The race problem has always existed and will always exist in the Church of God.  This problem is imbedded in human nature.  It plunges its roots into the very depths of the human heart.  Language is the tap-root which gives life and vigor to its various manifestations.  Language is indeed the best expression and highest manifestation of the race.  The race problem therefore is generally complicated with the language problem.

The Catholic Church has always respected the racial feelings and the language of nations, for they are based on natural law, and natural law is nothing else but the expression of the fundamental relations constituted by God.  Yet history can tell what the Church had to suffer from racial and language differences.  We all agree on principles, but often differ on policies.  The angle of vision varies; facts are misrepresented; ideals misinterpreted; feeling and not judgment is appealed to, in these racial conflicts.  But it is not our intention to deal with this great problem.  Only let us ever remember the words of Benedict XV. in his letter “Comisso Divinitus” to the Catholics of Canada.  He sees in our divisions a source of weakness for the Church, a subject of scandal for our separated brethren and a cause for him of sadness and anxiety.  Let us therefore hope that the wishes of the Common Father of Catholicity will soon be realized and that the Church in Canada will see the clouds of misunderstanding lift and a brighter day break on the horizon.

The problem to which I would draw again the attention of our Catholics throughout the land is one that has been frequently of late placed before the Catholic public.  But as its aspects are ever changing and its importance growing, I would wish to throw light on some new factors at play in this momentous issue.

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Immigration has brought to the Church of Canada many serious and knotty problems.  Among these stands first and foremost the Ruthenian question.  Only those who have followed the various developments of this perplexing problem and are fully aware of the unceasing activities of the various Protestant denominations among Catholic foreigners, grasp their meaning and understand their importance to the Church.  The average Catholic, we are sorry to say, is not awakened to the reality of this live issue and fails therefore to meet his responsibilities.

Over 250,000 Catholic Ruthenians, of the Greek rite, have settled in Canada within the past decade or so.  They are scattered throughout the length and breadth of our immense Dominion.  You will find them in the very heart of our large industrial centres, from Sydney to Vancouver, and in compact groups on our Western prairies.  The vast majority of these Ruthenians belong to the Catholic Church and are our brethren in the Faith.  To protect them against unscrupulous proselytizers, to help them to keep the faith in the trying period of their acclimatization