problems of our age, which, absorbing +everything, takes unto itself all that is true in modern science and is +proven by experience, and thus is prepared to oppose successfully a +positivistic, materialistic and anti-Christian sociology." + +Yes, we possess the true solution of modern problems and . . . what are +we doing to give it to the world, to the community in which we live? +Why, the very fabric of social order is questioned, our working men are +absorbing everywhere the most subversive doctrines; the relations +between capital and labor are strained to a breaking-point; our +industrial system is controlled by economic theories divorced from +ethics, whereby the worker is a mere producer; the State-monopoly is +gradually spreading its influences as huge tentacles, around our most +sacred liberties; the equilibrium between liberty and authority--these +two poles of Christian civilization--is being displaced; . . . and what +are the activities of the Catholic body, as a whole, in Canada, to stem +the rising tide? A sermon, now and then, on Socialism or on the rights +and duties of labour, will not solve the problems and extinguish the +volcano upon which we are peacefully living. In our cities, the +housing problem, which involves to a great extent, the moral life of +the masses, is acute; the white slave traffic has established its +haunts and commercialized vice; the moving picture-show has become +everywhere the most popular educational factor: at its school the young +generation, eyes riveted on the flickering screen, is drinking in the +alluring lessons of free love, divorce and every anti-Christian +doctrine; our ports will soon see a new tide of immigration invade our +shores; the non-catholic denominations are crumbling away under the +very weight of their destructive and disintegrating principle of +private judgment; we are surrounded with pagans to whom the +supernatural religion of Christianity is but a name or a memory; from +our great West comes the urgent cry for help, for men and money; the +Church Extension, as the watchman in the night is crying out to our +uninterested Catholics--"the day is coming, the night is +coming"--meaning that the faint streak on the eastern horizon may be +the last rays of a dying day or the first blush of a new dawn; . . . +and what are we doing? Here and there, a spasmodic effort, a generous +outburst of zeal--the work of some society, parish or diocese. While, +what we need now is the combined effort of all the Catholics. This +will only be obtained through a Congress. What we need is _organized +opinion_. The modern world is very sensitive to _organized +opinion_.--Let us get together! We only need leaders to see our +opinion become "_articulate and authoritative_" and make its weight +felt in public life. Never has a Congress been more necessary than +now. Without it, Catholics will not take part in reconstruction, for a +Congress alone can unite us and give us the guarantee that our energies +will not be "frittered away by overlapping and friction." + +There is a great moral tide now running in the world, said President +Wilson in his toast to the King of England . . . and that tide is the +great opportunity for Catholic social principles to take the high sea +of public life. Let us therefore, like the skilful mariner, count with +this set of the tide and catch it at its crest. "There is a tide in +the affairs of nations like that of men, which when taken at the flood +leads on to glory. If we do not direct the ideas that are awork in the +seething mind of the world, they will spend their energies in +retributive destruction," wrote the Philosopher President of the United +States. + +"The thrilling opportunities of the time, we will say with Father +Garesche, S.J., should stir us to the depths of our souls' capacity +with enthusiasm, energy and sacrifice. . . . Our realization of the +needs and chances of the Church and the world, should stir us to the +utmost of personal effort." + + * * * * * * + +_Exempla Trahunt_.--The great benefits that have ensued from a general +consultation or meeting of the _body Catholic in various countries_ +form the best standing proof of their value. In England the annual +conference of the Catholic Truth Society and other federated Societies, +is the leading event of Catholic life. It has developed among the +English Catholic laity, a militant, virile Catholicism, most remarkable +for its aggressive policy and wonderful for its array of social +organizations, as one may readily learn from the "Hand-book of Catholic +Charitable and Social work" published by the C. T. Society of London. +Who does not know the wonderful results of the yearly Catholic +Congresses of Germany before the war? We would refer the reader to the +wonderful book of Father Plater, S.J., "Catholic Social Work in +Germany." To the same source may be traced the great social activities +of Catholics in France and Belgium. In 1919 the Catholics of Holland +met at Utrecht, and in a national general convention, discussed the +Catholic view-point of burning questions--political, social and +spiritual. The results of their united efforts are already tangible. +Legislation favourable to Catholic Schools has been enacted; a Catholic +University is being founded; the Catholic press is a power; sane social +legislation has been adopted. + +An example that may strike home better, is one that comes from our +brethren in the United States. Federation has already accomplished +wonders among our American Catholics and is welding into one great unit +the various societies of the Church in that immense country. This +federation is only in its infancy and already its action has created a +mental attitude which makes united action, in various spheres, a +reality. The annual meetings of the Catholic Education Association, of +the Catholic Hospitals, of Catholic Charities, of Catholic Press make +good our statement. These gatherings have broadened the outlook and +sympathies of the American Catholics in general, and created the +vision, the sterling Catholicism, the fearless energy and the fervent +enthusiasm that characterize leaders. Has not the general meeting of +the American Catholic Hierarchy opened a new era for the Church in the +United States? Five Boards have been formed: Education, Social Work, +Press and Literature, Lay Societies, Home and Foreign Missions. +Through these channels the American Episcopacy will know the doings, +the needs and the possibilities of the Church as a whole, and be able +at any time, to throw, on a given point, on a new issue, the full +weight of united forces. + +"The Welfare Council begins its second year of life and activity. It +has already, in a remarkable and effective way, shown the wonderful +wealth of Catholic activity, and Catholic Service throughout the +country; it has unified our Catholic organizations, leaving to all +their autonomy; it has made Catholic faith a greater factor in American +life; and under its leaders it will, without doubt, be a further source +of strength, of help and co-operation to the entire Catholic body of +the Country. It is the Catholic body expressing itself with one voice +and one heart in the work and in the interests common to us all as +Catholics."--The N.C.W.C. Bulletin, Oct., 1920. + +_Fas est ab hoste doceri_. . . . Powerful is the example of a brother, +but often, stronger and more pungent is the example that comes from an +enemy. There are times indeed, when shame and honour are stronger than +love. This brings us to speak of the tremendous activities of our +separated brethren. Never have their efforts in view of organizing +their social service departments been so persistent and so manifest, +particularly in the mission field. Doctrinal lines are being lowered +and various denominations absorbed gradually into a "Church-union" +scheme from coast to coast. A "_social service programme_" is the only +binding element which is giving to them a fictitious unity. Fabulous +sums are placed at the disposal of these bodies for home and foreign +mission work. The Methodist Conference of Canada (1918--Hamilton) has +pledged itself to levy $8,000,000 in the next four years for mission +work. In our own country, in our Western Provinces, the field +secretaries are most active among our Catholic foreigners. On the +landing stage of our docks they are found to welcome the immigrants to +our shores. And what could we not say of their "press activities!" + +This movement for co-operation has, since the end of the war, taken +tremendous proportions. Here is a fact which speaks volumes. . . . +"The fight between Protestants and Catholics," said a German Protestant +minister, "will forthwith subside in the domain of dogma, but it will +rise in the domain of social problems. No doubt truth in the social +order will prevail as it has prevailed in the field of religious dogma. +But we have to change our strategy, study new tactics, and in our plan +of campaign turn from the defensive to the offensive." Never should +the Catholics of Canada present a more united front. To sneer and snap +our fingers at the energies and organizing powers of others is often +but a poor excuse for our own inertia. It is certainly no argument. +_Fas est ab hoste doceri_. The lesson has often a sting, but it is a +lesson. . . . We need organization! . . . The Congress is the great +medium of organization. What are we going to do? Changing a little +the wording of one of Cicero's famous sentences, in his orations +against Catiline, the arch-enemy of Rome, we shall say: "_The enemy is +at our doors! . . . and we are not even deliberating_!" + + * * * * * * + +Before giving a suggestive programme for a Congress may we answer some +objections. + +"The need for co-operation and co-ordination is indeed _admitted on all +hands_; it is its _feasibility_ that is doubted by so many good +Catholics. It is admitted to be an ideal; the question that is raised +is whether the difficulties are not too great to be surmounted +otherwise than by a very slow and lengthy process of evolution. That +such a gradual evolution would be in accordance with both nature and +history we should be the first to admit. But, after all, there is such +a thing as retarding or assisting the process of evolution. The +valuable maxim that 'things are what they are and their consequences +will be what they will be,' is after all but half the truth. No +Catholic believes that we are carried helpless along a stream of +circumstances. He believes that man is man, a free being whose free +action can within limits mould circumstance; and he believes that God +is God, the one free Being Who can and does overrule circumstance, and +Who, when and where He pleases, gives efficacy to the endeavour of His +free creatures to do the same." (Universe, Aug. 15th, 1919.) + +Some may say that by coming together we shall awaken susceptibilities, +our motives will be suspected . . . and the final result will be more +prejudice, more bigotry. . . . + +There is no reason why a Congress should be of an unfriendly +aggressiveness. We have ideas to advocate, they stand on their own +merit. They are in our belief, the only key of salvation; let us then +get together and bring them by organization and team work, into the +domain of realities. Moreover, our enemies are not so very particular +in dealing with us and with our principles. The best policy is to meet +in the open, as our Catholics are doing in England and stand on the +value of our doctrine and our works--"_Ex fructibus cognescetis illos_." + +"What about the autonomy of parish and diocesan units? Are they not +supreme? Will not what we advocate interfere with these organizations? +Will it not destroy the work of our parochial societies, etc., etc.?" + +"Organization which would attempt to meddle with local autonomy would +not only defeat its purpose, but would be chiselling its own epitaph." +. . . The parish and diocesan units are and must ever remain supreme, +each in its own sphere. We could never get a better working basis; +more genuine Christian charity and self sacrifice could not be met with +outside of our acting brotherhoods and charitable organizations. . . . +But, what we need more is _co-operation_ between these various units in +view of solving the complex social problems, especially in our cities. +This suppresses neglect and over-lapping, gives efficiency with the +least waste of energies. "Blend organization and co-ordination with +the greatest amount of local autonomy and individual initiative": this +is the sole aim a Congress has in view. There, and there alone, lies +the solution of our problems. + + * * * * * * + + +_Tentative Programme of Congress_. + +I--_Preparation_. + +The remote preparation for such a great and important undertaking, +would consist in what we would term "an educational campaign." The +initial difficulty, the greatest obstacle would be to overcome the +general apathy, the want of interest, _vis inertiae_. This could be +done by the Catholic press, lectures, sermons, etc. It may take time +to wake up our people from their slumber, but the faith is there with +its latent energies, and we can count on them. The forces are there; +they only need an occasion to call them into play. + + * * * * * * + +The _immediate preparation_ would consist in the appointment of a +_small but strong organizing committee_. Agitation without +organization is useless. On the choice and activities of this +committee depends the entire success of the congress. + +The various activities of this committee would be: + +1. _Decide on Name_.--Congress, . . . Conference, . . . Catholic +Social Service Meeting, etc. . . . This seems of no importance; but, +in fact, it often goes a long way in interesting the public and warding +off prejudice. + +2. _Decide on +Place_.--Winnipeg--Regina--Edmonton--Calgary--Saskatoon--Vancouver. + +3. _Decide on Delegates_.--Mode of selection,--clerical,--lay. It is +very essential that a meeting of that kind should be thoroughly +_popular_ and _representative_. + +4. _Decide on Speakers, Language_.--(One or several sections.) + +5. _Decide on Programme_.--This is really the essential work of the +organizing committee. In drawing the agenda, emphasis is to be laid +upon problems of immediate necessity: + +_Defence_ and _construction_; defence against the enemies' activities; +_strong constructive policy_ with a wide scope for all energies: these +are the two poles on which revolve a good programme. + +Racial--Language--Political issues are to be absolutely barred from the +programme. + +6. _Decide on Committees_.--Their _number_ and _matters to be trusted +to them_. + +7. _Sub-committees_ can be appointed for _publicity_, _information_, +_reception_ (ceremonies), _invitations_, _billeting_. + +8. _Appointment_ of Permanent Secretary. . . . + +N.B.--In a work of this nature it is the quiet, silent, +well-thought-out preparatory work that counts. The distribution of the +work (papers--speakers--leaders) is the secret of genuine success. + +Therefore, to make a Congress a success, we need: + +1. _Clearly defined programme_.--(What do we want to do?) + +2. Compact and efficient organization.--(How is it going to be done?) + +3. _Competent and reliable leaders_.--(Who is going to do it?) + +_Foresight_, _energy_, _decision_--should mark out the leaders; + +_Foresight_ will give the _vision_. + +_Energy_ will give the _will_. + +_Decision_ will push to _action_. + +II--_Suggestive Programme_. + +1. Committee on "Education": + + 1. _Our Primary Schools_.--Their legal status--their efficiency? + Our teaching staff? Bureau for Catholic teachers. + + 2. _Higher Education_.--Catholic Colleges: their standing--Catholic + University--Affiliation to State Universities? + + 3. _Sunday School_.--Teaching of Catechism--in our separate + schools--in sparsely settled countries? Lay Cathechists? + + +2. Committee on "Catholic Missions." + + 1. _Home Missions_.--Church Extension.--What co-operation are we + giving? Needs of the West: Men and money. + + 2. _Foreign Missions_.--Propagation of Faith.--Holy Childhood. + + 3. _What are we doing for non-Catholics_? + + 4. _The Missions_ (parochial). + + 5. _Priestly and religious vocations_. + + +3. Committee on "Press and Catholic Literature." + + 1. _Catholic Newspapers_.--(Their policy.--Their circulation.) + _Vigour in policy_ and _extensiveness in circulation_: two + essential conditions for success. + + 2. _Work and establishment of Catholic Truth Society_. + + 3. _Catholic circulating libraries_ for cities, countries. (Example + of same, under care of Saskatchewan Government.) + + +4. Committee on "Public Morality." + + 1. _Divorce--Race-suicide_. + + 2. _Theatres--Moving pictures_.--(More severe censorship.) + + 3. _Eugenics_? + + 4. _Venereal diseases_? + + +5. Committee on "Social Action." + + 1. _Immigration--Reception and direction_ of Catholic Immigrants at + ports of St. John and Halifax and intermediate points. Care of + foreigners (leakage). + + 2. _Colonization_? + + 3. _Young Men's Association_--on Y.M.C.A. lines. Young Girls' + Association--on Y.W.C.A. lines--Girls' homes. + + +6. Committee on "Public Charities." + +_Children's Aid--Orphanages--Free +Kindergartens--Day-nurseries--Juvenile Courts--Preventive and curative +work_. + + +7. Committee on "Labour Problem." + +_Labour Unions--Living wage--Child labour--Care of girl-workers, etc_. + +N.B.--The great point to elucidate in these matters is: _Must we, and +how far can we, co-operate with non-Catholic bodies_? This is a very +important point, far reaching in its consequences. + + +8. Committee on "Resolutions." + +"The resolutions are to embody the fruit of the collective experience +and deliberations of the Congress. They will remain then as the +profession of Catholic conviction and go far to create public opinion +on the questions of the day." (Fr. Plater.) + +And indeed, public discussion awakens new thoughts, gives various views +of a topic, suggests practical conclusions, expedient measures. It is +the crystallizing process of all the activities of the Congress. + + +III--_After the Congress_. + +The good results of a Congress are made permanent by the establishment +of: + +1. _A permanent Committee of Clergy and laity_--who meet occasionally +to stimulate or check activities of the body at large. + +2. _A Vigilance Committee_: + +(a) _On legislation_.--To watch and initiate legislation--for different +Provinces. + +(b) _On press_. + +(c) _On social work_. + +3. _Bureau_.--Clearing house--where "expert knowledge and effective +presentation" are to be found. To this bureau should be attached a +priest who would specialize in social work. He could be helped by an +efficient secretary. His would be the energy that would carry to the +various organizations life and power. The "Volksverein" in Catholic +Germany was a model in this line of work. + + * * * * * * + +"_Praesentia tangens . . . futura prospiciens_" is a motto which +translates well the lofty ideal Catholics should have before their eyes +at this turning point of history. Although we stand amid the ruins +accumulated during four long years of war and are confronted by +distressing after-war problems in every order of human activity, still +we raise our heads in hope and look beyond the crude realities of the +present to a brighter day breaking on the horizon of time, a day tinted +with the rising sun of Christian doctrine. . . . + +_Instaurare omnia in Christo_ . . . to re-establish all things in +Christ, is the only reconstruction that will last. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +ULTIMA VERBA + +The Canadian West offers to one who has never gone beyond the Great +Lakes but a misty vision of boundless prairies that stretch over three +immense Provinces and lose themselves in the foothills of the +snow-capped Rockies. Conflicting are the impressions that assail the +traveller's mind, various the feelings that crowd around his heart when +leaving behind him the East, he faces, for the first time, the "great +lone land" of the West. From the immensities of the fertile prairie +comes to him an invigorating air of optimism which fires him with +enthusiasm and confidence in the possibilities of the country and gives +him the assurance of its future. From the vast horizon that melts away +into the distant blue skies "he seems to hear the footsteps of Freedom +treading towards him." This mysterious attractiveness of the boundless +desert that the plough has just turned into restful and fertile meadows +has at all times a peculiar fascination. But it is at harvest season +that our glorious West it at its best. Then under the deep blue +firmament, in the glorious sunlight and exhilarating atmosphere of the +rolling prairie one can hear, as it were, "the song of the land." With +the hum of the binder, it comes to him froth the long rows of golden +sheaves, it rises from the fields where yet waves the ripening harvest. + +Nature indeed is then most beautiful in the West. But for the +Christian soul to whom Faith "is the evidence of things unseen and the +substances of things we hope for," the visible harvest leads to the +thought of that spiritual harvest to which the Master so often points +in the Gospel. Under all the feverish activities which characterize +our Western communities lie deep in the consciences of men those unseen +realities, those spiritual values and eternal issues which constitute +the religious world. In the mysterious furrows of the human heart is +ripening the harvest of eternity. + +The Church of God ever stands as Christ by the mysterious well of +Jacob, at the intersection of the highways of History. Now, as in the +days of the Saviour, winter has set in; a cold blast of indifference +and unbelief sweeps over the land. Yet with the Master's vision and +boundless confidence, the Church, pointing to the Western plains, +repeats to us all the divine challenge. "Do not you say there are yet +four months and then the harvest cometh? Behold I say to you lift up +your eyes and see the countries for they are white already to the +harvest." (Jo. iv, 35.) + +Before parting with you, kind reader, may we make ours this pressing +invitation of the Master. Yes, the immense West is "white already to +the harvest." There stand as immense fields of ripening wheat, the +Catholic youth of Eastern Canada, the sturdy and thrifty Catholic +settlers of the British Isles and continental Europe. There the rising +generation of Catholic children, like the tender green blades of the +future harvest, is springing into manhood. Staring us in the face, +their eyes in our eyes, the children of foreign parentage wonder what +account we will make of their faith, what protection we will offer it. +They are the new Canadians, the nation of to-morrow. + +To focus the Catholic mind of the nation on the great problems which +the West with its scattered population has forced upon our attention, +has been the object we have consistently pursued through the pages of +this book. _For it is a fact of every day experience that problems are +only solved by those who know them, who understand their full meaning, +and grasp their vital importance_. + +Our sole endeavour has been to point out the controlling forces, the +spiritual issues that lurk behind these problems. In debatable matters +we always have tried to find that higher level which lies undisturbed +by the cross-currents of opinions. Naturally there are conclusions we +draw or forms of action we propose which may not find favour with +everyone. There are so many angles of vision from which moral problems +can be viewed. But we will say with Cardinal Newman "nothing would be +done at all if a man waited until he could do it so well that no one +could find fault with it." Were we, in our insistency on certain +topics and suggestions, accused of undue repetition, the importance of +the subject and our eager desire of immediate action would be our only +excuse and defence. + +The Western spiritual harvest is indeed great and now ready for the +reapers. Never in our mind has a period in the history of the Church +in Canada been more fraught with greater problems than the present one +which the sudden increase of the West has created. The vastness of +their proportion and their far-reaching consequences involve to a great +extent the future of the Church in these new Provinces and, +consequently, in the Dominion at large. Moreover this immense harvest +is now white and calls for the reapers. To-morrow will be too late, +for, there comes a critical stage in the maturing harvest, when the +labours of past months and the most bright prospects melt away in an +hour. If therefore action is not immediate, irreparable, we contend, +will be the loss to the Church in the West. Only by a prompt and +united action will the stern and burning realities of the present be +converted into the bright visions that our Faith has a right to expect. + +The harvesters are few. But were the Church at this critical hour able +to count on all the spiritual forces that lie dormant in the souls of +her children in Canada, the history of the future in the West would be +different from that of the past. As in times of emergency, the +conscription of Catholic forces is the supreme duty of the hour. It is +the duty of our leaders to affect by a definite policy the +"indeterminate masses," just as it is the duty of each individual of +the masses to shoulder his share of responsibility by an active +co-operation. _Without a definite workable policy of united action, +and the awakened consciousness of the Catholic masses at large, +throughout the Dominion, the Catholic problems in Western Canada will +not be solved_. + +The Church in Canada, we maintain, stands at one of those critical +periods when the sweeping current of events give a decided bend to the +course of History. The hour is serious, for never was the future so +greatly involved in the present as it is now. All depends, to a very +large extent, on how, within the next decade or so, the Catholics will +consolidate their forces and extend their energies to meet the +religious issues of the West. Were we to fail at this momentous +period, our inactivity and want of co-operation will be charged against +us, and in the eyes of the Church we shall be marked as felons and +traitors to her great cause. The chapter of our times in the history +of the Church would then be fittingly headed with this accusing +caption: "_What should have been_!" For, we are the makers of History; +we prepare its verdicts. + +One last word before parting with you, gentle reader. If you have +followed us through the various problems to which we have given our +attention in this book you will have remarked that there is one idea +which permeates, we would say, every page of it. It is the key-note of +our work. This idea is that of "_responsibility_," which a genuine and +active Catholicism necessarily implies. This thought of Catholic +solidarity has inspired our humble effort; in it we place the hopes of +the future. There lies in one word the burden of our message. + +THE CHURCH OF THE WEST IS IN OUR HANDS--ITS FUTURE WILL BE WHAT WE +SHALL MAKE IT--THAT FUTURE, WHAT SHALL IT BE?--THE DIVINE MASTER, HIS +CHURCH, AND CATHOLIC POSTERITY, AWAIT OUR ANSWER. + + + + +APPENDIX + +We thought it would be a benefit to our Canadian reader to republish +here three thought-compelling and illuminating articles that appeared, +the first in the "New York Times," the second in the "Century Magazine" +and the third in the "Detroit News." As they deal with a similar +problem that confronts Canada also, they will corroborate views we have +expressed here and there in our book. Let the reader substitute +"Canadianization" for "Americanization" and he will find that the +statements made can be well applied to existing conditions in our own +Country. + + +I. AMERICANIZATION + +_By L. P. Edwards in N.Y. Times_. + +The United States is suffering from one of its periodic attacks of Know +Nothingism. It is seriously maintained in the public prints that our +recent Eastern European, and particularly our Russian, immigration +contains enormous numbers of murderers, thieves, counterfeiters, +dynamiters, arsonists and other criminals of the most atrocious +character. It is alleged that the lives and property of all of us are +in imminent danger from these incredibly numerous blackguards, and that +the only salvation lies in what is called the Americanization of the +foreigner. + +Now, it is known to every respectable sociologist in America that our +recent Eastern European immigrants, including the Russians, are just as +peaceable and law-abiding people as native Americans or native American +ancestry. This is a fact about which there is not the slightest doubt +in the mind of any competently informed person. It has been repeatedly +established by careful studies made by the United States Bureau of the +Census; by various State boards and by highly qualified private +foundations. + +Furthermore, the most honest, thrifty, industrious, upright, +God-fearing and conservative portion of our foreign population is +precisely that portion which has clung most stubbornly to its native +ways of life and has been least influenced by American customs. Our +immigrants upon changing their foreign languages, customs, beliefs and +ideals upon becoming "Americanized," deteriorate profoundly in moral +character; deteriorate to a degree that shows itself in the criminal +statistics. + +It is very fortunate for the moral welfare of millions of our foreign +population that the present furore for "Americanization" is destined to +fail in its object. Its failure is in its own nature. The fundamental +social virtues, honesty, industry, thrift, truthfulness and the rest, +are the same for all societies on the same general level of +development. They are not promoted by the custom of saluting any +particular flag nor advanced by the ability to read any particular +Constitution. + +The very complete and profound change of character implied by the +phrase: "The Americanization of the Foreigner" can be wisely and safely +accomplished only if spread out over at least three generations, while +four or five would be better. Every year less than three generations, +that the progress is hastened, means moral and spiritual breakdown for +thousands--means domestic tragedy and congested criminal calendars. +There is only one foreigner who is really a menace to American society. +He is the foreigner who is in rapid process of "Americanization." The +danger point is the foreign-born child and the American-born child of +foreign parents. + +The danger from these classes is real and serious, perhaps the most +serious presented in the whole range of immigration questions. Here +again we have very reliable statistics which leave no room for +reasonable doubt. America needs protection, needs it urgently, against +the foreigner of the second generation, particularly against the +youthful foreigner who goes through our Public school system. The +father who stubbornly refuses to learn English or to adopt American +ways is commonly a man of admirable moral character. The son, often +quite as American as young men of our old stock, is equally commonly a +youth of vicious and unprincipled character. + +Public opinion in this matter is grievously at fault. There is danger +to American institutions, and that danger is real, but it is just the +opposite of what is popularly feared. The danger lies precisely in the +process of Americanization itself, particularly in the endeavor to +hasten that process. If, as is commonly maintained, the present need +in America is peace and safety, security and conservatism, then the +Americanization of the foreigner should be slowed down in every way +possible. No encouragement should at this time be offered to the +foreigner to abandon his native language or religion or to change his +ethical or cultural standards. + +On the other hand, every possible assistance should be given to Roman +and Greek Catholic priests, Orthodox rabbis and other such leaders in +maintaining and strengthening the traditional loyalties of their +various groups. Our Mohammedans--no negligible element in recent +immigration--should be encouraged to build mosques, to read the Koran +and to obey the various other requirements of their faith. Our public +libraries should provide themselves more liberally with books in +foreign languages. Foreign language lectures and speakers of all sorts +should be much encouraged. By such means and only by such means can +the spirit of unrest and disquiet be stilled and the spirit of +conservatism and contentment with the status quo be developed among our +foreign population. + +It is a most curious popular misconception that peace and quietness and +respect for law and order can be developed in the foreigner by suddenly +and violently disturbing his mental life. Changing a man's language, +upsetting his moral and social conventions, altering his inherited +traditions of conduct, unsettling his ancestral faith--these are the +very best means possible for making him a disbeliever in all +established institutions, including those of the United States. Yet +this is precisely what "Americanization" aims to do with the best +intentions. + +Let us take a specific illustration. It may perhaps be theoretically +desirable to bring our new immigrant to a realization of the crudity +and superstition of his Eastern Orthodox faith, and to be a lively +recognition of the superiority of American Protestantism. Practically, +it can be seldom done and the reason is simple. When a person has been +brought to realize the faults, imperfections, and limitations of a +traditional system of belief in religion, government or what not, he +inevitably applies his new critical attitude towards whatever system of +belief is offered to him as a substitute for the one he has been +encouraged to cast aside. + +Most commonly the alternative system, being human, has serious faults, +imperfections and limitations of its own, which are easily enough +discoverable. The net result of very much conscientious missionary +work in America is that the foreigner ceases to believe his traditional +faith, refuses allegiance to any American substitute and becomes an +infidel agnostic or atheist. The same thing is just as common in the +realms of social, ethical and political faith as in that of religious +belief. + +Respect for Government and law is not a natural instinct. It is an +artificial attitude slowly built up in the individual by all sorts of +direct and indirect social pressure. The breakdown of old habits of +thought in any one of the great departments of social activity very +rapidly affects the other phases of conduct. The whole moral life of +the individual tends to become unsettled. Nothing is held firmly +except the selfish determination to obtain material wealth. Ideas and +ideals which stand in the way of this are cast aside. The Americanized +foreigner possesses all the native Americans' ruthless greed without +possessing his social, ethical, religious, or political idealism. + +No man can learn a language perfectly who learns it deliberately, and +social ideals are harder to learn than language. They can never be +learned naturally and completely except when they are learned so +gradually and imperceptibly that the process is unrecognized and +largely unconscious. This can never be possible in the case of the +foreign born, and is only very partially attainable in the case of the +children foreign born. Its complete realization is possible only in +the case of children born and reared in an entirely American +environment. That is to say it cannot be accomplished before the third +generation at the earliest, and often not then. + + +II. THE FAD OF AMERICANIZATION + +_By Glenn Frank in the "Century Magazine," June, 1920_. + +We are a nation of confirmed uplifters. We are never happy except when +we are reforming something or saving somebody. It doesn't matter +greatly whom we are saving or what we are reforming; the game is the +thing. This uplift urge expresses itself in the "movement" mania, the +endemic home of which is United States. The American cannot live by +bread alone; he must have committees, clubs, constitutions, by-laws, +platforms, and resolutions. These things, the machinery of uplift are +his meat and wine. The American society women takes to "social +service" and the American business man to "public work" as a bird takes +to the air or a hound to the trail. It is in the blood. + +Just now the most popular social sport is "Americanization." It is in +many ways an ideal movement. It fully satisfies the passion of the +comfortable classes for uplift, and is a Godsend to the candidate who +wants something to grow fervent about in lieu of a frank facing of +fundamental issues of politics and industry. Above all, +Americanization work gives one the righteous feeling of a defender of +the faith. The epidemic faddist character of much Americanization work +was pointedly stated in a recent article by Simon J. Lubin and +Christina Krysto in "The Survey." They said: + +"Every social organization, every religious society, every large +industry, every woman's club has been busy for months mapping out its +own particular program. The study of Americanization has been used to +stimulate interest in organizations which were dying a natural death; +Americanization has been used as a pretext for sudden improvements in +industrial management when the attitude of labor has made sudden +improvements imperative; Americanization has been used to give +employment to social workers out of jobs." + +This article further points out the inevitability of innumerable +perversions of Americanization in such an orgy of organization. The +article says on this point: + +"Every political party has its hangers-on who, consciously or +unconsciously, discredit the fine principles of that party by their +erroneous expounding of these. Every new phase in industrial progress +has its profiteers--men who capitalize the advanced ideas of their +field for their own interest, regardless of the harm which they bring +to the whole by their methods. Every scientific discovery has its +charlatans who mix enough of the truth with their lies to undermine the +whole truth when their lies become known. Every religion has its false +messiahs, and many a man has been made an unbeliever because he has +followed these too easily and been disappointed too grievously." + +It should be said that the profiteers, charlatans, and false messiahs +of Americanization are not, in the main, men and women of bad +intentions so much as they are men and women of half-ideas of +fractional and incomplete conceptions of Americanization. The title of +false messiahs fits them better than either profiteers or charlatans, +for false messiahs are usually profoundly sincere, although profoundly +misguided. + +No straight-thinking person disputes the need of a fundamentally sound +program of Americanization, a vast collective effort toward the +stimulation and spread of sane principles of national life among all +sorts and conditions of men and women who make up our population. But +anything and everything that goes by the name of Americanization is not +necessarily an effective move in that direction. There is slowly +growing up a body of incisive criticism dealing with the current +epidemic of Americanization work that is sweeping the country on the +wings of clever catch-words and generous emotions. It may be of +interest and value to attempt an analysis and statement of the main +points of that body of criticism. Here are a few plainly valid +criticisms. + +First, it is psychologically bad to approach Americanization work +through a _super-organized and much-trumpeted movement, because such a +policy warns the foreigner in advance that a crowd of superior_ persons +have set out to improve him. That is generally resented. The fact is +that hardly a thing has been proposed as desirable in an +Americanization program that is not the duty or function of some +existing institution of our country, the church, the school, the +industry, the press. Education, hygiene, and a decent inter-class +courtesy are necessary features of any sound Americanization program, +but they can be more effectively applied by calling them what they are +and promoting them in normal ways than by branding them Americanization +and cursing them with the blight of paternalistic uplift. + +But it is probably useless to quarrel with a long established national +habit. It is a habit of ours to create a new organization for every +new task. Not only does that practice have the drawbacks just +mentioned, but it robs our established institutions of the habit of +doing creative work, leaves our established institutions as homes of +the routine and the regular. There is a fundamental difference between +England and the United States in this matter. In England the few men +who have caught an idea or envisioned a need, do not, as a regular +practice, create a new propagandist organization instanter, but in most +cases set quietly to work to get the machinery of established +institutions going on the task. An increasing number of clear-minded +folk are becoming convinced that Americanization would proceed much +faster and more soundly through the increase efficiency of the existing +machinery of school and church and press and industry, without any +fanfare of trumpets, than through any propagandist "drive" for +uplifting the foreigner. + +Second, it is a _fallacy_ to suppose that Americanization _is a process +needed by the foreigners only_. Much Americanization work proceeds +upon the assumption that what is needed is to make the foreigner "like +us." The fact is that Americanization is sorely needed by many of +"us," Americanization does not mean merely getting an immigrant ready +for his citizenship-papers. It means the continuous fostering of the +American spirit of liberty, justice, and equality of opportunity in +every man and woman and institution and policy. Americanization should +be looked upon as the inspiring goal of both native born and foreign +born, not as a missionary enterprise among the foreign born alone. To +single out the foreign born as the exclusive objects of an +Americanization effort is organized tactlessness. If, on the other +hand, the foreign born feel that they are being invited to join with +the native born in a vast collective effort to build a better nation in +which liberty, justice, and equality of opportunity shall increasingly +prevail, they will go out of their way to acquire the English language, +a knowledge of our institutions and ways, and all the instruments +necessary to the task of collaborating with us in the improvement of +the republic. + +Third, serious danger lies in the _over-simplification of the_ problem +of Americanization by propagandist organizations. We are in constant +danger from too simple analysis of problems and too simple as the +epigrams that grow up about it. Panaceas usually touch only a part of +a problem. It is interesting to watch various types of minds approach +the problems of Americanization in committee discussion. Here are a +few simple solutions that the writer has heard from time to time: + +Teach the foreigner to stick to the job and produce. We need to teach +the foreigner that Americanism means patriotic production for the +relief of the world's present peace-time plight, just as it meant +patriotic production for the necessities of war-time. A great drive +for industrial patriotism is the supreme need. + +Teach the foreigner to respect our forms of government. Make the +foreigner understand that we have settled the question of government +forms and that criticism is disloyalty. We must discourage the +practice of biting the hand that feeds. + +Teach the foreigner the English language. There is no room in this +country for more than one language. Alien intrigue could be killed if +we turned the United States into a country of one language. + +Make every foreigner take out citizenship-papers within a specified +time or deport him. + +Now, it is inevitable that when Americanization is made a popular +"drive" by a vast propagandist organization that the army of men and +women of one idea, apostles of simplicist solutions, will flock into +the ranks of the propagandists. Even when the official program of the +organization is well rounded, the army of simple-solutionists will do +irreparable damage in their work as servants of the movement. + +The problem cannot be dismissed by preaching to the foreigner that he +should stick to the job and produce. The problem of maximum production +has a thousand ramifications that run throughout the whole industrial +problem. The preaching of industrial patriotism is a waste of breath +unless it goes hand in hand with a far-reaching liberal program of +industrial justice and efficiency. The industrial program is more +important than the industrial preaching. Put the program into effect +and the preaching of loyalty to the job may be unnecessary. + +Far from being Americanism, it is fundamentally anti-American to urge +an uncritical deification of any form of government. Americanism +involves an invitation to continuous constructive criticism in behalf +of a bettering of our machinery of government. It is no solution of +the foreign-born problem to preach loyalty to the _status quo_. We +shall get further by saying to the foreigner, "We are engaged in a +great democratic experiment on this continent. We have settled a few +principles in our minds. We believe in popular rule through political +action, but as to details we are on a search for improvement. We ask +you to learn our language and our institutions and then give us the +benefit of your best thought on ways and means for the improvement of +our machinery for democratic government. The bars are down for the +frankest criticism from men and women who have the democratic patience +to trust their proposals to peaceful procedure." + +Learning the English language is only a means to an end. It is too +frequently made an end in itself. There is no more virtue in talking +English than in talking Hottentot. We shall not get far by the mere +exaltation of a language. The only lasting results we shall achieve +will be through the making of participation in this national democratic +experiment of ours so attractive to the foreigner that he will burn +with the desire to master our tongue, that he may better play his part +and appreciate his privilege. A man can plot the downfall of the +republic in English as easily as in an alien tongue. + +Nor is there magic in the legal assumption of citizenship. It is the +man behind the papers that counts. If anything, we have made +citizenship too easy a privilege in the past. + +Now, all this is said not to suggest that there is no room or need for +special consideration of the Americanization problem by groups of +public minded citizens. It is not intended to suggest that +Americanization may not properly be made the subject of considerable +propaganda. This comment has indulged in rather severe and unqualified +strictures upon the Americanization "drive" in the hope of capturing +attention for three manifest dangers that may prove the undoing of the +real Americanization work that cries aloud for administration. These +three dangers are; first, the danger of making the Americanization +movement so plainly a conventional uplift movement that the foreigner +will resent what he might, with a more tactful approach, request; +second, the danger that, by thinking of Americanization as something +needed by the foreigner alone, we shall miss the opportunity of making +Americanization a vast national effort of self-education in the nature +and application of the principles of liberty justice, and equality of +opportunity that, theoretically at least, comprise the American idea; +and third, the danger that the propagandist's passion for simple +solutions will further postpone the day of a broad and well-balanced +program of national development. + +We do not want "Americanism" to degenerate into a mere "protective +coloration" for politicians who want to hide their reaction and their +lack of ideas. + + +III. AMERICANIZATION WORK MUST PROCEED SLOWLY + +_By Rev. D. P. Tighe, "Detroit News," Aug. 23, 1919_. + +There are two methods of Americanizing the immigrant, says Fr. D. P. +Tighe in the August number of the Catholic Light. One of them is +_revolutionary_, the other _evolutionary_. To Americanize means to +take the immigrant and remake him. Teaching him to write and speak the +language of the country is a mere detail of the process. One cannot be +awake to the industrial and social needs of the country without +co-operating in every movement calculated to discourage the diversity +of language, and to give to the foreigner every facility for the quick +and easy mastery of English. But Americanization is a different +proposition. Trotzky, when he lived in East New York, could speak and +write English fluently, but he was not an American. He had neither +understanding of, nor sympathy with American institutions; and, so, +instead of setting himself to remedy the abuses in our industrial and +political life as a good American citizen would remedy them he became +an anarchist and envisioned to himself a millennium of destruction that +involved the good as well as the evil. + +"Americanization is more than a mere matter of language. It involves +stripping the immigrant of much of what he has inherited from the +centuries. He is the finished product of those centuries. His speech, +his manner, his dress, his ideas along social and political and +industrial lines have been fashioned upon the distaff of time. He +lands upon American soil and at once there is a strangeness in the +atmosphere that awes him, it is a new world in truth and the newness of +it repels him and drives him back upon himself. The faintest link +between the new world and the old is a Godsend to him. It gives him +courage, it robs him of that feeling of aloneness. It tells him that +after all, maybe he is wanted. In other words it creates an atmosphere +of sympathy and understanding. Now any educator can tell you that this +very atmosphere of sympathy is of the very essence of the class room, +it's a condition of education, and Americanization is an education in +nationalism. + +"And here is where the revolutionary idea of Americanization falls +down. Are you going to prove to the immigrant in one lesson that he is +all wrong? Are you going to undo with a single jerk what it has taken +centuries to do? Are you going to take this man and by a sort of +patronizing coercion, yank him out himself and leave him, high and +dry--nowhere? Or are you going to give him a reasonable time to learn +the things of the new world, time to be influenced by the new +environment? It took centuries to make him just what he is. Can't you +spare him one generation to shed the crust of those centuries? Can't +you be satisfied with making him the solid groundwork of the +citizenship of his children? + +"_Do we favor Americanization_? By _revolution, no_; by _evolution, +yes_. The lasting kind of Americanization comes, not through a quick +jerk, but through a long pull. First make the immigrant feel at home. +Let him get his feet on the ground. Let him get rid of his suspicions +and his distrust and his shyness by finding out the links that bind the +new order with the old, the things that make for the broader kind of +brotherhood. Don't rush him; lay emphasis upon the things that are +common; from them he'll learn confidence, and confidence is a great big +step in the transforming of an European immigrant into an American +citizen." + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Catholic Problems in Western Canada, by +George Thomas Daly + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHOLIC PROBLEMS IN WESTERN *** + +***** This file should be named 18378-8.txt or 18378-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/3/7/18378/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + diff --git a/18378-8.zip b/18378-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a5b3fa0 --- /dev/null +++ b/18378-8.zip diff --git a/18378.txt b/18378.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..15430c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/18378.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9096 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Catholic Problems in Western Canada, by +George Thomas Daly + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Catholic Problems in Western Canada + +Author: George Thomas Daly + +Release Date: May 11, 2006 [EBook #18378] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHOLIC PROBLEMS IN WESTERN *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +Catholic Problems + +in + +Western Canada + + + +By + +George Thomas Daly, C.SS.R. + + + + +_With preface by the Most Reverend O. E. Mathieu, + Archbishop of Regina_ + + + + +TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF + CANADA, LTD., AT ST. MARTIN'S HOUSE + + + + +Permissu Superiorum + +ARTHUR T. COUGHLAN, C.SS.R., Provincial. + + + + +Imprimatur + +EDWARD ALFRED LEBLANC, Bishop of St. John, N.B. + + + +St. John, N.B., December 8th, 1920. + + + + +Copyright, Canada, 1921 + +BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LIMITED + +TORONTO + + + + +RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED + +TO + +THE CATHOLIC HIERARCHY + +OF CANADA. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +INTRODUCTION + + +PART 1.--RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS + +CHAPTER 1.--THIS CALL OF THE WEST + +A Call from the West--The Call of the Catholic Church in the West--The +Response of the East--The Specific Object of the Catholic Church +Extension Society. + + +CHAPTER 2.--BRIDGING THE CHASM + +The Catholic Church Extension Society in Canada--Its Principles and +Policy. + + +CHAPTER 3.--PRO ARIS ET FOCIS + +The Ruthenian Problem--A Religious and National Problem--Its +Phases--Its Solution. + + +CHAPTER 4.--WHY? WHAT? WHO? + +The necessity of a Field Secretary for the Organization of our +Missionary Activities. + + +CHAPTER 5.--PLOUGHING THE SANDS + +The Church Union Movement; its Causes and Various Manifestations--The +Protestant and Catholic View-point. + + +CHAPTER 6.--"THEM ALSO I MUST BRING" (Jo, v, 16) + +The Apostolate to non-Catholics; its Obligation--What have we +Done?--What Can we Do? + + +CHAPTER 7.--PROS AND CONS + +Obstacles that Impede. . . . Circumstances that Help the Work of the +Church in Western Canada. + + + +PART 2.--EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS + +CHAPTER 8.--WHY SEPARATE? + +A Moral Reason--A Social Reason--A Political Reason--A National +Reason--A British Reason--A Religious Reason . . . for our "Separate +Schools." + + +CHAPTER 9.--A WINDOW IN THE WEST + +A Crusade for Better Schools in Saskatchewan: Its History--Its +Lessons--An Invitation and a Warning. + + +CHAPTER 10.--UNICUIQUE SUUM + +Principle on which should be Based the Division of Company-taxes +between Public and Separate Schools. + + +CHAPTER 11.--DREAM OF REALITY + +Higher Education in Western Canada--Duty of the Hour--University +Training, Condition of Genuine leadership--For Catholics Higher +Education means Higher Catholic Education--The Concerted Action of all +Catholics in Western Canada can make a Western Catholic University a +Reality. + + + +PART 3--SOCIAL PROBLEMS + + +CHAPTER 12.--BEYOND BERLIN + +After-war Problems from a Catholic view-point--Reconstruction--The Duty +of the Hour. + + +CHAPTER 13.--"WHOM DO MEN SAY THAT THE SON OF MAN IS?" (Matt. xvi, 13) + +Public Opinion and the Catholic Church--What is Public Opinion--Its +Power--How it is Formed--The Catholic Church in its Relation to Public +Opinion--Our Duties to Public Opinion. + + +CHAPTER 14.--"TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE" (Jo. viii, 32) + +Facts--Principles--Policy of the Catholic Truth Society--Its Value for +the Church in Western Canada. + + +CHAPTER 15.--A SUGGESTION + +Importance of the Catholic Press--Requisites for its Success in the +West. + + +CHAPTER 16.--THE NEW CANADIAN + +Immigration--Are we Ready for it?--Outline of a Plan of Action. + + +CHAPTER 17--"UT SINT UNUM" + +A Catholic Congress of the Western Provinces, the Ultimate Solution of +all their Problems--What is a Congress?--Its Utility--Its +Necessity--Tentative Programme of a General Congress. + + +CHAPTER 18.--"ULTIMA VERBA" + + + +APPENDIX + + +I.--AMERICANIZATION + +A Thought-compelling and Illuminating Article, by L. P. Edwards, in +"New York Times," on Problems that Confront Canada also. + + +II.--THE FAD OF AMERICANIZATION + +By Glenn Frank in the "Century," June, 1920. + + +III.--AMERICANIZATION WORK MUST PROCEED SLOWLY + +By Rev. D. P. Tighe, "Detroit News," Aug. 24, 1919. + + + + +PREFACE + +_Letter of the Most Reverend O. E. Mathieu, + Archbishop of Regina, to the Author_ + +REVEREND G. DALY, C.SS.R., + St. John, N.B. + +Dear Father,-- + +Quebec Province claims you as her son. There you lived for many years; +there you learned to admire the peaceful life and to appreciate the +genuine happiness of our patriarchal families; there you were an +eyewitness of the "bonne entente" and noble rivalry which exist between +the ethnical groups that go to make up its population. + +At various times your sacred ministry has brought you in touch with the +other Eastern Provinces of our broad Dominion. A keen observer, you +readily grasped existing conditions and the mentality of the various +elements of our Canadian Population. + +The year 1917 found you laboring in our beloved Province of +Saskatchewan, as Rector of our Cathedral. For three years you lived +with us. The possibilities of our great West soon appealed to your +enthusiastic heart. The various problems which here engage the +attention of the Church fired your soul with noble ambition. I shall +never forget the good you have done in the parish committed to your +care. I shall be ever grateful for the zeal with which you devoted +yourself, heart and soul, to the guidance of those under your charge. +You found your happiness in making others happy, remembering that +kindly actions alone give to our days their real value. Your priestly +heart understood that when one is in God's service he must not be +content with doing things in a half-hearted way or without willing +sacrifice. + +But the voice of your Superiors called you to another field of action, +and with ready obedience you hastened to the Eastern extremity of the +Dominion. I can assure you, dear Father, that, though absent, your +memory is still fresh among us. Your old parishioners of Holy Rosary +Cathedral, and others with whom you came in contact through missions +and other work throughout the Province, have kept a fond and faithful +remembrance of your Reverence. The citizens of Regina who are not of +our Faith still remember the noble efforts you always put forth to +promote good will and concord in the community at large. Your charity +proved to them that we were not born to hate but to love one another. +It affords me great pleasure to see that since you left the West you +have continued to have its welfare at heart, its problems ever present +in your thought. For you tell me that you are just about to publish a +book on "Catholic problems in Western Canada." + +The West, you have known, studied and loved. The tremendous obstacles, +as well as the great possibilities which there face the Church at this +critical hour of our history, have left on your mind a lasting +impression. You fully realize, dear Father, that our Western problems +are not sufficiently known by the Catholics of the East. Were the +importance of these issues fully appreciated by all, a greater interest +would be taken in regard to their immediate solution. Catholics +throughout the Country, you rightly state, are obliged to further the +influence of Holy Mother Church in our Western Provinces, which will +certainly be called upon within a very near future to play a most +important part in our Dominion. + +To draw the attention of Catholics to the critical issues which +conditions, during the last decade or so, have created in our great +West, and to offer solutions which will be beneficial to the Church, +are the noble motives that have prompted your important work and guided +you on to its completion. + +Even though some may not fully share your views, or see eye to eye with +you on the means of action you suggest, you will have nevertheless +attained your object. You will have, I am confident, awakened interest +in our Western problems which, I repeat, are unfortunately not known, +or at least, are not fully appreciated by too many of our own. + +There is a saying that the heart has reasons which the mind does not +fully grasp. I feel sure that the many hours you have spent in the +composition of your book, coupled with the strenuous work of the +missions, to which you have consecrated yourself with unrelenting zeal +since your departure from our midst, have been calculated to weaken +your health. But your heart, unmindful of self, did not consider time +and fatigue so long as your fellow-man was being benefited. Your love +for God and His Church induced you to undertake this work and carry it +through to completion. Your book, I am sure, is destined to produce +happy results. This will be your consolation and your reward. Asking +God to bless your work and wishing you to accept this expression of my +constant gratitude and sincere friendship, I remain as ever, + +Devotedly yours, + +OLIVIER ELZEAR MATHIEU, + +_Archbishop of Regina._ + + +ARCHBISHOP'S HOUSE, + +REGINA, November 21st, 1920. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +Praesentia tangens. . . . . + Futura prospiciens. + +Problems characterize every age, sum up the complex life of nations and +give them their distinctive features. They form that moral atmosphere +which makes one period of history responsible and tributary to another. +And indeed, in every human problem there is an ethical element. This +imponderable factor, which often baffles our calculations, always +remains the true, permanent driving force. For in the last analysis of +human things, morality is what reachest furthest and matters most. + +Problems may vary with the times and the countries, and yet, the moral +issues involved never change; for, right is eternal. To detect this +ethical element amid the ever restless waves of human activities has +ever been the noble and constant effort of true leaders. Like the +pilot they are ever watching for the lighted buoy on the tossing waves. + +This moral element underlying all our national problems is what affects +Catholics as such, or rather the medium through which Catholics are +called to affect them. No period should prove more interesting to +Catholics than our own, for the very principles of Christian Ethics are +now being questioned and vindicated in the lives of nations, either by +the benefits accruing from their application, or by the evils +consequent upon their neglect. + +Our neo-pagan world is learning by a cruel and sad experience that +Religion is the foundation of morality, and morality that of true +legality. "For unless certain things antecedent to conscience be +granted and firmly held, 'conscience' becomes synonymous with +'sentiment.'" + +Mr. Lloyd George himself, addressing a religious gathering in Wales on +June 9, 1920, recognized Religion as the only bulwark able to resist +the rising tide of anarchy. "Bolshevism is spreading throughout the +world," said the British Premier, "and the churches can alone save the +people from the disaster which will ensue, if this anarchy of will and +aim continues to spread." The task of the churches, he continued, was +greater than that which came within the compass of any political party. +Political parties might provide the lamps, lay the wires and turn the +current on to certain machinery, but the churches must be the power +stations. If the generating stations were destroyed, whatever the +arrangements and plans of the political parties might be, it would not +be long before the light was cut off from the homes of the people. The +doctrines taught by the churches are the _only_ security against the +triumph of human selfishness, and human selfishness unchecked will +destroy any plans, however perfect, which politicians may devise. + +This period of history, to quote Gladstone, is "an agitated and +expectant age." The world is travelling fast into a new era. The +modern social fabric, built on the shifting sands of selfishness and +injustice is rocking on its foundations. Amid accumulated ruins +nations are searching for the basic principles of true Reconstruction. +This period of unrest is in itself a challenge to Christianity, to the +Church. But the vitalizing force of Christianity can solve these +problems of a decrepit civilization just as it solved the problem of +tottering Rome. Problems therefore must be faced and solved. Every +Catholic has his place in this world-wide work. If our religion does +not make its influence felt in every phase of our life's activities, it +is--as far as our life and its influence on others is concerned--a +gigantic fraud. Bishop Kettler understood this pressing obligation +when, breaking away from a too conservative programme of action, he was +the first in the Church to give an impetus to the study of the modern +social problem. His policy and action were said to have prompted the +celebrated letter of Leo III, _Rerum Novarum_. The words of this great +democratic Bishop still bear his timely message to Catholics of to-day, +"To save the souls of countless workmen entrusted to her by Christ, the +Church must enter the field of Social reform, armed with extraordinary +remedies. She must exert herself to the utmost to rescue the workmen +from a situation which constitutes a real proximate occasion of sin for +them, a situation which makes it morally impossible for them to fulfill +their duties as Christians." + +"The Church is bound to interfere '_ex caritate_,'" as these workmen +are in extreme need and cannot help themselves. Otherwise, the +unbelieving workingman will say to her: "Of what use are your fine +teachings to me? What is the use of your referring me, by way of +consolation, to the next world, if in this world you let me and my wife +and my children perish with hunger? You are not seeking my welfare, +you are looking for something else." + +Our fair and broad Dominion has not escaped from that spirit of unrest. +Spasmodic eruptions in the East and in the West indicate the same +central fires of the universal volcano upon which the world now sleeps +uneasily. Yet, various reasons have urged us to limit our +investigation and reflections to Western Canada. The predominating +interests of the West have of late become more and more evident in the +economic and political life of our country. Lord Salisbury, when +trouble was brewing on the far-flung border of India, gave to the +people the famous warning "Look at big maps." To get a just +appreciation of our mighty West we may well follow that same advice and +"look at big maps." The sudden and rapid growth of our Prairie +Provinces particularly, the unlimited and perennial resources of their +fertile soil, the progressive spirit of the population have made of the +West the land of great possibilities and mighty problems. The future +of our Country, the peace and prosperity of the nation depend to a +great extent on the reasonable and just exploitation of these resources +and on the adequate solution to these problems. + +There is no place in Canada where problems develop more rapidly and +meet with more radical solutions than in Western Canada. This is the +case in every young and prosperous country. No dead are behind the +living, to link the past to the future with the steadying influence of +tradition. Who has not heard of "The Spirit of the West?" Broad in +its vision, sympathetic and ambitious in its plans, over-confident in +its powers and most aggressive in its policies, that spirit grips you +as you pass beyond the Great Lakes into the unlimited horizons of the +rolling prairies. Those who have never experienced its secret +influence, will never fully understand its tremendous power. J. W. +Dafoe, of the Manitoba Free Press, welcoming to the West the Members of +the Imperial Press Conference (1920), assured them that they would +observe in the West evidence "of a newer Canadianism, the Canadianism +of to-morrow; not hostile to the East, but, we think, a little better." + +As the West has forced itself on the attention of our economic and +political world, so also have its Religious problems loomed up many and +great on the horizon of the Church. The Catholic Church, there, as in +many mission countries, is in process of formation: immense fields +await the scythe of belated reapers. Yet, notwithstanding this state +of imperfect organization, the Church stands out as one of the great +moral factors which outsiders are the first to respect, and politicians +too willing at times to exploit. Through her teachings and her +children, she is bound to make the beneficial influence of her presence +felt, even by her enemies. Her teachings indeed create for her loyal +children issues which have to be faced squarely and unflinchingly. The +influence of the Church on Society depends on the manner Catholics +understand their social responsibilities and translate into action her +doctrine. We may well apply to the life of the Church in a country +this biological truism: "life consists in adaptation to environment." +From a Catholic viewpoint Our West will be vitalized only in as much as +the Catholics in Western Canada, thoroughly patriotic in their +aspirations and thoroughly Catholic in their ideas and feelings, will +bring their influence to bear on our national life. Their example and +their influence will lead to the silent and "pacific penetration" of +the Society in which they live. And the Catholics throughout Canada +cannot stand aloof, disinterested in the upbuilding of the Western +Provinces, where the Canada of to-morrow is being created. There +indeed the clash of ideals is more marked, the fermentation of thought +is stronger, issues are more vital. Our national life, to a great +extent, will depend on how these conflicting elements are absorbed into +the blood and sinews of the Country. + +The problems on which we dwell are, in our humble estimation, of +paramount importance and should arrest the attention and elicit the +co-operation of every Catholic alive to their seriousness. No doubt we +have been sleeping at our posts. Red lights spot the darkness of the +future and speak of danger ahead if the problems upon which we dwell +are not pressed home with constancy and energy, if some concerted +action is not agreed upon. Behind these problems lurk mighty issues. +They strike at the very foundations of Christianity and Christian +civilization, and cannot be disposed of by Parliament-Laws or +Orders-in-Council. + +We are a minority, some may say, and without influence. Yes, we are a +minority, but were we a militant minority, our ideas would make their +way. "Small as the Catholic body was in England," said H. Belloc, "it +knew what it thought; it had a determined position. That was of +enormous importance. A minority which was logical, reasonable, and +united was a very much stronger thing than its mere numbers would +suggest." Did not the ideas of a few Oxford men revolutionize the +Church of England and bring on a movement the results of which we still +witness throughout the English-speaking world. The men who see clear +and far, who feel keenly and deeply will necessarily be leaders. The +hand that leads is always governed by a warm heart and a clear eye. +"Devotion is the child of conviction," said Lord Haldane. + +The non-Catholic may be inclined to look upon our exposition of these +Western Problems as a merely sectarian viewpoint, and therefore, of no +value to him. He may even look upon our work as an open challenge. I +would answer in Newman's words: "_Our motive for writing has been the +sight of the truth and the desire to show it to others._" + +The serious minded non-Catholic, whose soul has not been wholly warped +by prejudice, will at least consider the Catholic Church as one of the +great moral factors in the nation. He will naturally wish to know the +mind of the Church and the reasons for its stand in many problems +common to all Canadians. Our candid explanation will help to give him +a better understanding of facts and a better appreciation of our +position on issues to be faced by us all. We are prompted by a sincere +love for our Country in offering these solutions for the various issues +with which we are confronted. "Preconceived opinions and inherited +prejudices, particularly in religious matters tend to make men either +blind or indifferent to the merits of systems other than their own." +We do not expect our non-Catholic readers to see eye to eye with us in +the discussion of the various problems under examination. Our +viewpoint is naturally the Catholic one. But we do believe that the +broad-minded Westerner is open to conviction and willing to take an +argument on its face value. 