society that when it came to the early twentieth century it was hard for the Church to situate itself in a context of urbanization, industrialization, and secularization of life. In the mid-twentieth century, the Church began to face these same problems which confronted European Catholicism in the nineteenth century. Indeed, Québec was, in a comparative sense, still lagging behind modernity. While Christian citizens of other Western nations met the challenges of industrialization and modernization that came with nation-building, French-Canadian nationalists, at the time, embarked on an aggressive programme of ‘Church-building’ with the goal of creating an Église-nation (nation-Church) rather than a nation-state.
II. DUPLESSIS AND A THRIVING CHURCH
VVIt is usually said, and rightly so, that Québec moved rather late into cultural and political modernity. Prior to 1960, the provincial government had no ministry of education, no ministry of health, and no ministry of social welfare.4 During his years as premier from 1944 to 1959, Maurice Duplessis, a conservative-nationalist of the Union Nationale, defended this tradition in unbending fashion, declaring Québec a Catholic province and actively promoted the Church’s welfare without any government interference. The provincial government protected traditional, pre-modern cultural ideas, restricted religious and political pluralism, and refused to regard the state as responsible for the social development of the population.5 As such, in 1958, more than 85 per cent of the population identified themselves as Catholic and more than 88 per cent of those Catholics attended mass every Sunday.6 A virtual army of nuns, priests and brothers, which by 1962 numbered more than 50,000 oversaw the Church’s massive bureaucracy.6 The Roman Catholic Church of Québec exercised a virtual monopoly over education (schools, colleges, etc.), health care (i.e. hospitals, health care centres, etc.), and the social services (social assistance, etc.) offered to French Québecers who formed the majority of the population. As a result, the Church’s organizational presence became ubiquitous. This semi-established status and public presence was legitimated by the traditional religious nationalism, which united a conservative, clerical version of Catholicism and French-Canadian ethnic identity.
8884. Gregory Baum, “Catholicism and Secularization in Québec,” in Rethinking Church, State, and Modernity: Canada Between Europe and America, edited by David Lyon and Marguerite Van Die, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000), p. 150.
8885. Ibid., p. 149-50.
8886. Reginald Bibby, Unknown Gods: The Ongoing Story of Religion in Canada, (Toronto: Stoddart Publishing Co., 1993), p. 6, table 1.1.
6. Allan Smith, “Catholicism,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, Web, November 1, 2012.
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