Catholic Problems in Western Canada Part 4

We have also among our own missionary societies, examples that ill.u.s.trate the point we wish to emphasize. Since when has the Society of the Propagation of the Faith, in the dioceses of New York and Boston, leaped into prominence, and headed by generous contributions the list of the whole world? How did that change come about? Where is the secret of this success? The establishment of permanent diocesan organizers is the answer. What they have done, why could we not do? "Quod isti-cur non et nos?"

Never, we claim, will the missionary potentialities that lie dormant in Canadian Catholicism, be actuated to bear its message of spiritual light, heat and power to the Church at large, until we establish in the field at various points, secretaries or organizers, whose life-work will be to call into play, to systematize the mission forces of the Church in Canada. If on the contrary, as in the past, we content ourselves with an occasional appeal for missions, a collection now and then, a spasmodic effort here and there, a subscription to a Catholic paper or missionary magazine, the work for Home and Foreign missions will remain exterior to the corporate life of the Church, will not be woven into its very fibre to permeate its activities. As shadows on the wall, they will suggest rather than reveal the possibilities of our missionary effort. The great and pressing call of the White Shepherd of the Vatican will go unheard. If there is a response that comes from Canada, it will not be from the Church at large.

II.-What?

The "raison d'etre," the definite function of a field-secretary is organization. This work implies the double duty to spread, by an intelligent and well thought-out propaganda, the knowledge of the Home and Foreign Missions and of the responsibility it entails, and to found and maintain efficient the various societies established to promote and help their great work.

1. Vision. The effective presentation of the case of Catholic Missions, both to the clergy and to the laity, is the field-secretary's first and important duty. Nothing indeed can be hoped for, nothing can be accomplished until the Catholic people fully grasp and intensely feel what their help and co-operation-however little it may be-mean to the Church, to the salvation of souls, to the honour of our Blessed Lord, to the glory of G.o.d. Fac ut videant! The clear, broad and deep vision of these great possibilities in the mission fields will alone overcome selfishness and apathy, awaken interest, stimulate energy.

The field-secretary is the official expert in mission-matters. He will be able to acc.u.mulate strong evidence, sum up striking statistics and draw burning comparisons for the effective presentation of his case. An enthusiastic advocate, he will plead with thrilling appeals, the great cause placed in his hands.

During his absence from the field of action, the vision he pointed to, will be kept bright by the recurrence, at stated intervals, of the printed message. Missionary literature receives its life, vigour and impulse from the field-organizer and continues his work in his absence.

2. Action. To realize that vision and incarnate it in work for the Home and Foreign Missions, the Field-secretary will take the diocese as a unit of his organization. In each diocese, with the permission, authority, and co-operation of the Ordinary, he will establish the Societies recommended by our Holy Father in his Apostolic Letter, and others that have been created to meet the specific needs of the country or to favour certain particular missionary work. Therefore:-

(a) Among the Clergy will be founded "The Missionary Union of the Clergy", which our Holy Father desires to see established in every diocese. For loving sons and faithful priests of the Church of G.o.d the desire of the Sovereign Pontiff is a command. This, we think, could be easily done by the field-organizer when he visits each parish for the purpose of organizing missionary parochial units, as we shall see later.

The beautiful programme of action which is so easily combined with the ordinary work of the priest in the parish, the facility of his moral and material co-operation in this great work of missions, the spiritual favours and wonderful privileges which the "Union" grants to its members, together with the explicit desire of the Holy See, these are so many motives and incentives, which should induce all the members of the clergy to enter the ranks of the "Missionary Union" and a.s.sure to the Church their co-operation in the great mission work, both at Home and in the Field-Afar.

(b) Among the laity of each parish will be founded:

The "Propagation of the Faith"-for Foreign Missions;

The "Church Extension"-for Home Missions.

The permanent success of these societies, once established by the field-organizer, will wholly depend on the selection and appointment of trustworthy promoters, who will distribute the missionary literature, and collect from their respective circles of 10 or 20 members the monthly fee, stipulated for each society. This monthly collection comes as a reminder and is more effective, both morally and financially, than an annual collection taken up in the Church, as is now the prevailing custom in several dioceses. The monthly call of the promoter is a fresh awakening of the missionary spirit in the home, and stands as the continued call of the Master of the harvest. It keeps the interest alive and awakens anew the sympathy for the missions.

(c) Among the Children of our Separate Schools and Sunday-Schools, can be established, with great profit, The "Holy Childhood Society." It is wonderful what interest the kind and sympathetic hearts of children will take in missionary work. The results obtained by the distribution of mite boxes are marvellous. To quote an example given to us by the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, we would say that through their Sunday-School cla.s.ses, they raise annually the sum of $200,000.00.

