Religious Freedom in Canada

New Zealand Tablet, 15 October 1908, Page 13

Religious Freedom in Canada

Canada (says Gaston Maury in the Paris Revue Blette) is the freest country in the ■ world, resembling in this respect both Switzerland and Holland. Retween the Catholics and Protestants of the Dominion, he declares, there has been growing up within recent times a harmony as -to the religious up-bringing of the population, the like of which is not known -elsewhere. All sects have begun an era of co-operation which, in sinking the vulgar sectarian prejudices of other times, bids fair to be just what Canada has hitherto lacked to make of her one of Jhe greatest of all countries. It is unquestionable, says Maury, that Canada, in by far the greatest bulk, is religious. <Is there another country in the world which can say that it knows of only three -or four thousand professed atheists among 6,400,000 souls? Of the ever-growing population,. 2,500,000 are Catholics, the balance, nearly 4,000,000, being Protestants of different sects. -It is not claimed for ihese that "they are all, without exception. - persons of devotion and piety. Nevertheless, statistics point to .the fact thac the practical worshippers of -church-goers number over 75 per cent. Co-npared with' Great Britain's 36 per cent., these Canadian figures are" decidedly "envou'ragingi not to say magnificent. It is also an undoubted fact that the 'atmosphere of Canada is leligious, and- that a reputation" for being sceptical or anti-religious is enough to destroy ah individual's hope of .success in Canadian public", if not in private, ■ business life. ' The godless school ' is unknown in the Dominion, and a strong religious-tone characterises the public teaching of- all kinds, high as welt as low, the Universities, in partMular, showing the Avay in respect of special religious exercisegwm\yhich all are expected to take an interest— each according to his creed. Catholicity has increased by leaps and bounds within the past quarter of- a century.' The convents have "added largely to their membership ; the male Orders — particularly the Sulpitians — have shown that fhey a"re practically a 'necessity i inasmuch' as ,their teaching staffs have quadrupled in that period. The Jesuits, who although they were the rear pioneers of the North, were expelled at the close of the eighteenth century; have reappeared in strong numbers, and have been received with open arms by -the authorities who voted them an indemnity of 2,000,000 francs for the losses eney had sustained.

With "the increasing prosperity to all the Churches, , the bigotry that has existed in Canada is gradually disappearing. Under the teachings of the Catholic Premier, Laiirier,. the Dominion is • beginning to realise -that" its best hope -of national salvation lies in the sinking of aU discord, as the history of the" United States has shown so clearly. As against the 2,500,00 Catholics, the Methodists can show 917,000 of their own members, the Presbyterians 842,000, Protestants proper 700,000, and Baptists nearly 300,000.

Regarding- the feeling subsisting between Catholics and Protestants, M. Maury has to say that, in theory, the attitude of " armed neutrality is- still in existence. The, French Canadians are wholly conservative, and view with distrust anything like centralisation. Nevertheless, in practice the most amicable relations prevail between the priest and the- minister — no matter what denominations the latter belongs to. Particularly have they all united to fight the growing scourge of alcoholism. *

The priests • still maintain the highest reputation for piety and zeal, -and, (says. Maury) they are, of all the Catholic priests "in the Western Hemisphere, the most devout and the least worldly, while still assiduous in their parish duties.

On the whole, he concludes, the Dominion of Canada, in respect of its freedom in religious' matters, has no cause to envy any other country on the face of the tarth.