New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-08-20
SCHOOLS AND POLITICS.

mistake about Mr.. Lusher'e status a. 10 re-
ligi0n. Hatman,Ins est e,Tare; Stultuns aaten
perseverance," Taking it tor granted that
YOU will be equally susceptible of enlight-
eminent on other points referred to by you,
l trouble you with the present commun,ca-
tion; for, indeed, light is sorely needed.
You say:
1--WE have never heard of q Catholic free
school for the education Of the masses OF
children, either in this country or the Oid
World, worthy of the name"
You have never heard, then, OF the public
schools of France, Germany or Austria.
Chambers, in his Conformation for the PEG
ple," eulOgizes, especially, the schools OF
Austria, an exclusively Catholic country;
and l can say, in my own experience in this
matter, it is very seldom that met with
native Of either of these countries who could
not write.
As to the assertion attributed to Arch
bishop Perche, doubt it very much, as it
is we'll known he Is very liberal in his views
on all subjects not of faith.
"But the Church generally discourages
the education Of the multitude" Does It!
That really is news to US; and to say 80 ia
more matter of astonishment than indig.
nation. No such thing. On the contrary,
the motto of the late Archbishop Hughes, Of
New York, was: 1.-The schOolhouse first,
and the church atter''-s sentiment in which
we all pofI0cIly coucuf' AOu o1U 0uV
refuses to let the people read the Bible"
distip guish-Refuses to let the people read
the Protestant version-concedo; the original
or the Catholic authorized vefsiOn-neg0.
This false charge has been refuted so O. ton,
that it appears to be altogether I'M worthy OF
the editor Of the great Republican paper of
the South to bring it forward at this late
date.
As to prayers in the schools, that is
.oh hQ
on both sides. We all admit that prayer is
necessary for salvation, SO that if we don't
pray we will not be saved. But what kind
of prayer ia here meantl Prayer accom-
panied with the necessary conditiOns-such
"a attention internal and externally, devO-
ton, etc. Now can these conditions be
ordinarily had in schools We think not,
and, therefore. it is better to dispense with
prayer altogether in the schools. You do
LICAN office as q "conditio sine que non" to
pray before and after work, and why re-
quire it of school children. In my opinion
this should be the work of the parents and
priests and not of the school teachers. Their
duties are onerous enough already without
the incumbrance of religious Instruction.
But perhaps you may belong to the sect
called Euchits, who concluded from Luke,
chapter Is, verse l, "opertet semper orare,
LII
always pray and not work, but fOOlishly,
for it is written, "If any one does not wish
to work, let him not eat;'' 2 Thessal., 3, 10.
President LincOln's views on this subject
matter deserve to be quoted. Soon after
the fall of Vicksburg the Federal troops oc.
cupied Natchez, and on taking command
| the General issued an order or instructions
to the effect that the citizens would be pro,
| tected, order established, and that the
| services in the different churches should be
| held the same az before the war. To this
Bishop Elder objected; he would not have
| the PRAYER for the President, Senators and
| Repl esentatives of the United States read
| in his church. He may be afraid Of the
bulldozsrs of his day, or actuated by a
miserable vanity or desire to be con.
fe ssor, if not martyr, for the Con federacy,
for religion had nothing to DO with 1t. not
being q part Of the liturgy, whereupOn be
was cast into prison. The bishop had bis
case brought before the President. who
| ordered his release, because, said he, "fOrced
| prayers are of no avail" 1t would be well
for that good preacher of yours to remem-
Der this; keep his 'pater noster' to himself,
| and not try to force it into the unwilling
ears of his pupils. But to return to your
article. You cay, The public schools Of
from every Catholic pulpit in the land
answer by again distinguishing. The
public schools, as under non-Catholic
control, and taught by nOn-CathOliC
teachers for non-Catholio children. have
been denounced by US, deny. AS intended
under such management for Catholic
children that We don't approve of them,
grant.
There, then. is the "Ignoratio Elenehi'
between us. You argue on different view
of the subject from us. We are not opposed
| IN fhn fRor -
it ls our desire to see them established
throughout the length and breadth OF tn
land, but we object to have them under thu
control of parties who look upon our religion
as q crime, and who would ostracise
worthy candidate for Office because he il
of the same religion as Sheridan, Meade
ROsecrans or Antoine.
But give us Board of School Director
composed of Catholics, Catholic teachers
and Catholic for superintendent, for 0ul
Catholic children, and my word for it tina
far from hearing any complaints from u!
against the public schools, We will thant
YOU very sincerely for this simple act Of
Justice; nor shall we have anything to 60.
as to your mode of acting in the case o
| nom Catholic children. One observation
more and am done for the present. Ar
YOU aware that we consider the tern
s'Romanist," as applied to us, a. highl.
offensive? l suppose not, tor take 1t tina
you are too much of gentleman to use 1
If you thought SO; yet 1t is so. This tern
Roman has no meaning as applied to tn
, Catholic Church in this country. 1t is Onl!
in Russia it is used to distinguish between
the Greek and Latin Catholics. or thu
same thing Greek and Roman Catholics
but as in this country there are no Greel
Catholics, We leave it O1t. The late Bishol
Miles, of Nashville, being asked by an 10
quisitive friend, was he an ultra-mou
taniste "No," said he, Indignantly. 81
am Kentuckian" So if were asked, "Al
l Romanist!" would say. with equal il
) | dignstiOn. mo, l am an american citizen
trulu loqal at that" You mistake, therefore
when YOU attribute my former letter to
: defense of Mr.. L1sher. 1t is rather
. correct q fault but too common with tn
a | anti-Democratic press, to be down on tn
Catholics, and thus drive them, nole1
: vOlens, into the Democratic ranks. As fl
f my part, do believe the Democrats hal
Q Catholicism, a. does the opposition, br
;, conceal it better. Ho viewer that may b
J, we are bound to do what is right IN itSe
4 irrespective of outside considerations, an
! as all now admit that it is a great blessir
q that the Union has been preserved, it +
mains for the American people at the a
+ preaching election to decide in whose ham
n is it safer.
d thank you for your fairness in heari'
;, the other side Of the question, andt aiterd
y partene, and shall always feel it p.easu
1t to cooperate with you in promoting t
- - pN'l'' s''N' JOHN sCoLLARD,
70 Catholic Pastor