USA > Maine > The Catholic church in Maine > Part 27
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St. Mary's (1916) in Westbrook, and the Sacred Heart (1923) in Auburn. In Bangor, however, a strong Catholic center from the start of the diocese, there was no increase; St. John's, the original parish, and St. Mary's, founded in 1872, still sufficed.
Provision for the new immigrants was the reason for some of these parishes. St. Peter's and St. Louis' in Portland were national parishes, the former for the Italians and the latter for the Poles. The parish of SS. Cyril and Methodius (1923) in Lisbon Falls cared for the three hundred Slovak families living in the three Lisbon communities and the neighboring towns of Danville and South Chisholm. The history of this parish points to the risks national churches faced: the inevitable migration of families when the industry which had attracted the immigrants to the town had failed or declined. The three hundred families of the Lisbon Falls parish have now declined to one hundred and five. But the risk was inconsiderable com- pared to the good accomplished, for one does not know how many preserved their faith because of parish life while they were striking roots in the new world.
Usually, however, the new immigrant did not settle in suf- ficient numbers to warrant a separate parish. When the situa- tion allowed it, Walsh would assign a priest to a city parish to take care of one nationality group. Thus Father Norbert Pakalins came to the diocese in 1916 to work among the Lithu- anians and was assigned as a curate to St. Patrick's, Lewiston, and Father Joseph Awad was accepted in 1922 to work among the Syrians in central Maine. More often it devolved on the parish priest to care for Catholics of different national origins. As Bishop Walsh noted in his annual report for 1914, the new immigrants were "scattered in all parts and often changed residence to seek work." He urged the pastors to watch out for them and to invite a priest of their nationality to visit them two or three times a year. Frequently, then, a pastor of a rural parish would have a number of missions to attend and a con- gregation of mixed nationalities in each to protect. Father J. M. Le Guennec, pastor of St. Rose's in Chisholm, is a good ex-
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ample. He had five missions attached to the parish, and parish and missions took him into four different counties. In the sum- mer of 1916 Walsh visited him; he blessed St. Mary's in Riley Village, one of the missions, which was attended by Catholics "of several nationalities," and later he visited another station in Gilbertville where he spoke in English, French, and Italian. There were, of course, immediate advantages in a national parish, but in a congregation of mixed nationalities nationalism happily tended to be submerged in the unity of the faith, and the survival of the faith was the important thing.
The Church showed the strongest gains in the southern and northern regions of the state. In York county there were five new parishes, in Cumberland six (four of them in Portland), and in Aroostook seven. The growth in the latter county was noteworthy. The first parish established by Bishop Walsh was the Holy Family in Daigle, a mission of Fort Kent. This town, about eight miles south of the juncture of the Fish River with the St. John, was named after the first settler, Vital Daigle, a grandson of one of the original Madawaskan settlers. In October, 1906, two months after Walsh's consecration, Daigle started its own parish life. Other descendants of the Madawaskans had moved down the Fish River and during the next two years two more parishes were founded. Both had been missions of St. Joseph's in Wallagrass which, in turn, had been a mission of Fort Kent until 1890. The pastor of St. Joseph's had five missions along the river and the Aroostook road: Eagle Lake, Winterville, Portage Lake, Sheridan, and Ashland. In 1907, Eagle Lake and in 1908, Sheridan became parishes. Towns were growing along the lower St. John, too, and we find two more parishes added there: St. Remi's in Keegan and St. Joseph's in Hamlin, the first above and the other below Van Buren. Aroostook's two other parishes were in the potato area: St. Louis in Limestone, north of Caribou, and St. Agnes in Island Falls, north of Benedicta. Here in northern Maine the bishop discovered a healthy growth of
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Catholic population without much help from the new immi- grants.
