The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-08-16
NUMBER 30.
THE BOSTON SCHOOL CONTRO-
VEHSY.

NhANI.
The question as to what constitutes
'nOn-sectarian' teaching in the public
schools has been raised in Boston by a
controversy between high school teach
er and the school board and has created
much excitement of anything but non
sectaTian character amongst some Zeal
GUS people who seem 10 love their own
anti. Catholic prejudices more than they
do the truth.
The cause of the controversy was
complaint madeby catholic clergyman
that the nOn-sectarian character of the
school system was violated by certain
teacher. The school board sustained the
complaint. transferred the teacher to
another school and excluded the text
book complained of. For this the school
board was denounced in public meetings
by fiery anti-Catholic orators rs being
under the influence of Rome, and the
issue was declared to be not question
of the accuracy or inaccuracy of Swim
toms History nor of the character OF
the comments made by the teacher, but
whether Catholics should be permitted
to decide what books shall be used and
what teachers employed in the public
schools, or, as ReY. DIR. Miner put it, 1T
was a question of Romanism against
Professionalism
Now, it is well known that there is no
subject of discussion in which men can
engage in which mere appeals to preju
dice play more prominent part than in
sectarian controversy, and its Obscuring
vapors are only intensified by the reck-
less recTiminatiOns of bigOtry. The
American people, however, are peculiar.
ly free from this narrow sectarian spirit.
They recognize the rights of all denomi-
nations as equally secured by the Con-
stitution. In declaring that the public
school system should be nOn-sectarian
they intended to enforce that constitu-
Uional guarantee. When complaint Is
made by parents or guardians that Ger
tain text book contains inaccurate state
ments prejudicial to their religious be-
lief, and that certain teachers persist in
giving those inaccurate statements an
Interpretation which they consider cal.
culated to create an entirely false i'm.
preston in the minds of their children
to the effect that the church to which
they belong is engaged in deliberate
attempt to deceive them as to its own
doctrines, the natural impulse of every
fair minded American would be to in
vestigate the complaint impartialy and
discover whether it was well founded,
and, if so, to make such corrections IA
shall preserve the non sectaran char
acter of the schools.
What were the specific statements of
the Boston high school teacher to which
the school board took exception. Simply
this-he taught amongst other things
that an Indulgence in the Catholic
Church was "a license to commit sin, ;
and illustrating the same by adding {:
Should murderer be brought before
judge he would only have to put his
hand in his pocket and produce his In
dulgenCe papers to be pardoned.' Again,
an Indulgence. he said, is "a permission
to commit sim You pay so much
money in advance for leave to commit
sins That when this definition and
these illustrations were objected to by
Catholic pupils, Mr., Travis replied
There are two opinions on that sub
ject, the Protestant as well as the Cath
olic. l have taught for 30 years and
don't talk of what don't know
The Irish World implies no disrespect
to non-Catholics in saying that there is
outside of the church a very general
misapprehension of the doctrine of In
dulgences as held by the Catholics, nor
have we any desire to assume the part
of theologian. We do believe, however,
that all fair minded Americans of what
ever denomination, will agree with us
that in questions of religious belief each
church or denomination should be recog
nlzed as the only proper expounder of
its own doctrines, and no child attending
a non sectarian public school should be
required TO listen to the teacher attrib-
utIng to his denomination the holding
of doctrines which his parents and pastor
have taught him to regard as infamous
and sacrIlegious. Now, it is a fact that
not even DIR. Miner nor any of his anti
Catholic crusaders regard as more mon
strous and damnable the doctrine OF
lndulgenceo attributed to the Catholic
Church by teacher Travis than do the
two hundred millions and more of the
worlds Catholics, pastors and people
without exception.
To prove this it is only necessary tC
glance at the Catec hism which is enioin.
ed by the church to be taught to all
Catholic children, and which is univer-
sally recognized by Catholics as the true
statement of Catholic doctrine. The
following is the Catholic doctrine of In
dulgences rs given in the cstechisn
prepared and approved by the Thirt
Plenary Council of Baltimore:
Question-What is an Indulgence
"Answer-An Indulgence is the remission o
the temporal punishment due to sin.
"Q.-Is an Indulgence pardon Of sin or a Ii
cense to commit sini
"A.-An Indulgence is not pardon of sin no
a license to commit sin, and one who is in state
of mortal sin cannot gain an Indulgence.
"Q.-Does not the Sacrament Of Penance re
nit all punishment due to sint
"A.-The Sacrament Of Penance RENTS th
eternal punishment due to sin, but it does not al
ways remit the temporal punishment which Go,
requires as satisfaction for our sins
"Q.-Why does God require a temporal pun
ishment us a satisfaction for our sinsi
"A.-God requires a temporal punishment as
satisfaction for sin to teach US the great evil o
sin and to prevent us from falling again"
This has been the doctrine of tn,
Catholic Church since the beginning
and it is the very opposite of wha
Teacher Travis asserted was Catholic
doctrine. We leave it with perfect con
fidence to the American people 10 decid,
whether the non-sectarian principle wa
not violated, Intentionally or otherw ise
and whether the school board did AM
f more than their prescribed duty in cor
recting the abuse complained off, Irisl
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