The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-11-18


Certain observations seemed to-
prove that labor, when thus per-
formed under circumstances promis-
ing no special individual reward be-
comes unattractive and tends towards
negligence.
r. P. X in Central Bl0tt and Social Justice
Continued from page ~
CATHOLIC MISSIONS
AMONG THE JAPANESE
haunt of the Chinese and Japanese.
And while he sat in the park he used
to wish, yes, pray, that some Japanese
man would come along and sit be-
side him so that he might enter into
conversation and find out something
on the subject dear to his heart. One
day when he was returning home late
in the afternoon after an unsuccessful
days work, he passed into the
Church, as was his custom before
entering the house, and there as he
knelt before the altar of the Blessed
Virgin he scolded her for not aiding
him in his work. AS he entered the
house that night, he met the house
keeper, who told him that Japanese
man. had just called for him but had
gone away. Where is he? Where
is he? Which way did he go?"
Father Breton cried, and without
waiting for an answer, he ran out
from the door and, after stopping two
or three wrong men, he finally found
the right one just as he was about
to turn the corner a block away
Thanks be to God he was Cath
| olic! He had seen the notice of the
priests arrival in the Japanese news
| paper, and was anxious to meet him
The happy consolation of finding this
| man was all the sweeter when he
learned that the man, who had five
children, expressed a desire to have
| the last three, not yet baptized, re-
ceive the sacrament on the following
Sunday.
The Centre of the Mission.
Much of the success of the work is
due to the glorious patronage of the
| late Bishop Conaty who presented to
| Father Breton house which a
former priest of the diocese had
bequeathed him. This became the
center of the mission. And when the
first three adult converts were ready
for baptism on Easter Sunday, 1913
they received the sacrament at the
hands of the Bishop himself, After
the mission at Los Angeles was we'll
established, Father Breton went to
San Francisco in July, 1913, to
inaugurate the work there. The late
| Archbishop Riordan welcomed him
heartily and gave him every encour-
agement. This mission has been
entrusted to Father Won Egloffstein,
who is assisted by Japanese Jesuit
Brother and the Helpers of the Holy
Souls, and now, under the SYM
| pathetic guidance of the Most Rev.
erend Archbishop it is in flourish
ing condition.
At Sacramento the good Bishop has
/ accorded Father Breton every aid and
| blessing in his work, and the Fran
| ciscan Sisters of that city have all
rendered him efficient help by gather
ing the Japanese children and attract
ing them to their school.
The intention is to extend the work
| throughout the state, establishing
missions in every important Japanese
settlement, with Los Angeles as the
headquarters of ALL
i Japanese in America.
| At the end of 1913. there were
$4,000 Japanese in America. Of this
number, 10000, lived in California,
5000 of whom are little children
growing up without any knowledge
of Christ. Reared in their pagan
country, they have brought their
natural customs and belief even into
our land, and they persist in them
because they have not yet tasted of
the sweets of Christianity. The i'm
i portanee of working among them is
all the more pressing when we realize
that the Japanese are in the country
to'stay. And the same regularity that
has marked their coming in the past
will be continued in the future, it
being estimated that during the next
twenty years their number will have
increased 100000. OF these, Southern
California will receive the great
majority, partly because race pref
udice is less spirited there than else
where in the state, and partly be-
cause the ideal climate is especially
favorable for agricultural pursuits
the chief occupation of the japanese.
In Southern California, the produc-
! ton of potatoes, sugar beets, berries,
grapes and hogs is almost wholly in
the hands Of Japanese.
n Japanese Sisters.
Il The most important branch of the
work, however, is that which is being