The Necessity of a Field-Secretary for the Organization of our Missionary Activities

No one can read the Encyclical letter which His Holiness has recently addressed to the Catholic Church on the Propagation of the Faith throughout the world, without being deeply moved by the yearnings of the apostolic heart of our Common Father, and vividly impressed by the lessons that come from his inspired and timely message to each and every one of us.

Without doubt our own dear country is witnessing that movement which, inspired by the Holy Ghost, is being felt throughout the Catholic world in favour of home and foreign missions. The growing interest of our people in the Catholic Church Extension Society; the enthusiasm with which the great and noble work of Father Fraser, for Chinese Missions, was greeted everywhere; the recent foundation and marvellous development of the community of the "Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception" in Montreal, for service among the lepers of China; the wonderful response which the call of Africa met with among the college and convent youths of the Province of Quebec; the increasing number of vocations to the missionary orders, both for men and women,—to mention only a few outstanding and significant facts,—are evident signs of the "stirring of the waters" in the Church in Canada.

To help to promote and develop fully this providential movement in the Church of God, we beg to submit a few suggestions which may be of some use in the great cause of Home and Foreign Missions.

I—Why?

The continued progress and abiding success of a movement depend on its organization. For, to realize its proposed aim and accepted plan of action, organization alone can enlist and keep secure the sympathies of patrons and members, co-ordinate the various forces, and call into play, when necessary, new and fresh energies. The greater the number to be reached by the society or societies which embody this movement, the more efficient should be the organizing power.

Experience and reason prove that an organization destined to affect the masses and hold its grip on them, will not live and thrive only on an occasional appeal or a printed message. These are indeed of great value, particularly the insistently repeated message in print. We are great believers in the force of a persistent, regular and frequent circularization. But, in our humble estimation, there is something more essential in the matter under consideration, and that is the human contact and continued influence of a "field-organizer." An extensive organization without this factor will not be efficient, will not last. As Floyd Keeler wrote in "America" (July 10, 1920): "It is the personal equation between the organizer and the various units of the Society that counts. . . . The masses are accustomed to think in concrete terms. . . . Long distance appeals and those made to total strangers do not produce permanent results." This influence of the field-organizer is so great that we may safely state that the life of a society fluctuates with the various impulses it receives from him. He is the very heart which gives health and vigor to its organism.

Here lies the secret of the mission-organizations in the Protestant Churches, to which, of late, we have referred so frequently in our Catholic papers, under the heading of: "Fas est ab hoste doceri." . . . Every denomination has its field-organizers entirely consecrated to mission activities among its people. Financial results tell to what extent they are effective in their work.

We have also among our own missionary societies, examples that illustrate the point we wish to emphasize. Since when has the Society of the Propagation of the Faith, in the dioceses of New York and Boston, leaped into prominence, and headed by generous contributions the list of the whole world? How did that change come about? Where is the secret of this success? The establishment of permanent diocesan organizers is the answer. What they have done, why could we not do? "Quod isti—cur non et nos?"

Never, we claim, will the missionary potentialities that lie dormant in Canadian Catholicism, be actuated to bear its message of spiritual light, heat and power to the Church at large, until we establish in the field at various points, secretaries or organizers, whose life-work will be to call into play, to systematize the mission forces of the Church in Canada. If on the contrary, as in the past, we content ourselves with an occasional appeal for missions, a collection now and then, a spasmodic effort here and there, a subscription to a Catholic paper or missionary magazine, the work for Home and Foreign missions will remain exterior to the corporate life of the Church, will not be woven into its very fibre to permeate its activities. As shadows on the wall, they will suggest rather than reveal the possibilities of our missionary effort. The great and pressing call of the White Shepherd of the Vatican will go unheard. If there is a response that comes from Canada, it will not be from the Church at large.

II.—What?

The "raison d'Être," the definite function of a field-secretary is organization. This work implies the double duty to spread, by an intelligent and well thought-out propaganda, the knowledge of the Home and Foreign Missions and of the responsibility it entails, and to found and maintain efficient the various societies established to promote and help their great work.

1. Vision. The effective presentation of the case of Catholic Missions, both to the clergy and to the laity, is the field-secretary's first and important duty. Nothing indeed can be hoped for, nothing can be accomplished until the Catholic people fully grasp and intensely feel what their help and co-operation—however little it may be—mean to the Church, to the salvation of souls, to the honour of our Blessed Lord, to the glory of God. Fac ut videant! The clear, broad and deep vision of these great possibilities in the mission fields will alone overcome selfishness and apathy, awaken interest, stimulate energy.

The field-secretary is the official expert in mission-matters. He will be able to accumulate strong evidence, sum up striking statistics and draw burning comparisons for the effective presentation of his case. An enthusiastic advocate, he will plead with thrilling appeals, the great cause placed in his hands.

During his absence from the field of action, the vision he pointed to, will be kept bright by the recurrence, at stated intervals, of the printed message. Missionary literature receives its life, vigour and impulse from the field-organizer and continues his work in his absence.

2. Action. To realize that vision and incarnate it in work for the Home and Foreign Missions, the Field-secretary will take the diocese as a unit of his organization. In each diocese, with the permission, authority, and co-operation of the Ordinary, he will establish the Societies recommended by our Holy Father in his Apostolic Letter, and others that have been created to meet the specific needs of the country or to favour certain particular missionary work. Therefore:—

(a) Among the Clergy will be founded "The Missionary Union of the Clergy", which our Holy Father desires to see established in every diocese. For loving sons and faithful priests of the Church of God the desire of the Sovereign Pontiff is a command. This, we think, could be easily done by the field-organizer when he visits each parish for the purpose of organizing missionary parochial units, as we shall see later.

