Catholic Problems in Western CanadaDaly, George Thomas
Religion
Catholic Problems in Western Canada
Daly, George Thomas
Catholic Church -- Canada
For twenty-one years (1888-1909) the annual meeting of the Catholic Truth
Society was the outstanding event of Catholic life in England. It became
the field on which Catholic forces--clergy and laity--met yearly to
exchange ideas, formulate plans, co-ordinate purpose and concentrate
activity. This gathering gave rise to the "National Catholic
Congress"--which now stands out as the annual review, the
"mass-manoeuvre," of the Church militant in England. These meetings have
made of a handful of Catholics, many but neo-converts of yesterday, the
aggressive body we all admire, and from which we, in Canada, have many
things to learn.
The Editor of the "Universe" in his issue of Sept. 22, 1919, on the
occasion of the C.T.S. Conference in Nottingham, paid a beautiful tribute
to the Society. "This summing up of its activities is in itself an
inspiration and incentive. We are reminded by this Conference of the
debt and duty we owe to the society under whose auspices it meets. The
debt is all-pervading. How many Catholics in this country are there,
teachers or taught, who have not profited directly and personally by the
labour and enterprise, freely given, of the comparatively few who, since
that memorable day of its foundation, November 5, 1884, have maintained,
written for, and contributed to the expenses of the Catholic Truth
Society? It has provided the apologist with an armoury and the teacher
with material; it has saved the scholarly many an hour of troublesome
research; it has given the unlearned instruction suited to their needs;
it has given the masses of our people the popular Catholic literature
they want; it has been a veritable sleuth-hound on the track of traducers
of the Church; it has explained and commended her cause to even greater
numbers outside her pale who were simply ill-informed; it has helped more
souls than anyone will ever be able to count, into the Fold. Moreover,
it has been the fruitful parent of progeny (not always filially grateful)
which extends to-day to the uttermost parts of the earth. And always it
has maintained a standard--which, in fact, it created amongst us--of
material high quality, of intellectual respectability and of religious
solidity, the more worthy of grateful appreciation because not everywhere
fully appreciated. Nor can we forget that the Society is in a real sense
"the work of one man," though never has it been that very different
thing, a "one-man work." No one layman (and very few ecclesiastics) has
done a larger definite and objective work for the Catholic Church in our
time than Mr. Britten."
Such a record should shame the faint-hearts among us who seem to think
that no corporate efforts are of any use in the world now rushing on to
its own destruction. That it should shame those who take no interest at
all in the progress of their religion, would be too much to hope.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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