The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1888-10-19


capacity of the child. Now the fact
is that 8 out of 10 of the public
schools are controlled by Protestant
teachers, whereas one out of three
in the entire kingdom are
Catholic. Consequently the reading
and explanation of the Bible would
practically make the public schools
Protestant institutions, and Catho-
lie children going to the same would
be obliged to receive a Protestant
training. This is exactly what GER
tain parties are aiming at; it is,
however, unjust, and / protest
against it in the name of all Catho-
lie parents, even in the name of the
few who are base enough to sacri-
flee the souls of their children for
the sake of earthly gam.
In the Protestant assemblies at
Kaumakapili, parents are cautioned
against sending their children to
Catholic schools. do not deny the
right of doing so. But why should
not the Catholic priest have the
same right to caution Catholic par
ents against sending their children
to goddess or Protestant schools? !?
Allow me to state that it is by far
less difficult to transform Catholic
child into Protestant than it is to
convert Protestant child to the
Catholic religion. Reason and eX-
perience prove this. Any sound
minded Protestant taking the pains
to study the Catholic religion as set
forth by approved authors instead
of receiving the numberless mis-
representation published by ignor-
ancc or malice, will easily see into
the correctness of my statement.
Almost every positive article of the
creed generally admitted by the
Protestant denominations is rem
nant of the unchanged Catholic
creed, the difference of the two ly-
ing mainly in this that Catholics ac-
knowledge an authority and believe
many things which Protestants dis
believe or doubt. Hence Protes-
tant in becoming Catholic must add
great number of articles to his
former creed. He must humble
himself, submit his own private
judgment to higher authority,
obey strict laws, and observe prac-
tices which are contrary to his natu-
raj inclinations. This transition re-
quires on his part strong will sus-
tanned by divine grace. On the con-
trary it is very easy matter to
convert Catholic boy to Protest
antism. Keep him away from the
unpleasant practice of his religion,
inspire him with the worship of
riches, be lndulgent to him and allow
him at least indirectly to follow his
vicious inclinations, flatter his pride
by a wide scope of independence
from lawful authority, and he will be
a Protestant of some description for
while, perhaps as long as it suits
his interests. Sooner or later, how
ever, he will return to his mother,
the Catholic Church, or he will be-
come nationalist. And who will
rejoice at such q conversion? Ger
tainly not the angels in heaven.
AS remedy against the evil of
Christless schools | should recon-
mend the system of Prussia as it
prevailed before the deplorable KM-
mrhamRf when religious instruction
was obligatory and enjoyed, too,
the very first rank. The system
was about as follows:-
/. In every locality which con-
tained a sufficiently large number of
children of different creeds, the chill
dren were separated into strictly
denominational schools. The same
rule would apply here in few cases.
2. In other places where the small
number of children did not justify
the building of separate denomina-
tional schools, the pupils of each
denomination Catholic, Protestant,
and Jewish) had religious teacher
of their own creed. About six years
ago | petitioned the Board of Edu-
cation through the Board of Immi-
grafton to have this rule apply in
favor of the Portuguese children.
My request was not granted at the
time, nor do I think that the pre-
sent Board will favor it or even
consider it lawful. Hence | pro-
pose another which IN my opinion
will do justice 10 all.
Whereas our public schools,
though free'of charge, do not answer
the just demands of Christian and
particularly of Catholic parents on
account of the absence of religious
instruction. and whereas the same
parents contributing to the common
school fund by the payment of taxes
are nevertheless in conscience OBJ
liged to send their children TO indie
pendent schools at their own extra
expense which, by the way, is not a
light matter for poor people, the
Board of Education would but act
within the limit of strict justice to-
wards those Christian parents if it
helped them to materially support
the independent schools which are
really necessary for their children.
This is not the place to dispute