CCHA, Historical Studies, 54 (1987), 93-107
Thomas Joseph Dowling
The First “Canadian” Bishop of Hamilton
1889-1924
by Gerald J. STORTZ
University of Saint Jerome's College
Waterloo, Ontario
The
diocese of Hamilton, founded in 1856 with the partition of Toronto, was
blessed with abundant episcopal talent in the nineteenth century. The first
Bishop, John Farrell, was a flamboyant, colorful figure actively involved in
federal and provincial politics on the side of the Tories and Liberals
respectively. He was also a controversial figure involved in the deathbed
conversion of Alan MacNab, the Laird of Dundurn.1 Peter Francis Crinnon, his successor, like Farrell
an Irishman, physically expanded the facilities, though the diocese became
geographically smaller. As well as 18 churches built, land for the House of
Providence in Dundas and Holy Sepulchre Cemetery overlooking Burlington Bay was
purchased.2 The third prelate, James Carbery, o.p., though aged
and ill, made his mark upon the diocese by continuing its physical expansion,
travelling extensively and convening the first diocesan synod.3
It is,
however, the fourth Bishop of Hamilton, T.J. Dowling, who is the subject of
this paper. Though born in Ireland, Dowling came to Canada while very young and
as diocesan historian Ken Foyster has noted, “Thus he can perhaps be regarded
as a native son of the diocese of Hamilton.”4 It can also be argued that, given his lengthy tenure
as the Ordinary of the diocese (1889-1924, 36 years), it was he who had to deal
with a Church in transition from an identifiably Irish institution into one
which reflected the changing ethnicity of an immigrant population with varied
languages and cultures. It was a situation to which Dowling reacted with both
alacrity and ability and may rest as his greatest achievement.
Thomas
Joseph Dowling was born in Shannagh, Golden County, Limerick, Ireland, on
February 28, 1840. The son of farmer Martin Dowling and his wife (who is never
named in any of the biographies), Thomas emigrated with his family to the
rising industrial centre, Hamilton, Ontario. His early Canadian education was
at a select school with further study at Saint Michael’s College, Toronto, a
school run by the Congregation of Saint Basil.5 At Saint Mike’s, Dowling, obviously on the road to a
priestly career, came under the influence of Father Michael Ferguson, a
renowned orator. He also achieved high standing in literary subjects, a fact
attested to by the existence at the institution of the Dowling prize for
excellence in English.6 Theological training followed at Le Grand Seminaire
de Montréal.7 Priestly orders
were conferred by Bishop Farrell at Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Hamilton, October
5, 1864.8
Pastor
Dowling was immediately appointed pastor of
Sacred Heart parish in Paris, Ontario and quickly earned a reputation as an
orator and ‘a brick and mortar’ priest. In the former case, he had obviously
learned well the lessons taught by Michael Ferguson. The young Dowling was
invited regularly not only to parishes in the immediate area but also to
Toronto, Hamilton, Chicago and the oil fields of Pennsylvania.9 In the latter
case, Dowling opened a school and a convent for the Sisters of Saint Joseph. He
also established a church in Galt and a mission between Galt and Paris
(possibly in present-day Ayr).10 What is perhaps most remarkable is that
Dowling was able to promote such expansion while quickly retiring the $3000
parish debt.11 Later in his career, Dowling himself noted the importance in his own
eyes of such work, describing himself upon arrival in Hamilton as “a
progressive Bishop ... who ... believed in the multiplying of the clergy and
the building up of the church.”12
Typically, church administrators utilized
Dowling’s considerable talents but formal recognition did not come until the
second decade of his priestly career. In 1881 he was installed as Vicar-General
of the Hamilton diocese, a post he occupied until 1887. When Bishop Crinnon
died in November 1882, Dowling acted as interregnal administrator until James
Carbery arrived in September, 1883.13 Dowling enjoyed a
warm relationship with Carbery, whom he described as “a warm hearted Irishman
and holy prelate.”14 Carbery, in turn, recognized, it would seem,
the considerable talents of his Vicar-General. Although there exists no substantial
evidence to confirm it, it would seem likely that it was Carbery who suggested
Dowling’s name for the list of candidates as Bishop of Peterborough upon the
death of John Francis Jamot. Certainly this was the speculation prevalent in
Hamilton.15 However, almost a year after the rumours began no decision had yet
emanated from Rome. Dowling himself insisted during this period of uncertainty
that, given a choice, he would prefer to stay in Hamilton.16 However, when
chosen as Bishop of Peterborough, Dowling relented and was consecrated May 1,
1887 at Saint Mary’s by Bishops O’Mahony (Toronto Auxiliary), Walsh (London),
Cleary (Kingston) and Archbishop Lynch of Toronto. Installation at Peterborough
was by Lynch and Cleary.17
Although in some respects the Peterborough
material is sparse in the kind of sources historians wish would exist, it is
clear that, as Bishop, Dowling instituted two policies which would characterize
both his episcopacies. Despite the vastness of the Peterborough See, the
Bishop travelled extensively even to the distant centres of Sudbury, Sault Ste.
