3 - Canonical Visitation Report for 1953

3

Canonical Visitation Report for 1953

7 pp; typescript

Canoncial visitation report compiled by Fr. Stephen Murtagh OFM Cap. for the Irish Capuchin custody in the United States. The report includes commentary on the spiritual, physical and financial condition of various churches and friaries in Oregon, California, and Delaware. Father Murtagh notes that the only novice received at the Wilmington Novitiate House in 1953 departed on the advice of his confessor, leaving the custody with just five students and no novices. To solve this problem, the report analyses successful religious orders like the Jesuits and Franciscans, concluding that their high vocation numbers stem from being established in large cities and operating prominent educational institutions. In contrast, the Irish Capuchins are largely isolated in poor, sparsely populated, non-Catholic districts in Oregon and Northern California, and their single small school of 170 students is forced to turn away freshman pupils annually due to limited space and a small faculty. The document also suggests that the upcoming construction of a new archdiocesan boys’ high school in the nearby Altadena-Pasadena area threatens to draw future candidates away from the custody’s primary geographic recruitment base.

ISAD(G) 2nd edition