Catholic Problems in Western Canada Part 14

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 Any communication marked "not for publication" shall be, needless to state, regarded as private and confidential.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 Sh.o.r.es.

Misdirected and unsupervised immigration has been for the Church in the past a great source of leakage. Here and there n.o.ble 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 "n.o.body'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 a.s.sume 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 const.i.tution, it ceases to be an a.s.set 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 pa.s.sed 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 ent.i.tled to this service which will offset the influences of dangerous agencies that meet them too often as they set foot on our sh.o.r.es.

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 sh.o.r.es 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 a.s.sisting 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 a.n.a.lyze 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 a.s.semblies 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 a.s.sembled 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.