With the exception of Androscoggin County where all four new parishes were in cities (Lewiston and Auburn), the re- maining parishes were generally located in towns. This did not necessarily mean a substantial increase of Catholics in rural Maine. The number of Catholics frequently did not warrant a resident priest, but concern for scattered and isolated Catho- lics did. It was difficult to retain the faith when the nearest church was miles away and a priest was seldom seen between visits to the church. The bishop's report for 1914 describes the situation in the rural areas of Maine:
In many of the small towns and villages of Maine there are groups of two, six or ten Catholic families, far from any Catholic Church and such groups should have a personal visit from the Pastor at regular intervals, some systematic catechetical instruction, and Holy Mass occasionally on week days, if it is not feasible on Sunday.
The new parishes brought the priest and parish life closer to these Catholics.
How slowly the Church advanced in many regions of the state can be seen by the number of new parishes in the counties. In Kennebec County there were three ( Waterville, Winthrop, and North Vassalboro); there were two each in Penobscot (Kingman and East Millinocket), Piscataquis (Milo and Greenville), Somerset (Bingham and Madison), and Washing- ton (Woodland and Lubec); only one was founded in Hancock (Bar Harbor) and Oxford (South Paris, later transferred to Norway as a better site for a resident priest). One can easily see where the slowly developing areas were located: the broad stretch of land across the middle of the state, above the cities of Waterville and Bangor and below Aroostook county, com- prising the counties of Washington, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, and Oxford in the southwestern section of Maine.
When Bishop Walsh died in 1924 there were ninety-five parishes and one hundred and sixty-eight churches in the diocese. These figures tell us how much he did to extend the
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Church in Maine. They also reveal how much remained to be done. There were about seven hundred organized towns and cities in the state.
b. Public Issues and the School Question
Bishop Walsh was a public figure and, since public rank in- vites criticism, he had his share. At times and especially near the end of his episcopacy he was severely criticized in some quarters. How severely we may judge from the obituary com- ments of the Press Herald. This paper's appraisal of the man and his work is generous and glowing, but reference was made to the strictures of Walsh with the advice that "the harsh voice of criticism which may have been raised against him must now be stilled." No doubt much of the bitterness voiced against Bishop Walsh was sired by the Ku Klux Klan which was riding under full sail during the last five years of his life. This voice was raised, not against Walsh, but against the Catholic Church. But Walsh was also opposed and adversely criticized for some of his public positions and statements.
It is true, of course, that his parish program increased the influence of the Church in Maine, but there was little complaint on this score. New parishes and new churches were strictly diocesan affairs and the bishop's concern. The building pro- gram required property, and some of the Maine natives may have disliked the news that the diocese had purchased a piece of property in their town and may have grumbled at the sight of a church with a cross near their residence. But they had no legitimate reason for complaint, and Bishop Walsh's zeal in extending religious facilities to the Catholics of Maine (facili- ties, incidentally, that encouraged out of state Catholics to vacation in Maine) generally won respect if not approval.
His stand on public issues naturally elicited comments. He was well posted on current events and trends and watched the state legislature closely. One who knew him well tells us that:
When our legislatures were in session he kept in touch with every move, and it is safe to say that not a single measure was proposed
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or enacted without it having been carefully considered in all its bearings towards the great Church over which he ruled, as one ever on the alert for the interests of his flock.
He did not hesitate to advocate and support bills that in- volved the welfare of Catholics. A good example of this would be his support during the winter session of 1915 of a bill that would permit the legal separation of husband and wife. He openly supported it on the score that it allowed:
all Catholics and others whose conscience will not permit them to seek for a legal divorce from the bonds of matrimony to obtain by law all the important effects for the protection of innocent parties, of children and of all property rights.
The bill became a law when Governor Curtis signed it on April 2, 1915.
