The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-11-15


The nineteenth annual report of the
Superintendent of Parish Schools of
the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, con-
tains, among other interesting matter,
a chapter on the support of Catholic
Higher Education" which we repro
duce because the facts it contains
should be given the widest publicity.
1t may be well to notice here, says
the Right Reverend P. R. McDevitt,
Diocesan Superintendent of Schools,
the opinion often publicly voiced, that
those who seek an education beyond
that afforded by the elementary school
should themselves bear the expense
of such an education; that the gen.
eral public should not be required to
support public high schools; that the
main body of Catholics should not be
asked to contribute to the mainten-
ance of Catholic institutions for high
er education.
This opinion, as we'll as the kindred
one that the institutions for the help
less and the outcast are the only ones
a measure why Catholic high schools,
colleges and universities receive scant
assistance and recognition from
wealthy Catholics. If it were true
that the recipients of an education
beyond the elementary school should
defray all the expense thereof, 1t
would inevitably follow that higher
education would become the exclusive
privilege of the wealthy classes.
Moreover, policy that would restrict
higher education to those who are
financially able to pay for it, if logi-
cally carried out, would practically
deplete the seminaries, universities,
colleges and high schools of the ma
ton. This conclusion follows from the
fact that, apart from those private
schools that cater exclusively to a
wealthy clientele, the higher institu-
tions of learning enroll comparatively
few students who are aple to bear
the full expense of their education.
SeIf-Sacrificing Teachers.
Tuition fees are wholly inadequate
to meet the actual expenditure in the
various seats of learning. The deficit
is made up in State institutions and
in quasi-State institutions by subven-
tions from the public treasury, and in
private schools by the generous gifts
of wealthy benefactors. How is the
deficit met in Catholic schools? 1t is
made up almost wholly by priests,
both secular and regular, and by the
members of the religious teaching
communities, inasmuch as these give
to the institutions in which they teach
the difference between the pittance
they actually receive and the salaries
their services would earn were they
engaged in institutions adequately en-
dowed or in the learned professions
or in business. This subsidy-for so
we may denominate it-arising from
that unselfish consecration of our
Catholic teachers to the work of our
schools, so that these teachers are
content with the bare necessaries of
life, is not less real than the aid
given to other institutions either by
the State or by private individuals.
This is truth all too seldom recog-
was emphasized in recent address
by DR.. James J. Walsh, of New York.
Il have told before on several occa-
sions," said the eminent lecturer, how
much education as given by the re-
ligions means for this country. There
are some forty thousand religions men
and women engaged exclusively in
education in the United States, and if
they were to be paid an average
salary of $3.50 per year, surely not
a high average when we recall that
there are principals, superintendents,
presidents of colleges, as we'll as
many kinds of special teachers among
them-if they were to be paid this
sum as an average, it would mean
3O,O00,OO0 a year. If you capitalize
an income of $3O,0O0,O00, it represents
5000, 100000. This is more than the
endowment of all the educational in
stitutions of the country. 1t repre-
sents what has been given for educa-
ton by Catholics by the gift of the
lives of the religious" The telling
figures presented here by DR.. Walsh,
Notwithstanding the apparent neglect
to deduct from the average salary OF
$3.50" the totally inadequate fee re-
ceived today by the teachers in our
Catholic schools of whatsoever kind,
reveal one great underlying fact of
Catholic education, namely, that our
schools-not only the Parish Schools,
but our colleges, academies, universi-
ties-are subsidized by the religious
who teach in them. This subsidy, on
the lowest calculation, amounts to mil
lions of dollars annually.
Catholics who know at what low cost
their charitable and educational work
is carried on are often disposed to
charge that the management of non
Catholic institutions is extravagant
and wasteful. The actual truth is the
expenditures in non-Catholic institu-
tions are normal, while those of Cath
olics institutions are far below the
normal simply because Of the rigid
economy, the self-denial and the self
sacrifice of the religious who conse-
crate their lives to works of charity
and education.