The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-11-01

1t appears then that in attempting to
deal with the Catholic church in school
matters, we encounter two difficulties,
both of which are, so to speak, funda-
mental. In the first place, that church,
as a minority, makes demands which,
when the power is in it's own hands, it
never grants to any one else. In the
second place, no concessions which may
be granted, no arrangement which may
be made in the way OF compromise, will
be accepted as final, but only as foun-
dalton for further demands whenever a
chance presents itself for making the
same with any reasonable prospect OF
success. These facts cannot be success
fully denied. They are established by
the uniform experience OF other countries
which have had to deal with the question
now raised by the Bishop of Olba. 1t is
we'll that PrOtestants should realize them
at the outset, and i've them due weight,
in deciding whether it is wise to admit
the tip OF the elephants trunk, with the
moral certainty that the whole OF the
creatures huge body will be, sooner or
later, seeking to force an entrance. Not
outstanding the many and very lmpor-
tant points OF agreement between the
Catholic church and the rest of Christen-
dom, it seems to be the settled policy OF
and to emphasize rather the points OF
difference, holding these to be radical
and irreconcilable upon any basis short
of absolute submission to her authority.
No one can discourse more elOquently
upon the rights of conscience, or plead
more earnestly and plausibly for their
recognition than the authorities OF the
Catholic church, when the power hap
pens to be in the hands of those who do
not believe in their claims, and no one
can treat the same with more utter lndlt-
ference, or suppress them, II necessary,
wi it'll a more iron hand, than these same
gentlemen, when the boot happens to be
on the other leg.
The ideal of the Catholic church in
educational matters is a school system
entirely under her own control, and run
primarily in her interest. That is to- say,
q system whose first and main object is
to make good Catholics of the boys and
girls under its care, and incidentally and
secOndarily, to impart to them a greater
or less amount of secular knowledge.
This is what the Catholic church wants,
and what she has, where her political
power and her control of public affairs is
sufficient to secure the carrying out OF
her policy. OF course she will take less,
where less is all she can get, but she is
never satisfied with less, and never &C
cepts it as full settlement of her claims.
To many people, the changes now pro
posed by the Bishop Of Olba may not
seem very important or particularly OBJ
iectionable 1t is, however, a step in
the wrong direction. Is it worth while
for us to take that step, which our own
judgment does not approve of, and which
our own conscience and sense of right
does not require of US, merely to satisfy
the claims of those who we know per-
fectly we'll beforehand will not be salts
fed thereby, but who will merely accept
the concession as "a sign of weakness,
and continue intriguing for more. To
take that step would be to remove our
feet from solid and impregnable foun-
datiOn, only to entangle them in the
shifting and treacherOus quicksands OF
ecclesiastical pretensions and priestly
intermeddling.
The Catholic church in these islands
has a large and apparently devoted
membership. 1t has an able and ener-
getic Bishop, and quite a numerous body
of priests. 1t has churches or chapels at
every important point in the country,
and all the machinery for efficient church
work. 1t has teaching and nursing
sisterhoods whose members are person
ally respected, and whose work is widely
appreciated outside of their own COM
munion. 1t has full liberty to teach and
to preach, to practise its peculiar rites
and ordinances, and administer it's sac
raments. 1t may use almost any means
short of physical coercion to convince
and bring them within it's fold It
can organize and maintain Sunday
schools, classes in catechism, or other
form of religious instruction, and can use
these and similar agencies ad lib. All
this and more it can do, with the single
limitation that it's UNCONVENTIONAL work
must be done through its own agencies,
and at it's own expense, and that it shall
not make use, for that purpose, of any
branch of the public service or any insti-
tuition which is maintained from the
public treasury. 1t seems rather sorry
confession for a church thus situated to
make, that she cannot hold her ground
with the children of her own communion,
and that she cannot train them up in due
faith in her doctrines and reverence for
her authority, unless she can have her
peculiar and distinctive tenets, her de-
nominational and sectarian peculiarities
propagated in some way directly or in
directly, by or through the agency of the
public schools.
My accommodating pile of manuscript
warns me that | must pause, which do
without having completed all intended
to say. Thanking you for your courtesy
and liberal allowance of space, l sub
scribe myself as before,
A PROTESTANT LAYMAN.
P.S. I had just finished the above
when received the Bulletin containing
the Bishops rejoinder to my first letter.
see nothing therein to cause me to