'Give us a hearing' . . . . this is the +burden of our message to our non-Catholic countrymen. This book is not +written in a spirit of controversy. Were some to see it in this light, +then I would claim for the author what Birrell said of Newman: "He +contrived to instil into his very controversy more of the spirit of +Christ than most men can find room for in their prayers." Moreover; we +are persuaded that the great war has mellowed the minds of men and made +them more receptive. The contact with other countries has softened the +contours of certain controversies and given to all a broader outlook. + +However, should our arguments fail to prove satisfactory or should they +give rise to contradiction, we would repeat here what Newman wrote in +his Preface to "Difficulties of Anglicans," "It has not been our +practice to engage in controversy with those who felt it their duty to +criticise what at any time we have written; but that will not preclude +us under present circumstances, from elucidating what is deficient in +them by further observations, should questions be asked, which, either +from the quarter whence they proceed, or from their intrinsic weight, +have, according to our judgment, a claim upon our attention." + +The problems we touch upon are of a general character. They are not +new, but the war and the loose and hysterical thinking which has +accompanied and followed it, have forced them into startling +prominence. We have grouped them under three headings: _religious_, +_educational_, and _social_. We do not pretend to present an +exhaustive treatment of the matter. To do so, would be on our part a +stroke of temerity and for the reader, an assured deception. Human +problems are ever the same. The surface may be somewhat changed, the +handling a little different, but the principles upon which depends +their solution do not change. Our effort is to throw a new light on +old subjects. + +To be of service to the Church, and, through Her to our Country, is the +sole ambition we have had before us in gathering together in book-form +stray sheaves of thought, published here and there, during the course +of the last few years. We are quite convinced that a clear vision of +the problems facing the Church in Western Canada will awaken a sense of +the responsibility which they entail for every Catholic in the land. + +Our views and suggestions in the matter are but those of a humble +soldier who belongs to the rank and file of the great Catholic army. +But often a private in the firing line can suggest a plan of action +which, when corrected or modified at headquarters, proves to be of some +benefit to his battalion. This explains the dedication of our humble +effort to the Hierarchy of Canada. For in problems which affect the +Church, we would not lose sight of this supreme truth: "The Holy Ghost +has placed the Bishops to rule the Church of God, which He has +purchased with His own blood."-- + +(Act XX, 28) + +ST. PETERS RECTORY, + ST. JOHN, N.B. + +On the Feast of the "Immaculate Conception," December 8th, 1920. + + + + +PART I + +RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS + +"It is surprising how at the bottom of every political problem we +always find some theology involved." + + --(Proudhom) + + + + +CHAPTER 1 + +THE CALL OF THE WEST[1] + +_A Call from the West_ + +Who has not heard the call of the West? Like the blast of the hunter's +horn in the silent forest, its thrilling and inviting sound has +awakened the echoes throughout the land. Springing from the granite +heart of our mighty Rockies, that call comes through their valleys, is +heard over the "Great Divide" and whispers its way to the foothills. +Soft as the evening breeze, strong as the howling blizzard, we hear it +across the prairie, gathering as it were, on its triumphal march to the +East, something of the immensity of the plains and freshness of the +lakes. + +In the din of our manufacturing cities, in the quietness of our towns +and villages, by the rivers and winding bays of our Maritime Provinces, +along the peaceful shores of the St. Lawrence, the call of the West has +been heard. + +Its alluring sound has cast a spell upon our youth, the hope of the +country. Faces flushed with the bright hues of life's dawn, eyes +sparkling with the fires of early youth, instinctively turn to the +West. From all points of Eastern Canada young men and young women are +leaving for that mysterious land of brilliant promise and great +possibilities. + +The Call of the West! All Canada is eager to hear its message. Has +not the merchant his ear to the ground, listening to the throbbing of +the growing harvest on our Western prairies? He knows that in the +furrows of that rich loam lie the wealth and prosperity of the country +at large. The Eastern manufacturer anxiously scans the daily paper to +be posted on crop conditions in the West. They regulate to a great +extent the activities and output of his plant. And when college and +university days are over, where does the young professional man turn +his eyes? To the West. Westward, with the sun, he travels; its fiery +course is an invitation to and a harbinger of his bright career. + +The Call of the West! Across the ocean it has gone and awakened the +dormant energies of old European nations. Settlers of every race and +creed have rushed to our shores, like the waves of "the heaving and +hurrying tide." + +The attraction of the Canadian West has become general, at home and +abroad. Nothing can stop this onward march to the land of promise. A +new Canada is being created beyond the Great Lakes. + +A very small fraction of the Western fertile soil is under cultivation +and already the phenomenal yield has prompted the nations at large to +call the Prairie Provinces "the granary of the world." Already in +Canada the industrial, commercial, and to a great extent, the political +world hinges on the Western crop. It is the great source of Canada's +national wealth. For, the prodigious resources of our mines and +forests, and the annual yield of our harvest are the two poles upon +which revolves the credit of our country abroad. But the growing value +of the West to the economic and national life of Canada is a mere +shadow of its increasing importance in the religious world. Above the +hum of the binders and loud clatter of the threshing machines, above +the sharp voice of the shrieking steel rail, counting, as it were, one +by one, the freighted cars on their way to the Eastern ports, above the +clamor of commerce and industry, ring out the voices of immortal souls. +The West, for the Church of God also is the land of great possibilities +and brilliant promise. The waving sea of its wheat fields calls to +mind the words of the Master: "Lift up your eyes and see the countries +ready for the harvest. . . . The harvest is great indeed but the +labourers are few. . . ." + +On his return from a visit to our Canadian West Cardinal Bourne, in the +course of conversation, spoke of Canada with almost exclusive reference +to the Western Provinces. Some one remarked to him, "Your Grace is +referring to conditions in the West?" "Yes, the West, the West is +Canada!" he replied. + +No one can over-estimate the importance of the West from a Catholic +standpoint. It is a new empire that is being formed beyond the Lakes, +an empire with tremendous and perennial resources, with ambitious +ideals and progressive policies, with forward-looking people and +youthful leaders. There the ultra-conservatism of the East has been +brushed aside and space made for a new democracy. The question of +paramount importance for us is: "What will be the condition of the +Church in that coming part of Canada? What share will She have in the +solving of the social, educational and economic problems of that new +domain?" + +Every Catholic should be interested in this vital issue. The call of +the West for a Catholic is the call of the Church, the call of a Mother +to a loyal son. She has a right to a hearty response from every +Catholic throughout our broad Dominion. It is, therefore, a duty of +conscience for every son of the Church in Canada to come to the +assistance of his mother, to take her honor to heart. At the present +hour this duty is most imperative, this obligation most pressing. +There is nothing in the wide sphere of our Catholic social duties so +immediate in its urgency or so far reaching in its consequences. The +Church depends on the loyalty of her children. + +To bring this call of our Western missions to the attention of every +individual Catholic, to make every soul a co-operator in the extension +of God's kingdom in Canada, to develop that sense of responsibility +which makes one consider the Church's business his own business, to +rally our disbanded forces, to unite our sporadic efforts around the +great work of the "Catholic Church Extension Society of Canada"--such +is the object of these few pages. To place facts before the reader, +and suggest remedies; to sound the call of the West, loud and sonorous +as the bugle pealing a great "_reveille_," strong and clear as the +trumpet blast that stirs the blood; to prompt a timely and generous +response in the East, by uniting the Church of Canada in a crusade of +prayers and sacrifices for our Western Missions: this is our aim and +hopeful ambition. + + +_The Call of the Catholic Church in the West_ + +The call of the Church in the West is a cry for help. Great indeed are +the pressing needs of the Western Church, for numerous and various are +the difficulties with which Catholics have to contend on the prairie +and in the small towns. + +The first barrier to surmount is _distance_. The very layout of the +country is to a great extent a hindrance to the efficient working of a +parish. The survey of the land has been made from a strictly economic +point of view. Large farms,--vast wheat fields--were the final object +of the survey. The social, educational, and religious phases of the +situation are in the background. This renders church and school +problems particularly difficult to solve, as was outlined in Dr. +Foght's report of the educational survey in the Province of +Saskatchewan (1918). This difficulty--let us not forget--will persist +for years to come in Western Canada. According to competent +authorities wheat growing, being essentially a large unit undertaking, +demands extensive farming. This statement is very important, for its +consequences in Church organization are far-reaching. + +The planless settling of the Catholic homesteaders here and there on +the prairie, has also created for the Church one of its greatest +difficulties. Living often 30, 40 and 50 miles from a Catholic chapel, +these settlers drift away from the authority, teaching and sacraments +of the Church. To form self-supporting parishes in the sparsely +settled districts is often an impossibility. + +To this barrier of immense distances are added for long months, +_unfavourable climatic conditions_. The very severe cold, the high +winds which have such a sweep on the boundless prairies, the terrific +blizzards of the long winter months, will always remain great obstacles +to an intense Catholic life in rural parishes. Many Sundays, from +December to March, it is a real impossibility for those who live at any +distance to go to Church. + +And who are those who have settled on our Western plains? This is not +the place to discuss the immigration policies of the past. We are +dealing with facts. We have the _most cosmopolitan population_ one +could imagine. The most divergent factors go to make up the racial +composition of our western population. We know of a city parish that +counted 16 different nationalities within its boundaries. During the +first and second generation, during what we would call the period of +Canadianization of these various national elements, the Church has to +face a most difficult and complex situation. + +Diversity of nations means _variety of ideals, differences of customs +and traditions_. The disassociation from former relations and the +sudden transfer to new conditions of life, have proved to be such a +shock to many settlers that they fail to readjust their lives to the +arising needs. "Separated from the influences of his early life the +immigrant is apt to suffer from disintegrating reaction amid the +perplexing distractions, difficulties and dangers of his new +environment. Frequently it happens that old associations are destroyed +and there is no substitution of the best standards in the new +environment. A vacuum is created which invites the inrush of +destructive influences." How many foreigners have been lost to the +Church because the teachings of their Faith were no longer handed down +to them, wrapped up, we would say, in the folds of their national +customs and celebrations! The oriental and southern mind is more +particularly susceptible to the influence of this national tinge with +which religion itself comes to them. + +The fusion of so many ethnical groups and their adaptation to new +surroundings are the result of a very delicate and slow process, +especially in rural communities. "You cannot play with human chemicals +any more than with real ones. You have to know something of +chemistry," said Winston Churchill. Thousands of foreigners have been +lost to the faith because many of our own, clergy and laity, did not +know the first elements of "human chemistry." The great leakage from +the Church in the West is among Catholic immigrants. Unscrupulous +proselytisers on the specious plea of "Canadianization" have weaned +them from the faith of their fathers. This nefarious process is still +at work, especially in the Ruthenian settlements. + +_The number of languages_ complicates still more this ethnical problem. +Not hearing the Catholic doctrine in his own language and crippled by +that instinctive shyness and extreme reserve which seem to grasp him as +he steps on our shores, the foreigner often loses contact with the +Church. Like a transplanted shrub in an uncongenial soil, he +languishes for years in his faith and its practices. + +_The very atmosphere_ of the West is another great cause of defections +among the faithful. You must live for some years "out West" to +appreciate the full meaning of this statement. + +Moral atmosphere is to the soul what air is to the lungs; it is health +and life. Two elements constitute that factor which plays such a vital +part in our religious life--tradition and environment. _Tradition_ +links the past to the present and gives to the soul a certain stability +amidst the fluctuations of life. It is made up of details if you wish, +but, like the tossing buoy, these details betray where the anchor is +hidden. This absence of the past has a great influence on our Western +Church. People hailing from all points of Eastern Canada, of the +United States and of Europe, have not yet formed religious traditions +which are to the Catholic life of the family and of the parish what +roots are to a tree. + +And what _environments_ surround our scattered settlers on the prairie? +Only those who have come in close relation with the lonely homesteader +can understand how much he is debarred from the influence of Catholic +life. Very often not even a chapel is to be found for miles and miles. +A chapel, no matter how humble it may be, is in the religious world of +a community like the mother-cell; in it life is concentrated; from it +emanates activity. Mass is now often said in a private house, a public +hall or a school house. Children who have not known the beauty and the +warmth of Catholic worship will hardly appreciate its lessons. + +Moreover, _social relations_ often bring our Western Catholics in very +frequent contact with the different Protestant churches and their +tremendous activities. _Mixed marriages_ are the outcome of these +circumstances. God alone knows how many of our Catholic boys and girls +have been lost to the faith through "mixed marriages" and marriages +outside of the Church. + + * * * * * * + +These various obstacles, _geographical_ (distance and climate), +_ethnical_ (race and language), _religious_ (absence of Catholic +tradition and surroundings), are the ever open crevices through which a +tremendous leakage has been draining the vitality of the Church in +Western Canada. So the call of the West is like the frantic S.O.S. on +the high seas, that snaps from the masts of a ship in danger. It is +the cry of thousands of Catholics sinking into the sea of unbelief and +irreligion. In the wreckage there is still a gleam of hope. Great +numbers yet cling to a remnant of the old faith of their fathers; it +will keep them afloat until helping hands come to their rescue. + +The Call of the Church in the West is a call of distress. Has the +Church in the East heard it? What is its response? + + +_The Response of the East_ + +Has the Church at large in the East heard the call of the West? Has +that cry of distress gone through the ranks of our Catholics like the +shrill blast of the bugle call? Has it awakened our Catholics from +their torpid lethargy and quickened their sense of responsibility? Has +the call been answered, or has it gone out like a cry in the +wilderness, lost in the noise of our busy world, stifled by the clamour +of other voices, smothered under other diocesan and parochial claims? + +In the Church of Canada there have always been generous and noble souls +for whom the missions of the West have had a mysterious attraction. +Who can read without emotion of the heroic deeds of the first Jesuits +who followed the explorers and _courreurs-des-bois_ in their perilous +adventures? What tribute of admiration and gratitude do we not owe to +the Oblate missionaries who lived and died with the wandering children +of the plains, who have kept the fires of Faith burning, from the banks +of the Red River to the Pacific Coast, from the winding shores of the +Missouri and Mississippi to the everlasting snows of the Arctic. Their +lives of heroism furnish a bright splash on the rather drab and bleak +landscape of what was known as the Northwest Territories. The Church +of Canada will ever remain indebted to these noble pioneers of the +cross, apostolic bishops and priests of the first hour; their saintly +lives are forever emblazoned on the pages of Canadian history; the +western trails murmur their names in gratitude and the children of the +prairie still bless their memory by the dying fires of their camps. + +Indeed the Province of Quebec for years sent her money to help the +struggling schools of Manitoba. The Catholic Church of Canada has +pledged itself in the Plenary Council of Quebec to help the Ruthenian +cause; the Catholic Church Extension Society of late years is enlisting +the sympathies of Eastern Catholics for our Western missions. With the +help of their motherhouses our various sisterhoods have dotted the West +with convents, schools, hospitals and charitable institutions. We all +recognize the beauty and the heroism of their Catholic charity and +apostolic zeal. Notwithstanding these noble efforts, can we safely +state that the Church of Eastern Canada, as a whole, is deeply +interested in the Catholic welfare of the West? Have we kept pace with +the changing conditions the last decade has brought throughout our +Western Canada? _No_. _And this is our national sin_. The Church as +a whole, has not awakened to its responsibility. As individuals, as +parishes, as dioceses, Catholics here and there have nobly done their +duty. As a body, as a living Church of Canada, we have failed to help +the struggling West as we should have done. We have not thrown all the +energies of our great living, organizing Church into this missionary +work. The Catholics of our Eastern Provinces are not yet united in one +great, generous effort to protect and spread the Kingdom of God in +their own fair Dominion. The call of the Church in the West has not +been heard. + +Never has the importance of the West loomed up before the public mind +as it has since the beginning of the war. To realize this you have +only to remark its growing influence in our political life. It cannot +be otherwise; the possibilities of the West are so great and so +numerous. Immense virgin prairies are still waiting for the plough. +After the war, during the period of reconstruction, necessarily so +pregnant of great events, the producing powers of our agricultural West +will be tremendous. This is, therefore, a trying period for the Church +in the West. Beyond the waving wheat of the prairie we should +contemplate the ripening harvest of souls. Like a growing youth, the +Church in Western Canada needs more than ever, help and support from +the Mother Church of the East. This assistance in the present stage of +the Western Church is a pressing duty of conscience, not only for the +individual Catholic, but particularly for the Church as a whole, in +Eastern Canada. + +This duty is a duty of the hour, a duty most serious, most imperative. +How can it be accomplished? By the united action of the Eastern +dioceses of Canada. + +Each diocese is a constituted unity in itself, but not for itself +alone. Like each particular organism in the human system, it exists +for the benefit of the whole. The Catholicity of the Church implies +this idea of solidarity whereby the strong help the weak and the rich +come to the rescue of the poor. Never, perhaps, has the Church +suffered so much from the wasting of energies. The torrent, if not +directed, spends its energy on itself; turned into the mill race, every +drop counts. + +One of the great lessons the war has given to the world is the absolute +necessity of centralized effort and the advisability of central +organization rather than multiplying organizations. We are living in +an age of _efficiency_ through _co-operation_. + +_Fas est ab hoste doceri_.--The lesson coming from our separated +brethren should strike home. One has to go West to see the feverish +activities of the different denominations in that new field. Ask the +mission organizers of the various non-Catholic bodies how much money +comes from the East to support the struggling Protestant churches of +the West; visit their immense printing establishments which are +producing and distributing the literature you will find on the table of +the lonely Western settler; study these organizations which are +supplying field secretaries, teachers, social workers to our foreign +Catholic settlements, then you will begin to understand this word of +Pius X.: "The strength of the enemy lies in the apathy of the good." +The mass of evidence, which can be had by the simple reading of the +non-Catholic missionary reports, as to their activities in Western +Canada, is nothing short of staggering. What examples! What lessons! +Should they not turn our apathetic Catholics into enthusiastic +apostles, stir them into watchfulness and action? And what could we +not do _with more unity of action_? + +Two conditions make united action possible--_uniform plan_ and +_authoritative leadership_. It would be rather preposterous on our +part to attempt to formulate what we could call a plan of campaign for +our Western apostles. We wish only to submit a few suggestions which +may help to group our scattered energies and bring rescue to the +Church, particularly in the unorganized districts of Western Canada. + +To readjust our methods to conditions as we find them _means efficiency +with the least waste of energy_. Therefore, we claim that a "survey" +of membership and conditions of the Catholic Church in unorganized +districts is an absolute necessity. It is the only _logical basis_ for +true _knowledge of conditions_ and for development. This "survey" will +bring us into immediate contact with the fallen-away Catholics. As it +is now, are we not too often _waiting_ for the fallen-away to come to +us? If the survey has proved essential in the solving of educational +and social problems, why should it not commend itself in religious +matters? Proselytizers--especially the English Biblical Society, with +headquarters at Toronto and Winnipeg, have the survey of the West down +to a science. Their map room in the Bible House of Winnipeg is a +perfect religious topography of Western Canada. We are firm believers +in what we would call the "Catholicization" of modern methods that have +proved beneficial to any cause. "Without this survey and the grasp +which it yields of the relative proportion of things, a vast waste of +matter and energy alike is inevitable." + +This Catholic survey of unorganized districts may appear to some as "a +dream," a desk-policy of apostleship--as too modern, etc.[2] The only +answer I can give are the facts and figures of the American Catholic +Church Extension, whose work along similar lines proves their +efficiency and high value. + +The specific and ultimate object of the survey would be to keep +Catholics who live out of the radius of parish life, in constant touch +with the Church, its teaching, its sacraments and its authority. The +mailing of Catholic literature pamphlets, devotional and controversial, +and newspapers, the teaching of catechism by correspondence, as is +practised in certain districts of Minnesota, the selection of teachers +for foreign districts and of boys for higher education, the +establishment of a central Catholic Bureau of information in each +Province, which could serve as a clearing house and centre of Catholic +activities, and other means of apostleship, these would be the natural +consequences of the survey. Who cannot see what a help this would be +to our scattered Catholics? A great help to keep the faith among the +scattered home-steaders. + +The service of an _auto-chapel_ would bring them also, at least once a +year, the benefit of the sacraments and the blessing of the priests' +visit. For, let us not forget it, one family now lost to the Church +means several families in the coming generation. This absence of +contact with the Church has been for our scattered English-speaking +Catholics especially, one of the great causes of the loss of faith. + +And what about our mission to non-Catholics? We have the truth; are we +doing enough, not only to keep it among our own, but to spread it among +others? Are we aggressive enough? And still I hear the Master say: +"And other sheep I have that are not of this fold; them also _I must +bring_ and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and +shepherd" (Jo. X, 16). _We must bring_ them back; they _shall hear our +voice_. . . . On the strength of that command and of that promise +should our policy not be more saintly aggressive? What an immense +field awaits the zeal of true apostles! Nowhere more than in the West +has absolute disintegration set in among the different denominations. +The universal desire for Church Union is, in our mind, the best proof +of our statement. The most elementary principles of Christianity, of a +supernatural religion, have lost their grasp on the mind of the average +Protestant Westerner. Nominally, he belongs to a denomination, in +reality he belongs to none. And what are we doing to give them the +faith? + +A uniform plan of action, once adopted, requires for execution, _an +authoritative leadership_, if desired results are expected. In the +Church of God the Bishops are our authoritative leaders--_Posuit +Episcopos regere Ecclesiam Dei_. In the ordinary life of the Church +this authority in matters spiritual is delegated to and operates +through the parish priests. The parish is with the diocese, the +established unit of religious organization. For the work in +unorganized districts, which is here the special subject of our +attention, could there not be in each Province or in each diocese, four +or five "Free Lances?" [3] Let them be diocesan missionaries, priests +chosen by the Bishops because of their special fitness for this great +work. They would be to the Church what the R.N.W. Mounted Police have +been to the Northwest Territories, or what the itinerant preachers are +to certain denominations in sparsely settled districts. Their mission +would be to visit, preach, baptize, say Mass in the distant districts +not visited by a parish priest. They would be the advance-guard of the +Church throughout the land. During the winter months they could +continue their work by attending to districts within reach of a +railway. The religious Orders,--and they alone can more easily supply +reserves and train subjects for this special work--the religious Orders +surely will be able to enter into this field of missionary activity, at +the same time protecting their subjects with the safeguards of the Rule +as also of paternal vigilance and guidance. An itinerant "regional +clergy" radiating from a centre where they are fortified by the +advantages of common life, is one of the Bishop of Northampton's +remedial suggestions among possible "new methods devised to meet new +needs." This suggestion is to be found in his Lenten Pastoral of 1920. + +The Church in the East, through the Catholic Church Extension Society, +would gladly, if well informed on the matter, furnish the financial aid +for the support of these "free lances"--and their apostolic activities. +The Catholic Truth Society would gladly, contribute all the literature +needed to spread the truth and to keep the fires of faith burning on +our prairies. Grouping forces, co-ordination of efforts, is what we +need most in Canada. In the rank and file of the Catholic laity +treasures of enthusiasm, latent powers of energy go to waste because +there is no leader to awaken and direct them. The policy of the +_Catholic Church Extension_ is to act on these long unspoken desires, +to loosen the pent-up energies of the Catholic heart throughout the +land. + + +_The Specific Object of the Catholic Church Extension Society_ + +Through its press, literature, auxiliary societies and various other +activities, this apostolic society is ever trying to quicken among +Catholics a profound sense of responsibility to the Church Universal. +The welfare of our Western missions depends on how the Church in the +East understands and shoulders its obligation. + +By financial aid we do not only mean donations and contributions, here +and there, from wealthy Catholics. What we have in view is the +financial assistance of the Church in the East, as a whole, as a +corporate body. Every Catholic in Canada must become more or less +interested in "Home Missions" and be willing to do "his little bit." +As the small fibrous roots are the feeders and strength of the tree, so +also the small and continued donations of all Catholics in the East +will be the support of our missions in the West. In the various +Protestant denominations, for every dollar given to support of the +local church another dollar goes to the "Home Mission Fund." At the +last general Methodist Conference (Hamilton, 1918) that Church pledged +_eight million dollars_ ($8,000,000.00) for their missions in the next +five years. With the enormous sums these various religious bodies +receive from the East they support the non-Catholic institutions of +higher education to be found in all cities of Western Canada, they +distribute free of charge tons of literature throughout the prairie, +they defray the expenses of their social workers, field secretaries, +etc. Among the Catholics of hundreds of parishes does not the +prevailing policy seem to be: "Charity begins at home"--and we may add, +often ends there. When one has paid his pew-rent and his dues, bought +a few tickets for a sacred concert or bazaar, thrown on the collection +plate each Sunday a few coppers or a small piece of silver, he thinks +he has accomplished all his duty to the Church. The vision of too many +Catholics does not go beyond the boundaries of their parish or their +diocese. Circumscribed in their views, they remain illiberal in their +sympathies. + +Floyd Keeler, a neo-convert to the Catholic Faith, made recently this +most instructive statement. "Perhaps the greatest problem which the +convert is the most surprised to find existing in the Catholic Church, +is the problem why the average American Catholic is so supremely +selfsatisfied and seems to have so little thought for the propagation +of the Faith which he professes. Coming from a body which has had for +many years a well-organized system of missionary propaganda and which, +in spite of its many and grave doctrinal difficulties, is fairly well +permeated with missionary spirit, _it is a shock_ to find that within +the Fold so little attention is paid to what really ought to be the +very breath of life to its people, the Extension of the Kingdom of God +on earth, the carrying out of our "Lord's Last Will and Testament." To +find Catholics whose ideals are bound up within their own parishes, who +possess no sort of vision of the world beyond, still lying "in darkness +and in the shadow of death" and no concern over its redemption, is a +phenomenon which is hard to explain." + +"It distresses us more than we can tell to find those who are nourished +at the breasts of the Bride of Christ, callous to Her charms, unmindful +of Her privileges, thoughtlessly and grudgingly rendering their minimum +of service, for we realize how Christ is thus being 'wounded in the +house of His friends' and His Bride made to lose Her comeliness in the +sight of men. But the Catholic press and the Catholic pulpit, fired +with the zeal of this new apostolate can, and we believe will solve the +problem."--("America," March 13, 1920.) + +Our parishes and dioceses will never suffer from an increased zeal in +the broader interests of the Universal Church.[4] There can be no +conflict of interests in the Church of God, if seen from the proper +point of view,--the glory of God and the salvation of souls. "It is +because we have need of men and means at home that I am convinced we +ought to send both men and means abroad. In exact proportion as we +freely give what we have freely received will our works at home prosper +and the zeal and number of our priests be multiplied. This is the test +and the measure of Catholic life among us. The missionary spirit is +the condition of the growth, and, if Faith is to extend at home it must +be by our aiding to carry it abroad" (Card. Manning). Was it not while +he was building the Cathedral of Westminster, that Card. Vaughn founded +the "Mission Society?" + +This missionary spirit has also a bearing on the spiritual welfare of +the flock in which it is fostered. For those who would object that +giving money to our Western Church is "carrying coals to Newcastle," we +would state that the West now needs more the help of the East than at +any other time. The organized parishes are indeed beginning to be +self-supporting; but the work we have outlined in these pages, if it is +to be done, has to be supported by the Catholics of Canada at large. + +The spiritual aids will be the prayers, Masses, sacrifices of all kind +offered for our Home Missions. Nothing strengthens faith and +stimulates genuine piety, as prayers and sacrifices for the great cause +of our missions. They are so disinterested, they reveal true love for +our Blessed Lord. + +Only a chosen few are called to go into the field at home and afar and +reap the ripening harvest. But all are commanded by the Master to pray +the Father for harvesters. This sublime apostleship of prayer is the +privilege and duty of every Christian. Is there anything more +instructive and more pathetic than the invitation of the Saviour to +co-operate with Him in this great work of the Redemption. "And seeing +the multitudes he had compassion on them: because they were distressed +and lying like sheep that have no shepherd. Then He said to His +disciples: the harvest indeed is great but the labourers are few. Pray +ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he send labourers into the +harvest." (Math. IX, 36, 37, 38.) + +The Divine Master cannot but hear the prayer asking Him to send +"labourers to the ripening harvest." And could we give better proof of +devotion to Church and Country? + +Great is the seriousness of the present hour, tremendous the task that +confronts us after the war. Never has any generation in history been +so freighted with the responsibilities of the future as ours is, +marching home from the battlefields of Europe. We are living in +stirring and changeful times. Nowhere in the Dominion of Canada will +the period of reconstruction have more far-reaching effects than in the +West. The after-war problems will meet there with rapid and very often +radical solutions. To understand this issue that faces our country, to +grasp it in all its breadth and fulness, should we not broaden our +vision, readjust it, we would say, to the new scale of changing +conditions? Only then will we be able to marshal our forces and throw +the weight of Catholic principles into the solving of the social, +economic and religious problems of the hour. "The Church cannot remain +an isolated factor in the nation. The Catholic Church possesses +spiritual and moral resources which are at the command of the nation in +every great crisis. The message to the nation to forget local +boundaries and provincialism is a message likewise to the Catholic +Church. Parochial, diocesan and provincial limits must be forgotten in +the face of the greater tasks which burden our collective religious +resources." (Card. Gibbons.) Let us give to the people that broad, +Catholic vision of our present duty to our country and to our Church. +The broader the outlook, the deeper the insight. The measure of their +vision will be the measure of their action. No leader can meet with +success without a certain receptivity to work upon. This receptivity +is formed by spreading ideas, by an educational propaganda. + +It may take time before the vision struggles into consciousness and +wins its way to the dominance of the mind. What we need is a +systematized, continuous effort that will gradually crystalize that +vision into a definite workable project. A flourish of trumpets and +blaze of Catholic zeal, as we are accustomed to witness on the occasion +of some special sermon and appeal by a missionary, will only prompt an +act of passing generosity. + +The special object of the _Catholic Church Extension Society_ is to +awaken the collective consciousness of the Catholic population and to +give to Catholics that vision of their social responsibility and +religious solidarity and to keep it, by its organization, in a healthy +condition. It realizes that co-operation from the Church at large will +exist and maintain itself only if preceded, accompanied and upheld by a +strong and vigilant Catholic public opinion. In return public opinion, +once created in the ranks of our Catholic laity, will make the +_Extension Society_ a live-wire, a dynamic force of the Church in +Canada. Let us not forget, vision--and public opinion is the vision of +the multitude--is the first and primary of constructive forces. + +To have Catholic action we must first create a Catholic mind. + +A publicity campaign, followed by a dominion-wide drive for funds, +would be now in order. The spirit of giving and of giving for great +causes is in the air. A campaign of that nature--we have seen it often +during the war,--is in itself an education. It spreads information and +arouses the sense of duty. + +From the clearness, breadth and depth of that vision will spring the +conquering spirit of united action. Forgetting then our lingual and +racial differences that have created in the past among us so many +unfortunate misunderstandings and have weakened our forces before the +enemy, we will rise to the level of our faith, to the creative powers +of true Catholicity. + +The "Call of the West" has been heard. It comes to you with the +_burning problems_ of the _present_ . . . _praesentia tangens_ . . . +and the _vision of brilliant promises and heavy responsibilities_ of +the future . . . _furtra prospiciens_. + +WHAT IS YOUR ANSWER? + + + +[1] This Chapter formed the matter of a series of articles published in +the "Catholic Register" of Toronto. The Catholic Church Extension +Society republished them in pamphlet form with the following +introduction by Archbishop McNeil. + +"The author of this pamphlet has lived in the West and has felt--I was +going to say--the need of Catholic co-operation, but that falls short +of the reality. Co-operation among Catholics is more than a means to a +missionary end. It is an essential part of Catholic life. Boundaries +of jurisdiction are conveniences and means to an end. In the first +centuries of the Christian era it was centres rather than +circumferences that marked divisions of work and of jurisdiction; but, +in any case, administrative divisions were never intended to be +divisions of brotherhood. In places where we are well established we +are inclined to look upon Christian brotherhood in an abstract way. In +the West they feel it as a necessity of Catholic life, not only as a +source of financial help, but as brotherhood in sympathy, interest, and +mutual helpfulness. The West can help the East by its growing +influence, and Catholics in the West can do their part in defence of +Catholic ideals and Catholic institutions. The more we do for them the +more they can do for us. Father Daly describes the Call of the West, +and it is fittingly through Catholic Extension that the call is now +made and will be answered." + +[2] "The Universe" the great Catholic Weekly of England, had in its +editorial notes the following remarks on this suggestion of ours: + +A "DESK-POLICY" OF APOSTLESHIP + +The Catholic Church in Canada possesses a Home Missionary problem of +the extent of which we can scarcely form an idea. In making his appeal +from the West to the East of the vast Dominion, Father Daly, C.S.S.R., +who has just issued a pamphlet on the subject through the Church +Extension Press, Toronto, brings out some salient truths on the subject +of co-operation and organization which Catholics all the world over can +well take to heart and apply to themselves. "Two conditions (he says) +made united action possible--uniform plan and authoritative leadership. +To readjust our methods to conditions as we find them means efficiency +with the least waste of energy, and acting on this principle Father +Daly advocates a 'survey' of membership and conditions of the Catholic +Church in unorganized districts as the one means of getting at lapsed +Catholics. 'Too often,' he observes, 'we are waiting for the fallen +away to come to us.' This is true indeed. Protestant proselytizers in +the west of Canada have the whole 'survey' scheme worked out on a +scientific basis. Father Daly is more willing to learn from them. "I +am a firm believer," he writes, "in what I would call the +Catholicization of modern methods that have proved beneficial in any +cause." The problem of unorganized districts and of a scattered +Catholic population in our own case is, of course, minute compared with +that of Canada; but it is there, and sufficiently in evidence to +justify the Redemptorist Father's "desk-policy of apostleship." There +is no reason, in short, why the interorganization of the members of the +most perfect organization in the world should be committed to a kind of +spiritual rule of thumb." + +[3] The following letter prompted by the reading of this very article +was received by the President of the Church Extension, dated, March 14, +1919, at a point of Saskatchewan we know quite well; it is illustrative +of conditions prevailing in many districts of our Great West: + +Very Reverend and dear Father,-- + +I have just read your article in the Febr., 15 issue and I am so +pleased with your suggestion for relieving the situation for scattered +Catholics throughout the West that I must write my appreciation. I am +sure that very few people in the East realize what a veritable +necessity those _Free Lances_ you spoke of are to so many Western +people, or what a God-send those _auto-chapels_ would be. Western +homesteaders do not stray far from home for two very good reasons, lack +of transportation facilities and lack of funds. + +We live 12 miles from the church, that is my own family. The others +live thirty-five and fifty miles away and up to this year we have had +nothing but a waggon to travel in, and now those that live farthest +away have still only a waggon. So you will understand that we have not +made more than necessary trips or not many more. And I wonder if my +brothers would make those, were it not for my mothers insistence. They +are surrounded by such bad influences. It's not that it is a sectarian +influence, but rather a total lack of religion altogether. The only +things that matter greatly are the material things of this world. To +confess yourself religious, especially Catholic, is to confess yourself +old fashioned and to cause people to smile. You know that is harder to +combat than bigoted opposition. Your plan to send out pamphlets would +be appreciated by many--But above all we need the personal touch of a +priest. We need it as our crops need rain, etc. . . . + +[4] As an illustration of what in a simple and unostentatious way can +be done by any parish in the mission cause the editor of the Annals of +the Propagation of the Faith (N.Y.) refers to an invitation extended to +him to attend a Christmas sale. It took place in a parish of the +Brooklyn diocese on Dec. 3, 1919, the feast of St. Francis Xavier, +patron of the mission cause. Thanks mainly to the efforts of an +energetic lady, but with the consent and patronage of the pastor, a +Xavirian Mission Circle had been formed. Within eighteen months after +its organization the newly found circle had paid off a $500.00 mortgage +for a heavily burdened priest in the South, had adopted eight abandoned +children of the Chinese Missions, had sent 1,000 Mass intentions, was +supporting seven catechists in Africa, India, and China, was educating +a Chinese seminarian, had given 150 volumes to the parochial library of +a bigoted section in the South, and was able then to place upon +exhibition a number of sacred vessels that were to be forwarded as +gifts to poor priests. "And did all these activities not interfere +with your parochial work?" Mgr. Freri asked the pastor. "Not in the +least"--was the answer--"My collections have never been larger." "EVEN +PROTESTANTISM FINDS THAT HOME COLLECTIONS ARE IN DIRECT PROPORTION TO +THE MISSION GIFTS." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +BRIDGING THE CHASM[1] + +Most touching in its divine simplicity, most sublime in its inspired +lessons was the invitation of the Master to His Apostles: "Behold I say +to you lift up your eyes and see the countries, for they are white, +already to harvest," (John IV, 35)--As He stood by the well of Jacob, +facing the slopes of the hills of Samaria, He pointed out to them the +crowds that were hastening to listen to His Message and believe in His +divine mission. The fields around lay desolate and lifeless, for it +was then winter. "Do you not say," asks Jesus, "there are yet four +months and then the harvest cometh? Behold I say to you lift up your +eyes and see the countries for they are white already to harvest." +This human harvest, of which the Master speaks, is but the prelude of +that immense harvest of souls ever ripening under the rays of God's +divine grace in the great field of this world. The Church, like +Christ, also invites us to contemplate that waving harvest and to pray +the Lord to send labourers into the field. + +This divine invitation, the Catholic Church Extension Society makes its +own, to plead the cause of our Home Missions. Pointing to our Western +Provinces, to that great Dominion beyond the Lakes, that missionary +organization says to every Catholic in the land: "The harvest is great, +but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest +that he send labourers into the harvest." + +The Catholic Church Extension Society has been founded in Canada, for +the conservation and propagation of the Catholic Faith in our mission +districts. Its very name, as we readily see, shows forth its object +and explains its existence. Canada, as we all know, possesses vast +areas, in her Western Provinces particularly, where the Church has not +yet established the influence of her permanent organization. There, +her children suffer from the prolonged absence of her teaching, of her +sacraments, of her authority, and are struggling against the abiding +presence of numerous, rich, aggressive, and unscrupulous proselytizers. +Yet, on the vast stretches of prairie, where the lonely homesteader has +just broken the virgin soil, amid the snows of the bleak North, by the +rushing waters of the Fraser, the Mackenzie, the Peace, and the +Saskatchewan Rivers, in the far distant valleys of the Rockies--the +words of the Master are still a living reality. . . . "The fields are +ready for the harvest and the workers are few." The Extension Society +has been established in Canada to point out to our Catholic laity these +fields where the harvest is waiting and to help to send labourers into +them. Its sublime mission is to _bridge the chasm_ which separates the +East from the West. It is the binding and living link between the +organized Church and the mission field. This sublime object of the +Society makes it most worthy of our commendation and of your loyal and +generous support. + +Principle and policy are the basic ideas of organized action. If the +principles upon which an organization rests are true and elevating, if +the policy it advocates and which governs its activities is practical, +easy, and attractive, the organization itself is bound to meet in time +with an unlimited success. The higher the principles, the more +inviting the policy, the more living and telling will be the resultant +action. Therefore, to place before our readers the principles and +policy of the Catholic Extension Society will no doubt help them to +understand better its claims and respond more generously to its appeal. + + +_I.--Principles_ + +The Kingdom of God comes upon earth through the Apostolate of the +Church. "As the Father sent me, I also send you," said Christ to His +Apostles, and to all who were to take their place in succeeding +generations. For, these words of Christ created the Catholic +Apostolate and maintain it. His words, indeed, are words of life. + +The Apostolate of the Church is an absolute necessity, the very +condition of Her existence and progress. The Catholic Church Extension +is one of the most beautiful expressions of that Apostolate, for its +object is, as we stated, the conservation and propagation of the Faith +in the Mission districts of Canada. + +The principles upon which the activities of this Society are based may +be reduced to two: the _doctrinal_ and the _historic_: + +1. _Doctrinal Principle_.--All appeals for sympathy and help in the +great cause of Catholic Missions rest on one of the most fundamental +doctrines of our Faith, the Catholicity of the Church. "The Church +Catholic," says the great theologian Suarez, "means the Church +Universal--_Ecclesiam esse catholicam, idem est ac esse universalem_" +(Disput. de Ecclesia IX., sect. VIII., No. 5). This universality of +Christ's Church implies the idea of solidarity, whereby in her living +and indivisible unity She is always and everywhere the same. The +Church, like a perfect vital organism, is a divine organic whole, +solidly constituted, identical to itself, and in all its parts, +throughout time and space. The whole is reflected or rather found in +each part, and each part reflects and possesses the whole. The +Catholicity of the Church is but the expansion of its Unity. It stands +therefore as its permanent and outward manifestation. Should we now +wonder why the Church of Christ is called Catholic? We name things and +persons by that characteristic feature which conveys to our mind the +most accurate concept of them. The very name of the Church is, as you +see, an ever living proof of her divinity. And of that name, we may +well say what is said of the name of Jesus . . . _signum cui +contradicetur_ . . . it will be forever "a sign of contradiction." + +The moral aspect of this solidarity of the Church is responsibility. +The Church at large is responsible for each particular diocese and +parish, and each individual diocese and parish is in return responsible +for the Church universal. This responsibility is to be shared by every +Catholic. And as by its Catholicity the Church overcomes the two great +barriers to all human power, time and space, so also should every +Catholic manifest in the affairs of the Church universal an interest +equally as great as that he shares in his own particular parish. +"Co-operation among Catholics," as Archbishop McNeil justly remarked, +"is more than a means to a missionary end. It is an essential part of +Catholic life. Boundaries of jurisdiction are conveniences and means +to an end. In the first century of the Christian era, it was centres +rather than circumferences that marked divisions of work and +jurisdiction; but in any case administrative divisions were never +intended to be divisions of brotherhood. The divisions of the Church +into dioceses and parishes are to further increase, and not to weaken +or destroy its Catholicity." + +And what we say of these divisions of space, may also be said of those +of time. As the glorious memories of the divine history of the Church +belong to each individual Catholic, so also should the possibilities of +her future destinies in our country and throughout the world, preoccupy +his thoughts and affections in the present. + +This is one of the most comprehensive and most pregnant aspects of the +Church. It throws open the whole world to the zeal of every individual +Catholic. Wherever the tents of Israel are, there he finds his home, +be it in the wilds of Africa, or on the islands of Oceanica, under the +scorching sun of the tropics or in the snows of the lonely North. But +as we are more closely united with those among whom Divine Providence +has cast our lot in this world, our home-missions have the first claim +on our zeal and generosity. For, according to St. Thomas Acquinas, the +more or less close relationship with our neighbor is the measure of the +_intensity_ of our love and devotedness. + +We now understand what the Church Extensions' claim means for the +missions of Canada. The intention of the Society, as we may readily +see, is not to limit our zeal to any national issue, but rather, to +develop more easily the missionary spirit and direct its first effort +to the welfare of our own countrymen by the consideration of our own +wants. + +2. _Historic Principle_.--The lesson of facts is very often more +striking than that of doctrine. They are here the concrete expression, +in the various nations, and through the course of centuries, of those +fundamental principles we have just considered. It is indeed a law of +Catholic History, that the more Catholic a nation is, the more +apostolic, the more missionary it will prove itself to be. The +missionary spirit is the test of Catholicity, the abiding proof of its +solidarity. + +The history of Catholic nations justifies this statement; their zeal +for the propagation of the faith will explain their rise and downfall +in the eyes of the Church. Ireland is a classical illustration of this +point. Poor, persecuted, downtrodden, the land of the Gael still +remains the seminary of the world's apostles. The foreign missions +always appealed to the Irish people and "the limits of the earth have +heard the voice" of its zealous missionaries. Does not France, +notwithstanding the persecution of the Church by its government, still +remain the great missionary country of the world? She sends more +missionaries and gives more monetary aid to the "Propagation of the +Faith" than any other Catholic nation. England's return to Catholicism +is most promising, for her converts of yesterday are already in the +field afar. The awakening of that same apostolic spirit in the Church +of the United States is the most convincing sign of the great strides +Catholicity is making in that land of Liberty. + +This unwritten law which prevails throughout the history of Catholic +nations and expresses so forcibly and so persistently the doctrinal +principle of which we spoke, justifies the claims of the Catholic +Extension and gives strength to its appeal. + +Such are the two principles upon which rest the Extension +Society--_dogma_ and _history_. They strike the very bed-rock of our +Faith. But if its _principles_ are sublime and inspiring--its _policy_ +is simple and effective. + + +_II.--Policy_ + +The policy of an organization is the direction of its activities, the +plan of campaign for the furtherance of its principles, the line of +action in the realization of its ideal. _The Policy of the Church +Extension is twofold: education and action_. To give to all the +Catholics of our country, an accurate knowledge of conditions in our +various mission fields, to develop in them the true missionary spirit, +to make them think in terms of the Church Universal . . . this is its +_educational policy_. To organize in every parish a branch of the +Society and through it to enlist the sympathy and receive the spiritual +and financial assistance of every member, to develop, co-ordinate and +direct the missionary activities of all our dioceses in favor of our +home missions; in other words, to promote efficiency through +organization, centralization of efforts with the least waste of energy +. . . this is its _policy of action_. + +1. _Policy of Education_.--The acuteness of our sense of duty depends +largely on the breadth and depth of our vision. This principle +explains the importance of the Catholic Extension educational policy. +Through its official organ, "The Catholic Register," by means of +pamphlets, leaflets, and lectures and sermons, the Society is most +intent on giving to the Catholics of Canada, first hand knowledge of +conditions in our mission districts. We are perfectly convinced that +when all our Catholics will have fully realized the truth of these +conditions, they will immediately understand their responsibilities and +fulfill generously their duty. But what is that "call of the West" +which the Catholic Church Extension is sounding like a cry of alarm +through the country? You all know, what I would call, "the Romance of +the West." + +A few decades ago Western Canada was but a bleak, lifeless plain, +extending from the Great Lakes to the foothills of the Rockies, dotted +here and there with the Indian wigwam, the roving herds of buffaloes, +the solitary chapel of the Catholic missionary, and the lonely posts of +the Hudson Bay fur-traders. Suddenly under the magic steel of the +plough, that immense waste of land woke up from its age-long slumber. +The desolate prairie became within a few years the greatest granary of +the world. The Indian trail gave place to transcontinental highways, +to those "long, long, and winding," steel trails that have led the +youth of our Country and the exiles of Europe "into the lands of their +dreams." These trans-Canada roads have conquered distances and linked +the Atlantic to the Pacific. They may well be considered as the +arteries of our Dominion; through them indeed flows rapid and warm the +blood of our national life and in them one can hear, as it were, the +pulsations of its great and noble heart. The transcontinental lines +are responsible for the birth and phenomenal growth of our Prairie +Provinces. + +What are the conditions of the Church in these new and promising +Provinces? It is not the time, nor is it the place to discuss errors +or absence of policy that have crippled the Church's work and growth in +that period of rapid transformation. We take facts as they are now. +The Church in Western Canada to hold its ground, to extend its work and +develop its institutions, has an absolute need of the help of the East. +The barrier of immense distances to which are added, for long months, +unfavorable climatic conditions; diversity of nationality, variety of +racial ideals, differences of language, customs and traditions; absence +of Catholic traditions and a prevailing atmosphere of unbelief and +irreligion; such are, in a few words, the tremendous obstacles against +which the Western Church in its infancy has to contend. + +This vision of distress, the Extension wishes to place before every +Catholic in Canada; this call for help, it wishes him to hear. + +But particularly the _future_ of the Church in these Provinces forms +the subject of the Extension's preoccupations. We all realize the vast +possibilities of our Western Provinces, and the important part they +must of necessity play in the future affairs of our Dominion. The +Church's influence then will be what we make it by our efforts now, and +its progress will be in exact proportion to the amount of our foresight. + +This responsibility of the _present_ and the _future_, the Church +Extension preaches to all in season and out of season. Like the beacon +by the sea, it is ever turning its revolving lights over the immense +uncharted ocean of our Western missions and hopes that with time, every +Catholic in Canada will take his course on them. For, let us not +forget it, if we do not take care of our mission districts, others +will, and that to the detriment and loss of the Church.