2010 Catalog cover - The Athenaeum Of Ohio

Excerpt from a letter of Bishop Benedict J. Fenwick, SJ, of Boston to Bishop Edward Dominic Fenwick, OP,
of Cincinnati, dated April 6, 1831:
Through persons who have lately come here from the state of Ohio, I accidentally and with much
pleasure heard of the great strides which our holy religion is making through all the territory of
your extensive diocese. Indeed, such a report was not unexpected; neither was it altogether
new. For the weekly religious publications of our Calvinists have been complaining for a long
time of the rapid progress which the papist community makes in that territory. This grieves them
doubly because our New-Englanders have contributed much towards building up the state of
Ohio. The most grievous thing, however, seems to be the starting of your college for the
education of priests, which, as their complaints in the newspapers directly indicate, will thwart the
ends of the opponents. From the fullness of my heart do I wish you success in this wellconsidered
and richly blessed enterprise; for such an institution, to the best of my judgment, must
be of incalculable benefit for firmly planting our holy faith in the Valley of the Mississippi. I cannot
better tell you my joy in this matter than by telling you that I believe such an institution - by which
one can obtain priests educated in the native tongue, under one’s own direction and imbued with
one’s own spirit - to be the most desirable and useful of all undertakings. And on that account I
sincerely admire your wise measure in seeking the aid of pious Europeans; for if one has a good
supply of such workers in the vineyard of the Lord, then parishes and churches must follow. Nor
can the churches already established last for any time without resident pastors. Would to God that
I might soon start a similar foundation! What immeasurable good it would do here in Boston….
Taken from V. F. O’Daniel, The Right Reverend Edward Dominic Fenwick, O.P.: Founder of the Dominicans
in the United States, Pioneer Missionary in Kentucky, Apostle of Ohio, First Bishop of Cincinnati
(Cincinnati: Frederick Pustet Co., 1920).
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