Marie, Port Arthur and Fort William as well as to centres in closer proximity
such as Bracebridge and Gravenhurst.18 His other
innovation was to provide services to non-English-speaking Catholics. The
largest of these groups was obviously the French-Canadian population in large
pockets of such places as North Bay, the Sault and Sudbury. This group was
generally well served but other language groups were not and at Christmas and
Easter special provisions were made to provide retreats, hear Confessions and
provide other church services in Dutch, German and Italian, as well as French
and English.19
Bishop Carbery of Hamilton died December 9,
1887 and the Vatican appointed Toronto auxiliary Bishop O’Mahony as the
interregnal administrator.20 Dowling reacted as expected to continuing
rumours that, since he had grown up in Hamilton, he was the logical choice, by
denying interest.21 However, when the choice finally was made
Dowling confessed, “it is a consolation for me to know that I am not a stranger
to the diocese, that I am returning as it were, to the home of my childhood,
amongst kind and esteemed friends of the clergy and laity, endeared to me by a
thousand holy and happy recollections.”22 Dowling’s first
act as Hamilton Bishop was to assist at the consecration of his successor, R.
A. O’Connor, who had been on the Peterborough list with him in 1887.23 He also asked
permission to take with him Father Fergus McEvay, who was later the Archbishop
of Toronto.24 Permission received, the three travelled with the Bishops of Montreal,
Kingston and Detroit to Hamilton for the installation by Archbishop Fabre of
Montreal.25
Bishop
Dowling’s popularity was immediately
evident. Even one man who had in the past been publicly critical of Dowling had
obviously changed his mind in the meantime. As the rumours of Dowling’s
Hamilton appointment circulated, A. J. Smith wrote to J. J. Lynch of the new
bishop’s “deep reverence for his Bishop, his humble obedience to all commands
... his truly brotherly regard for his fellow priests ... his great prudence
and thoroughly conscientious fulfillment of his pastoral duties.”26 The charm which
had evinced such a change was yet another consistent feature of Dowling’s
career. While certainly exhibiting the required episcopal demeanor, Dowling
seemed more ‘a man of the people’ than his contemporaries.
Dowling was noted as a poet and a singer
and regularly offered original, if not very good, verse on priestly
anniversaries, at weddings and baptisms. A typical poem was offered at a
Brantford priest’s bon voyage party:
Dear Father we’re told
Where the Angels of Old
Left the temple of God in the east
Thus sad was the shrine
on the mountain of Zion
In the absence of prophet and priest
So lovely Saint Basil’s
Looks lonely tonight
Though bright were its altars today
For the hearts of your children are sad
at the sight of their fond father going
away.
Other times the
poetry could take quite a different form as, for example, a lament for a
long-serving nun in 1866. As a singer, while Bishop, Dowling offered his
talents at Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations, the annual concert put on by the
inmates of Saint Joseph’s Orphanage, and at receptions for other Catholic
groups. Newspaper accounts indicate that at such events it was expected that
the Bishop would be called upon and on the odd occasion when he was not, he
expressed disappointment.27
In many ways the Hamilton years marked a
continuation and expansion of the work Dowling had begun in Peterborough.
Fiscal responsibility continued to be associated with the Bishop who never
missed an occasion to remind the laity of their duty to support the Church. In
a similar vein, he was also a consistent supporter of Catholic self-help groups
such as the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, though he reminded them that
if they used the word Catholic they must be obedient to episcopal dictums.28 He also continued
to be devoted to the physical expansion of the diocese. In the first
year-and-a-half alone, Dowling could boast responsibility for the construction
of nine schools, six churches, three convents and an addition to an existing
orphanage.29 At the time of his death in 1924, the Hamilton Spectator cited
such activity as Dowling’s most noteworthy achievement.30 From an historical
perspective, however, a greater contribution to Catholicism was Dowling’s role
in providing services “for the foreigners who are coming to us in large
numbers.”31 In the Hamilton diocese this meant, for the most part, Germans, Poles,
and Italians.
