The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-01-30
The Position of the Church With Reference
to the Duties Of Parents and State
Clearly Set Forth.
State Must Recognize That Its Rights are
Subordinate to tho Rights of God
and the Parent.

The following address. which has
elected much comment. was delivered
recently by Archbishop Quiglcy be-
fore the Womrn'S league of Chicngo:
l learn from the constitution and by
Avs of the Catholic Womrn's league
II their educational philantllrOpic and
hat its members are to he guided in
humanitarian" work by Catholic prin-
ciplcs. AS the ladies asscmplpd here
today are studying and working in
the educational department of the
league, it seems to me not out of place
to review some of the fundamental
principles that undcrlic the Catholic
position, not only in this country but
everywhere, on the subject Of the edu-
cation of the child. The question as
to what the child shall be taught and
by whom it shall be taught is one of
the great practical religio-political
questions of the day. In France and
England it seems to be the uppcrmost
question just now in all mems minds.
For years, as you know, it has been
and remains today Il very active
question in our own country.
Most political, and l might say all
religio-poltical controversies, arise
from conflict Of opposing principles.
The question of the education of the
child has ever been one between
church and state, and almost in every
case between the Catholic church and
the schismatical, Protestant or infidcl
state. The Protestant sects from the
beginning surrendered themselves
body and soul in this matter of the cd
ucation Of the chile to the dominant
principles Of liberalism which came in
with the so-called reformation and
reached their flower and fruitage in
the French Revolution. Liberalism is
still the fundamental error Of the age.
1t is the denial of all authority and
right outside of the individual and the
state, and now generally proclaims the
supremacy of the state in all human
affairs, spiritual and secular. 1t be-
gan in rebellion against the divinely
established authority of the Church
and it's visible head, and has long
since ended in abject submission to the
human authority of the state in nil
things. This is especially true of it,
and more universally, in it's attitude
towards education.
In the original colonies the sects
founded sectarian primary schools and
held them subordinate to the predom-
mating church authorities. When the
various states under new constitu-
tions established state systems Of pri-
mary schools, this sectarian school
was surrendered almost without a
struggle to the control of the purely
secular authority. So that in this
country, through the lack of firm re-
ligious principle on the part of the
Protestant majority, the development
of the primary school has been down.
ward from the religious sectarian and
denOminational school to the school
without religion.
The same may be said of the institu-
tions of higher learning established In
the United States by the sects. They
remained for time strongly sectarian
and were blessing in way to the
country, but the doctrine Of private
judgment in religion, the fundamental
error and propagating principle Of the
sects, threatens by degrees and with
pitiless logic to bring them under the
control Of anti Christian and unbeliev-
ing influences, and make them propa-
gators of every kind of religious error.
The republic of France, acting on
the principles proclaimed by liberal
ism Of the supremacy Of the state in
education, is settling this question of
the public instruction of the child by
taking forcible possesson Of it, and
educating it without any regard to the
rights of God or the parent. In Eng
land the government is more just to
the parent, and whilst taking upon it.
self the direction and assuming the
expense Of the education of the child,
it leaves to the parent the right to