Catholic Problems in Western CanadaDaly, George Thomas
Religion
Catholic Problems in Western Canada
Daly, George Thomas
Catholic Church -- Canada
Our sole endeavour has been to point out the controlling forces, the
spiritual issues that lurk behind these problems. In debatable matters
we always have tried to find that higher level which lies undisturbed
by the cross-currents of opinions. Naturally there are conclusions we
draw or forms of action we propose which may not find favour with
everyone. There are so many angles of vision from which moral problems
can be viewed. But we will say with Cardinal Newman "nothing would be
done at all if a man waited until he could do it so well that no one
could find fault with it." Were we, in our insistency on certain
topics and suggestions, accused of undue repetition, the importance of
the subject and our eager desire of immediate action would be our only
excuse and defence.
The Western spiritual harvest is indeed great and now ready for the
reapers. Never in our mind has a period in the history of the Church
in Canada been more fraught with greater problems than the present one
which the sudden increase of the West has created. The vastness of
their proportion and their far-reaching consequences involve to a great
extent the future of the Church in these new Provinces and,
consequently, in the Dominion at large. Moreover this immense harvest
is now white and calls for the reapers. To-morrow will be too late,
for, there comes a critical stage in the maturing harvest, when the
labours of past months and the most bright prospects melt away in an
hour. If therefore action is not immediate, irreparable, we contend,
will be the loss to the Church in the West. Only by a prompt and
united action will the stern and burning realities of the present be
converted into the bright visions that our Faith has a right to expect.
The harvesters are few. But were the Church at this critical hour able
to count on all the spiritual forces that lie dormant in the souls of
her children in Canada, the history of the future in the West would be
different from that of the past. As in times of emergency, the
conscription of Catholic forces is the supreme duty of the hour. It is
the duty of our leaders to affect by a definite policy the
"indeterminate masses," just as it is the duty of each individual of
the masses to shoulder his share of responsibility by an active
co-operation. _Without a definite workable policy of united action,
and the awakened consciousness of the Catholic masses at large,
throughout the Dominion, the Catholic problems in Western Canada will
not be solved_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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