The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1901-11-09

! religion of the Filipinos-an attitude
| that he assumed in common with his
| fellow commissioners. We believe the
| writer in the American Quarterly Re
view is fully justified in asserting:
| THE elaborate plan. imposing q COM
pulsory school system, moulded on
; 'non-sectarian lines, on the Catholics
! of the islands gives further reason to
believe that the roofing out OF the
Catholic religion is q prominent object
of the commission. Mr. Moses, who,
we are informed is a Swede and ia
miliar with the system of intolerance
of. Catholics, still prevailing in Swe-
den, has been charged with the task of
providing schools for the people whom
Judge Taft would leave without
tpriests" This criticism is borne out
| by the fact that whilst the commission
strictly prohibited the people from
electing any Catholic ''ecclesiastic,"
Baptist minister, Rev. Mr. Brink, was
appointed to take charge of the schools
in one of the large islands. Catholic
priest familiar with the language and
the customs of the people is unfit to
hold any official position in connection
with the schools in which all the pu-
pills are the children of Catholic par
ents but a Protestant minister who
knows not a word of Spanish and is
foreigner, naturally prejudiced against
the Catholic religion, is fully compe-
tent to direct the schools attended ex-
clusively by Catholic children. This is
Judge Tafts idea of non sectarian
schools"
The American Catholic Quarterly Re
view article sums up the situation
when it makes a comparison of the
methods employed by England to rob
the Irish of their religion with those
resorted to by the Taft commission to
deprive the Filipinos of the priceless
gift of religious faith. We quote once
more: ANY person familiar with the
English penal code and the attempt
made by some English politicians to
draw the Irish people from their faith
by the means of public schools cannot |
but be struck by their likeness to the !
methods suggested by Professor Moses.
the municipalities must have no voice
in the matter, and the schools must be |
entirely controlled by irresponsible
agents of the government at Washing
ton. In like manner the national edu- |
cation of Ireland was handed over in |
1889 to the control of a Presbyterian |
minister The exclusion OF |
Catholic instruction from the Irish |
schools was required as it is by Mr.. |
Moses in the Filipino schools. The |
ignoring of the native language might |
nave been taken bodily from the Eng |
liSu SCHOOL ISSISldllOu III II Slcllu llC |
commission does not go quite so far |
as to make 1t a felony for a Catholic |
to teach school, but the spirit which |
describe Catholic schools as incapable |
of giving a rational education is the |
same as that which moulded English
legislation" Yes. the motive which |
was back of English legislation in re-
spect to Irish schools is identical with
that which animates Taft and his fell
low commissioners. An attempt is
made to win away Filipino children
from the religion of their fathers, even
as the English sought to proselyte
Irish children by handing over the
schools to Protestant control 1t is
not mere accident that no American
Catholic is on the Philippine commits
sion. In common decency the Catho-
lies of the United States should have
been represented on a commission
which exercises autocratic powers in |
dealing with questions vitality affect
ing the Catholic Church. But a Catho-
lie commissioner would have been un-
willing to fall in with the programme
of PROSECUTING Filipino children. There
fore, no Catholic was appointed to hold
in check the anti-Catholic bigotry
which has manifested itself ever since
the commissioners set to work to Pro-
the Filipinos.