Page 170 - Transcriptions d'actes notariés - Tome 20 - 1682-1686

accept priests whoee mastery of the Englisb tongue was, at best, imper-
fect? Father Soulerin once more had to rejet the bjsbop's request.
Subseqncnt letiers to the Snperior-General in 1853 expressed the
frustrated feelings of the Fathera:
1 preler ihat we could keep ta lenching- doeon't appew easy in a
country such a9 tliis- if our students increase we would be forcibly
obliged ta perfom our ordinary iunriione and Monseigneur woiild com-
plain.135)
Added to the opposition towards thc miasionaq role because of its
inroads on teaching, was the fwr uf the eAect of snch duties on the
Comrnunity : "the big danger is that some of vurs lacking taste for teach-
take tao mueh part in ihe external mini~try."c~~) The spirit oi acqui-
sitiveness could easily renr itself and canse a lack of harmony ainon;
tbe membcrs. It was a known fart that Father FLannery received at
least filty francs {rom his duties in Weston, and sa "there is more eager-
nese to go out into the parishes than would be tbe case in France."'37'
There was no quwtion but that a participation in mission work IO
the extent requested by the bishop, would either mean the break-np of
the Cornmuniti: or the formation of an entirely different congregation.
Fully aware of these dangers, Father Soulcrin began to realize the
necessii): of having ofhcjal support for his position. ln writing Father
Tourcieille he asked "please recommend the attachment to our rule and
duties a3 teacher~".'~~' This request for a directive was a very prudent
one. There was no insistence that the external work be cornpletely pro-
hibited, as such a demand would have only wrved to aggravate the zeal-
ous biehop, and wonld probably have rmultcd in the same treatment for
the Basilians as that aocorded Father Tellier. However, the situation
was rapidly reaching a climax which would require sorne ireaty or
concordat to establish, once and for all, the position of the Comnunity
in the diocese.
To show how the tenseness between the occupants of the Palace was
jncteased, we have need to examine another concurring problem. The
Comrnunity was interested prirnarily in providing secondary education
and seininary instruction: the bishop, anxious though he was to secure
priests, was, almost Irom hiu arriva1 in Toronto, enmeshed in the
fitr-uggk to secure a just Separate elementary schoal system ; and this
obleclive virtually obliterated for him, at lcavt temporarjly, the need of
providing education for the more advanced students. Beset with so
many pressing difhcnlties, the bishop could not see why the Comrnunity
attached no much wejght 10 what to hini wae of only relative importance.
It is rather sniazing, too, that virtually sll the nndertaking 01 the
binhop, eniinently good though they were. should have preatly increaned
the problems or created new difficulties Ior the Basilian Fathers. In a

13;' Rev. J. Soulerin. Leirer io Rw. P. Touniiei!le, lfnrch 22, 1B53, p. 3.
tas) Ibid., p. 4.
(STJ Rtv. J. Soulerin, Leirer to Rrv, Deglesne, August 16, 1855. p. 2.
(38) RCI. J. Souleriu, Letter io Rm. P. Tournieille, April 9, 1853, p. 2.