Shepherd of
Immigrants
The Germans were the least problematic of
the three immigrant groups, although Dowling recognized that areas such as
Waterloo County, Walkerton and Hanover required German-speaking clergy.32 To accomplish
this, his first action was to issue a blanket celebret to the Congregation
of the Resurrection, an order which had been established in France to minister
to Poles but which in Canada had taken over what had originally been a Jesuit
mission to the German Catholics of Waterloo County. He wrote to Canadian
Resurrectionist Superior Father Louis Funcken, as he prepared to embark on a
trip to Europe, “if you find me one or two good, healthy, zealous priests
speaking German I shall be pleased to adopt them in good recommendation.”
Dowling, however, regarded this importation of priests as only a temporary
measure. From his predecessors, he had inherited Saint Jerome’s College,
located originally in Saint Agatha, then moved to Berlin (present-day
Kitchener). Run by Funcken and his brother Eugene, also a Resurrectionist, the
college became a training centre for homegrown clergy and German was part of
the curriculum. In 1908, the college was expanded specifically to facilitate
this work.33
The growing Italian community of the
diocese was similarly well-served. In 1912, Saint Anthony of Padua was built
in Hamilton and in a visit to Guelph the next year Dowling made a point of
visiting the small but highly concentrated Italian population. Dowling not only
celebrated Mass but led the Rosary and delivered the sermon in Latin, the
closest he could come to Italian. Afterward he visited each household in the
area, accompanied by an Italian-speaking priest. By 1922, the community had
grown sufficiently that a separate, predominantly Italian parish, Sacred Heart,
was established.34
Unfortunately, the Poles were not as easy
to satisfy,35 although in Berlin and elsewhere the Resurrectionist Order had already
done some of the groundwork even before Dowling’s episcopacy and continued
their efforts after his arrival.36 Despite their presence, however, there were
problems with the Poles. These included internal rivalries within the Resurrectionists,
the opposition of some pastors in Hamilton to the establishment of ethnically
Polish parishes, the traditional linkages between Catholicism and Polish
nationalism and fears that a schism which had arisen in such Polish-Catholic
communities as Chicago and Buffalo might spread to Canada.37
In particular, Dowling faced opposition
from the pastor at Saint Anne’s, the parish in which most Hamilton Poles lived.
Father Englert became bitter that he had provided space in his Church for
Polish services. He wrote Dowling,
Personally, I am
convinced we owe nothing to the Polish people for three reasons, i.e. (a) they
never paid their share towards the support of St. Anne’s Church, (b) many of
those who paid in my time are now away from here, (c) they expect nothing in
Justice from us.38
Despite such attitudes Dowling yielded to sustained pressure from the
Polish community and in 1911 allocated a Hamilton lot at the corner of Barton
and St. Ann Streets. A year later Sacred Heart parish on Shanley Street in
Berlin was opened. Much to the surprise of the Catholic community, and despite
the stated misgivings of Englert, the Hamilton Poles did surprisingly well.
