Early Days
The Society’s publications from its early history reveal a focus on the primary missionary goals of the time– evangelization and conversion. Alongside their religious priorities, the Society also attempted to care for the material living conditions of their communities, especially through their collaboration with the Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, of Pembroke, Ontario.
Pictured: Group photograph of priests and Grey Sisters outside of the Church of the Sacred Heart in Lishui, c. 1939
In addition to catechetical work, the Society, with the Grey Sisters, operated clinics, dispensaries, and classrooms.
Men's dispensary after bombing during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Lishui, April 1941
An unidentified Grey Sister with students in convent courtyard, Lishui, September 1937
Sr. St. Angela with pupils in classroom, 1930s
Letter Received 8 April 1933
Letter distributed to the Scarboro priests at the mission in Lishui, China, most likely from the mission superior, Msgr. William McGrath. The handwritten notes were added by Scarboro priests at a later date.
Item #3 is an appeal for priests to use their personal stipends to help with famine relief in Shensi (Shaanxi).
The Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) brought to the church a greater call for Ecumenical and Interfaith dialogue and cooperation (Dignitatis Humanae, Unitatis Redintegratio, Nostra Aetate). It also encouraged Catholics to work not only amongst themselves, but as part of a global community, towards political, social, and economic justice and peace (Gaudium et Spes). A specific decree (Ad Gentes) addressed the mission activity of the Church, encouraging Catholics to fully engage, as equals, the cultural traditions and social life in the communities they serve and to ensure that “Christian life will be accommodated to the genius and the dispositions of each culture.”
The changes of the Second Vatican council were not without their detractors. Bishop Kenneth Turner, a member of the Society and representative at the Second Vatican Council, published the following article in the Scarboro Missions Magazine. Amongst wider anxiety at the Council’s changes, Bishop Turner reassures his readers of the “unity in diversity” of the Catholic Church. Turner also comforts those worried about liturgical changes and the introduction of non-European instruments and non-Latin languages into the mass by referring to the well-known Jesuit missionary, Fr. Matteo Ricci, who 400 years prior, had supported the adapting of Western Catholic rites to Chinese cultural sensibilities.
Already engaged in socio-economic justice work alongside more traditional missionary work, the Scarboro Foreign Mission Society was primed to respond positively to the challenges of the Council.
Members of the Sixth General Chapter, 1978
In 1978, the Society's Sixth General Chapter mandated support and participation in inter-church ecumenical efforts and called for the establishment of an office devoted to the Society’s commitments to social justice.
In 1980, the Society founded the Justice and Peace Office (later renamed the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Office) to serve this mission, at home and abroad.
Excerpt from the 1984 Constitutions of the Scarboro Foreign Mission Society, detailing the nature and purpose of the Society
The Constitutions of the Society were also amended. The 1984 Constitutions, in addition to voicing support for efforts socio-economic justice initiatives, also called for ecumenical and inter-faith cooperation.
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