Then we were told to have one preaching service a week in the English language, and we all agreed to do that, and we were told we could have as much German besides that one English sermon as we wanted. And we agreed to have that one English sermon. I went to my congregation of three hundred and fifty people, at least half of whom did not get any benefit from the English sermon, and I put it before them and told them, this is what we are requested to do; you don't have to do it, but they would like to have you do it, and they unanimously voted in my church, and every other church in the county, to adopt the plan. Our congregations in the evening are not as large as before because some of the older people do not come now, but enough come to church who are living in our community so that we can hold the service. So we have lost in one way, but we are slowly gaining along another way; one old grandfather there said it would have been better if these plans had been adopted fifteen years ago. And this plan has worked very satisfactorily in our county.
In several of the rural immigrant communities visited by the writer there were successful bilingual churches. In the Polish colony at Posen, Michigan, the sermon in the Catholic Church is in two languages, Polish and English. The priest explained that the Polish language is needed, as the people, especially the older people, understand it better and the priest is able to penetrate their souls more intimately in their mother tongue. The English language is needed for two reasons: among the colonists are a few American farmers who belong to the same church and do not speak Polish; and a few of the younger generation understand English better than Polish, especially those newcomers who have been born outside of the colony among Americans.
In the Dutch colony at Holland, Michigan, the churches are bilingual. One service in the morning is in the Dutch language and the other in the evening is in the English language. English has become a necessity because a number of the young people have difficulty in understanding Dutch, and also because a number of the congregation are either native born or of some other nationality.
ENGLISH FAVORED BY MEMBERS
On the whole, the writer, in his field study, was impressed by the fact that the rank and file of the immigrant congregations favored the English-language service, while the priests and pastors were opposing it. Whenever an English-language service had been lately introduced it had been done under the pressure either of the members of the congregation or of the state Council of Defense.
The clergy often maintained that the foreign-language service was needed, even in cases where the members of the congregation were largely American born and understood and spoke English well in everyday life. Perhaps the most conspicuous in making such claims were the German Catholic and Lutheran priests and pastors. According to a number of them, no other language than German is suited for services, no matter how far advanced the church members are in the use of English.
There were cases where among the membership of a German-language church there were Bohemians or Scandinavians or Poles. To the writer's question whether services for these people were conducted in their mother tongue, the answer was usually given in the negative, with the explanation that there was no money to engage additional preachers and that these people understood German well. The only explanation of such extreme claims for foreign-language services is the nationalism of the clergy.
OPPOSITION TO "INTERFAITH" MARRIAGES
Certain church authorities hinder amalgamation of the immigrants by making severe requirements in regard to "interfaith" marriages. For instance, in a case where one party is Catholic and the other is not, the Catholic Church requires a written sworn statement from both parties in regard to certain conditions which they must fulfill in their married life. What these conditions are the following blank given to the writer by a Catholic bishop shows: