The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-12-29
DANGERS TO FAITH MET WITH
ON MISSIONS.

ON MISSIONS.
Rev. Donald A. Mclean, a graduate
of st. Paul Seminary, sends the follow
ing interesting account of mission
work and trials in British Columbia
He writes from Ladysmith, B. c..
: / have been quite busy since return
ing from Toronto, getting among my
flock and looking after the strayed
ones Here in the west one must be
the ever watchful shepherd to his
flock The good shepherd here, how
ever, does not leave the ninety-nine
safe at home to go in search for the
lost one. He rather leaves the one to
go in search of the lost ninety-nine,
for by far the greater potion of the
Catholics here belong to that class.
Here it is house-to-house mission.
Without that, very few indeed would
turn up on Sundays. AS it is, only
about third, about three or four
hundred, attend although I have two
Masses each Sunday here to give them
every opportunity, and practically all
are within one-half mile from the
Church. | find that the most effec-
tive work can be done with the chill
dren, and through them one can often
reach the hearts of the parents. BY
means of little presents one can gain
their sympathy, so always keep my
pockets we'll stocked with nice, holy
pictures, which please the children
very much. But the work is slow, and
very often discouraging. There are
SO many forces working against us.
Socialism has taken such hold on
the laboring people, and although they
understand very little of it's mater
ialistic basis and tendencies, still it
| does it's work just the same, with the
result that many have very little, if
any, faith left.
With many of the older Catholics
of such a type, it is hard task to
safeguard the faith Of the children
They hear so much against the
Church, not only from the non-Cath-
Ollie agencies which are ever active,
but even from their own Catholic par
ents. | have seen and heard Catholic
parents laugh at and ridicule the idea
| of God, Heaven or He'll in the presence
of their children. Il used to go twice
on Sunday, but now am wiser"
I"All right for children and old wom-
en-" 1--WE have our hell here on earth
ETC., ETC., are the answers have fire.
lquently received from Catholic" men
and women. Only yesterday one,
whom I visited to try to get his child
| baptized-here it is not a strange
thing to find children of Catholic par
ents several years-ten, twelve, or
even older, still unbaptized- laughed
at me when-I spoke of Gods blessings;
and these people who have fallen
away have had the advantages of good
Catholic training. They are not by
any means all foreigners They come
from the Eastern Provinces, Ireland,
ETC., from good Scotch and Irish fam
lilies.
What type of Catholic the present
growing generation, if. left without
Catholic training. with such environ
ment,, will produce it is not hard to
predict. Only one thing can save the
Catholic children, especially those of
the mining towns here, and that is the
convent school. But there our hands
are tied, for the people who will not
make the little sacrifices necessary to
prevent their churches from being
Il u,;1
make the further sacrifice necessary
| to keep a Catholic school a-going. That
is quite evident here where the con-
vent has been closed for over three
| years. Since my return I have been
endeavoring to stir up interest in get
ting the convent here re-opened.
Some few are anxious to do all in
i their power to help, but many, and
| those are the ones who really need
| the convent school for their children,
are not at all favorable, for they fear
that it may mean that they will have
1 to contribute a little to keep it going.
i They have any amount of money for
the saloons, dance-halls and theatres.
The public school costs nothing, they
lsay, and they get free books. Yes,
and many of the public schools here
Iare Protestant "A Catholic teacher
can't get on the staff, although the
schools are supposed to be non-sec-
tartan. They are even more anti-Cath-
olic than the Ontario public schools.
1.-THE little faith of the child's heart
has a great struggle to survive in such
an atmosphere. The need for Catholic
schools is every bit as urgent, if not
more so; than in pagan missions,
where missionaries and Sisters
schools are supported entirely BY the
Propagation of the Faith" or the CON
ttributions of generous Catholics.
| II only the Church Extension Soci-
| ETY. had the support of the wealthy
Catholics, or even the general sup
port of the Catholics in all the more
favored dioceses of Canada, what a
great work it would be able to do
saving those children for the Church
and God, by providing free convent,
schools for our children. Great is the
work the society is doing, but the
work that remains to be done because
of Jack of means is many times great
4 49, ~