Part Four

(Observations on various points)

I feel I should make a few observations on these three last points.

Not all the priests who dedicate themselves to the spiritual care of the emigrants have the necessary qualities of zeal, piety, and spirit of self-sacrifice that a good missionary should have.  In fact, many abuse their ministry, becoming traders in sacred things and authentic buyers of gold rather than seekers of souls.  This perhaps is the reason why many bishops feel a certain antipathy against foreign priests who want to enter their dioceses to take care of their countrymen and why some bishops have decided to have the native priests study languages, assigning them eventually to foreign communities in their dioceses.  In practice, this decision cannot be very fruitful, either because knowing

national languages is not enough if one does not know also the different dialects spoken in the various Provinces or because learning a language does not necessarily make one understand the culture of the people.  Hence the importance of the choice of priests to whom the spiritual care of the communities will be entrusted.

The Congregation could easily take care of this need if all priests wishing to go to the communities as missionaries had recourse to it and if bishops who need missionaries for the foreigners living in their dioceses did the same thing.

The Congregation would have no trouble getting reliable information on those aspiring to the Missions and judging their attitudes, while the bishops asking for them would feel fortunate to be able to admit into their dioceses priests recommended and approved by the Congregation (...).

It is consoling to see that in the past few years bishops have been trying to provide priests for the emigrants.

But it is equally sad to think that for such a long time many bishops have utterly neglected the religious needs of so many hundreds of thousands of poor emigrants.

How well the brave missionaries who first rushed to do work in the settlements know this.  How much suspicion and mistrust they had to overcome.  With what coldness they were received.  How many difficulties they had to surmount.  How often their efforts were rejected with contempt!

Even today, notwithstanding this holy reawakening by the bishops, if we think of how much more needs to be done, we realize how little has in fact been accomplished.

It would be up to the Congregation to keep an eye on the great flows of emigration; to classify the various communities, from the biggest with hundreds of thousands of members down to the smallest; to keep an exact count of the churches and of the priests assigned to the emigrants' care; and to require that provision be made for pastoral care wherever necessary.  The Congregation would help the bishops by offering advice, making recommendations, sending them good priests, urging the religious congregations to give their strong support, providing all the means at the Congregation's disposal, and doing so with loving solicitude.

The Congregation could send its own people on the spot to ascertain in person how the spiritual needs of the emigrants are being provided for.  The Congregation must not be satisfied with the reports sent

in by the bishops who most of the times do not reflect the real situation of the communities but the good intentions of those who prepare the reports.

Regarding the problems that emerge so often everywhere, we have to realize that they are almost always the result of the diversity of languages, differences of character, different customs and practices, and a hundred other reasons.

If not eliminated, these problems will become a source of friction, abuse, retaliation, and strife, all to the detriment of the communities and the churches and to the benefit of the non-Catholic sects, who take advantage of such a situation to vilify the Church and her priests.

Also in these cases, should the members of the Congregation go on the spot, they could easily and surely ascertain the reasons for the unrest, report back to the Congregation, and take immediate measures.

Yes, there are Congregations whose task it is to settle the disputes that might arise in similar cases.  But the customary slowness with which they proceed to settle them, due partly to the enormous distances, the solemnity these matters assume when they are brought before the Congregations, the difficulty in having quick and sure information, the lack of knowledge of the environment where the problems have emerged are all obstacles that serve to perpetuate a situation that is harming the interests of the contending parties.

The Congregation should also make a serious study on the best means with which to counteract the active and persistent propaganda the Protestants are directing ‑- and not without success ‑- especially at the Italians in the United States.  Oh, how many distressing things I could say about this matter!

Another heartbreaking fact the Congregation should be concerned with is the proliferation of the so-called independent churches, especially in the Polish communities.

From what I have briefly stated thus far and from all that could still be written on this subject, were one to study this problem in greater depth, he would easily understand what a vast. down-to-earth field of activity would belong to the Congregation under consideration.

Everyone can imagine what a magnificent impression the establishment of such a Congregation would make on millions of poor emigrants in whose hearts by now has entered the discouraging conviction, albeit false, that their Father, the Supreme Pontiff, does not care about them.