My Dear Catholic Parents

March 1, 1944
By: Archbishop Sinnott of Winnipeg

I have received from the Pastors of the different Parishes a list of those who have boys overseas.

Some time ago, you are aware, I called on Catholic mothers to enroll their boys as Perpetual Members of the Society of Propagation of the Faith. I said: "What better guarantee for any boy exposed to all the hazards of war! A guarantee, should he be killed, that he will go at once to his Maker, to be with him for all eternity! A guarantee, should it be God’s will, that he will return to his dear mother and to those who love him!"

This has been explained to you over and over again from the pulpit, and you have been personally contacted, have answered the appeal, but all the others have maintained a solid indifference. If I were to conclude that you were indifferent to the safety of your boy, I would be doing you a grave injustice. You are not indifferent. What, then, can be the reason for the inaction?...

It is not necessary to pay the $40 at once. You can pay any sum you wish, by installments. You can pay, say, $5 a month, or $10 every three months. You can take a year, you can take two years, you can even take three years. Three years — that is almost the equivalent of $1 per month.

The important thing is to insure the boy’s safety, as far as we can do so — his safety in time and eternity. One Catholic mother in this archdiocese enrolled her boy on Feb. 20, paying $20. He was killed on Feb. 22. Do you not think that the mother’s heart found some consolation in what she had done?

- Archbishop Alfred Sinnott of Winnipeg