The beautiful programme of action which is so easily combined with the ordinary work of the priest in the parish, the facility of his moral and material co-operation in this great work of missions, the spiritual favours and wonderful privileges which the "Union" grants to its members, together with the explicit desire of the Holy See, these are so many motives and incentives, which should induce all the members of the clergy to enter the ranks of the "Missionary Union" and assure to the Church their co-operation in the great mission work, both at Home and in the Field-Afar.

(b) Among the laity of each parish will be founded:

The "Propagation of the Faith"—for Foreign Missions;

The "Church Extension"—for Home Missions.

The permanent success of these societies, once established by the field-organizer, will wholly depend on the selection and appointment of trustworthy promoters, who will distribute the missionary literature, and collect from their respective circles of 10 or 20 members the monthly fee, stipulated for each society. This monthly collection comes as a reminder and is more effective, both morally and financially, than an annual collection taken up in the Church, as is now the prevailing custom in several dioceses. The monthly call of the promoter is a fresh awakening of the missionary spirit in the home, and stands as the continued call of the Master of the harvest. It keeps the interest alive and awakens anew the sympathy for the missions.

(c) Among the Children of our Separate Schools and Sunday-Schools, can be established, with great profit, The "Holy Childhood Society." It is wonderful what interest the kind and sympathetic hearts of children will take in missionary work. The results obtained by the distribution of mite boxes are marvellous. To quote an example given to us by the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, we would say that through their Sunday-School classes, they raise annually the sum of $200,000.00.

But above all, the great asset to be considered in this educational work, is the broad Catholic spirit we create and maintain in the soul of the child. This is far more important than his actual financial contribution, and at the same time it prepares him to be, in later years, a generous contributor. Without any doubt, the Protestants can teach us here a lesson of organization.

(d) In Colleges, Boarding-Schools, Convents and Universities why should we not have branches of the "Catholic Students Mission Crusade?" This organization is doing wonderful work in the United States, and will prove soon to be a potent factor in the Missionary activities of the Church across the boundary. 250 delegates from various institutions of higher learning, throughout the country, gathered in Washington, last August (1920), for the second annual Convention. Among the delegates, we are proud to note, were a few Canadians.

(e) The "follow up" work is what counts in the long run, in a movement of this kind. If we do not wish to see all this beautiful zeal for missions burn away in a passing blaze, we must have a Central Bureau, which will keep in touch with the promoters, and act as the centre of Missionary activities, in the diocese. There all lines will converge, gathering information, bringing results; from there, as from the power-station, will go out to the workers in the field, enthusiasm and energy. "Unity," says F. Kinsman, "cannot be created by agitated fragments of a circumference; it must issue from a central force and be sustained by a centripetal instinct." The Central Bureau, or Clearing House could be confided to a trustworthy person, who would willingly give his spare hours to this great Catholic work, until it would grow to the point of necessitating a permanent and salaried secretary.

It is useless, we believe, to state that a crusade of prayers would be the sustaining force of this movement. We all know that the salvation of souls is above all a supernatural process. We may sow, another may water the seed,—but it is for God to give the growth,—Deus autem incrementum dat.

The development and fostering of "missionary vocations" would be the natural sequel to this movement at large, in the Church of Canada. How many young men and women could not the field-secretary find here and there, and direct to the mission fields where the harvest is plentiful and the harvesters few.

III.—Who?

The function of a field-secretary or organizer is a delicate one, we fully understand. But we are firmly convinced that priests can be found, who, with tact, intelligence and enthusiasm for the great Cause of Missions, and backed with the authority and sympathy of the Ordinary, are bound to make this work a success. There is a wave of the missionary spirit passing over the Church of God. The clergy and the people are eager to help missions at Home and Abroad. But they desire a concrete, workable plan to pin their activities to; they are waiting for something definite to act upon, and a responsible representative of the cause to work with.

Until the development of the organization would call for a diocesan organizer, one priest could act for a Province or Region of the Country. The ordinary objection which our proposal here would meet with, would be the lack of personnel. There is, we know, a shortage of priests everywhere. But would not the Church, as a whole, in Canada and throughout the world, receive more benefit from the life of a priest entirely dedicated to this work of Missions, than if it were given to a specific parish or diocese. Even were a parish or small country mission to be deprived for the time being of a resident pastor, should not that sacrifice be made, generously and cheerfully, for the sake of a greater cause. It is assuredly a short-sighted policy to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of souls for the care of a few, to prefer the welfare of a parish to that of the Church at large. This reasoning and its disastrous consequences are surely not Catholic.

We emphasise the necessity for the organizer to consecrate his life solely to this proposed work. At this price alone will he make it a success. Without doubt, it is the work of a man, the work of a life.

God grant that we may see the day when all the latent Missionary forces of the Church of Canada will be awakened and united in one great gigantic effort of apostolate! These forces form an invisible army of reserves on which the Church is to draw, to fill, as it were, the depleted ranks of Her Missionary units throughout the world. The lack of organization is the weakness of our strength. Let the leaders come forward, and we ourselves shall be astonished at the latent powers of Faith in the Church of Canada.