​The National Directory of the US in 1920 lists “The Belgian Foreign Mission Procure” with an address in New York City, but the same directory lists no other locations where the congregation was present. It is clear from other sources that the Archdiocese of New York gave Father Henry Verwilghen, among the first men sent from the Philippines, to open a house in New York in 1919, with the condition that there not be a chapel open to the public, and that no religious community be formed there. This permission was received with the kind intervention of Father James A. Walsh, co-founder of the Maryknoll Mission Society.

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The mission work of the men assigned here consisted of parish ministry among Choctaw Native Americans, and “some white Catholics.” Although The General Chapter of 1920 supported the establishment of a procure in the US, the assignment of personnel was the responsibility of the Province of the Philippines. By 1930, a decision was made to end the project of Scheut missionary presence in the United States, following some negative comments by the Philippine Provincial about the harmful effects on priests who have contact with the American civilization. With the decision to end this missionary insertion in the United States, none of the confreres originally assigned here returned for mission work in the Philippines: several were incardinated into a diocese in the United States, and others returned to Europe and worked in various jobs in houses of the 2 congregation there. The next venture into the United States would not happen for 12 more years.

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With the assistance once again of the Maryknoll Missionaries, and the invitation of the Bishop of Richmond, Most Reverend Peter Ireton, Father Dieltiens was able to purchase an 11-acre piece of property in Arlington County, Northern Virginia. This property became known as Missionhurst and remains the Provincial House today. The dedication of the new religious house took place on November 11, 1946. Bishop Peter Ireton of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, presided and was assisted by Bishop James Walsh, MM, 19 CICM priests and many priests of the Richmond diocese.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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As more confreres began to arrive in the United States the province began a decades long ministry to the Negroes, the African Americans in the Dioceses of Richmond, Virginia, Columbus, Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan. The Cardinal Archbishop of Philadelphia Dennis Dougherty had been a young auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Manila in the Philippines at the early part of the 20th Century and was familiar with the CICM missionaries. At his invitation priests of the congregation began to be assigned to the African American ministry in that city as well. Many of the first confreres assigned to the US had been missionaries in China.

Bishop Ireton gave permission for the young province to begin a fundraising program in the diocese with the understanding that the priests assigned to Missionhurst would also assist in the pastoral care of the Catholics in what at the time was a rural part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Another house was purchased near Missionhurst that became the first Promotion Office and the first rectory of St. John Parish, in nearby McLean, Virginia, which was one of two parishes founded by former China missionary, Father Paul Cauwe. As more young confreres were assigned to the US Province, a number of them began to undertake graduate studies at different American Universities with the understanding that the congregation would start a boy’s high school in the hope of also starting a formation program for young Americans.

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On July 12, 1949, the Superior General, Father Joseph Vandeputte, with the consent of his council officially erected the United States Province. Father Emile Mommaerts was appointed the first Provincial Superior, with Father Ernest Dieltiens as First Councilor. As the number of confreres assigned to the United States increased, the province began to seek ministries in other parts of the country. The Elenchus of 1946 lists 20 confreres assigned to the US; by 1948 the Elenchus lists 47. After ten years as a province the Elenchus of 1956 lists 83 confreres ministering in the country. The province reached a high point of membership with 100 confreres in 1962, the Centennial
Year of the Congregation. In 1966, the year the congregation had the largest number of members, 2008, the US Province had 90 and 23 students.

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With the large number of confreres arriving in the US Province, and with several of them teaching in high schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the province accepted the invitation from the
archbishop to staff a diocesan school with CICM priests. In September 1964, Archbishop Wood High School opened in Warminster, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. For the next dozen years CICMs administered the school and in that time more than a thousand young men graduated. Of them, four entered the novitiate, three were ordained, and of them one remains a member of the congregation.
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The Diocese of Dallas, Texas, was considered as the location for another provincial house “for the South.” Land was purchased there for a house and eventually a Boys School was planned for the site. It was named ‘Marydale,’ and served as a central house for vacation days and retreats for the confreres. Superior General Joseph Vandeputte stayed there during his canonical visit in 1949. The house and property were eventually sold. The province also accepted parish ministry in the Diocese of Oklahoma City. One confrere who was assigned in the parish of Okarchee, Oklahoma, is mentioned in the biography of the American priest martyr, Blessed Stanley Rother, who died in Guatemala 1981, as an influence on his vocation to be a priest-missionary.

Another major project for the South, in addition to parish ministry, was the establishment and running of a diocesan Minor Seminary in Pineville, Louisiana, at the request of the bishop of the Diocese of Alexandria, Louisiana. With the approval of the General Council, the US Province was entrusted with the Administration of the Maryhill Seminary in 1949. The diocese took over the administration of the seminary in 1958.

