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PROVINCIAL CURIA,
St. Bonaventure's,
Cork. Ireland.
October 13, 1947.
Most Reverend and dear Father General,
I hasten to acknowledge your letter of Sept. 23rd which has only just arrived here. I can assure you, in advance, of the respectful and obedient reception of the decision of the General Definitory just announced. But before placing your letter before the Provincial Definitors, I feel it is my urgent duty to reply at once. I am not forgetting your assurance that certain paragraphs of your letter are not intended as an accusation or indictment, and, if my reply takes the form of a defence, it is in that spirit of filial frankness which your letter encourages and which, I feel, will not be misunderstood. You are our universal Father in Saint Francis, I am your son, and it is my duty to give you the truth of a situation as I see it, particularly when complaints have reached you about men who are not in a position to defend themselves. I do this or in the more freely that I shall not be accused, either at home or in the Custody, of partiality in favour of conditions in the Custody.
One of my first acts as Provincial, four years ago, was to declare publicly that the ideal of a Province was the normal, natural, and necessary development of the Custody. That declaration has been quoted, over and over again, by the Provincial Custos. The fact that this ideal has been sincerely accepted individually and collectively by members of the Custody is sufficient answer to the opinion which says that a permanent establishment of the Order was never seriously contemplated. I have always regarded it as unfortunate that the spirit of missionary enterprise, which the early pioneers worked in lonely and forsaken places, was not sufficiently subordinated to the interests of a Province. But it was not for me to pass judgment on the past so much as to ensure the future. You will forgive me if I remark that it is not without its particular irony that the success of the English Friars (however much I rejoice in it for its own sake) should be contrasted with that of the Irish Friars considering that Mendocino County, forsaken by the English Province, should have become the burden of the Irish, and that the Mission in India, for which Mendocino County was given up, should have had to draw upon the Irish. Time will tell. It is my belief that success, now hidden, will declare itself, with God's help, in no long period of time; and expansion in the West is scarcely to be compared with expansion in the East, particularly where Catholic Boston is concerned.
With regard to Father Walter's application, and his many charges, I can only repeat that his testimony has no very serious value. It is nothing short of a gross libel on the Custody to say that its members are out of sympathy with the Americans. So many have already taken out their papers of citizenship, the vast majority are actually doing so, and they listened with much such docility to my advocacy of taking root in the country which mourished them, that one or two individuals must not be quoted as representative, particularly by a man who, as it was reported to me, took out the Capuchin Annual on a certain Independence Day and publicly burned it. So fine a show of fanaticism is a poor guarantee of the serious character of his charges, especially when during my period of office as Provincial, have received but one impudent letter; and that came from Father Walter.
Further, I have good reasons for believing that the application from the student was inspired by Father Walter. But frankly it surprises me that the Provincial of the English Province should have notified you of the desire of one of our students to leave us when, having sought information from me before writing you, he was explicitly informed that the student in question had made up his mind to remain.
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This reply of mine was by return of post; it was based upon an urgent letter from his Director; it has since been confirmed by the Provincial Custos. It would be interesting to know if a copy of my reply, essential for your guidance, was sent to you.
Finally, the enclosed cutting from the current number of The Tidings (official organ of Los Angeles Archdiocese) declares the intention of the new school at Flintridge.
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSIST SCHOOL
Conducted by CAPUCHIN FRANCISCAN FATHERS
For Boys Desiring to be Members of the Capuchin Order
a Los Catholic Day Boys
4440 La Canada-Verdugo Road
Flintridge, Pas. 2
Phone : From L.A., No. 23713; Pasadena Area, SY. 02375.
A beginning had to be made. Hence the School, primarily for aspirants to the Order, is secondarily open to Catholic day-boys. I should have said, in my Report, that the Staff included, besides three priests and one Brother, two lay-teachers (Science and Mathematics) and one visiting priest.
I beg to assure you, most Reverend Father, that your letter will be an inspiration to re-double our efforts to make our American Custody thoroughly Capuchin in its way of life. I am grateful for your paternal confidence, and I ask you for your blessing that we may be worthy of it.
I remain, most Reverend and dear Father General,
Your subsidiary son in St. Francis,
Father Tom & Mr. Melton
Minister Provincial.