St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-12-03
CHURCH SCHOOLS AND THE
Ia STATE

tempt to penetrate that region. 500
CHURCH SCHOOLS AND THE
Ia STATE.
e Cardinal Gibbons has given out cir
leulaf appealing to the legislature of
Maryland to share the public school
1meliey with the parochial schools. Mgr.
Satoili. in all address In Washington,
]ext04s the schools OF his church and the
sbenefit they are to the state i'm the for
Smatfon of character. as well as in the
'seeaiar- education they impart. In it he
said: "Tiie more public opinion and
The government will favor Catholic
schools. more and more will the welfare
OF the commonwealth be advanced
The words OF the ALLOCATE can have but
one significance. and that is in line
with the request of Cardinal Gibbons.
For a government confers no favor
when 1t stal d; neutral or passive and
merely permits schools to be estab-
lished; it only "favors'' school Oh any
thing else when it gives it substantial
aid
These two actions show that men as
eminent as are these two men, espe-
cially the cardinal, who should be con-
versant with the drift of American
thought-stlll harbor the hope that the
state in this country can be made an in
Strument for the instruction OF children
IN sectarianism, or in religion, as is the
more common though less exact express
sion. The man who would attempt to
Of
would essay a feat no more certainly
doomed to failure than will be the effort
of any church to secure from the gov
ernments of any of our states the sup
port from the treasury or the school
funds of its schools. The current of
opinion in this country sets steadily and
lrresistibly in opposition to any such
proposition.
The whole subject is threshed straw.
There is nothing to be said for or against
that is new. Even Mgr. Satoili, with
his fresh impressions of this country,
contributes nothing new to the old ar
gument. What he does claim is not
borne out by experience. Sectarian
training does not of itself make of the
child better citizen. Being Prostes-
tant or Catholic is no assurance that a
man possesses the qualities which make
the good citizen, though it may raise
the presumption that he has-may make
out prima facie case for him. Unless
he have those moral qualities which
form the foundations on which all re-
ligions and all sects of all religions are
built, no amount of instruction in the
ereeds and dogmas of the sects will
make good man or woman of any one.
y And right here is where the assump-
ton of all who demand that portion of.
the public money be given TO The church
schools, because religious training is
essential to the making of the future
good citizen. breaks in two. They as
sumo that there can be no training in
the fundamental morals except Ii be
mixed with or accompanied by religious
training. They fail to see or refuse to
admit that morality and religion are
The state insists that they
are. 1t assumes as its province to teach
morality. Its schools and text books in
culcate truthfulness, charity. upright
ness of life and conduct. self-respect,
and all the homely virtues. 1t aims to
surround theechiid with influences cal
culated to develop the good morals of
the child.
If any parent or any church wishes to
go farther and supplement this instruc-
ton with that in the tenets of the
church, the state regards it as a matter
lying exclusively within the domain of
parental control and right, but as en-
tirely beyond the interest or care of the
state. Whether the parent exercise
this right or not, whether the child re-
ceive sectarian instruction or not, is
matter of Indifference to the state, as it
is whether it learn to be shoemaker
or lawyer. If any church deems it de-
sirable that children have instruction in
the dogmas which distinguish the
church from others; if the church wish
TO preempt the young mind with its
particular beliefs, the state may we'll
consider that the advantages which will
enure to the church from this access to
the impressible mind of youth will be
full compensation for its cost. The
tenacity with which the Lutheran and
Catholic churches cling to their parochi-
al schools shows how correctly they
appreciate the value OF first impress
sionS on young minds; and, whether
they will or no. they must accept this
value as compensating the cost, for no
state will ever share its school funds
with any of them.