Although many of them had low-paying jobs, six months after Dowling granted
permission for the parish, Mass was celebrated in the Church basement.39 Under the
direction of Resurrectionist Father Thomas Tarasiuk, who would remain until
1935, the parishioners paid for the church in 1918, though construction on the
elaborate structure was not completed until 1927.40
Less successful were Dowling’s attempts to
service non-Latin-rite faithful such as the Marianites. In one such instance
Waterloo-County priest Theobald Spetz. informed Dowling that congregations in
Berlin and Owen Sound needed a priest. The Bishop rejected one candidate, then
accepted a second.41 However, the latter, and successive priests,
found the Latin-rite pastor in Owen Sound antagonistic and repeatedly left. The
long-term result was that Dowling was never able to fill the position.42
Politics
Dowling, like his episcopal contemporaries,
claimed to be “above and beyond the sphere of politics.”43 In reality,
however, like his colleagues, Dowling was heavily involved at both the federal
and provincial levels. With one lapse (in 1887 when he followed the lead of
Archbishop Lynch and supported Edward Blake’s Liberals), Dowling was a
Conservative.44 He worked quietly to obtain for Catholics what he considered to be
their fair share of appointments.45 That he did wield some influence at the
federal level is demonstrated by his involvement in a judicial appointment in
1888. He asked Archbishop Lynch, who had by this time effected a rapprochement
with Macdonald, to intercede and ensure that the Orange Order candidate for
the position would be rejected. He also asked Lynch to inform the Prime
Minister that this was an “opportunity afforded him of conciliating a young
bishop whose people form his balance of power in several doubtful
constituencies.”46 Although information on Dowling’s specific
actions is sketchy, it is clear that he intervened for the Tories in
Northumberland and Haldimand Counties in 1887 and 1895 respectively.47 He also played an
advisory role for the federal Tories in the controversy which arose over the
Jesuit Estates Act and the Manitoba School Question.48 Perhaps the most
telling indication that Dowling moved in inner circles came when D’Alton
McCarthy threatened to tear the Tories apart, finally leaving to form his own
party. It was Dowling to whom Macdonald turned to assist in assuring Catholics
that McCarthy in no way spoke officially for the government.49 Macdonald also
used Dowling’s sympathetic attitudes toward immigrants to his advantage. In
1891 parish priests in Waterloo County, in particular, were urged to sermonize
on the evils of unrestricted reciprocity, which they were warned would lead
inevitably to annexation by the United States and ultimately to the dilution
of the rights of Canadian Catholics.50
After Macdonald’s death Dowling continued
to serve the Tories and was especially pleased at the choice of John Thompson,
a convert to Roman Catholicism and an ally of Bishop Cameron of Antigonish, as
Prime Minister. At a Requiem Mass for Thompson, who died only a few months
after taking office, Dowling described him as “a man deserving of every honour:
for while Sir John Thompson earnestly and patriotically served his sovereign,
he also found time to serve God.”51 Dowling also found it possible to forge a
political alliance with the semi-competent Mackenzie Bowell, former brand
Master of the Orange Order.52 Even after the change in government in 1896, there
was no relaxing of loyalties but a recognition that the reality was that one
had to deal with the government in power.53 There is, however,
during Laurier’s fifteen-year tenure no evidence of Dowling’s political
involvement, which perhaps explains why, with the election of Robert Borden's
Conservatives in 1911, the Hamilton Bishop was readily able to reassert his
campaign for favours for Roman Catholics.54
Provincially Dowling, like his confreres,
was much less consistent. As a priest and as Bishop of Peterborough he joined
Lynch and Cleary in supporting what he described as “the Mowat Fraser”
government.55 However, after Mowat left for the federal scene in 1896 there was a
marked deterioration in relations between Church and government. For Dowling
this was particularly true during the short regime of Arthur Sturgis Hardy,
when the Bishop felt the Premier had snubbed him by not paying a courtesy call
during a visit to Hamilton.56 Under Hardy’s successor George W Ross, the
situation worsened as Dowling complained bitterly that Hamilton-area patronage
appointments normally designated as “Catholic” were being meted out to
Protestants.57 By 1905, Dowling had joined with other members of the hierarchy in
support of the Conservative government of James Pliny Whitney.58
Supporter of
Education
The Tory-Catholic alliance which ensued
involved one of Dowling’s great interests – the furtherance of Catholic
education, an aspect of his career which was inevitably mentioned in
complimentary addresses.59 Much to Dowling’s chagrin it was not a
commitment wholly shared by either the laity or the rest of the episcopacy. In
at least one case (and probably more) parishioners were less than enthusiastic
in their support of separate schools.60 Episcopal
colleagues were apparently similarly unenthusiastic regarding such measures as
the importation of an Irish priest to act as an instructor in Hamilton’s
separate schools.61 It might even be argued that Dowling was
unusually foresighted when one compares his attitudes towards Catholic “upper
schools” with those of other bishops. One of his first acts in Hamilton was to
donate land for such a school.62 Dowling saw education as a means of mobility
and wanted, therefore, to ensure that high standards were maintained. Any
suggestion that separate schools were inferior immediately provoked a response
and rectification of any obvious problems.63
Inevitably this meant that Dowling became
involved in the controversies surrounding separate schools in Ontario and the
West, including the infamous Regulation 17. The first of these disputes was