--_Fas est ab +hoste doceri_! It is permissible, says the proverb, to receive a +lesson from an enemy. Only those who have worked out West on the +missions know to what extent unscrupulous and most aggressive +proselytizers are always on the ground, ever at work among our people. +They are digging broad and deep trenches around the settlements of our +Catholic foreigners, particularly Ruthenians, draining to their profit +the dormant energies of the new Canadian. The invasion is slow but +sure, the leakage, great and continual. This lesson that comes from +the tremendous activities of the various Protestant denominations +should strike home more forcibly. The more stinging the lash, the more +sudden the rebound. + +This educational policy of the Church Extension appeals to the Catholic +mind and tells it something it desires to know. It awakens that latent +Catholicity which Baptism has given us and on which the narrow +limitations of time and space have no claim. This education of our +Catholic laity in the value and necessity of the missionary spirit, in +the perfect knowledge and true appreciation of its character in the +Church of God, is the end and result of the Extension policy. To make +that spirit the inspiring, guiding and testing power of Catholic life, +is the definite aim of its educational work, of its publicity campaign. +When our laity will have absorbed the lesson, it will be ready for +action. This knowledge will awaken our sense of responsibility and +prompt our sympathetic support. This leads us to say a word on the +Society's policy of action. + +2. _Policy of Action_.--Vision resolves itself into action. When the +mind sees deep and clear, the heart feels warm and generous, the will +acts promptly and decisively. As the spark leaps bright and sharp from +the silent battery, ignites the fuel and drives the piston, so will a +broad vision give a generous impulse to action. You readily see the +value of an educational policy, and its intimate connection with that +of action. + +Action to be efficient and lasting must be organized. Grouping of +forces, co-ordination of efforts, are what we need most in the Church +of Canada. In the rank and file of the laity, hidden treasures of +enthusiasm, latent powers of energy go to waste, because there is no +leader to awaken them, or if aroused, no organization to direct them. +The policy of the Catholic Extension is to bring to vigorous activity +these long slumbering desires, to give an effective vent to the pent up +energies of the Catholic heart, to group all Catholic missionary work +for the conservation and propagation of the Faith in our mission +districts. + +Have we not been working too much as separate units? Has not our zeal +been limited by the boundaries of our parishes and dioceses? What +activities have been absorbed by side-issues, while the great cause of +the Church at large should have occupied our attention! We were +deliberating . . . and the West was being lost to us! The time has +come to rally around the Church in our mission fields and prove +ourselves worthy of our name--"Christian" and our surname--"Catholic." +The policy, therefore, of the Extension is to enlist the organized +effort of every parish, of every diocese in a great missionary +movement, and to throw the weight of the Catholic influence of the East +into the immense field of our Western missions. It is not for the +promotion of any project, for the benefit of any particular section of +the Church in Canada, that the Extension Society exists. True genuine +Catholicity is the only inspiration of its activities. + +This united action will manifest itself first and above all in +_prayer_. The preservation of the Faith, and the conversion of souls +are supernatural works depending primarily and in the final analysis on +the grace of God. Never has it been more necessary to emphasize this +trait of the Catholic Aspostolate. Confronted with elaborate schemes +of finance and the co-operative action of various denominations, we may +take lessons from them, but should never forget that there is something +more fundamental; we mean, the grace of God. Our prayer--the prayer of +every child, the prayer of every man and woman within the fold, the +prayer of every nun and priest, should be the prayer of the Master to +the Heavenly Father: "Send harvesters into the fields!" How powerful +should not that prayer be! How strong a binding link between the East +and the West! + +But prayer, like faith, without works is dead. The Extension, +therefore, not only solicits our prayers, but also our help to meet the +needs of our home-missions--_Men and money_, financial aid and +apostolic vocations, these are the needs of the hour. Money to build +chapels, schools, orphanages, hospitals; money to help the Catholic +press, the spreading of Catholic Literature; money to forward the great +and vital cause of higher education. This organized financial +assistance of the Church in the East, as a whole, as a corporate body, +is the best expression of the reality and sincerity of Catholic +solidarity. To boast of our beautiful churches and sumptuous +cathedrals in the East and to leave our priests in the West without a +decent chapel to say Mass denote either painful ignorance of actual +facts or the fallacy of our Catholicity. + +Great is the need of money, but greater still the need of men. The +principal work of the Extension is to foster, develop and bring to +fruition missionary vocations for the West. Burses are founded to +assist young men in their studies, and in a few years, it is the hope +of the Extension to be able to send to every diocese of the West +zealous harvesters for the harvest that is awaiting them beyond the +Lakes. Could we be invited to share a more noble task than to +contribute to the education of the heralds of the Gospel, of the +ambassadors of Christ to that Western Kingdom of ours? + +Let us conclude. + +These are the _principles_ on which rests the Church Extension Society; +this is the _policy_ it pursues. The adoption of these principles and +the furtherance of this policy will, we are confident, develop the true +type of the Catholic Laity. The parish, its works, its pastor, will be +the first to benefit by this missionary spirit of the laity. Long +enough has the priest, the missionary, laboured alone in the harvest +field and borne the heats of the day; long enough have but a few loyal +and generous souls shouldered the burden of the missionary work in +Canada; long enough have our Catholics limited their zealous efforts to +the confines of their parish or their diocese. The time has come for +every Catholic in Canada to answer the call of the Master, to take his +place in the harvest field, to share the responsibilities of the +present and prepare a glorious future for the Church in our great and +prosperous Dominion. + +The appeal that comes to the Church of Canada from the Catholic +Extension is straightforward. It needs no apology. It stands its +ground on its own merits. It is not--let us never forget it--an appeal +to our charity. It is a pressing call to accomplish a sacred duty, a +timely warning not to neglect it. And indeed, active co-operation in +the work of Extension is, we repeat, an unfaltering belief in the +reality of our Catholicism. It knits our soul to the very soul of the +Church, our heart to Her heart. + +Strengthened by these highest motives of Catholic Solidarity and +Christian Charity we should give joyfully and generously. Let us levy +a tax on our income, no matter how small it may be, remembering the +fiduciary character of our earthly possessions. Let us give our time +and our services to this noble Cause. Let us give lovingly and +willingly our children to the great harvest, if it be God's will to +call them to His service. But above all let us pray that the Kingdom +of Jesus Christ may come in our beloved Country through the Extension +of His divine Church. + + +[1] This chapter formed the substance of a Sermon preached on +"Extension Sunday" in St. Finnan's Cathedral, Alexandria, Ont. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PRO ARIS ET FOCIS[1] + +Militancy is the characteristic feature of God's Church on earth. New +dangers, fresh struggles await Her at every turn of the road in Her +onward march to eternity. Assailed from within by her own children, +attacked from without by bitter enemies, she is ever working out +through the frailties of human nature her sublime destiny. Not of this +world, but passing through it, She has necessarily to suffer from the +inherent weakness of her children. It is the human side of the divine +Church. Those who would be scandalized at this ever renascent warfare +against the Catholic Church, in all times and in all countries, should +remember that this hall-mark of true Christianity is the fulfillment of +Christ's promise and the realization of his prophecy. + +In this great firing line of the Church militant every Catholic has his +place. His marked duty is to make the divine triumph over the human in +his individual life and through it--no matter how limited his circle of +influence may be--in the great life of the Church and in society at +large. He should make his own the various problems confronting the +Church in his country and help, within the sphere of his activities, to +offer a happy solution. + +Two great problems now face the Church in Canada, and tax to the utmost +the wisdom of its leaders: The race problem and the Ruthenian problem. +In many centres the former has weakened the principle of authority and +paralyzed our efforts of co-operation; the latter means a tremendous +leakage through which the Church, particularly in Western Canada, is +losing every day an important and vital factor. + +The race problem has always existed and will always exist in the Church +of God. This problem is imbedded in human nature. It plunges its +roots into the very depths of the human heart. Language is the +tap-root which gives life and vigor to its various manifestations. +Language is indeed the best expression and highest manifestation of the +race. The race problem therefore is generally complicated with the +language problem. + +The Catholic Church has always respected the racial feelings and the +language of nations, for they are based on natural law, and natural law +is nothing else but the expression of the fundamental relations +constituted by God. Yet history can tell what the Church had to suffer +from racial and language differences. We all agree on principles, but +often differ on policies. The angle of vision varies; facts are +misrepresented; ideals misinterpreted; feeling and not judgment is +appealed to, in these racial conflicts. But it is not our intention to +deal with this great problem. Only let us ever remember the words of +Benedict XV. in his letter "_Comisso Divinitus_" to the Catholics of +Canada. He sees in our divisions a source of weakness for the Church, +a subject of scandal for our separated brethren and a cause for him of +sadness and anxiety. Let us therefore hope that the wishes of the +Common Father of Catholicity will soon be realized and that the Church +in Canada will see the clouds of misunderstanding lift and a brighter +day break on the horizon. + +The problem to which I would draw again the attention of our Catholics +throughout the land is one that has been frequently of late placed +before the Catholic public. But as its aspects are ever changing and +its importance growing, I would wish to throw light on some new factors +at play in this momentous issue. + + * * * * * * + +Immigration has brought to the Church of Canada many serious and knotty +problems. Among these stands first and foremost the Ruthenian +question. Only those who have followed the various developments of +this perplexing problem and are fully aware of the unceasing activities +of the various Protestant denominations among Catholic foreigners, +grasp their meaning and understand their importance to the Church. The +average Catholic, we are sorry to say, is not awakened to the reality +of this live issue and fails therefore to meet his responsibilities. + +Over 250,000 Catholic Ruthenians, of the Greek rite, have settled in +Canada within the past decade or so. They are scattered throughout the +length and breadth of our immense Dominion. You will find them in the +very heart of our large industrial centres, from Sydney to Vancouver, +and in compact groups on our Western prairies. The vast majority of +these Ruthenians belong to the Catholic Church and are our brethren in +the Faith. To protect them against unscrupulous proselytizers, to help +them to keep the faith in the trying period of their acclimatization to +our Canadian national life, in a word, to make the Church of Canada +assume the proper responsibility which Catholic solidarity imposes on +all her children in regard to this new factor of Catholicity in our +country, . . . this is the Ruthenian problem as it presents itself to +us with its various aspects and critical issues. Problems of the moral +and religious order are of a very complex nature. Principles remain +but circumstances change with the fancies of imagination, the impulse +of passion, the whims of the will. This explains how, in the great and +everlasting war between right and wrong, truth and error, the line of +battle is ever shifting, the methods of attack ever changing. Various +therefore have been the phases of the problem under discussion. But, +we presume, they may all be related to two periods: the period of +settlement and the period of assimilation. + + +_The Period of Settlement_ + +When a few years ago our shores were heavily invaded by the rising tide +of an intense immigration from the British Isles and Continental +Europe, the Church had to face conditions heretofore unknown. Without +doubt, the most complex in its elements, the most serious in its +consequences, was the Ruthenian issue. It was a case of providing for +the spiritual wants of over a quarter of a million souls. The dearth +of priests, the difference of rite, the difficulty of language, and the +great number of Ruthenians, created for the Church an almost +insurmountable barrier which nothing short of a miracle could +otherthrow [Transcriber's note: overthrow?]. This sudden and large +influx of Catholics belonging to the Greek rite, into a Country where +the Latin Church alone prevailed, constitutes a fact that has never +been seen before in the history of the Church. Thousands and thousands +of these Greek Catholics were scattered through the prairies; roaming +flocks without shepherds, a prey to ravening wolves. Heresy, schism, +atheism, socialism and anarchy openly joined hands to rob these poor +people of the only treasure they had brought with them from the +old-land,--their Catholic Faith. Presbyterian ministers were seen to +celebrate among them "bogus masses"; schismatic emissaries tried to +bribe them with "Moscovite money"; fake bishops were imposing +sacrilegious hands on out-laws and perverts; traitors from among their +ranks, like Judas, bartered away their faith for a few pieces of +silver; a subsidized press,--"The Canadian Farmer" and "The Ranok"--was +ever at work, playing on their patriotism and exploiting their racial +feelings, to cover with ridicule their faith and pious traditions. The +public school became in the hands of the enemy the most powerful +weapon. Government itself, through its various officials, often went +out of its way to thwart the efforts of our missionaries. + +It is not without poignant emotion that we have followed, at close +range, this struggle for the mastery of the Ruthenian soul. We hardly +know which we should admire the more, the faithfulness of the +simple-minded Ruthenian, or the devotedness of the few missionaries +who, for the last fifteen years, have lived, worked and died among +them. We all remember that cry of distress, that demand for help which +came from Archbishop Langevin in favor of his Ruthenian children. It +broke upon the land as a clarion call and its voice was heard in the +first Plenary Council of Quebec. The Oblates of Mary Immaculate--the +pioneer missionaries of the West, the Basilians, the Redemptorists, and +a few French-Canadian secular priests, were the first to answer the +call. They divided among themselves that immense field of labour. God +alone knows what sacrifices, what heart-burnings, what hours of +discouragement and loneliness, were theirs in that strenuous period of +settlement when the wilderness began to blossom, when homesteads were +seen to spring up on the bare soil. We have a faint idea of these +difficulties when we read the "_Memoir: 'Tentative de Schisme et +d'heresie au milieu des Ruthenes de l'Ouest Canadien_," of Father +Delaere, C.SS.R., (1908), and Father Sabourin's pamphlet, "_Les +Ruthenes Catholiques_" (1909). + +Let us hope that the Church in Canada will keep sacred the memory of +these harvesters of the first hour. The Catholics owe them a debt of +gratitude. We sincerely hope that the history of their heroic efforts +will not be lost and that the first to appreciate them will be the +coming Ruthenian generation. Father Delaere, C.SS.R.--who has laboured +among the Ruthenians in Western Canada for the last twenty years will +one day give us, we sincerely hope, the history of the settlement and +struggles of his adopted people. + +Little by little the Ruthenian Church in Canada is emerging from its +first chaotic state. The visit of Mgr. Septeski to Canada, the +appointment of the Very Reverend N. Budka as Bishop of all the +Ruthenians in Canada, marked a turning-point in their history. +Authority is, in the Church of God, the only great vital centre from +which proceed true order and permanent development. The war, it is +true, complicated the Ruthenian issue. We all know what difficulties +the Ruthenian Bishop had to face during this trying period, under what +dark clouds of ungrounded suspicion he lived. But the most painful +feature of this long and cruel ordeal was the absence of sympathy and +the lack of co-operation in those from whom, as a Catholic Bishop, he +had a right to expect them. + + +_The Period of Assimilation_ + +The period of settlement has passed, and already a young "CANADIAN" +generation has sprung up sturdy, thrifty, progressive from the +transplanted Ruthenian stock. The numerous children of that prolific +race are gradually passing from the home into the schools and from the +schools into the community life of the country. This Slavic race is +striking deep roots in Canadian soil, particularly in our Western +Provinces. The loss of faith has been heavy, we believe, especially in +our large cities. Naturally, allowance must be made for the drift-wood +which always follows the tide of immigration. In our rural centres, be +it said to the praise of that simple-minded people, and to the +confusion of the enemies of their faith, the great majority have kept +their allegiance to the Church of their baptism. But, where the "bogus +mass," the false priests and "Moscovite money" have failed, the +neutralizing process of a so-called "Canadianization" may succeed. The +flank envelopment has often a greater success than the frontal attack. +This leads us to dwell on another phase of the Ruthenian problem. + +In the history of the human race there is nothing more complicated than +ethnic assimilation. It is a slow, delicate and, in many cases, very +dangerous process. In the laboratory of the world many explosions are +due to the ignorance of what we would call "human chemistry." "One +cannot play with human chemicals any more than with real ones. We know +by experience that at times they are _fulginous_ and ready to break +into open flames." But there are two elements which have to be treated +with the greatest care: Religion and Race. They are the two _foci_ of +the ellipse in which moves history; the two shores between which +oscillates the tossing tide of humanity. Lord Morley calls them "the +two incendiary forces of history, ever shooting jets of flame from +undying embers." This explains why the soil of history is so volcanic, +so filled with burning lava which time itself has not cooled. + +_The racial element_ in ethnical assimilation is gradually modified by +the imperative adjustment of the immigrant to his new conditions of +life. For the observer and student of history there is nothing more +instructive and, at times, more pathetic than that borderland which +lies between what has been and what is to be in the life of the +immigrant. This violent breaking away from the past and gradual +assimilation with the present has its dangers. Unknown and occult +factors are at work with the blood of several generations, pulsating in +the veins of the new Canadian. Whilst beckoning hands stretch out to +receive him on our shores and initiate him into our national life, +other hands, the hands of the dead, stretch out through several +generations to lay claim on him. Like everything in nature this change +or rather this transformation should be imperceptible. Mutual +toleration is the factor of a healthy assimilation. This has given to +the United States a greater solvent power than has been shown by any +other nation, ancient or modern. Coercive assimilation arouses +national feelings, alien elements, and racial self-assertion. The +worst enemy of Canada is the political power which, to please a +blatant, ultra-loyal faction, pursues the policy of crushing into +uniformity the heterogeneous elements invited to the country and +allured to our shores with the bait of liberty. This patriotism may be +well called the last refuge of scoundrels; it is nothing but +Prussianism wrapped up in the very folds of the Union-Jack. Therefore, +when in the great work of Canadianization this law of social psychology +is not observed, we not only prevent assimilation, but we deprive the +nation of the fertilizing contact and invigorating contrast of various +ethnical elements and ferment future conflict. + +_The religious element_ belongs to a higher plane. Although +independent in its nature of any particular racial feature, yet it +co-exists with the love of country, giving to our patriotism something +of its sanctity and durability. But the point at issue here is: Can +the religious element prevent racial assimilation? In the eyes of many +Canadians the Ruthenian's religion is looked upon as one of the +greatest obstacles to his Canadianization. Under the cover of that +specious plea, many agents are at work in our Ruthenian settlements. +With the preconceived idea that their religion with its ritual, +language and traditions, is the greatest obstacle to their +nationalization and to its inherent benefits, these agents are +multiplying their efforts to wean new Canadians from the faith of their +fathers. The last report of the Methodist Missionary Society--1918, +openly states the designs of this Church in the matter. "_Many of +these Ruthenian people are ignorant and degraded; and under the +sinister leadership of their priests are resolved to resist all +Canadianizing influences. . . . For the Christian Church to act at +once is the need of the present hour, if the foreign peoples are to be +made Christian citizens of the great West._". This statement is +symptomatic of the curious Christianity that now prevails among the +various non-Catholic denominations. With them Christianity is nothing +more than social welfare inspired by a vague philanthropy. Differences +of creed are being cast to the winds, and _Social Service is the basic +idea of their forward movement_, around which they are trying to rally +their dwindling forces. It is then but consequent to have the burden +of their message and the policy of their apostolate bear on +Citizenship. The inevitable and perfidious neutrality of state +officialdom unconsciously seconds their efforts in this direction. But +the most efficient co-operators in this nefarious work are the +fallen-away Ruthenians. They have a smattering of education which +makes them the more dangerous among their own. + +This organized opinion and co-ordinated action of the "churches" +against the CHURCH should give to all Catholics food for thought. To +be indifferent would be criminal. We can say with Augustine Birrell: +"It is obviously not a wise policy to be totally indifferent to what +other people are thinking about--simply because our own thoughts are +running in another direction." + + * * * * * * + +This diagnosis of the Ruthenian problem should suggest practical lines +for individual and group action. It would be preposterous on our part +were we to assume an attitude of destructive criticism without having a +remedy to propose. But what we have in mind is to suggest means +whereby the Church as a whole, and the laity in particular, will come +to the help of a few heroic, struggling missionaries and to the rescue +of their Ruthenian flock. + +The Ruthenian people in Canada are now going through their assimilation +period. In another generation or so they will be, at least they should +be, all full-fledged Canadian citizens. This "land of opportunity" +that has adopted them has a right to see them all become good citizens, +as ready to shoulder their share of the common burden as they were to +receive the benefits of our liberties. + +In our large industrial centres their transformation is rapid. The +stranger is swallowed up in the vortical suction of the city and is +soon carried away in the maelstrom of its strenuous life. He rapidly +loses his identity; only the strong individual will survive, bearing +the features of his race. In our rural settlements where the foreigner +has established colonies, the assimilation is slow and gradual. The +change affects the community and, through it, the individual. But in +all cases this transformation is a necessity, and necessity should be a +deciding factor. + +If this process of assimilation, we contend, is not surrounded with +Catholic influence, if it is not carried on by Catholic agents--and is +left only to those who see in the faith of the Ruthenian, a "relic of +the Middle-Ages," an obstacle to Canadian citizenship--the danger to +the faith of our Ruthenian people is greater than in the days of open +attack. This method of neutral proselytism is more insidious, and in +the long run, more telling. We know perfectly well that if the +Canadian Ruthenian is "to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar" he +must first "give to God what belongs to God." + +It is therefore our bounden duty to help our Ruthenian brethren to +swing into the main stream of our national existence; and there is no +reason why our religious duties and patriotic endeavors should work at +cross purposes. In fact, if in the present crisis, the two are not +merged into one, there will be a distinct loss to the Catholic Church +in Canada. Have we not waited long enough for the immigrants to come +to us? We contented ourselves with giving them as often as possible a +priest of their language; and have left to others, to neutral and, most +often, openly anti-Catholic agencies the duty of initiating them to +Canadian life. The American Bishops have understood this necessity, +and with what marvellous foresight and wonderful organization have they +thrown into the work of reconstruction the whole weight of the Catholic +Church! Their joint letter--the most timely and most luminous +pronouncement on the labour problem,--their general meeting in +Washington, the constitutions of the Catholic National Board with its +various departments, all go to prove that they grasped the signs of the +times and have readjusted the sails of the Ship of Peter in America to +the new winds that are sweeping over the world. We should never forget +indeed that the Church of God is not of this world but is in this +world. To strip ourselves of crippling "formalism" and to bring the +Church nearer the realities of the times, is, in Byron's words, making +"realities real." Is it not indeed time to broaden our apostolate and +give more scope to the laity? If the non-Catholic denominations are +able to find young men and women who consent to live among our +foreigners as teachers, social workers, field secretaries, lay +missionaries and catechists, surely we should be able to find the same +among our own to protect the faithful against apostasy. We must +remember that the Ruthenians who have come to this country belong, +generally speaking, to that class for whom even existence was a problem +in their native land. They are the very ones who have been protected +in their faith by language, tradition, customs and all that goes to +make up the mental atmosphere of the uneducated mass. When that +atmosphere disappears these poor people are exposed to all pernicious +influences. We are therefore responsible to the Church to build around +them the protective wall of Catholic life. The initiation to their +Canadian life should not be at the price of their Catholic life. + +This is the situation. What can be done? Naturally, to quote Lord +Morley: "A settlement of foolscap sheet, independent of facts, of local +circumstances and feeling, and passion, and finance, and other +appurtenances of human nature" . . . will lead nowhere. To do +effective work along the lines suggested in this chapter we must take +facts and circumstances as they are, and work into them the idea, and +then work the idea into the people. The LANGUAGE, the SCHOOL, the +COMMUNITY LIFE are the THREE GREAT FACTORS that the enemies of the +Ruthenian's faith unscrupulously exploit in their nefarious work. We +must meet the enemy on this common ground and beat him with his own +weapons. + +_Language_.--The right of a man to his language is an incontestable +right; the free use of it is a primary human liberty. The Church has +always respected this right as one of the most elementary laws of +nature. In the evangelization of nations She has always accommodated +Herself to the ways and language of the people. In this, She is +faithful to the illuminating lesson the Master gave to Her on Her +birthday, Pentecost Sunday, when the Apostles were heard each speaking +his own language. "They began to speak with divers tongues according +as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak . . . _Every man heard them speak +in his own tongue_." Since that day the true Apostle of Christ has +respected the language of the people he evangelized. + +The theory of compelling a nation to learn a certain language as if it +were the only vehicle of the "Great Message of Christ" or of waiting +until the people know the missionary's own language . . . is not +Catholic. The Church of Christ is not a nationalistic Church. No one +has to deny his race nor to give up his language to become or to remain +Her faithful child. + +But, facts are facts and one must face them and take from them one's +bearings. They stand as the tossing buoy on the drifting waters of our +ordinary life. To ignore them often spells disaster. Now, the fact of +paramount importance is that the English language is fast gaining +ground among the Ruthenians. The recent school laws (we do not discuss +here their wisdom)[2], the anti-foreign feeling that has held the +country in its grip during the war, the violent campaign of a certain +element, the general drift of the various annual conventions, the +studied plan of action of Provincial Governments, the eagerness of the +Ruthenian rising generation to know English[3], and above all the +unbounded zeal of non-Catholic denominations who make the learning of +English the trump card of their game, these are facts, and have to be +reckoned with. The sooner our Ruthenians are made to grasp these +conditions, the better will they be equipped for the struggle of +Canadian life and for the preservation of their Catholic faith. Is it +not time, therefore, for some English-speaking priests to go out among +the Ruthenians and share the work with those valiant missionaries who, +the great majority at least, are strangers to our country, and who have +learned the language, embraced the rite and for the last twenty years +have been doing our work for us? Their presence is a stimulating +lesson and an abiding reproach. A dozen or so of young +English-speaking priests would be a great boon to the Ruthenian +mission, particularly in the West with its present mentality. + +The _School_ is the great melting pot. One has to read "The New +Canadian," by Dr. Anderson, to understand the full meaning of this +statement in its relation to the Ruthenian problem. The schools among +the Ruthenians in the Western Provinces are practically all public +schools. The number of Catholic teachers is exceedingly small and yet, +were they available, the Ruthenian trustees would be at liberty and +glad to give them the preference. Only those who know the influence +the teacher wields in a Ruthenian settlement will fully appreciate the +presence of a Catholic teacher. Were a good Catholic teacher to give +to this cause a year or two of her teaching life she would be doing a +great missionary work. If the Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists +can get girls and young men to go, surely we could also, were we to +organize and try it. This is the reason why the foundation, in +Yorkton, of the English speaking Brothers of Toronto, is one of the +wisest moves in the right direction. The idea is to prepare teachers +for the Ruthenian settlements by giving them the benefit of a higher +education under Catholic influences. The Governments of the various +Western Provinces made several attempts to equip the Ruthenian schools +with Ruthenian teachers. With a few exceptions, these embryo teachers +proved to be a failure and from a Catholic view-point a real calamity. +We remember personally how in a certain normal school the special +Ruthenian class was nothing but a hot-bed of infidelity and anarchy. +The students were collaborating with the worst subversive elements in +the country. Therefore, our practical suggestion would be to encourage +the recent foundation of the Christian Brothers by contributing +liberally to its support and to the extension of the work of which it +will become a natural centre. Could there not be a bureau in the East +for the recruiting of teachers? A campaign of education to this +effect, in the Catholic press, would be in season. + +_Community work_ is without doubt a deciding factor in our civic life. +Considered from a Christian angle it is nothing else but the practice +of charity. When animated by mere philanthropy it may play havoc with +souls, particularly among our foreign element. The Church in the +United States has realized its importance and has outlined a social +service programme for Catholic agencies. They have field-secretaries +and instructors--often Knights of Columbus--throughout the country, +carrying on this welfare work. I would refer the reader to the monthly +Bulletin of the National Catholic Welfare Council for an idea of the +extensive work of their Catholic social activities. It is simply +wonderful. As times change our activities also have to be modified. +New questions call for new treatment. The initiation of the Ruthenian +people to Canadian life should be our work. Being Catholics they are +our wards in this new country and it is our sacred duty to see that +they receive true ideals of Canadian citizenship without losing the +higher ideal of their Catholic life. At times Canadian liberty has +proved to be to some extent too strong a tonic. It is through a sound, +intelligent, local government exercised in the school district and our +municipal life that the new Canadians can learn best to play their part +in the greater life of Provincial and Federal politics. If any one +desires more details on this subject we refer him to the National +Catholic Welfare Council's Reconstruction pamphlets No. 5 and 7. + +Who has not followed with pride the launching of the great educational +programme of the Knights of Columbus, particularly their nation-wide +scheme of supplementary schools for the explanation of the "American +Constitution" to foreigners? It is an open challenge to radicalism. +To educate a citizen in the chart that governs his country, in the +right use of his franchise, is an act of real patriotism and real +Catholicism. Picture to yourself the results of the Ruthenian vote on +an issue in which the Church is involved. Eventually time will bring +such issues. + +We would say to our laity what the editor of the 'Columbiad' wrote in +the October number: "The vista of the glory of service that opens +before the mind musing on the power for good within our grip is +sublime. To each the image rises. An army, a host of faces keen with +knowledge, calm with contentment, eager with honest ambition looks up. +Men, women, boys, girls--humanity gazes at the beholder. The eye does +not glimpse the last face, far out beyond the faint horizon of the +panorama. . . . The vista is unending." + +Yes, the apostolate among the Ruthenians is, we claim, a necessity of +the hour; its possibilities are beyond realization. Procrastination in +this matter is nothing short of treason and will prove a disaster to +the Ruthenians, and to the Church. Turning to the Knights of Columbus +in Canada and pointing to the feverish and unceasing activities of +other agents among this our people I say: _Go and do likewise_. + + * * * * * * + +Our conclusion is obvious. The Ruthenian Question stands to-day as a +religious problem to solve and a national duty to fulfill. Church and +Country present a united and pressing claim for our co-operation. This +appeal to the two strongest feelings of the human heart should awaken +patriotic sympathies and quicken Catholic conscience into action. The +issue is serious and far reaching in its consequences. Only organized +opinion with united and determined action can successfully meet it. + + + +[1] This chapter was the matter of a series of articles in the "North +West Review," of Winnipeg. The Editor prefaced them with the following +remarks, to give emphasis to the importance of this Problem: + +"We wish to draw the attention of our readers to a series of +authoritative articles now appearing in the Northwest Review on 'The +Ruthenian Problem.' + +"The writer is one of our foremost educationalists and knows his +subject thoroughly. Furthermore his manuscript has passed through the +hands of Bishop Budka and other members of the Hierarchy of the West +who have given it their warm approval. + +"It is, we think, very essential that the Catholics of this country +should thoroughly understand the problem before them, so that when +called upon to perform their duty in the matter they may be able to act +promptly, wholeheartedly and with conviction. + +"Our thanks are due to the author, 'Miles Christi' for having put +before us such a clear presentation of the problem which sooner or +later we shall be called upon to solve. + +"The matter is one that to a very large extent concerns the laity and +we think it should be thoroughly discussed in every council of Knights +of Columbus throughout Canada. In districts where this society is not +organized, any other existing Catholic societies might very +appropriately co-ordinate in this good work. + +"The question is also one of national as well as Catholic moment and so +entitled to its due share of any 'forward movements' now anticipated." + +[2] Judge Buffington, of Pennsylvania, gave a lecture lately on +"Americanization." From it we cull the following paragraph on the +foreign language question:-- + +"The solution is not in the abolition of foreign languages in this +country. I have heard loyal patriots who found English twisting their +tongues, and Bolshevism has come from the lips of those of New England +culture like Foster. This country has not only been remiss in failing +to teach the foreigner but in teaching the native. I believe in the +English tongue and in the amalgamation resulting from common speech, +but we do not accomplish our aims by destroying other languages." + +[3] In a recent report of the Department of Education of the Province +of Saskatchewan, of 177 schools in Ruthenian settlements only 28 have +engaged teachers holding provisional certificates or permits; all the +others are fully normal-trained and perfectly qualified. In many +school districts salaries range between $1,000 and $1,500. The +Ruthenians are among those who pay the best salaries to teachers. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WHY? WHAT? WHO? + +_The Necessity of a Field-Secretary for the Organization of our +Missionary Activities_ + + +No one can read the Encyclical letter which His Holiness has recently +addressed to the Catholic Church on the Propagation of the Faith +throughout the world, without being deeply moved by the yearnings of +the apostolic heart of our Common Father, and vividly impressed by the +lessons that come from his inspired and timely message to each and +every one of us. + +Without doubt our own dear country is witnessing that movement which, +inspired by the Holy Ghost, is being felt throughout the Catholic world +in favour of home and foreign missions. The growing interest of our +people in the Catholic Church Extension Society; the enthusiasm with +which the great and noble work of Father Fraser, for Chinese Missions, +was greeted everywhere; the recent foundation and marvellous +development of the community of the "Missionary Sisters of the +Immaculate Conception" in Montreal, for service among the lepers of +China; the wonderful response which the call of Africa met with among +the college and convent youths of the Province of Quebec; the +increasing number of vocations to the missionary orders, both for men +and women,--to mention only a few outstanding and significant +facts,--are evident signs of the "_stirring of the waters_" in the +Church in Canada. + +To help to promote and develop fully this providential movement in the +Church of God, we beg to submit a few suggestions which may be of some +use in the great cause of _Home_ and _Foreign Missions_. + + +_I--Why?_ + +The continued progress and abiding success of a movement depend on its +organization. For, to realize its proposed aim and accepted plan of +action, organization alone can enlist and keep secure the sympathies of +patrons and members, co-ordinate the various forces, and call into +play, when necessary, new and fresh energies. The greater the number +to be reached by the society or societies which embody this movement, +the more efficient should be the organizing power. + +Experience and reason prove that an organization destined to affect the +masses and hold its grip on them, will not live and thrive only on an +occasional appeal or a printed message. These are indeed of great +value, particularly the insistently repeated message in print. We are +great believers in the force of a persistent, regular and frequent +circularization. But, in our humble estimation, there is something +more essential in the matter under consideration, and that is the human +contact and continued influence of a "field-organizer." An extensive +organization without this factor will not be efficient, will not last. +As Floyd Keeler wrote in "America" (July 10, 1920): "It is the personal +equation between the organizer and the various units of the Society +that counts. . . . The masses are accustomed to think in concrete +terms. . . . Long distance appeals and those made to total strangers +do not produce permanent results." This influence of the +field-organizer is so great that we may safely state that the life of a +society fluctuates with the various impulses it receives from him. He +is the very heart which gives health and vigor to its organism. + +Here lies the secret of the mission-organizations in the Protestant +Churches, to which, of late, we have referred so frequently in our +Catholic papers, under the heading of: "_Fas est ab hoste +doceri_." . . . Every denomination has its field-organizers entirely +consecrated to mission activities among its people. Financial results +tell to what extent they are effective in their work. + +We have also among our own missionary societies, examples that +illustrate the point we wish to emphasize. Since when has the Society +of the Propagation of the Faith, in the dioceses of New York and +Boston, leaped into prominence, and headed by generous contributions +the list of the whole world? How did that change come about? Where is +the secret of this success? The establishment of permanent diocesan +organizers is the answer. What they have done, why could we not do? +"_Quod isti--cur non et nos_?" + +Never, we claim, will the missionary potentialities that lie dormant in +Canadian Catholicism, be actuated to bear its message of spiritual +light, heat and power to the Church at large, until we establish in the +field at various points, secretaries or organizers, whose life-work +will be to call into play, to systematize the mission forces of the +Church in Canada. If on the contrary, as in the past, we content +ourselves with an occasional appeal for missions, a collection now and +then, a spasmodic effort here and there, a subscription to a Catholic +paper or missionary magazine, the work for Home and Foreign missions +will remain exterior to the corporate life of the Church, will not be +woven into its very fibre to permeate its activities. As shadows on +the wall, they will suggest rather than reveal the possibilities of our +missionary effort. The great and pressing call of the White Shepherd +of the Vatican will go unheard. If there is a response that comes from +Canada, it will not be from the Church at large. + + +_II.--What?_ + +The "_raison d'etre_," the definite function of a field-secretary is +organization. This work implies the double duty to spread, by an +intelligent and well thought-out propaganda, the knowledge of the Home +and Foreign Missions and of the responsibility it entails, and to found +and maintain efficient the various societies established to promote and +help their great work. + +1. _Vision_. The effective presentation of the case of Catholic +Missions, both to the clergy and to the laity, is the field-secretary's +first and important duty. Nothing indeed can be hoped for, nothing can +be accomplished until the Catholic people fully grasp and intensely +feel what their help and co-operation--however little it may be--mean +to the Church, to the salvation of souls, to the honour of our Blessed +Lord, to the glory of God. _Fac ut videant_! The clear, broad and +deep vision of these great possibilities in the mission fields will +alone overcome selfishness and apathy, awaken interest, stimulate +energy. + +The field-secretary is the official expert in mission-matters. He will +be able to accumulate strong evidence, sum up striking statistics and +draw burning comparisons for the effective presentation of his case. +An enthusiastic advocate, he will plead with thrilling appeals, the +great cause placed in his hands. + +During his absence from the field of action, the vision he pointed to, +will be kept bright by the recurrence, at stated intervals, of the +printed message. Missionary literature receives its life, vigour and +impulse from the field-organizer and continues his work in his absence. + +2. _Action_. To realize that vision and incarnate it in work for the +Home and Foreign Missions, the Field-secretary will take the diocese as +a unit of his organization. In each diocese, with the permission, +authority, and co-operation of the Ordinary, he will establish the +Societies recommended by our Holy Father in his Apostolic Letter, and +others that have been created to meet the specific needs of the country +or to favour certain particular missionary work. Therefore:-- + +(a) _Among the Clergy_ will be founded "_The Missionary Union of the +Clergy_", which our Holy Father desires to see established in every +diocese. For loving sons and faithful priests of the Church of God the +desire of the Sovereign Pontiff is a command. This, we think, could be +easily done by the field-organizer when he visits each parish for the +purpose of organizing missionary parochial units, as we shall see later. + +The beautiful programme of action which is so easily combined with the +ordinary work of the priest in the parish, the facility of his moral +and material co-operation in this great work of missions, the spiritual +favours and wonderful privileges which the "Union" grants to its +members, together with the explicit desire of the Holy See, these are +so many motives and incentives, which should induce all the members of +the clergy to enter the ranks of the "Missionary Union" and assure to +the Church their co-operation in the great mission work, both at Home +and in the Field-Afar. + +(b) _Among the laity_ of each parish will be founded: + +The "_Propagation of the Faith_"--for Foreign Missions; + +The "_Church Extension_"--for Home Missions. + +The permanent success of these societies, once established by the +field-organizer, will wholly depend on the selection and appointment of +trustworthy _promoters_, who will distribute the missionary literature, +and collect from their respective circles of 10 or 20 members the +monthly fee, stipulated for each society. This monthly collection +comes as a reminder and is more effective, both morally and +financially, than an annual collection taken up in the Church, as is +now the prevailing custom in several dioceses. The monthly call of the +promoter is a fresh awakening of the missionary spirit in the home, and +stands as the continued call of the Master of the harvest. It keeps +the interest alive and awakens anew the sympathy for the missions. + +(c) _Among the Children_ of our Separate Schools and Sunday-Schools, +can be established, with great profit, The "_Holy Childhood Society_." +It is wonderful what interest the kind and sympathetic hearts of +children will take in missionary work. The results obtained by the +distribution of mite boxes are marvellous. To quote an example given +to us by the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, we would +say that through their Sunday-School classes, they raise annually the +sum of $200,000.00. + +But above all, the great asset to be considered in this educational +work, is the broad Catholic spirit we create and maintain in the soul +of the child. This is far more important than his actual financial +contribution, and at the same time it prepares him to be, in later +years, a generous contributor. Without any doubt, the Protestants can +teach us here a lesson of organization. + +(d) In _Colleges, Boarding-Schools, Convents and Universities_ why +should we not have branches of the "_Catholic Students Mission +Crusade_?" This organization is doing wonderful work in the United +States, and will prove soon to be a potent factor in the Missionary +activities of the Church across the boundary. 250 delegates from +various institutions of higher learning, throughout the country, +gathered in Washington, last August (1920), for the second annual +Convention. Among the delegates, we are proud to note, were a few +Canadians. + +(e) The "_follow up_" work is what counts in the long run, in a +movement of this kind. If we do not wish to see all this beautiful +zeal for missions burn away in a passing blaze, we must have a _Central +Bureau_, which will keep in touch with the promoters, and act as the +centre of Missionary activities, in the diocese. There all lines will +converge, gathering information, bringing results; from there, as from +the power-station, will go out to the workers in the field, enthusiasm +and energy. "Unity," says F. Kinsman, "cannot be created by agitated +fragments of a circumference; it must issue from a central force and be +sustained by a centripetal instinct." The Central Bureau, or Clearing +House could be confided to a trustworthy person, who would willingly +give his spare hours to this great Catholic work, until it would grow +to the point of necessitating a permanent and salaried secretary. + +It is useless, we believe, to state that a _crusade of prayers_ would +be the sustaining force of this movement. We all know that the +salvation of souls is above all a supernatural process. We may sow, +another may water the seed,--but it is for God to give the +growth,--_Deus autem incrementum dat_. + +The _development and fostering of "missionary vocations"_ would be the +natural sequel to this movement at large, in the Church of Canada. How +many young men and women could not the field-secretary find here and +there, and direct to the mission fields where the harvest is plentiful +and the harvesters few. + + +_III.--Who?_ + +The function of a field-secretary or organizer is a delicate one, we +fully understand. But we are firmly convinced that priests can be +found, who, with tact, intelligence and enthusiasm for the great Cause +of Missions, and backed with the authority and sympathy of the +Ordinary, are bound to make this work a success. There is a wave of +the missionary spirit passing over the Church of God. The clergy and +the people are eager to help missions at Home and Abroad. But they +desire a concrete, workable plan to pin their activities to; they are +waiting for something definite to act upon, and a responsible +representative of the cause to work with. + +Until the development of the organization would call for a diocesan +organizer, _one priest_ could act for a _Province_ or _Region_ of the +Country. The ordinary objection which our proposal here would meet +with, would be the lack of personnel. There is, we know, a shortage of +priests everywhere. But would not the Church, as a whole, in Canada +and throughout the world, receive more benefit from the life of a +priest entirely dedicated to this work of Missions, than if it were +given to a specific parish or diocese. Even were a parish or small +country mission to be deprived for the time being of a resident pastor, +should not that sacrifice be made, generously and cheerfully, for the +sake of a greater cause. It is assuredly a short-sighted policy to +sacrifice hundreds of thousands of souls for the care of a few, to +prefer the welfare of a parish to that of the Church at large. This +reasoning and its disastrous consequences are surely not Catholic. + +We emphasise the necessity for the organizer to _consecrate his life +solely to this proposed work_. At this price alone will he make it a +success. Without doubt, it is the work of a man, the work of a life. + +God grant that we may see the day when all the latent Missionary forces +of the Church of Canada will be awakened and united in one great +gigantic effort of apostolate! These forces form an invisible army of +reserves on which the Church is to draw, to fill, as it were, the +depleted ranks of Her Missionary units throughout the world. The lack +of organization is the weakness of our strength. Let the leaders come +forward, and we ourselves shall be astonished at the latent powers of +Faith in the Church of Canada. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +PLOUGHING THE SANDS + +_The Church-Union Movement: its Causes and Various Manifestations. The +Protestant and Catholic View-Point._ + + +Church-union is to-day the outstanding feature of the Protestant world. +The possibilities and promises, the necessity and advantages of this +movement are widely discussed in the press and magazine, in the pulpit +and on the platform, in Church conferences and synods. Denominational +barriers are being swept away; creed lines lowered; inevitably great +changes are impending. This universal unrest is assuredly symptomatic of +a chaotic Christendom outside of the true Church. The peace and +self-confidence of the Catholic Church pursuing the even tenor of Her +life is indeed in striking contrast. + +No serious-minded Christian can be disinterested in this supreme effort +of the various Christian denominations for unity. We are not allowed to +doubt the good intentions that animate and direct the promoters of this +inter-church movement. For, as Lord Morley said, "in the heat of the +battle it often happens that men manifest towards the _heretic_ feeling +which should be exclusively reserved for the _heresy_." Yet we believe +that the explanation of _our_ attitude, so much misunderstood and +misinterpreted, cannot but help to hasten the day of the true and +everlasting union, when in accord with the great desire of the Master, +there will be but "One Fold and One Pastor." Gladstone said: "Any man +who advances one step the cause of Christian unity in his life may well +lie down to die content that he had a life well lived." + +We said advisedly "_our_" attitude, for it is a vastly interesting point +to note with Hilaire Belloc: "The Catholic understands his opponent, +whereas that opponent does not understand him. A similar contrast +existed once before in the History of Western mankind, to wit, in the +latter days of the Roman Empire. The Catholic understood the Pagan; the +Pagan did not understand the Catholic." + +Church-union was always more or less an ideal in the various non-Catholic +denominations. Periodically efforts were made to realize this ideal; but +they always failed in the presence of the bitter antagonism that existed +between the leading factions. The Church-union movement manifested +itself, timidly at first, in the interchange of pulpits, the united +services and inter-communion of several denominations. This exchange in +the ministerial field now prevails among the Nonconformists and has also +affected to a large extent the Anglican communion. But the multiplied +divisions and multiplying sub-divisions among the conflicting creeds, a +wasteful overlapping and disastrous competition in the mission field, the +enlightening experience of the great war, have forced an issue upon the +Churches. + +In Scotland the "Old Kirk" is trying to bridge the chasm that has +separated it from the "Free Church" in the past years. In England, under +the leadership of Mr. Shakespeare, the Nonconformists are fusing their +differences and presenting a united front to the Established Church. +Only last year, (1919) in Kingswall Hall, did not the Bishop of London +make most remarkable overtures to the Wesleyans and propose to them a +scheme of union! By the introduction of Evangelical methods and +particularly by the association with Nonconformists on doctrinal grounds, +or in services in which doctrines are involved, the Anglican Church has +been engaged--to speak with Newman--"in diluting its high orthodoxy." + +Last August, 1920, Geneva was the meeting place of "The World Christian +Congress." The Congress adopted a resolution to form a "League of +Churches" whose object is to put an end to proselytizing between +Christian churches and promote mutual understanding between them for +Christian missions among non-Christian peoples; secondly, to promote an +association and collaboration of Churches to establish Christian +principles; thirdly, to help the Churches to become acquainted with one +another; fourthly, to bring together smaller Christian communities, and +unite all Churches on questions of faith and order. + +But it was reserved for America, the land of daring schemes and audacious +plans, to formulate the most chimerical project of all. + +The Episcopalian Church has promoted "_The World Congress on Faith and +Order_." Bishop Weller, of Fond-du-Lac, Wisc., is directing this +gigantic movement. A committee of bishops has already called on the +various heads of Christian Churches, and we all know of their visit to +the Vatican and of the refusal of the Holy See to participate in the +Pan-Christian Congress. + +Sponsored by the Presbyterian Church of America, "The United Churches of +Christ" were formed some months ago, with a complete organic union of the +Protestant Churches of America in view. This is . . . "an advance of the +present existing organization of the Federal Council of the Churches of +Christ in America, as it opens the way for consolidation of +administration agencies and the carrying forward of the general work of +the Churches through the council of the United Church." + +But the most ambitious scheme is that of the "_Inter Church World +Movement_." It has been called into existence (1918) for the purpose of +developing a plan whereby the Evangelical Churches of North America may +co-operate in carrying out their educational, missionary and benevolent +programme at home and abroad. To discover and group the facts concerning +the world's needs; to build a programme of inspiration and education +based on these facts; to develop spiritual power adequate for the task; +to secure enough lives and money to meet the needs: such is the +tremendous task the "Inter Church World Movement" has set itself. At a +meeting in Atlantic City it was voted to raise the stupendous sum of +$1,300,000,000 to meet the requirements of this Pan-Protestant project. +Two thousand men and women are now (Feb. 1920,) busy at the head-office, +in New York, preparing the world-wide survey and financial campaign.[1] + +The Protestant Churches in Canada are also falling in line in this +universal movement for unity. "_The United National Campaign_" which +marked 1919 with thirteen national conventions, represented the +co-operative feature of various churches in a general "_Forward +Movement_." The war, we all know, has impeded the projected union +between the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregationalist denominations. +There is hardly any doubt that this union will be effected in the near +future. But as usual, while the East was deliberating, the forward and +aggressive West was acting. Church-Union is an accomplished fact in many +centres, particularly in the Province of Saskatchewan. Last October the +"Union Church of Western Canada" held a convention in Regina and reported +progress. Conditions in the West, especially in the rural districts, +naturally favour this movement. The strong denominational feeling is +becoming more and more a thing of the past. The identity of churches is +being absorbed in "social service" work, and sectarian peculiarities +considered "obsolete impertinences." + +These are the various manifestations of the "Church-Union Movement." +Although loose thinking and indefiniteness of purpose characterize most +of these various moves, a close analysis reveals two different underlying +principles which support and explain them. As an Anglican clergyman +stated: "There are two courses open, uniting on points of agreement and +allowing the differences to settle themselves, or facing differences with +a view of settling them." The first course promotes a "_co-operative +union_" in social and Christian work. This union does not interfere with +matters of belief, but aims solely at the co-operation and co-ordination +of all services which the Churches can render in the missionary, +educational and social fields. It means a League or Federation of +Churches, with a view to "greater efficiency." + +The other course goes deeper into the problem under discussion, for it +has as object an "_organic union_." This union means the fusing of all +denominational creeds and forms of worship, or, at least, the acceptance +by all of a certain doctrinal minimum as a basis of the _entente +cordiale_. The Anglicans in the Conference of Lambeth, 1888, formulated +the famous "Quadrilateral" whereby the Scriptures as Rule of Faith, the +Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, the two sacraments of Baptism and of +Eucharist, and the Episcopacy or apostolic succession, are "as the +irreducible minimum on which they would open negotiations for reunion." +[2] + + +II. + +The Protestant Inter-Church Movement is a fact; we know its causes, its +various manifestations, its ultimate aim. To what extent this universal +movement reflects the general, deep and conscientious convictions of the +masses, it would be hard to say. The prevalent indifference and profound +ignorance as regards the specific tenets of each denomination would lead +us to believe that this movement does not spring from the very +soul-depths of the masses. Yet the fact is there, and assuredly of +importance in the religious realm. What is the meaning of this fact? +What is its message? For, every universal fact of that kind reveals and +interprets an ideal. + +Naturally the view point of the Protestant will be different from that of +the Catholic. The explanation of the attitude of both, as we stated, +cannot but help to hasten the coming of true union in Christendom. The +non-Catholic mind sees in this Inter-Church Movement the ultimate triumph +of Protestantism, the vindication of the leading principles of the +Reformation. The Anglican Archbishop DuVernet wrote in the "Montreal +Star," May 10th, 1919: "Reviewing the movement towards Christian Union in +Canada, a very natural evolutionary order is at once detected, which +gives us the assurance that a spiritual cosmic urge is at work behind +this united action of the Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist and +Congregationalist Churches of Canada, _the great evolutionary movement +towards the comprehensive Church of the Future_." + +We all know of the sensation created in Anglican circles by the extreme +views of the Bishop of Carlisle. In a recent article on the "Nineteenth +Century and After"--entitled "Monopoly of Religion," he protests against +the claims of right and the privilege of monopoly in Religion, either in +doctrine or in form of government. He says that the Free Churches have +been right in resisting unto death the doctrines of religious monopoly. + +Robert H. Gardner, in the "The Churchman," (_Episcopal_), acknowledges +that "The unanimous recognition of the plans (Interchurch World Movement) +is only a beginning; the hope of all that it will lead to a more perfect +union, and the evident anxiety to leave the Catholic (?) churches free to +maintain their principle without compromise or surrender, have converted +him to the belief that God the Holy Ghost is guiding this movement, and, +therefore, that it is truly Catholic (?)." + +If such are the views of the Anglican Church, which, among other +denominations, has always been considered as most conservative, what may +we not expect from the other Churches? And indeed, the reading of +addresses made at their different Conferences and General Assemblies, the +resolutions passed, and the very atmosphere of these meetings tend to +uphold the Church-Union Movement as the realization of unity in +Christendom. "The Christian Century" (organ of the Disciples of Christ) +says: "It marks out the best path yet that has been described for the +attainment of unity. It outlines the goal and bravely takes the first +step towards its realization." The New York "Christian Advocate" +(_Methodist_) thinks: "It will mark a definite step toward that fusing of +Protestant forces whose absence hitherto, is responsible in large part +for the failure of Christianity to make powerful headway among men." As +the Presbyterians were the originators of the movement, "The Continent" +takes a justifiable pride, in quoting from a contemporary, that: "They +are perfectly ready to contemplate a Christian unity that involves the +passing away of this particular organism called the Presbyterian Church, +finely wrought though it be," and exhorts: "Presbyterians, this sort of +reputation is a lot to live up to. But we must not fall from it." + +The principles of evolution--principles which we find underlying modern +thought--are freely called upon to explain this movement and justify its +consequences. Our millennial-minded doctors and preachers are +celebrating already the apotheosis of the Universal Church of the future. + +And what does the Catholic Church think of Church-Union? What is its +point of view on this "Movement" which has now such hold on the +Protestant denominations? As the Catholic Church is in itself the +largest Christian body, it is but natural to presume that all Christians +will be interested in knowing Her views on this vital subject. For is +She not that Church which Gladstone himself calls, "the most famous of +Christian communions, and the one within which the largest numbers of +Christian souls find their spiritual food!" (Gladstone to Acton, Nov., +1869.) + +The Catholic Church sees in this movement of Church-Union the complete +disintegration of Protestantism and the open condemnation of its +fundamental principles. Those who are not of the "Fold" will perhaps +resent, but not be astonished at this sweeping statement. We would only +ask them to follow our argument and then judge for themselves. + +_Union--and therefore unity--will not and cannot be the result of the +present Inter-Church Movement_. This statement involves a question of +fact and of right. _In facto_.