The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1892-02-13
GOOD EDUCATION,
What Rev. M. M. Harts, S. j., Has
to Say on This Important
Subject.
DUTY ANDRIGHTSOF PARENTS
to Him They Have al
Inaienable Right to Educate
Their Children.

HIRE is what Father Harts writes on
the question of educating children:
In two of my previous articles proved
that the duty Of educating the child be-
longs pers and primarily to the parents.
That duty has been imposed upon them
by Gcd Himself. Nc human power,
therefore, can exempt or hinder parents
from fulfilling th,t obligation; neither
can parents exempt themselves from
complying with it. /
I now pass on to establish the propo-
sition that parents have natural, strict
inalienable right to educate their Chill
dren,
What is right? Rights one of those
terms to which a vague meaning is at
tached by many who hear or who use it.
And yet it is of the greatest Importance
in the present discussion to have dis
tinctly clear notion of the term.
What is right? A ri-ht is an inviol-
able moral power of possessing some
thing as ones own, of performing or of
omitting certain act, or of exactipg of
another the performance or omission Of
an act.
A right is a moral power, that is a
power based upon justice. That which
gives me the right to perform an act is
the justice Of that act; and an act is just
when it does not violate the natural rela-
tion and order existing between God and
men, and between men themselves.
Whenever in performing an act the natu-
raj order established by God is observed,
then that act is just Or right. and have
a right to perform it. Whenever in per-
forming an act the order is violated, then
the act is wrong. and / have no right to
perform it.
1t is, therefore, neither the physical
power of performing an act, nor the pri~
vate or public utility of the act, which
gives me a right to perform it, but 1T is
it's justice, it's conformity with the di-
vlnely- established order which gives me
that right. though should possess the
physical power to perform the act, and
though the performance of the act should
be ever so useful either TO my private
interest or to the public welfare, if that
act violates the order established by the
Creator between Himself and men, that
act is wrong, and no one has right to
perform it; and, moreover, no human
power can make the performance of such
an act right, or can bestow upon any one
the right of performing such an act.
This moral power if further called in
violable, because we speak of a strict
right, which no one can justly violate,
Besides strict or inviolable right, that Is,
right to which there exists clear title,
there is right which is not strict, to
which there does not exist: clear title,
which, therefore, cannot be enforced,
which we are not in justice bound to ac-
knowledge. The right of being treated
politely, the right Of receiving assistance
from this or that particular person, are
I examples Of rights which are not strict.
The right to possess the necessary means
of living is an example of strict right;
I have clear title to this right, and no
one can justly deprive me of it,
4 A right is either natural or acquired.
A natural right is that which nature or
the natural law itself bestows upon me
immediately. An acquired right is that
which / possess by another title than
mere nature. Thus, as human being,
have a natural right to my life, and to all
the means necessary for the preservation
OF my life; thus parents have natural
right to the obedience of their children.
But have an acquired right to the pos
session Of this particular house, on the
title that bought it or that it was given
to me.
Again, q right is either alienable or it
is inalienable. An alienabIe right is that
Of which, under certain circumstances, I
may be deprived, and of which can de-
prive myself. All acquired rights are
alienable. An inahenable right is that
of which no human power can deprive
! me, and which / myself cannot give up.
All rights which are inherent in my ma
ture as q human being, or without which
I cannot fulfil the duties which nature
has placed upon me, are inalienable
rights. Thus I have inaienable right to
the means necessary to reach my ever
lasting happiness; and parents have an
inalienable right to the obedience Of their
children, whenever their command is
just. q