He did not hesitate to oppose measures and projects that he considered poor legislation and detrimental to municipal gov- ernment. This he did in 1915 when he opposed the proposed bill to create a Recreational Board for Portland. During the first decade of this century many American cities were estab- lishing playground and recreational boards and committees to provide decent facilities for children in overcrowded city dis- tricts. It was an undeniably worthy objective, and a leader of the movement in Worcester was Father John McCoy of St. John's parish, a graduate of Holy Cross the year Walsh entered. Walsh was in favor of the objective too, but did not care to see the state legislature move in on municipal affairs. He ad- dressed an open letter to the citizens of Portland and their representatives in the legislature, and the Eastern Argus (March 2, 1915) gave it first page space under the caption: "An Incubation of Socialism." Because Portland could provide and control recreational facilities by city ordinance, Walsh thought a board controlled by the state legislature "would promote extravagances, paternalism and socialism and open the door to endless trouble and expense." It was quite sufficient to oppose the measure on the score of needless expenses and poor municipal policy without introducing the charge of social- ism against its sponsors. Bishop Walsh had a tendency to
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exaggerate and the tendency at times weakened his argument. He did, however, discover that the public and the members of the legislature approved of his views. Indeed, his views on public issues frequently found favorable response among the majority in Maine, for his approach to them was conservative. His early years as bishop coincided with the advent and heyday of the Progressives when the political atmosphere was charged with demands for changes on all political levels: municipal, state and national. Walsh was for the old order of life and was "always found in the ranks of those who are ever fearful" of proposed political changes, although he did accept reform leg- islation providing for an industrial arbitration board (1909), an employers' liability act (1909), food inspection (1915), workmen's compensation, and a 54-hour week for women and minors (1915).
The major source of criticism of Bishop Walsh came from his efforts to change Maine's policy towards the Catholic schools. He was, as the editor of the Portland Press Herald told his readers, "by training, temperament and inclination an edu- cator," and he "devoted himself to the extension and improve- ment of the schools of the Catholic Church in Maine." For this he had worked night and day and had inspired "others to work as hard as he did." Bishop, pastors and parishioners had made an enviable record. Sixteen parish schools were opened dur- ing his episcopacy; that was nearly one every year and made the total for the entire state of Maine fifty-six schools, not in- cluding, however, the three Indian schools which were con- ducted by the Sisters of Mercy but were public institutions.1 During the first quarter of the century parish schools had increased from thirty to fifty-six, and enrollment in them had bourgeoned from 7,819 to 19,137. Academies had also in- creased: from three with 200 students in 1900 to twelve with 840 pupils in 1924. The only decrease was found in the schools for the Indians; there were still three, but attendance had
1 Five of the sixteen schools were in Portland, three in Lewiston. two in Houlton; the others were in Augusta, Bath, Benedicta, Fort Fairfield, Orono, and Rumford Falls.
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declined from 169 to 117. Total enrollment in Catholic educa- tional institutions, primary and secondary, academies and the one college, had risen from 8,286 to 20,200.
Some Maine papers give the impression that this expansion was due to Walsh's success in obtaining state aid for Catholic schools. To improve the Catholic schools the bishop was moved, we are told by the Press Herald, "to assume a leading role in the shaping of legislature in Augusta," and became "an influential agent in this work."
He fought his fight with courage and persistency. It was his life work and he did it well. Shall we not, now that he has passed into the great beyond where sooner or later all of us must follow, give him the credit which is his due for having lived up to his honest con- victions of what was right and for the best, whether we agree with him as to his views or not?
Walsh did attempt to get state aid for the parish schools and he argued his case in Augusta before the legislature and in Portland before the municipal authorities. But he failed to receive favorable action; he did, however, receive bitter criti- cisms from some quarters. His campaign for state funds for parish schools needs some clarification.
Bishop Walsh came to Maine with a definite attitude on the relationship of the free parish schools to the community, an attitude that had been shaped by his personal experience in the Salem parish school, his knowledge of the early parish schools in Massachusetts, especially in Lowell, and his years as direc- tor of schools in the Boston archdiocese. In his opinion these free parish schools performed a public function. Occasionally he referred to them as Catholic public schools, for they were free and the children who attended them satisfied the require- ments of compulsory education fixed by public law. They were not the same as academies supported by tuitions paid by stu- dents.
