Canada and the British immigrantWeaver, Emily P. (Emily Poynton)
History
Canada and the British immigrant
Weaver, Emily P. (Emily Poynton)
Canada -- Description and travel; Canada -- Economic conditions
The churches will continue, both in town and country, to be of account
in the social side of life, apart from their primary importance as
definite religious agencies. According to the latest census there were
in Canada over 2,833,000 adherents of the Roman Catholic church, which
gains immense strength from its solidarity. The Protestants, on the
other hand, though stronger numerically, are split up into numerous
divisions, and in hundreds of little villages throughout the Dominion,
there are three or four churches of different denominations, whilst
numberless other places have no church at all. This over-lapping adds
immensely to the toils, and perhaps detracts from the efficiency, of the
country ministers and missionaries as a body. But projects of union are
in the air, and there is hope that the several great Protestant churches
may devise some plan of working together much more than has been done
hitherto, even if they do not accomplish the corporate union which many
of their adherents desire. In numerical strength the Protestant churches
come in the following order:—Presbyterians, Methodists, Anglicans,
Baptists, and a large number of smaller organizations. Apart from
definite efforts by the churches themselves to arrive at some basis of
union, there are numerous inter-denominational associations which are
tending towards unity. One of the most notable of these is the organized
effort, known as the “Laymen’s Missionary Movement,” to arouse the
interest of business men in missions. This organization, first started
in the United States, has resulted in largely increased giving for
missionary purposes.
The immense immigration to Canada of foreigners and others necessitates
constantly increasing effort on the part of the churches to keep abreast
of their duties and opportunities; and amongst the numbers of newcomers
there is much call to foreign missionary work within the borders of the
Dominion, if it is to remain, in anything more than name, a Christian
country. For instance, Montreal and Toronto each have thousands of
Jewish citizens, many of them from Russia and other foreign lands.
Galicians, adherents of the Greek Church, are numerous in the prairie
provinces; and there are over fifteen thousand Mormons in Canada,
chiefly in Alberta and Ontario. As farmers they are said to be excellent
settlers; whether or not they will be equally successful in sowing the
seeds of their distinctive tenets, so degrading to women and to the
sanctity of home life, yet remains to be seen. It is, however, only fair
to add that the Mormons in Canada do not, as in Utah, practise polygamy
openly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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