The Irish standard., 1909-06-05
What the Catholics of the First Daughter Of the Church
Are Doing to Resist Inroads of Infidelity
Among the French.
HEADS Of FAMILIES UNITE TO SAVE THE CHILD
Interesting Special Correspondence the Philadelphia
Catholic Standard Anent the Present Conditions
in That Country.

speaking of the various political or
semi political organizations we must
say word OH the Catholics and the
school laws.
The Catholics are not working at
the building up Of an elementary
school system of their own, though
they are free to do so; they have not
yet recovered from the terrible blow Of
the Combes law against the teaching
orders. For the present they are keep
ing a careful watch over the official
public schools. These schools are sup
posed to be neutral. What they really
are will best appear from the utter
ances of Colonel Berlin, the brave
officer who preferred to lay down his
sword and spoil his career than sub
init to the yoke of the lodges. At a
meeting of Catholic heads of families,
held in Troyes, OH April "a, he said:
"Step by step has the danger developed
which strikes at the very consciences
of our children,s For Catholic morality,
which the lodges have rejected. egoisna
THAT is, man put in the place of God
was first substituted, then evolution
THAT is, instinct and the sensual ap-
petites in the place of conscience;
finally, sociological or scientific moral
ity-that it's, the caprice, the fad or
the whim of the masses supplying the
place of the moral law. And this is
the morality our children are being
taught in the schools"
The speaker then referred to the
case of Morizot, a young teacher who
had recently made use of expressions,
in the presence Of his pupils, which
We're not only irreligious, but positive
ly immoral and in violation of the
most elementary rules of decency. The
fathers of the pupils brought an action
against the shameless pedagogue in
the court of Dijon, and he was found
guilty and rather severely fined. AS
there are quite a number of the tribe
Of Morizot who WELD the ferule in
France today, it was resolved to form
associations of heads of families GAS
sociations des Peres de famille") in
various centres for the purpose Of
keeping watchful eye on the school
teachers. War on the teachers or on
the Republic is not their object. They
merely want the neutrality guaranteed
by law observed in the public schools:
I'VE simply claim the right to
educate our children as we wish
and to teach them the faith we
think best for them. We are un-
willing that the man who takes
our place in the school-room
should destroy by his words what
we have built up in the family,
and ridicule a religion and view
of life which we. respect and love.
Furthermore, it is by no means
our intention to claim this right
for ourselves alone. We demand
that every honest conviction be
respected"
These just demands aroused the ire
of the radicals, and they yelped as if
they themselves had been struck in the
person of Morizot Associations were
formed to counteract the influence of
Associations des Peres de famille"
and TO defend what is called "the liber-
ty of the teachers" M. DoumerSue
proposed a law in the Chamber of
Deputies by which the teachers are to
be exempt from the jurisdiction of the
ordinary courts and be .answerab!e
only to the academical authorities.
The bill has already rassed the ccm-
mittee on education and will soon be
voted on in the Chamber. Meanwhile
protests are daily received from all
parts of the country, especially fron,
the 'Peres de fanille," against whom
the projected measure is evidently
directed. If the law is passed, French
parents will be deprived Of the in
alienable right to watch over the edu-