But above all, the great a.s.set to be considered in this educational work, is the broad Catholic spirit we create and maintain in the soul of the child. This is far more important than his actual financial contribution, and at the same time it prepares him to be, in later years, a generous contributor. Without any doubt, the Protestants can teach us here a lesson of organization.

(d) In Colleges, Boarding-Schools, Convents and Universities why should we not have branches of the "Catholic Students Mission Crusade?" This organization is doing wonderful work in the United States, and will prove soon to be a potent factor in the Missionary activities of the Church across the boundary. 250 delegates from various inst.i.tutions of higher learning, throughout the country, gathered in Was.h.i.+ngton, last August (1920), for the second annual Convention. Among the delegates, we are proud to note, were a few Canadians.

(e) The "follow up" work is what counts in the long run, in a movement of this kind. If we do not wish to see all this beautiful zeal for missions burn away in a pa.s.sing blaze, we must have a Central Bureau, which will keep in touch with the promoters, and act as the centre of Missionary activities, in the diocese. There all lines will converge, gathering information, bringing results; from there, as from the power-station, will go out to the workers in the field, enthusiasm and energy. "Unity," says F. Kinsman, "cannot be created by agitated fragments of a circ.u.mference; it must issue from a central force and be sustained by a centripetal instinct." The Central Bureau, or Clearing House could be confided to a trustworthy person, who would willingly give his spare hours to this great Catholic work, until it would grow to the point of necessitating a permanent and salaried secretary.

It is useless, we believe, to state that a crusade of prayers would be the sustaining force of this movement. We all know that the salvation of souls is above all a supernatural process. We may sow, another may water the seed,-but it is for G.o.d to give the growth,-Deus autem incrementum dat.

The development and fostering of "missionary vocations" would be the natural sequel to this movement at large, in the Church of Canada. How many young men and women could not the field-secretary find here and there, and direct to the mission fields where the harvest is plentiful and the harvesters few.

III.-Who?

The function of a field-secretary or organizer is a delicate one, we fully understand. But we are firmly convinced that priests can be found, who, with tact, intelligence and enthusiasm for the great Cause of Missions, and backed with the authority and sympathy of the Ordinary, are bound to make this work a success. There is a wave of the missionary spirit pa.s.sing over the Church of G.o.d. The clergy and the people are eager to help missions at Home and Abroad. But they desire a concrete, workable plan to pin their activities to; they are waiting for something definite to act upon, and a responsible representative of the cause to work with.

Until the development of the organization would call for a diocesan organizer, one priest could act for a Province or Region of the Country. The ordinary objection which our proposal here would meet with, would be the lack of personnel. There is, we know, a shortage of priests everywhere. But would not the Church, as a whole, in Canada and throughout the world, receive more benefit from the life of a priest entirely dedicated to this work of Missions, than if it were given to a specific parish or diocese. Even were a parish or small country mission to be deprived for the time being of a resident pastor, should not that sacrifice be made, generously and cheerfully, for the sake of a greater cause. It is a.s.suredly a short-sighted policy to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of souls for the care of a few, to prefer the welfare of a parish to that of the Church at large. This reasoning and its disastrous consequences are surely not Catholic.

We emphasise the necessity for the organizer to consecrate his life solely to this proposed work. At this price alone will he make it a success. Without doubt, it is the work of a man, the work of a life.

G.o.d grant that we may see the day when all the latent Missionary forces of the Church of Canada will be awakened and united in one great gigantic effort of apostolate! These forces form an invisible army of reserves on which the Church is to draw, to fill, as it were, the depleted ranks of Her Missionary units throughout the world. The lack of organization is the weakness of our strength. Let the leaders come forward, and we ourselves shall be astonished at the latent powers of Faith in the Church of Canada.

CHAPTER V.

PLOUGHING THE SANDS

The Church-Union Movement: its Causes and Various Manifestations. The Protestant and Catholic View-Point.

Church-union is to-day the outstanding feature of the Protestant world. The possibilities and promises, the necessity and advantages of this movement are widely discussed in the press and magazine, in the pulpit and on the platform, in Church conferences and synods. Denominational barriers are being swept away; creed lines lowered; inevitably great changes are impending. This universal unrest is a.s.suredly symptomatic of a chaotic Christendom outside of the true Church. The peace and self-confidence of the Catholic Church pursuing the even tenor of Her life is indeed in striking contrast.

No serious-minded Christian can be disinterested in this supreme effort of the various Christian denominations for unity. We are not allowed to doubt the good intentions that animate and direct the promoters of this inter-church movement. For, as Lord Morley said, "in the heat of the battle it often happens that men manifest towards the heretic feeling which should be exclusively reserved for the heresy." Yet we believe that the explanation of our att.i.tude, so much misunderstood and misinterpreted, cannot but help to hasten the day of the true and everlasting union, when in accord with the great desire of the Master, there will be but "One Fold and One Pastor." Gladstone said: "Any man who advances one step the cause of Christian unity in his life may well lie down to die content that he had a life well lived."

