The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-14
SATOLLI ON SCHOOLS
HE DECLARES THEY sHOULD DE IN
sPIRED by RELIGIOUS SPIRIT.
ais Not Always NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
ositions for Americans.
New York World.

~ ~ II "a a
At the reception given him last night at
the De la Sale Institute. Archbishop Sa-
TOLL publicly defined the attitude of the
Catholic Church towards the public schools.
Here is Mgr. Satolli's speech in full:
Cicero has said that il is the delight
of old men TO be in the midst of young
ones, and of young men to cluster around
the honored old ones. Long before Cicero,
the inspired author Of Ecclesiastes had
taught the same truth, by whom, however,
Is meant by old man, the man who is wise
and virtuous and the model and teacher of
youth.
There are many reasons why the old
and the young should thus find joy and
satisfaction in one another's society. In
the first place. the old feel keenly the nat
ural desire to prolong life and find the
greatest pleasure in seeing it reinvigorate
itself in the new germs of humanity spring.
Ing up around them; and in these germs
they seem to behold their own existence
perpetuated. Then, too, it gives them great
pleasure to communicate to the young what
they themselves learned by hard study and
the long experience of life.
but perhaps most of all do their inter-
est and delight come from the fact that
IN the young men about them they see
founded all the hope of the family, OF
society, of their country; and they are
infamed with the desire to see these
young men develop such a moral and
intellectual temperament as will best as
sure the future welfare of human kind.
Look at these same reasons from the
opposite point of view and you will see
in them the motives which iucite youth
to seek the company of age and to de-
enced in virtue and wisdom, and moth
ing can be more promising and reassur-
to venerable age and try to learn the lesson
OF life.
These. too. are the reasons why we
find so great pleasure in being here to-
night and seeing ourselves surrounded
by so many bright, cheerful. earnest
young men who are getting ready to
take up the work which we must soon
expect to lay down, who are to carry
humanity forward in its next step Of
progress.
WHAT EDUCATION rs.
The school for the instruction and
education of youth in every land is of
no less Importance than are the tri-
ounais OF justice or the provisions for
military defense. The end and OBJECT of
all Is the same-the public peace and well
fare. The method of obtaining it alone
differs.
Education of the young is as important
a safeguard of the nation as are courts
and armies. 1t is of great moment, then,
that w should understand in what true
education must consist.
Some one has said that education is that
framing or men which makes them free.
We accept willingly sucn a definition. True
education makes men truly free. True free
dom Is the power of choosing and selecting
at all times that which is best and most
profitable. TO possess this power one must
know what Is best and then tend towards
that alone, leaving ali that Is less good.
however enticing; that is, his intellect must
be trained to know the best and his will
must be trained to choose 1t. Such training
IS true education; such training makes men
indeed free.
If man is a microcosm, a little universe
In himself. It is evident that true education
must extend itself until it provides for all
the capability of the human spirit with all
its aptitudes and natural inclinations.
Man Is made to the image and likeness
OF the Divinity, and true Education will
prlng out as much as possible ali the mani
fsstatlons Of that Divinity. In God are all
the PROJECTIONS of Being, Truth, Goodness
and Bauty; and perfect human knowledge
is to be acquired only by the study of Him
az He manifests Himself through these per-
%fections IN the created universe.
The sciences study the manifestations of
Ills being; metaphysics search out the
traces OF smmutable truth and the relation
OF created things to the all-created intel
lect; the moral sciences regard the partici-
patton Of Gods goodness in creation, and.
as found In His works.
BESIDES, in the human mind exists the
lacGity OF investigation, by which it pro-
ceeds from the clear knowledge of great
hrst PRINCIPLES TO that of consequences more
or less remote. To guide this process and
preserve 1t from falling into error we need
the science Of logic.
rN 1870 AZ anu cdDdD lllIfeS
OF human nature need training that the edu-
cation of the whole man may be complete.
Tons Of God In the created universe we nat
uraiiy desire to describe them with our
words and even to initiate them i'm the works
OF our own hands; and thence the study of
letters and arts.
~rection of mans life. private and social
which is accomplished by the political and
and economical sciences.
From the outset, therefore. he who is
GONG 70 assume the task of instructing and
, esa nre hn Inc young must have clearly be-
scented to humanity, and labor to prepare
minds ana hearts of his charges.
BEGINNING AND END.
Everything stands between the point
from which 1t started and the end toward
which 1t tends. For man, however. the
source from which he has derived all his
nature and all his faculties, as well as the
one last end toward which he is moving.
can be nothing else than .the Supreme In
telligence. the Highest Ineligible. since in
that alone can he hope to reach the fulness
OF being, of truth, of good, of beauty, which
he finds but in scattered particles IN orc
ated nature.
Here. then, ! would reflect that in this
est argument against atheism and asnoSfie-
Ism on the one hand, and OIL the other
AGAINST that system which would attempt
the education OF youth without illuminate
Ing II with the knowledge of the countless
relations which man has with God as his
beginning and end. And from this same
consideration we can easily form a just
and wise criterion for Judging and deciding
on the programme and method of study
best adapted and most advantageous-that
which promises most for public and pri-
vate welfare.
And IL the Catholic schools OF this coun-
try differ from the public schools simply in
that besides what is taught in the latter
they give the youth a sound moral train
Ing and instruct them in the Catholic re-
ligion. who will dare to complain of that
or call * a defect2
Surely the state desires that it's youth
should not only be instructed inNthat which
1t ought to know. but should also be ed
ucated in that which 1t ought to perform;
and the state is worthy of all praise in
doing all it can to bring about such a
result.
But youth and general mankind have
greater and higher needs which cannot be
satisfied without a moral and religious ed
ucation, which cannot be had. without the
aid of those institutions which care es-
pecially for moral and religious training.
In brief, just as instruction separated from
moral education turns out vain and often
disastrous, so a moral education without