The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-06-24
PARISH AREA, 1900 MILES;
CATHOLIC POPULATION, 200
Life of Pastor in Charge of a Vast
District in Oregon.

| (Father NJ. J. Hicken. in Occidental
Magazine.)
hnSSleN is "A small village of some
/ halt dozen houses in about the center
/ OF Wasco county. Oregon. and twenty
/ I'VE miles from The Dalles. Two and
nall miles from this vallege there is
small frame church, and frame house
Where the priest lives when lat home"
| When the priest reaches this isolated
niue nome, dusty and tired in summer.
or haIi frozen i'm winter after six hours
Staging from The Dalles. he proceeds to
| open up the house for ventilation shut
Tor a month or more. He next kindles
a flre, gets his buckets and goes some
, oUO yards for water to a neighbours in
the raNine or canyon near by. But he
enjoys one great luxury which can new
er be appreciated by one unfamiliar
with our novel conditions and surround
| hgS. He can go out on his front porch
ana take most refreshing. generous
Observation-Disclosures and unObserVed by
| IlNlng things, save. perhaps, by the
ubiquitous jackrabbit or hungry coyote
kingsley parish embraces all Wasco
county except The Dalles and a narrow
strip along the Columbia river TO Hood
river; all Sherman county and at pres
ent the counties of Crook and Wheeler
over $4,000 square miles. The total
population of these four counties is only
Z3,OSS, and the Catholic population zoo
souls. or some forty families. of whom
about one-half may be counted on TO
support the church and pastor. Within
this Immense missionary circuit there
are some half dozen pretty fair towns
from $50 to 800 of population each-Du-
fur, Wasco, Moro (the county seat.
Grass Valley, Kent, Shaniko. Antelope
in all of which there are but four
Catholic families. There are also quite
a number of small villages and hamlets
Briggs, Grants Rufus, Boyd. Nansine.
Wapanitia, Wamic, Victor Tigh Ridge,
AShwood-in which there is not single
Catholic family, or, ! believe. individ-
ual There is not a Catholic "in bust
ness or in the professions" in all these
towns. big or little. But we labor on
undismayed, travelling from one Cath
Ollie family to another, teaching the
catechism, visiting the sick. lecturing
TO on-CatholicS, hearing confessions
and celebrating mass when and where
we can. Occasionally we gather in a
stray sheep and sometimes we are
rewarded with a good conversion.
Usually it takes three weeks or a month
to make the circuit of our missions.
But" said dear friend to us once,
how do you reach these terrible places
these mountains and canyons-how Go
YOU travel?" Well" we replied, iocu-
larly, any way, except to fly"
Our dear Protestant friends are more
than kind. They take a deep interest
in our church work, and contribute
readily TO all Catholic institutions.
Indeed. il is but just to them to state
mere that the beautiful little church
which we have just built at Wasco was
almost wholly the result of their lib
crafty.
It is the first Catholic church in
Sherman county, and with the excep-
ton of The Dalles thirty miles distant,
there is not another Catholic church
within a radius of 100 miles.
The church is 76x2S feet, has living
apartments for the priest and q fine
basement throughout eight feet i'm the
clear. 1t is finished in the natural
Woodland oil and varnish-and is the
pride of all Wasco. When completed
and furnished it will, with the ground
donation, represent a cash value close
to $4,000. with a total outstanding in
debtedness of about $500.
Were we able through some benevo-
lent agency. to build even one little
church in each county. great things
could be accomplished for religion.
The priest would be within reasonable
reach of the widely-scattered little con-
gregations, the timid and the wavering
would be strengthened and the poor
fallen-away Catholics receive new hope
and encoura cement.