m
December to March, it is a real impossibility for those who live at any
distance to go to Church.

And who are those who have settled on our Western plains? This is not
the place to discuss the immigration policies of the past. We are
dealing with facts. We have the _most cosmopolitan population_ one
could imagine. The most divergent factors go to make up the racial
composition of our western population. We know of a city parish that
counted 16 different nationalities within its boundaries. During the
first and second generation, during what we would call the period of
Canadianization of these various national elements, the Church has to
face a most difficult and complex situation.

Diversity of nations means _variety of ideals, differences of customs
and traditions_. The disassociation from former relations and the
sudden transfer to new conditions of life, have proved to be such a
shock to many settlers that they fail to readjust their lives to the
arising needs. "Separated from the influences of his early life the
immigrant is apt to suffer from disintegrating reaction amid the
perplexing distractions, difficulties and dangers of his new
environment. Frequently it happens that old associations are destroyed
and there is no substitution of the best standards in the new
environment. A vacuum is created which invites the inrush of
destructive influences." How many foreigners have been lost to the
Church because the teachings of their Faith were no longer handed down
to them, wrapped up, we would say, in the folds of their national
customs and celebrations! The oriental and southern mind is more
particularly susceptible to the influence of this national tinge with
which religion itself comes to them.

The fusion of so many ethnical groups and their adaptation to new
surroundings are the result of a very delicate and slow process,
especially in rural communities. "You cannot play with human chemicals
any more than with real ones. You have to know something of
chemistry," said Winston Churchill. Thousands of foreigners have been
lost to the faith because many of our own, clergy and laity, did not
know the first elements of "human chemistry." The great leakage from
the Church in the West is among Catholic immigrants. Unscrupulous
proselytisers on the specious plea of "Canadianization" have weaned
them from the faith of their fathers. This nefarious process is still
at work, especially in the Ruthenia