over the use of the secret ballot in separate school board elections. Dowling
supported Toronto’s Archbishops Lynch and John Walsh against the proposal put
forth by Toronto’s Irish-nationalist-dominated school board, but, unlike them,
conceded the inevitability of ballot introduction.64 Dowling agreed
with Kingston’s Bishop James Vincent Cleary that the fight was “prejudicial to
our school system, initiated by bigots who openly profess to have in view the
gradual extinction of the separate system.”65 By 1894, however,
Dowling realized the battle was over and argued that, rather than have further
damage done, “if our people want the ballot they can have it but it should not
be forced upon them.”66
Another controversy concerned the
certification of Religious who taught in separate schools. Ironically the controversy
arose when a Catholic layman in Ottawa, about to be displaced by a Christian
Brother, charged that nuns, brothers, and priests were unqualified because they
did not have to pass the same certification exams as lay teachers.67 Though there is
little documentation concerning Dowlin’'s specific role in finding a solution
to this problem, he apparently agreed with the charge, as summer schools to
certify Religious in his diocese were established in Hamilton and Berlin.68
The right of separate schools to expand
beyond fifth form in order to train their own teachers also provoked Dowling.69 He consistently
denied that earlier prelates, in particular J.J. Lynch, had not wanted high
schools at the time of their establishment and they therefore should not be
established at a later time. However, in this case, Dowling’s argument was
rather specious. He claimed that, despite public statements against expansion,
the real reason for Lynch’s opposition was an objection to the concept of
co-education.70 Dowling also strongly supported more general education through the
Catholic Church Extension Society.71 Later when other
bishops questioned whether the Society was sufficiently effective to warrant
continued support, it was Dowling who argued for its survival.72
On matters involving French-language
schools Dowling was less understanding of the French, but certainly not as
extreme as some of his contemporaries, such as Bishop Michael Fallon. In both
the Manitoba dispute of the 1890s and the Alberta-Saskatchewan question in
1905, Dowling’s actions were cautious; some would say, from a French-Canadian
point of view, they were close to obstructionist. Publicly his stance was hope
that a compromise solution would be found, in the belief that such a move would
also strengthen the position of Ontario separate schools.73 However, after
Laurier’s election Dowling and the rest of the Anglophone hierarchy refused to
join with their French-Canadian colleagues in protest.74A similar stance
was adopted in 1905 when Dowling advanced the argument that “a half loaf is
better than no bread.”75 While both incidents might simply be described
as examples of political realism, the controversy over Regulation 17 seems to
suggest this was not wholly the case.
This was a more complicated, and for an
Ontario bishop, a more immediate problem. The law restricting the French
language in Ontario schools split the Canadian Catholic hierarchy into
linguistic camps. Dowling predictably followed supporters of the law led by
London’s Michael Fallon.76 The problem itself was not solved until 1926
but it is clear that Dowling was much more willing to consult with his FrenchCanadian
colleagues and seek compromise but was overruled by Fallon and others.77
Irish Interests
Given his parentage, Dowling’s priestly
career was predictably also marked by a consistent concern for the Irish. He
was very much a subscriber to Thomas D’Arcy McGee’s idea of a “new
nationality.”78 As a parish priest in Paris in 1866, Dowling made his view on more
radical solutions well known by acting as chaplain for the local militia.79 Irish-Canadians,
he argued, in a view somewhat akin to that of Halifax Archbishop Thomas Connolly
and totally at odds with that of Toronto’s Archbishop Lynch, “enjoy social,
religious and political rights which they duly appreciate and which, in the
hour of danger, they are both ready and willing to defend.” The Church
condemned the Fenians and “I have yet to find the man amongst them who
manifests sympathy with this mad movement,” reported Dowling.80
Dowling’s solutions to the Irish problem
were constitutional. He particularly praised the work of Daniel O’Connell,
“the Great Liberator.” He spoke often on the Irish topic and took particular
delight in the annual Saint Patrick’s Day celebration. He also recognized,
especially after two visits to his homeland, that problems did exist; in a
typical sermon he exclaimed:
How she has
suffered. Black is her story. Bitter her lot. Did some new power arise to write
an epic of Ireland since the days of Strongbow. What a drudge it would be of
desolate hearths and weeping women! But, through it all runs the exultant note
of a people never vanquished, a spirit never broken ...81
Two aspects of Irish life struck Dowling; the
first was the piety of the people and their respect for authority.82 The other was
their poverty, so extreme that he argued that even the landlords were poor by
Canadian standards. This he blamed on the British decision, taken during the
Irish administration of Robert “Orange” Peel, to operate a costly police force
with few, if any, controls.83
Although the Hamilton Bishop agreed that
Irish Canadians were materially better off than their counterparts at home,
Dowling supported the efforts of Archbishop Lynch and many American prelates to
discourage what was termed “improvident emigration” to the cities. Hamilton’s
‘Slabtown’, as the Irish ghetto was known, was an example of what could go
wrong. Dowling and Lynch both believed that immigration to rural areas was
desirable but immigration to urban areas should be discouraged.84 However, this
question of Irish immigration during his Hamilton episcopacy became quickly
eclipsed by the middle-European immigration alluded to earlier.