Maine authorities admitted some of his premises. The three Indian schools, taught by Sisters, were publicly supported. Of course, these children were special wards of the state and the use of religious teachers was good for the Indians and easy on
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the public purse. These schools, however, were listed in the Catholic Directory as diocesan schools. Maine authorities were willing to go further. Shortly after Bishop Walsh was conse- crated, the school board of Frenchville requested that the parish school of St. Luce's be made the public school. This was one of the older parishes in Madawaska and the Sisters of Our Lady of the Rosary had conducted a school there since 1899. Naturally most of the children attended the parish school. A new parish school building was built in 1907, and not long after its completion the public school was destroyed by fire. It was then that the school board requested that the parish school become public. When the request reached Bishop Walsh he gave his consent. Again, we should note that the economic factor, seldom ignored in Maine, may have persuaded the state and local authorities to accept this arrangement. They were of a different mind where the State Public Fund was involved.
This fund, a large one derived from an initial grant and aug- mented annually by a percentage of certain taxes, was used for the state normal schools, schools in unorganized townships, and pupils in cities and towns. The greater part of the interest from this fund went to the third bracket, the cities and towns, each receiving an annual grant depending on the number of school children in the city or town and the valuation of its school property. Cities like Portland and Lewiston increased their grants by counting all children of school age, those attend- ing the parish schools as well as the public schools. By this method of computation Portland in 1916 increased its annual grant by $22,000 (ten dollars for each of the 2200 parochial students ), Biddeford by $21,030, Lewiston by $18,949, Bangor by $8,810. Since the competition for shares of the fund was keen, this method of computation was considered unfair. The Grangers, anxious to get more money for the rural areas, re- sented the large percentages allotted to cities and towns with parochial schools. Neither could Bishop Walsh and the Catho- lics see the justice of these grants increased at the expense of the parish schools which were already saving these cities and
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towns thousands of dollars. The bishop had the figures for each community; in 1915 the parish schools saved Portland $60,000. Hence bishop and Catholics thought it only fair that Portland and other communities transfer to the local parish schools that share of the grant derived from computing parochial students.
The Grangers and others were not enthusiastic over this solution to their complaint. But as Walsh pointed out the state constitution allowed such a distribution of state money when it empowered the legislature to encourage and endow "all academies, colleges and seminaries" in Maine. Since 1820 the legislature had exercised this power by making grants to edu- cational institutions of all grades and religious affiliations. Bishop Walsh, a constitutional rigorist, was on safe grounds and he knew it, and hence did not hesitate to state his case emphatically.
Walsh presented the case of parish schools to the public openly and persistently. He was convinced that the Catholic position was based on justice and equity and he did not take refuge in subterfuge. Through the pages of the MCHM he supplied the Catholics with complete statistics on their school system, told them how much their parish school or schools saved their city or town annually, informed them of his efforts before the city government and state legislature to seek redress and relief. Lest there be an escape, he insisted that the parish schools observe scrupulously regulations required by the state; in the summer of 1915 he directed all schools to follow the program approved by the State Superintendent of Education for instruction in music and drawing, and he asked all teachers (306 Sisters and 33 lay teachers ) to acquire the state certificate required to teach.
The statistics were impressive and were prepared for all the citizens of Maine. There were (in 1914) forty-three parish schools in twenty-eight cities or towns, attended by 13,578 children. Eleven of Maine's twenty cities had one or more parish schools. There was not a sufficient number of Catholics
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in the other nine cities ( Belfast, Gardiner, Hallowell, Eastport, Ellsworth, Rockland, Saco, South Portland) to warrant the heavy expenses of a school, but, he added, there were plans to establish one in some of these communities. He underscored the financial contributions of Catholics to municipal treasuries by comparing attendance at public and parish schools. Lewis- ton's school budget was nearly cut in half by the 2,016 parochial students attending the city's five parish schools; St. Peter's alone had a larger enrollment (1,157) than the public schools of many Maine cities. The bishop supplied statistics for every parish school in the state in the November 1914 issue of the MCHM so that the Catholics and the non-Catholics had the facts on hand.
