OCR Text |
Show WYQMING. (Special Correspondence.) This town of Rock Springs may not harbor quite as great a variety of peoples as were to be seen on the Midway at Chicago or the Pike at St. Louis, but if there be a man whose penchant for the varied could not here be amply gratified he must himself be of an extraordinary type. It is thus that the Rev. Charles O'Connor, the young pastor here, indicates in-dicates the composition of his parish: Americans, Canadians, Irish- (of course), Germans, Poles, Slavs, French, Kraners, Hungarians (both of the Roman and the Greek rites), Italians, Tyrolese, Mexicans and well, the good father is an exceedingly exceed-ingly busy man and it is quite probable that he failed at the moment to recollect several of the races or nations represented in his wonderfully interesting in-teresting flock. That, however, the cosmopolitan character of the town may not be wofully underestimated, underes-timated, it is well to add that the community also embraces representatives of such peoples as the Greeks. Russians. Danes, Swedes, Japs and other Mongolians, English, etc. Xor, be it remembered, is there question of an individual to be found here or there in this remarkable hive of industry, but of each of the classes enumerated there is what may, for want of a better term, be designated as a vigorous vig-orous colony. .Many of your readers, but perhaps not all, are aware that the town of Rock Springs is chiefly sustained byjho coal mining industry, and this fact renders the hetrogenous character of the community less mystifying than might otherwise be the case. It may well be imagined that the lt of the. parish par-ish priest here is not by any means "a bed of roses;"' that, indeed, the parish is an exceedingly difficult ..ne to administer with any considerable elegrce of thoroughness and efficiency. Who can adequately describe the qualifications essential in the ideal pastor of such a community t A robust constitution, infinite tact, wide experience, proficiency in the languages, extraordinary adaptability adapta-bility these are some of the more salient features that occur to the mind of the writer". But, above j all, in order to render his lot endurable, mwt there I be an unusual clement of love for his kind and de- ! votion to his calling as a minister of God in his mental and moral make-up. Hjs sympathies must, indeed, be extraordinarily broad and keen to be able to penetrate the rough and uncouth exterior that often presents itself, and to detect that spark of the divine present in the souls of the most degraded degrad-ed of God's rational creatures, in order to render a labor of love what must otherwise frequently prove a task beyond the fortitude of human nature. na-ture. Verily, the spirit of the martyr is here an essential requisite. To such a spirit this is a nook in the Lord's vineyard peculiarly attractive and inspiring. in-spiring. Unfortunately, Father O'Connor's physical constitution con-stitution is not of the most robust type, nor has he the advantage resulting from years of experience in . ministering to the spiritual needs of mankind, having hav-ing been ordained to the priestly tato but one' short year ago. In all other respects he impressed your correspondent as eminently fitted for his most arduous ar-duous task. The fact that he is, seemingly, esteemed es-teemed and beloved by all the various elements in the heterogenous mass that constitutes his thick is one of the most satisfactory indications of his superior usefulness, lie is able to communicate witli his people in several languages, whereby his usefulness in this field of labor is appreciably augmented. aug-mented. His devoted zeal is unmistakable, and he impresses one as being a man of the highest aspirations, aspira-tions, and one cannot help but be convinced that this devoted and talented young priest has a career of even greater usefulness than i- now his lying before him. f At Green River, but a short distance from Rock Springs, is to be found a strikingly different .community. .com-munity. Here the Irish-American element largely predominates, and one feels more at home. The Catholics 1 re are, as a whole, of the more intelligent intelli-gent and devoted type, and the pastor of souls naturally nat-urally finds a more congenial field. This parish is administered from Rook Springs, being visited by tin ir pastor twice or, of toner during each month. Your correspondent had the pleasure of meeting at Green River several young ladies who were at one time pupils in the convents of Salt Lake and Og-deu. Og-deu. viz.: iliss L. Sherran, Mrs. Frank Kidd (nee Miss Viox) and Miss Alice Viox,each one of whir l is a credit to' and honors her Alma Mater. "! At Evanston also there is to be met .with a model, type of Catholics. . This is a very attractive little town, and its denizens present, as. a rule, an excep- j tionally bright, intelligent, and cheerful appearance. I The Inter-Mountain Catholic has here a staunch and active friend in the person of Mr. J. F. Donovan. Dono-van. He takes pleasure and a commcidable prid? in furthering its interests whenever an opportunity presents itself. As a consequence, the paper is a welcome visitor to nearly every Catholic home in the community, and nowhere, it is safe to say in a community of e'qual size is its field of usefulness more grat if, vingly pronounced. |