Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1875-06-17
The Catholic Church and the
Public Schools.


Church towards our public school sys-
tenn is one of aggression. 1t desires to
get control of the educa lion of the
young with view to priestly instruc-
ton. Our common school system is the
offspring of a free people, and could on
ly exist in country of free institu-
tions. Indeed, it is unsuited to the
habit of priestly tyranny, which could
only alter its character and destroy its
virtue. The Roman Church breads the
public school because the youth in
structed there know nothing of priest
ly intolerance. Bishop MQuaid at Gin
cinnati denounced the public schools
of Ohio as Goddess Schools as there
was no religious teaching. The out
rage perpetrated by the Bishop Of
which he ought to be ashamed, con-
sisted in the fact that the reading of
the Bible in the public schools of Gin
einnati was dispensed with through
Roman Catholic influence. A State
does not undertake to teach religion;
but among Christian nations, in the
education of children, the Bible is not
an unknown book. A religious sect in
this country like the Roman Catholic
Church, which banishes the Bible from
the public schools in a locality where
the ignorance of its church members
abounds, cannot stigmatise those
schools as Goddess on that account
without deserving severe rebuke.
What it gains in Cincinnati in this re-
spcct, it will lose with contempt in
States where the Roman sect has less
power.
Is it not strange that In Rome where
the Pope dwells, and the whole machi-
merry of the Catholic Church is at work,
the Roman people neither love thePope
nor the church. They desire to break
away from all prlestly instruction and
have their children educated to become
good citizens. They find that schools
under the supervision of priests are not
such as they desire to perpetuate. Even
the Romish 'Parochial Schools now
clamored for by the Catholic priest
hood of New York, the Romans hate,
and will not have. There are, there
fore, Goddess schools in Rome which
send out pupils better trained for the
duties of life than those by the priests.
Moreover, the political power of the
priesthood is curtailed in Rome, and
the Romans are not to be hoodwinked
as to the political character of the Cath
Ollie Church. In the Goddess schools
in Rome the Bible is read, and the
boys and girls are taught to love their
country and be loyal to their sover-
eign, while the pupils in clerical schools
are not, but taught that their fidelity
is due first of all, to the Pope.
The difference is great. The ele-
ments of patriotism and obedience to
law are wanting as subjects of instruc-
ton in clerical schools, which exist in
the public schools OF this country. The
founders of public schools and those
who support them desire that they
shall be made available for the instruc-
ton of children in the best and noblest
precepts of citizenship. Where the
Roman Catholic Church is powerless
for political evil, the children read the
Word of God with profit. The Repub-
lican party is the party of education;
and has done more to extend the pub
lie school system during the last de-
cade than the Democratic party during
its whole existence. The Democratic
party, for political reasons, is in league
with the Roman Catholic Church.
That party will aid the church in its
designs for the sake of the Catholic
vote, which is cast at the bidding of the
priesthood. Free public education is
one of the cardinal doctrines Of the Re-
publican party; and it expects the sup
port of every right thinking man; for
its principles are those which alone can
preserve the freedom of the country,
and keep it in the true path of progress.