The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-06-10
in N RE. EDUCATION
In a Masterly Sermon Arch
- bishop Ireland Says
Religion Must Be Ingrained Into
til Pupils Being.

was preached by Archbishop ireland
at the celebration of the golden jubi
lee of St. Clara Academy Sinsinawa
Wis, the mother-house of the Domin,
lean Sisters, which took place some
time ago. In it he laid down in clear
and eloquent terms the principles and
necessity of Christian education. He
said in part:
Education! How noble is the
work, how supreme it's value! The
child is RENTED to the teacher to be
formed and fashioned into the fulness
of Gods design-image and likeness
of God The word itself, to educate,
tells the purposes of the task of the
teacher-to draw out, to bring into
soul, to build up the soul into posses
sion of all the power and beauty Of
which the Creator has made it cap
able.
THE work of education is the COM
plement of the work of creation; the
teacher is co-worker with Almighty
God. The vocation of teacher is di-
vine. To enter upon the work of the
teacher without the intention Of work
ing with God, in obedience to the laws
of God, imbedded in the prmordial
elements of the life of the child, is
PROCLAMATION and sacrilege
THE life Of the soul consists of in
telligence and will; the more it has
of life, the more God-like it is. God
is supreme intelligence and will, mas
much as He grasps in their entirety
truth and goodness; the more truth
and goodness the soul in it's turn
takes into its embrace, the higher it
is to God-the more yivilly does it
reflect the image Of God.
Teacher, open the mind of your
pupil to truth; draw it nearer to
truth: awaken in it the passion for
truth; and as truth. particle after
particle enters into it, each one glow
ing with light, each one bearing life
and power, see it taking upon itself
The briliancy of the Divine, and rails
ing by its own impulse toward the
throne of the Infnite-the home of
truth, the home of the mind.
Truth is reality, and every reality
is divine: for there is no other reality
l,r hi
that Gods laws have brought into eX-
istence. Wherever, then, there is
reality, wherever there is truth. turn
thitlcr the mind of the child Teach
it the things of earth and the things
OF the skies: teach it the things of its
collective life of the great humanity
oil which the mind of your pupil is able
to grasp. Above all, hold not back
from it the knowledge of Him who is
the plentitude of truth, God Himself.
"How incomplete, how insufficient
is the knowledge of the creature with
out that of the Creator-of the finite
without that Of the Infinite? Why
limit the range of the eye to the mere
ray without bidding it contemplate
the planet of light? Why conline the
mind to the transient and accidental
without leading ii to permanent and
eternal? Since the soul is to be made,
through the possession of truth, the
image and likeness Of God why not
show it to God, that it may directly
draw into itself the light and beauty
of His countenance, the power of His
infinite and eternal being?
Yes, teacher, open 10 the truth the
mind OF your pupil; and then train
her will to love goodness, to embrace
it, to cling to it SO sleadfastly that no
violence of passion can ever turn her
from it. Goodness is naught else
than sweetness, the attractiveness of
truth, in whatever order of being
truth exhibits Itself. Evil is the mega
ton OF ruth-physical evil the mega
ton OF truth in the physical order;
moral evil the negation of truth in
the moral order.
Constantly hold before the eyes of
your pupils, the mirror of goodness
that her thoughts, her affections, her
acts be modelled upon the divine ideal.
Constantly tell her of the loneliness
OF virtue, of the happiness that comes
from it. Spare no effort to awaken
within her soul the echo of Gods
voice-cOnscience. Strengthen her
conscience by argument. strength
en- it by persuasion and example. 1t
is religion, the appeal to the Lord OF
righteousness, that tells what right
eousness means, and what are the SUI
---preme reasons inducing us to tread
it's pathway? Let religion so dominate
the class room that it's precepts and
practices permeate the child's soul, as
the air she breathes permeates her
body, and becomes in her very ma
ture, throbbing with every throb Of
her heart, thinking with every thought
Of her mind. Only religion ingrained
into her very being will enable your
!. pupil to hold herself through life firm
in the pathway of duty, however fierce
the storm she may encounter.
Schools and colleges where the