{"id":12,"date":"2021-05-05T19:22:29","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T19:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/catholicisminquebec\/?page_id=12"},"modified":"2021-05-18T16:15:06","modified_gmt":"2021-05-18T16:15:06","slug":"chapter-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/catholicisminquebec\/chapter-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A country of missionaries turned place of mission<\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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“Religion and religious practice, religious communities are constantly changing in the Canadian context<\/em>.”<\/span><\/p>\u2014 Pamela Klassen<\/span>
<\/strong>Professor in the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto<\/em><\/span><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Thousands of Canadian missionaries went to Africa, Asia and South America in the 1900s, where they built churches and converted people to Catholicism. Religious orders involved in these evangelization efforts include the White Fathers, the Jesuits, the Dominicans and many nun congregations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Canadian cardinal Paul \u00c9mile L\u00e9ger holds a child at the Centre for Handicapped Children in Yaound\u00e9, Cameroon. He was one of many Canadian missionaries that worked abroad. Photo \u00a9 Library and Archives Canada<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cCanada was one of the countries with the highest number of missionaries per person in the world,\u201d said Martin Meunier, professor of sociology of religion at the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies at the University of Ottawa. \u201cA lot of Canada\u2019s international influence was fostered by our priests, our religious communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The country is now on the receiving end of this trend, as it welcomes clerics from overseas to help with keeping the faith in this country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some members of the church see this as a \u201cfitting reversal of roles,\u201d said Ignace Ndongala, an adjunct professor at the Institute of Religious Studies at the University of Montreal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInitially they were the ones sending people to different places, but now they don\u2019t have [anyone],\u201d explained Nnaemeka Ali, a Nigerian priest who currently works in Innu communities in Northern Quebec. When the Canadian clergy started asking for help, he saw an opportunity to return the favour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the things that motivated me was the idea that Quebec was really generous at the beginning, helping others, so it would be unfair not to hearken to their call at a point where they needed people to help them out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ali belongs to a religious order called the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, which maintains missions worldwide. \u201cWe\u2019re like a family,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd in family \u2013 that\u2019s my own personal belief \u2013 your movements are about who needs help, so if help is needed in a particular area, you don\u2019t say \u2018no that\u2019s not my own area of concentration\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

See also \u2013 Meet Nnaemeka Ali, a missionary priest working in Innu communities in Northern Quebec<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Is this really a new trend?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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This shift is merely a cyclical return to the past, said Pamela Klassen, professor in the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto. \u201cYou could say the idea of a local priest or nun is actually the exception, if you\u2019re looking at the long historical span of time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada\u2019s first priests and nuns came from Europe, accompanying settlers as they colonized North America. Foreign missionaries continued to come to Canada for most of the 19th century before this trend slowed down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n