--Let us examine first the question of +fact. Union, as now promoted, is either "_co-operative_" or "_organic_." +_Co-operative union ignores differences of creed or form of worship; +organic union suppresses them or merges them into a neutral mixture_. + +Co-operative Union,--as a basis of religious unity affecting the religion +of the individual, can be at once dismissed. For, what _religious_ +action,--_i.e._, action prompted and guided by a principle, a religious +doctrine,--is possible without that principle, that doctrine? Moral +action,--and Religion is at the same time the foundation and the highest +expression of the moral order,--pre-supposes immutable and recognized +principles. "The mental attitude defined on paper as 'undenominational,' +Miss M. Fletcher says rightly, has no existence in the human mind. Below +all sustained enthusiasms lie strong convictions."--Therefore to ignore +the directing principles of their various denominations in a common +religious action, and yet to pretend to keep their denominational +identity, involves, on the part of the Churches, an absolute +impossibility. Because doctrine is the very foundation, the "_raison +d'etre_" of intelligent Christian action. Diversity of opinion is bound +to bring, in religious matters, diversity of action; for, to be +consequent one must act according to his belief. Baptism, for instance, +is necessary or not necessary for salvation. On this doctrinal point +will necessarily hinge a diversity of action in the mission field alloted +to this or to that denomination. The position is quite different when +common action is confined to merely social work. But "social service," +stripped of all its Christian principles and reduced to pure +philanthropy, is not Christianity; it is mere naturalism or neo-paganism. + +The great majority of those for whom Christianity is yet a _living +reality_ understand the nefarious consequences of _"co-operative-union_." +To protect themselves against this scheme of a perfidious neutrality, +they advocate an "_organic union_." This even is to the fore in the +Philadelphia plan of the "Inter-Church World Movement." "The plan of +federal union will have this result, that after it shall have been in +operation for a term of years, the importance of _divisive_ names and +creeds and methods will pass more and more into the dim background of the +past and acquire, even in the particular denomination itself, a merely +historical value, and the churches then will be ready for, and will +demand, a more complete union; so that what was the 'United Churches of +Christ in America' can become the 'United Church of Christ in America,' +and a real ecclesiastical power, holding and administering ecclesiastical +property and funds of such united church." + +The promoters of "_organic union_" do not ignore the differences between +creeds, but they are trying to reduce them. This union strikes at the +very bed rock of Divine Revelation. For, the suppression of differences, +or their limitation to a certain doctrinal minimum, implies a compromise, +and a compromise, in matters of truth, is unacceptable. Truth is eternal +and therefore does not change. If the Westminister and Augsburg +Confessions were true yesterday, why should they not be also true to-day? +If the 39 Articles were the rule of Faith for the Anglican Church in the +past, why should they be to-day but "definitions of theological opinions +of the time of the Reformation," as Anglican Bishop Farthing, of +Montreal, recently stated.--"You change . . . therefore you are not +true," we may say, with Bossuet, to those Churches. + +_In jure_.--This universal readiness to compromise should not astonish us +when we know that the very fundamental principle of the Reformation is +"_private judgment_" in matters of Faith. The divine message of +Revelation is to be interpreted as each one sees best. This principle +makes, "_de jure_," every Protestant independent in his religious belief, +and opens the door to the most conflicting interpretations of the Divine +Message. "The High Church clergyman to-day," writes A. Birrell, "is no +theologian, he is an opportunist." Dogma degenerates into religious +emotionalism. Doctrine becomes nothing but a "_scheme of theological +impressions_." To tolerate every doctrine is, for a Church, to teach +none. Doctrinal chaos, such as we now see outside of the Catholic +Church, is the inevitable result of compromise. Winston Churchill's +famous novel, "Inside of the Cup," is nothing but the diagnosis of this +disintegration which Protestant Churches are now witnessing. + +The history of Protestantism is but the history of its changes of +religious belief. For "between authority and impressionism in matters of +Revelation, there is no alternative." As Christianity is not the product +of the human mind, but a Revelation from God, authority,--a divinely +constituted infallible and living authority--is a necessity, and the only +possible bond of unity. + +This disintegrating principle of "private judgment" in matters of Divine +Revelation has been at work since the inception of Protestantism. By the +very force of its dissolving power the primary elements of a supernatural +religion have fast disappeared from the various creeds. One by one the +different Churches have drifted away from their Christian moorings and +taken to the high seas of Rationalism. Assailed by the storms of +unbelief they are breaking on the rocks of religious indifference. Empty +churches are the natural outcome of empty creeds. "The dominant +tendencies are indeed increasingly identified with those currents of +thought which are making way from the definiteness of the ancient Faith, +toward Unitarian vagueness." If Bishop Kinsman, Anglican Bishop of +Delaware, a recent convert to the Catholic Faith, gave this statement as +one of the reasons for leaving the Anglican Creed, with how much more +truth could it not be made of the kaleidoscopic tenets of other +denominations? + +This process of dissolution of doctrinal grounds is bound to continue. +The fluid condition of the various churches testifies to the uncertainty +of their actual position and forces them to seek the lowest doctrinal +level. "Their standard is determined by the minimum, rather than by the +maximum view tolerated, since their official position must be gauged, not +by the most they allow, but by the least they insist on." (F. Kinsman.) +The remnants of Christianity that were still to be found in their +teachings are now looked upon as "obsolete dogmas" and, as such, +obstacles to unity. The very fundamental mysteries of the Incarnation +and the Redemption are fast growing dim in the minds and hearts of men.[3] + +The Protestant Churches will never come back to their former position. +In this Church-union movement they are burning their bridges behind them. +The gospel of pure "humanitarianism," which is the absolute negation of a +supernatural religion, will eventually be the last result of this present +unity. + +Destructive criticism, to be profitable, should be followed by +constructive suggestions. + +"_That they may be all one!_" This ideal of the Master, this supreme +wish of His last hours, remains the ideal, the wish of His Church. But +its realization cannot be at the expense of truth. Cardinal Gasparri +outlined to the promoters of the "World Congress on Faith and Order" the +view and position of the Catholic Church in this most important issue. +"The Holy See has decided not to participate in the Pan-Christian +Congress which it is proposed to hold shortly, _as the Catholic Church +considering her dogmatic character, cannot join on an equal footing with +the other Churches_. The feeling at the Vatican is that all other +Christian denominations have seceded from the Church of Rome, which +descends directly from Christ. Rome cannot go to them; _it is for them +to return to her bosom_.[4] The Pope is ready to receive the +representatives of the dissenting churches with open arms, since the +Roman Church has always longed for the _unification of all Religious +Christians_. Pope Leo XIII. was deeply interested in this question and +wrote two famous encyclicals on the subject of the _unification of the +Christian Churches_." + +The divine Founder of Christendom did not leave to several Churches the +conservation and propagation of His doctrine. He founded only one Church +and gave "unity" itself, as the supreme test of its divinity. Therefore +the Church, that has remained "one" through time and space, and has +conquered those two great enemies of unity, bears the birth-mark of its +divine origin. The Catholic Church alone makes that specific claim. +History is there to substantiate it. Matthew Arnold himself could not +help acknowledging this universal fact. "Catholicism is that form of +Christianity which is the oldest, the largest, and most popular. It has +been the great popular religion of Christendom. Who has seen the poor in +other churches as they are seen in Catholic Churches? Catholicism +envelopes human life, and Catholics in general feel themselves to have +drawn not only their religion from their Church, but they feel themselves +to have drawn from her, too, their art, poetry and culture. _And if +there is a thing specially alien to religion, it is division. If there +is a thing specially native to religion it is peace and union. Hence the +original attraction towards unity in Rome, and hence the great charm when +that unity is once attained_." The sharp contrast between the actual +restlessness and uncertainty of the dissident Churches, and the calm +assurance and self-possession of the Catholic Church, is not that an +abiding proof of the security of the Catholic position? + +Father Palmieri, O.S.A., Ph.D., D.D., who has made the problem of +Christian Unity a life-study, made, in a recent article, these pertinent +remarks: "The reunion of Christianity in the Catholic sense is not a +Babel-like confusion of different sects which oppose creed to creed, +which proclaim their absolute indifference in the doctrinal field, which +take the individual reason as a judge of Christian revelation or +Christian discipline. It would be an absurdity to suppose for a moment +that Catholicism or Catholic Theology would propose this hybrid confusion +of concepts and human caprices under the name of unity. For Catholicism +and Catholic Theology, the reunion of Christianity is the return of +dissident Churches and of the non-Catholic sects to Christian unity, to +the one Church of Jesus Christ, which not only teaches this unity +theoretically but also puts it into practice, in its doctrine, in its +government, in its dogmatic and moral teaching, in its principles of +authority. By logical sequence the Church of Jesus is one. This unity +is not broken by political barriers, by ethnic divisions, by opposing +national aspirations. To tend therefore toward Christian unity signifies +to tend toward the only Church of Jesus Christ, and to effect this unity +is the same as to adhere to it." + +Father Palmieri concludes his study with these words: "An impartial study +of many years' duration has fully convinced us that the union of the +dissident churches can be brought about only under the leadership of the +Catholic Church. Outside of Rome there is a principle of dissolution +which breaks up and disintegrates the most solid organisms and which will +cause the breaking up even of the Orthodox Churches. It is therefore in +the supreme interest of Christianity that the Catholic Church addresses +its appeals for union to the dissident Churches, and it will never cease +to exercise this, its noble mission. Its efforts have been crowned with +success several times, and I am convinced that that day will come in +which by means of prayer and action the aspiration of Christ's Vicar for +union will be realized." + +Our non-Catholic reader may say that the position we take tends to +strengthen that exclusiveness, that narrowness, that aloofness with which +he has always charged the Church of Rome. But we would ask our +dissenting brethren, can it be otherwise? Truth is indivisible and +unchangeable. Were the unity of the Church Universal to exist only in +the Church of the future we would have to conclude that there was a time +when the Church of Christ did not exist on earth. This would be absurd +and would destroy Christianity in its very foundation. The true Church +of Christ has a right to claim the monopoly of Christianity. The Church +which, through a so-called spirit of broad-mindedness, accepts the +conflicting claims of the various dissident bodies, and is ready to merge +its entity with other denominations, immediately, _de facto_, invalidates +its claim to be "The Church of Christ." For, its position involves a +contradiction and is in itself a self-condemnation. + +Yet, the Catholic Church cannot feel indifferent toward this general and +supreme effort of the various fragments of Christendom towards unity. +Confidently she waits for the hour when all will return to her as to the +only centre and source of permanent unity. Yet, we would say with the +Bishop of Northampton, "If we may not compromise the very object of this +remarkable movement towards unity by accepting the pressing invitations +of our separated brethren to make common cause with them, neither can we +rest content to be mere spectators of their perplexities like those who +watch from the shore the efforts of distressed seamen to make their +port." Let us hope that Divine Providence, always gentle and strong in +its dealings with human liberty, will hasten the day when there will be +but "One Fold and One Pastor." In the meantime the efforts made to +constitute unity of Christianity outside of its true centre will prove as +futile as _ploughing the sands of the desert_. + + + +[1] The withdrawal of the Northern Presbyterian and Northern Baptists and +the failure of the financial drive have imperilled the existence of this +ambitious project. Is it not a case of repeating with the Psalmist: +"Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build +it?"--Ps. 126. + +[2] In the last Lambeth Conference--1920--the Church of England has again +reduced this minimum by implicitly recognizing the Nonconformist ministry +and abandoning its claim to reunion through the absorption of all sects +in the Anglican communion. It has so shifted from its former position +that it has openly expressed in the Bishops' manifesto the desire to +place itself on some "no man's land" where all the dissident Churches may +safely meet and unite. + +[3] Canon E. W. Barnes, of Westminster Abbey, in a sermon to the members +of the British Association, at their meeting at Cardiff, Aug. 29, 1920, +declared that, to harmonize Christian Doctrine with modern science, +particularly with the theory of evolution, he found it necessary to +abandon the doctrine of the Fall of Man and arguments deduced from it by +theologians, from St. Paul onward. + +[4] Father Leslie Walker, S.J., in a recent work on "The Problem of +Reunion," suggests we should enquire rather how we came to differ than +what we differ about. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +"THEM ALSO I MUST BRING" + +(Jo. X, 16) + +_The Apostolate to Non-Catholics--Its Obligation. + What have we done? What can we do?_ + + +The spiritual influence of a Christian is commensurate with his +appreciation of responsibility. The breadth and depth of vision give +to this moral feeling its field of action. The circle of our influence +ceases with the limits of our spiritual outlook. The boundless and +clear visions of all the Great Apostles in the Church of God give us +the key to the generosity and artfulness of their zeal. Just as the +narrowness of our views explains the restrictiveness of our charity and +the limitations of its activities. This is particularly noticeable in +our dealings with the spiritual needs of those outside the Fold. The +claims of our non-Catholic brethren to our charity do not seem to +affect us, because our spiritual outlook has not the proportions of +that of the Master. With Him we do not stand on those heights from +which we could see beyond our own green pastures, "Other sheep that are +not of His Fold and which we must also bring." This explains how the +claim--"_Oportet_" . . . "_We must bring_"--awakens in us no sense of +responsibility and meets with no answer in the ordinary activities of +our life. Every one seems more or less contented with the lines of +denominational demarcation as he finds them around him in the +community. Not to discuss religion, not to busy oneself with the other +man's belief, to be very frequently rather reticent about our own, is a +policy generally accepted in the West. This habit of evasiveness is +not Christian and often leads to the sacrifice of Catholic principles. +Far from us be the idea of advocating rash obtrusiveness, of untimely +aggressive and inconsiderate zeal. But between this excess and that of +a "_laissez faire_" policy there is a golden mean. What is then wrong, +our method or our zeal? + +A right understanding and a deep conviction of our duties in the matter +under consideration are of the greatest value for the Church in Western +Canada. May we preface our chapter by asking the reader to keep before +his mind the illuminating distinction of St. Augustine between the Body +and Soul of the Church. Many souls outside of the visible Body of the +Church are nevertheless within the beneficial influence of her +invisible pale. This is a commonplace of theology, we all know, but +evidently, very often forgotten. + +Are we in conscience bound to spread the true faith among our +non-Catholic brethren? Most undoubtedly we are. The examples and +precepts of the Master, the canons of the Church, the love of God and +our neighbour, are among the pressing motives which should appeal to a +true Catholic and make him zealous within the sphere of his influence. + +"Thy Kingdom Come!" That prayer of the Lord, which has become our +morning and evening prayer, is vain, if in the ordinary course of life +we do not try to extend the boundaries of that spiritual kingdom in the +very souls of those with whom we come in daily contact. Is not the +light of our life to shine out so that it may serve as a beacon to +those outside the Fold? But nothing is more striking than the words of +the Good Shepherd: "And other sheep I have that are not of this Fold; +them also I must bring and they shall hear My voice" (Jo. X., 16). Who +could explain the profound yearnings of the Divine Master's heart and +the deep feeling of obligation that are summed up in these words: "Them +also I must bring." The Divine Shepherd finds Himself responsible for +the sheep that are not of His own Fold and His only ambition is to +bring them in. + +This recommendation of Our Lord, His Church understood when in her +Canon-law She makes it a duty for all bishops and priests to look upon +the non-Catholics residing within the boundaries of their jurisdiction +as recommended to them by the Lord and placed in their charge. (Canon +1350, No. 1.) + +The Plenary Council of Quebec, the authoritative voice of the Church in +Canada, is most emphatic in its recommendation of our separated +brethren to the zeal of all Catholics. (No. 331) + +The obligation of conscience to come to the help of our non-Catholic +neighbour is moreover founded on the precepts of Christian charity. If +Christ will condemn to Hell those who did not give Him to eat and to +drink in the person of the needy, what will He not say to those who +neglect the spiritual works of mercy. The activities of Christian +zeal, to one who rightly understands the spirit of the gospel and the +economy of the redemption, have the same binding force as alms-giving, +and fulfill in the spiritual world the part charity has to play in the +scheme of Christian economics. + +The obligation of alms-giving is complementary to the right of +property. For, as St. Thomas says, "It is one thing to have a right to +possess money and another to have a right to use money as one pleases." +(II. _a_, II. _ae_, Q. XXXII., art. 5, ad 2.) This duty when +conscientiously performed re-establishes that economic and social +equilibrium which strict justice alone is not able to create. For, the +inequitable distribution of wealth greatly depends on the inequality of +power of production. This inequality of natural gifts in man remains +an unchangeable fact which faith alone in a Divine Providence can +explain, an ever renascent problem which Christian charity only can +solve. + +This mystery of Christian solidarity reveals itself also in the +spiritual world. We may say of each Catholic what St. Ambrose said of +the priesthood: "_Nemo Catholicus sibi_,"--no one is a Catholic for +himself alone. By a mysterious law of Divine Providence the +conservation and propagation of the faith are, after Divine Grace, +largely dependent on the influence of man on man. We are all verily +"Our brothers' keepers." We are commissioned by Christ not only to +keep the faith but also to hand it down to others, not only to keep its +fire burning in our hearts but to spread it, and to fan it into a +conflagration. The gift of faith implies the charitable obligation of +weaving our belief into our every day life and, through that life and +its influence, into the lives of others. The plenitude of some make up +for the penury of others. If St. John, to urge the precept of +alms-giving, said: "He that hath the substance of this world and shall +see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him: how +doth the charity of God abide in him?" (I. Jo. III, 17), with how much +more truth cannot the condemnation of the Beloved Apostle be applied to +one who, rich in Faith--"that substance of things unseen," makes no +effort to help his brother who is deprived of it? Therefore charity, +through its spiritual works of mercy, re-establishes the equilibrium in +the spiritual realm and stands out as a vital factor in the economy of +our religion. To understand rightly this principle and to reduce it to +action, is to be a true and ardent apostle. Then, and then only, are +we able to say in truth, with the martyr, St. Pacien, "Christian is my +name, but Catholic is my surname." + +How pressing is this obligation to be an apostle, to be truly Catholic, +among our non-Catholic brethren? Why should we particularly turn the +energies of our zeal to the conversion of non-Catholics? What special +claim have they to our prayers? + +The supernatural element of Faith, often the fruit of a valid baptism, +which still lingers in the souls of many non-Catholics; the fact that +numbers of them, because they are in good faith, belong thereby to the +"Soul of the Church;" the rising tide of indifference and unbelief +which is now burying under its water the last remnants of Christianity +to be found among the conflicting creeds: these are the predominant +motives which, according to the principles of St. Thomas Aquinas, +should attract the preference of our zeal. For the order of the +charity, says the Holy Doctor,[1] depends on the _relations_ of those +we love, to God and to ourselves, and on the _urgency_ of their +spiritual needs. By this doctrine, among those outside of the Church, +those professing Christianity have the first claim to our apostleship. +Therefore missions to non-Catholics, _caeteris paribus_, take +precedence over foreign missions. + +We all recognize the reality of this obligation and understand, vaguely +perhaps, the burden of its responsibility. We all indeed, at times, +say with the Divine Master: "There are other sheep that are not of this +Fold; them also I must bring."--But, what have we done to bring them? + +Outside of a few casual cases of conversion prompted often by marriage, +and of some spasmodic efforts during a mission, are we not bound to +admit that our policy in our relation with non-Catholics has been one +of aloofness and waiting. This attitude of aloofness may be traced to +many causes. The certainty of his faith gives to the Catholic an +assurance which he carries with him into his every day life. A sense +of superiority is its natural result. It gives him that +self-confidence in religious matters which our separated brethren are +so prone to call "Roman Pride." + +There exists in the Catholic soul that feeling we might name "The +timidity of faith." This sensitiveness is but the instinct of +preservation. We have been impressed from our youth that faith is the +greatest heirloom of our Christian heritage. To protect it against any +influence that would endanger it, is always considered a sacred duty. +This is particularly remarked among the masses, whose chances of +education finished with the grammar schools, and in countries or +localities where Catholics are the minority. + +The natural result of this attitude and feeling is an estrangement from +those of another faith, a bashful reluctance to meet them and to +co-operate with them in social or civic matters, an unconscious +tendency to see motives that do not exist and, at times, to refrain +from the most elementary acts of charity and courtesy. "It often +happens that we manifest towards the heretic the feeling which should +be exclusively reserved for heresy." (Lord Morley.) That this is +precisely the frame of mind of the ordinary non-Catholic in his +dealings with us, is by no way an excuse for our own unkindness. +Retaliation is not Christ-like. Does not our aloofness confirm our +separated brethren in their false ideas, wrong impressions and bitter +prejudices. We must not forget that centuries of strife and untold +antagonism of misunderstandings and ignorance, stand as a granite wall +between their souls and ours. The teachings and influence of their +home, of their school, and of their church lie in their minds, strata +upon strata, as the silent and lasting mementoes of the great religious +upheaval of the Reformation. Only the influence of a genuine, frank, +Catholic life, seen and felt in daily intercourse will gradually wear +the barrier away. It is a long and slow process, we know, but one +worth trying. Like the ever returning tide it eats its way into the +most solid rock of prejudice and bigotry. + +That this aloofness carries with it for the unguarded soul and +untrained mind a great protection, is made evident by the too many +examples of lukewarm Catholics, who by their continued association with +those outside of the Fold have lost the right appreciation of their +faith and are open to compromise. Principles in their lives often +yield to a policy of so called broadmindedness and alleged charity. +But those we have in mind, are the leaders, among the clergy and the +laity. They are grounded in their belief, know its principles and +should be prepared to throw off that aloofness which shades the light +of their faith and prevents it from being seen by those who are bound +to them, in the everyday life, by national, social, commercial, and +often by family ties. + +This _quasi_ universal attitude of aloofness has developed among us +what we might call "The policy of waiting." The festive board of +Christ's faith is ready, but the guests from another fold are wanting. +Have we gone "by the highways and byways" and forced ourselves upon +their attention by our pressing invitations . . . "_compelle intrare_?" +No, we stand at the door of the Banquet Hall, receiving politely and +with joy, it is true, those who ask to come in; and there, for the most +part, ends our apostolate. This naturally leads us to say frankly what +we think could be done. For we believe that our methods of apostolate +call for revision, need readjustment. The way to become like St. Paul, +"All things to all men, that we may save them all," (I. Cor. I., 22) +changes with the times. + +In the great drama of life the stage-settings are ever shifting and the +_dramatis personae_, changing. The success of the actor is to fit in +as the play goes on. This he does by adopting ways and methods most +appropriate to his surroundings. The problems we face are always the +same, but to be efficient our methods of handling them must evolve and +adjust themselves to the temper of the age. What should be then the +characteristic features of our apostleship among non-Catholics? The +neglect of readjustment of our methods in dealing with our separated +brethren is the avowed cause of the tremendous waste of energy and the +explanation of meagre results. "An enormous amount of energy," said +Father Benson,--and he had the experience,--"has been expended +uselessly in the past, assaulting positions that are no longer held, +and by lack of appreciation of present conditions." In this age of +loose thinking and of rapid dissemination of ideas, _aggressiveness_, +supported by active propaganda, characterizes every world-wide movement +in government, industry, science and religion. Every doctrine, every +theory comes into the open and makes a strong bid for our hearing, for +our following. Why should not the true doctrine of Christ assume this +new shining armour of sane aggressiveness, come more into the open, and +throw down the gauntlet to unbelief and indifference everywhere rampant +and openly defiant? For, if conviction is the father of devotion, if +our belief in the mastery of ideas is genuine, we cannot help but be +aggressive. Needless to say we are not asking for vulgar +aggressiveness, we are not asking for cheap sneers and attacks on the +ignorance and the illogical position of others. By aggressiveness, we +mean coming out in defence of truth which it is our privilege and +responsibility to possess. Never have times been more inviting for an +aggressive Catholicism. The great war has been for Protestantism the +acid test. The result is for the Anglican and Evangelical Churches a +complete failure,[2] and, as the soldiers said "a wash-out." They have +lost their grip on the masses who are rapidly slipping into a religious +chaos. The universal disintegration of creeds, strangely combined with +a secret thirst for truth and unity now sweeps the English-speaking +world. Are not these portentous events that manifest, as "The stirring +of the waters," the movement of the Holy Spirit. + +Our policy of aggressiveness, if it be true and resolute, will find +expression in an intelligent, active and persevering propaganda. +Propaganda is the dissemination of ideas, with the view of giving them +a strong foothold in the mind. The gradual development of the message +it carries and the recurrence of its lessons at stated intervals are +the principal factors of this great force. To be efficient and +successful our propaganda among our non-Catholic brethren will assume +two distinct forms: The open and the silent form. + +The _silent propaganda_ is the spreading of Catholic ideas through the +contact of our every day life with those who are not of our own Faith. +Willingly or unwillingly we are bound to leave an impression of our +belief in the business and social circles into which our life is cast. +Our silence and abstention alone often militate against the Church. +Let then the purity and spirituality of our lives, the honesty of our +commercial relations, the sanctity of our home, bear witness to the +sacredness of our religion and to the seriousness of its teachings. + +A true Catholic life is in itself a living antithesis of the prevalent +neo-pagan ideals, and stands as the best proof of our Faith's sincerity +and of the depth of its conviction. "If life is the test of thought +rather than thought the test of life," wrote Van Dyke, "we should be +able to get light on the real worth of a man's ideals by looking at the +shape they would give to human existence if they were faithfully +applied." For, as Cromwell said, "The mind is the man." + +The participation in civic, social and national activities will afford +the occasion of meeting our non-Catholic neighbours. This personal and +repeated contact, particularly with the leaders of the community, on +occasions when the best brains can concentrate together without clash +of principle, is, in our humble estimation, of the greatest value. The +participation of the Knights of Columbus in war activities and +reconstruction work is a striking illustration of this point. Nothing +has more helped the Church in the American Republic, in breaking down +the barrier of anti-Catholic prejudice, than the stand its Catholic +laity took during and after the Great War. Have we not in Western +Canada been rather remiss in our participation in public activities? +If we have not had our share in public life, it has often been, we must +confess, our own fault. + +The strength of the silent propaganda lies in its _persistency_ and +_consistency_. A silent continuous and intelligent activity, and not a +mere passivity, on the part of Catholics, is what characterizes this +tremendous force. Like the tide, it creeps from pebble to pebble, from +rock to rock, submerging every thing under its conquering waters. + +The logic of Catholic life lends its consistency to this silent force. +Our life is indeed the best proof of our principles. No one on the +contrary does more harm to the Church than a Catholic whose life is not +in harmony with his belief. The non-Catholic points to his life, with +a sneer, and says: "See, he is no better than others!" This reasoning, +we know is false, but for the unthinking masses, very often conclusive. + +This silent drive is the necessary background of the _open propaganda_ +of which we would now say a few words. + +The sincerely aggressive Catholicism of the laity cannot confine its +activities to the home and narrow circle of friends, no more than that +of the clergy can find its limit in the pulpit and the confessional. +Let us go into the open. The sun of liberty is blazing bright for us +all, under the blue skies of Canada. To witness at times, our cringing +spirit, our childlike timidity, our cowardice, one would think that we +were still under the penal laws and legal disabilities known by our +fathers and forefathers. "What is there to check our dash forward?" we +would ask with Father Vaughan. "Absolutely nothing, but ourselves, +nothing but what we term prudence." Prudence! thin veneer, hardly able +to conceal our apathy and unwarranted timidity. + +Has not the time come to throw off this false timidity and "To go out +into the highways and hedges and compel our separated brethren to come +in, that the Master's house may be filled." (Luke Ch. 14). Long enough +have we waited for them to come to us. An intelligent Methodist was +recently asked the question: "What do you think is the greatest +obstacle to the spread of the Catholic Faith?" And he answered: +"Ignorance,--because Protestants do not understand what Catholic +teaching is, and if your people have the courage of their convictions +and claim that they know the truth, why do they not come out like the +Socialists, Radicalists, Salvation Army, and other bodies who have come +out, and explain to the public what they believe and why." + +Did not Cardinal Newman in the conclusion of his lecture: "The Position +of Catholics," make similar statements? "Protestantism," he says, "is +fierce because it does not know you; ignorance is its strength; error +is its life. Therefore bring yourselves before it, press yourselves +upon it, force yourselves into notice against its will. . . . Oblige +men to know you. . . . Politicians and Philosophers would be against +you, but not the people, if it knew you." + +Yes, we willingly endorse what the English Dominican, Father Hugh Pope, +advocated in his article, "The Modern Apostolate," in the August issue, +1919, "The Ecclesiastical Review," and in several other English +newspapers and magazines. Has not indeed the time come when we should +revolutionize all our methods, when we should apply to Home Missions +something of the methods which now we have fancied pertained solely to +the Foreign Missions. Some we know will criticize this forward policy +as bold, open to ridicule, an innovation, an undignified intrusion, a +Billy-Sunday method, etc.--"On analysis what does all this opposition +come to, but that we are afraid." "Afraid!" our critics will exclaim, +"of what? I should like to know?" Is not the answer: "Yes, afraid of +what the people will say" (Father Pope, O.P.). Anchored in the past +they will continue to spend their energies in giving what we would call +"spiritual delicacies" to the few good souls around them, while at +their very doors crowds are dying of spiritual hunger for want of +bread. And in all tranquillity of conscience they will raise their +eyes to Heaven and thank the Lord that they are not like them. If +indeed we wait until the non-Catholics come to our churches and to our +rectories and ask to be received into the Church, we shall wait until +Doomsday. After all, what we here advocate, is nothing new. Is it not +the modern interpretation, suited to our times, of the "_Omnia +Omnibus_"--"All things to all men," of St. Paul? + +Along what definite lines should this aggressiveness be developed? +Zeal, we know, is very ingenious in its ways and means, and has in +their use the freedom of the spirit of God. Yet, there are certain +methods, certain activities, which have proved successful and could be +adopted to suit the circumstances of each community. Missions to +non-Catholics and lectures in public halls, if well and intelligently +advertised, will always draw an audience. Nothing appeals more to the +mind of the inquirer than a lucid and simple exposition of the Faith. +Controversy beclouds the issue. Were there any particular doubt in +mind, the Question-box affords an opportunity to elucidate it. The +distribution of literature will confirm the message of the spoken word +and continue to carry on its work, helping the seed to germinate in +God's own time. Inquiry classes and information bureaus are of a great +help to those who are reluctant yet to meet a priest, or to be known as +wavering in their faith. + +The great error in connection with this matter is to expect immediate +results from such work. Truth and Divine Grace work slowly. To +measure the success of a lecture or a mission to non-Catholics by the +number of immediate converts is completely unfair and against reason. +The main and direct object of these lectures is to combat the three +obstacles in the way of conversion, indifference, ignorance, and +prejudice, and to prepare the soil for the Great Sower. The important +point we should not forget is that, as in all propaganda, the +"_systematic follow-up work_" counts. The persistency and recurrence +of the message give it its strength and influence. + +In all we have said and suggested it must not be supposed that we +forget Faith to be a gift of God . . . _Donum Dei_. The salvation and +sanctification of a soul are essentially a supernatural process. We +can no more trace the ways of God than we can forecast the ways of the +wind. Therefore the greater our activities are, the greater should be +the supernatural force behind them. Prayer, constant and fervent +prayer, for the conversion of our separated brethren should be ever on +our lips and in our hearts. Yet, strange thing! We hardly ever hear +of public prayers and masses said for this great work. If our desires +were more real, should they not find expression here and there in some +public form of prayer. + +We should close this chapter with the instructive and inviting example +that comes to us from our Catholic brethren in Protestant England. A +wonderful Catholic campaign is now on through Scotland and England. +Various societies have grouped the active Catholic laity into various +units, with the one great object in view, to give back to England the +faith she has been robbed of centuries ago. + +The "Catholic Truth Society" stands in the background as the heavy +artillery that has been firing at long range at positions the enemies +are gradually leaving. For the last thirty years it has been breaking +the way to victory. "The Catholic Evidence Guild" and "Social Guild," +like the light cavalry are reconnoitering the lines and positions. The +"Motor Chapel" and "The Bexhill Library"--that Catholic Post-Library, +with its 16,000 volumes--are what we call the flying corps of this +great Catholic army. And while the various militant units are pushing +forward their lines, the members of "Our Lady of Ransom's League" are +praying on the mountain with up-lifted hands for the conversion of +their Country. + +The Catholics of the United States are following suit. The Paulist +Fathers with their missions to non-Catholics, their press and "Catholic +Missionary Union," devoted to the conversion of America, have +undoubtedly done splendid work. The Catholic laity have also been most +active under the auspices of the Knights of Columbus. MM. Goldstein +and Peter Collins, Dr. Walsh and Mrs. Avery are lecturing through the +country and have met with great success. This awakening of the +missionary spirit is one of the most healthy signs of the Catholicity +of the Church across the border. It is with reason that the Holy See +looks to America for the future wants of the Mission Field. + +These examples of an apostolic awakening that come to us from countries +where religious conditions are very much the same as those that prevail +in Western Canada, are most illuminating. They sound to us like the +Master's voice: "_Why stand idle all day . . . go you also into my +vineyard_." + + + +[1] Since the principle of charity is God and the person who loves, it +must needs be that the affection of love increases in proportion to the +nearness to one another of these principles. For wherever we find a +principle order depends on relation to that principle. (Summa. II, II +Qu. 26 art. 7.) + +[2] Cfr. "Army and Religion."--Book written by Protestant Army +Chaplains. It is a candid record of the failure of the Churches, +Anglican and Evangelical, at the front, during the great war. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PROS AND CONS + +_Obstacles that impede. . . . Circumstances that help the work of the +Church in Western Canada._ + + +The opening of the North West Territories to immigration, and their +creation into distinct Provinces of the Dominion stand as land marks of +portentous meaning in the History of Canada. The settlement and +development of these immense fertile prairies of the West were bound to +react on the economic powers and political outlook of our Country. By +the sheer weight of their economic value these new Provinces have +leaped into prominence and forced themselves upon the attention of the +Country at large. The Western issues are now so weighty that only the +greatest prudence and wisest statesmanship will maintain the +equilibrium between the conflicting forces of the East and the West of +our broad Dominion. Canada now stands at the parting of the ways in +its home and foreign policy. Every true and patriotic Canadian is +proud of the progressiveness of these new Provinces beyond our great +Lakes and anxious to see them bring their contributions to the +Commonwealth by sharing in the direction of its government. Their +presence around the family table is not that of strangers or intruders, +but of young, stalwart and rightly ambitious sons. + +Yet, as Religion is the necessary factor of true prosperity, the +religious outlook in these young Provinces is what naturally appeals to +the Catholic mind. What are then the prospects for the Church in +Western Canada? A rapid survey of conditions will enable us to take +our bearings and impress upon our minds the value of our co-operation +at this juncture of our History. The Church in the West is in its +making and we cannot over-emphasize the responsibility of every +Catholic in the matter. The knowledge of existing conditions will be +to us what the topography of the country under survey is to the +engineer. It helps to adjust the vision, to give the sense of +proportion and to suggest the easiest grades. + +To know well an obstacle is often the best means to overcome it, just +as in modern warfare to locate the enemies' batteries is to silence +them. In our Chapter, "The Call of the West," we have explained the +obstacles with which Catholics have to contend on the prairie and in +small towns. We pointed out those obstacles, _geographical_ (distance +and climate), _ethnical_ (race and language), _religious_ (absence of +catholic traditions and surroundings), and marked how they were as wide +crevices through which vitality is being lost to the Church in Western +Canada. It is our intention here to dwell only on difficulties of a +general character, inherent to the state of this new country and +effecting the Church in its corporate existence. + +_The materialistic spirit_, in all its forms, characterizes the West. +The youth of our Eastern Provinces and foreigners from every shore +flocked to this Eldorado by the thousands and hundreds of thousands +with the one particular aim in view, to better their material +condition. Their success has been so great that we may well say that +the very atmosphere of the West is surcharged with commercialism. The +"crop" is the ever-recurring factor and eternal topic of Western life. +No better picture reflects this attitude than that which is offered to +the traveller as his train goes rolling on through the even prairie. +Ever emerging on the horizon and dotting the landscape of the bald +plain the _grain elevator_ stands indeed as the most conspicuous land +mark of our Western towns. The elevators are in our prairie landscapes +what the church spires are in the Quebec villages, along the shores of +the St. Lawrence. Here and there they stand as symbols; they interpret +an ideal. Naturally a population so immersed in material pursuits and +frequently, not to say always, separated by the very force of +circumstances from the vitalizing contact of spiritual influence, +rapidly loses grasp of the supernatural and becomes refractory to the +doctrines and practices of the Church. Nothing is more adverse to the +influence of Christianity than material prosperity combined with the +absolute ignorance of its divine teachings. The wealthy and prosperous +farmer out West is inclined to look down on the Church and consider Her +"out of date." [1] + +This materialistic atmosphere and the absence of catholic traditions +and associations act also as a corrosive on the faith of Catholics, +particularly of our young people. Like a strong acid it eats away the +teachings of good Christian parents and the impressions of a Catholic +home. Only those who have seen at close range these sad soul +transformations can believe in their painful reality and explain their +frequency. + +The _activities of non-Catholic bodies among the foreign element_ are +another obstacle to the work of the Church. Like the locusts of Egypt +a cloud of proselytizers have alighted on those parts of the Provinces +where the new Canadian is in the making. We have seen in another +chapter (_Pro aris, et focis_--or, the Ruthenian Problem) how under the +cover of Canadianization, the foreigner is being weaned away from the +Faith of his Fathers and what menace this is for the Church. + +This systematic effort of the various denominations is being supported +by the combined action of their clergy and laity in the East. Men and +money are flowing into the West to Christianize (_sic_!) our Catholic +foreigners. The final result of this proselytizing effort is not a +permanent increased membership for these churches, but rather +indifference and irreligion among our foreign element. Facts and +figures prove it. And to re-establish these souls in the Faith of +their Baptism is no easy task, we all know. It is far easier to tear +down than to rebuild. + +This united action of the different Churches stands out in sharp +contrast with the _lack of co-operation_ among Catholics throughout +Canada. The absence of co-operation of the East with the West affects +very seriously the welfare of the Church in the new Provinces. We all +willingly and gratefully acknowledge the contributions in men and money +that have come from the East through the channels of the Religious +Orders, of the Catholic Church Extension and from other sources. But +absorbed by parochial and diocesan interests the Catholic Church in +Eastern Canada has not as yet fully realized the seriousness of our +Western problems. With its co-operation only can the weight of the +Church as a whole be brought to bear in their solution. + +This policy of unity of action is also most urgent for the Catholics of +the Western Provinces. We are a minority in each Province; concerted +action can alone press our legitimate claims and bring to us success in +these activities which necessarily overlap the boundaries of dioceses +and provinces, as is the case with the Catholic Press and Higher +Education. Diocesan isolation, if we are not careful, can become the +weakness of our strength, in these critical stages of rapid +development. Yet, there are no Provinces in the Dominion where the +Church faces so many identical problems under identical conditions as +in the Western Provinces. Should not this alone suggest to our leaders +a unity of plan and realize among our Western Catholics concerted +action? + + * * * * * * + +As there is a silver lining to the darkest cloud, there is a bright +side for the Church in conditions out West. + +The striking feature of the Canadian West is the _newness of the +country_. Youth is stamped everywhere clear and bold; the dash and +buoyancy of the people reflect it faithfully. Optimism is the +predominant note in that land of immensities and great possibilities. +Untrammelled by set traditions and cast-iron customs, every one is +there to start a new life. The past does not seem to exist for the +Westerner; the future is his sole concern. + +This newness of the country and the optimistic mood which it creates +can be called into the service of the Church. They form an atmosphere +of tolerance which proves most helpful for the preaching of Her +doctrine and the maintenance of Her institutions. + +The youthfulness of the country has left its mark on the _character of +the Westerner_. There is something of the vastness of the prairie in +his mind. He is generally broad, and boasts of it most willingly. +This trait is very noticeable in his passion to revaluate theories, to +redefine notions brought from the East. The great success with which +he has met in various co-operative schemes has also developed in him a +high sense of self-reliance. The only danger is that he carries that +same self-assurance into domains where he often over-reaches himself. +This fact is very noticeable in the various annual Conventions. +Unconsciously, in matters beyond his grasp, he is at the mercy of a few +leaders. Resolutions are passed, legislation is suggested, without +realization of their consequences. + +The rapid _disintegration of Protestantism_ is another factor with +which the Church can count. Church union is in many places an +accomplished fact. This alone is a convincing proof of the want of +grasp, of definiteness that exists in religious matters. We would +refer our reader to the Chapter "Ploughing the Sands." To what extent +this rather negative disposition will hasten the spreading of the true +Faith, is difficult to state. Will it, as is evident in England, +promote a movement of return to the Church or accentuate, as in the +United States, indifference and unbelief, the future alone can tell. +But, is it not our duty in the meantime to make use of every tide and +wind to bring the ship to port? The tide, as it is now running, shall +bring to the Church many a shipwrecked soul. + +This is our firm belief. + +This rapid survey of Western conditions in their relation with the +Church, without being a searching examination, outlines, as it were, +the actual religious topography of our new Provinces. Our sole +ambition is to help to wipe away, in our work, useless curves, make +easier the grades and map out the straightest and most direct route to +success. With the knowledge of conditions, less energy will be lost +and more time will be gained. Time and energy are the necessary +factors of true and permanent progress. + + + +[1] "Catholics to a certain extent will remain an alien body. We +differ from those around us in a profound fashion, not in matters of +direct doctrine, for which the modern world has largely ceased to care, +but in the effects of that doctrine. The Catholic's whole conception +of man and of the fundamentals of human life is a different thing from +that held by those about us."--H. Belloc. + + + + +PART II + +EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS + +"To-day's boy is to-morrow's man." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHY SEPARATE?[1] + +_A Moral Reason--A Social Reason--A Political Reason--A National +Reason--A British Reason--A Historical Reason--A Religious Reason--For +"Separate Schools."_ + +The West is without a doubt the classical land of the "School problem +in Canada." The Prairie Provinces will remember the struggles that +have marked their birth in the Dominion. The words, "_separate +schools_," rang loud and angry over the cradle of these youngest +partners in our Confederation. The conflict has not subsided with +years. Although the rights of the minority, at least in Saskatchewan +and Alberta, are partially recognized by law, there are yet some who +seem to have a mission to reopen the conflict by ever dragging the +problem into the open arena of our political life. Under the specious +pretext of national welfare they would foist upon the Canadian Public +opinions and measures opposed to our existing system and to the broad +spirit of liberty that inspires and maintains it. But we all know that +in this persistent and methodical opposition to our separate schools +the fundamental issue is a religious one. Life, after all, is a +spiritual value. The school is the great loom on which the rising +youth weaves its thread into the great and amazing tapestry of the +nation. Who has the mastery of the school, has in the making that +mysterious tapestry of human life. + +This problem is but an aspect of the eternal struggle between the +Christian and the Pagan ideal. The pagan ideal of civilization is the +absorption of the individual by the State, the confiscation of liberty +by the political monopoly of the nation. + +The Christian ideal is the State at the service and for the protection +of the individual and of the family. "To Caesar what belongs to +Caesar; to God what belongs to God." Before the ever recrudescent +forces of neo-paganisim it is most useful, we contend, to reassert in +plain, terse language the principles, the reasons that explain and +justify our persistent attitude on the school problem. They will be +our answer to the question which is ever thrown at Catholics in Western +Canada: + +"_Why separate_?" We have placed the discussion of this problem on the +higher plain of the unchangeable and unchanging principles of truth and +justice, for, we are firm believers in the pacific penetration of ideas +and in their conquering power. In truth alone, the Master stated, is +true and abiding liberty: "You will know truth, and truth will make you +free." Every true Canadian readily grasps the transcendent importance +of the problem under examination and should bring to its discussion +open-mindedness and sincerity. + + +_I.--A Moral Reason_ + +It is the right and duty of the parent to educate his child. This +right is founded on nature. The child is the offspring of the parents, +the continuation as it were of their own life. They are therefore the +natural educators of their children. When they commit them to the care +of others for instruction it is their right to have them educated as +they wish. As by the supreme and sacred right of conscience man is +free to give to his life its moral direction, so also does the same +principle apply to the education of a child for whose conscience, as +for whose life, the parent is responsible. The moral right of the +parent, which is one with that of the child in that period of life, is +fundamental. It constitutes the bed-rock on which rest all other +rights in matters of education. To deny that principle, to deflect it +from its proper meaning, to recognize it only partially, is to blast +the very foundation of human nature. No reason of common good, of +citizenship, can overthrow this right; on the contrary, it presupposes +it; for, the State can only interfere to protect and help this right. +It can never suppress it, and only supplement it when the parents are +deficient and fall short of this sacred duty they owe their offspring. + + +_II.--A Social Reason_ + +Society is made up of various units, lending to one another support by +the mutual participation in the activities of life. The family--the +first in order of time and dignity--is beyond doubt the principal and +central unit. The other social factors presuppose it and exist for its +protection. Is it not the source from which springs the very life of +the individual and wherein society replenishes its forces? The placing +of the individual as the specific social unit of our modern democracy +is a pernicious error. This fallacy has destroyed Society by upsetting +the essential order of its units and has robbed the individual of his +most elementary rights. + +The substitution of the State for the family is most detrimental in any +sphere of life. In matters of education it is nothing short of a +disaster. The "State School Teacher" is an anomaly. It is the +subversion of true social order for it constitutes "an unwarranted +interference of the State in a function preeminently social. Education +is a social function and cannot be converted into a governmental charge +without violence to it." What Treitsche said of the Judiciary Power in +a country may well be applied to education. "We find the first and +fundamental principle of jurisprudence to be that no one should be +withdrawn from the jurisdiction of his natural judge." The natural +school of the child is the family; the common school should be nothing +but an extension of the home. The mission of the school is to +supplement the home and not to supplant it. The child and the parent +therefore are entitled to have the same atmosphere pervade both school +and home. Everything that is relevant to education belongs to the +family. A policy that favours intrusion of an undue influence of the +State in the school and destroys home authority and parental influence +is unnatural and therefore anti-social. The State is not the natural +teacher of the child. + +This fusion of the political and social orders--which in reality means +the suppression of the latter to the profit of the former--is the fatal +error of the day and producive [Transcriber's note: productive?] of +great evils. An Educational Department is the open door through which +any Government may force its particular views on the growing +generation. The monopoly of State education is nothing else but the +conscription of the minds, an "intellectual militarism," which +eventually leads to the absorption of the individual and the family and +to greater disasters than war. Under the cover of citizenship it will +legalize a country into servitude. The school ambitions of Prussia +prepared the catastrophe the world has just witnessed. Always and +everywhere the same cause will produce the same effects. + + +_III.--A Political Reason_ + +Authority and liberty are the two poles on which revolves Society. The +perfect equilibrium of these two contending forces, one centripetal, +the other centrifugal, make for its safety and welfare. The +encroachment of one upon the other displaces the social axis and throws +a nation out of its natural orbit. Political Society then oscillates +between autocracy and anarchy. The infringement of this supreme law of +moral gravitation has strewn the paths of history with the ruins of +kingdoms and empires. The violation of a natural law bears always with +itself its own punishment. For, society is not the conventional +creation of man; it is governed by laws that man does not make, but, +which his reason and experience discover and to which he must submit. + +This perfect equilibrium of authority and liberty is perfectly +expressed in Lincoln's famous definition: "A sane democracy is one of +the people, by the people and for the people." The reason of this law +of the political order is that liberty is previous to authority, for +authority only exists to protect liberty against tyranny and to +safeguard it against its own excesses. He is best governed who is +least governed. LePlay, the celebrated French economist, made this +just and pertinent remark: "The truly free nations are those who, +without compromising this prosperity, extend the benefices of private +life at the expense of public life." (Reforme Sociale II, page 92.) + +Therefore the ideal State exists when all civil or social rights--which +stand for the _public enjoyment_ of all natural rights--are fully +protected by political rights. These political liberties moreover +claim not only the negative protection or non-interference of +authority, but also its positive financial help. For political liberty +exists for the protection of civil liberty, and not _vice versa_. The +collective forces of a society are for the benefit of the individual +and not the individual for them. A State is an institution for the +protection of rights inherent to a free people. + +The negation of this principle leads to the State paternalism which +stands for the interference of State in matters which by right belong +to the individual and the family. Never has State interference and +State protection been more exaggerated than they are nowadays. The +passing and pressing emergencies of the great war have accentuated +these tendencies. The nations have kept the habit of being governed by +orders-in-council, by arbitrary censorship and dictatorial methods. +"The Executive has usurped the functions that rightly belong to the +legislative assembly, with a virtual dictatorship as the inevitable +result." The consequence of State Paternalism is the death of +individual liberty either through socialism or autocracy. Man becomes +the chattel of a bureaucratic government. + +Of all civil liberties there is none more sacred, more fundamental than +that of education. The freedom of education means the right of a +parent to give to his offspring an education in harmony with his +concept of life, with the dictates of his conscience. As education is +nothing but a preparation for life, its theory goes hand in hand with +the theory of life. To this liberty of the parent should correspond in +society a political right. To deprive a free citizen of this right is +to penalize him and oblige him--as is the case in Manitoba--to buy +twice over a right of conscience. This condition wherever it exists is +a flagrant abuse of political authority and consequently a social +disorder. + +Some may object to our argumentation and answer that in a modern +democracy the majority rules, and the majority in the West are against +"separate schools." The political right of the majority cannot cancel +a moral right of the minority. It is a case here of repeating the +statement of Burke: "The tyranny of a democracy is the most dangerous +of all tyrannies because it allows no appeal against itself." This +autocracy of numbers is often more dangerous and more brutal than that +of a caste, of a czar, or of a king. Russia is giving us an +illustration of this autocracy of number. Did not Germany use the same +argument to crush Belgium and to try to dominate the World? Our sons +have fought and died in this war against Prussianism and yet some of +our Canadians--not worthy of the name--would willingly vote drastic +measures of governmental repression which would make the Kaiser smile +and the Czar Nicholas turn in his grave. The velvet glove may cover +the mail-fist, but the blow is the same. + +Others may claim that the State has a right to "Uniformity in the +education of its citizens." This is the pretension of those who now +are advocating so strongly and so widely the "federalization of our +schools." We will not discuss the value of this plea for uniformity. +It would open a very interesting pedagogical debate and we are inclined +to believe that the "anti-uniformists" would carry away the honors. We +do not pretend that the State has no rights in matters of education. +But its interference should be consistent with the prior and more +fundamental rights of the individual and the family and not become a +usurpation or abrogation of them. Otherwise it would be the wrong way +of doing the right thing. + + +_IV.