Attracted by a taste for adventure, many young people left Quebec during the 20th century to promote the works of a Catholic mission abroad. These people swarmed in China at the beginning of the century, to then turn to Africa and Latin America in order to help and convert their neighbour, as Professor Catherine Foisy mentions.
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In 1902, Délia Tétreault founded the first missionary congregation in North America, the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.
The congregations go out of their way to attract volunteers, among other things by printing leaflets to inform them about the various missions.
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A postcard promoting a Quebec Catholic work in China at the beginning of the 20th century.
BAnQ / Public domain
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“At the beginning of the 1960s, I counted around a hundred titles from this type of press. It’s huge, ”says Catherine Foisy, who teaches in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM).
Assumed paternalism
The men and women who enlist support the effort to help the populations, but the important thing is to convert new believers to Christianity.
To achieve this, we adopt a paternalistic approach towards the peoples we come to support: “We want to bring them superior notions on the civilizational and religious level”, explains Catherine Foisy.
In South America, where we see the emergence of dictatorial powers, the ground is fertile for setting up works there.
“There is an encounter between Christianity, in its progressive and collective version, and Marxist thought. This gives rise to liberation theology. »
Long Decline
However, in the 1960s, societies changed their view of religious communities. In Quebec, enrollment is more difficult.
During the 1970s, when the Church was going through a severe crisis, the lay organizations of international cooperation experienced a more marked development.
