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This diagnosis of the Ruthenian problem should suggest practical lines for individual and group action.  It would be preposterous on our part were we to assume an attitude of destructive criticism without having a remedy to propose.  But what we have in mind is to suggest means whereby the Church as a whole, and the laity in particular, will come to the help of a few heroic, struggling missionaries and to the rescue of their Ruthenian flock.

The Ruthenian people in Canada are now going through their assimilation period.  In another generation or so they will be, at least they should be, all full-fledged Canadian citizens.  This “land of opportunity” that has adopted them has a right to see them all become good citizens, as ready to shoulder their share of the common burden as they were to receive the benefits of our liberties.

In our large industrial centres their transformation is rapid.  The stranger is swallowed up in the vortical suction of the city and is soon carried away in the maelstrom of its strenuous life.  He rapidly loses his identity; only the strong individual will survive, bearing the features of his race.  In our rural settlements where the foreigner has established colonies, the assimilation is slow and gradual.  The change affects the community and, through it, the individual.  But in all cases this transformation is a necessity, and necessity should be a deciding factor.

If this process of assimilation, we contend, is not surrounded with Catholic influence, if it is not carried on by Catholic agents—­and is left only to those who see in the faith of the Ruthenian, a “relic of the Middle-Ages,” an obstacle to Canadian citizenship—­the danger to the faith of our Ruthenian people is greater than in the days of open attack.  This method of neutral proselytism is more insidious, and in the long run, more telling.  We know perfectly well that if the Canadian Ruthenian is “to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar” he must first “give to God what belongs to God.”

It is therefore our bounden duty to help our Ruthenian brethren to swing into the main stream of our national existence; and there is no reason why our religious duties and patriotic endeavors should work at cross purposes.  In fact, if in the present crisis, the two are not merged into one, there will be a distinct loss to the Catholic Church in Canada.  Have we not waited long enough for the immigrants to come to us?  We contented ourselves with giving them as often as possible a priest of their language; and have left to others, to neutral and, most often, openly anti-Catholic agencies the duty of initiating them to Canadian life.  The American Bishops have understood this necessity, and with what marvellous foresight and wonderful organization have they thrown into the work of reconstruction the whole weight of the Catholic Church!  Their joint letter—­the most timely and most luminous pronouncement on the