The Archbishop and I will be glad to have any ideas or suggestions you may see fit to make, so do not hesitate to tell us your mind. I wish you were here to consult with but you better continue where you are, till we call you East. We don’t wish to take a decisive step until we are sure of our ground. We do not wish to make the matter too public and then have a failure.
I have written all this hastily — I hope it is not confusing. We will inform you of what we are doing. We desire to start as soon as the thing is feasible. Will you be able to come without delay as soon as we notify you? But do not come before we call you … His Grace and I will await your reply. Take your time to consider the matter well, but do not delay answering unnecessarily.17
Thus encouraged, Catherine continued to teach and observe the Ruthenian community.18 About fifty children attended the school. They had never had a Catholic English-speaking teacher, although the Stornaway area contained several settlements composed almost entirely of Ukrainian Catholics. Catherine reported to Father Coughlan that the teachers who had been employed in their schools had obviously been enthusiastic Protestant missionaries. The previous teachers at her school had kept their pupils well supplied with Methodist magazines and Sunday School lessons. She found the children “lovable” and wonderfully obedient and anxious to learn, and they had listened closely to the religious education which was given by their teacher. Her immediate and strongest impression was that in Saskatchewan, becoming Protestant was regarded by the teachers, inspectors and school trustees in these western public school districts as the first positive step the immigrants should take on the way to their “Canadianization.”
When Catholic church services were held by visiting priests, who conducted them in the Latin Rite, the parents did not attend as they did not understand it, nor wish to be identified with Latin Catholicism. Catherine did not get involved in, or comment on, the politics of the disputes going on in the Canadian Catholic Church at that time between the Latin and Ukrainian Rite Catholics. Among other differences, the Catholic Ukrainian Rite clergy were allowed to marry, and the Canadian hierarchy were trying to supplant this group with Latin Rite priests for whom marriage was forbidden. Some Redemptorist priests stationed at Yorkton learned the language and adopted the Ukrainian Rite; but many of the Ukrainians would not accept them for they still believed that ultimately they were expected to give up their language and religious customs.19 Some were so determined to maintain their culture, that if they changed their religious allegiance, it was more likely they would become Protestant. Catherine’s only comment on the situation was that “for a considerable time, at least, their Ruthenian Rite must be left to them in Canada. This means that it is absolutely necessary for the children to be taught faithfulness to their own church, and at the same time the difference between Catholic and Protestant Canadians. In the course of time conditions will change.” Evidently Catherine hoped that if these Ruthenians could be kept in the Catholic faith, even though it was the Slavonic Rite, they would eventually accept the Latin Rite. She felt that the most effective way of achieving this was for the Catholic Church to send in a new order of women religious who would provide secular and religious education for their children. She expressed these ideas very forcefully in a manuscript written some time later to attract recruits and funds to the Sisters of Service.
Who can save the situation? Not the priests, nor Catholic lay teachers, nor any Order of nuns working in Canada at present. The priests cannot be spared, for Canada was already short of priests when these people flocked in. Catholic [lay] teachers, unless they could bring companions would be compelled to live alone in the teachers’ residences. This is, more than ever, an unwise thing to do. Apart from the oppressive loneliness, there is the ever increasing danger in these times of unemployment and crime. There are no Latin Catholic churches near and there is no companionship.
Only an order of nuns whose rule would not forbid their living in these teachers’ residences, whose habit would not be in the least conspicuous and who would be qualified to teach in the Prairie Provinces and capable of handling the situation tactfully, would serve the purpose.20
Father Coughlan and Archbishop McNeil continued to exchange ideas, and on 9 September the former, in a note to the archbishop, agreed with him that medical and social work should be included among the aims of the contemplated society, if they were to be successful in reaching the immigrant population. One title for the order which Archbishop McNeil was considering was “The Teaching Sisters,” but Father Coughlan rejected it as they might have applicants who would not be able to teach but “who could render other valuable services. Moreover, there would have to be some in the community who would devote themselves to the domestic duties of the convent… Miss Donnelly has suggested ’Sisters of Service.’ That seems good too, and is broad. I could send a telegram to Miss Donnelly to come to Toronto at once and attend to the mailing of the letters and replying to them etc.”21
Catherine replied on 3 September, and Father Coughlan responded immediately. He reported that he and Archbishop McNeil had a letter ready to send to the priests of Canada which, although not asking directly for funds, would they hoped induce a good response to a later appeal. The archbishop had decided to ask Mrs. Ambrose Small to help finance their work as she was a good friend.22 The Catholic Women’s League would also be approached. They felt that at least six novices were required before they could go to the trouble of securing a novice mistress. They could not, as Catherine had suggested, start with only one or two candidates, and this would likely cause some delay, but he “hadn’t the least doubt that after the work is well started, we shall have many applicants, the only trouble is to secure enough for a start.”
Another heartening piece of news was that Archbishop McNeil had spoken to Mother Victoria CSJ about their plans and “she gave His Grace a very good recommendation of you.” He did not think that there would be any difficulty in getting a novice mistress from the Sisters of St. Joseph, but it was not likely that they would be able to spare their own Novice Mistress, Sister Avila, as Catherine had suggested. But he would consult with Sister Avila when he was at the convent during the next week. The matter of the title, habit, rule and so on could be settled later. He thought “Service Sisters” was a good suggestion for a title, as “we have decided to include medical and social work among the doings of the Order as well as teaching. We hope some day to establish smaller hospitals in the West, as the Presbyterians and Methodists are doing.” He concluded by advising her not to take a university course the coming summer, but to come to Toronto as soon as she could conveniently leave Stornoway. They would provide clerical work and a desk for her at the Archdiocesan office. He was leaving Toronto soon and would be away until early November. He concluded:
I should like to meet you before I leave, but if that is not possible His Grace will instruct you what to do. You can send me word when you expect to reach Toronto.
So again, let us pray hard especially to Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Joseph that God may bless this great work and bring it to a successful issue. I wish to say I was very much pleased with your willingness to serve, not to lead. That is the right spirit and God will bless you for it. Leave yourself entirely in the hands of your Superiors to make use of you for the greater glory of God, as they see fit. Praying God to make you a fit instrument for His Service I remain
Yours sincerely,
Arthur Coughlan, C.Ss.R.
P.S. Archbishop Sinnott of Winnipeg was here for a few days. His Grace and I both spoke to him of our plans and he was very enthusiastic in his approval.23
Father Coughlan also wrote that month to Father George Daly CSsR, one of the priests under his jurisdiction, who had recently been transferred from his post as rector of the cathedral in Regina to Saint John, New Brunswick. One of his new duties included meeting the immigrants at the docks during the summer months when the harbour was open to transatlantic ships. It was a newsy note, typical of the kind of letters sent to keep members of religious orders in touch with the happenings at their headquarters. In it he remarked:
You will be surprised to learn that Archbishop McNeil and I are trying to establish a religious order of women to do educational, medical