Fink, Lewis M., Bishop, Leavenworth, Kansas, to Archbishop John Baptist Purcell, of Cincinnati, Ohio, 1872 October 5

He addresses Purcell on a delicate but important subject. Since Purcell was so kind to Fink when the latter was a priest in Covington, he turns to him now with the hope that he shall again meet with kindness, since he has been made the coadjutor to the Vicar Apostolic of Kansas. Bishop John B. Miege left last year to go on a collecting tour of South America, where he has been working for the purpose ever since with very little success. He chose this tour as he thought that there is a good deal of collecting done for local purposes and for other popular objects in the U.S. besides the great catastrophe of Chicago. The debt on the Cathedral is so much that they are unable to meet even half of the interest costs. There is no way out, so far as he can see, since the people are so poor, mostly poor imigrants from the older states and from large cities. At the time of the building of the Cathedral, it was thought that Leavenworth would become a large city, but with the changes after the war, etc., the building was completed so as to fit it for Divine service at a cost the diocese could not stand. The churches are only temporary frame buildings and the priests must be supported by the kindness of the people for whom they work. Therefore, there is no other remedy than outside assistance. He asks Purcell's permission to send a priest to lecture or preach in Cincinnati to ask donations in the churches for their Cathedral. He believes they should be able to realize something and they ask for the temporal blessing only to be able to reduce their debts to such a sum that the ordinary revenues of the Church will suffice to pay the interest. He asks Purcell's pardon for not applying in person, but the pleasure of seeing Purcell is denied him due to the scarcity of priests and the work, together with a plea of poverty, with which they are abundantly blessed. :: II-5-e A.L.S. 3pp. 8vo.