The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-01-25
THE PASTORAL PLANT
DISAPPOINTMENT cATAoLlcPRELATE
Archbishop Gssop.. of Baltimore, on the Christian
Education OF the YOuus-IustruetIOns and
Appeals 10 the Clergy and LAIty.
The Present Evil TendeBeles.

BALTIMORE, January "a. Archbishop
Gibbons has addressed the following pas
toraI letter on Christian education to the
Clergy and laity OF his charge. BE says:
Impressed with the obligation which our
sacred offices imposes on us, OF feeding
the sheep, and especially the lambs com.
mitted to our pastoral care, we address
you towards the opening OF the season Of
Lent, on the important subject Of Christian
Education. The education Of youth is
THE ENCLOSING TOPIC OF OUR TINES.
The Supreme Head Of the CatholicCh
has sounded the keynote. He points out
the necessity Of daily Christian instruction
as the only efIectual safeguard for preserv-
ing the lisiBg generation from the dangers
which imperil their faith and morals
The bishops and clergy OF ChristCndom
re-echo the voice OF the Holy Father 1t
may be safely asserted, that the future
status OF Catholicity in the United States
is to be determined by the success or fall
ure OF our day schools; and that the ratio
OF our Catholic population, in the coming
generation, will be in mathematical proper
tion to the number and patronage Of our
parochial institutions Of learning.
The vital Question OF the day is not, "How
shall we preserve the sheep OF the fold?'
but, SLOW shall we shelter the lambs"
Shall they be poisoned by the unhealthy
pastures which arc 80 temptingly placed
before them, or shall their tender souls be
nourished under the guidance Of those who
are their Divinely constituted shepherds?
It is particularly desirable that our
youth should be made acquainted, in the
course Of their. studies, with the history Of
our own country, with the origin and prin-
ciples OF its government, and with the emil
nent men who have served it by their
and defended it by their
valor. This knowledge will instruct them
in their civic duties and rights, and will
contribute to make them enlightened cit.
zens and devoted patriots. aat..
TIE RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR EDUCATION
Of your children cannot be divorced from
each other without inHicting fatal wound
upon the soul. The usual consequence OF
such separation is to paralyze the moral
faculties and to ioment spirit OF inditfer-
ence in matters OF faith. Education Is to
the soul what food is to the body. The
milk with which the infant is nOurished at
its mothers breast feeds not only its head,
but permeates also at the same time its
heart and the other organs Of the body. In
like manner, the intellectual and moral
growth OF your children must go hand in
hand. Otherwise their education is shall
low and fragmentary, and proves often
a curse instead of blessing.
The cathetical instructions given once
week incur Sunday schools, though pro-
ductve OF very beneficial. results, are in.
sufficient 10 supply the religious wants OF
our children. They should, as far as pos.
sible, every day, breathe healthy reli-
gious atmosphere in those schools, where
not only their minds are enlightened, but
where the seeds OF faith piety and sound
are nourished and invigorated.
By what principle oi justice can YOU store
their minds with earthly knowledge for
several hours each day, while their hearts,
which require far more cultivation, must
be content with the paltry allowance OF
few weekly lessons? 81
IT DOES NOT APPEAR THAT VICE REcEDEs
in the United States in proportion aspublic
education advances. Statistics, fear,
would 60 far to prove the contrary fact
The newspapers published in our large
cities, are filled every day with startling ac-
counts Of deep.laid schemes Of burglary,
bank defalcations, premeditated murders,
and acts OF refined licentiousness. These
enormities are perpetrated for the most
part, not by the unlettered criminals, but
by individuals Of consummate address and
skill, that betray well-discplined mind,
uncontrolled by morality and religion.
How true are the words OF kemis:
Sublime words make not man holy and
Just, but Yirtuous life maketh him dear
to God" 4As
We are also warned by experience, that
Rle loss Of Catholic faith is another evil re-
sulting from the separation oil a religious
from secular education. While we are
rratiied at the number OF converts who
embrace the true faith, We have reason to
be appalled,, in considering the vast mum:
Der Of souls that are straying away from the
Fold. Ii we look for the descendants OF
those families that have been immlgrating
from the Catholic Europe to this country,
in one, uninterrupted march, from the be-
ginning OF the present century, how, many
81 them all shall we now find ranked
among the most bitter and uurelcnting
enemies OF the Church! In observing even
the names OF the dissenting clergymen OF the
country, you cannot fail to notice that
many OF the most prominent lights among
them betray their Catholic origin and
nationality. These statements are con.
tirmed by Bishop England, Prelate OF
vast experience and close observation,
They are confirmed also by our illustrious
predecessor, Archbishop Kenrick, a man
incapable OF exaggeration. We once heard
him remark, as the result OF his personal
observation, that hundreds, nay thousands
Of sons Of Catholic parents have been lost
10 the faith among us, during the present
century. 80.
And you, Brethren Of the Clergy, can
bear the same testimony. How often, in
our missionary journeys, are We shocked
at hearing persons say with an air ot dis.
tressing indifference, that they profess no
religion, although admitting that their
parents were Catholics!
THE GREAT QUESTION Is,
whence arise these defections from the
iaithY The cause is easily explained. The
child's early Christian education is neglect.
ed by his parents. He is sent to school
where his religion is ignored or held up to
ridicule-and ridicule makes towards OF
us. He has no knowledge Of his Cate
chism, which would enable him TO detect
the utter groundlessness Of the charges
brought against his faith; and the charges
are 50 often repeated that be at last be.
lieves them to be true. He is ignorant Of
the Mother that gave him spiritual life:
lie despises her whom he should love, and
goes forth into the world, to embrace the
6rst acct which chance or proselytism