We said advisedly "our" att.i.tude, for it is a vastly interesting point to note with Hilaire Belloc: "The Catholic understands his opponent, whereas that opponent does not understand him. A similar contrast existed once before in the History of Western mankind, to wit, in the latter days of the Roman Empire. The Catholic understood the Pagan; the Pagan did not understand the Catholic."

Church-union was always more or less an ideal in the various non-Catholic denominations. Periodically efforts were made to realize this ideal; but they always failed in the presence of the bitter antagonism that existed between the leading factions. The Church-union movement manifested itself, timidly at first, in the interchange of pulpits, the united services and inter-communion of several denominations. This exchange in the ministerial field now prevails among the Nonconformists and has also affected to a large extent the Anglican communion. But the multiplied divisions and multiplying sub-divisions among the conflicting creeds, a wasteful overlapping and disastrous compet.i.tion in the mission field, the enlightening experience of the great war, have forced an issue upon the Churches.

In Scotland the "Old Kirk" is trying to bridge the chasm that has separated it from the "Free Church" in the past years. In England, under the leaders.h.i.+p of Mr. Shakespeare, the Nonconformists are fusing their differences and presenting a united front to the Established Church. Only last year, (1919) in Kingswall Hall, did not the Bishop of London make most remarkable overtures to the Wesleyans and propose to them a scheme of union! By the introduction of Evangelical methods and particularly by the a.s.sociation with Nonconformists on doctrinal grounds, or in services in which doctrines are involved, the Anglican Church has been engaged-to speak with Newman-"in diluting its high orthodoxy."

Last August, 1920, Geneva was the meeting place of "The World Christian Congress." The Congress adopted a resolution to form a "League of Churches" whose object is to put an end to proselytizing between Christian churches and promote mutual understanding between them for Christian missions among non-Christian peoples; secondly, to promote an a.s.sociation and collaboration of Churches to establish Christian principles; thirdly, to help the Churches to become acquainted with one another; fourthly, to bring together smaller Christian communities, and unite all Churches on questions of faith and order.

But it was reserved for America, the land of daring schemes and audacious plans, to formulate the most chimerical project of all.

The Episcopalian Church has promoted "The World Congress on Faith and Order." Bishop Weller, of Fond-du-Lac, Wisc., is directing this gigantic movement. A committee of bishops has already called on the various heads of Christian Churches, and we all know of their visit to the Vatican and of the refusal of the Holy See to partic.i.p.ate in the Pan-Christian Congress.

Sponsored by the Presbyterian Church of America, "The United Churches of Christ" were formed some months ago, with a complete organic union of the Protestant Churches of America in view. This is ... "an advance of the present existing organization of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, as it opens the way for consolidation of administration agencies and the carrying forward of the general work of the Churches through the council of the United Church."

But the most ambitious scheme is that of the "Inter Church World Movement." It has been called into existence (1918) for the purpose of developing a plan whereby the Evangelical Churches of North America may co-operate in carrying out their educational, missionary and benevolent programme at home and abroad. To discover and group the facts concerning the world's needs; to build a programme of inspiration and education based on these facts; to develop spiritual power adequate for the task; to secure enough lives and money to meet the needs: such is the tremendous task the "Inter Church World Movement" has set itself. At a meeting in Atlantic City it was voted to raise the stupendous sum of $1,300,000,000 to meet the requirements of this Pan-Protestant project. Two thousand men and women are now (Feb. 1920,) busy at the head-office, in New York, preparing the world-wide survey and financial campaign.[1]

The Protestant Churches in Canada are also falling in line in this universal movement for unity. "The United National Campaign" which marked 1919 with thirteen national conventions, represented the co-operative feature of various churches in a general "Forward Movement." The war, we all know, has impeded the projected union between the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregationalist denominations. There is hardly any doubt that this union will be effected in the near future. But as usual, while the East was deliberating, the forward and aggressive West was acting. Church-Union is an accomplished fact in many centres, particularly in the Province of Saskatchewan. Last October the "Union Church of Western Canada" held a convention in Regina and reported progress. Conditions in the West, especially in the rural districts, naturally favour this movement. The strong denominational feeling is becoming more and more a thing of the past. The ident.i.ty of churches is being absorbed in "social service" work, and sectarian peculiarities considered "obsolete impertinences."

These are the various manifestations of the "Church-Union Movement." Although loose thinking and indefiniteness of purpose characterize most of these various moves, a close a.n.a.lysis reveals two different underlying principles which support and explain them. As an Anglican clergyman stated: "There are two courses open, uniting on points of agreement and allowing the differences to settle themselves, or facing differences with a view of settling them." The first course promotes a "co-operative union" in social and Christian work. This union does not interfere with matters of belief, but aims solely at the co-operation and co-ordination of all services which the Churches can render in the missionary, educational and social fields. It means a League or Federation of Churches, with a view to "greater efficiency."

