Catholic Problems in Western Canada Part 3

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 a.s.sume 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 circ.u.mstances change with the fancies of imagination, the impulse of pa.s.sion, 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 a.s.similation.

The Period of Settlement

When a few years ago our sh.o.r.es 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, const.i.tutes 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 ma.s.ses"; 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. G.o.d 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 grat.i.tude. 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 G.o.d, 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 a.s.similation

The period of settlement has pa.s.sed, and already a young "CANADIAN" generation has sprung up st.u.r.dy, thrifty, progressive from the transplanted Ruthenian stock. The numerous children of that prolific race are gradually pa.s.sing 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 ma.s.s," 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 a.s.similation. 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 sh.o.r.es 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 a.s.similation 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 a.s.similation 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 sh.o.r.es 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 a.s.similation. This has given to the United States a greater solvent power than has been shown by any other nation, ancient or modern. Coercive a.s.similation arouses national feelings, alien elements, and racial self-a.s.sertion. 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 sh.o.r.es 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 a.s.similation, 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 sanct.i.ty and durability. But the point at issue here is: Can the religious element prevent racial a.s.similation? 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 a.s.sume an att.i.tude 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 a.s.similation 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 ident.i.ty; only the strong individual will survive, bearing the features of his race. In our rural settlements where the foreigner has established colonies, the a.s.similation 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 a.s.similation, 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 G.o.d what belongs to G.o.d."

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 p.r.o.nouncement on the labour problem,-their general meeting in Washington, the const.i.tutions 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 G.o.d 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 cla.s.s 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 ma.s.s. 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 circ.u.mstances and feeling, and pa.s.sion, 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 circ.u.mstances 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 cla.s.s 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 munic.i.p.al 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 Const.i.tution" 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 ma.n.u.script has pa.s.sed 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 ent.i.tled to its due share of any 'forward movements' now antic.i.p.ated."

[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 n.o.ble 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 G.o.d, 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 ma.s.ses 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 ma.s.ses 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.