--A National Reason_ + +The Constitution of a country has as its specific object the +maintenance of the perfect equilibrium between authority and liberty. +"It is the charter of a people's liberties, the shield of the +individual against the possible tyranny of government, the effective +check upon the ambition of every government to extend the sphere of its +delegated powers. Unlike the law, its primary purpose is to restrain +the Government, not the citizen. . . ." (P. Blakely, S.J.) America, +Sept. 18, 1920. + +The greatest liberty for the individual, combined with the greatest +good of the commonwealth, has always been the ideal aimed at by the +Fathers of a democratic country. To tamper with the Constitution on +vital issues, to conceive it as an experiment, to ignore its +spirit,--that obvious intention of its framers--is always eventually +fatal to the peace and welfare of the nation. No one lays hands with +impunity on that Ark of the Covenant. The essential changes in the +Constitution of a country act as a time-fuse. An explosion necessarily +follows, although it may take years and generations for a faulty +legislation to disclose its real consequences. This is particularly +true in matters of education. Laws of the educational departments may +change to become more efficient in their administration but should +never touch the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. + +In Canada the protection of the minority rights is a principle embodied +in our Constitution, in the Imperial Statute of the British North +America. Act. Even where the letter of the Provincial Law has +established the "public school,"--as is the case in the Maritime +Provinces--the spirit of the law is generally observed, and by a +compromise and tacit agreement the rights of the minority are to a +great extent recognized. + +In the West, Manitoba stands out in Canadian History as the battlefield +of educational rights. Although the British North America Act, +1867,--that intangible charter of Canadian liberties--stipulates, +section 93, that in the carving out of new Provinces in the vast +domains of the North West Territories the existing educational rights +guaranteed to the minority should be respected, yet, the Manitoba +Legislative Assembly has broken away from the letter and spirit of the +Constitution and constituted a grievance which demands rectification. + +The Federal Parliament partially recognized the principle of Separate +Schools in the formation of the Provinces of Saskatchewan and of +Alberta, by introducing, in section 17 of the Autonomy Bills of 1905, +the section 93 of the B.N.A. Act, and by reasserting the existing +rights granted by the N.W.T. School Ordinances of 1901. We say +"partially," for it is not the right of collecting separate taxes and +teaching Religion during the last half hour of the school-day that +constitutes a really Catholic school. + +The "Separate schools" in Saskatchewan and Alberta stand on the solid +granite of our Constitution. The highest tribunals of the land and the +Empire have implicitly recognized the principle of the minority-schools +in many of their decisions. Moreover, let us not forget it! the +separate school system in Canada is "_protestant_" in its origin. It +was to protect the protestant minority of Lower Canada that this +system, Catholic in Ontario, Protestant in Quebec, was adopted on +September 18th, 1841. In the West the minority school-law was also +enacted to protect the protestant minority of the Territories. Our +Non-Catholic opponents should not forget this origin of our separate +schools. What their fathers appreciated then for their children, we +appreciate now for ours. The principle remains unchanged. + +Some may be surprised at our contention to make an argument in favour +of separate schools out of the very point on which rests the +scaffolding of those who oppose them. They claim that the minority +school principle is the greatest enemy of Canadian Unity. What we +need, they say, is to standardize our schools, and bring all Canadian +children under one system. No genuine "Canadianization" is possible +without this unity of education. The advocates of these ideas are now +at work promoting through the country the "nationalization of schools." +The Conference of Winnipeg, 1919, was the first tangible result of this +movement. A National Bureau of Education--a non-government +institution, at least for the time being; a survey of school text-books +throughout the Provinces, a study of matters affecting the status of +the teaching profession--such are the duties that this National Council +of Education has assumed at its first gathering. + +This movement towards Federal control of schools involves the denial +and the eventual suppression of the minority-principle in our system of +Education. This nationalization of Education, we claim, is erroneous +in its principle, anti-constitutional in its operation, and dangerous +in its consequences. Uniformity in education, as a source of +efficiency, is one of the fallacies of our materialistic age. Schools +to be successful have not to be submitted to the same laws of a +commercial or industrial combine. Ethnical and moral values do not +follow the laws of the mart and the stock exchange. If in our +extensive Dominion even a unity of tariff, readily acceptable to the +East and to the West, is Utopian, how much more so would be the unity +of the school system? Education, to be effective, must take the colour +of the environments to meet the needs of the community. The levelling +process would be most detrimental, for uniformity in education is the +seed of decay. + +And it is on the plea of making better Canadians that the promoters of +"national schools" are drifting from the very basic principle of our +educational system, from the law and spirit of our Constitution. Our +form of Government, as we all know, is dual. Matters of education are +relevant to the Province. The more the Province will abdicate its +claims, and submit to the growing influence of the Federal powers, the +greater will be the danger of losing the political equilibrium of +Confederation. Unstable equilibrium, once disturbed, is hardly ever +re-established. The centrifugal forces of the Province protect our +liberties against the possible excesses of the centripetal forces of +the Federal Government. Any movement that tends to break the harmony +of these forces is, we claim, anti-Canadian. The Premier of Quebec +speaking to the Deputy Ministers of Education and Superintendents of +Public Instruction, at an inter-provincial Conference sounded this note +of warning: "The absolute control by each Province of its educational +system is the keystone of our Confederation; and the whole structure of +Canada would crumble away if any attempt were made at suppressing that +which holds its several parts together." (Nov. 4, 1921.) Quebec is +blamed for being the great obstacle to the realization of the dreams of +our nationalizers. Quebec, we maintain, is the most sane Province of +the Dominion, and the greatest help to the maintenance of +Confederation. This is now an admitted fact by every serious and broad +minded Canadian. Its conservatism acts, we would say, as the governor +on the complicated machine of Canadian political life. It regulates +its speed and keeps it within the limits of safety. Moreover, we ask, +how could a system which would deny the principles and rights of over +forty per cent. of the population be rightly and justly named +"national"? No one has the right to assume the monopoly of +"nationalism." + +"The self-appointed or State-appointed nationalizer, we would say with +Father Millar, S.J., ignorant of our real history or its true meaning, +is fast becoming a menace to the sanity of our laws and to the supreme +wisdom of a traditional national policy." [2] + +And what will be the consequences of this levelling uniformity that +crushes parental right and fuses the powers of Provinces into a Federal +unit? The Prussian ideal is the answer. We all know what that means +and where it leads. Its principles are the solvents of what remains of +Christianity--unconscious to many, it is true--in the political life of +our country. The armies that our boys fought on the fields of Flanders +were formed and trained in the national schools of Germany. + + +_V.--A British Reason_ + +The great misfortune of many who clamour against our separate schools +is their total ignorance of our history and of the spirit that the +liberty-loving Fathers of the Confederation have breathed into our +laws. To them "national reasons" may not appeal. This is very often +the case of the average Westerner. The West is in its making and has +no past behind it. This fact alone can explain how easy the Western +mind is open to influences opposed to the spirit of our Canadian +institutions. It has no traditions, and traditions are the hidden +roots that plunge down into the soil of history, into the hearts of +past generations, and give to a people, its real national life. +Therefore, a "British reason," a reason founded on British traditions, +on the British way of doing things in the Colonies, may make a stronger +appeal to our Western mentality. + +Freedom and fair play for every citizen within the Empire, the +recognition of racial and religious rights, have been the strength and +success of the British Government in its Colonial policy. (We +underline "colonial policy" for, we cannot say the same of England's +policy with Ireland--) We would quote here what a well known Western +public man wrote some years ago when, under the pen-name of "Daylight" +he discussed the "Separate School problem" in the columns of "The +Regina Leader," January 3rd, 1916. + + +"In conclusion there are one or two general remarks I should like to +make. It has always appeared to me that there is among our +English-speaking people of Canada a section of the community that holds +extreme views on all matters pertaining to nationality and religion. +This section holds and advocates the idea, that there must be no +compromise in dealing with matters pertaining to race and religion. In +a word, they would set about at once to "Prussianize" our complex +population. They forget, or entirely ignore, the fact that this is not +the British plan. If the British Empire is the glorious Empire it is +to-day is it not because of the fact that long ago the British +statesman and the British citizen have learned the lesson of tolerance? +To-day, Great Britain with its forty-five millions of people rules over +hundreds of millions of people of diverse nationalities and religious +faiths, and throughout the whole scheme of government and constitution +runs the idea of reasonable and just tolerance and compromise. Were +this not so the British Empire would quickly fall to pieces. Why then +should we not have more of this spirit in Canada, and particularly in +Western Canada? Some people are mightily concerned about our +foreign-born population. They imagine that the process of assimilation +can and should be accomplished in a day. Nothing is further from the +truth. The process is necessarily a slow one. It is bound to take two +or three, and in some cases, more generations. In the meantime we +should strive to make these people feel that they are welcome to our +broad open plains and to our citizenship. As to the final outcome no +one need have any doubt." + + +The principle that has created the British Empire is the only principle +that will keep it on the map of the world. This is history, +philosophy, and common sense. + +And when we see England recognizing the Catholic elementary schools and +subsidizing to a certain extent our secondary schools, when Scotland +has just brought the Catholic schools of several cities into its +system, is it not painful, to say the least, to hear our +ultra-loyalists ever up in arms against our separate schools? To them +we feel like saying, "Go back to England and Scotland, from whence you +or your forefathers came and learn from the Home Country the lesson of +tolerance, of sane political government." + + +_VI.--A Historical Reason_ + +In the discussion of many problems we are liable, particularly in the +West, to limit our vision to conditions as they present themselves to +the observer. This is more noticeable in the educational field. This +frame of mind may be traced to various causes. But there is one cause +which, we believe, is more responsible than others. + +Unconsciously our age is "_evolutionist_." "The intellectual movement +of 'evolution,'" said Glenn Frank, "was not the private plaything of +biologists in sequestered laboratories, but a force that altered men's +conceptions in every field of affairs." ("Century," Sept., 1920.) The +theory of evolution has such a grasp on the modern mind that its +concepts of government, of economics, of education are looked upon as +the last and improved effort of man in his eternal struggle to express +an unknown and always receding ideal. This has accustomed the mind to +look upon the past but as a rudiment, an outline, a preparation of the +future. + +Without entering into the discussion of the objective evidence of the +theory of evolution we may say that as far as education is concerned +its premises are false. The human soul remains substantially the same +and the process of its education has not varied very much with +centuries. Those therefore who look upon our modern Educational system +as the apex, the summing up of all past phases, are greatly mistaken. +"The lessons of past history," writes Dr. Walsh, "are extremely +precious not only because they show us where others made mistakes but +also because they show us the successes of the past. The better we +know these, the deeper our admiration for them, the better the outlook +for ourselves and our accomplishment." + +The State-school is an institution comparatively of very recent date +and has no right to be heralded as the final expression of an +educational system in a democracy. The history of education shows a +lineage of men who can be more than favorably compared with the sons of +our common schools. The mass of the people have indeed more +instruction but, at times, we doubt if they are better educated. +Results are the best judges of educational values. History and +experience prove that success in education depends more on the sense of +responsibility in the parents and of duty in the children, than on +palatial school-houses and elaborate programme of studies. This sense +of duty and the feeling of responsibility are not a necessary +consequence of state schools. On the contrary they are more liable to +be found in independent institutions. For, as we have seen, when the +State substitutes itself for the family, the first consequence is the +unchallenged yield of parental rights. + +Those who would make an excursion into history and compare our modern +educational systems with those of the past will find illuminating +points of comparison and instructive conclusions. We would advise them +to take Dr. Walsh, M.D., Ph.D., Litt.D., as guide. His books: +"Education, how Old the New"--"The Thirteenth Century"--will prove most +interesting reading. + +Already a reactionary policy is being enacted in several countries +where for years the State-School was the only one to share in the +public treasury. In Holland, the Parliament of June, 1920, by a vote +of 72 against 3, passed a new school-law which recognizes and +subsidizes all separate primary, high and normal schools. In Italy, +the Minister of Education, Benedetto Croce, in a speech on the +"reorganization of education," stated publicly that the neutral school +was theoretically absurd and practically impossible. In Spain,[3] by a +Bill of May, 1919, the State universities have passed out of the hands +of the Government. France, Portugal, Argentine Republic are fighting +for the same freedom. In Poland's new charter of liberties, granted by +the Treaty of Versailles, the rights of the minority in school matters +are guaranteed. Our Canadian representatives signed this document. We +were granting then to the new Republic a sacred right which we still +refuse to our own at home, in the Province of Manitoba! + + +_VII.--A Religious Reason_ + +The creation of the state-school, necessarily undenominational in +character, has made the "separate school" an absolute necessity. If +religion has any meaning in life this reason of our separation should +be most convincing. + +In education one cannot separate the utilitarian side,--the fitting of +the child for the struggle of life,--from its main purpose,--the +development of moral character. The moral aspect alone gives to human +life its true character, its real value. As there is no morality +without religion, the system of education that would debar this +essential feature falls short of its full meaning. With this principle +in view any fair-minded man will understand how true Christian parents +demand a school where their children will receive religious education. +They are in conscience bound to exact for their offspring such +education, and, where the State refuses them their own money to support +their "separate schools" they willingly penalize themselves to give +them this benefit. The child's eternal welfare is not to be sacrificed +to a school system that has not even accomplished the purpose for which +it was established. For, as we shall see, a neutral school is a +practical impossibility. + +Those who fail to understand the pressing force of this viewpoint have +in our opinion lost the sense and sacredness of religion. They are +astonished at the bitterness that characterizes at times the conflict. +Are not religious and racial issues so intimately united with the very +conception of life that they hold to the most intimate fibres of the +human heart? For a Catholic, Religion is life itself in its most +sacred aspect. + +But, our opponents will argue, in a country like Canada, where +"organized" religion--to speak their language--is so denominational, +religion in school is an impossibility. Is it because other +denominations cannot agree as to their religious tenets that we, who +count over one-third of the total population and who stand united in +our faith, are to surrender what we consider most essential in +education and--lest we forget it--most protective to the best interests +of our Country? + +What does the State give us to replace the "separate school"? A +neutral, undenominational, irreligious school. This neutrality we +claim, is erroneous in theory and impossible in practice. The theory +of the neutral school is erroneous because it is against the teaching +of sound psychology and true pedagogy. + +The soul of the child cannot be, as it were, divided into watertight +compartments so as to segregate religious influence from its daily +training. As Cardinal O'Connell stated, "We Catholics believe that as +character is by far the most important product of education, the +training of the will, the moulding of the heart, the grounding of the +intellect in clear notions of right and wrong, obligation and duty, +should not be left to haphazard or squeezed as an afterthought into an +hour on Sunday. The moral and spiritual growth of the child ought +normally to keep pace with his mental growth and the Church is +convinced that taking human nature as it is, the result cannot be +obtained effectively without including a judicious mixture of religious +training with the daily routine of the school." + +In fact a neutral school is an impossibility. We will simply ask our +readers a few questions and rely on their fairmindedness to formulate +the answers. Can the teaching of history be neutral? The Catholic +Church and the Reformation are historical facts: how are they to be +judged? How are ethics to be treated, without reference to God, to +Jesus Christ, to an eternal sanction? Can a teacher divest himself of +his mental attitude in the teaching of these subjects and answering the +questions of the pupils? + +Were the teaching really neutral, the very atmosphere of the +school-room is what counts. This atmosphere is indefinable and yet +everywhere felt. It is made of trifles, but of trifles that count at +that receptive age of childhood. As a subtle perfume it impregnates +the soul of the child with ideas and impressions which it will carry +through life. Therefore the atmosphere of the class-room, we claim, +should be as near as possible, that of the home. The parents have a +right to see that it should be so. Is this possible in a neutral +school? Its very negative character impregnates the class-rooms with +an irreligious feeling which the impressionable mind of the child +cannot but notice. How is the child to grow up with the feeling of +Religion's importance in life if the ban is placed upon Religion the +moment he passes the threshold of the school-room? "What we most +dread," said Bishop McQuaid, "is not the direct teaching of the +State-school, it is the indirect teaching which is most insidious and +most dangerous. It is the moral atmosphere, the tone of thought +permeating these schools that give cause for alarm. It is the +indifferentism with regard to all religious belief we most of all fear. +This is the dominant heresy that, imbibed in youth, can scarcely ever +be eradicated. It is one that already has in our large towns and +cities decimated Protestant Churches." + +Even the provision of optional religious instruction at the dying hour +of the class-day cannot redeem the neutral school. In fact the Survey +of School conditions in Saskatchewan conducted by Dr. Foght, in 1918, +revealed there a state of things which in our mind is an eye-opener in +the matter under examination. Out of over 4,000 schools not more than +212 reported as availing themselves of the law on religious +instruction. We leave to the reader to draw the conclusion these +recent statistics suggest. + +To conclude this already too lengthy argument, facts are vindicating in +every country the saneness of the Catholic view-point on religious +instruction and atmosphere in the school. The alarming increase of +religious indifference, the rising tide of anarchy, the universal +feeling of unrest, have prompted the unequivocal admissions of leaders +of thought as to the moral failure of the neutral school. + +Mr. William Jennings Bryan, in an address before the constitutional +convention of Nebraska, a few years ago, brought this striking +indictment against the State educational system of the United States. +"The greatest menace to the public school system of to-day is, in my +judgment, its Godlessness. We have allowed the moral influence to be +crowded out. When I say moral, I mean morality based upon religion. +We cannot build a system of morality on any other than a religious +basis. We have gone too far in allowing religion to be eliminated from +our schools. I would not have religion taught by public school +teachers, but all sects and creeds should have equal opportunity to +furnish at their own expense to students whose parents desire it, such +instruction not to interfere with the hours of school. Our people will +be better citizens and stronger for their work if along with the +trained mind there is also an awakened moral sense." + +In a recent report of the Interchurch Movement, based on a survey of +American Education, prevailing conditions that now threaten the safety +of State and Church are openly imputed to the neglect of religious +training of childhood and youth in the schools. This deficiency in +religious education on the part of the Evangelical sects is called by +the authors of the report "Protestantism's weakest spot." Emphatic +endorsement is given to the "denominational school" and full credit is +not denied to the emphasis placed upon religious teaching in schools by +the Catholic Church. + +"It would be absolute madness," said Cardinal Bourne, at an Educational +meeting in Edinburgh, "on the part of any civil authority at the +present day to spurn and reject the educational assistance and +educational power the Catholic Church was willing and ready to place at +their disposal." + +In our own country, the urgent necessity of introducing religion in our +public school is now for every serious-minded Canadian an agonizing +problem. How many attempts have been made to solve it? Was it not the +principal topic discussed at the Educational Conference of Winnipeg +(1919)? + +The neutral school, we conclude, has been weighed and found wanting. +The hand-writing is on the wall of every country where the experiment +has been made and tells the same tale. _Facts_ and _principles_ give +reason to our "Separate Schools." + + * * * * * * + +_Why "Separate Schools?_"--Because it is our right and our duty to have +them.--This is our simple and straightforward answer to the ever +renascent objection of those who are not of our opinion. That _right_ +rests on the solid rock of Justice, of History and of Religion; that +_duty_ we owe to our children, to ourselves, to our Church, and to our +country. + + + +[1] This chapter formed a series of articles in the North West Review +of Winnipeg. The following editorial comment accompanied our +concluding article. + +"This week we publish the last of the series of articles by Father +Daly, C.SS.R., dealing with the separate school question. + +"We consider his contribution on this ever topical and historic problem +one of the best reasoned and for the average man the most concise and +useful yet published. It might well be issued in pamphlet form and +kept for reference in every Catholic home in Western Canada, because +the subject is one likely to be controversial for an indefinite period. +Sometimes one finds Catholics who are not as well acquainted with the +fact as they should be that the question of Catholic education can +never be compromised. A solid and reasoned knowledge of this fact is +in some respects as essential as if it were an article of faith, +especially in Western Canada, which, as Father Daly points out, is the +classic land of the school problem. + +"Doubtless attempts will be made in the future to bring elementary +education through the pretext of Canadianization, under the "invisible +head" of this country. Or as in the United States segregated attempts +may be made to abolish parochial schools altogether. + +"Where there are so many probabilities and so much at stake it might be +well for the average Catholic to be in a position to give a good +account of himself by showing a thorough understanding of the question. + +"If the present civilization succeeds, it will do so by adopting the +methods of some, if not all, of our big corporations of to-day, and +thus make of nations, huge Trust socialisms where the individual will +hunger no more for freedom because of his having never tasted it. The +one great desideratum to this end is the absolute control of +education--an end that will never be reached so long as the Catholic +Church continues to save Christian civilization through its religious +schools. + +"Would that our fellow citizens of other faiths knew the ruin that they +court by relinquishing to a material power control over the minds and +hearts of their children. + +"In every country the public school is bringing young minds under the +spell of worldliness. The result is selfishness, jingoism, narrow +nationalism--an unthinking, a gullible generation to become the easy +prey of exploiters and the docile slaves of commerce. + +"No man who has drunk into his heart and mind in youth the truths of +religious education can readily become the willing dupe of a +materialistic state. + +"Commerce to-day is the God of nations. It makes wars, compels peace +and tramples upon morality and justice. Surely then Catholics should +study in a particular way the only safeguard left them against such a +fate--the sound philosophy of a religious education." + +[2] America, Aug. 21, 1920. + +[3] Cfr. Article by Father Vaughan, S.J., on this subject--America, +Feb. 21, 1920. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +A WINDOW IN THE WEST[1] + +_A Crusade for Better Schools in Saskatchewan--Its Lessons: an +Invitation and a Warning._ + + +"A Window in the West!"--This was the suggestive title given to a +course of pedagogical studies instituted in a Folk High-School of +Denmark. The object of this course was to promote the study of these +English and American educational ideals which Denmark may assimilate +with profit. They looked to the West for light! + +May we be allowed also to open here, in this Educational +Conference. . . . "A Window in the West." Through that window will +come to you the bright vision of the educational activities of our +Western Provinces, and, with that vision, I hope, the sunny and breezy +atmosphere of new and progressive ideas. I will limit my present +remarks to a brief sketch of what was known in Saskatchewan as the +"_Better School Movement_." This educational movement has an +interesting history and carries with it a very profitable lesson. As +the object of this Conference is to forward the cause of education in +this part of our great Dominion, we thought it would be both +interesting and instructive to hear that history and learn that lesson +that comes to us from beyond the Great Lakes. + +The West, we know too well, has many things yet to learn from the East; +but good old Mother East should at times forget "what has been"--and +consider more "what is to be." In many points her growing western +daughters can give her helpful suggestions. Moreover this exchange of +ideas in an immense Dominion like ours is, we claim, absolutely +necessary to keep the mental equilibrium between East and West. There +are let us not forget it, many other problems beside the tariff problem +which are widening the breach, deepening the chasm between these two +sections of our Country. True patriotism demands co-operation, and not +antagonism, between these two main sectors of that immense firing line, +which is flung between the Atlantic and the Pacific. + +1. _History_.--The history of the "Better School Movement" in +Saskatchewan is not very old, but, like the vegetation on the western +prairies had a rapid and healthy growth. It crowded into a few years a +whole epoch of the educational life of the Province. On June 22, 1915, +the Hon. W. Scott, then Premier and Minister of Education, made his +epochal speech which launched the idea of a reform movement. The +object of this movement was the re-adjustment of the school system, of +its curriculum and administration, to conditions existing throughout +the Province. The people of Saskatchewan were invited to constitute +themselves a grand committee of the whole on education, to study facts +and to suggest means. This invitation of the keen-sighted Premier was +accepted by the people without any distinction of race, creed or +language. The leader of the Opposition indorsed the idea and pledged +the support of his party. This non-partisan movement crystallized +itself in the "Saskatchewan Public Education League" which was formed +at the general meeting of delegates from all over the Province, held in +Regina, in Sept., 1916. The league became a forum for the expression +of public opinion. The newspapers of the Province gave wide publicity +to the new movement and threw open their columns to a public +discussion. Teachers' associations, inspectors' conventions, church +synods, grain growers' meetings, labour unions, medical councils, +trustees' conventions particularly, made school improvements a fruitful +topic at all their meetings of the year. Educational problems and +reforms were in the air: never have we better understood the +educational value of a publicity campaign; never have we seen it +crowned with such a success. The climax of this campaign was a public +holiday, June 30th, 1916; meetings were held in all the school +districts of the Province, speeches were made, resolutions passed. +Public opinion had been moulded and was ready for a "Survey" and +Legislation. + +By order in Council, June 7th, 1917, Premier Martin, successor to Hon. +W. Scott, whom ill-health had forced to retire--made definite provision +for an educational Survey. "This survey is in no sense of the word an +investigation; for investigations are necessarily based on assumption +of some sort of misfeasance or malfeasance. It is instead a +sympathetic inquiry into the schools of the people as the schools +actually exist. Suggestions for enlargement and re-direction are made +throughout." + +These are the very terms of Dr. Foght's report to the Government. This +specialist in rural school practice, of the Bureau of Education, +Washington, was engaged in this survey from August to November, 1917. +His report was dated Jan. 20, 1918. At the session of that year it was +submitted to Parliament and served as the basis of new legislation. +Its reading will prove most interesting to friends of education, and +most suggestive in the outlining of new policies of administration and +in the remodelling of the curriculum. + +II. _Lesson_.--This Saskatchewan Crusade for better schools carries +with it a pointed lesson. In our humble estimation and from our +view-point this lesson is a call for action; at the same time it sounds +a warning. + +1. _An Invitation_.--There is nothing, we believe, nothing more +inviting than the readiness of our Western Provinces in dealing with +problems. Here we have a beautiful example of that boldness of western +youth, so confident in its resources, so optimistic in its views. + +Like the West, let us diagnose our educational problems; a survey of +prevailing conditions will show facts and figures. Let us see and +admit the truth; camouflage is a poor policy in matters of such +importance. + +This diagnosis will naturally suggest remedies. Although there are +certain standards in education, which are as stable as human nature +itself, nevertheless, we must not forget that the human mind is a +living thing--ever re-adjusting itself to environments that various +factors have created. This readjustment of our methods in teaching and +of our policies in administration, we know, is a very delicate process. +But it has to be done and done rightly if education is not to be a +misnomer. + +This re-adjustment will demand the co-operation of the educational +expert and the masses. The expert has his ear to the ground, his hand +on the pulse to grasp the trend of human thought. He walks ahead to +blaze the way. To find or, at least, to train specialists to direct +the forward march is the easiest part of the problem. The greatest +difficulty in all great movements is to overcome the profound and +widespread indifference of the masses. Yet through this co-operation +of the people will come the only valuable and permanent reforms. +Without it our experts will court failure. + +Two initial tasks impose themselves if we wish to enlist in this great +educational movement the sympathies of the people: 1. To arouse +interest in local communities. 2. To organize individual and group +action. + +A wide publicity campaign (in the papers, by means of lectures, +distribution of literature, in season and out of season) is the only +means of arousing the people from their apathy. It takes time to see +the ideas of leaders and experts filter down into the lower strata of +society. Yet we should always have faith in the mastery of ideas, in +the ultimate triumph of truth and right. + +The organization of units for a concerted action is a work of time and +patience. Like the incoming tide it creeps in. This will suppose, to +be efficient, a recognized leader and an established and well +thought-out plan. This should be the definite result of this +conference. + +2. _Warning_.--But all is not gold in the El Dorado of the West. Many +schemes and laws have its lustre; but they have the brassy sound of the +neo-pagan state-monopoly ideal. This thought of the supremacy of State +in matters of education permeates Dr. Foght's report from cover to +cover. In general, legislation is looked upon in our new Provinces as +the universal panacea for all evils. The West is the land of +experimental legislation. In this we should not imitate our younger +sisters. Let us beware of fads! Let us never forget that legislation, +to be just and beneficial, should but help the individual and the +family in the forwarding of their true interest and in the protection +of their inalienable rights. + +This extent of State Monopoly is noticeable in two of the most +important recommendations of Dr. Foght's report. They are the +enlargement of school districts, so that the limits of the district +will coincide with those of the municipality, and the consolidation of +rural schools. Reasons of better administration and great efficiency, +no doubt, militate in favour of this change. Particularly +"Consolidation" is on a working basis in many Provinces. But the great +danger we see in this change is the placing of primary schools further +away from the influence of the parents. The school ceases, to a great +extent, to be "the extension of the home." The control of the parents +is less direct. The doors are wide open to State interference. + +These are the lessons we may take from the "Better School Movement" in +Saskatchewan. Let us accept the invitation and heed the warning. + + * * * * * * + +One parting word.--Let the people of Nova Scotia be up and doing! The +West is draining the East to its advantage. Your sons and daughters +are doing the thinking for those new Provinces and creating another +Dominion beyond our Lakes. If conditions are not changed, the +Provinces "down by the sea" will lose their influence and cease to play +their part around the family table of our vast Dominion. "Light comes +from the East"--our Maritime people will proudly claim. "Yes! . . . +and it travels westward!" . . . answers the Westerner. + + +[1] This chapter is the substance of a lecture given in Antigonish, +N.S., at the Educational Conference, Aug. 11, 1919. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +UNICUIQUE SUUM[1] + +_Principle on which should be Based the Division of Company-Taxes +between Public and Separate Schools._ + + +When a point of law is ever before the courts it is an evident sign +that the legislation governing that issue has been either defective in +its basic principle or deficient in its proper application. Such has +been the case of the "Company-School-taxes" in the Provinces of +Saskatchewan and Alberta. Every court in the land has had to deal with +this problem, and if legislation is not changed and placed upon a more +just and solid basis, it will ever be a source of trouble for the +community. + +Before dealing with the merit of this school question, we beg to state +that the time for co-operation in educational matters has come. The +day of wrangling and narrow conceptions has passed, we hope. If there +is a sacred liberty ever protected by the British flag it is surely +that of education.--The recognition and protection of ethical and +religious ideals are the most potent factors of the British Empire. He +is a true lover of British ideals who places himself upon that higher +level to judge the rights of minorities and the duties of majorities. +If our Province of Saskatchewan has not known the sterile struggles of +a sister Province it is because this principle has been respected and +protected by our legislation. In suggesting a remedy to our laws +governing Company-school-taxes, I appeal to that broad and fair minded +spirit which seems to characterize our banner Province of the West. +The solution we propose would give more satisfaction to the interested +parties and relieve the problem of its acrimony. + + * * * * * * + +In the Provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta the separate schools are +an integral part of the public primary educational system. They are +not parochial nor private schools, but public separate schools. Their +existence is not a favour conceded to the Protestant or Catholic +minority, but rather, the acknowledgement of a natural and +constitutional right. Therefore the separate schools come under the +common law. With the purely public schools, our separate public +schools share equal obligations and equal rights. The same official +inspection, the same qualifications for teachers, the same curriculum +of studies, the same school text-books are required in both cases by +the Department of Education. Equal right to public money is recognized +in the indiscriminate distribution of Government-grants. So both +schools stand side by side with equal duties and equal rights. If this +point of law had been kept in view no painful issue would ever be +raised; co-operation, and not antagonism, would be the aim of the +community at large in the great and sublime work of education. Hard +and bitter things have been said in the press, on the platform and even +in the pulpit: but they do not change a right. Might itself cannot +stamp out RIGHT. + + * * * * * * + +Public service is the principle of taxation. In return for the benefit +which a business corporation derives from dealings with the public, +distributive justice demands that part of the profits made, return to +the community under the form of taxes. This feature of a business +corporation makes it, I would say, _soulless_. One goes into business +not to make a profession of faith, but to make money. He deals with +every one indifferently. The dollar of a Christian or of a heathen has +the same value as the dollar of a Jew. Were a company to discriminate +with the public on lines of creed the public would be justified in +retaliating. + +Public utility, in matters of Company-taxes, is the basic principle of +assessment; it should also be the reason of their equitable +distribution. As the money of the public goes to Companies, +irrespective of creed, so also should the taxes of these Companies come +back to the community, irrespective of creed. As Companies are +assessed in school matters for the _benefit of the children_ of the +community, the proceeds of the assessment should be therefore +divided--_not according to the faith of the shareholders of the +company, but according to the number of children in each school +district_. And as the majority rules, the school district in the +majority should strike the rate of taxation for both districts. + + * * * * * * + +The division of Company-taxes according to the faith of the +shareholders is _neither just, nor practical_. It is not _just_ for +the reason we have brought forward. The principle involved in the +present law is _just when the individual is concerned_, especially when +the individual is the father of a family. As such, one has a right to +support the school which his conscience obliges him to support. This +natural right, our present law recognizes. _But in the case of a +company the principle of public utility and not the test of faith +should be invoked, we believe_. + +This present law governing Company-taxes is not _practical_. The onus +is on the Separate School-Board to enlist each year the sympathies of +the companies. Before how many Boards of Directors is the matter +brought up? The local manager is the one who deals with the problem, +and he often is a stranger to the laws of the Province, with no +sympathy for separate schools. Facts, stubborn facts, are there to +prove our contention. In no city of the Province of Saskatchewan is +the Separate School Board getting its part of Company-taxes. This is +one of the reasons why our rate is often so high when compared with the +Public School rate, and why our Boards are crippled in their finances. + + * * * * * * + +This simple reasoning should appeal to every fair-minded man. This +change of legislation we advocate in the matter of Company-taxes, is +not a favour we beg--but the mere recognition of a principle of +distributive justice we ask. + + +NOTE. 1. The argument as presented herein is still stronger when +applied to Companies of public utilities such as tramways, express +companies, etc., for their nature and profits depend absolutely on the +public. + +NOTE. 2. SCHOOL LAW OF QUEBEC PROVINCE IN THE MATTER. No. 2892. + +"When immovable property of such corporations and companies is within a +territory, placed under the administration of two corporations of +school commissioners of different religious beliefs, established in +virtue of Article 2590, the corporation which comprises the greatest +number of rate-payers entered on the valuation roll, shall be bound to +levy the taxes affecting such property and to divide the same +proportionately to the number of children from five to sixteen years of +age residing in each municipality."--62 V. c. 28, s. 399. + + +[1] This memoir was presented to the Premier of Saskatchewan at a time +when this problem was widely discussed in the Press. As the +legislation, then enacted, did not bring a satisfactory solution we +thought that the argument as presented would be of service for a future +date. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +DREAM OR REALITY[1] + +_Higher Education in Western Canada--Duty of the Hour--University +Training Condition of Genuine Leadership--For Catholics Higher Education +means Higher Catholic Education--The Concerted Action of all Catholics in +Western Canada can make a Western Catholic University a Reality._ + + +Never has the world manifested a keener and more general interest in +higher education. The facilities which Governments offer to place within +the reach of the mass of the people; the benefits of university +education; the enormous sums left by wealthy individuals for the +endowment of chairs and the foundation of scholarships; the eagerness +with which these offers are grasped by men of all classes; the +extraordinary success of the Overseas University in the American Army, +which had a student body of 10,000--these are, without doubt, manifest +signs of public opinion on the matter of higher education. The +world-struggle, we all feel, has shifted to another battlefield, and the +future in every realm of human activity rests on the mastery of ideas. +In that intellectual conflict, the primary school rooms are the trenches +on the first line of defence; the college and university lecture halls +stand out as the strategic heights from which the heavy artillery of +ideas smashes the way to victory. Hold the college and university +heights to-day, and the hinterland of industry, commerce, science, art +and politics will be yours to-morrow. + +Catholics throughout our Dominion begin to realize that higher education +is the price of leadership. "Of the many points of contact between the +Church and the modern world, education is the point where Catholicism has +most to gain by energetic thought and action, and most to lose by an +atmosphere of indifference." We are waking up from our deep lethargy and +beginning to understand that we shall not have our share in the shaping +of the destinies of our own Country until our leaders, particularly among +the laity, impose themselves upon the nation by their number and their +value. The magnificent campaign of the "Antigonish Casket" in favour of +higher education and the exchange of views this point at issue brought +from various correspondents, the successful drive in favour of Loyola +College of Montreal, the growing influence of the Catholic student bodies +in the various universities, the creation of Laval, in Montreal, as a +distinct unit from Quebec; the tremendous success this newly born +organization met with in its drive for $5,000,000; all these facts +indicate concentration of forces in the direction of higher education. +The national Catholic conscience is awakened into action. "One of the +most pressing needs of the Church at the present time, is to have a +well-connected body of university-trained Catholics." This statement of +Father Plater, S.J., is true also for Canada and more particularly for +Western Canada. And indeed, this pressing need of higher education has +come home of late to our western Catholics as is evidenced by the great +efforts made to establish colleges in the various Provinces. As this +move is of the greatest importance for the welfare of the Church in that +promising part of our country, we thought to be of some service to the +Western Church in drawing the attention of Catholics to this important +issue and bringing to a focus certain indefinite, hazy views on the +subject. + + +_Higher Education--Duty of the Hour for Western Catholics._ + +"When a reflective man of middle life walks along the embowered paths of +Oxford and Cambridge or through their quadrangles whose walls have echoed +to the footsteps of so many brainy men of England, he realizes what these +institutions have been and still are to Great Britain and the Empire." +From the lecture halls of these seats of learning have gone, generation +after generation, the men who framed and directed the course of studies +of other universities, the legislators and statesmen that have shaped the +destinies of the British Empire. "There is not a feature or a point in +the national character which has made England great among the nations of +the world, that is not strongly developed and plainly traceable in our +universities. For eight hundred or a thousand years they have been +intimately associated with everything that has concerned the highest +interest of the country." (W. E. Gladstone.) This example of the power +of Oxford and Cambridge is so typical that one immediately grasps its +meaning and appreciates its full value. On that immense background of +the Empire they stand out indeed in bold relief as the embodiment of +higher education, as the great portals that open on the highway of true +leadership. Is not the affiliation, that subtle intellectual bond which +units our universities of Canada to those two great seats of learning, a +permanent and living proof of this fact? + +A university is the vital centre of a nation's life. Around it, by a +gradual process of elimination and a natural force of gravitation, centre +the master minds; from it, as from a fountain-head, flow with true +leadership in every branch of human society, progress, wealth and +prosperity. On the force of this _centripetal_ and _centrifugal_ +movement of a university depends its value in the community. "The +increase in number and efficiency of universities," said Bishop Spalding, +"is the healthy proof of the vitality and energy of a nation." + +In the educational system of a country the university stands out as the +apex, the culminating and crowning point of its intellectual life. For, +as the college course develops the studious and acquisitive powers of the +mind, the university course has in view its creative and formative +powers. "Glorious to most are the days of life in a great school," says +Morley, "but it is at college that aspiring talents enter into their own +inheritance." "It is the function of education in the highest sense, to +teach man that there are latent in him possibilities beyond what he has +dreamed of, and to develop in him capacities of which without contact +with the highest learning, he had never become aware." (Haldane.) We may +well call the university "the brains of a nation." It equips the student +with standards and tests of objective truth. . . . It makes him dig down +to the bed-rock on which truth in its various manifestations rests. . . . +Universities are indeed the nurseries of the higher life, the living +sources from which knowledge and culture flow in abundant streams. They +do the thinking for the teeming masses who have neither the leisure nor +the opportunity to think for themselves and who live on that mental +atmosphere we call "public opinion." From the heights of our +universities, ideas and principles gradually filter down into the lower +strata of the nation. The novel, the Sunday supplement, the stage, the +cinema screen--these post-graduate courses of the working man--are +popularizing to-day the theories and ideals that were yesterday honoured +in our secular institutions of higher education. It may take time, +perhaps centuries, for this process of intellectual filtration; but +ideas, like the stream, are bound to follow the incline of the water-shed. + +If the change that takes place in the mind and conscience of the +individual is a slow and subtle process, what should we not expect when +there is question of a nation? Yes, the process is slow but it is sure. +The permeation of evolutionism into every domain of human thought is a +recent and most striking illustration of it. This fact stands out +conspicuously on the pages of history. "Lord Acton's view of history," +said Shane Leslie, "was that ideas, not men or events, made the +differences between one era and the next." The mind is always the storm +centre of revolutions, the breeding ground of the most conflicting +theories. The great storms that sweep over humanity always gather on the +high summits of religion and philosophy, blackening the mental horizon; +sooner or later, they break out on the lower plains of the economic +social and political world, spreading everywhere revolution and +destruction. The blasphemous Proudhon gave utterance to a great truth +when he wrote: "It is surprising how at the bottom of every political +problem we always find some theology involved." We lay stress upon this +aspect of universities, for, in our mind, from a catholic view-point, it +is of the greatest importance in the discussion of the present issue. + +The university is not only the focus of the intellectual life of a +country; by its research work, by its applied science it becomes also the +very fountain head of all national progress and prosperity. The natural +resources lie dormant, the soil--that perennial source of wealth, is +stagnant, the export-trade of manufactured goods and agricultural +products is at its lowest ebb, until touched by the magic wand of the +university expert. It is he who discovers, develops and shows how to +make use of with profit, the hidden wealth of the land. The research +bureaus instituted by the Government of Canada and the United States, +co-operating with the various universities, are now considered as the +most important factors of national prosperity. The Reclamation Service +of the U.S. by irrigation, drainage and the pulling of stumps will +reclaim nearly 300 million acres for colonization. To bring the economic +value of a university nearer home to us, who does not know the beneficial +influences of Saskatoon University on the agricultural pursuits of +Saskatchewan? This relation of the university and the material +prosperity of a country is so marked that the Mosely Educational +Commission sent by England to the United States, most strongly emphasized +that living connection and necessary correlation between the universities +and the industrial and manufacturing prosperity of the United States. + +A university is therefore not a mere luxury, but rather a necessary asset +in a nation's life. "The development of the true spirit of the +University among a people is a good measure of the development of its +soul, and consequently of its civilization" (Haldane). "No country," we +will conclude with "Catholic" in the Antigonish Casket, "ever attained to +any degree of political influence, nor have any people ever risen from a +lower to a higher level of intellectual and social culture, without the +light and inspiration that flow from a genuine university." This vision +was before the eyes of Cecil Rhodes who founded scholarships throughout +the British Empire. These scholarships glean every year in the wide +fields of the Empire the brightest minds and throw them as a beautiful +sheaf at the foot of the great English Alma Mater, Oxford. Millions and +millions have been left for the same purpose to the American Universities. + +The university may well then be called the Alma Mater--the nursing +mother, of the leaders of a nation. From its halls "emerge those who +have that power of command which is born of penetrating insight. Such a +power generally carries in its train the gift of organization, and +organization is one of the foundations of national strength." (Lord +Haldane.) The belief that the self-made men were the real successful men +is a thing of the past. A careful investigation has proved that ninety +per cent of the men who stood at the head of large financial, political, +philanthropic, economic, industrial and commercial institutions of the +world were graduates of universities.[2] The self-made man as a leader +is the exception and has necessarily his limitations which he is the +first to feel and acknowledge. Munsterberg in his book "The Americans" +has a page which is very much to the point. "The most important factor +of the aristocratic differentiation of America is higher Education and +culture and this becomes more important every day. The social importance +ascribed to a college graduate is all the time growing. It was kept back +for a long time by unfortunate prejudices. Because other than +intellectual forces had made the nation strong, and everywhere in the +foreground of public activity there were vigorous and influential men who +had not continued their education beyond the public grammar school, so +the masses instinctively believed that insight, real energy and +enterprise were better developed in the school of life than in the world +of books. The college student was thought a weakling, in a way, who +might have fine theories, but who would never help to solve the great +national problems--a sort of academic "mug-wump," but not a leader. The +banking house, factory, farm, the mine, law office and the political +position were thought better places for the young (American) man than the +college lecture halls. . . . This has profoundly changed now, and +changes more, with every year. . . . The change has taken place in +regard to what is expected of the college student; distrust has vanished +and people realize that the _intellectual discipline_ which he has had +until his twenty-second year in the artificial and ideal world is after +all the best training, less by its subject-matter than by its methods, is +the best possible preparation for practical activity. . . . The leading +positions are almost entirely in the hands of men of academic training +and the mistrust of the theorizing college spirit has given place to a +situation in which university presidents and professors have much to say +on all practical questions of public life, and the college graduates are +the real supporters of every movement toward reform and civilization." +(Munsterberg--"The Americans" 600-602.) + +The true _leaders_ in society are like the snow-capped heights of a +mountain range: they are the first that the new light of a breaking dawn, +of a coming period, is wont to strike with its rays, to be then reflected +on the silent and sleeping valleys. The men who hold to-day the pen or +draughting pencil in the university are the men who will handle the +levers of the world's intricate machinery. There they grapple with the +various problems of the scientifical, economic and political world and +their views, later on, will gradually influence the whole mental attitude +of the masses, who, in their daily life, are confronted with these same +problems. + +This leadership of _thought_ and _action_ is no more the privilege of a +few; in our democratic country every one can aspire to it. The days when +primary education was for the masses, secondary or college education for +the middle classes and university training for "the quality," have passed +away and gradually the benefits of higher education are being extended to +all. The _equality of opportunity_, not that of wealth and position, is +_the test of true democracy_. This condition has created the aristocracy +of brains and character before which the aristocracy of wealth, of blood +and lineage fade into insignificance. + +The predominance of the "vocational feature" over the "cultural" in the +scope of our modern universities, the vast "extension work" [3] carried +on in the various fields, the multiplicity of "free scholarships" open to +the competition of the brainy and ambitious boy, are other proofs of this +democratic trait of our modern higher education. + + * * * * * * + +Since higher education is the stepping stone to leadership, the question +most vital to Catholics in this particular and most momentous period of +our history is: "What share have we in the college and university life of +the country?" "The progress of the Church in any country is attributable +to the _indwelling Spirit_ which guides the Church.--Next, to the piety, +zeal and education of its _priesthood_,--and lastly, though in no mean +degree, to the devotion, activity and education of the _laity_. Where +these three features combine, then the Church is writing the brightest +pages of Her history." (Archbishop Glennon.) + +I will not repeat here what "Catholic" in the Antigonish Casket, and +Henry Somerville in his pamphlet, "Higher education and Catholic +Leadership in Canada"--have been writing on for the past year or so. +With them we conclude that outside of the Province of Quebec, the +Catholics of the Dominion have not the influence they should wield. +Naturally there are many reasons to explain this fact. But we will say +with the Editor of the North West Review, "facts cannot be ignored with +impunity, the sooner they are admitted and faced with courage the more +readily shall difficulties be overcome. And the necessity for an +awakening to the demand for higher education is very real." + +In the firing line of the world's gigantic struggle we shall never hold +the strategic points to which our number gives us a right in our Canadian +Democracy, unless our leaders are strong in number, and in power. +Catholic leadership will give us the occasion to present, explain and +promote "our solution" to various problems confronting the world. During +this period of universal upheaval and momentous crisis, when all the +ingredients, we would say of the social and economic fabric are in a +state of flux,--like bronze in fusion,--Catholic leaders should be to the +front to supply the casts of Christian civilization. If in the public +press, the legislative assemblies, the labor meetings, public gatherings, +where mind meets mind, ideal clashes with ideal, knowledge with +knowledge, where facts are being examined and weighed, where ideas are +thrown into the melting pot of public debate, if then and there, there is +no one to stand for Catholic views in the various matters under +discussion, can we be astonished that we are absolutely ignored, and our +views not considered? "We believe that an attitude of merely destructive +criticism, of aloofness, scepticism, pessimism, is a deplorable mistake. +It is not by standing aloof from the movements of our day, but by going +fearlessly into them with the message of truth entrusted to our charge, +shall we best fulfil our high mission towards our fellow countrymen. We +must seize these opportunities in the spirit of high confidence and +dauntless zeal which befits those who have the Truth, know they have the +Truth, and are assured that the Truth is great and shall prevail." +(Universe--June 13, 1919.) + +Never has a greater opportunity challenged the Church and her leaders +than at this great turning of the tide in the history of the world. +Canada itself is on the threshold of the most eventful and decisive +period of her national life. "The war has brought our country into the +broad stream of internationalism . . . and a new _national consciousness_ +is being born and is sweeping over the land." In the future, as in the +past, our Dominion will remain divided by race and creed. But let us not +forget that the various religious and ethnical groups will have only the +influence that gives true leadership. The value and the measure of +higher education among Catholics will therefore give the value and the +measure of their participation in the remodelling of their great country. + +If such is the case of Catholics throughout Canada, what would we not say +of Catholics in our Western Provinces. In this reconstruction of our +Dominion the prairie Provinces are without doubt to play a preponderant +part. One has only to open his eyes to see the trend of our national +policies, and immediately grasp the growing importance of our Western +Provinces. The West is gradually passing from the pioneer conditions and +becoming conscious of its importance. With the beautiful qualities and +unlimited resources of youth, it has also its dangerous shortcomings. +Daring, venturous, over confident, the western mind is easily and +frequently hasty and radical in its conclusions. Intoxicated with wealth +and success, inspired and aroused by the great possibilities of his new +home, the Westerner is ever tempted to experiment in legislation, make +extreme views prevail and believe the newest is always the best. He will +boast of broadmindedness, of love of freedom and at the same time will, +under the deceiving tyranny of number, suppress the most sacred rights. +Nowhere we claim in our Dominion, is Catholic leadership and therefore +higher education, more needed at the present hour than in the West. Our +Catholics there need indeed higher education, for, at this hour +particularly, the nation's business is our business; they cannot remain +an isolated factor in presence of the tremendous issues that stare the +world and our country in the face. But if we wish to make our influence +as Catholics felt, let our leadership come from "_Higher Catholic +Education_" as from its fountain head. + + +_Higher Catholic Education for Catholics in Western Canada._ + +There is a decided distinction between higher education for Catholics and +higher Catholic education. This leads us to place before the reader the +principles upon which rests the catholic ideal in matters of higher +education and to suggest means of its speedy realization in Western +Canada. A friendly exchange of ideas on this most important and very +interesting topic will be profitable to all at this juncture, and help, +we hope, to clear up hazy notions and cloudy conceptions which some may +entertain on the subject. + + * * * * * * + +In matters of Catholic education, the most weighty argument is that of +the authority of the Church. Her views and practices, particularly on +questions of education, should be the views and practices of every good +Catholic. In the New Canon-Law, in the Councils and Letters of the +Popes, is to be found the only authoritative direction in this momentous +problem. The Church is most emphatic and most precise in its +pronouncements on the matter of higher education. The Canon 1379, +paragraph 2, of the new Canon-Law, is very explicit on the subject. "If +the public universities are not imbued with Catholic doctrine and +surrounded with a Catholic atmosphere, it is most desirable to found in +that country or region a Catholic University." The Plenary Councils of +Baltimore and of Quebec (Tit, VI-C, VII) command in the most pressing +manner the Catholic youth to frequent only Catholic universities. When +circumstances necessitate attendance at non-Catholic universities, +safeguards are exacted to minimize the danger. These recent dispositions +of the Church's legislation reflect the stand the Church has always taken +on this ground of higher education. Is She not "_Mater universitatum_?" +Modern civilization owes its universities to the Catholic Church, as the +very stones of Cambridge and Oxford still proclaim . . . _lapides +clamabunt_! And in these days of religious indifference, after heroic +efforts and great sacrifices, in spite of the allurement of our wealthy +state and independent institutions, the Church counts in every country +seats of higher learning, where her children may receive the benefit of +university training without danger for their conscience or their faith. + +This stand of the Church in primary, secondary and higher education is +the logical conclusion of her doctrine. "The theory of life," said +Father Little, S.J., "and the theory of education go hand in hand." As +the Church has a definite teaching on life, its value and its purpose, +She has necessarily fundamental principles upon which education must rest +if it wishes to be in harmony with Christian life and Catholic belief. +In her eyes education, in all its degrees, must be primarily and +profoundly religious. "If indeed, the Catholic Faith which makes such +tremendous and such confident statements about God and His ways with men, +is true, then obviously it takes the central place in human knowledge, +and all other knowledge groups itself round and is coloured by Faith." +Therefore, the principle, "every Catholic boy and girl in a Catholic +college or university" should be to us as sacred as is "every Catholic +child in a Catholic school." One is the consequence of the other; both +are the practical conclusions of our faith. This close connection +between theories of education and the attitude towards problem of life is +evident in history. + +The Pope, Benedict XV, in his recent letter to the American Hierarchy +(March, 1919), writes: "The future of the Church and State absolutely +depends on the condition and organization of the schools; there will be +no other Christians than those whom you will have formed by instruction +and education. . . . We have followed with joy," he adds, "_the +marvellous progress of the Catholic University at Washington, progress so +closely united to the highest hopes of your churches_. We have no doubt +that henceforth you will continue even more actively, to support an +institution of such great usefulness and promise as is the University." + +The Most Reverend Dr. O'Dwyer, Bishop of Limerick, in 1904, vindicated +for the Irish people not the privilege, but the right to a Catholic +University. "For us Catholics," he wrote, "the Gospel as taught by our +Holy Church, is our philosophy of life and we hold that any attempt to +educate a youth in what we call secularism is a retrogression to a lower +level than that of pre-Christian culture. For this reason we have +withstood every attempt to force _secularism_ on this country and we +shall resist it to the last. We have equally withstood _mixed +education_, which, false as it is in itself and pernicious, is in this +country a specious pretext for Protestant educational ascendancy." +(University education in Ireland.) + +If such is the case with Catholic Ireland, what should we not conclude as +regards our Western Provinces? Here, more than anywhere else in Canada, +does the Church need staunch, genuine, Catholic leadership. In it the +future of Catholicity beyond the Great Lakes is involved. Reason and +experience prove that the training which makes for genuine Catholic +influence is plainly out of question unless it be received in a college +and university whose atmosphere, teachings, aspirations and ideals are +thoroughly Catholic. The recent foundations of a Catholic University in +Milan and in Nimeguen, Holland, justify this claim. + + * * * * * * + +Conditions existing in our modern neutral universities vindicate our +stand and strengthen our position. The tendency in these universities +is, without doubt, towards infidelity or to say the least, towards +diluted Christianity.