The other course goes deeper into the problem under discussion, for it has as object an "organic union." This union means the fusing of all denominational creeds and forms of wors.h.i.+p, or, at least, the acceptance by all of a certain doctrinal minimum as a basis of the entente cordiale. The Anglicans in the Conference of Lambeth, 1888, formulated the famous "Quadrilateral" whereby the Scriptures as Rule of Faith, the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, the two sacraments of Baptism and of Eucharist, and the Episcopacy or apostolic succession, are "as the irreducible minimum on which they would open negotiations for reunion." [2]

II.

The Protestant Inter-Church Movement is a fact; we know its causes, its various manifestations, its ultimate aim. To what extent this universal movement reflects the general, deep and conscientious convictions of the ma.s.ses, it would be hard to say. The prevalent indifference and profound ignorance as regards the specific tenets of each denomination would lead us to believe that this movement does not spring from the very soul-depths of the ma.s.ses. Yet the fact is there, and a.s.suredly of importance in the religious realm. What is the meaning of this fact? What is its message? For, every universal fact of that kind reveals and interprets an ideal.

Naturally the view point of the Protestant will be different from that of the Catholic. The explanation of the att.i.tude of both, as we stated, cannot but help to hasten the coming of true union in Christendom. The non-Catholic mind sees in this Inter-Church Movement the ultimate triumph of Protestantism, the vindication of the leading principles of the Reformation. The Anglican Archbishop DuVernet wrote in the "Montreal Star," May 10th, 1919: "Reviewing the movement towards Christian Union in Canada, a very natural evolutionary order is at once detected, which gives us the a.s.surance that a spiritual cosmic urge is at work behind this united action of the Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregationalist Churches of Canada, the great evolutionary movement towards the comprehensive Church of the Future."

We all know of the sensation created in Anglican circles by the extreme views of the Bishop of Carlisle. In a recent article on the "Nineteenth Century and After"-ent.i.tled "Monopoly of Religion," he protests against the claims of right and the privilege of monopoly in Religion, either in doctrine or in form of government. He says that the Free Churches have been right in resisting unto death the doctrines of religious monopoly.

Robert H. Gardner, in the "The Churchman," (Episcopal), acknowledges that "The unanimous recognition of the plans (Interchurch World Movement) is only a beginning; the hope of all that it will lead to a more perfect union, and the evident anxiety to leave the Catholic (?) churches free to maintain their principle without compromise or surrender, have converted him to the belief that G.o.d the Holy Ghost is guiding this movement, and, therefore, that it is truly Catholic (?)."

If such are the views of the Anglican Church, which, among other denominations, has always been considered as most conservative, what may we not expect from the other Churches? And indeed, the reading of addresses made at their different Conferences and General a.s.semblies, the resolutions pa.s.sed, and the very atmosphere of these meetings tend to uphold the Church-Union Movement as the realization of unity in Christendom. "The Christian Century" (organ of the Disciples of Christ) says: "It marks out the best path yet that has been described for the attainment of unity. It outlines the goal and bravely takes the first step towards its realization." The New York "Christian Advocate" (Methodist) thinks: "It will mark a definite step toward that fusing of Protestant forces whose absence hitherto, is responsible in large part for the failure of Christianity to make powerful headway among men." As the Presbyterians were the originators of the movement, "The Continent" takes a justifiable pride, in quoting from a contemporary, that: "They are perfectly ready to contemplate a Christian unity that involves the pa.s.sing away of this particular organism called the Presbyterian Church, finely wrought though it be," and exhorts: "Presbyterians, this sort of reputation is a lot to live up to. But we must not fall from it."

The principles of evolution-principles which we find underlying modern thought-are freely called upon to explain this movement and justify its consequences. Our millennial-minded doctors and preachers are celebrating already the apotheosis of the Universal Church of the future.

And what does the Catholic Church think of Church-Union? What is its point of view on this "Movement" which has now such hold on the Protestant denominations? As the Catholic Church is in itself the largest Christian body, it is but natural to presume that all Christians will be interested in knowing Her views on this vital subject. For is She not that Church which Gladstone himself calls, "the most famous of Christian communions, and the one within which the largest numbers of Christian souls find their spiritual food!" (Gladstone to Acton, Nov., 1869.)

The Catholic Church sees in this movement of Church-Union the complete disintegration of Protestantism and the open condemnation of its fundamental principles. Those who are not of the "Fold" will perhaps resent, but not be astonished at this sweeping statement. We would only ask them to follow our argument and then judge for themselves.