The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-03-10
NhW ORLEANS, SUNDAY MORNING. MARCH TO- 1879

PPa aats OF tins more faithfully than til
castors OF the Church. But to saw tina
iatners and mothers are to educate thoi
cht!dren, and that their home is to be tn
ecnool OF Christian instruction, catecbeti
"a. Ieachlng, formation Of conscience, pre-
paia'fon 1or sacraments, and the like. i
either the shallow talk of men who know
nothing of Christian education or car,
nothlng for 1T, or a heartless mockery 81
oul poor. Ihe rich, the refined, the edu.
ca.ed, whose time is their own, do not edu
cate their children. They SYSTEMATICALLY
sehu them to schools and colleges. or paw
Ior Tutors or governesses under their own
rooi. They wisely shrink from a work for
, ~nlcn, II they have the time, they seldom
nave the requirements, or the Gift. or fine
method, or the. perseverance, or the pa
thence: And if this be, as it is, universally
true OF those who are the most competent.
anu the best provided with all the means
anu opportunities for the work, how is it
uoC hardness OF heart or want of common
sense to say that the children of the poor
are 10 learn reading, and writing, and
summing indeed at school, bnt that their
christian teaching and formation must be
provided at home. The working men of
these countries are at labor from twilight
10 twilight. Their wives have the burden
OF the whole family the poor mother is
alone both the head and the servant of the
whole house. When is che to teach, and
Tram, and shape, and fashion the charac-
ters, hearts, consciences, intellects of the
children Is it to be done in the midst of
the days work, or in the WEAKNESS after
the days work is done, And are they
competent to do what the mother of the
rich cannot. do Broken with cares.
"ear1ed by work, suffering from poverty,
often falnting from sickness because worn
OUT with all these burdens, how shall the
latner or mother of a family, huddled into
u
educated, in their spacious houses, and
with abundant leisure, never dream of at
tempting 1t is to be hoped that we shall
near no more of this heartless talk If. |
then, the Christian education of n people |
cannot be accomplished at home, it can be !
accomplished nowhere but in the school : |,
md If so, then the school becomes the de-
oository of the rights of parents, and of
ne inheritance of their children. The
'cho0l Is strictly a court of the Temple, a
>orch outside the Sanctuary. 1t cannot be
eparatea from the Church. 1t was created |
~ the Church; and the Church created it
or It's own mission to its own children.
As lhe church cannot surrender to any
,oWer on earth tue formation of it's own
hildren, so it cannot surrender to any the
Erection of its own schools.
CHRISTIAN Education not the function of
he Slate The second principle we have
tfirmed is, that the education of Christian
hlldren does not, and cannot, belong to
he jurisdiction of the civil power. The
tate is incompetent to educate, both in
ght and in fact. The right Of parents
yer the education of their own offspring {
sacred right of the order of nature. s
ed by the divine law alone. All men ac- e
nowledge that to take children away from s
'eir parents is an injustice. But to take @
ON them the education of their children, c
deprive them of the right to rear and c
ain their offspring, to interpose between E
trent and child, and to form the mind, IL
I'd will, and character of children BY an n
struction and training contrary to the t.
III and conscience of the parent, is, if O
ssible, more fragrant wrong, aud c;
ore cruel violation of the rights both of la
rent, and child. The parent is the b
tural guardian of the child, and of its lib hi
~ OF conscience and will. This is trueeven ii
the natural order. The legislation OF bt
heather world so profoundly recognized yo
ese parental rights that it exaggerated W
I'm into an absolute power of life and TO
ath, and sale, whereby in the authority or
the father the rights of the child were IN
'eriy destroyed. The State did not ven st
@ TO claim right superior to the parent: IN
las been reserved for Christian States to in
up the monstrous claim of educating no
children of the people according to its tn
II doctrines and opinions. The educa- ha
n of France for the last seventy wears is lol
example of this exorbitant pretension of til
civil power, and the state of France at giC
time Is commentary on the peril Of ca
Iatlng the rights of nature and the lib st;
Y of parents. Nature avenccs Itself ad
h terrible dircctncss of recoil. The wi
IcaIon of Ministers of Public Instruc. ca
4, through teachers without faith. and Ia
schools separated from the Church. has mi
c Its work with a completeness which Til
ders all further demonstration of its 10
Gus ar' O"ri'""s character to be need Is
}. ~ $. % this that some men --
I'D invite +" ncscend. In putting
IL this assertion of indefeasibic parental I
AIS ne are not ucEytnB 70 she State the the