The Irish standard., 1908-05-23

the friend of learning. and she is now
, the advocate of education But the
Church does not believe any system OF
education is complete and sufficient
preparatio for the burdens. duties
and responsibilities OF citizenship, UNI
less it embraces moral as well as Sec
ular instruction.
| What is this moral instruction on
| which VIC Catholics insist" 1t en-
| braces the same moral law which all
| Christian Sccts. acknowledge, but in
addition it teaches that obedience to
the moral law is encouraged by the
transcendent merit of sacraments, es-
pecially two. penancc and the Holy
Eucharist, ordained and established
by Our Lord Himself, the priests of
the Church being His agents to ad-
minister them.
The State Cannot Teach Religion.
While we insist that no education
is complete that does not embrace re-
ligious instruction, We are quite free
to admit that the state by it's own
agents cannot furnish this moral
teaching without establishing some
state religion, and this Catholics
| would regard as the greatest calamity
that could overtake the country, to DO
resisted by all the weapons of citizen
ship. We believe it is of vital impor-
tancc for the preservation of the
state that the citiZens who rule it
shall be educated. We believe that
education should he compulsory on
the rich as well as OH the poor. Tho
state should prescribe the limits OF
instruction which it considers essen.
tial to it's own safety. but parents
| should always have the right to Sc
lect the agency by which instruction
should be impaired. The state should
have the right to inspect the schools
selected by the parents and ascertain
for itself that its requirements are
fully observed. With that power of
inspection is linked the obligation Of
support by the state Wherever in
struction is afforded hoys and girls in
those branches which the state pre-
scribes, as necesssrl. to It's citizenship.
the state should pay for it. If in ad-
dition to this curriculum which the
state prescribes, instruction is afford
ed in other branches, in music, in
fencing, in dancing, or in religion,
that is something with which the
state should not concern itself. It
should not pay for them Neither
should 1t penalize an educational csr
tablishment which imparts them by
exclusion from the scope of public in
soection and the benefit of contribu-
tions from the public funds.
No one will deny that the religious
instruction given in Catholic schools
rebounds to the benefit of the state,
yet today the Catholic is penalized
He is compelled by the state to sup
port a system of education which he
considers inadequate. and by his con-
science to support another which he
considers essential to prepare his child
for manhood and citizenship.
While we hold that the existing
school system is sectarian, inequita-
BILE, and Inadequate, yet we can avoid
its worst features by assuming spec
ial burdens and until the sense of JUS
lieves us from this injustice we shall
bear it cheerfully. The Church here
discharges the role that she has al
ways filled since the establishment OF
modern civilization.
The Church Always the Poor Mans
Refuge.
! When there was no refuge for weak
ness against ruthless power, she
opened to the fugitive her sanctuary
where neither the power of the baron
nor the writ of the king dared pur-
sue him. During the rude ages when
society valued no quality but physical
strength; when those unable to bear
arms were turned out on the highway
to die, the Church received the sick
and the infirm in her monasteries, not
with the condesccnsion of munificence
but with the welcome Of tender love.
And so she will continue to furnish
from her own RESOURCES the complete
education which the state fails to sup
Fly, confident that the sense of JUS
tice in the American people will final
ly take this oppressive burden from
the shoulders of the Catholics, real
izing that the moral instruction upon
which they insist and which the
Church herself will insist is not a
questionable element to be penalized
but valuable contribution to be ac-
cepted gladly, as it is offered, freely
and gratuitously
And this time Is coming. More i'm