Conclusion
Dowling remained as Bishop of Hamilton
until his death in 1924. At that time it was stated that he had refused the
Archbishopric of Toronto three times; there is but one occasion on which it
appears to have been a distinct possibility. In 1898, Dowling was rumored to be
John Walsh’s replacement in Toronto. However, he announced at that year’s
celebration of his ordination anniversary that he would remain in Hamilton.85 In 1914, he was
honoured on his seventy-fifth birthday, his fiftieth year as a priest and his
twenty-fifth year as a bishop, with appointment as Assistant Bishop at the
Pontifical Throne and Domestic Prelate.86
After 1914, the absence of any substantial
body of personal papers indicates a much reduced pace. By 1920, Dowling was
publicly acknowledged to be in ill-health and the diocese was being run by an
administrator with the episcopal functions such as administering confirmation
being performed by missionary bishops. Three times Dowling was given Extreme
Unction. When he died, on the eve of the sixtieth anniversary of his ordination,
he was North America’s oldest bishop.87
Thomas Joseph Dowling’s episcopacy was not
without the problems which inevitably plague that office. Although the number
of these problems seems to have been rather slight, they nevertheless did
exist. He had, for example, in both Peterborough and Hamilton to deal with
priests who were disobedient and whom it was feared would bring scandal to the
Church.88 However, it would be unrealistic to expect that anyone holding office
for as long as Dowling did would not encounter such problems. Similarly, while
from a modern perspective Dowling’s alliance with Fallon and the other
English-speaking hierarchy on the issues revolving around French-language
schools may be distasteful, it is to be noted that, in comparison with many of
his contemporaries, he was truly moderate.
By the most mundane of standards – the number of schools, churches, and convents erected – Dowling was a success. Similarly, his views on the promotion of Catholic education at both the secondary and postsecondary levels impart a sense of what the future might hold that some of his fellow bishops lacked. The same might be said of what was arguably his greatest achievement, the recognition that, with non-English-speaking immigration to Canada on a large scale, the ethnicity of the country and the Church was undergoing a rapid transformation which had to be recognized. This led to his quest to provide groups such as the Germans, Italians and Poles with the necessary priestly services. Even in 1917 when Dowling’s episcopal career, for all practical purposes, was coming to an end, the Bishop was still seeking priests “for foreigners in the east end.”89 He also supported efforts to provide such services in other sees where early enthusiasm for such efforts had been non-existent.90 Dowling recognized that the days of Canada as a British nation overseas were over and that the mosaic which Canadians claim as their unique heritage would mark the future. In this respect, despite his Irish birthplace, Thomas Joseph Dowling was truly Hamilton’s first “Canadian” bishop.
1The
most detailed account of this controversy appears in Donald R. Beer, Sir
Allan Napier MacNab (Hamilton, 1984), pp. 392-398. At least one Hamilton
newspaper reported that Farrell had converted to Protestantism on his deathbed.
2Ken
Foyster, Anniversary Reflections 1856-1981: A History of the Hamilton Diocese (Hamilton, 1981), p. 25.
3Ibid., p. 27.
4Ibid., p. 30.
5George
McClean Rose, ed., A Cyclopedia of Canadian Biography (Toronto, 1886),
p. 183.
6Archives,
Diocese of Hamilton (hereafter, A.D.H.), Bishop Dowling Scrapbook (hereafter,
Scrapbook).