He himself, aided by prominent Catholic laymen, presented the facts and proposed a solution in conference with the Port- land city officials and before state legislative committees. In the spring of 1915 an amendment to the State School Fund was proposed that would allow cities and towns to make agree- ments whereby private and parochial schools would be re- imbursed on a pro rata basis the sum of money allotted to these cities and towns for children attending non-public schools. This was not contrary to the state constitution, it was pointed out. When the statistics had been presented and the justice and legality of the proposal explained, he concluded with this query:
If, however, the State has been subsidizing a Baptist college, a Con- gregational academy, a Wesleyan institute, and a Methodist school on and off during nearly a hundred years, and legally doing so, upon what ground or basis can it decline to aid common schools for nec- essary education by free Catholic citizens of the State?
It was an embarrassing question. Indeed, on what grounds could a refusal be based?
It was, however, declined. Although he was shown "every courtesy" on all these occasions, and "many admitted the justice of the claim," and he publicly thanked both state and city officials (both the governor and the governor-elect were pres- ent) attending the tenth anniversary of his consecration "for
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their personal and official kind feeling and generous aid" towards the Church, the problem was not adjusted. The danger of "diverting common school funds to the support of parochial schools" was the barrier, and the bishop's opponents took their stand behind the barrier.
Neither the bishop's effort to seek relief for the Catholic schools nor the state's refusal to grant it undermined the friendly relations between the Catholics and Protestants of Maine. These good relations were put to a test at the very time the proposed amendment to the State School Fund was introduced in the legislature. An attempt was made to em- barrass the Catholics of Maine but failed to receive popular support. The incident is here recalled as evidence of the friendly relations that existed among the Catholics under the guidance of Bishop Walsh and the Protestants of Maine.
During the second decade of the century, groups like the American Conventeers and the Guardians of Liberty, either remnants of the APA or the advance guard of the Klan, were active in attacking the Catholic Church. One of their objec- tives was the enactment by state legislatures of what were called Convent Inspection bills. Papers like the Menace sup- plied interested parties in the various states with a model bill. The bill provided that the county commissioner or a person appointed by a judge on the petition of twenty persons inspect hospitals, reformatories, houses of detention, convents, asylums, seminaries, schools and such institutions. The commissioner would be obliged to inspect thrice annually and to report his findings. The law, however, did not make a similar demand on the person appointed by the court; evidently the sponsors felt certain this person would divulge his or her findings with- out legal coercion.
The minds behind this move to embarrass Catholics did not expect many states to enact these bills into laws, although a few southern states did so. What they wanted was a rostrum where they could with immunity attack Catholics, and in the normal legislative process the hearings granted the bill offered
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an excellent rostrum. In some New England state legislatures these groups and their sympathizers found the desired ros- trums. But not in Maine. The bill, once introduced (the sponsors were from a small town with few, if any, Catholics ), was assigned to a committee. But before any hearing was arranged, the committee persuaded the sponsors to withdraw the bill. During the next two years, while some states were enacting Convent Inspection laws and others held hearings that turned into bitter attacks on Catholics, no such bill was introduced in the Maine legislature. The failure of the groups to receive support in Maine naturally pleased Walsh, and the Catholics and bishop in turn praised the Maine people for their sane attitude.
5. A SUMMER'S WORK
Bishop Walsh always had a fresh reserve of energy. From the start of his episcopacy he had "plunged into the work he saw before him with a zeal and energy which could not fail to command respect." He retained the fast pace to the end. There was no end to work in the diocese and much of this work was outside Portland. Summer, when unimpeded travel was possi- ble, was the busiest time of the year. One may estimate the demands on the bishop by following him on one of his sum- mer schedules. The account will be tiring, and from this one may conclude how fatigued the bishop was at the end of the summer. The summer of 1916, when Bishop Walsh was com- pleting his tenth year in Maine, has been selected. One will remember that he handled other routine diocesan affairs and faced many other unexpected problems while completing this summer schedule. And one will note his willingness to go out of his way to visit a solitary Catholic family in some isolated hamlet. On some occasions this will be his first visit to some village although he has been following this schedule for ten years, and at times he will be the first bishop to visit a town, though he was the fourth bishop of the diocese.
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