A right understanding and a deep conviction of our duties in the matter under consideration are of the greatest value for the Church in Western Canada.  May we preface our chapter by asking the reader to keep before his mind the illuminating distinction of St. Augustine between the Body and Soul of the Church.  Many souls outside of the visible Body of the Church are nevertheless within the beneficial influence of her invisible pale.  This is a commonplace of theology, we all know, but evidently, very often forgotten.

Are we in conscience bound to spread the true faith among our non-Catholic brethren?  Most undoubtedly we are.  The examples and precepts of the Master, the canons of the Church, the love of God and our neighbour, are among the pressing motives which should appeal to a true Catholic and make him zealous within the sphere of his influence.

“Thy Kingdom Come!” That prayer of the Lord, which has become our morning and evening prayer, is vain, if in the ordinary course of life we do not try to extend the boundaries of that spiritual kingdom in the very souls of those with whom we come in daily contact.  Is not the light of our life to shine out so that it may serve as a beacon to those outside the Fold?  But nothing is more striking than the words of the Good Shepherd:  “And other sheep I have that are not of this Fold; them also I must bring and they shall hear My voice” (Jo.  X., 16).  Who could explain the profound yearnings of the Divine Master’s heart and the deep feeling of obligation that are summed up in these words:  “Them also I must bring.”  The Divine Shepherd finds Himself responsible for the sheep that are not of His own Fold and His only ambition is to bring them in.

This recommendation of Our Lord, His Church understood when in her Canon-law She makes it a duty for all bishops and priests to look upon the non-Catholics residing within the boundaries of their jurisdiction as recommended to them by the Lord and placed in their charge. (Canon 1350, No. 1.)

The Plenary Council of Quebec, the authoritative voice of the Church in Canada, is most emphatic in its recommendation of our separated brethren to the zeal of all Catholics. (No. 331)

The obligation of conscience to come to the help of our non-Catholic neighbour is moreover founded on the precepts of Christian charity.  If Christ will condemn to Hell those who did not give Him to eat and to drink in the person of the needy, what will He not say to those who neglect the spiritual works of mercy.  The activities of Christian zeal, to one who rightly understands the spirit of the gospel and the economy of the redemption, have the same binding force as alms-giving, and fulfill in the spiritual world the part charity has to play in the scheme of Christian economics.