--"The transformation from the old denominational +education to the new undenominational education was in point of +fact due to an antitheological--and even in some of its +manifestations--anti-religious movement. If it included a sense of the +justice of equal treatment for all creeds and a sense of the liberty +necessary for science, it also included some of the anti-Christian spirit +of Continental liberalism. The undenominational movement was the +practical expression of the liberal and scientific movement." (Life of +Newman--L 306.) + +A few years ago there appeared in the "Cosmopolitan Review," under the +glaring title "Blasting at the Rock of Ages," an article which startled +the intellectual world. It was a crude and biting exposure of the +intellectual license and unhealthy moral atmosphere of the great American +universities. To follow the author of this powerful indictment in the +proof of his facts and statements would be beyond the scope of this +paper. Only we would advise some of our near-sighted Catholics who +through that snobbishness which money often gives them, have a sort of +worship for non-Catholic universities, to read this indictment. In +giving them a glance of the "inside of the cup" it may change their +opinion. + +Dr. James Henry Leuba, professor of psychology at the Bryn Mawr College, +Pennsylvania, gave out to the public the answers he received from +sociologists, biologists, psychologists and teachers of universities and +other institutions in the United States, as regards their belief in the +existence of God. More than fifty per cent. admitted that they had no +belief whatever in the existence of God; forty per cent. denied the +immortality of the soul. The great majority, said Dr. Leuba, were +university teachers and none could compare with them in influence over +the rising generation. (Cfr. Archeological Report 1917--published by +Ontario Government.) + +When subversive theories based on an absolute materialistic conception of +life, and from which God, Divine Providence, Christ, Christianity are +systematically excluded and ridiculed as myths of by-gone days; when, we +say, such theories are rampant in the halls of our modern universities, +should we be astonished to see outright infidelity, political socialism, +religious anarchy, stalk the length and breadth of the land? "Impurity, +obscenity, moral corruption in many forms, with the ever consequent +cynicism and pessimism, forerunners of moral decadence, destruction of +the original, creative, shaping, joyous, confident energies of society, +come daily more boldly to the front of the stage and defy criticism or +mock at the archaic sanctions of yesterday. One does not need to peruse +the great modern historians of Roman morals to foresee the results of +such an educational debauch, when allowed time enough and the working of +its own, unholy but intimate and inexorable logic." (Mgr. Shahan--at the +Catholic Educational Convention, U.S., 1919.) Sow the wind, you will +reap the whirlwind. + +Should not such atmosphere of infidelity or diluted Christianity in +non-Catholic universities be for Catholic students a source of danger to +the vigour and even to the integrity of their faith, to their constancy, +in the full and faithful observance of their practical religious duties? +Familiarity with error, at the age of youth principally, breeds contempt +of truth and jeopardizes faith. The suppression of truth in its various +forms, the concealment of religious profession and observance, +necessarily lead to religious indifference. How many sad examples could +we not give to back this statement? This danger which Catholic youth +meets with in the very atmosphere of our neutral universities is still +greater when we consider the method of teaching now in honour in these +schools of higher learning. The tutorial method, still in vogue at +Oxford, has given place to the _professorial_. The systematic lecture +has replaced the exposition of texts. The professor, with his frame of +mind, his views on facts and ideas, is the living book from which our +youth read their daily lesson. His personality dominates the mind of the +pupil. We all know what fascination the science, reputation and +eloquence of a professor have on the unarmed and impressionable minds of +youth. The "_Magister dixit_" is very often the supreme law, the last +criterion of truth. President Garfield's ideal of a college, "Mark +Hopkins on the other end of the log," recognizes the educative value of +the contact with a master-mind. + +Authority and reason militate in favor of higher Catholic education for +Catholics in Western Canada, this is the logical conclusion of our +statements. + + * * * * * * + +Yes, nice theories, some may say; but we are facing facts. How are we to +contend with these well equipped, richly endowed, neutral institutions of +higher education? Where shall we find the resources to pay efficient +teachers, to establish the various faculties that go to form a university +worthy of its name? Have we not a state-university marvellously well +equipped and for which our Provinces are yearly spending fabulous sums? +Why not take advantage of our own money that goes in taxes for the +support of these institutions? + +To argue along these lines is to concede to our enemies our position on +the Separate School question. All these objections have been met with in +other countries and other provinces, and the answer to them was the +creation of Catholic colleges and universities. + +The great fallacy of the age, and particularly in this part of the +country, is State Monopoly in educational matters. This is looked upon +as the great triumph of modern democracy and the palladium of liberty. +The monopoly over the human mind by this monopoly of education is the +most dangerous of all state-monopolies. It is the resurrection of the +pagan ideal, the magnification of the state to the detriment and +absorption of the individual and the family. Germany has given us an +example of where "the standardization of thought and outlook" by the +State education leads to. The Prussian ideal, in its last analysis, is +nothing else but the pagan ideal. + +But no country in the British Empire has pushed the policy of +monopolisation of education so far as our Western Provinces. Under the +specious plea of efficiency and absurd reason of uniformity, they will +not even grant charters to independent institutions of higher learning. +This policy surely does not reflect true statesmanship and makes British +liberty a misnomer on the lips of many of our ultra-loyal Westerners. We +would ask our Western Governments to take lessons in this matter from +England. When some few years ago the question of converting the +university colleges into Universities was before the English public there +was much talk of the danger of Lilliputian universities and of low +standards of teaching and examination. But this question was brought to +trial by the State before a high tribunal and a firm decision was given +in favour of the principle. A special committee of the Privy Council +conducted a semi-judicial enquiry and gave sentence on Febr., 1903. The +result of this decision was that the colleges of Liverpool, Manchester, +Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Bristol, Durham, blossomed out into +teaching universities. This is the real British way of doing things. + +The United States[4] have granted university charters to the various +Catholic institutions of higher learning which dot that land of Liberty +from coast to coast. And let us not forget,--facts and figures will bear +us out,--the independent universities in the United States, in England +and in Belgium, only to mention some, have been in many Faculties more +efficient and more successful than the state institutions. The +remarkable record of St. Louis University, a Jesuit institution, is +illustrative of this point. A comparison of the respective medical and +dental records of this institution with perhaps two of the greatest +professional schools of the United States, John Hopkins and Harvard, +gives proof of higher efficiency to St. Louis University. The official +bulletins of the Medical Dental Associations give the statistics. + +The right of Catholics to their own schools--primary, secondary, +university, is a birthright we must always fight for. It is the +elementary right of a civilized people to educate her sons as she sees +fit. In the battle for this right the best strategy is to offer the +accomplished fact of a college and a university which by their +efficiency, their intellectual and moral value, impose themselves upon +the community and win their way to acceptance. Let us blaze the trail +and to-morrow, it will be the great highway of Catholic education for the +coming generation in Western Canada. + +But instead of this policy of "_isolation_" which in school matters is +the ordinary policy of the Church, some Catholics, in view of +circumstances, rather advocate that of "_permeation_." The presence of +Catholics in State Universities will, they claim, create a better +atmosphere, abate or soften prejudice, beget a better feeling among the +future leaders of the community. In England, it is true, Catholics are +allowed to attend Oxford and Cambridge; in Germany, they attend State +Universities. The Catholics of Australia have since 1916 also a College +in conjunction with the Melbourne State University. Student societies +have been formed, Catholic halls opened, courses of apologetics are given +to help the Catholic youth in the "steady daily pressure working against +them in a non-Catholic university," and to influence religious thought in +those centres of higher learning. + +Has this "_modus vivendi_" brought about by various circumstances which +it would be too long to analyze here, produced the desired results? In +Germany it has not created a Catholic atmosphere in one single +university. Have not, on the contrary, the German universities been the +hot-beds of Modernism and many a young cleric has come from their halls +inoculated with this virus. + +As for Oxford and Cambridge, we all know the controversy which divided +the Catholics for so many years. As Catholics have been allowed to +follow the courses there for only a few decades, we are not yet, we +believe, in a position to judge of the influence of these universities on +the Catholic body of England as a whole. Time only will tell. But one +thing is certain, no comparison can be established between our state +universities and these colleges. Although in the halls of Oxford, +Christianity "is often attuned to the outlook and temper of the age" as +the book "Foundations" (a statement of Christian belief in terms of +modern thought, by seven Oxford men) sadly reveals it, nevertheless, +there is not to be found in the English Colleges that atmosphere which +the absence of religion has created in our state universities. The +presence of various denominational colleges on the grounds of our +Provincial Universities only gives them a tint of Christianity. The +teaching of history and philosophy will tell the tale. "It must be +remembered that an Oxford scheme was never Newman's ideal. It was a +concession to necessities of the hour. His ideal scheme, alike for +education of the young and for the necessary intellectual defence of +Christianity, had consistently been the erection of a large Catholic +University like Louvain. This he had tried to set up in Ireland. In +such an institution, _research and discussion of the questions of the day +would be combined_ as in the middle ages with a Catholic atmosphere, the +personal ascendancy of able _Christian professors_ and directly +_religious influence_ for the young men." (Life of Newman)--by Ward. + +Were there question only of postgraduate work, of some special course in +agriculture, domestic science, there would be no difficulty, we believe, +to see Catholic students take advantage of the marvellous facilities our +state universities offer. The matter, the short term of these courses or +the advanced age of the pupil would be in themselves sufficient +guarantee. _But what we strongly object to is the Arts Course, and +particularly undergraduate work_, even were the contentious subjects, +such as philosophy and history, be given by Catholic teachers to Catholic +students separately. The Arts Course, we must remember, is the real +dominating factor in higher education. For we maintain with Cardinal +Newman that a University is a place of teaching universal knowledge and +that its object is primarily intellectual. It has in view the diffusion +and extension of knowledge, rather than its advancement, which is +reserved to Academies. It is the Arts Course of a University, +particularly its Philosophy, that gives this general knowledge and +enlargement of the mind. Its influence is most telling in the various +Faculties where students specialize for their future career. For +Philosophy plays such a large part in _human life, the movement of +opinions and the direction of minds_. The Catholic student in those most +plastic years, in that critical period of receptivity, wherein ideas are +analyzed and synthesized for life time, cannot help but imbibe ideas and +doctrines opposed to his belief. The elite alone, we believe, can resist +in the long run the influence of that indefinable quality called +atmosphere, and maintain among so many cross-currents, the right course. +The ordinary and inexperienced mind will be, if not contaminated, at +least weakened and this alone is disastrous in a leader. Many changes, +many transformations, we know, take place in the mind of youth as it +emerges "from collegiate visions into the rough path of real life." As +Morley wrote, "We know after the event, the tremendous changes of thought +. . . of conception of life, that coming years and new historic forces +were waiting to unfold before the undergraduate when he had once floated +out beyond the college bar." Yet, the solid teachings of Catholic +Philosophy will remain to him as the charter and compass when his ship +has taken to the high sea. This is the principal reason why we vindicate +the right to our own higher education. To push the argument further, we +would ask why should we be obliged to pay taxes to have doctrines opposed +to our conscience propounded from the professorial chairs of our State +University? The granting of a Charter by the State is but the minimum of +our rights. + + +_Dream or Reality?_ + +A Catholic University for Western Canada! Is this but the dream of a far +off future or can it be a reality within a few years?--There is the +problem which now faces the Catholic Church of our Western Provinces and +upon which, in our estimation, rests the influence the Church is to have +in the formation of the new and most promising part of our Dominion +beyond the Great Lakes. A high conception of the duty of the present +hour and the whole-hearted co-operation of every Catholic unit in the +West, will without doubt bring its happy solution and make our dream a +reality. To act on ideal principles with little or no attempt to +forecast accurately what is practicable would be to court failure. We +are gradually passing the mile-stone of pioneer life in the West, and the +Church is slowly but surely being organized and entering into full +possession of her normal life. The duties which Catholic solidarity +imposes upon us as regards the Church and the community at large are +growing apace with the status of the Church in these new Provinces. +Among these duties none, we believe, are more important than that we owe +to the cause of Catholic education. Naturally, the burden of the +responsibility falls here upon parents whose bounden duty it is to see +that the school, college, university, be, as much as possible but the +extension of their Catholic home. _The rising generation in the West has +a right to the benefits of a higher education; to this right corresponds +in the community a duty imposed upon its members by Catholic solidarity_. +For in the growing youth we see the Country and the Church, with whose +future welfare it is necessarily united. A true Catholic must have his +vision of what the Church ought to be in his Country and must work to +make that vision come true. + +Through a Catholic University, and through it only, will the Church give +its full _contribution to the national life of Western Canada_ by +creating as we said, Catholic leadership. We have as Catholics, ideas to +give to the nation, to its up-building, and to its prosperity. The sun +of Canadian liberty is shining for our doctrines as it does for other +ideals. And, strange to say, the most subversive theories seem to take +the greatest and most frequent advantage of this freedom. We have no +apology to make for our ideas. They stand on their own merit and have +been vindicated by the acid-test of time. To bring our message to the +country, to spread its beneficial influence is the mission of our +Catholic leaders. Only a large number of truly educated Catholic men are +able to make their influence felt on the life and thought of a country. + +This identification of a Catholic university with our Western Provinces +will be an asset to our public life and beneficial to the people at +large, notwithstanding their aloofness and unreasoned opposition to our +principles and methods. The evils of the times are the direct result of +the secularization of education. Catholic higher education is the only +antidote and remedy to this evil. Its principles are a vigorous protest +against materialistic philosophy. We believe in the mastery of ideas and +in the final victory of truth. + +_The Church also for her own benefit needs true Catholic leaders_. +Leaders in a Catholic Community, who are not thoroughly Catholic in their +training, who have false notions, warped views, biassed conceptions of +vital questions, are most detrimental to the cause of Catholicity. +Distorted and confused ideas, in religious matters particularly, always +lead to a compromise. After school days they fail to find their Catholic +faith correlated with the _problems_ and _experiences_ which never +troubled them before, and which now, lack of higher education will not +allow them to solve and to face. Have we not indeed in Western Canada to +guard ourselves against latitudinarianism in our Catholic life? Material +prosperity, success in business or in farming, associations with men and +women who have practically no belief whatever, erroneous conceptions of +broadmindedness in religious matters, absence of traditions, lack of +Catholic education, all these causes and many others have created +especially in our cities, where such a large floating population is to be +found, and in our country places where there is no resident priest, a +compromising Catholicism, apologetic Catholics. How many Catholics in +the West are always ready to cringe in presence of those who are not of +our belief and to apologize for their faith. To react against this +abiding danger we need all through the country well instructed and +thoroughly educated Catholic leaders who will be in our world of +agnosticism and irreligion, the protagonists and apologists of +Catholicism. The fearless proclamation of the truth combined with a good +moral public life is in itself a tremendous power. Indeed, we need in +all the avenues of life men whose university training will give them +influence in public life. But let it never be forgotten those captains +of industry, those brilliant and successful professional men, those +progressive farmers--valuable as they all may be--must count more as +leaders of Catholic thought than as money-makers. If not, they will be +found wanting when the Church needs them the most. We emphasize this +point, for in the plea for higher education very often our attention +seems to be more on the successful business man than on the Catholic +thinker. + +Love of Church and country will therefore inspire us with a high sense of +duty in relation to the establishment of a seat of higher education in +this promising part of our great Dominion. And this duty, let us not +forget it, _is urgent_. Every decade means a new generation that should +have passed from the halls of our university to the commanding heights of +the country's leadership. Our hesitancy means a further postponement of +the triumph of the Catholic Cause. + +This high conception of an urgent duty gives the vision. From the +clearness, breadth and depth of that vision will spring the conquering +spirit of co-operation. Co-operation to be efficient and persevering +demands a united plan of action and an authoritative leadership. + +The Catholic population of Western Canada is yet very limited. We cannot +afford to scatter our forces and multiply our institutions. One +university for all Western Canada would be sufficient to meet the present +requirements. The multiplication of inefficient universities is a +calamity for genuine higher education. This has been the contention of +"Catholic" in a recent series of brilliant articles in the "Casket." The +policy would therefore be for all to agree on one college as the +non-Catholics have done in the different Western Provinces. This +naturally requires the sacrifice of parochialism and provincialism. But +if the Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists have each agreed on the +establishment of one educational centre for their students, surely the +Catholics can also sacrifice local interests to the welfare of the cause. +How many efforts our bigoted provincialism has neutralized in the past! + +Authoritative leadership only can unite our efforts on this unity of plan +of action. Nothing in this matter can be done without the direction and +support of the Hierarchy of the West. The division among Bishops was, +according to Newman, one of the main causes that made the Dublin Catholic +University scheme a failure. Naturally this problem of higher education +is one that overflows diocesan boundaries and remains common to all. +"Boundaries of jurisdiction, as wrote so advisedly, Archbishop McNeil, of +Toronto, are conveniences and means to an end." Beyond the +responsibilities of each separate diocese there are other +responsibilities which affect the Church of Canada as a whole. Let one +man with vision, judgment, energy, and action, make the creation of the +Catholic University in the West the work and ambition of his life, let +him have the sincere approbation and efficient co-operation of all the +Hierarchy . . . that man, we claim, will rally the Catholic forces around +him and will give to the West and its rising generation the blessing so +much needed of Catholic university training. Newman was fond of +repeating that it is only _individuals_ who do great things. + +And what will, this Catholic university mean to Catholic life in Western +Canada? Well established upon the highest academic level by its success +in the competitive field of learning, it will stand out as the embodiment +of Catholic intellectual life and the centre of Catholic activities. It +will be the counter-ideal to the ideal of agnosticism and materialism so +fostered and so prevalent in our neutral universities. Just as the +cathedrals are the expression of the Catholic faith in Christ's abiding +presence in the Sacrament of His love, so is a Catholic university the +embodiment and accomplishment of the Church's ideal in education. By its +extension work, summer courses, circulating libraries, correspondence +courses, lectures, etc., the university would unite our activities, +eliminate waste of energy and direct our combined efforts. Cardinal +Newman believed that a Catholic university was essential for thorough +health and efficiency in the Catholic body at large. To realize all that +a Catholic university would mean one has only to know what Washington +stands for in the life of the Church in the United States. In his +beautiful letter to the American Hierarchy, Benedict XV said of it: "The +University, we trust, will be the _attractive centre_ about which will +gather all who love the teachings of Catholicism." + + +_What is the Conclusion?_ + +We may summarize our argumentation in favour of our contention in the +following statements: + +1.--THE INTERESTS OF CHURCH AND COUNTRY, PARTICULARLY IN THE WEST, DEMAND +CATHOLIC LEADERSHIP; + +2.--NO GENUINE LEADERSHIP WITHOUT UNIVERSITY TRAINING; + +3.--FOR CATHOLICS HIGHER EDUCATION MEANS HIGHER CATHOLIC EDUCATION. + +Now, Patient reader, allow us to conclude these already too lengthy +pages, by this pointed question: "_Is a Catholic university for Western +Canada within the possibilities of the near future?_" + +Our answer will be simple, direct, conclusive, and, we hope, convincing. +If all Catholics in the Western Provinces, under the direction and with +the continued support of the Hierarchy, unite in one sublime and +persistent effort, we have the utmost confidence in its immediate +realization. Some Catholics, we know, will distrust its expediency, +despair of its success or even feel an obligation to oppose it. +Difficulties, most undoubtedly, we will have numerous and great. With +time, patience, perseverance and self-sacrifice we will overcome them. +Nothing succeeds like success. The establishment of a work of that kind +is the work of years and even of centuries. There must be some day a +start, a foundation to build on. The policy of nihilism leads nowhere. +The frequentation of our State universities would indefinitely postpone +all efforts for the Catholic ideal, and be a surrender of the whole +situation. But let us not be carried away with the modern fallacy of +materialistic grandeur. Spacious and beautiful buildings, nice grounds +and attractive surroundings are not to be despised when the finances are +good. But all these things are secondary; they do not give the intrinsic +value to a university, they are not "the pulse of the machine." The +great business of a university is to teach; the highest academic level +should be its worthy ambition. The teachers are the real makers of a +seat of higher learning, they pitch high or low the standard of learning. + +This great work will demand from every Catholic a continued effort of +loyal and generous support. The Canon-law, the Councils, the +exhortations of the Pope insists on this support of Catholic +universities. Particularly those who are blessed with the goods of this +world and to whom Providence has been generous, should remember that +"their wealth has a fiduciary character; a character that entails duties +towards the Catholic community at large, none less obligatory because +they are rooted in the virtue of _charity_, instead of the virtue of +_justice_." + +But experience tells us that our Catholic institutions are founded and +supported more by the "widow's mite" than by the millionaires' donations. +The support will come from the Catholic communities of Western Canada; it +will indeed come with most gratifying results _if the appeal is lofty in +its motive and proposal, concerted and systematic in its action_. + +We are not to go to the Catholics of the West with an appeal in one hand +and an apology in the other. A straightforward, self-respecting +presentation of our cause will bring a no less straightforward and +self-respecting response. To make this appeal an unqualified success +there must be also concerted action. Intensive efforts alone bring +results. This means the canvass of the West for this single purpose, at +a stated time. But any canvass of this kind, to be effective, must be +prepared by an educational campaign. Give the Catholics, we maintain, +the vision of their duty, sound the call . . . and they will respond. +For indifference, profound and widespread,--fruit of ignorance more than +of ill-will,--would be the greatest obstacle to overcome. Arousing +interest will be the initial task. In Australia, Archbishop Mannix +organized a campaign, in co-operation with his suffragan bishops, for the +purpose of the Catholic College of Melbourne and from June to December, +1916, half a million of dollars was collected. The Catholics of Western +Canada are just as ready, we claim, to furnish such annual payment as +would be wanted: if only they are properly called upon. But this proper +calling involves first a systematic and periodical recommendation of its +claims by the clergy and influential laymen. + +System will avoid a conflict of claims for other great causes equally +worthy of our generous support. The war has in this matter taught us at +home a great lesson. There were appeals for the Patriotic Fund, the Red +Cross, the Belgium Relief, the French Aid, etc., etc. They all came to +us in rotation. No apology was made, every one felt in duty and honor +bound, and the money was always there with an extraordinary readiness. +Organization is the first element of success. + + * * * * * * + +Who will be the promoters of this great work? Naturally the Hierarchy of +the West will be its inspiring and moving spirit. But, should not the +Knights of Columbus, that body-guard of Catholic laity, be called to the +honour of "seeing it through." This great undertaking would be a most +appropriate background for all the activities of our valiant Knights in +Western Canada. + +A society, Catholic in principle and membership, must, to last, and be an +asset to the Church, have a definite programme of action in harmony with +its aim and constitution. If it keeps its energies pent up behind the +walls of the council-chambers and only finds them an outlet in social +functions and friendly gatherings, it will soon go to seed or die of dry +rot. When on the contrary an organization, such as the Knights of +Columbus, throws the full weight of its energies in the forwarding of a +great cause, the possibilities of its influence are limitless. The war +activities of the Knights and their splendid results for the Church and +the nation are a tangible proof of it. + +Could there be a work more in harmony with the aims of the great Catholic +organization than that of higher education. At the national convention +of 1912, held at Colorado Springs, the committee on Catholic Higher +Education ends its report by saying: "In the newer impetus that will come +to Catholic education as the result of better understanding (its +necessity and value), the Knights of Columbus must make themselves an +important factor. We owe it to ourselves and to that special loyalty to +both Church and State which we pride to claim as the special note of the +order. It is often asked what are the Knights of Columbus doing that +they should be so proud of their organization, and the best possible +answer would be for all of us to be able to point to benefits that were +conferred by Knights individually and in bodies upon our Catholic +education. There can be no mistake about the benefit to be conferred on +Church and State by progress in Catholic education." + +The active and persevering co-operation of the Knights in the forwarding +of the great cause of a Catholic University for Western Canada, would be +their contribution to the great period of reconstruction which the world +is now facing. + + * * * * * * + +On one of those beautiful mellow autumn evenings, of which the Prairie +alone has the secret, the traveller, as his train steams into one of our +Western Cities, will behold a stately cupola tipped with a golden +cross.--"What is that new building, yonder on the outskirts of the city?" +will he inquire. The answer will be: "_That is the Catholic University +of Western Canada_." + + + +[1] This chapter appeared as a series of articles, in the North West +Review of Winnipeg,--under the signature of "Miles Christi." + +[2] "Less than one per cent. of American men are college graduates Yet +this one per cent. of college graduates has furnished: 55% of our +Presidents, 36% of our Members of Congress, 47% of the Speakers of the +House, 54% of our Vice-Presidents, 62% of our Secretaries of State, 50% +of the Secretaries of the Treasury, 67% of the Attorney Generals, 69% of +the Justices of the Supreme Court."--Dr. Jones, of the University of +Missouri. + +[3] Lord Haldane addressing the Co-operative Educational Association +(May, 1920) made this statement: "The universities of England must be +made able, as national institutions, with a larger range of activity than +at present, to undertake extra-mural work on a scale so great that it +will be of general application throughout the land, and they must be put +in a position to be fitted to bring this about." + +[4] Speaking of Publicly and privately supported institutions of learning +in the U.S., Dr. Cappen, assistant commissioner of the United States +Bureau of Education stated that there are 93 of the former in the U.S. +and 477 of the latter. About 62 per cent. of the college students in the +country attend voluntarily supported colleges, and the private schools +have about 68 per cent. of the educational funds of the country at their +disposal. This includes of course such very wealthy endowed institutions +as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Cornell and Stanford. + + + + +PART III + +SOCIAL PROBLEMS + +"The political and economic struggles of society are in the last +analysis religious struggles; their sole solution, the teaching of +Jesus Christ."--(John Stuart Mill.) + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +BEYOND BERLIN[1] + +_After-War Problems from a Catholic View-Point--Reconstruction, the +Duty of the Hour._ + + +The heavy clouds of war and the bloody mist of battles are lifting; +once more the sun of peace bursts forth triumphant over a sad and weary +world. The storm has wasted its fury. The landscape is washed clear +and bright, the atmosphere is glowing and transparent; destruction and +ruins everywhere stand out in sharp and ghastly relief. On the distant +horizon, beyond the Rhine, the dark clouds drag their tattered shreds; +the angry lightning still flashes and thunder yet rumbles yonder--on +German and Russian soil. + +The war is over. The muddy trench, the deadly shrapnel, the perfidious +gas, the roaring cannon, the forced marches on the slimy roads of +Flanders, the heroic dashes and agonizing retreats of struggling +armies, the lurking submarines, the treacherous, owlish zeppelins, the +long-protracted vigil on the deep--all these grim realities of four, +long, endless years have melted away in the blaze of a glorious +victory. Now the German Armada rides at anchor, prisoner, in British +waters, the armies of the Allies bivouac on the banks of the Rhine, and +our Canadian boys, flushed with victory, come marching home. + +The day of the German surrender, Clemenceau, Premier of France, made +this significant statement: "Great have been the problems of the war, +but greater will be the problems of peace." Nations, indeed, now face +one of the most momentous periods of history. The world has struck its +tents and is once more on the march. Never, we believe, have such +tremendous responsibilities weighed upon a passing generation. The +future will be greatly imperilled if at this critical juncture great +questions are fought out between ignorant desire for change and +ignorant opposition to change. The handwriting is on the wall, and our +economic and social life, foreign to Christian morality, has been found +wanting. Will a new and better social order rise from the ashes of +this world-conflagration? There is the searching problem which presses +itself upon the mind of every thinking man. "On every side," writes +Father Plater, S.J., "there is talk of reconstruction, economic, +political, social, educational. Government departments are hard at +work gathering information, elaborating schemes. Numerous organized +bodies, such as the Labor party, are putting forward their programmes. +Conferences and lectures on reconstruction are multiplied and +literature on the subject pours from the press." + +"Great ideas," said Wilson, "at last have captured the hearts of the +common people and directed into positive channels and constructive +programmes the very energies which otherwise may have spent themselves +in the acts of retributive destruction." Reconstruction! This is now +the world's watch-word. It sums up the various problems with which +nations will have to grapple in every realm of human activity. It +speaks of conditions that are no more and suggests new outlines of the +social order. Our present and pressing duty then is to weigh the +anchor, to swing out into the middle stream and take our course on the +permanent principles of Catholic Truth. These principles stand on the +shores of History as the great revolving lights that sweep the high +seas in the darkness of night. + +Canada, after having bravely and generously solved the problems of war, +is now also facing "the greater problems of peace." This period of +reconstruction, more than that of the war, will test our national +fibre. The strain will be greater for the conflict is being lifted to +a higher plane, that of ideas. But nowhere in Canada will this vast +work of readjustment be more tangible than in our Great West. The +youth of that part of the country, and the dominating factors of the +national problem will, we believe, make the West the classical land of +reconstruction. A gradual evolution will bring our Eastern Provinces +to readjust themselves to the changing conditions of political and +economic life. The West, on the contrary, has in such matters the +beautiful qualities, the unlimited resources of youth, but also its +dangerous shortcomings. Daring, venturous, over-confident in +democracy, the Western mind is frequently most hasty and radical in its +conclusions. It has not been matured by time, that great teacher of +patience and moderation; experience has not, as yet, tempered that +feverish and progressive youthfulness, so prone to speedy and often +drastic legislation. The heat of fever is often mistaken for the glow +of health. And as legislation is in the minds of the Western people +the panacea of all evils in society, will not the common tendency be to +carry on the work of reconstruction by parliament bills and +orders-in-council? Is there not here a great danger? "The danger of +premature commitment is much greater than that of more cautious policy, +proving a stumbling block in the way of future progress." + +Moreover, the most vital factors of reconstruction in Canada will +affect more particularly the Prairie Provinces. The back-to-the-land +movement, demobilization, settlement of returned soldiers on the farm, +intensive immigration policy, extensive agricultural production are +indeed Western problems. + +The choice of the Hon. J. A. Calder of Saskatchewan, as chairman of the +Reconstruction Committee in the Federal Cabinet; the prominent part +given to him and to the Hon. Mr. Meighen of Manitoba, in the formation +and discussion of plans at the recent meeting of the Premiers of the +Provinces; these are in themselves striking illustrations of our +contention in the matter. + +Although the West will, in the period of reconstruction command the +attention of the country at large, there are, nevertheless, problems, +particularly those affecting our social and economic life, which will +weigh heavily on our Eastern Provinces. So reconstruction will be a +nation-wide work. + + +_The Duty of Catholics_ + +What is, therefore, the duty of Catholics, at the present hour? Are we +to fold our arms and let others rebuild the very framework of society +according to plans which our faith, reason, and history disapprove of, +and very often condemn? Our ideas in the matter may not prevail, but +how would we be justified in deploring the consequences of a +legislation which we did not even try, by our influence, to suppress or +modify? To abstain as Catholics from this great work of reconstruction +is profoundly un-Catholic. It is the act of a traitor to the Church +and country. As Burke so gloriously said: he was aware that the age is +not all we wish, but he was sure that the only means to check its +degeneracy was heartily to concur in whatever is best in our time. + +The Church depends upon her children to spread the beneficial influence +of her social doctrines. "The great work of the Catholics, after the +war, will be," said Father McNabb, O.P., "to bring the vision of the +Bride of Christ, the Catholic Church, before the millions of our +countrymen." "These countrymen of ours are blind and often bigoted," +adds Henry Somerville. + +There are Catholics who make this blindness and consequent bigotry an +excuse for their own narrowness and selfishness, for their neglect to +share in the nation's work, for their refusal to co-operate in +patriotic, civic and social undertakings as if they were none of our +business. The nation's business is our business. If we serve the +nation efficiently, we serve the Church. We take then the best means +to open the eyes of our fellow-countrymen to the fact that Catholicism +is not uncivic. If we make ourselves valued, anti-Catholic prejudice +will be dispelled. + +Cardinal Bourne in his letter on "Social Reform" speaks very pointedly +of the duty of every Catholic in this matter. His pronouncement and +that of the American Hierarchy are the most notable declarations from +Catholic sources on "Social Re-construction." "It is admitted on all +hands," says the English Primate, "that a new order of things, new +social conditions between the different sections in which Society is +divided will arise as a consequence of the destruction of the formerly +existing conditions. + +"The very foundations of political and social life, of our economic +system, of morals, of religion are being sharply scrutinized, and this, +not only by a few writers and speakers, but by a very large number of +people in every class of life, especially among the workers." + +The nation's business is our business. The true love of country +demands from Catholics at this critical stage of our history to throw +all their energies into the various social activities. Society +throughout the world is shaken in its very foundations. This universal +unrest in the political, social and economic spheres is a decided mark +of the birth-throes of a new social order. Therefore, we will conclude +with Cardinal Gibbons; "The Church cannot remain an isolated factor in +the nation. The Catholic Church possesses spiritual and moral +resources which are at the command of the nation in every crisis." + +The reform or remodelling of the social fabric, if it is to be +effective and abiding, must ultimately rest on the definite and +unchanging principles of morality. These principles constitute the +moral law, as physical principles are the basis of the physical law. +Ernest Fayle, in a very instructive article on "Reconstruction," in the +October number of the "_London Quarterly Review_," makes a statement +very pertinent to this matter; "The economic, political and social +factors in human life are so inextricably entangled that if we accept +quality of life and not mere power or wealth as the touchstone of +national success we dare not, even in the consideration of economic or +political questions, lose sight of the moral issues." + +The Catholic Church has always been the teacher and guardian of that +natural moral law which stands as the foundation and buttress of the +social edifice. Her plans of Reconstruction rest on the eternal +principles of equity which God has engraved on the human conscience and +which the teachings of Christ have sanctioned and perfected. In the +light of Catholic doctrine moral laws are definite and unchanging, for +they are the deliberate expression of the necessary and fundamental +relations upon which rests human nature. They are the living, free +expression of man's place in creation. The most elaborate schemes and +powerful organizations are soulless without these basic principles of +morality and have but an ephemeral existence. + +Is it not, therefore, a great act of patriotism to try to throw into +the scales of the nation's destinies the mighty weight of +indestructible and tried principles? A growing respect is to be found +for the soundness, the wisdom and the justice of Catholic social +principles, even in circles where our beliefs have not yet found +acceptance. True statesmen have always recognized the influence of the +Catholic Church's doctrine in social matters, although they may not +believe in the truth of her teachings. They always looked upon her +principles of social life as the ballast that steadies the ship on +heaving seas. To make the Church a spiritual ally, to recognize her +moral power and her far-reaching influence has always been considered +good diplomacy and clear-sighted statesmanship. + + +_Catholic's Patriotism in Public Life_ + +Reconstruction is the great work of the hour; co-operation is a duty +every Catholic owes to Church and country. What definite and concrete +form of co-operation will that responsibility assume? There is the +problem. Our first duty, in the matter, lies, we believe, in a greater +participation in public life. Too long have we stood aloof from +movements that aim at the social welfare of the community. A false +timidity and an erroneous conception of our responsibilities have +estranged us, to a great extent, from the various activities of +national life. This isolation has been most prejudicial to our +Catholic laity, for it has fostered in their ranks disinterestedness +and often apathy. "With regard to the necessity of Catholics to obtain +positions on public bodies, Cardinal Bourne stated that very often +Catholics were urged to take part in public affairs, by becoming +elected to public bodies in order that they might safeguard Catholic +principles. That was a great good--a very laudable object--but it was +not the highest object. The great object was that out of the fulness +of their Faith they might give to their fellow-countrymen the +principles that flowed from that Faith, so that little by little there +might be built up in the consciousness of the nation that belief in and +use of those sound principles of the Catholic Faith which contained the +only solution of the difficulties with which they were faced." + +"Too long have Catholics lived in isolation, allowing others to think +and act for them. It is indeed, high time that they felt the pulse of +life that beats in the real statesman, as distinct from mere +politician. Duty demands that Catholics add their power of intellect +and will to the similar power of other citizens anxious to help the +commonwealth. We are not aliens in this land, not aliens by birth or +principle. As to the latter, I may say with all truth, that no one has +given clearer expression to the basic principles of democracy than the +Catholic theologians, Suarez and Bellarmine." [2] + +This attitude of aloofness, during the coming period of reconstruction +especially, would be profoundly un-Catholic. Our active participation +in public life will give us occasion to dispel prejudice, to offset +subversive doctrines, to advocate in spite of failures and bigotry the +principles of Christian sociology. We are firm believers in the +prevailing strength of ideas. They are indestructible; they rule +sooner or later. They may take time to crystalize into convictions, +but the force of mental gravitation must ultimately prevail. And after +all, Reconstruction, as Dr. J. J. Walsh stated, is more a question of +remaking the map of man's mind than that of remodelling the map of +Europe. + +The Catholics of England give us, in this matter as in many others, a +beautiful example to follow. During the war they formed a "British +Catholic Information Society," having at its service "the Catholic War +News Office." The result of their aggressive policy is the public +recognition of the value of the Catholic Church by the English people +in the national work of Reconstruction. We would here refer the reader +to Father Plater's letter on "Catholics and Reconstruction" for further +details in this interesting matter. Like our Catholic brothers of +England, let us also take our place boldly in the broad daylight of +public life. We have ideas to give to the Nation, let us give them. +Canadian liberty, without doubt, exists for our doctrines as it does +for the subversive theories of State-Socialism. We have no apology to +make for our ideas. They stand on their own merits and have been +vindicated by the great acid test of time. Yes, we possess the great +curative and creative forces for social Reconstruction; We have only to +call them into play. + + +_The Catholic Solution_ + +In season and out of season, in the press and on the platform, in +private gatherings and public meetings, through every medium of social +control, let the people hear the Catholic solution of the problems now +facing the nations of the world. We have a message to deliver. That +message, if it comes to the people shining like a steel blade, sounding +like the blare of a trumpet, if it wells up from a fiery heart and +drops from burning lips--that message will be heard. In this period of +strain and suffering the public mind is keyed to its highest pitch, +ready to snap at any moment. Strong feeling has generated in many +minds intellectual hysteria. "In war time," says E. H. Griggs, "there +is a curious paradox of widening radicalism of thought, with constantly +decreasing freedom of action and expression. When the discrepancy +becomes too great, you have the explosion,--a revolution." Therefore +in this time of intellectual ferment, the continued affirmation of +truth, and the persistent statement of principles are in themselves a +highly valuable service, which we are bound to give to the world. The +thought of the human mind, like rays of sun-light, focused on one +point, acquires the burning power of conviction. + +Participation in public life develops conviction; conviction repeatedly +asserts itself; continued assertion creates opinion; and public opinion +is without doubt one of the most universal powers at work in the world. +In every sphere of life you can feel the constant pressure of this +tremendous influence. It may well be named the "current" of public +opinion. Draining to its profit the latent and loitering powers of the +individual thinker, silently, irresistibly it moves on; checked, it +becomes an angry whirlpool of confused and gyrating waters; harnessed +to the wheels of national life, it will transform its energies into +light, heat and power. + +The creation and the spreading of Catholic opinion in social matters +should be in our mind, the ultimate goal of our activities, for it is +the greatest asset we can contribute to the vast work of +Reconstruction. As Lord Morley said, "great economic and social forces +flow with tidal sweep over communities half conscious of that which is +befalling them. Wise statesmen are those who foresee what time is +bringing and try to shape institutions and to mould men's thought and +purpose in accordance with the change that is silently surrounding +them." + +Time, you readily understand, will not allow us to dwell upon the +various problems which Reconstruction will bring before the country. +Our aim, now, is rather to awaken the sense of responsibility, stir the +sleeping conscience into watchfulness, and give to our Catholic men and +women the stimulating thought of co-operation. Our country is being +re-created in its political, social and economic life; to be a living +factor in that "re-creation" is the duty of the hour. + +Before bringing these remarks of a rather general character to a close +allow us to mark for your attention the leading problems. They will be +as landmarks planted to guide you on the way. In the international +order, the problem of resetting nations on a new basis by a "just and +durable peace" now faces the world. Racial and language problems +command our attention in the national order. In the political world +ideas are to be readjusted as to the nature, powers and obligations of +the State. Of late, the monopoly of the State has been asserting +itself so strongly that one is led to believe the old pagan principle +of the supremacy of the State will once more reign supreme. When +nations have ceased to give to God what belongs to God, they give to +Caesar alone what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God. + +The social order will witness demobilization and immigration. Who +cannot grasp the importance of these great problems with their various +and intricate issues? The greatest transformations are, perhaps, +reserved for the economic order; capital and labor, efficient and +greater production of industry and agriculture, the living wage, and +uplifting of the workman's status, etc. In the educational order the +battle will be greater, for there is a great tendency to centralize, to +federalize education, under the plea of "national schools." + +The religious order will see tremendous efforts for union among the +various non-Catholic denominations; "social service" will be their +center of unity, the common field of action. + +Various and important, as you see, are the problems that confront us in +the realms of human activity. Now, bear in mind, the Catholic doctrine +has a solution for each problem and it is your duty to give it. +Knights of Columbus, as you helped the Church to solve the problems of +the war, so will you also help to solve the greater problems of peace. +If you wish to be the body-guard of the Church, your mission is to lend +your noble and generous efforts to your spiritual leaders in this great +work of reconstruction. For, of this reconstructive period and its +great opportunities for militant and active Catholics, we may say what +Carlysle said of the period that followed the French Revolution; "Joy +was it, in that age, to be living--and to be young, was very heaven." +The task indeed is enormous, but the incentive most inspiring. + +We are bound to meet with the fluctuations and uncertainties of the +human mind, particularly in such times of readjustment and intellectual +unrest. Let us then never forget that since the coming of Christ and +the establishment of His Church on earth the principles of His teaching +are for all nations. The sun of truth has its meridian in Rome, on the +rock of Peter. There it stands at its zenith, in the permanent blaze +of a perennial mid-day; there it sets the time for the Catholic world +amid the ever-changing and conflicting problems of human history. +_Stat Crux dum volvitur orbis_. + + + +[1] A speech delivered in the Assembly Hall of the Knights of Columbus, +St. John, N.B., December 22, 1918. "The Catholic Mind" of New York +reproduced it in one of its issues. + +[2] R. H. Tierney, S.J., Editor of America, at the Catholic Federation +meeting, Brooklyn, September 15, 1918. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +WHOM DO MEN SAY THAT THE SON OF MAN IS? (MATH. XVI.-13.)--PUBLIC +OPINION AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH + +_What is Public Opinion--Its Power--How is it Formed--Public Opinion +and the Catholic Church--Our Duties to Public Opinion._ + + +Numerous and strong are the influences at play in human life. Acting +and reacting on the free will of man they are ever at work moulding his +character and shaping his destiny. Like the waves of an incoming tide +they are beating the shores of our heart; their triumph is to carry +away our liberty on their receding waters. + +Surrounding influences for good or for evil are indeed, to a great +extent, the determining factors of our moral life. Day by day they +write our history and with it the history of the world; for, the life +of every man is but a line on the great page of his nation's history +and the history of a nation, but a chapter in that of humanity. + +Of all the influences underlying human activities in the moral, social, +economic, and political world, one of the most universal and most +effective is beyond doubt, nowadays, _Public Opinion_. We may well +name it the "_current_" of Public Opinion. In every sphere of life one +can indeed feel the constant pressure of its tremendous power. Like +the waters of a mill-race constantly and irresistibly the stream of +Public Opinion sweeps on. It is very difficult to determine exactly +where lies its strength; it is nowhere and everywhere. Unconscious of +its swollen powers it spends its energies for the welfare of the +community, or, unfortunately too often, loses itself in an angry +torrent of destruction. + +You thwart its onward march: it will bury your barrier under its +laughing waters or . . . sweep it away. You ride with it: it will +gladly carry you. You check it: its troubled waves will rise angry +around you and engulf you. + +Such is the "_current_" of Public Opinion. To direct this great power, +to harness its tremendous forces, to convert them into light, heat, and +energy and set the wheels of moral, social, and political life running +with greater smoothness, rapidity, and strength, should be the noble +effort and the great task of every serious-minded man. + +By no idle whim or sheer literary piquancy have we coupled _Public +Opinion and the Catholic Church_. The inevitable relations that exist +between Public Opinion and the various predominating factors of a +nation should necessarily interest every true Canadian. Among these +factors the Catholic Church stands pre-eminent. Her beneficial +influences and her ready solutions to the various social and moral +problems that confront the world, cannot, even to the most prejudiced, +be passed unnoticed. So no matter what our spiritual allegiance may +be, the relation of Public Opinion to the Catholic Church should be of +the greatest interest to any one who has at heart the common welfare. +In Western Canada particularly, where Public Opinion has such a sway, +this subject, we presume, must be of service both to those of the +Catholic Faith and to those of a different persuasion. + + * * * * * * + +_What is Public Opinion--Its Power--How is it Formed?_ + +1. _What is Public Opinion_? + +Ideas rule the world, but various are the effects ideas have on the +minds of men. On some minds they exercise only a passing influence; +they are then what we call "_Impressions_"; variable as lights and +shadows over a summer lake they come and go. Impressions are indeed +only on the surface of the mind, like foot-prints on the sand washed +away by the next tide. + +When ideas take a stronger footing in our intelligence and are accepted +with a certain confidence, on their face-value or on the authority of +some leader, they become "_Opinions_." Loosely entertained and readily +exchanged, opinions are the ordinary mental pabulum of the masses. + +Few minds see their ideas crystallized into "_Convictions_." +Convictions are permanent, unchangeable ideas: based on facts and +supported by satisfactory evidence, they rest on the bed-rock of truth. +Few minds indeed, particularly on the larger and fundamental issues, +can claim the right to convictions. For, convictions demand a breadth +of vision and grasp of detail which are given but to few souls. These +minds, few in number, are the minds of leaders. Their noble duty and +great responsibility is to _Awaken_, _Stimulate_, and _Organize_ the +thinking of the people. Their thoughts, their ideas, are on the +unchartered sea of truth as the tossing buoy or lighted beacon from +which the unthinking masses take their course. Rather than go to the +pains of thinking for themselves the crowds leave this task to a few +and content themselves with ready-made opinions, as these float by with +the tide of the hour. Few make up their minds; they are made up for +them. + +The common opinion which reflects the mind of the great majority, +embodies the prevailing idea, the universal sentiment, and directs the +common action is called. . . _Public Opinion_. + + +2. _Power of Public Opinion_. + +You readily see, by its very nature, the tremendous power of Public +Opinion. It is the "reason why," the basis of appreciation, the norm +of conduct of the great mass of the people. As we stated before, +Public Opinion is like the stream that drains to its profit the +loitering energies of the individual mind, and makes them tributaries +that swell its volume and compress its course. Who can analyze the +powers of this "_Organized Thinking_" of the people in a democracy? +Who can measure the force of these sweeping currents, of these tidal +waves of Public Opinion? + +In fact, Public Opinion may be considered in our modern societies as +the greatest driving power. For, Public Opinion is the vision of the +unthinking multitude, and vision is the first and foremost of +constructive or destructive forces. It lights the way and invites +action accordingly. Marvellous indeed is the sweep of the tide of +Public Opinion in various realms of human activities. Its ebb and +flow--although frequently beyond analysis, are felt on every shore. + +In the world of finance,--and this is the lowest in the scale of real +values,--is not that fragile but mighty factor we call credit based on +Public Opinion? For, credit is but the general opinion of the +community on the possibilities of the industry or undertaking in which +its capital is involved, and on the honesty and ability of the +management. + +What has weakened the moral fibre of our modern society so much that at +times one wonders if we are living in the Christian era? If the home +is now so often desecrated by theories of free love and trial +marriages, if the cradles are empty, if the very sense of shame is a +thing of the past, if the most elementary principles of morality are +questioned, is it not because the public conscience is being warped, +chloroformed, deadened by a frenzied propaganda of a corrupted Public +Opinion? + +Has not the politician and the legislator the ear to the wind, the eye +on the running tides and cross currents of thought, to know and sound +Public Opinion? Like the skilful and watchful pilot, he counts with +the set of the tide and catches it at its crest. He knows the exact +height of the rising tide that will float him and his cargo over the +bar . . . of a coming election--. This tide of public feeling has +carried some to the high seas of success but left many stranded on the +desert shores. Many public men indeed have set out on its angry waters +to brave its fury . . . and have never returned. "In our times of +Democracy when the "competitive" principle has replaced the +"hereditary," not the kings, princes and nobles, but bankers, +merchants, railroad magnates, capitalists, politicians, editors, +educators, writers and artists occupy the high seats, hold the baton +and beat the time for the great social orchestra." (Ross-Social +Psychology.) "Power and influence," said Morley, "no longer reside in +the Crown but in the strong, subtle forces called Public Opinion: and +that Public Opinion is apt to involve fatal contentment with simple +answers to complex questions." + +In the great international life of nations Public Opinion also holds +the reins. This power manifests itself particularly at the great +turning points of History, such as we are now witnessing. There is +always then resistance between conflicting forces; and resistance, we +know, strengthens the current. What power was at work for the last +fifty years and marshalled, on that fatal August day of 1914, the +formidable army that swept over Belgium, France and Russia? Public +Opinion created by the military caste in Germany! What secret and +growing force made of the Allies' contemptible army of yesterday the +crushing victorious army of to-day?--The invincible power of Public +Opinion!