When the first novitiate opened in 1959 one of the novices, Father Howard Picard, from New York, was already a priest. He had completed his seminary studies with the permission of the Ordinary, so that he could leave his diocese when the congregation began its own formation program. In all, there would be a total of 20 novitiate classes with more than 100 novices. Of this number only 37 were ordained priests, and five brothers took final vows and were sent to the missions. Of those ordained and missioned, 16 would leave the congregation. Today, remaining in the Congregation are four priests and one brother.

 

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One of the principal reasons for starting the United States Province was to raise funds to help rebuild our missions after the devastation of WWII, and Missionhurst Promotion has been a very successful operation. Over these many years millions of dollars have been raised and sent to support our missionaries and their work in evangelization, education, development, relief and health care, and the publication of Missionhurst Magazine, now in its 77th year of publication. Each year several of our missionaries working in different countries are invited to the United States to take part in the Mission Appeal Program—the Mission Co-Op Program. With the invitation of the local bishops and diocesan mission offices, they visit parishes around the country speaking on mission awareness education and raising much-needed support for our work. This ministry of mission support remains a priority of the province.

After the early emphasis on evangelization among the African Americans, the province began to focus on Hispanic Ministry: at present about 45% of American Catholics are of Hispanic origin, and the number is steadily increasing. For many years the province had a sizeable number of confreres in the Archdiocese of San Antonio, Texas, and most of the parishes staffed by CICM members were primarily Spanish speaking. The Belgian Fathers there were known for their proficiency in Spanish. Though there are fewer confreres in the province, Spanish is still a large part of their ministry.

 

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The proximity of the Provincial House to Washington, D.C. has been a factor in the province’s participation and action on behalf of Justice and Peace issues over the years. In the early 1970s, Missionhurst seminary hosted Begnino Aguino and his brother when they visited Washington to make government contacts when Ninoy was planning to run for President of the Philippines. Archbishop Laurent Monswengo of Kinshasa was a regular visitor to Missionhurst as well when he was involved in restoring democracy to the Congo and was making contacts with American government leaders. Missionhurst hosted Mr. Kim Dae Jung, a Korean politician, and his family for several months when he was released from prison and was exiled to the United States. The provincial and other confreres in the province assisted him to make the necessary government contacts that would lead to his return to Korea and be elected President there.

Missionhurst welcomed several confreres who were exiled from Haiti during the unrest at the ouster of the dictator, Papa Doc Duvalier. The province later assisted those confreres to meet with President Aristide when he too was in exile in Washington. The province was among the founding members of the African Faith and Justice Network, The Washington Office on Latin America, the Washington Office for Haiti, and participates in other JPIC organizations on a regular basis.

Many times in the past 80 years, the US Province became the temporary home for confreres from nearly every province and district: for language study, for higher studies, for sabbatical programs, for health and healing treatments. Missionhurst has also been the temporary home for confreres from other provinces who are in the country visiting their own family members who have immigrated here.

I would like to offer a few personal reflections on my life as a CICM for the past 57 years, and as one of the graduates of the high school Warminster. I entered the novitiate in 1968; I had spent the previous four years at the high school where a total of 21 CICM confreres were on the faculty in my senior year. There is no doubt in my mind that my vocation was inspired by the religious and missionary witness of those men. For a time, I was a pen pal with a confrere in Kinshasha, the brother of a faculty member. Together, they and other priests on the faculty opened my eyes to the world of mission and they are why I am a CICM today.

Today, the US Province has 36 members, including three student confreres on internship. Hispanic ministry and Missionhurst Promotion remain priorities. Over the past 80 years in addition to the ministries of the confreres assigned here, the US Province has played a large role in the life of the Congregation. Several province members have served on the General Government and General Administration; three members have become Superior General. Cardinal Jan Schotte was a member of the province who served as Rector of Missionhurst Seminary and later served the Universal Church in many capacities as bishop and cardinal. The focus and locations of the ministry have changed, but the United States Province has continually responded to the missionary needs of the local church. In 2025, the Superior General accepted the invitation of the bishop of the Diocese of Gaspé, Quebec, Canada, to begin ministry there. The new mission is appended to United States Province. Although Canadian men have entered the congregation, this will be the first missionary insertion in that country.

 

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This brief article is one person’s view of the 80-year history of the province. More information on this history can be found in The Scheut Fathers in the U.S.A. 1919-1930 (published in 1978). By Victor De Clercq, CICM; Missionhurst-C.I.C.M. In the U.S.A. 1944-1949 (published in 1986) By Victor De Clercq, CICM; and The Lord Has Dwelt Among Us, (published in 2021) by Ricardo J. Terga, CICM.

Although the United States Province was never the largest province and the goal of attracting large numbers of American men to join the congregation never materialized, it is clear from this brief summary of the first 80 years, that the province has had a significant impact on the history of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and has made significant contributions to the spread of the Gospel of Jesus. The province is well prepared for what the future will bring.