7Mgr. Oliver
Maurault, “Saint Sulpice et la hierarchie de l’Ontario,” Canadian Catholic
Historical Association, Report (1940-1941), p. 12.
8Catholic Record (London), December
8, 1888.
9A.D.H., Scrapbook,
Unidentified Clippings, January 25, 1867, November 25, 1867, December 3, 1867
10Ibid.; The Dowling
Scrapbook contains the reference to a mission between Galt and Paris. While
this would not be an entirely accurate description of Ayr’s geographic
location, a Catholic Church did exist at the time according to local church
historian Theresa Bildstein.
11Catholic Weekly
Review (Toronto), May 5, 1887.
12Quoted in Catholic
Record, October 28, 1899.
13Foyster, p. 27.
A.D.H., Thomas
Joseph Dowling Papers (hereafter, Dowling Papers), T.J. Dowling to Archbishop
John Joseph Lynch. October 26, 1885.
15Ibid., Dowling to Bishop
J.J. Carbery, January 17, 1886
16Ibid., Dowling to Carbery,
December 2, 1886.
Archives, Diocese
of Peterborough (hereafter, A.D.P.), Bishop Thomas Dowling Papers, Act of
Administration as Bishop of Peterborough; Catholic Record, June 25, 1887.
18Catholic Record, October 1, 1887,
January 7, 1888.
19Edgar Boland, From
the Pioneers to the Seventies: A History of the Diocese of Peterborough
1882-1955 (Peterborough, 1975), pp. 18-19.
20Foyster, p. 29.
21A.D.H., Dowling
Papers, Dowling to Lynch, January 2, 1888.
22A.D.P., Dowling
Papers, Circular Letter, January 11, 1889.
23Robert Choquette, L’Église Catholique dans
l’Ontario français du dix neuvième siècle (Ottawa, 1984), p. 269.
24Joseph V. Millar,
“The Story of Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church,” Wentworth Bygones, v.
3 (1962), p. 22.
25Catholic Record, May 11, 1889.
26A.D.H., Dowling
Papers, A.J. Smith to Lynch, January 28, 1887.
27See, for example, Catholic
Record, November 30, 1895. The poem is found in A.D.H., Scrapbook,
Unidentified Clipping, June 21, 1886.
28A typical example
is found in A.D.H., Scrapbook, November 11, 1902
29Ibid., January 17, 1891.
30Hamilton Spectator,
August
7, 1924.
31A.D.H., Dowling
Papers, Dowling to Monsignor Cronyn, March 11, 1912.
32Ibid., Circular Letter,
1893.
33The most up-to-date
account of Father Funcken’s work is James A. Wahl, C.R., “Father Louis
Funcken’s Contribution to German Catholicism in Waterloo County, Ontario,”
C.C.H.A. Study Sessions 2 vols. (1983), II, 513-531; Archives,
Congregation of the Resurrection, Ontario-Kentucky Province, Father Louis
Funcken Papers, Dowling to Funcken, June 12, 1889. There is also a copy of the celebret in the papers. I am
grateful to my colleague Jim Wahl for bringing these documents to my
attention.
34 Catholic Record, June 7, 1913;
Foyster, p. 30.
35Unfortunately the
one complete study of Polish immigrants and the Church in Ontario remains
unpublished: see Alex Bros, “Polish Immigrant Relations with the Roman Catholic
Church in Urban Ontario 1896-1923,” M.A. thesis, Wilfrid Laurier University,
1986.
36For an exhaustive
study of the origins of the Congregation of the Resurrection, including the
early Canadian years, see John Iwicki, C.R., with James Wahl, C.R., Resurrectionist
Charism (Waterloo, 1986).
37For a detailed
analysis see Bros, pp. 62-79.
38A.D.H., Dowling
Papers, Father Joseph Englert to Dowling, July 28, 1911.
39Canadian Register, December, 1956.
40R. Harney, “The
Polish Canadian Parish as a Social Entity,” Polyphony, v. 6 (1984), 37.
41 A.D.H., Dowling
Papers, Rev. T. Spetz to Dowling, February 4, 1913.
42Ibid., Rev. T. Burke to
Dowling, February 18, 1913; T. Spetz to Vicar-General Mahony, July 15, 1914.
43Catholic Record, May 11, 1889.
44Archives of the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto (hereafter ARCAT), Archbishop John
Joseph Lynch Papers, Dowling to Lynch, February 24, 1887.
