The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1876-01-30
IMMIGRATION.
IMPORTANT CIRCULAR TO THE CLERGY

We ask the special attention of our read.
ers to the following document from the
officers of the Irish Catholic Benevolent
tial organizations in the country. AS the
appeal is made to the clergy alone, it is to
be hoped that every parish priest in Louisi-
ana will at once communicate to the officers
of the I. C. B. U. such Information az he
possesses, or can easily obtain, relative to
the inducements offered immigrants in his
section of the State.
By little exertion at this time thu Rev.
Clergy can confer lasting benefits on our
State as we'll az render signal service to
thousands of our co-religionists in the
the cities of other sections.
Most reverend. Right Reverend, and Row! Fathers:
We. the members of the National Board
Of Coloniaation of the Irish Catholie Benev-
olent Union, desire most earnestly and re-
Important work we have been chosen to
execute.
We are members of the Irish Catholic
Benevolent Union of the United States-a
Union composed of more than three hun
dred Catholic Societies, and having an ag-
gregste of nearly forty thousand men. This
Benevolent Union received last year, a
special blessing from our dearly beloved
Pontiff, the illustrious Plus the Ninth. It's
special aims and efforts are directeditoward
ameliorating the condition of our Catholic
fellow citizens.
1t strives to accomplish this by fostering
spirit of frsternal charity, by works Of
Christian benevolence, and by insisting up
on the necessity of practical Catholieity
| amongst its members.
Extending the limits of it's aims as it ad-
vances in power and influence, it now nm
dertakes groat and important work which,
if successful, will prove of lasting benefit to
many of our Catholic people by improving
their temporal, and, we humbly hope, their
spiritual condition.
The Irish Catholic Benevolent Union be-
lieves it could benefit many people if it
could induce them to leave the misery,
poverty and great temptations they daily
experience in our large cities, and Geek up
on the fertile prairies of this great country
new field for fresh energy, n new home
for bright and peaceful future. We are
convinced that the temporal and spiritual
conditions of thousands of Catholic fami-
lies would be wonderfully improved if they
could be placed upon farms in various parts
of the United States. We believe that q
great deal of disappointment and failure
arises from the fact that some foolish per-
sons take their families to lonely districts
far away from other farmers who are men,
bers of our holy Church. Persons thus iso-
lated can obtain no aid, no good advice, no
comfort from friends they might otherwise
make by social intercourse. Their children
grow up in ignorance-parents and child
rem are without the spiritual aid and COM
fort of our holy religion.
For these and many other reasons
which you as Shepherds of the flock
know as we'll as we,-the I. c. B. U. has
been led to believe that the only true me-
thod of settling many of our brethren as
happy farmers upon the prairieS is by the
formation of Catholic colonies.
The Irish Catholic Benevolent Union at
their recent Convention at Rochester, New
York, resolved to enter upon the serioua
work of establishing Catholic colonies. A
National Board Of Colonization was insti-
tuted, and the duties of the Con mittee de-
fined in the following terms:
tit shall DO the duty Of the Committee
to consider and propose measures relating