Distinctively Catholic

'They Were Known to Stick Together'

Prior to Vatican II, the Catholic community was a very isolated one. Educationally, socially and in the business world, Catholics were known to stick together. There was an expectation that all Catholics would tithe 10 per cent of their earnings to the Church. The oldest boys and girls in Catholic families were strongly encouraged to go into religious orders, and in the Thirties, sometimes that was the only way that they could get a higher education. In the early schools and up until the 1960s, boys were expected to learn Latin and to serve as altar boys.

Catholics were required to fast and abstain from meat on Fridays, and they were expected to follow extra days of fast and abstinence during Lent. Nuns of the orders of Sisters dressed in habits of their order, and priests wore standard cassocks specific to their orders. Nuns were present in all of the Catholic schools, Catechism was the most important subject, boys and girls were taught separately, and students wore uniforms.  Churches were full, and Mass was said in Latin with the priest’s back to the congregation. Lay participation was minimal.

The sacraments were handled differently, as well. Baptism was administered soon after the child was born, to avoid any possibility of going to “limbo” if the baby should die. Confession was not face-to face, and often consisted of a grocery-type list of venial and mortal sins. People did not usually go to Communion unless they had recently gone to Confession. They also had to fast from food and water from midnight of the previous day, and no one could touch the host with his/her fingers; it was placed on the tongue by a priest with a communion server. Confirmation was administered by the Bishop, and he would travel throughout the diocese to confirm children in each small town. Mixed marriage was not encouraged, and was held in the vestibule of the Church.

Practice Makes Perfect

The Ursulines and all the other teaching orders of Sisters were very precise in their preparation for the sacraments. The clapping hands story of one First Communion class in the 1940s illustrates the thoroughness with which the Sisters trained the children. When it was time to genuflect, the Sister clapped her hands, and all of the children genuflected in time. When it was time to kneel, she clapped again. And so on, until they got it just right. It should be noted that if any little girl forgot her veil (or her hat during a regular Sunday Mass), a handkerchief was pinned to her head because females in those days could not appear in Church without a head covering.

The Living Rosary

Prior to Vatican II, it was impossible to mistake a Catholic school! During the years when Sion Academy was operating as a school for girls, most of the girls were Catholic, but a handful was Protestant. All of them wore uniforms. Once a year, during May, which is the month of Mary, the girls would go out into the streets of Saskatoon in their uniforms and publicly display the Living Rosary. They were known to stop traffic, and their procession became more popular each year. As part of the Living Rosary, the Catholic girls would line up in groups of 10; they were the Hail Marys. The Protestant girls would stand alone between the groups of Catholics; they were the Our Fathers. The Sisters of Sion prided themselves on the popular procession and on the fact that they didn’t impose the Hail Mary on the non-Catholic girls.

Father Mahoney's Dating Service

In the 1950s, St. Paul’s High School for boys was opened at the instigation of Bishop Klein, and there were occasions where the boys from St. Paul would get together with the girls from Sion. Father Mahoney (later known as Bishop Mahoney), ran a “dating service” whenever there was a dance. In those days, girls were strongly encouraged to attend dances with a male escort. So, Father Mahoney would go over to the girls’ school and ask the girls who did not have dates to write their names on slips of paper. Then he would go over to the boys’ school and during a gym class, he would holler, “Okay, boys, who is going to the dance?” Several boys would raise their hands. Father Mahoney then would walk around and hand a slip of paper to all of the boys who didn’t have their hands up, and he would announce, “Now the rest of you boys are going, too. And here are your dates.” When the sock-hop dances began, the girls were inspected to make sure that they were modestly dressed, and the boys were inspected to make sure that they did not have holes in their socks!