Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-12-26

CATHOLICS AND COMMON SCuOoGS.-Mayor
Kelley of Richmond, Va, in a recent paper
on Catholics and the public schools published
in the Mdependcnf, says | am Roman
Catholic layman, an American citizen. proud
of my country, and profoundly convinced
that, with all the confessed or imputed evils
Of her government. she is the freest and
happie~t on the earth, to-day who feels that
his church Is, to-day. more Independent,
more securely grounded, more fruitful Of
promise, more vigorous and prosperous here
than in the Oldest Catholic nations Of Chris
tendon, and who freely comedies that these
facts and conditions impose upon him and
his brethren in an especial manner the con-
scienti0us obligation Of 4 cheerful obedience
and prompt support to all lawful commands
of the civil power, and more particularly in
view of the form -four government which
as nearly. presume. rs human wisdom can
accomplish it, Is the direct reflex Of the will
of the whole people. And ! assure nv Pro
testant iellOw-citzcns that, in what have
to say express the convictions of hundreds
of thousands of my iellow-Catholics. who
| gratefully remember the public schools as
| the source of whatever education they or
| their children possess, and who know that
among the most distinguished laymen and
| the most pious and learned and useful priests
of the Catholic church in America are those
whose early secular training was in the
| public school. formulaet their opinion and
my own when saw that the imparting of
sound, useful and exclusively secular knowl-
edge by teachers of suitable requirements,
| skill and character. chosen mediately by the
people and paid for out of the public treas
ury, Is, under the conditions prevailing in
] the United States, wise, bene6cent and
lust system, and impugns no right of con-
| science. During the past quarter of cen
| tury the Catholic people of the majority of
the States of the Union have been repeatedly
called on to express their views, directly or
indirectly, on this question at the polls, and
never raised the banner Of hostility to the
public school that in the Legislatures of
my State Catholic votes have aided in the
extension and perfection Of the school laws ;
that in every large city in the country pious
Catholics have gladly given their services as
members of the boards of trustees that
Catholic teachers have in every State sought
and received employment in the free schools;
and that Catholic children by thousands are
now and for many years have been the glad
and uncontaminated recipients Of their ad-
vantages. Wherever the zeal or piety or
opportunity of the church succeeds in erect
ing by the side of the public school a Catho-
lie school Of equal or approximate advantages,
and the added grace of moral training, let
US avail ourselves of it, and thank God for
the privilege but strike no blow at sys-
TEN to which 50 many thousands are and
for long period to come must necessarily
be confined in seeking the intellectual eleva-
ton Of their children Above all. let US
seorn to whine about the petty tax which
we cast into the general lot for the support
of system which the deliberate Judgment OF
our brethren approves with such signal un-
animity.