For those of you in Canada reading this, a happy Dominion day! (or Canada Day as they call it now)
For those interested in the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada, they should read some of the Canadian Church History that I found quite interesting. It is from a book called “The sword of Saint Paul : a history of the Diocese of Saskatoon, 1933-1983” by Duncan F. Robertson (http://www.ourroots.ca/e/page.aspx?id=1027450).
In Western Canada Catholicism was spread by Roman Catholic Metis (Native tribe that was genetically of half-French, half-Indian) who lived in the wilds and the forests, and still practiced their faith. As someone once Roman Catholic who understands the necessity of church services in that theological system, frontier Catholicism has always fascinated me.
Bishop Albert Pascal O.M.I, described it vividly but briefly in 1876 when he wrote of their practices:
“Several among them faithfully recite twice the beads every Sunday, as well as on on Fridays and days of fast and abstinence. When away from the priest and buried in the solitude of the woods, they gather up all their religious pictures, with which they decorate a tee pee, which for the nonce is transformed into a chapel. There they assemble to pray, and sing hymns in their language.”
The work done by the religious orders of the Roman Church in our country has been admired even by many Protestants, and some of the Jesuit hymns were used by Methodist missionaries likewise.
So may God advance his Church in our country, and may God save the Queen!