Copy letter from Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon to Fr. Sylvester Mulligan

Page 1

Copy. Franciscan Capuchin Hostel. St. Bonaventure's. Cork. Ireland. Wednesday, December 14th 1927. My dear Father Sylvester. There are a few urgent matters in commence with our American Houses that I would like to put before you. 1. During my American Visitation many of the Friers spoke to me about what appeared to them to be a grievance, namely, being deprived of a vote in commence with the Provincial Chapter. There are now 32 priests and four solemnly professed Brothers in our American Houses. This it is true is a long-standing grievance, but they think that our Superiors in Rome should make some concession in the matter. There are 5 solemnly professed in Abbottstown, 4 in Lincoln and Los Angeles. There are eight priests in Ukiah and the houses attached thereto. I have been informed by Monsignor Cantwell that Hopland and Willits are not parishes in the canonical sense, and I believe the same is true of the so-called parishes on the coast, though I am not certain. According to paragraph 144 of the Constitutions, a canonical foundation with 3 priests including the President seems to entitle them to the vote. Los Angeles, Burlingame, Lincoln and Ukiah fulfil these conditions. I am aware that a similar demand was made before our last Provincial Chapter, and refused. But since then the new Constitutions have been published, and there is no note or other indication that paragraph 144 should have any other than its 2 obvious meaning. Fr. Brendan told me he spoke to the present Fr. General Secretary about the matter, and he thought there would be no difficulty. America is not a mission. If it were, they would not of course expect a vote. Do you think that there is any way out of this difficulty. 2. When in America I paid a visit to Dr. Fitzmaurice, the bishop of Wilmington, Delaware. His diocese is outside the jurisdiction of the American Capuchins. He promised me he would give a foundation in his diocese. But as his diocese is small and poor we could not expect much. The matter remains there for the present. I met a Cork priest named Fr. O'Mahony, who is editor of a paper dealing with late vocations. The name of the paper is "The Eleventh Hour." He belongs to the diocese of Syracuse, New York. He told me there was a place in the diocese that he was sure the Bishop, Dr. Curley, would give us. I enclose a letter from Fr. Brendan, which I received on yesterday, dealing with the matter. There are no Capuchins in his diocese. I had a letter from Fr. Joseph a week ago saying that the Archbishop of St. Paul, Minnesota, told him he would be pleased to have the Irish Capuchins in his Archdiocese. You may say that these are in the territory of the American Capuchins. But you know the extent of that territory. One State in America is larger than France or Italy. Yet in these latter countries there are several Provinces. In my opinion it is absolutely essential for us to have one 3 off two good houses in the East, if we are ever to develop fully in the West. We m…