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Western Oblate Studies 3

  • Anglican and Oblate: The Quest for Souls in the Peace River Country 1867-1900

Western Oblate Studies 3Anglican and Oblate: The Quest for Souls in the Peace River Country 1867-1900

David W. Leonard
Archivist
Provincial Archives of Alberta

Pas disponible in Francais.

In the 1870s, numerous survey parties began traversing the region, identifying the richness of the soil or agriculture, and scouting the passes of the Rockies for a possible ral1way. It was felt that unless the Beaver gave up their nomadic ways, adapted to occupations other than trapping and hunting and learned. Other elements of the white man's ways, they would be wept aside .by the march of civilization. To Oblate and Anglican alike, conversion to Christianity was the first and most important step to Native redemption and salvation.

It must have seemed odd, however, to the Beaver that two groups of European c1erics, espousing the same God, exhibiting similar apparel and religious paraphernalia, speaking often from the same scripture, though in different languages and emphasizing different passages, and expressing no outward physical hostility to each other, could be so passionately in opposition in their apostolic efforts. In addition to worship and prayer, catechism and basic instruction were given by both denominations, but few tenets of theology were imparted. In the final analysis then, what were the real differences between the Holy Father in Rome and the Little Mother in London? To the Beaver, probably not much.

Yet here were Oblate and Anglican, observing each other suspiciously from their posts along the Peace River, corresponding at length to their superiors about the trickery and duplicity of their competitors, and preaching ardently to the Natives that by their way and only their way could salvation be ensured. The rivalry of the denominations probably did more harm to the credibility of the Christian cause in the North West than any other factor for, although Native religions differed, their spiritual leaders were not evangelists seeking to spread their beliefs at the expense of all others. Much in Christianity was compatible with the spirituality of the Beaver, but not the open derision and condemnation of the beliefs of other people.
There were indeed many recognizable and appealing factors in Christianity to which the Beaver could relate. The genuine compassion expressed and demonstrated by clergyman and missionary alike was one example. The Beaver were also familiar with the concept of salvation and that of good and evil. The Christian notion of sin, however, was far more difficult for Natives to comprehend. Violence, hatred, disgust, greed, were felt by all, and yet, sin seemed to be something radically different. Scripture demonstrated that liars, adulterers, thieves and killers could all be saved and yet the most virtuous of people would be condemned to eternal damnation if not cleansed of this phenomenon called sin. Explaining to the Beaver that no matter how good a person one was, one always remained a sinner must have been a most difficult challenge for any missionary.

Theological differences between Oblate and Anglican were heightened by the different methods utilized by the two denominations in the evangelization of the Native populations. Significant differences are obvious in the very nature of the two callings. To the Roman Catholic clergy, being posted in the Peace River Country was an assignment. Spiritually committed to the calling of Christ and their Congregation, the Oblates were trained in the fine points of Scripture prior to receiving their obediences and received no preparation in the art of wilderness survival or adapting to a radically different environment. Anglican missionaries, on the other hand, possessed some training in theology but went to the Peace River Country largely by choice and were often accepted as a result of their suitability for living in the interior as well as their commitment to Church and Empire. In addition, Anglican missionaries also received a salary.

Alfred Campbell Garrioch, for example, was born in Winnipeg, the grandson of a Hudson’s Bay Company factor and recalled, as a child, “greedily drinking in stories about Peace River.”22 He was trained as a school teacher and actually abandoned his studies for “semi-agricultural and semi-mercantile transactions.”23 Upon meeting Bompas in June, 1874, and learning of the need for a school teacher, Garrioch stated that the Bishop “did not have to exercise his eloquence to any great extent to persuade me to accompany him to the north.”24

Garrioch's brother, George, who ran the first mission farm at the junction of the Peace and Smoky Rivers, was even less of a theologian. While he was allowed to teach catechism, he could not baptize.25 Thomas Bunn, the first Anglican cleric at Dunvegan, was also a trained school teacher. Described by a colleague as "much better adapted to a carpenter than a clergyman" he was relieved of his clerical calling in 1882, and immediately reverted to his earlier denominational roots and became a Presbyterian minister in Calgary.26 At Dunvegan, Bunn was replaced by John Gough Brick, who had been bom in England, was self-educated and "brought up to commercial life.”27 Brick later studied theology with the assistance of his wife and became a Methodist minister in Mansonville, Quebec. According to bis son, it was during a trip to Montreal that Brick "met someone who mentioned the Peace River Country and the mission work there.”28 Brick wrote to the CMS claiming that:

I have not had the advantage of a clerical education, I have had a long wish to return to the Dear Old Church of England… for several years past I have had my heart drawn out to the work in the north west. I think I have adapted to mission work and have a practical knowledge of farming.”29

Even the venerable Bishop Bompas’ theological preparation might be challenged although his commitment and service are beyond reproach. Bompas was raised as a Methodist and only entered the Anglican Church in 1858, a short six years before he was sent out as a priest to undertake missionary work. Bompas was ordained only after volunteering to serve in the far North. While serving his term as a CMS clergyman, it was not theology but evangelizing, along with physical survival, which occupied his attention. He retimed to England in 1873 to argue for more resources for the Canadian North West, and the following year, he was consecrated first Bishop of the Diocese of Athabasca.

On the other hand, some of the early Anglican stalwarts in the Peace River Country, such as George Holmes and Richard Young, do seem to have undertaken adequate theological training. Nonetheless, Young was convinced that his diocese required men who were "not only earnest and spiritual, but of good abilities and not necessarily bigh1rr educated, but possessed of firmness, tact, and common sense.”30 He went on to affirm that a good missionary should be willing and able:

To make bread, to cut up and cook meat, to wield the broom in the church and mission house, to scrub a floor, to wash and dress little Indian children, to cut wood and carry water, to assist in the work of the farm and the garden.31

This attitude was popular in contemporary England and reflected in the publication Self Help by Samuel Smiles which was allegedly the best seller of the 1870s.32

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