45See, for example,
Public Archives of Canada (hereafter P.A.C.), Sir John A. Macdonald Papers,
Dowling to Macdonald, September 11, 1871.
46ARCAT, Lynch
Papers, Dowling to Lynch, April 15, 1888.
47P.A.C., Macdonald
Papers, Macdonald to Dowling, December 16, 1887; A.D.H., Dowling Papers,
[Illegible] to Dowling, April 11, 1895; April 27, 1895.
48 P.A.C., Macdonald
Papers, Dowling to Macdonald, March 28, 1889.
49 A.D.H., Dowling
Papers, Macdonald to Dowling, July 5, 1890.
50Ibid., Macdonald to
Dowling, February 15, 1891.
51Catholic Record, January 10, 1895.
52A.D.H., Dowling
Papers, Mackenzie Bowell to Dowling, July 16, 1895.
53Ibid., Sir Wilfrid Laurier
to Dowling, November 2, 1897.
54ARCAT, Archbishop
Neil McNeil Papers, Dowling to McNeil, November 28, 1916; May 19, 1921.
55The phrase is used
in retrospect in a 1916 letter, A.D.H., Dowling Papers, Richard Harcourt to
Dowling, March 9, 1916.
56Ibid., A.S. Hardy to
Dowling, April 1, 1896.
57Ibid., Dowling to
Provincial Secretary Stratton, June 23, 1900.
58For a discussion of
this transition, see Charles W. Humphries, “Honest Enough to Be Bold” : The
Life and Times of Sir James Pliny Whitney (Toronto, 1985), pp. 42-44.
59See, for example, Catholic
Record, October 10, 1908.
60A.D.H., Dowling
Papers, Dowling to Monsignor Merry de Val, April 22, 1897.
61Catholic Record, October 10, 1908.
62Hamilton Spectator,
December
24, 1889.
63See, for example,
A.D.H., Dowling Papers, Sister Mary Ernesta, S.S.N.D., to bowling, November
23, 1896.
64ARCAT, Lynch
Papers, Dowling to Lynch, April 27, 1888; ARCAT, Archbishop John Walsh Papers,
Walsh to Dowling, January 22, 1890.
65A.D.H., Dowling
Papers, Dowling to Cleary, January 17, 1890
66 Catholic Register, March 8, 1894.
67The fullest account
of this controversy is Katherine J. Barclay, “The Separate School Compromise of
1907,” B.A. thesis, Wilfrid Laurier University, 1986.
68Barclay, p. 31.
69University of
Toronto, Robarts Library, Correspondence Concerning the Bilingual Issue,
Dowling to Mr. Pyne, March 20, 1916.
70A.D.H., Dowling
Papers, Memorandum, Dowling to Pyne, March 25, 1916.
71Ibid., Archbishop Fergus
McEvay (Toronto) to Dowling, December 20, 1908.
72Ibid., Archbishop Neil
McNeil (Toronto) to Dowling, January 17, 1913; Dowling to McNeil, January 10,
1913.
73A.D.H., Dowling
Papers, Archbishop A.A. Taché (Saint Boniface) to Dowling, January 23, 1895;
Walsh to Dowling, January 23, 1895.
74Ibid., Cleary to
Archbishop Begin, January 7, 1897.
75Ibid., Dowling to Msgr.
Merry de Val, March 28, 1905.
76 Ibid., Dowling to
Archbishop Charles Hugh Gauthier (Ottawa), August 18, 1910.
77Ibid., Archbishop Neil
McNeil (Toronto) to Dowling. July 25, 1914.
78There is a specific
reference to this idea in A.D.H., Scrapbook, Unidentified Clipping, n.d.
79Paris Star, July 19, 1866.
80A.D.H.,
Unidentified Clipping, n.d.
81Catholic Record, March 28, 1903.
82Ibid., March 25, 1897.
83Ibid., September 14, 1889.
84ARCAT, Lynch
Papers, Dowling to Lynch, January 4, 1884.
85Catholic Record, August 13, 1898.
86Ibid., December 26, 1914.
87Ibid., August 16, 1924
88ARCAT, Lynch
Papers, Dowling to Lynch, June 26, 1887.
89ARCAT, McNeil
Papers, Dowling to McNeil, June 5, 1917.
90Ibid., Dowling to McNeil,
undated [1915?].