Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1875-07-01
ParOchial Schools.

recent attempt on the part of the Cath.
oIic parOchial schools in this city and
elsewhere to secure portion OF the
public moneys for the suStentatlOn OF
those institutions. This attempt could
not have been made with any eXpecta-
ton of success. If man, wearing a
sober and friendly face, should ap-
proach his neighbor in the street, with
a polite request that that neighbor
should accommodate him by commit
ting suicide, he would hardly do it
with the expectation of hearing an i'm
mediate report of a pistol in execution
of his demand. The neighbor might
possibly maintain a show of pOlitenesS,
but he would go off wondering what
the request was made for, and what
was to come OF it. He certainly would
not suppose that the man who made it
expected it to be granted. He would
judge that this request was prelimi-
nary of some other request, or of some
movement, to which he intended to
bring into relation.
This is precisely the REQUEST that the
parochial schools have made of the
public schools. "Will you be kind
enough, for our accommodation, to
commit suicide?' The specific request
of the Catholic authorities is not in this
form, of course, but it just as distinctly
involves the question as if the question
were distinctly stated. The moment
the public authorities recognize the
right of sect to public money, for the
special purpose of holding its children
together for sectarian instruction, they
destroy the public schools, so far as any
/ Of hni fnQf
end. One sect has no more rights in
America than another, and the result
of consent would be the abandonment
of the public schools, and the transfor-
nation of our Board of Education into
a Board of Apportionment. we have
no State religion. We never ought 10
have, and we never shall have one. OF
course, no exclusive rights can be
granted to any sect, and the concession
of public moneys to Catholic schools
would be the practical recognition of
the right of every sect to educate its
own children, in its own way, at the
public expense. The logical and prac-
tical results Of such concession are so
plain, that it is mere waste Of type and
paper to argue the matter at any point.
1t is one of those things which cannot
be done, and can only be considered for
the sake of courtesy or form.
But would the Catholics be gamers,
supposing their request were granted !?
Here we touch the motive of the whole
matter. The Catholic Church as a
power, and the Catholic people as a
portion of the free American nationali-
ty, are not the same. Indeed, to speak
the simple truth, their interests are not
the same. 1t is no SANDER, because it
| is freely confessed, that the Church
lays its controlling hand on every con-
science and every life within its power.
1t can hardly claim that those within
its fold are better citizens, finer men,
bers of society, purer patriots, or more
intelligent men and women than those
who belong to the different Protestant
cOmmunions, and have been bred in
| the public schools without sectarian
hands to shape their opinions. 1t
would not be pleasant to appeal to
facts, as they stand in this or other
countries, and we do not appeal to
them, further than to declare that in no
point of advantage to pupils has it ever
been shown that Catholic parochial
school Is superior to the American pub
| lie school. 1t has never made purer
men and women, better and more 10y
al citizens, more independent thinkers.
sweeter communities.
In nation like ours, whose welfare
depends in large degree upon homo
geneity Of material, common sympathy
where sympathy is possible, and cor
dial tOleratiOn where it is not possible,
it Is most important that all means
should be used for breaking dOwu Sec
tartan and party prejudices among the
young. To change children into bigots,
to make them believe that they and
only those born or gathered into the
fold where they happen to stand, are
the elect OF God, while all outside are
heretics or worse, is to make poor pa
triots of them and poorer Christians.
1t matters not whether they are Cath
olic or PrOtestant-a training like this
| is simply abOminable. There is not
church in America acknowledging its
allegiance to the tcnetS of sect, and
| interested in the maintenance and
spread Oh those tenets, that is fit to be
intrusted with the education of any
portion of the American youth. We
are ashamed to say it, but it is true,
and just as true OF the Protestant as the
Catholic.
Let US, Americans, hold one institu-
ton particularly sacred-that one in
which the children and youth of all
communiOns, all classes, all parties, all
conditions, are brought together, and
trained to respect for each other, SYM
pathy with each other, and common
love of freedom and free institutions.
To constitute and maintain this institu-
tion is the business of the State, and it
is the duty Of the State to say to all
political parties and religious sects:
"Hands off! You can take your chill
dren from the public schools if you
will, but will not be a party to the
proceeding. You can foster partisan
spirit among them and bind them
proval. You would train subjects for
yourselves and not for me, and you
shall have no money of mine for your
purposes"
The Protestant, like the Catholic, is
anxious for the moral well-being and
the religious culture of his child. He
takes care of these, at his church and
his home. The Catholic can be treated
in this matter no differently from the
Protestant, and, certainly, any Protes-
tant sect which would build q
wall of prejudice around its children
for the sake of retaining its power,
would deserve and receive the con-
tempt of all just men. To do this is to
acknowledge the fear of defeat in an
open conflict of opinion upon free
field. The Catholic people are not ready
for this acknowledgement, and cannot
afford, for many reasons, to make it,
whatever the interest of the priest
hood may be.-DR. J. G. HOLLAND,
Scribner for July.
Advices from Spotted Tails Agency
state that three large war parties left
that vicinity on the 18th, one each for