The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1888-10-19
ANSWER TO THE REV. C. M. HYDE.

EDITOR BULLETIN In the SHa-
waiian Gazette of the 9th inst. ap-
peared an article ON "Christless
Schools" signed by c. M. Hyde.
The stereotype phrases about indie
pendent investigation of religious
matters by children, aged from
to 10 yeals, are not serious. The
Rev. gentleman himself will teach,
even his more advanced pupils, some
of his sectarian or private theologi-
cal notions before allowing them in
dependent investigation.
do not fully understand what
the writer means by ''the Il. Catho-
lie priests claims to religious and
political supremacy" Applied to
these islands it is certainly nothing
but bitter irony, since the religious
and political friends oil DR.. Hyde
hold all the political power and con-
troll, besides their very large private
fortunes, all the public money;
their religion in fact often procures
them protection and advancement,
while the Catholic Mission seems to
be merely tolerated. We must even
be grateful (and we are) for the few
crumbs that fall from the rich mans
table in the shape of few hundred
dollars for the support Of our indie
pendent schools. l say we are
grateful even for the poor pittance
out of the public treasury contri-
buted by all tax payers, Catholics
included, because those gentlemen
composing the Board of Education
have the power TO give us nothing.
Irespect Il man whose high sense of
justice elevates him above narrow
party-spirit. In our comparatively
helpless condition, the Catholic
churches and schools would soon
disappear before our mighty adver-
saries, if it were not for the help of
I God and the self-sacrifcing labor of
the {. clergy and their assistants.
The action of the Catholic priest
here is, and must be in principle,
the same as it is in America and all
over the world. We think that re-
ligion, and the true one, should be
taught in all schools, and conss-
quently we cannot be in favor of
schools from which religious instruc-
tion is excluded. see with great
pleasure that many Protestant
clergymen in the United States are
decidedly against the system of
public schools existing there, and
that even the Rev. DR.. Hyde agrees
with us in blaming the existence of
Christless schools. We merely
differ in the choice of the remedy.
DIR. Hyde, as far as l understand
him, thinks that the Bible or perhaps
the New Testament only, should be
read in the public schools, and he
seems to blame the Catholic clergy
for not adopting this plan. Good
reasons prompt us.t to strongly OBJ
ject against it.:
/. SuppOsing that DR.. Hyde
should introduce the text of Pro
testant edition. In that case he
ought to remember that Catholics
cannot accept book as containing
the genuine word of God unless it
be approved by some competent
ecclesiastical authority. This is
not a mere formality; it involves a
principle.
2. Should the children have to
read the Bible without any explana-
tion whatever, leaving each to
gather his own individual notions of
religion, We should soon see num-
ber of new sects springiDg up in
addition to the vast number already
existing-curious ones too.
3. l suppose DIR. Hyde means
that the teacher shall guide the chill
dren in their independent (D in
yestigations. Certainly he would
not give TO his little child a loaf OF