Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1889-01-05
ACT ON THIS.
RELIGION IN THE SCHOOLS.

tllSCuSSeu ny many OF the llOSl Soliu aHu
conservative intellects of our time, IS one
which can not be convincingly answered
by the mere dictum Of any man. Only
by most thorough study OF the subject
in all its phases can one become qualified
to speak or write on this subject, 80 full
Of difficulties.
The writer oi the articles in question
may have studied tie subject OF which he
treats with 50 much dogmatism, bnt he
fails to give Us ANY proof Of the fart. Not
one OF his assertions is supported by ar
rmnent or supplemented by facts.
Now, Il man may be good jurist, an
eminent lawyer, but this neither qualities
nor justi6es him in writing with author
ity on every subject, without giving a
single argument in support OF his opinions.
The writer OF said articles advocates
goddess schools Does he forget that the
great majority OF the population OF our
territory is Catholic? Does he not know
that as such they are pledged by their
faith to educate their children to fear and
serve God? The consideration of both
the temporal and eternal welfare OF their
offspring urges them to do all in their
power to secure for their children Il
Christian education-their duty as citi-
zens lays upon them like obligation.
History has conclusively proven the
fact that without Christianity there can
be no enduring civilization. And how
will you make state Christian il it pos
sess not Christian schools to educate its
youth? How, unless you Undue the ten
der mind OF the child with the sublime
doctrines taught by our Divine Lord, and
direct the will to practice them? oideal
system OF would-be Christianity will suf-
flee for this.
But the advocates OF DEF
schools will assert that they mean to make
a good citizen of the child by giving it II
philosophical training, by instillng into
its mind the principles Of morality. They
would perchance improve upon God S own
system. Well, they would not be the first
to have tried that and failed. The put
ting into practice of such theories in
France, during the last century, culminat-
ed in the reign OF terror, and to-day the
Goddess schools of that unfortunate corn-
try give to her parliament the radicals
who are discreditiug her before the world.
In our own country the purity Of the bal
lot is being impaired more and more every
year. The strict practice of honesty in
places of public trust is becoming the OK
ception rather than the rule. When we
look about us and see the corruption sur
rounding us on every side, we may we'll
eXclaim with Cicero o tempora o mores
And why these sad times, why this de-
cline in manners? Why have our public
schools failed to make of the child OF a
quarter century ago, the honest, upright
God-fearing man of to-day? Why,
have they failed and still fail to do this,
especially in our large cities? Because
their system is wrong in that they train
the intellect to the exclusion of the heart
Because they inculcate abstract ideas of
right and wrong, which in moments of
temptation are forgotten or easily modi-
fed so as not to interfere with the passion
of the hour. In a recent article in one OF
the leading magazines the following
statistics were cited: "Of 2,127 convicts
received in the Pennsylvania eastern state
penitentiary from 1873 to 1854, inclusive,
l,547 had been pupils of the common
schools; sixty-tive had been pupils of
private schools; ASP had never attended
school," A sad showing indeed for the
public schools.
Does this then prove that the public
schools are schools for crime? No. To
what then must these startling facts be
ascribed? To the fact that the public
schools do not prevent crime, in that they
fail to furnish the child with the only sure
defence against the assaults its virtue is
sure to suffer in later years sound
religious principles, a knowledge of God
In some cases this lack may he said to be
supplied to certain extent by the Sunday
school. In others again the parents see
to it that the child is we'll instructed in
the theory and practice OF its religion.
But the Sunday school is not enough. In
the majority of cases the parents are in
capacitated from imparting instruction to
their children by their own ignorance, by
lack of time or other causes Their
poverty prevents them from sending their
children to private schools, where this
most important want would be supplied.
Shall these children then grow up with
out religious education?
Let lis see what has been done in our
territory to avoid this.
The hard-worked, undergrad teachers
Of our public schools have, in some cases,
after teaching the secular branches pre-
scribed by law for the prescribed number
of hours, volunteered to teach the Cath
Ollie childen under their charge what the
parents of these children most desired
them to earn--their religion. They re-
ceive no remuneration for this. They do
not use the time for which the state paws
them. They do use the public school
room, by permission of those concerned.
And who would deny them this? Only
those whose endeavor is to proselyte the
Catholic people OF this territory. Only
those who would rob them and their chill |
dren of the only treasure many of them
possess--the faith of their fathers.
Yes, let us be plain. The talk about
sects and sectarianism in these articles is
plainly directed against the Catholic
church, not against the sects in whose
interest they are written. The church
Christ founded is not sect. Her prin.
ciples are interchangeable.
Now the Catholic church does not seek
to proselyte, as do many of the sects; but
she does jealousy guard the interests of
her children, and rightly so.
Among the resolutions of the New Mex
leo Educational association, published in
the issue of the New MEXICAN of Decem-
Der 81, the 9TH by implication alleges that
public money is used Sin private or Sec
tartan institutions of learning" Will
some Of the gentlemen who adopted this