Mrs. Henry
(Courtesy of Reg. Shreenan)

In 1948 Kinkora women hosted the delegates to the an—
nual P.E.I. Catholic Womens League convention.35 Mrs.
Henry Trainor of Kinkora was President of the RBI.
C.W.L. at the time. Having the convention in Kinkora meant
considerable work to provide the delegates with food and
housing, but as one member recalled “it was another
feather in Kinkora’s hat? What the delegates discussed and
concluded in that meeting gives some insights into the
socio-religious concerns of Catholics at the time. In his
opening address to the women, Bishop James Boyle of
Charlottetown reminded them that women’s proper place
was in the home as “mothers and housekeepers;” but he
added that this did not prvent them from engaging in other
religion-related activities.36 Some of those activities are evi-
dentin the resolutions adopted by the convention, such as:
working to obtain more government support for health care
projects; securing a ban on publication and sales of comic
books which depicted crime and Violence; supporting the
censorship of films which debased the family; promotion
of Catholic social teachings in the schools as a means of
combatting the spread of Communism; and support for
the newly formed crusade of “Family Prayer”, begun by
Father Patrick Peyton.37 These twin crusades of family

109

prayer and combatting Communism would dominate the
teachings and devotional practices of Catholics for the re-
mainder of the 1940s and indeed for the next couple of
decades. Catholic families signed pledges to recite the
rosary daily and “pray for the conversion of Russia? Prayer
was promoted as the solution to family problems, using the
slogan “The family that prays together stays together.”
Some families in the Kinkora area were known to refuse to
answer phone and door calls while the family recited the
rosary. At St. Malachy’s Church, the old, saintly but strict
Father Francis McQuaid, who had become pastor in 1946,
supported these crusades and added his own special devo-
tional practices, as well as additional catechism lessons for
all children in the parish on Sunday afternoons.

The decade ended leaving people around Kinkora area
more hopeful than when it began: potato prices were ris-
ing higher each year; new businesses were opening up; the
addition of grade eleven was a progressive step in educa—
tion; local hockey players and race horses were winners; and
with prayer it seemed that any problem could be solved.

Notes and References for Chapter 10:

1. The amount of $15,000.00 is the quota announced for
the fifth and sixth Victory Loans in 1943 an 1944, the
first two years in which the quotas and the progress
of the collecting were printed in the Guardian. Why
campaigners had difficulty collecting this quota in the
five communities is not known; however, difficulty
is obvious in the slowness with which they were able
to achieve less than the full amount. These com—
munities also contributed several hundred dollars in
various years to other organizations such as the Red
Cross and the Knights of Columbus. No overall total
of money contributed could be obtained.