Catholic Problems in Western Canada

by George Thomas Daly

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.