Sister Florence Regan and students in one of the first religion classes, 1927. (SOSA 9-02.2-1-1)
Sister Mary Rodgers and a catechetical class, Ketchen, Saskatchewan, 1927. (SOSA 9-02.10-24-2)
Sister Margaret Muldoon, Fr. Landrigan and a First Communion class, Edson, 1934. (SOSA 9-06.10.1-OB18)
Sisters Carolyn Albury and Alice Walsh with a catechetical class, Moose Hill, Ontario, 1934. (SOSA 9-02.8-4-1, The Field at Home-October 1934)
Sister Carmel Egan and catechism students, Gilbert's Cove, NS, c. 1937. (SOSA 9-02.7-1-1)
Sister Ella Deland with a mother carrying her papoose, Fort St. James, BC, 1938. (SOSA 9-02.3-10-1)
Sisters Winnifred Ingrouville and Rita Hurley with catechetical students and cows in a field, South Wellington, Vancouver Island, BC, 1938. (SOSA 9-02.3-32-1)
Sister Ella Deland teaches an outdoor religion class, Luscar, Alberta, May 1942. (SOSA 9-02.2-44-1, The Field at Home-October 1942)
Sister Agnes Hearn teaches catechetical students under a tree, Crescent Lake, Saskatchewan, 1945. (SOSA 9-02.11-48-2)
Sister Lydia Tyler and a religion class, 1940s, Coal Branch, AB. (SOSA 9-02.2-4-1)
Sister Margaret Morgan with students before Confirmation, Kennedy, SK, 1950. (SOSA 9-02.10-23-2, The Field at Home-January 1951)
Sisters Irene Faye and Clara Graf with a First Communion class, McBride, BC, 1953. (SOSA 9-02.3-24-1, The Field at Home-October 1953)
Sister Agnes Brunning and students at playtime, Kikino, AB, 1953. (SOSA 9-06.49-4-9)
Sister Eileen Bridgeo travels by jeep, Indian Head, SK, 1954. (SOSA 9-02.10-22-2, The Field at Home-October 1954)
Sister Alice Walsh and students at school entrance, Oak Lake, MB, 1958. (SOSA 9-02.5-33-1)
Sister Eileen Gallagher with a First Communion class at St. Monica's Church, Lulu Island, BC, May 1964. (SOSA 9-02.3-11-10)
In bringing the Catholic Church to the settler of Western Canada, the Sisters of Service provided two avenues: their religious correspondence schools and religious vacation schools. These provided religious instructions to children who attended public schools and prepared them for the sacraments of Confession, First Communion and Confirmation.
Within four years of the community’s founding, a religious correspondence school was established in Edmonton. This catechism by mail was adapted from Monsignor Victor Day’s correspondence school in Helena, Montana. A similar school was opened in Regina (1934-1991) and a third school in Fargo, North Dakota (1939-1963). The catechetical changes of the Second Vatican Council were reflected in a fourth school from 1975 until 1992 in Clarenville, Newfoundland.
Pastors provided names of children in rural areas to receive the lessons and worksheets, which came from Sisters at the correspondence schools. Often little notes were exchanged between the Sisters, who corrected the lessons, and their students.
In the summer months, every available Sister was assigned to religious vacation schools, which began in the summer of 1925 and ended in 1968. Over those years, the Sisters travelled in pairs to hundreds of small communities, especially in Western Canada at the request of the dioceses. Although some of the religious instruction was held in churches and sometimes in fields, there was always fresh-air breaks of picnics, swims and sports. Usually, the two-week school ended with students receiving one of the sacraments. Often the Sisters would meet many of the correspondence students and their families and further cement the connection.