Rt. Rev. Wm. Quarter 59 



the number of the clergy has been considerably increased within 

 the last two years, still are there several congregations in the 

 Diocese, deprived the whole year round of the consolations of 

 their Religion. There are many who have not the happiness 

 to assist even once in the twelve months at the Adorable 

 Sacrifice of the Mass; and numbers die annually without 

 receiving the last rites of the Church, especially in those months 

 when sickness is most prevalent in these Western States, and 

 all this because the clergymen are not as yet sufficiently numer- 

 ous in this diocese to have one stationed in each congregation. 

 Another melancholy evil arising also from the scarcity of clergy- 

 men, is, that the children of Catholic parents, in various sections 

 of the State, are suffered to grow up without any religious in- 

 struction. If the present, in their regard, be painful to reflect 

 upon, the future presents a dismal and a dreary aspect. 



"It is not necessary that I make here reflections. The 

 naked facts cannot fail to touch every Christian heart. They 

 who have always enjoyed the consolations of their holy religion, 

 and who never experienced the agony occasioned by the absence 

 of a priest, especially when sickness, disease and death were 

 near, or had already smitten some of their friends or family, 

 cannot, perhaps, fully appreciate the sad and forlorn condition 

 of those around whom all those miseries have gathered. Still, 

 they cannot be so hardened as not to sympathize with their 

 afflicted brethren. They who have already tasted of this cup 

 of sorrows, know too well its bitterness to need a word of 

 explanation. 



"Are those evils to remain, or shall no effort be made to re- 

 move them ? Will no effort be made to send to our brethren that 

 are far away from their father's house, and toiling in bondage, 

 an adviser, — a consoler, — yea, a deliverer? Will no effort 

 be made to secure a pious, a disinterested, a zealous clergy, 

 who may go to the exile in his lone hut, in his solitary and 

 desert home, with words of peace on their lips and blessings in 

 their train, to offer the Adorable Mysteries, to administer the 

 Sacraments, and to instruct in the ways of Salvation? To 



