Catholic Problems in Western Canada
G >> George Thomas Daly >> Catholic Problems in Western Canada3. _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."