Movement attracted more than 4,000 young volunteers who devoted a year or more of their life to support a school system.
The Frontier Apostolate movement was established in 1956, with then newly-appointed Oblate Bishop John Fergus O’Grady, of the Diocese of Prince George, Northern British Columbia. In photo, he is at centre, with two Frontier Apostolate volunteers.
Most pioneers of the Frontier Apostolate remember their experience like it was yesterday. Most of them were barely out of university, or in the thick of their early career, when an opportunity in
“We had the time of our lives,” says Mary Jane Wirges, an American nurse who packed up and left for
Straight out of a
Bishop O’Grady with volunteer Joan Ryan at the Frontier Apostolate Office.
“Ahead of time, I would set up places to speak, places that had a Catholic infrastructure,” she says. “I drove a diocesan car and I would be gone for a few months at a time.”
By then, the Apostolate was already ten years old and had made links with Catholics abroad, greatly expanding the pool of missionary volunteers. The movement had been gaining momentum since 1956, with then newly-appointed Oblate Bishop John Fergus O’Grady at its helm.
“He was extremely charismatic,” says Wirges. “Nobody who is not charismatic could pull off what he did.”
In four decades, O’Grady raised an army of volunteers from
“His rosary was never out of his hand, and it didn’t matter what hour in the evening one visited Domano Chapel, he was usually in the pews,” remembers Margaret Moore, a volunteer for the Apostolate from 1968-1969, and again from 1979-1986.
Moore, 33 years old when she arrived in Prince George, remembers O’Grady particularly as a prayerful man who had great energy, could foresee what was needed to improve the diocese and wasted no time working toward his goals.
“From the day he arrived, his feet hit the ground running, and I can’t recall ever hearing him say, ‘Let’s plan that for next year.’ It was always ‘Let’s do it now.’”
Bishop O’Grady was ‘a prayerful man who had great energy, could foresee what was needed to improve the diocese and wasted no time working toward his goals.’
Whether it was the charismatic leadership, the appeal of helping others and working with the poorest of the poor or simply embarking on a great adventure, upon arrival, the Frontier Apostolate offered something special for everyone.
“It was absolutely astonishing,” says Ronnie Lowrey, a resident of the Greater Toronto Area who left
Though she would describe
“I felt like I was entering into an old western movie, because of the wide main street and low-rise buildings,” says Lowrey with a laugh, adding that the charm was somewhat overturned by the stench of the town’s paper mill.
And she remembers well the night her catechesis team, on their way to teach children in a small community, got lost and found themselves dangerously travelling one-way up a radio controlled logging trail. But it was all worth it, she says.
When the movement was only getting off the ground, volunteers worked at one of five existing schools founded by religious in
From 1957 to 1962, O’Grady and his helpers either built or rebuilt existing schools in
Volunteers who worked with one of the elementary schools stayed in households across the mission diocese with other volunteers. Those who staffed the high school in
In retrospect, Lowrey says that the principal goal was to achieve something worthy and good by encouraging the native children to stay in school and get an education because the dropout rate in the public school system was very high. But on a personal level, the fellowship with other volunteers made the experience much more rewarding. Lowrey joined a large number of ex-F.A. volunteers, including Wirges, who met in
After looking back on the experience with those gathered, Wirges says she believes the schools helped to lift some of the children out of poverty. The missionary diocese was home to First Nations people who today make up the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council.
“I believe we put a dent in a difficult situation and it was better for us to have been there than not been there at all,” she says, explaining that what Bishop O’Grady wanted was to give the native children a chance to succeed and obtain an education without having to leave their families at a young age.
The Frontier Apostolate began shrinking in 1977 when the province passed Bill 33 which gave 33 percent funding to independent schools, when originally it had none. This was raised to 50 per cent in 1989. Over time, government funds made it possible to hire local personnel. Also, several schools were closed down as populations decreased, or as in Fort St. James, the schools were taken over by the local Band.
Carolyn Girard, previously youth editor of The Catholic Register, writes from Ottawa,