--It leaped from the very depths of the wounded heart and +outraged conscience of nations, and created in a few months that +unconquerable army of inexhaustible reserves upon which the Allies +relied until their final triumph. It fired the morale of our armies +and smashed the way to victory. For those who could not go to the +battle-field, it kept the homefires burning and fringed with the silver +lining of radiant hope the dark clouds that hung over our horizon for +four long, dragging, weary years. + + +3. _How Public Opinion is Formed_. + +You may ask how are the thoughts of the multitude so marshalled as to +make the unit of Public Opinion. As we already remarked, the thinking +power of the ordinary man does not go _far_, _wide_, nor _deep_. His +facility of absorbing ideas is far greater than his power of valuating +them. He generally accepts as real value any thing that bears the +stamp of current opinion. His belief in the value and weight of number +is without recall; his absolute trust in what Bryce calls "the fatalism +of multitude" is beyond appeal. He lives and thrives on the +_surrounding mental atmosphere_. + +How is this atmosphere created? By the continued, persevering +repetition of the same ideas; by the vesting of these same ideas in the +attractive garb of self-interest, passion, fancy and vogue. On this +process, we all know by experience, is based the ever youthful power of +_Advertisement_ . . . and of _Fashion_. + +Advertisement! Modern business is built to a great extent on the +mysterious allurement, the attractive invitation and innocent +camouflage of the advertisement that you find sparkling everywhere, on +the flashy poster, in the show-window, in the magazine, in the daily +paper. Without willingness to admit our weakness, we fall victims to +this wizard that we despised yesterday and court to-day, and line up at +the counter . . . for a _Special Sale_, an _Astonishing Bargain_. "We +are so thoroughly accustomed to the exploits of the advertiser that we +take them as a matter of course, rarely pausing to appreciate the art, +or at least, the artfulness with which we have been lured into the +acceptance of his ideas." + +_Fashion_! Who can analyze this power so great, so universal? Who can +explain the psychology of this fact? Every spring and fall of the year +Dame Fashion has an opening-ball--Paris plays the tune, New York wields +the baton, the ladies of the world . . . keep time . . . and the +gentlemen pay the piper. + +We mention these facts of every day life to illustrate the permeating +and driving force of an idea, when constantly kept before the mind. +And what advertisement and fashion are in the commercial and social +life, _Propaganda_ and _Publicity_ are in the world of thought. The +policy of propaganda is to enlist the active co-operation of every +vehicle of thought for the furtherance of an idea and to keep that idea +ever before the public. One readily sees the tremendous +responsibilities, and understands the flagrant abuses of those called +to create and direct Public Opinion. "The supremacy of ideas," it was +stated, "gives the greatest places of opportunity to those who awaken, +stimulate and organize the thinking of the people and especially the +thinking of a people in a democracy. The teacher's desk, the +preacher's pulpit, the orator's platform, the writer and editor's +sanctum--these are the places of true leadership, the thrones of real +power." + +This analysis of Public Opinion, of its power, of its formation will +now make us better understand its relations with the Catholic Church. + + +_Public Opinion and the Catholic Church_. + +Nowadays the relation of Public Opinion to the Catholic Church is, +generally speaking, one of suspicion, frequently of silent contempt and +very often of open hostility. This statement of fact may appear to +many too sweeping; its broadness may trouble the peaceful faith of +others. Yet, history and every day experience prove the truth of our +assertion. We go further and claim that for the Church this condition +will, and must exist. The Church, like Christ, her Founder and Master, +is to be a "_Sign of Contradiction_." Her very name "Catholic" is a +perennial witness to her sublime and admirable Catholicity, and thereby +an abiding proof of her Divinity. A Church that modifies her tenets +and adjusts her moral standards to accommodate herself to the +conveniences and fancies of the world is not, and cannot be the Church +of Christ. Now, as in the times of the Apostles, the Church "_Is a +Sect that is everywhere spoken against_"--"_If ye were of the world_?" +said the Saviour, "_the world would love his own; but ye are not of +this world, therefore the world hateth you_." Yes, suspicion, contempt +and hostility are the hall-marks of historic Christianity, for they are +the realization of Christ's promises to His Church, the fulfilment of +His prophesies. This fact for a Christian who has eyes to see, and +ears to hear, is particularly noticeable when periodically a tidal wave +of bigotry or open persecution strikes the Catholic Church, lashes +itself into fury, washes the Rock of Peter with ugly foam . . . and +dies away, ashamed of its own powerlessness and unfairness. + +Viewing this relation of Public Opinion to the Catholic Church--not as +an evidence of that spiritual conflict, often unconscious but ever +real--but as a fact, a historic reality, some may ask the proof of our +rather bold statement. Even those who are not of our Faith, and yet +always wish to be fair and broad in their dealings with the Catholic +Church, may question it. + +The proof is very simple to give. Public Opinion is against the +Catholic Church, because the powers that create and maintain Public +Opinion are against the Catholic Church. Facts here speak for +themselves. + +The Press--the Novel--the Periodical Literature--the Cinema--the +Stage--the Public School--the Academy and University Halls--the +Legislative Assemblies . . . are without doubt the high voltage-wires +that receive, carry and distribute the current of Public Opinion. Or +rather, like the wireless stations they gather those invisible and +imponderable waves of thought and feeling that are ever flashing +through the intellectual and moral atmosphere of nations, and translate +their message to the masses. Between these powers and Public Opinion +there is a continuous action and reaction. They are at the same time +the _moulders_ and _mirrors_ of Public Opinion. They are its +_masters_, but with the condition of being first its _servants_. + +Of all these creative forces none is greater and more universal than +the _Press_. If Public Opinion is the king and master of the modern +world, the Press is assuredly his faithful and most active Prime +Minister. This chief executive has extended the kingdom of his master +to the very confines of the civilized world. Nothing has contributed +more to the rule of Public Opinion than the Press. With it ideas and +opinions run through the public mind as rapidly as the dispatches that +carry them. "Mental touch is no longer bound up with physical +proximity. With the telegraph to collect and transmit the expressions +and signs of the ruling mood, and the fast mail to hurry to the eager +clutch of waiting thousands the still damp sheets of the morning daily, +remote people are brought as it were into one another's presence." +(Ross-Social Psychology.) + +The ordinary man now sees the world through his newspaper. He absorbs +facts and principles with the shades and variations the daily paper +gives them. Reports of events and announcements of policies are +colored to suit the aims and opinions of the editors and proprietors. +Windy platitudes--at least for those who know facts and have studied +principles--become gospel truth for the unthinking mass. Public +Opinion is thus conscripted by an "irresponsible power." This +irresponsibility of the Press is without doubt the greatest menace of +the day. For, the opinions,--we mean to say--the propelling forces of +the silent millions are at its mercy. . . . And these silent millions +make and unmake the world. + +This great power of the Press is inimical to the Catholic Church. By +press, you will readily understand, we do not mean any particular +paper, or a certain group of papers, but rather that formidable +ensemble of tremendous financial backing, of world-wide +information-services, of chains of papers that encircle the globe, of +these various agencies that tap the telegraphic wires of every country +and keep the cables hot. The Hearst papers alone reach simultaneously +four or five million readers daily. From New York to San Francisco one +man is leading the minds of these millions "to conclusions that he +wants them to arrive at"--What Hearst is for the United States, Lord +Northcliffe is for England. + +This great press is against the Catholic Church. The total suppression +of truths and of facts; the conspiracy of silence--often more dangerous +than an open attack; the coloring of news with shades of thought suited +to a definite purpose; the partial admission of truth and the maimed +relation of facts; the bold assertion of deliberate falsehoods; the +deceptive headlines--and the people live on headlines; the insinuating +title which is often in flagrant contradiction to the dispatch it +underlines:--these are a few of its various strategies of attack. "The +Pope and the War," "Quebec and the War," "The Guelph Novitiate +Incident," are recent instances of what we refer to. + +Some may object that the Catholics are of a rather susceptible nature +and always expect "privileges"--No, we only want the privileges of +truth, we mean fair play, equality, and justice. + +What we say of the Press can also be said of periodical literature and +modern fiction. "The very nature of periodical literature," says +Cardinal Newman, "broken into small wholes and demanded punctually to +an hour involves the habit of extempore philosophy . . . and that +philosophy, we know is not Christian philosophy. The writers can give +no better guarantee for the philosophical truth of their principles +than their popularity at the moment and their happy conformity in +ethical character to the age which admires them." + +Any one who has kept in touch with the stream of modern fiction is well +aware to what extent its waters are polluted and have contaminated the +mind and heart of our present generation. When the world has been +slaking its literary thirst at sources such as H. G. Wells, Galsworthy, +Ibanez--only to mention a few--should we be astonished that public +opinion is drifting to paganism? If theories of "Free Love" and +Divorce are rampant in our society, the responsibility to a great +extent lies with our modern novel. The novels that are written and +read, indicate the mind and morals of a people. + +What could we not write of the _Moving-Picture_ and the _Stage_? +Suffice it to state with Rev. R. A. Knox--then an anglican minister, +and now a catholic priest: "When a nation has lost its hold of first +truths and its love for clear issues, which has had its morality sapped +by sentiment, thinks of Christian marriage in the light of the +problem-play . . . the moral fibre of that nation is gone." For, the +vision of life and the interpretation of its pleasures and sorrows, +that come from the glare of the foot-lights, or the dimness of the +Movie-Screen, are surely not that given by the Catholic Church. Over +the screen of the movies and the proscenium of the stage could we not +very often write what the author of the play "Enjoy Life," Max Hermann +Neisse, said lately to a Berlin sensation-seeking audience that was +underlying with frantic applause the unsavory remarks and filthy +inuendos of the closing act: "Pardon me, I did not write this act.--You +dictated it to me." + +In pandering to the morbid curiosity and lustful passions of a +pleasure-mad world, the stage, the moving-picture, the novel, the +illustrated weekly are leading Public Opinion to depths before unknown. +The abyss calls to the abyss. Ways of living always follow ways of +thinking. Should we then be astonished that crime-wave after +crime-wave is sweeping the shores of every country. + +Existing conditions in our universities, public academies and schools +are not of a nature to conciliate Public Opinion with the Catholic +Church. We know perfectly well that in our seats of higher-learning +the Church is looked upon as an effete Institution, as something of the +past that has kept a certain air of respectability. Her teachings and +her history are there viewed in the light of the "evolution theory." +Who has not read, a few years ago, that terrible indictment against the +antichristian education of the American Universities, as it appeared in +a celebrated article, under the title: "Blasting at the Rock of Ages?" + +In our legislative assemblies, here and abroad, do we not find the +educational problem the burning problem for Church and State? Over the +head of the child swords clash, for the child of to-day is the man of +to-morrow. The stand the Catholic Church takes on the educational +problem--from which She never deviates--has always stirred Public +Opinion against her in political and social circles. We have only to +mention "separate schools" to awaken the memories of a long and bitter +struggle. + +The same inimical relations dominate the International Order. Rome and +its world-wide moral influence have been deliberately ostracized in the +recent and unhappy attempt to form a League of Nations. + +So the tide of Public Opinion sweeps upon tide. Everywhere its heavy +waves break into a foamy froth on the Rock of Peter. We conclude: +_Public Opinion is against the Catholic Church_. + + +_Our Duties to Public Opinion_. + +The antagonism against the Catholic Church is an overt fact. What are +the causes? _A distorted vision_, born of misrepresentation of facts +and misrepresentation of doctrine and practice; the _blind prejudice_ +against which our refutation of facts and explanation of principles are +of little avail: _these are the two main causes to which can be traced +this universal opposition_. And indeed no one will tax us with +exaggeration were we to repeat here what Tertullian wrote in his +"Defence of the Church," a hundred years after St. John's death: "_They +think the Catholics to be the cause of every public calamity, of every +national ill_." Have we not in our own country, organizations that +live and thrive only on enmity to the Church of Rome? They cannot meet +without passing resolutions of condemnation of the Church, of the Pope, +of separate schools, etc. We all know how often Public Opinion, in our +country, has been inflamed by prejudiced appeals to racial and +religious feelings. Racial antagonism itself is only a cover for +anti-Catholic fanaticism. + +Let us, by clear and sound thinking, by definite and bold expression +_enlighten Public Opinion_. To-day Public Opinion is shifting as the +winds, swinging like a boat with the ebb and flow of the tide. These +are days of loose thought, wild words, catchy phrases, especially in +social and religious matters. Words and phrases are passed off as +ideas, and fragments of an idea as the whole idea. Let ideas always be +clear-cut, with a sharp, definite relief. Hazy notions are of no +constructive value, and always full of danger, particularly in times of +intellectual ferment, such as we are now going through. They are on +the great sea of Truth as the smoke-screens, behind which lurk the +destroyers of error. + +Cardinal Newman concludes one of his letters on "The Position of +Catholics"--which bears on the subject of Catholics making themselves +known: "Protestantism is fierce because it does not know you; ignorance +is its strength; error is its life; therefore bring yourselves before +it, press yourselves upon it, force yourselves into notice against its +will. Oblige men to know you. Politicians and philosophers would be +against you, but not the people, if they knew you." + +_Create Public Opinion_ by _individual and concerted action_, that is +our next duty. Truth spreads, not like the devastating torrent, but +like the tide. From individual to individual as from pebble to pebble +it slowly creeps in and spreads the silent power of its rising waters. +"No one ever talks freely about anything without contributing +something, let it be ever so little, to the unseen forces which carry +the race on to its final destiny. Even if he does not make a positive +impression he counteracts or modifies some other impression, or sets in +motion some train of ideas in some one else, which helps to change the +face of the world." Godkin "Problems of Modern Democracy." 221-224. + +By the continued repetition of truth and the persevering refutation of +falsehood we will help to create around us, in our limited sphere of +action, a sane Public Opinion. But it is above all by the radiance of +our moral life that truth, particularly religious truth, will spread. +Religion, as we know, is of the moral order; its dogmas, precepts and +sacraments reach out into that domain. Paul Bourget, the celebrated +French writer sums up one of his most striking novels in this phrase: +"_At Forty-three_" which he calls the noon hour of life--"_man must +live what he believes or he will eventually believe as he lives_." To +live up to our principles is always the best proof of our belief in +them. + +_Concerted action_ will extend the benefits of this individual action +to the creation of Public Opinion in the Community, in Society at +large. As all great powers, Public Opinion is courted; this courtship +is "_Propaganda_." Truth requires propaganda as life needs +transmission. An efficient propaganda takes myriad forms but its +purpose is always the same, i.e., give to others our ideas and through +them organize the public mind. Distribution of literature, lectures, +the press, the novel, the cinema, bureaus of information, active +participation in public life are vital factors of an efficiently +organized propaganda. The recent Northcliffe propaganda, followed by +the Hearst propaganda are typical illustrations of how the public mind +of a Country was swayed from a pro-British to an Anti-English attitude. + +_The Direction of Public Opinion_ is the ultimate triumph of +propaganda. This is obtained when our principles pass into the warp +and woof of the social textures which are always in the making on the +great loom of our nation's life. Ideas have their full value when they +are extended to social and political issues. It is only then that they +influence a nation as such. For our lives are knitted with the lives +of others, and their action and reaction upon them form our public +life. "In the formation and guidance of the public opinion which +ultimately determines public action, Catholics bear responsibility and +must take their part." (Cardinal Bourne, at the Catholic Congress of +England, 1920.) + +As Catholics we have a contribution to make to the great upbuilding of +our Country. There is in every problem an ethical side, an unchanging +and unchangeable principle, the bedrock on which it rests. This +principle, the Catholic doctrine possesses; we know it, we are sure of +it. Why not then have that aggressiveness of militant Catholics who +take advantage of every opportunity, without being obtrusive? Are we +not too apologetic in our Public life? We would not suggest in the +least to be discourteously aggressive, although at times we are tempted +to do so and seem justified in our retaliation. But there is no reason +why we should apologize for our principles, for the solutions we have +to offer. The sun of Canadian liberty shines also for us and for what +we stand; we have our place under the shade of the "Maple Leaf." + +May we add a word for our non-Catholic friends. They also have duties +towards Public Opinion in its relation with the Catholic Church. + +_Receptiveness of mind_ is, in our estimation, the first and most +important duty of the non-Catholic. Open-mindedness was named by +Confucius "mental hospitality." It opens the door to truth by allowing +ourselves to be convinced by the strength of argument and the weight of +evidence. This state of receptivity permits the mind to correct its +distorted vision, and to see facts and principles as they really are. +Freedom of mind enables those who possess it to see things in their +true proportions. + +_Fair-mindedness_ will overcome prejudice, the great obstacle in +matters of Religion. Prejudice is made of a coarse and impenetrable +fibre, of a close woven texture; it is the product of numerous and +various influences. The ordinary causes of this pre-judgment or mental +torsion are an habitual intellectual outlook resulting from education +and surrounding influences, and a mental laziness which fails to +question its own attitude and to pursue principles to their logical +conclusions, and problems to their solution. This explains how +reluctantly the mind, in religious matters particularly, will accept +views contrary to those with which it has been familiar since early +youth and which time and surroundings have but strengthened. A +straight-forward appeal to _fairmindedness_ is alone able to break down +this barrier. + +Duties are in proportion to the responsibilities they entail. Public +Opinion, as we have seen, is a tremendous power but it is the power of +a high explosive which misdirected and ill-used will spread disaster. +Leadership is the spark that ignites the charge, is responsible for its +driving force. In the days of real intellectual leadership the mastery +of ideas prevailed and Public Opinion was considered as the triumph of +an idea. But in our days of so called democratic equality the centre +of gravity of this power has shifted from the leader to the multitude. +De Tocqueville in his book "Democracy in America" [1] has a remarkable +page, illustrating this point. "The nearer the people," he writes, +"are drawn to a common level of an equal and similar condition the less +prone each man becomes to place implicit faith in a certain man or +certain classes of men. But his readiness to believe the multitude +increases and opinion is more than ever the mistress of the world. Not +only is common opinion the only guide which private judgment retains +among democratic people, but amongst such a people it possesses a power +infinitely beyond what it has elsewhere. At periods of equality men +have no faith in one another by reason of their common resemblance; but +this very resemblance gives them almost unbounded confidence in the +judgment of the public; for it would not seem probable, as they are all +endowed with equal means of judging, but that the greater truth should +go with the greater number. The public has therefore among a +democratic people a singular power which aristocratic nations cannot +conceive of; for it does not persuade to certain opinions, but it +impresses them and infuses them in the intellect by a sort of enormous +pressure of the minds of all upon the reason of each." + +To this prestige of vast numbers Bryce has given a name. "Out of the +mingled feelings that the multitude will prevail and that the +multitude, because it will prevail, must be right, there grows a +self-distrust, a despondency, a disposition to fall into line, to +acquiesce in the dominant opinion, to submit thought as well as action +to the encompassing powers of numbers." + +"This tendency to acquiescence and submission, this sense of +insignificance of individual effort, this belief that the affairs of +men are swayed by large forces whose movements may be studied but +cannot be turned, I have ventured to call it "_The Fatalism of the +Multitude_." It is often confounded with the tyranny of the majority, +but is at the bottom different though, of course, its existence makes +tyranny by the majority easier and more complete. . . . In the +fatalism of the multitude there is neither _legal_ nor _moral_ +compulsion; there is merely a loss of _resisting power_, a diminished +sense of personal responsibility of the duty to battle for one's own +opinion, such as has been bred in some people, by the belief of an over +mastering fate." [2] + +One can readily grasp the dangers of Public Opinion at the mercy of +blatant agitators and unscrupulous leaders. They have no idea to +promote, but only a feeling to exploit. They flatter Public Opinion to +gain it. They appear to consult it when in reality they are creating +and directing it. They catch the restless and undirecting currents of +popular feeling when they are seeking an outlet and swing them slowly +at first but with a growing impetus in the channels of their own +interest or of the party they represent. The people are deluded into +thinking that they are their own leaders and masters. The feeling of +unrest that now prevails is due to this abuse of Public Opinion. Like +children the leaders of nations have been playing with this wire of +high voltage. Should we be surprised to see the world suffer deadly +shocks from whence it should receive light and power? + +We are now at one of the most momentous periods of history. Never +have clear thinking, earnest expression and concerted action been more +needed than now. The world is ringing with wild words and dying from +loose thinking. "The persistent statement of principles and the union +of all true conservative forces are absolutely necessary, if we wish to +bring the nation safe through this agonizing period and make the world +safe for democracy," as President Wilson said. + +Therefore we claim that it is for the greatest benefit of the community +at large to have Public Opinion enlightened as to the value of the +Church as a reconstructive factor. + +"_Great have been the Problems of War_!" But, with Clemenceau, we also +are realizing--and some countries, with bitter deception and depressing +sorrow, "_That greater still are the Problems of Peace_." + + + +[1] Vol. II., Chap. II. + +[2] Bryce--"The American Commonwealth," Vol. II., Chap. 84. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE[1] + +(Jo. VIII, 32) + +_Facts--Principles--Policy of the Catholic Truth Society--Its value for +the Church in Western Canada._ + + +Truth and liberty, error and license are inseparable partners. The +measure of truth gives the measure of true liberty, just as the degree of +error tells the degree of bondage. This is a logical necessity, a +natural consequence. The Master emphasized it when He said: "And you +shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free." These pregnant +words of Christ are the charter of Christian civilisation and mark the +passing of expediency as the supreme rule of human liberty. + +This explicit confidence in the abiding power of Truth and in its +necessary relation with our moral and religious life has prompted the +creation of the Catholic Truth Society and inspired its policy. Never +was any Society more useful nor so well adapted to the conditions of +present times. + +The world nowadays is fast drifting from its Christian moorings and +taking to the high seas of modern paganism. The outlook on human life is +as in the days of Greece and Rome. The old cry: _panem et +circeuses_!--is to be found on the lips of our multitudes and reflects +the aspirations of their life. In the social realm, State-monopoly is +fast absorbing the individual and the family, and is heralded as the +supreme ideal of human society. A speedy and complete return to +Christian principles will alone re-establish the world on its proper +axis. Christian Truth shall again make the world free and save it from +the bondage of neo-paganism. For, history and experience prove that +there is nothing more tyrannical than that bondage--let it be the bondage +of Czardom or Bolshevism--which comes to man under the cover and name of +liberty. In the present universal unrest, so widely and so emphatically +voiced throughout the world, the mission of the Catholic Truth Society +appears as most providential. The spreading of Catholic Truth will help +the world to reconquer its liberties and, with them, true civilization. + +To state facts, discuss principles and advocate policies, in connection +with the Catholic Truth Society of Canada, particularly in the West, is +the object of this chapter. + + +_Facts._ + +The Catholic Truth Society was born in England; November 5th, 1884, was +its birthday; Mr. Britten,[2] its honored and devoted parent. The +activities of the Anglican Church inspired this great Catholic layman to +counteract the influence of its propaganda. Tract for tract, pamphlet +for pamphlet, lecture for lecture, advertisement for advertisement was +the plan of campaign of our new militant leader. To marshal all the +tremendous forces of the "printed word" for the service and defence of +Mother Church was his noble ambition. He had implicit faith in the +everlasting vitality which lies concealed in the divine seed of the Word +of God. He knew that by spreading it broadcast, it would necessarily +fall on prepared and expectant soil, germinate and produce a hundred +fold. With the approbation of the Hierarchy and the generous support of +a few intelligent associates, the Society issued devotional, +controversial, historical and dogmatic pamphlets. Small in form, compact +in doctrine, living in expression, these messengers of Truth winged their +way through the world. Little by little the Society's influence has +spread everywhere and proved beyond doubt to be a great factor of +Catholic apostolate in our time. + +For twenty-one years (1888-1909) the annual meeting of the Catholic Truth +Society was the outstanding event of Catholic life in England. It became +the field on which Catholic forces--clergy and laity--met yearly to +exchange ideas, formulate plans, co-ordinate purpose and concentrate +activity. This gathering gave rise to the "National Catholic +Congress"--which now stands out as the annual review, the +"mass-manoeuvre," of the Church militant in England. These meetings have +made of a handful of Catholics, many but neo-converts of yesterday, the +aggressive body we all admire, and from which we, in Canada, have many +things to learn. + +The Editor of the "Universe" in his issue of Sept. 22, 1919, on the +occasion of the C.T.S. Conference in Nottingham, paid a beautiful tribute +to the Society. "This summing up of its activities is in itself an +inspiration and incentive. We are reminded by this Conference of the +debt and duty we owe to the society under whose auspices it meets. The +debt is all-pervading. How many Catholics in this country are there, +teachers or taught, who have not profited directly and personally by the +labour and enterprise, freely given, of the comparatively few who, since +that memorable day of its foundation, November 5, 1884, have maintained, +written for, and contributed to the expenses of the Catholic Truth +Society? It has provided the apologist with an armoury and the teacher +with material; it has saved the scholarly many an hour of troublesome +research; it has given the unlearned instruction suited to their needs; +it has given the masses of our people the popular Catholic literature +they want; it has been a veritable sleuth-hound on the track of traducers +of the Church; it has explained and commended her cause to even greater +numbers outside her pale who were simply ill-informed; it has helped more +souls than anyone will ever be able to count, into the Fold. Moreover, +it has been the fruitful parent of progeny (not always filially grateful) +which extends to-day to the uttermost parts of the earth. And always it +has maintained a standard--which, in fact, it created amongst us--of +material high quality, of intellectual respectability and of religious +solidity, the more worthy of grateful appreciation because not everywhere +fully appreciated. Nor can we forget that the Society is in a real sense +"the work of one man," though never has it been that very different +thing, a "one-man work." No one layman (and very few ecclesiastics) has +done a larger definite and objective work for the Catholic Church in our +time than Mr. Britten." + +Such a record should shame the faint-hearts among us who seem to think +that no corporate efforts are of any use in the world now rushing on to +its own destruction. That it should shame those who take no interest at +all in the progress of their religion, would be too much to hope. + +The mustard seed has become now a great tree; branches have been detached +from the main trunk and transplanted in the various parts of the world. +Ireland, Australia,[3] India,[4] America, Canada, each now has its own +Catholic Truth Society. + +In 1887, six years after the foundation of the parent Society in England, +Canada had a first branch in Toronto. Halifax,[5] Montreal, Winnipeg, +Regina, Saskatoon, Vancouver soon followed suit. Silent and powerful as +the incoming tide, the Society in Canada is working its way into every +diocese and parish of the land. The Society is now incorporated by act +of Federal Parliament, with Head-Office in Toronto, 67 Bond St. Its +noble and just ambition is to weld into one great efficient organization +the various other branches that are in operation here and there +throughout the Dominion. Organization means efficiency, strength and +success. + +The time has come for the Catholic Truth Society in Canada, to create its +own literature, to issue its own pamphlets dealing with the needs and +problems of our own Country. We have been importing from other countries +and have lived until now on their mental activity. But this move demands +unity of purpose and concentration of effort. Moreover, should not this +Dominion-wide organization serve marvellously to rally our dispersed and +disunited forces? There is indeed a sad need of unity in our ranks +to-day. + + +_Principles._ + +The assured possession of truth and the pressing obligation for Catholics +to spread it: these are the two main principles upon which is founded and +exists the Catholic Truth Society. As Catholics, we are absolutely sure +that we have the Truth; as Catholics worthy of the name, we feel in +conscience bound to give it to others. + +The Catholic Church, like Christ, stands at the cross-roads of humanity +and cries out to the passing generations as they come tramping down the +avenues of time: "_Ego sum Veritas, Via et Vita_--I am the Truth, the +Way, the Life." Her kingdom is that very same Kingdom of Truth of which +the Master spoke to Pilate when the latter had asked Him so insolently: +"What is Truth?" Faith gives to everyone of Her children the right to +all the wealth of that Kingdom. + +The self-assurance of the Catholic mind in matters of Religion is a noted +and universal fact which implies necessarily the tranquil possession of +Truth. This certainly is not a blind adherence dictated by fear or +fatalism as some would lead the unwary to believe; but rather, as St. +Paul states, the reasonable subjugation of the mind . . . "_Rationabile +absequium_." The universal unrest and chaotic condition of Christendom +outside of the Catholic Church are in sharp contrast with the unity and +tranquillity of the Catholic mind. This is not the place to prove for +our own pleasure and benefit the security of our position. Christian +Apologetics have vindicated it. + +This security of the Catholic mind extends beyond the sacred domain of +Religion. Catholic philosophy has been justly named the "scientific +justification of common sense." Its principles do not rest on the +capricious fancies of the versatile human mind, as is the case with the +philosophy of the dreamer of Koenigsberg. We only mention here Kant, for +his influence has in our days been tremendous and far reaching. In +Catholic philosophy the mind indeed reflects the objective order of +things and from that order evolves universal laws. This basic truth of +our mental attitude is still more evident when considered in the moral +order. For, when God becomes but a "pure abstraction," and the moral law +solely dependent on the human will, one readily sees where such +philosophy may lead. This "_ego-centric philosophy_" is responsible for +the frame of mind which gifted the world with German "Kultur." Nietzche +taught Germany how to think, and Germany had set out to teach the world +the lessons she had received. As some author remarked, Kant and Nietzche +are responsible for the firing of the Krupp guns. Thus the war has shown +the fallacies of anti-Catholic philosophy. + +From these serene heights of Philosophy, Catholic Truth flows into the +political, social and economic fields of human life. Our principles on +Authority and Liberty, on Capital and Labor, on Family and State, on +Marriage and Education are as solid as the rock, and are recognized as +such, even by leaders who have a different religious persuasion. + +Yes, religious, philosophical, social, political, economic truth we do +possess. But of what use to the world, to the laborer, to the patriot, +to the inquirer, is this truth and the solutions to problems it offers, +if they are not known? If we have the light we cannot hide it under the +bushel. We must place it where it can be seen, where its beneficial rays +can light up the way for those who are "sitting in darkness, in the +shadow of death." + +No Catholic is a Catholic for himself only. Christian Charity imposes +upon us the duty to help our brother. The spreading of Catholic Truth is +one of the great works of Mercy and is as binding as alms-giving for the +relief of temporal want. The love of God and of our neighbour is the +foundation of this obligation. This consciousness of Christian +solidarity whereby the rich come to the rescue of the poor, the learned +help the ignorant, is the driving force behind the Catholic Truth Society. + +With the vision of the Truth and the conscientious impulse to spread it, +the Society is bound to grow in a genuine Catholic soil. We say it +frankly, there is something wanting in a parish where the Catholic Truth +Society meets with no response, creates no interest. The sense of real +Catholicism and the consciousness of the duties it implies are +conspicuous by their absence. There, Christianity does not run deep +enough. This also stands true where the Catholic Church Extension or +other organization of its kind, has no hold. The same principle is at +stake; in both cases deficiency reveals a negative, rather than a +militant Christianity. + + +_Policy._ + +The world nowadays, like Pilate, asks the Church: "What is Truth?" But +like Pilate also, proud of its power, its wealth, and success, it will +not wait for the answer. Yet the Church's mission is to give to the +world that truth after which humanity thirsts. Her mode of dispensation +will vary from age to age. New times, new duties. Her policy is often +suggested by the change of front in the line of the enemy. + +As the "printed word" is now the great vehicle of propaganda, the great +message of Catholic Truth will be given more by print than by speech. +This new apostleship has opened the doors to Catholic lay activity. The +Catholic Truth Society is one of its many forms and should, to be +faithful to its origin, remain a specifically Catholic laymen's movement. + +The policy of the Catholic Truth Society is very broad and embraces a +great variety of activities which all tend to the propagation and defense +of Catholic Truth. + +_Pamphlets_.--The printing and diffusion of pamphlets are characteristic +features of the Society. These winged booklets have come to be most +fruitful transmitters of Catholic Truth. Silent Messengers of truth, +they steal their way into homes and circles where the priest, and even at +times the catholic layman cannot penetrate. Eloquent Preachers, their +voice is heard to the extremities of the earth. Perpetual Missionaries, +they continue the work when the apostle has passed to another field. +They keep the light of faith burning bright in many a lonely +homesteader's cabin on the Prairies of our Great West. How often have we +not seen farmers coming into the Regina Cathedral to fill their pockets +with pamphlets from the book-rack before they returned to their farms +often situated at thirty or forty miles from a Church! Silent +Controversionalists, they give Catholic information and drive the +argument home without offence to the pride of the reader, for, the +personal element of the controversy is eliminated. Their unobtrusiveness +is what the inquirer appreciates in matters of religious research +particularly. + +The _Circulation of Catholic Papers_ and their _remailing_ to those who +live far from large centres and are out of touch with the Church are +other forms of the Apostolate of the Catholic Truth Society. By these +means Catholic printed matter is capital, bearing compound interest and +more. + +Free distribution of leaflets; the Mass register in the hotels and public +places; the information bureau; the bill-board; information about +Catholic Faith given by a Correspondence Guild; circulating libraries; +reading and study circles; reference library; the introduction of +Catholic literature into Public Libraries by creating the demand for +it, . . . these are some of the means through which the Society pursues +its policy. To every wind, we may say, it sows the good seed of truth. + +To fully understand the principles and forward with energy and +perseverance the policy of the Catholic Truth Society, demands an +enthusiastic love of the Church and an abiding confidence in the +conquering power of Truth and in its ultimate triumph. Only a zealous +and aggressive Catholic can grasp this vision and walk in its light. But +the example of the enemy's activities alone should be sufficient to give +us that zeal and aggressiveness. The Dominion is flooded with the +literature of the Methodist Social Service, of the Bible Society, of the +Christian Science, of the Rationalistic Press Association. Their +activities should act on our apathetic Catholics as the gust of wind that +scatters the ashes and fans the smouldering embers to a flame. + +Generous are the hopes founded on the future of the Catholic Truth +Society of Canada. With its far-flung line, from coast to coast, great +are the services it can render to the Church. But there is no field with +greater possibilities for this apostolate of the "printed word" than our +Western Provinces. There the pastors are yet few and the flock very +scattered. The little pamphlet, the Catholic paper will keep the watch +around the lonely settler's faith until the living contact with the +Church's authority and sacraments be renewed. And in the great battle +against religious indifference and profound materialism which are rapidly +spreading over our West, the Catholic Truth Society will make us realize +the saving power of Christianity. . . . "_And you shall see Truth and +Truth shall make you free_." + + + +[1] This Chapter was published in pamphlet form by the Catholic Truth +Society of Canada. + +[2] Cardinal Vaughan and Lady Herbert are the real Founders of the C.T.S. +But Mr. Britten carried out the idea.--It was to be essentially a +lay-movement. + +[3] Australian Catholic Truth Society.--At the annual meeting of the +Australian Catholic Truth Society the report stated that during the year +1919 152,309 pamphlets had been put into circulation, while the total +number published since the foundation of the Society was 1,837,947. The +executive had decided to publish in future 36 penny pamphlets each year, +instead of 24, and trusted that their enterprise would be rewarded with a +substantial increase in the number of subscribers. + +[4] The headquarters of the C.T.S. of India are in Trichinopoly. They +have already their own publications. + +[5] Although the Halifax branch of the C.T.S. does not form a unit of the +C.T.S. of Canada yet it is one of the most active branches in our Country. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A SUGGESTION[1] + +_Importance of the Catholic Press--Requisites for its Success in the +West._ + + +Nowadays the Press is assuredly the greatest factor of the public mind. +For, if public opinion is "King" and "Master" of the modern world, the +"Press" is his "Prime Minister." Between these two great forces there +is a continuous action and reaction; the Press is at the same time the +moulder and mirror of public opinion. + +We all know how the world has turned this mighty weapon against the +Catholic Church. To create an anti-Catholic opinion, to surround the +Church--its authority, its practices--with an atmosphere of prejudice +and antagonism has always been the aim of the non-Catholic press. Of +late this campaign has become so universal and so violent "that were +St. Paul to live among us, he would become a journalist," said +Archbishop Ireland. Repeatedly the Pontiffs of Rome have urged the +faithful to contribute to the support of the Catholic Press. "In vain +you will build churches," said Pius X, "give missions, found schools; +all your works, all your efforts will be destroyed if you are not able +to wield the defensive and offensive weapon of a loyal and sincere +Catholic Press." + +The Catholics of Western Canada should have these words of the beloved +Pontiff continually before their minds. There is no place in Canada +where this vital factor, the Catholic Press, is of such an absolute +necessity. In our sparsely settled Provinces the Catholic paper is the +greatest help of the priest. It prepares, keeps, and perfects his work +and very often is the only silent messenger of the Church's teachings +on the lonely prairie. Isolation from all Catholic life, from its +teachings, its authority, its sacraments, has created through Western +Canada a tremendous leakage in the Church. This leakage can be stopped +to a certain extent by the active service of a good Press. The +Catholic paper, indeed, reacts as an antitoxin against the virus of +unbelief and indifferentism which a non-Catholic atmosphere is bound to +spread. In its columns we find the answers to the misrepresentations +and slanders which bigotry is ever throwing at the Church. But above +all it is through the medium of the Catholic paper that the lonely +Western settler enters into what we would call the larger life of the +Church. We are too prone to think of and judge the Church by what we +see of Her in our own nearest surroundings. We lose sight of Her +Catholicity and forget that greater life which is ever pulsating +throughout the world. The reading of the Catholic paper breaks down +the narrow walls of parochialism, provincialism and nationalism, and +introduces its readers into the more serene and more spacious regions +of Catholic life. This is, in our opinion, the greatest benefit one +can derive from the assiduous and intelligent reading of a good, +active, Catholic paper. + +Australia and New Zealand have understood the imperative necessity, the +paramount importance of a Catholic Press. "The Freeman's Journal," +"The Southern Cross," "The Catholic Press," "The New Zealand Tablet," +are widely circulated weekly papers that keep Catholic life so intense +in those distant colonies. What the Catholics of Australia have done, +why can we not, in Western Canada, do likewise? + +One cannot, indeed, over-estimate the value of a Catholic paper, +especially in a sparsely settled country where the Church has yet but +missions, where the visits of the priest and the teachings of the +Gospel are intermittent, where the Catholics are lost among people of +different faith and often of hostile feeling. But, if we wish our +Catholic Press to fulfil its noble mission, it must be received as an +expected and welcomed friend, and not, as often is the case, as an +intruder, a sickly visitor who imposes himself more or less on our +faith and generous nature. + +What then are the conditions of genuine success for a Catholic paper? +_Vigour in policy, extensiveness in circulation_: these are the two +essential conditions of success. The Catholic paper in a community +must be a live-wire of high voltage, carrying light, heat, and power, +and not a mere telegraphic-cable repeating what others have already +said, or serving as a safety valve for the overflow of local gossip. +The news and issues of general interest should be so combined with +local topics as to awaken and keep the attention of the reader. + +Circulation is also fundamental in journalism as well as in the human +system. It carries life into the whole organism and is the warrant of +success. The moment circulation becomes stagnant and loses hold of the +people, the paper is but a ghost. Poor circulation is what gives to so +many Catholic papers such languid existence. + +How can we create these conditions of success for the Catholic Press in +Western Canada, where its need is so deeply felt? There is the crux of +the present situation. Our scattered and comparatively small +population, even in our cities, the extreme difficulty of securing and +keeping managers and editors suited for this work, the indifference and +spirit of commercialism which characterize Western Canada: all these +factors tend to render precarious the life of a Catholic paper. And +still the crying need is there; how are we to meet it? + +This leads us to make a suggestion which would help to solve the +problem of the Catholic Press in the West. The beautiful work of the +Catholic Press in France has prompted it. + +The society of "La Bonne Presse" issues a weekly paper, "La Croix." +This paper has different issues for the different parts of France. At +the central office, in Paris, exists a well organized "boiler-plate" +service for general Catholic news and opinions. These "boiler-plates" +are shipped to all the sub-stations, where, during the week are +composed the pages of local news, editorials, advertisements, etc. +This is the most economical and most efficient modern method of +publishing several papers or different issues of the one paper. + +Our circulation in Western Canada would not perhaps yet warrant such an +organization. But working along the same lines, could we not have _one +paper_, with _different issues_ for the different Prairie Provinces? +This would necessitate a chief editor for the editorials of general +character, common to all--and a sub-editor in each Province who could +also act as manager in his section of the country. To write editorials +adapted to the ever-changing needs of his Province, answer those who +attack the Church in our local papers, guide our Catholics in the +various issues which are discussed in the Province, and control the +correspondence for the different news centres, would be the duties of +this sub-editor. + +One central printing plant would be sufficient. Being a weekly paper, +the printing and mailing do not matter much, provided the plant were +not too far from the extreme points of circulation. With the exception +of the composition of the specific pages of each issue, according to +Provinces, the general overhead expenses of printing and remailing +would be the same, and yet we would have a _local Catholic paper_. +This plan of unification would allow us, without heavy expenses, to +answer efficiently the local needs of each diocese and each Province. + +We have the "Northwest Review." It possesses a splendid equipment and +could easily duplicate its actual out-put. Why could we not take that +paper, and have a Manitoba, a Saskatchewan, and an Alberta edition? +The plant is there, and why could not all Catholics take full advantage +of it, at a price with which no local or provincial Catholic paper +could compete, at least in the present circumstances. It would require +"a subeditor-manager" in each Province to direct the provincial policy +of his specific edition and manage its circulation in every Catholic +community. This plan would be workable until the time when success +would warrant in each Province a local printing plant, having at its +service a "boiler plate" supply from the main office. + +The possibilities and opportunities for the Catholic Press have never +been greater than they are now. Never and nowhere has its need been +more commanding than it is now in Western Canada. In this period of +social reconstruction, efficient organization and combination of all +energies are necessary. Organization implies leadership, and able +leadership needs the support of publicity to create sane opinions, to +spread and defend them. + + + +[1] This Chapter was published as an article in the "North West +Review," Winnipeg, June 1st, 1918, under the following caption--"Timely +Suggestions on needs of Catholic Press in West--Constructive attempt to +solve problem which has engaged attention for many years." + +The following editorial remarks accompanied its publication. "We are +indebted to Rev. Father Daly, C.SS.R., of Regina, for a thoughtful +contribution on the needs of the Catholic Press in Western Canada. +This subject is by no means new. Most people have had a fling at it +one time or another, and those have been most insistent as a rule who +have known least about it. The article under consideration, however, +which may be found upon another page, besides pointing out the +difficulties which must be encountered and overcome, outlines a +constructive policy which should engage the earnest attention of the +Catholic public. A scheme of development is there in broad outline and +it is with particular pleasure that we call our readers' attention to +it. We would ask them to study it--particularly those who have had +some practical experience in newspaper work--and to give us the benefit +of their thought and experience. A special invitation is extended to +our staff of faithful correspondents and contributors who have stuck to +their posts through fair weather and foul at considerable expense and +inconvenience to themselves. They are in a position to realize in a +very special manner the difficulties of the situation and their +suggestions should prove invaluable. If everyone interested would +expend a fraction of the energy wasted in destructive criticism in +working out a scheme of practical operation along constructive lines +much good would result therefrom. Suggestions need not necessarily be +for publication. Any communication marked "not for publication" shall +be, needless to state, regarded as private and confidential. But let +all help. An old newspaper maxim is to the effect that the printer's +devil has ideas that the editor or business manager would pay good +money for." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE NEW CANADIAN + +_Immigration!--Are We ready for It?_ + + +Demobilization is over. Canada has settled down to the work of +"Reconstruction." Already the eyes of every serious minded Canadian +scan the horizon, wondering if these transatlantic liners now bound for +our ports carry in their dark hulls hosts of new settlers. Immigration +is the topic of the hour. Confronted as we are by a fabulous national +debt, GREATER PRODUCTION is the only solution. This intense and +extensive development of agriculture and industry necessarily involves +immigration.--Immigration is therefore an economic necessity. + +War-wearied nations of Europe are just waking up to the realities of +conditions. The dark cloud has lifted only to show everywhere silent +industries and desolate fields. Thousands and hundreds of thousands +are turning their eyes to the "New World"--as to the "_Land of +Opportunity_." They need Canada to break away from a gloomy past, just +as Canada needs them to build a bright and prosperous future. + +Opinions may vary as to the time when immigration will be once more at +its height, but all seem to agree on the certainty of the fact.[1] +Probably the British Isles will open the march in the onward rush to +Canada; Continental Europe will follow in their wake. Already the +various philanthropic and religious organizations are preparing to +welcome the new-comer to our Shores. + +Misdirected and unsupervised immigration has been for the Church in the +past a great source of leakage. Here and there noble and zealous +efforts have been made to prevent these losses; but they were local and +spasmodic. It was only a few years previous to the outbreak of the war +that a Catholic Immigration Society for the Dominion was formed. The +Reverend Abbe Casgrain was its Founder and Director. Homes and +agencies were opened in every large city. Let us hope that this +Dominion-wide organization will once more soon become a reality. A +priest in full charge of its organization and responsible for its +efficiency is, we believe, the main condition of success. And indeed +immigration is in Canada one of those problems that over-lap the +boundaries of dioceses and provinces and call for the co-operation and +co-ordination of all forces. A leader, with the sanction and backing +of the Hierarchy, will be the binding link between the various helping +factors and will prevent immigration becoming "nobody's business" just +because "it is everybody's business." This method of an organized and +responsible unity will alone straighten out our line of defence from +Halifax to Vancouver, and pinch out the various salients of enemy +forces that are always and everywhere at work. + +But who will carry out this leader's policy, once thought out and +approved of? As our Catholic Immigration Society is about to +reorganize its forces to meet new conditions, may we be allowed to +offer a suggestion? The Knights of Columbus have just finished the +great work of their "Army Huts." During the war and particularly +during the demobilization, they had trained secretaries, hotels, +recreation rooms, for the welfare of our soldiers. This work has +placed them in the field of "Social Service" and given them a standing +in the community at large. Now why could not that organization be +maintained and serve the purpose of Catholic Immigration? + +The Knights of Columbus are indeed ready for the task. Their chain of +huts from coast to coast link together our main centres; their trained +secretaries who have enlisted the sympathetic co-operation of devoted +ladies; the very nature of the Order, Dominion-wide in its organization +and spreading beyond the boundaries of any particular Province, +everything seems now to invite them to turn their efforts to the great +Cause of Immigration. During the war they worked side-by-side with the +Red Triangle (Y.M.C.A.) and the Red Shield (S.A.). As these +organizations are now intensely taking up what they call +"Canadianization" work in its various aspects, is it befitting, would +you think, for our Knights to drop out of the field? Should they not, +on the contrary, prepare to "carry on"--as their brother Knights are +doing across the border? The example they are giving there to the +Catholic laity is simply wonderful. It is an object lesson that has +awakened the tremendous energies that lie dormant in the ranks of the +Catholic laymen and only want the spark of "leadership" to ignite them. +And indeed no work should appeal more to the Knights, for it places +them in their true sphere of action. It opens up long vistas of +"Social religious work," by giving them the consciousness of the +religious solidarity and the feeling of their social and national +responsibilities. With that vision, under that impulse, they walk from +their Council Chambers into the very life of the Church and of the +Nation. They assume in all reality their office of a _Loyal +Body-guard_. For, in this matter, our contention is that where the +Knights of Columbus' Order is not wedded to some definite programme of +action, in harmony with its aim and constitution, it ceases to be an +asset and will soon go to seed, or die of dry rot. + + * * * * * * + +The following would be a summary of activities to be undertaken in +connection with Immigration work. This is merely an outline that may +help in drawing up a more exhaustive plan of action. + +1. _Permanent Secretaries_.--In our estimation, a permanent, trained +and well-paid secretary is the condition of genuine success. The time +has passed to have to depend on voluntary and untrained service. Times +have changed and methods also. The permanency of a secretary gives to +our work stability and promise of intense life. This has been the +secret of the success of other organizations that we could afford to +imitate. + +Moreover this secretaryship can become the mother-cell of various +activities which eventually will branch off--_i.e._, Welfare Bureau, +Information Bureau, etc., etc. This therefore should be our first +preoccupation, for on it depend the life and prosperity of our +Immigration Work. + +2. _Ladies' Auxiliary_.--Local Women's organization can be called upon +to bring their sympathetic support to the carrying out of this work of +Catholic Immigration. Generous and devoted women are always to be +found to whom this work will appeal. Their natural sympathy and their +great faith make them always the "Real Workers." The very same ladies +who helped so wonderfully in our patriotic work could continue to place +their kindness and devotedness at the Service of this great Catholic +Cause. We only need, we are sure, to call on them, and organize their +various forces. Why should not "The Catholic Women's League" have its +branch from coast to coast and take up everything of interest to the +Catholic Womanhood of Canada, and thereby, to the Church also? + +This would have a great bearing on various issues and offer a great +medium for organized opinion and co-ordinated action. Has not the time +come when our women forces have to organize and unite into one great +Canadian Catholic Body? + +3. _Literature, Publicity_.--We are living in an age when literature +and publicity are the great vehicles of public opinion. We need, to +carry on the work successfully, plenty of good literature and +efficient, sane publicity. The hour has come to walk right out in the +open and nail our sign to the post at every cross-way. Our Catholic +Immigrants are entitled to this service which will offset the +influences of dangerous agencies that meet them too often as they set +foot on our shores. + +A new map of Western Canada with designations of Churches and Missions, +with resident or non-resident priests is needed. The map published +before the war would have to be revised, for the growth of the Church +has been wonderful--in certain dioceses particularly. Attractive +booklets giving useful information and warning the incoming immigrants +against the specific dangers he is liable to meet with; folders and +cards with addresses of the nearest Catholic churches and rectories, +with 'phone number of the Catholic Bureau, should be ready on hand. A +list of the various offices of the Society and of other Catholic Social +Centres should also be now prepared. This, we may remark, is very +important and demands careful study and experience. A short snappy +leaflet very often goes further than a diluted booklet. What others +have done or are doing in this line will be of great help. Before the +war the Catholic Immigration Society of Canada had such literature. +The Catholic Truth Society of Canada could co-operate in this matter. + +To reach the Catholic immigrant and emigrant is very often a problem of +_publicity_. Posters on the docks, in the railroad stations and other +prominent places, cards, notices on the bulletin-boards of the steamers +and hotels, distribution of leaflets on boats and trains, copies of +current activities in the newspapers, advertising in our papers and +papers abroad, listing of the Catholic Bureau with other similar work +in the city, are some of the means to keep our work before the public. +Let us not be afraid to place our name where it can be seen. We cannot +afford to hide our light under the bushel. Let it burn bright, to +attract and guide our Catholic brother as he comes to our shores and +goes through our country. + +4. _Co-operation_.--Co-operation of all our bureaus with our Catholic +Societies of Emigration of England, Ireland, etc., with Canadian +Government bureaus, Federal and Provincial and various other benevolent +organizations in Canada, as Traveller's Aid, etc., will be a marked and +appreciated aid to our work. And when others will see us at "Our +Father's work," they will refer our own to us. This is the ordinary +experience of all engaged in Social Service activities. + +The Catholic Emigration Society of England has been recently formed and +is preparing for the exodus that will follow the inauguration of the +Government schemes for assisting ex-Service men. This Society will +work on national lines with international co-operation. The "Universe" +of Sept. 26, 1919, gives us an account of the first meeting. The +movement is endorsed by the Hierarchy and representatives of Catholic +life in the British Isles, Canada, Australia and South-Africa. + +5. _Finance_.--Naturally this work will demand funds. Catholic Charity +will come to our rescue as this is certainly a work of preservation +which should appeal to any zealous Catholic. And what others have been +able to do, why could we not find means to do? + +But in this work the Canadian Government will give a helping hand. The +authorities in Ottawa will be the first to appreciate what we will do +for our new Canadians. In a recent memoir submitted to the Premiers of +our various Provinces the social welfare of the immigrants was one of +the topics to which particular attention was given. We can see that +the Government will be ready to subsidize social work in Immigration, +provided there is no over-lapping. There will be subsidies for our +work, if we are organized and ask for them. When looking over the +amounts distributed to various Immigrations Societies, we see, for +instance, in 1913-1914 the Salvation Army receiving a subsidy of over +$22,000, while all the Catholic Immigration Societies received only +about $6,000. We conclude that it is simply because we did not ask for +our "Pound of Flesh." + + * * * * * * + +Should not, therefore, the work of Catholic Immigration with all its +wonderful possibilities for the welfare of Church and Country, appeal +to our Canadian Knights of Columbus? Many and many a settler has been +lost to the Church--he, his children and future generations--because +perhaps no one was there to receive him on his arrival in his new +Country, to help him to settle where there was a church, a priest, and +a Catholic school. No one needs more the help of his Catholic brother +than the immigrant, who has just broken away with a past made up of +customs, friendships, racial feelings, of all that is dear to man's +heart, and faces an enigmatic future. + +The long procession which we have seen in the years of intense +immigration, winding its way through our cities and losing itself on +the plains of the West, is about to start again. Shall we be there to +welcome and direct it? + +_Knights of Columbus, what is your answer_? + + + +[1] 200,000 are expected to come to Canada in 1921 from the British +Isles alone. Hon. J. H. Calder, Minister of Immigration, made this +statement. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +UT SINT UNUM + +_A Catholic Congress of the Western Provinces, the Ultimate Solution of +Their Problems--What is a Congress?--Its Utility--Its Necessity--A +Tentative Programme._ + + +To know a problem, to probe its nature, and to analyze its various +factors frequently lead to an easy and happy solution. But as Church +problems are mostly of a complex nature and cover a wide range, they +necessarily depend for their solution on the co-operation of the +various component units. This explains why we would now appeal to the +Church of the West as a whole, for the solving of the problems dealt +with in this book. Of their nature they out-distance the boundaries of +parish and diocese, for they affect the Church as a whole. Without +wishing to disparage the value of parochial and diocesan activities, we +claim that the issues we have placed before our readers are not +confined within the imaginary lines of the parochial unit or the +boundaries of jurisdiction. They will not be met with rightly and +successfully, if the Church as a unit does not agree on a uniform plan +of action. For, to prevent a deplorable waste of potential powers, of +misdirected energies and of overlapping work, to forward the great +cause of the Church and realize its Catholic aspirations, to present a +united front to common dangers, the union and co-operation of all the +parishes and all the dioceses are an absolute necessity. + +Never has the Church in Canada felt so keenly the necessity of this +union and co-operation. An acute sense of uneasiness has spread, far +and broad, apathy and lethargy. Instinctively eyes turn to the heights +from whence they have a right to expect direction and help. The +necessity of some INTER-DIOCESAN ORGANIZATION, along the lines of the +National Catholic Welfare Council of the United States, is the +outspoken conviction of many and the unexpressed desire of all. We are +weak in our divided strength. The criticism of both clergy and laity +in this matter is widespread and very often justifiable. We could +willingly endorse what Cardinal Newman wrote to a friend: "Instead of +aiming at being a world-wide power, we are shrinking into ourselves, +narrowing the lines of communion, trembling at freedom of thought, and +using the language of dismay and despair at the prospect before us, +instead of the high spirit of the warrior going out conquering and to +conquer."--(Life, by Ward II, p. 127.) + +"_Ut sint unum!_" "That they may be one!" This is the supreme +solution of the weighty problems now facing the Church at this crucial +period of readjustment and reconstruction. A general Congress would +crystallize, we believe, our desires for unity into a concrete fact. +It would help to group the various thoughts and workable schemes around +a definite plan and stimulate activities in view of its realization. +Some may find it rather presumptuous on our part to formulate such a +proposal. Our sincerity and loyalty to the great Cause in view is our +only excuse. + + +_What is a Catholic Congress_? + +A Catholic Congress--be it provincial, regional, national or simply +diocesan--is the meeting of Catholic clergy and laity under the +guidance of the Hierarchy, for the _study_ of various problems, the +_development and coordination of energies_, the _unification and +concentration_ of purpose. + +The members of the Congress are delegates from the various parishes, +from social, mutual and diocesan organizations. It is of absolute +necessity that the laity be well represented, for the Congress is the +great school of "social action," the great medium of educating the +Catholic body and developing the sense of Catholic social +responsibility. + +The guidance of our Fathers in Christ, the Hierarchy, ensures to the +Congress its value, its authority--_Posuit Episcopos regere Ecclesiam +Dei_. + +The object of the meeting is to give to Catholic life, by the perfect +organization and coordination of all its moral, social and religious +activities, its maximum of efficiency. This necessitates the _study of +the problems of the day_ in their relation with Catholic principles. +Therefore the Congress is a readjustment of our vision to the +everchanging conditions of society; desuete methods are dropped and +methods more in harmony with the necessities of the times are examined, +approved of and adopted. It affords an opportunity to discuss public +questions, to educate and crystallize public opinion on the Catholic +view-point of pending problems. This readjustment is, in our +estimation, one of the greatest benefits of a Congress, for without it +there is waste of energies and danger of compromise on the part of the +most zealous. + +The _development_ and _co-ordination of energies_ will be the natural +sequel of this general exchange of ideas, of this universal +consultation of the Catholic body. When we shall have counted our +resources we shall then easily marshal existing forces, create new +battalions for the defence and peaceful promotion of Catholic doctrine, +liberties, and influence. + +_To give unity of purpose_ to the various Catholic organizations, to +direct the loyal active co-operation of every unit towards the greatest +welfare of the Church, in one word, to create Catholic solidarity, is +the ultimate aim and supreme triumph of a Catholic Congress. + +This congress therefore, stands for the mobilization of the Catholic +army for manoeuvres, and does not mean a mere pageant, a complacent +exhibition of our numbers, the platonic rehearsal of our past glories +and great achievements. "We are here to do a work, and not to make a +show," should we say with Cardinal Manning. + +The _Golden Rule_ that presides over, and directs this exchange of +thoughts, this study of problems, this marshalling of our forces, has +always been: _In necessariis unitas, in dubiis, libertas, in omnibus +charitas--Unity in essentials; liberty in non-essentials; charity in +all things_. There is no reason whatever why a Congress should be ever +aggressive. Destructive criticism leads nowhere. But there is every +reason why a Congress should be perpetually active and "destructively +constructive." + + +_Should We have a Catholic Congress of the Western Provinces_? + +The utility and necessity of a Catholic Congress will be an adequate +answer to this question-- + +_Utility of Catholic Congresses_. + + +Benedict XV in his letter to the American Hierarchy, March, 1919, +underlines very strongly the utility of these Catholic Meetings, "We +learn," says the Holy Father, "that you have unanimously resolved that +a yearly meeting of all the Bishops shall be held at an appointed place +in order to adapt means most suitable of promoting the interest and +welfare of the Catholic Church and that you appointed from among the +Bishops two commissions, one of which to deal with _social questions_, +while the other will study _educational problems_, and both will report +to their Episcopal brethren. This is truly a worthy resolve and with +the utmost satisfaction We bestow upon it our approval." + +"It is indeed wonderful how greatly the progress of Catholicism is +favored by those frequent assemblies of the Bishops, which our +Predecessors have more than once approved. When the knowledge and the +experience of each are communicated to all the Bishops, it will be +easily seen what errors are secretly spreading and how they can be +extirpated; what threatens to weaken discipline among clergy and people +and how best the remedy can be applied; what movements if any, either +local or nation wide, are afoot for the control or judicious restraint +of which the wise direction of the Bishop may be most helpful." + +"It is not enough however, to cast out evil; good work must at once +take its place and so these men are incited by mutual example. Once +admitted that the _harvest depends upon the method and the means_, it +follows easily, that the assembled Bishops returning to their +respective dioceses, will rival one another in reproducing those works, +which they have seen elsewhere in operation to the distinct advantage +of the Faithful." + +Great indeed are the advantages that accrue to the Church, in its +social influence particularly, from a Congress. And indeed, since on +Catholic principles alone depend the solution of the social problem, +the welfare of Church and State alike requires that Catholics in every +condition of life should co-operate in the application of those +principles. The influence of the Church in these matters depends not +only on her official teaching, but greatly on the social activities of +Her children. These activities translate into tangible facts Her +doctrines on justice and charity, and thus spread the beneficial +influence of Her teachings. + +The specific end of the Congress is to develop, co-ordinate, and direct +these social activities of Catholics and bring their influence to bear +upon the community at large. _Instaurare omnia in Christo_ . . . is +the programme of such gatherings. + +The Congress (1) establishes a Catholic platform and rallies our forces +around it, by creating a social solidarity, (2) enables our existing +institutions and societies to extend their activities by the +co-ordination of efforts; (3) facilitates the creation of new +organizations to meet specific needs. "We cannot," writes Father +Plater, S.J., "stand aloof from secular movements, neither may we +wholly surrender ourselves to them. We must by common study bring them +to the test of Catholic principles and we must by common action bend +them to the great issues of which the world is losing sight." + +Moreover, once the Catholic laity has been lured into taking active +part in social work, once it feels that it is no more a dead unit but a +living factor, the Congress becomes a necessity, for it then serves as +the mental background that throws its work in relief and keeps the +fires of enthusiasm burning. + + +_Necessity of a Catholic Congress at the Present Time_. + +The absolute _absence of unity and cohesion_ in our various social +activities; the momentous _period of reconstruction_ with its +far-reaching consequences in our national, political, social and +economic life; the _examples_ given to us by other _Catholic countries_ +and by our own enemies; these three and potent reasons urge, in our +estimation, the calling of a Congress to get our bearings and to +discuss ways and means of action. + +The deplorable lack of unity in the Church of Canada is obvious and can +be traced to many causes. Racial and language conflicts particularly, +have divided our forces, absorbed our activities, narrowed our views +and made us forget the Catholic view-point of greater problems. But +times and ideas are changing. Never, we believe has the feeling of our +divisions and dissensions been so acute; never has the demand for +united action been so imperative as now. The distressing times through +which the world is passing have forced upon us issues which will +require the united strength of Catholic forces. + +United action, so much desired and so desperately needed, requires a +_uniform plan_ and an _authoritative leadership_. A Congress will give +us these two elements of a much desired unity. + +Too long, we believe, have Catholic social activities been directed +along purely parochial and diocesan lines. The isolated action of +parishes, especially in our cities, is no longer able to grapple with +and solve our modern complex problems. Parochialism is conducive to +the enjoyment of the Church's beneficial influences, but often leads us +to forget our responsibilities to the Church Universal. "Parochialism +is the clog on the wheel of united Catholic Action in Canada." +(Canadian Freeman, Nov. 13, 1919.) And even on a broader field have we +not seen conflicting directions and abstinence of necessary +interference, precisely because the issues were seen in different +quarters from different angles. So, a united plan of action which is +so absolutely necessary for efficient work cannot be obtained without +consultation and exchange of ideas. + +This unity of plan will bring the Catholic consciousness to a focus. +It will create an intelligent interest in Catholic social work, and +lead to the gradual formation of various specific social organizations. +When luminous rays are brought to a focus their light and heat are most +intense. + +The best concerted plans, the greatest enthusiasm to execute them, will +be of no avail without leadership. For the secret of the success and +usefulness of an organization is to be found in the ability, character +and ideals of its leader. Never perhaps in Canada, has the absence of +authoritative leadership, especially among the Catholic laity, been +felt so keenly as at the present trying period. Let us hear an +authoritative writer on the matter: + +"When the great buzz and stir of rebuilding comes and the interchange +and counterchange of ideas begin, the newly awakened folk will begin to +enquire what the Church has to say and to suggest on every ethical and +religious problem that comes up in the course of planning and +discussion. But they will wish to know, not in the terms in which +great minds of the past have formulated Catholic teaching, but in the +speech and with the illustrations of contemporary life. What we need +is Catholic intellectual leadership to interpret in a way they can +understand, the deep ethical truths of Catholic ethics, dogmas, which +are a guide to the reconstructive activities of all time. Without +changing a jot of the unchangeable truth, new series of interpretations +can be given to Catholic dogma, morals, ethics, with explanations that +will catch the ear of the intelligent non-Catholic, give him in his own +idiom the solid gist of Catholic Doctrine and appeal to him with the +simple eloquence that Truth always has, when presented in the proper +way." (Father Garesche, S.J., America, Dec. 28.) For, as the Editor of +the Universe said, commenting on the death of Sir Mark Sykes, "The +secret of ideal Catholic leadership lies in a passionate desire for the +Catholic good inseparable from the common good, combined with a +complete aloofness from any sectional interest." + +Now, we may ask, what has given to Catholic France, Catholic Belgium, +Catholic England, these eminent leaders who in public and social life, +are by their fearless courage and ceaseless action, the very +personification of Catholicism? It is without doubt their Catholic +Congresses. There, the contact with the great problems of the day gave +them the vision of things before unseen, made them emerge from the +common mass, and marked them as leaders. There, they learned to think +just, broad and deep. The great Congresses of Catholic Germany brought +Windthorst to the foreground and made him the leader of the greatest +Catholic organization. What the Congresses have done for Catholic +Germany, Belgium, France and England, they will also do for Canada. +They will give us true leaders, men of clear vision, of indomitable and +fearless will, of patient and persevering action. For _mistaken +leadership is still a greater calamity than the absence of it_. The +Plenary Council of Quebec urges the Catholics of Canada to meet in +Congress: "_Qui quidem in talium caetuum frequentia liberius poterunt +et validius sui nominis professionem sustinere, hostiles impetus +propulsare_." In the mind of the great Pope Leo XIII, whose words are +here quoted, "a Congress is the most powerful offensive and defensive +weapon." Quebec Plenary Council--No. 441, d. + + * * * * * * + +We may then conclude with a French writer: "_A Congress is a sacrament +of unity_." It will visualize to the modern pagan for whom unity of +doctrine means nothing, the tremendous powers, the living influences +that flow from that same unity on the world. And for the Catholics at +large it will now answer to a widespread, deep-seated longing for a +more effective national Catholic unity of action. + +Yes, at all times, a Congress is a necessity for united action; but in +the troubled periods we now face, after the war, it becomes a factor of +supreme interest and of the most vital importance. + + * * * * * * + +_Reconstruction_ is the world's watch-word as nations rise from the +ruins a long protracted and universal war has accumulated around them. + +The period of reconstruction, more than that of the war, will test our +national fibre. The problems we face are in extent, in character, in +complexity greater than at any other period of history. The strain +will be greater, for the conflict is being lifted to a higher plane, +that of ideas. And ideas are the supreme realities, the dynamic forces +that rule the world, the fulcrum that shifts the axis of the world's +civilization. + +In these momentous times, the isolation of Catholics would be a +_calamity_; their participation, a _blessing_, for Church and country. +To stand aloof from the solution of the problems that stare us in the +face and insistently demand attention and solution, to confine our +efforts solely to parochial institutions and not enter into the broader +field of public life is for Catholics, at this hour, nothing short of a +calamity. The consequences of this abstention will be to limit our +action to mere protestation and often useless defence, when our +principles are assailed and our positions in danger, when a leakage, +through the social activities of others, is but too manifest. Let us +on the contrary, turn the energies we lose in mere defence to +constructive work, and our positions will be safer, and our principles +better appreciated. "_Our liberties are best defended when Catholics +throw themselves into the stream of public life_." + +And does not Catholic doctrine stand essentially for constructive +forces in the social, political and economic life of a country? We +possess the foundation, the plans, the material of all true and lasting +social reconstruction. The Gospel and the natural law form the +rock-bottom foundation; the definite and unchanging principles of +morality are its structural lines; justice is as the steel girders and +charity the fast-binding cement. + +"At the present day," wrote Professor G. Toniolo, the eminent Catholic +Italian economist, "the great Encyclicals of Leo XIII, which, sustained +by the common light of the Evangelical teachings of Christian +philosophy and Revelation, have illuminated all the phases of social, +civil and political knowledge in harmonious, logical connections. At +the present day we possess a unified complex of sociological teachings, +brought together in a system, which rests against the supernatural, +which measures up to the problems of our age, which, absorbing +everything, takes unto itself all that is true in modern science and is +proven by experience, and thus is prepared to oppose successfully a +positivistic, materialistic and anti-Christian sociology." + +Yes, we possess the true solution of modern problems and . . . what are +we doing to give it to the world, to the community in which we live? +Why, the very fabric of social order is questioned, our working men are +absorbing everywhere the most subversive doctrines; the relations +between capital and labor are strained to a breaking-point; our +industrial system is controlled by economic theories divorced from +ethics, whereby the worker is a mere producer; the State-monopoly is +gradually spreading its influences as huge tentacles, around our most +sacred liberties; the equilibrium between liberty and authority--these +two poles of Christian civilization--is being displaced; . . . and what +are the activities of the Catholic body, as a whole, in Canada, to stem +the rising tide? A sermon, now and then, on Socialism or on the rights +and duties of labour, will not solve the problems and extinguish the +volcano upon which we are peacefully living. In our cities, the +housing problem, which involves to a great extent, the moral life of +the masses, is acute; the white slave traffic has established its +haunts and commercialized vice; the moving picture-show has become +everywhere the most popular educational factor: at its school the young +generation, eyes riveted on the flickering screen, is drinking in the +alluring lessons of free love, divorce and every anti-Christian +doctrine; our ports will soon see a new tide of immigration invade our +shores; the non-catholic denominations are crumbling away under the +very weight of their destructive and disintegrating principle of +private judgment; we are surrounded with pagans to whom the +supernatural religion of Christianity is but a name or a memory; from +our great West comes the urgent cry for help, for men and money; the +Church Extension, as the watchman in the night is crying out to our +uninterested Catholics--"the day is coming, the night is +coming"--meaning that the faint streak on the eastern horizon may be +the last rays of a dying day or the first blush of a new dawn; . . . +and what are we doing? Here and there, a spasmodic effort, a generous +outburst of zeal--the work of some society, parish or diocese. While, +what we need now is the combined effort of all the Catholics. This +will only be obtained through a Congress. What we need is _organized +opinion_. The modern world is very sensitive to _organized +opinion_.--Let us get together! We only need leaders to see our +opinion become "_articulate and authoritative_" and make its weight +felt in public life. Never has a Congress been more necessary than +now. Without it, Catholics will not take part in reconstruction, for a +Congress alone can unite us and give us the guarantee that our energies +will not be "frittered away by overlapping and friction." + +There is a great moral tide now running in the world, said President +Wilson in his toast to the King of England . . . and that tide is the +great opportunity for Catholic social principles to take the high sea +of public life. Let us therefore, like the skilful mariner, count with +this set of the tide and catch it at its crest. "There is a tide in +the affairs of nations like that of men, which when taken at the flood +leads on to glory. If we do not direct the ideas that are awork in the +seething mind of the world, they will spend their energies in +retributive destruction," wrote the Philosopher President of the United +States. + +"The thrilling opportunities of the time, we will say with Father +Garesche, S.J., should stir us to the depths of our souls' capacity +with enthusiasm, energy and sacrifice. . . . Our realization of the +needs and chances of the Church and the world, should stir us to the +utmost of personal effort." + + * * * * * * + +_Exempla Trahunt_.--The great benefits that have ensued from a general +consultation or meeting of the _body Catholic in various countries_ +form the best standing proof of their value. In England the annual +conference of the Catholic Truth Society and other federated Societies, +is the leading event of Catholic life. It has developed among the +English Catholic laity, a militant, virile Catholicism, most remarkable +for its aggressive policy and wonderful for its array of social +organizations, as one may readily learn from the "Hand-book of Catholic +Charitable and Social work" published by the C. T. Society of London. +Who does not know the wonderful results of the yearly Catholic +Congresses of Germany before the war? We would refer the reader to the +wonderful book of Father Plater, S.J., "Catholic Social Work in +Germany." To the same source may be traced the great social activities +of Catholics in France and Belgium. In 1919 the Catholics of Holland +met at Utrecht, and in a national general convention, discussed the +Catholic view-point of burning questions--political, social and +spiritual. The results of their united efforts are already tangible. +Legislation favourable to Catholic Schools has been enacted; a Catholic +University is being founded; the Catholic press is a power; sane social +legislation has been adopted. + +An example that may strike home better, is one that comes from our +brethren in the United States. Federation has already accomplished +wonders among our American Catholics and is welding into one great unit +the various societies of the Church in that immense country. This +federation is only in its infancy and already its action has created a +mental attitude which makes united action, in various spheres, a +reality. The annual meetings of the Catholic Education Association, of +the Catholic Hospitals, of Catholic Charities, of Catholic Press make +good our statement. These gatherings have broadened the outlook and +sympathies of the American Catholics in general, and created the +vision, the sterling Catholicism, the fearless energy and the fervent +enthusiasm that characterize leaders. Has not the general meeting of +the American Catholic Hierarchy opened a new era for the Church in the +United States? Five Boards have been formed: Education, Social Work, +Press and Literature, Lay Societies, Home and Foreign Missions. +Through these channels the American Episcopacy will know the doings, +the needs and the possibilities of the Church as a whole, and be able +at any time, to throw, on a given point, on a new issue, the full +weight of united forces. + +"The Welfare Council begins its second year of life and activity. It +has already, in a remarkable and effective way, shown the wonderful +wealth of Catholic activity, and Catholic Service throughout the +country; it has unified our Catholic organizations, leaving to all +their autonomy; it has made Catholic faith a greater factor in American +life; and under its leaders it will, without doubt, be a further source +of strength, of help and co-operation to the entire Catholic body of +the Country. It is the Catholic body expressing itself with one voice +and one heart in the work and in the interests common to us all as +Catholics."--The N.C.W.C. Bulletin, Oct., 1920. + +_Fas est ab hoste doceri_. . . . Powerful is the example of a brother, +but often, stronger and more pungent is the example that comes from an +enemy. There are times indeed, when shame and honour are stronger than +love. This brings us to speak of the tremendous activities of our +separated brethren. Never have their efforts in view of organizing +their social service departments been so persistent and so manifest, +particularly in the mission field. Doctrinal lines are being lowered +and various denominations absorbed gradually into a "Church-union" +scheme from coast to coast. A "_social service programme_" is the only +binding element which is giving to them a fictitious unity. Fabulous +sums are placed at the disposal of these bodies for home and foreign +mission work. The Methodist Conference of Canada (1918--Hamilton) has +pledged itself to levy $8,000,000 in the next four years for mission +work. In our own country, in our Western Provinces, the field +secretaries are most active among our Catholic foreigners. On the +landing stage of our docks they are found to welcome the immigrants to +our shores. And what could we not say of their "press activities!" + +This movement for co-operation has, since the end of the war, taken +tremendous proportions. Here is a fact which speaks volumes. . . . +"The fight between Protestants and Catholics," said a German Protestant +minister, "will forthwith subside in the domain of dogma, but it will +rise in the domain of social problems. No doubt truth in the social +order will prevail as it has prevailed in the field of religious dogma. +But we have to change our strategy, study new tactics, and in our plan +of campaign turn from the defensive to the offensive." Never should +the Catholics of Canada present a more united front. To sneer and snap +our fingers at the energies and organizing powers of others is often +but a poor excuse for our own inertia. It is certainly no argument. +_Fas est ab hoste doceri_. The lesson has often a sting, but it is a +lesson. . . . We need organization! . . . The Congress is the great +medium of organization. What are we going to do? Changing a little +the wording of one of Cicero's famous sentences, in his orations +against Catiline, the arch-enemy of Rome, we shall say: "_The enemy is +at our doors! . . . and we are not even deliberating_!" + + * * * * * * + +Before giving a suggestive programme for a Congress may we answer some +objections. + +"The need for co-operation and co-ordination is indeed _admitted on all +hands_; it is its _feasibility_ that is doubted by so many good +Catholics. It is admitted to be an ideal; the question that is raised +is whether the difficulties are not too great to be surmounted +otherwise than by a very slow and lengthy process of evolution. That +such a gradual evolution would be in accordance with both nature and +history we should be the first to admit. But, after all, there is such +a thing as retarding or assisting the process of evolution. The +valuable maxim that 'things are what they are and their consequences +will be what they will be,' is after all but half the truth. No +Catholic believes that we are carried helpless along a stream of +circumstances. He believes that man is man, a free being whose free +action can within limits mould circumstance; and he believes that God +is God, the one free Being Who can and does overrule circumstance, and +Who, when and where He pleases, gives efficacy to the endeavour of His +free creatures to do the same." (Universe, Aug. 15th, 1919.) + +Some may say that by coming together we shall awaken susceptibilities, +our motives will be suspected . . . and the final result will be more +prejudice, more bigotry. . . . + +There is no reason why a Congress should be of an unfriendly +aggressiveness. We have ideas to advocate, they stand on their own +merit. They are in our belief, the only key of salvation; let us then +get together and bring them by organization and team work, into the +domain of realities. Moreover, our enemies are not so very particular +in dealing with us and with our principles. The best policy is to meet +in the open, as our Catholics are doing in England and stand on the +value of our doctrine and our works--"_Ex fructibus cognescetis illos_." + +"What about the autonomy of parish and diocesan units? Are they not +supreme? Will not what we advocate interfere with these organizations? +Will it not destroy the work of our parochial societies, etc., etc.?" + +"Organization which would attempt to meddle with local autonomy would +not only defeat its purpose, but would be chiselling its own epitaph." +. . . The parish and diocesan units are and must ever remain supreme, +each in its own sphere. We could never get a better working basis; +more genuine Christian charity and self sacrifice could not be met with +outside of our acting brotherhoods and charitable organizations. . . . +But, what we need more is _co-operation_ between these various units in +view of solving the complex social problems, especially in our cities. +This suppresses neglect and over-lapping, gives efficiency with the +least waste of energies. "Blend organization and co-ordination with +the greatest amount of local autonomy and individual initiative": this +is the sole aim a Congress has in view. There, and there alone, lies +the solution of our problems. + + * * * * * * + + +_Tentative Programme of Congress_. + +I--_Preparation_. + +The remote preparation for such a great and important undertaking, +would consist in what we would term "an educational campaign." The +initial difficulty, the greatest obstacle would be to overcome the +general apathy, the want of interest, _vis inertiae_. This could be +done by the Catholic press, lectures, sermons, etc. It may take time +to wake up our people from their slumber, but the faith is there with +its latent energies, and we can count on them. The forces are there; +they only need an occasion to call them into play. + + * * * * * * + +The _immediate preparation_ would consist in the appointment of a +_small but strong organizing committee_. Agitation without +organization is useless. On the choice and activities of this +committee depends the entire success of the congress. + +The various activities of this committee would be: + +1. _Decide on Name_.--Congress, . . . Conference, . . . Catholic +Social Service Meeting, etc. . . . This seems of no importance; but, +in fact, it often goes a long way in interesting the public and warding +off prejudice. + +2. _Decide on +Place_.--Winnipeg--Regina--Edmonton--Calgary--Saskatoon--Vancouver. + +3. _Decide on Delegates_.--Mode of selection,--clerical,--lay. It is +very essential that a meeting of that kind should be thoroughly +_popular_ and _representative_. + +4. _Decide on Speakers, Language_.--(One or several sections.) + +5. _Decide on Programme_.--This is really the essential work of the +organizing committee. In drawing the agenda, emphasis is to be laid +upon problems of immediate necessity: + +_Defence_ and _construction_; defence against the enemies' activities; +_strong constructive policy_ with a wide scope for all energies: these +are the two poles on which revolve a good programme. + +Racial--Language--Political issues are to be absolutely barred from the +programme. + +6. _Decide on Committees_.--Their _number_ and _matters to be trusted +to them_. + +7. _Sub-committees_ can be appointed for _publicity_, _information_, +_reception_ (ceremonies), _invitations_, _billeting_. + +8. _Appointment_ of Permanent Secretary. . . . + +N.B.--In a work of this nature it is the quiet, silent, +well-thought-out preparatory work that counts. The distribution of the +work (papers--speakers--leaders) is the secret of genuine success. + +Therefore, to make a Congress a success, we need: + +1. _Clearly defined programme_.--(What do we want to do?) + +2. Compact and efficient organization.--(How is it going to be done?) + +3. _Competent and reliable leaders_.--(Who is going to do it?) + +_Foresight_, _energy_, _decision_--should mark out the leaders; + +_Foresight_ will give the _vision_. + +_Energy_ will give the _will_. + +_Decision_ will push to _action_. + +II--_Suggestive Programme_. + +1. Committee on "Education": + + 1. _Our Primary Schools_.--Their legal status--their efficiency? + Our teaching staff? Bureau for Catholic teachers. + + 2. _Higher Education_.--Catholic Colleges: their standing--Catholic + University--Affiliation to State Universities? + + 3. _Sunday School_.--Teaching of Catechism--in our separate + schools--in sparsely settled countries? Lay Cathechists? + + +2. Committee on "Catholic Missions." + + 1. _Home Missions_.--Church Extension.--What co-operation are we + giving? Needs of the West: Men and money. + + 2. _Foreign Missions_.--Propagation of Faith.--Holy Childhood. + + 3. _What are we doing for non-Catholics_? + + 4. _The Missions_ (parochial). + + 5. _Priestly and religious vocations_. + + +3. Committee on "Press and Catholic Literature." + + 1. _Catholic Newspapers_.--(Their policy.--Their circulation.) + _Vigour in policy_ and _extensiveness in circulation_: two + essential conditions for success. + + 2. _Work and establishment of Catholic Truth Society_. + + 3. _Catholic circulating libraries_ for cities, countries. (Example + of same, under care of Saskatchewan Government.) + + +4. Committee on "Public Morality." + + 1. _Divorce--Race-suicide_. + + 2. _Theatres--Moving pictures_.--(More severe censorship.) + + 3. _Eugenics_? + + 4. _Venereal diseases_? + + +5. Committee on "Social Action." + + 1. _Immigration--Reception and direction_ of Catholic Immigrants at + ports of St. John and Halifax and intermediate points. Care of + foreigners (leakage). + + 2. _Colonization_? + + 3. _Young Men's Association_--on Y.M.C.A. lines. Young Girls' + Association--on Y.W.C.A. lines--Girls' homes. + + +6. Committee on "Public Charities." + +_Children's Aid--Orphanages--Free +Kindergartens--Day-nurseries--Juvenile Courts--Preventive and curative +work_. + + +7. Committee on "Labour Problem." + +_Labour Unions--Living wage--Child labour--Care of girl-workers, etc_. + +N.B.--The great point to elucidate in these matters is: _Must we, and +how far can we, co-operate with non-Catholic bodies_? This is a very +important point, far reaching in its consequences. + + +8. Committee on "Resolutions." + +"The resolutions are to embody the fruit of the collective experience +and deliberations of the Congress. They will remain then as the +profession of Catholic conviction and go far to create public opinion +on the questions of the day." (Fr. Plater.) + +And indeed, public discussion awakens new thoughts, gives various views +of a topic, suggests practical conclusions, expedient measures. It is +the crystallizing process of all the activities of the Congress. + + +III--_After the Congress_. + +The good results of a Congress are made permanent by the establishment +of: + +1. _A permanent Committee of Clergy and laity_--who meet occasionally +to stimulate or check activities of the body at large. + +2. _A Vigilance Committee_: + +(a) _On legislation_.--To watch and initiate legislation--for different +Provinces. + +(b) _On press_. + +(c) _On social work_. + +3. _Bureau_.--Clearing house--where "expert knowledge and effective +presentation" are to be found. To this bureau should be attached a +priest who would specialize in social work. He could be helped by an +efficient secretary. His would be the energy that would carry to the +various organizations life and power. The "Volksverein" in Catholic +Germany was a model in this line of work. + + * * * * * * + +"_Praesentia tangens . . . futura prospiciens_" is a motto which +translates well the lofty ideal Catholics should have before their eyes +at this turning point of history. Although we stand amid the ruins +accumulated during four long years of war and are confronted by +distressing after-war problems in every order of human activity, still +we raise our heads in hope and look beyond the crude realities of the +present to a brighter day breaking on the horizon of time, a day tinted +with the rising sun of Christian doctrine. . . . + +_Instaurare omnia in Christo_ . . . to re-establish all things in +Christ, is the only reconstruction that will last. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +ULTIMA VERBA + +The Canadian West offers to one who has never gone beyond the Great +Lakes but a misty vision of boundless prairies that stretch over three +immense Provinces and lose themselves in the foothills of the +snow-capped Rockies. Conflicting are the impressions that assail the +traveller's mind, various the feelings that crowd around his heart when +leaving behind him the East, he faces, for the first time, the "great +lone land" of the West. From the immensities of the fertile prairie +comes to him an invigorating air of optimism which fires him with +enthusiasm and confidence in the possibilities of the country and gives +him the assurance of its future. From the vast horizon that melts away +into the distant blue skies "he seems to hear the footsteps of Freedom +treading towards him." This mysterious attractiveness of the boundless +desert that the plough has just turned into restful and fertile meadows +has at all times a peculiar fascination. But it is at harvest season +that our glorious West it at its best. Then under the deep blue +firmament, in the glorious sunlight and exhilarating atmosphere of the +rolling prairie one can hear, as it were, "the song of the land." With +the hum of the binder, it comes to him froth the long rows of golden +sheaves, it rises from the fields where yet waves the ripening harvest. + +Nature indeed is then most beautiful in the West. But for the +Christian soul to whom Faith "is the evidence of things unseen and the +substances of things we hope for," the visible harvest leads to the +thought of that spiritual harvest to which the Master so often points +in the Gospel. Under all the feverish activities which characterize +our Western communities lie deep in the consciences of men those unseen +realities, those spiritual values and eternal issues which constitute +the religious world. In the mysterious furrows of the human heart is +ripening the harvest of eternity. + +The Church of God ever stands as Christ by the mysterious well of +Jacob, at the intersection of the highways of History. Now, as in the +days of the Saviour, winter has set in; a cold blast of indifference +and unbelief sweeps over the land. Yet with the Master's vision and +boundless confidence, the Church, pointing to the Western plains, +repeats to us all the divine challenge. "Do not you say there are yet +four months and then the harvest cometh? Behold I say to you lift up +your eyes and see the countries for they are white already to the +harvest." (Jo. iv, 35.) + +Before parting with you, kind reader, may we make ours this pressing +invitation of the Master. Yes, the immense West is "white already to +the harvest." There stand as immense fields of ripening wheat, the +Catholic youth of Eastern Canada, the sturdy and thrifty Catholic +settlers of the British Isles and continental Europe. There the rising +generation of Catholic children, like the tender green blades of the +future harvest, is springing into manhood. Staring us in the face, +their eyes in our eyes, the children of foreign parentage wonder what +account we will make of their faith, what protection we will offer it. +They are the new Canadians, the nation of to-morrow. + +To focus the Catholic mind of the nation on the great problems which +the West with its scattered population has forced upon our attention, +has been the object we have consistently pursued through the pages of +this book. _For it is a fact of every day experience that problems are +only solved by those who know them, who understand their full meaning, +and grasp their vital importance_. + +Our sole endeavour has been to point out the controlling forces, the +spiritual issues that lurk behind these problems. In debatable matters +we always have tried to find that higher level which lies undisturbed +by the cross-currents of opinions. Naturally there are conclusions we +draw or forms of action we propose which may not find favour with +everyone. There are so many angles of vision from which moral problems +can be viewed. But we will say with Cardinal Newman "nothing would be +done at all if a man waited until he could do it so well that no one +could find fault with it." Were we, in our insistency on certain +topics and suggestions, accused of undue repetition, the importance of +the subject and our eager desire of immediate action would be our only +excuse and defence. + +The Western spiritual harvest is indeed great and now ready for the +reapers. Never in our mind has a period in the history of the Church +in Canada been more fraught with greater problems than the present one +which the sudden increase of the West has created. The vastness of +their proportion and their far-reaching consequences involve to a great +extent the future of the Church in these new Provinces and, +consequently, in the Dominion at large. Moreover this immense harvest +is now white and calls for the reapers. To-morrow will be too late, +for, there comes a critical stage in the maturing harvest, when the +labours of past months and the most bright prospects melt away in an +hour. If therefore action is not immediate, irreparable, we contend, +will be the loss to the Church in the West. Only by a prompt and +united action will the stern and burning realities of the present be +converted into the bright visions that our Faith has a right to expect. + +The harvesters are few. But were the Church at this critical hour able +to count on all the spiritual forces that lie dormant in the souls of +her children in Canada, the history of the future in the West would be +different from that of the past. As in times of emergency, the +conscription of Catholic forces is the supreme duty of the hour. It is +the duty of our leaders to affect by a definite policy the +"indeterminate masses," just as it is the duty of each individual of +the masses to shoulder his share of responsibility by an active +co-operation. _Without a definite workable policy of united action, +and the awakened consciousness of the Catholic masses at large, +throughout the Dominion, the Catholic problems in Western Canada will +not be solved_. + +The Church in Canada, we maintain, stands at one of those critical +periods when the sweeping current of events give a decided bend to the +course of History. The hour is serious, for never was the future so +greatly involved in the present as it is now. All depends, to a very +large extent, on how, within the next decade or so, the Catholics will +consolidate their forces and extend their energies to meet the +religious issues of the West. Were we to fail at this momentous +period, our inactivity and want of co-operation will be charged against +us, and in the eyes of the Church we shall be marked as felons and +traitors to her great cause. The chapter of our times in the history +of the Church would then be fittingly headed with this accusing +caption: "_What should have been_!" For, we are the makers of History; +we prepare its verdicts. + +One last word before parting with you, gentle reader. If you have +followed us through the various problems to which we have given our +attention in this book you will have remarked that there is one idea +which permeates, we would say, every page of it. It is the key-note of +our work. This idea is that of "_responsibility_," which a genuine and +active Catholicism necessarily implies. This thought of Catholic +solidarity has inspired our humble effort; in it we place the hopes of +the future. There lies in one word the burden of our message. + +THE CHURCH OF THE WEST IS IN OUR HANDS--ITS FUTURE WILL BE WHAT WE +SHALL MAKE IT--THAT FUTURE, WHAT SHALL IT BE?--THE DIVINE MASTER, HIS +CHURCH, AND CATHOLIC POSTERITY, AWAIT OUR ANSWER. + + + + +APPENDIX + +We thought it would be a benefit to our Canadian reader to republish +here three thought-compelling and illuminating articles that appeared, +the first in the "New York Times," the second in the "Century Magazine" +and the third in the "Detroit News." As they deal with a similar +problem that confronts Canada also, they will corroborate views we have +expressed here and there in our book. Let the reader substitute +"Canadianization" for "Americanization" and he will find that the +statements made can be well applied to existing conditions in our own +Country. + + +I. AMERICANIZATION + +_By L. P. Edwards in N.Y. Times_. + +The United States is suffering from one of its periodic attacks of Know +Nothingism. It is seriously maintained in the public prints that our +recent Eastern European, and particularly our Russian, immigration +contains enormous numbers of murderers, thieves, counterfeiters, +dynamiters, arsonists and other criminals of the most atrocious +character. It is alleged that the lives and property of all of us are +in imminent danger from these incredibly numerous blackguards, and that +the only salvation lies in what is called the Americanization of the +foreigner. + +Now, it is known to every respectable sociologist in America that our +recent Eastern European immigrants, including the Russians, are just as +peaceable and law-abiding people as native Americans or native American +ancestry. This is a fact about which there is not the slightest doubt +in the mind of any competently informed person. It has been repeatedly +established by careful studies made by the United States Bureau of the +Census; by various State boards and by highly qualified private +foundations. + +Furthermore, the most honest, thrifty, industrious, upright, +God-fearing and conservative portion of our foreign population is +precisely that portion which has clung most stubbornly to its native +ways of life and has been least influenced by American customs. Our +immigrants upon changing their foreign languages, customs, beliefs and +ideals upon becoming "Americanized," deteriorate profoundly in moral +character; deteriorate to a degree that shows itself in the criminal +statistics. + +It is very fortunate for the moral welfare of millions of our foreign +population that the present furore for "Americanization" is destined to +fail in its object. Its failure is in its own nature. The fundamental +social virtues, honesty, industry, thrift, truthfulness and the rest, +are the same for all societies on the same general level of +development. They are not promoted by the custom of saluting any +particular flag nor advanced by the ability to read any particular +Constitution. + +The very complete and profound change of character implied by the +phrase: "The Americanization of the Foreigner" can be wisely and safely +accomplished only if spread out over at least three generations, while +four or five would be better. Every year less than three generations, +that the progress is hastened, means moral and spiritual breakdown for +thousands--means domestic tragedy and congested criminal calendars. +There is only one foreigner who is really a menace to American society. +He is the foreigner who is in rapid process of "Americanization." The +danger point is the foreign-born child and the American-born child of +foreign parents. + +The danger from these classes is real and serious, perhaps the most +serious presented in the whole range of immigration questions. Here +again we have very reliable statistics which leave no room for +reasonable doubt. America needs protection, needs it urgently, against +the foreigner of the second generation, particularly against the +youthful foreigner who goes through our Public school system. The +father who stubbornly refuses to learn English or to adopt American +ways is commonly a man of admirable moral character. The son, often +quite as American as young men of our old stock, is equally commonly a +youth of vicious and unprincipled character. + +Public opinion in this matter is grievously at fault. There is danger +to American institutions, and that danger is real, but it is just the +opposite of what is popularly feared. The danger lies precisely in the +process of Americanization itself, particularly in the endeavor to +hasten that process. If, as is commonly maintained, the present need +in America is peace and safety, security and conservatism, then the +Americanization of the foreigner should be slowed down in every way +possible. No encouragement should at this time be offered to the +foreigner to abandon his native language or religion or to change his +ethical or cultural standards. + +On the other hand, every possible assistance should be given to Roman +and Greek Catholic priests, Orthodox rabbis and other such leaders in +maintaining and strengthening the traditional loyalties of their +various groups. Our Mohammedans--no negligible element in recent +immigration--should be encouraged to build mosques, to read the Koran +and to obey the various other requirements of their faith. Our public +libraries should provide themselves more liberally with books in +foreign languages. Foreign language lectures and speakers of all sorts +should be much encouraged. By such means and only by such means can +the spirit of unrest and disquiet be stilled and the spirit of +conservatism and contentment with the status quo be developed among our +foreign population. + +It is a most curious popular misconception that peace and quietness and +respect for law and order can be developed in the foreigner by suddenly +and violently disturbing his mental life. Changing a man's language, +upsetting his moral and social conventions, altering his inherited +traditions of conduct, unsettling his ancestral faith--these are the +very best means possible for making him a disbeliever in all +established institutions, including those of the United States. Yet +this is precisely what "Americanization" aims to do with the best +intentions. + +Let us take a specific illustration. It may perhaps be theoretically +desirable to bring our new immigrant to a realization of the crudity +and superstition of his Eastern Orthodox faith, and to be a lively +recognition of the superiority of American Protestantism. Practically, +it can be seldom done and the reason is simple. When a person has been +brought to realize the faults, imperfections, and limitations of a +traditional system of belief in religion, government or what not, he +inevitably applies his new critical attitude towards whatever system of +belief is offered to him as a substitute for the one he has been +encouraged to cast aside. + +Most commonly the alternative system, being human, has serious faults, +imperfections and limitations of its own, which are easily enough +discoverable. The net result of very much conscientious missionary +work in America is that the foreigner ceases to believe his traditional +faith, refuses allegiance to any American substitute and becomes an +infidel agnostic or atheist. The same thing is just as common in the +realms of social, ethical and political faith as in that of religious +belief. + +Respect for Government and law is not a natural instinct. It is an +artificial attitude slowly built up in the individual by all sorts of +direct and indirect social pressure. The breakdown of old habits of +thought in any one of the great departments of social activity very +rapidly affects the other phases of conduct. The whole moral life of +the individual tends to become unsettled. Nothing is held firmly +except the selfish determination to obtain material wealth. Ideas and +ideals which stand in the way of this are cast aside. The Americanized +foreigner possesses all the native Americans' ruthless greed without +possessing his social, ethical, religious, or political idealism. + +No man can learn a language perfectly who learns it deliberately, and +social ideals are harder to learn than language. They can never be +learned naturally and completely except when they are learned so +gradually and imperceptibly that the process is unrecognized and +largely unconscious. This can never be possible in the case of the +foreign born, and is only very partially attainable in the case of the +children foreign born. Its complete realization is possible only in +the case of children born and reared in an entirely American +environment. That is to say it cannot be accomplished before the third +generation at the earliest, and often not then. + + +II. THE FAD OF AMERICANIZATION + +_By Glenn Frank in the "Century Magazine," June, 1920_. + +We are a nation of confirmed uplifters. We are never happy except when +we are reforming something or saving somebody. It doesn't matter +greatly whom we are saving or what we are reforming; the game is the +thing. This uplift urge expresses itself in the "movement" mania, the +endemic home of which is United States. The American cannot live by +bread alone; he must have committees, clubs, constitutions, by-laws, +platforms, and resolutions. These things, the machinery of uplift are +his meat and wine. The American society women takes to "social +service" and the American business man to "public work" as a bird takes +to the air or a hound to the trail. It is in the blood. + +Just now the most popular social sport is "Americanization." It is in +many ways an ideal movement. It fully satisfies the passion of the +comfortable classes for uplift, and is a Godsend to the candidate who +wants something to grow fervent about in lieu of a frank facing of +fundamental issues of politics and industry. Above all, +Americanization work gives one the righteous feeling of a defender of +the faith. The epidemic faddist character of much Americanization work +was pointedly stated in a recent article by Simon J. Lubin and +Christina Krysto in "The Survey." They said: + +"Every social organization, every religious society, every large +industry, every woman's club has been busy for months mapping out its +own particular program. The study of Americanization has been used to +stimulate interest in organizations which were dying a natural death; +Americanization has been used as a pretext for sudden improvements in +industrial management when the attitude of labor has made sudden +improvements imperative; Americanization has been used to give +employment to social workers out of jobs." + +This article further points out the inevitability of innumerable +perversions of Americanization in such an orgy of organization. The +article says on this point: + +"Every political party has its hangers-on who, consciously or +unconsciously, discredit the fine principles of that party by their +erroneous expounding of these. Every new phase in industrial progress +has its profiteers--men who capitalize the advanced ideas of their +field for their own interest, regardless of the harm which they bring +to the whole by their methods. Every scientific discovery has its +charlatans who mix enough of the truth with their lies to undermine the +whole truth when their lies become known. Every religion has its false +messiahs, and many a man has been made an unbeliever because he has +followed these too easily and been disappointed too grievously." + +It should be said that the profiteers, charlatans, and false messiahs +of Americanization are not, in the main, men and women of bad +intentions so much as they are men and women of half-ideas of +fractional and incomplete conceptions of Americanization. The title of +false messiahs fits them better than either profiteers or charlatans, +for false messiahs are usually profoundly sincere, although profoundly +misguided. + +No straight-thinking person disputes the need of a fundamentally sound +program of Americanization, a vast collective effort toward the +stimulation and spread of sane principles of national life among all +sorts and conditions of men and women who make up our population. But +anything and everything that goes by the name of Americanization is not +necessarily an effective move in that direction. There is slowly +growing up a body of incisive criticism dealing with the current +epidemic of Americanization work that is sweeping the country on the +wings of clever catch-words and generous emotions. It may be of +interest and value to attempt an analysis and statement of the main +points of that body of criticism. Here are a few plainly valid +criticisms. + +First, it is psychologically bad to approach Americanization work +through a _super-organized and much-trumpeted movement, because such a +policy warns the foreigner in advance that a crowd of superior_ persons +have set out to improve him. That is generally resented. The fact is +that hardly a thing has been proposed as desirable in an +Americanization program that is not the duty or function of some +existing institution of our country, the church, the school, the +industry, the press. Education, hygiene, and a decent inter-class +courtesy are necessary features of any sound Americanization program, +but they can be more effectively applied by calling them what they are +and promoting them in normal ways than by branding them Americanization +and cursing them with the blight of paternalistic uplift. + +But it is probably useless to quarrel with a long established national +habit. It is a habit of ours to create a new organization for every +new task. Not only does that practice have the drawbacks just +mentioned, but it robs our established institutions of the habit of +doing creative work, leaves our established institutions as homes of +the routine and the regular. There is a fundamental difference between +England and the United States in this matter. In England the few men +who have caught an idea or envisioned a need, do not, as a regular +practice, create a new propagandist organization instanter, but in most +cases set quietly to work to get the machinery of established +institutions going on the task. An increasing number of clear-minded +folk are becoming convinced that Americanization would proceed much +faster and more soundly through the increase efficiency of the existing +machinery of school and church and press and industry, without any +fanfare of trumpets, than through any propagandist "drive" for +uplifting the foreigner. + +Second, it is a _fallacy_ to suppose that Americanization _is a process +needed by the foreigners only_. Much Americanization work proceeds +upon the assumption that what is needed is to make the foreigner "like +us." The fact is that Americanization is sorely needed by many of +"us," Americanization does not mean merely getting an immigrant ready +for his citizenship-papers. It means the continuous fostering of the +American spirit of liberty, justice, and equality of opportunity in +every man and woman and institution and policy. Americanization should +be looked upon as the inspiring goal of both native born and foreign +born, not as a missionary enterprise among the foreign born alone. To +single out the foreign born as the exclusive objects of an +Americanization effort is organized tactlessness. If, on the other +hand, the foreign born feel that they are being invited to join with +the native born in a vast collective effort to build a better nation in +which liberty, justice, and equality of opportunity shall increasingly +prevail, they will go out of their way to acquire the English language, +a knowledge of our institutions and ways, and all the instruments +necessary to the task of collaborating with us in the improvement of +the republic. + +Third, serious danger lies in the _over-simplification of the_ problem +of Americanization by propagandist organizations. We are in constant +danger from too simple analysis of problems and too simple as the +epigrams that grow up about it. Panaceas usually touch only a part of +a problem. It is interesting to watch various types of minds approach +the problems of Americanization in committee discussion. Here are a +few simple solutions that the writer has heard from time to time: + +Teach the foreigner to stick to the job and produce. We need to teach +the foreigner that Americanism means patriotic production for the +relief of the world's present peace-time plight, just as it meant +patriotic production for the necessities of war-time. A great drive +for industrial patriotism is the supreme need. + +Teach the foreigner to respect our forms of government. Make the +foreigner understand that we have settled the question of government +forms and that criticism is disloyalty. We must discourage the +practice of biting the hand that feeds. + +Teach the foreigner the English language. There is no room in this +country for more than one language. Alien intrigue could be killed if +we turned the United States into a country of one language. + +Make every foreigner take out citizenship-papers within a specified +time or deport him. + +Now, it is inevitable that when Americanization is made a popular +"drive" by a vast propagandist organization that the army of men and +women of one idea, apostles of simplicist solutions, will flock into +the ranks of the propagandists. Even when the official program of the +organization is well rounded, the army of simple-solutionists will do +irreparable damage in their work as servants of the movement. + +The problem cannot be dismissed by preaching to the foreigner that he +should stick to the job and produce. The problem of maximum production +has a thousand ramifications that run throughout the whole industrial +problem. The preaching of industrial patriotism is a waste of breath +unless it goes hand in hand with a far-reaching liberal program of +industrial justice and efficiency. The industrial program is more +important than the industrial preaching. Put the program into effect +and the preaching of loyalty to the job may be unnecessary. + +Far from being Americanism, it is fundamentally anti-American to urge +an uncritical deification of any form of government. Americanism +involves an invitation to continuous constructive criticism in behalf +of a bettering of our machinery of government. It is no solution of +the foreign-born problem to preach loyalty to the _status quo_. We +shall get further by saying to the foreigner, "We are engaged in a +great democratic experiment on this continent. We have settled a few +principles in our minds. We believe in popular rule through political +action, but as to details we are on a search for improvement. We ask +you to learn our language and our institutions and then give us the +benefit of your best thought on ways and means for the improvement of +our machinery for democratic government. The bars are down for the +frankest criticism from men and women who have the democratic patience +to trust their proposals to peaceful procedure." + +Learning the English language is only a means to an end. It is too +frequently made an end in itself. There is no more virtue in talking +English than in talking Hottentot. We shall not get far by the mere +exaltation of a language. The only lasting results we shall achieve +will be through the making of participation in this national democratic +experiment of ours so attractive to the foreigner that he will burn +with the desire to master our tongue, that he may better play his part +and appreciate his privilege. A man can plot the downfall of the +republic in English as easily as in an alien tongue. + +Nor is there magic in the legal assumption of citizenship. It is the +man behind the papers that counts. If anything, we have made +citizenship too easy a privilege in the past. + +Now, all this is said not to suggest that there is no room or need for +special consideration of the Americanization problem by groups of +public minded citizens. It is not intended to suggest that +Americanization may not properly be made the subject of considerable +propaganda. This comment has indulged in rather severe and unqualified +strictures upon the Americanization "drive" in the hope of capturing +attention for three manifest dangers that may prove the undoing of the +real Americanization work that cries aloud for administration. These +three dangers are; first, the danger of making the Americanization +movement so plainly a conventional uplift movement that the foreigner +will resent what he might, with a more tactful approach, request; +second, the danger that, by thinking of Americanization as something +needed by the foreigner alone, we shall miss the opportunity of making +Americanization a vast national effort of self-education in the nature +and application of the principles of liberty justice, and equality of +opportunity that, theoretically at least, comprise the American idea; +and third, the danger that the propagandist's passion for simple +solutions will further postpone the day of a broad and well-balanced +program of national development. + +We do not want "Americanism" to degenerate into a mere "protective +coloration" for politicians who want to hide their reaction and their +lack of ideas. + + +III. AMERICANIZATION WORK MUST PROCEED SLOWLY + +_By Rev. D. P. Tighe, "Detroit News," Aug. 23, 1919_. + +There are two methods of Americanizing the immigrant, says Fr. D. P. +Tighe in the August number of the Catholic Light. One of them is +_revolutionary_, the other _evolutionary_. To Americanize means to +take the immigrant and remake him. Teaching him to write and speak the +language of the country is a mere detail of the process. One cannot be +awake to the industrial and social needs of the country without +co-operating in every movement calculated to discourage the diversity +of language, and to give to the foreigner every facility for the quick +and easy mastery of English. But Americanization is a different +proposition. Trotzky, when he lived in East New York, could speak and +write English fluently, but he was not an American. He had neither +understanding of, nor sympathy with American institutions; and, so, +instead of setting himself to remedy the abuses in our industrial and +political life as a good American citizen would remedy them he became +an anarchist and envisioned to himself a millennium of destruction that +involved the good as well as the evil. + +"Americanization is more than a mere matter of language. It involves +stripping the immigrant of much of what he has inherited from the +centuries. He is the finished product of those centuries. His speech, +his manner, his dress, his ideas along social and political and +industrial lines have been fashioned upon the distaff of time. He +lands upon American soil and at once there is a strangeness in the +atmosphere that awes him, it is a new world in truth and the newness of +it repels him and drives him back upon himself. The faintest link +between the new world and the old is a Godsend to him. It gives him +courage, it robs him of that feeling of aloneness. It tells him that +after all, maybe he is wanted. In other words it creates an atmosphere +of sympathy and understanding. Now any educator can tell you that this +very atmosphere of sympathy is of the very essence of the class room, +it's a condition of education, and Americanization is an education in +nationalism. + +"And here is where the revolutionary idea of Americanization falls +down. Are you going to prove to the immigrant in one lesson that he is +all wrong? Are you going to undo with a single jerk what it has taken +centuries to do? Are you going to take this man and by a sort of +patronizing coercion, yank him out himself and leave him, high and +dry--nowhere? Or are you going to give him a reasonable time to learn +the things of the new world, time to be influenced by the new +environment? It took centuries to make him just what he is. Can't you +spare him one generation to shed the crust of those centuries? Can't +you be satisfied with making him the solid groundwork of the +citizenship of his children? + +"_Do we favor Americanization_? By _revolution, no_; by _evolution, +yes_. The lasting kind of Americanization comes, not through a quick +jerk, but through a long pull. First make the immigrant feel at home. +Let him get his feet on the ground. Let him get rid of his suspicions +and his distrust and his shyness by finding out the links that bind the +new order with the old, the things that make for the broader kind of +brotherhood. Don't rush him; lay emphasis upon the things that are +common; from them he'll learn confidence, and confidence is a great big +step in the transforming of an European immigrant into an American +citizen." + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Catholic Problems in Western Canada, by +George Thomas Daly + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHOLIC PROBLEMS IN WESTERN *** + +***** This file should be named 18378.txt or 18378.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/3/7/18378/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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