The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-02-01
SCHOOLS IN THE PHILIPPINES.

Today in the Philippine Islands,
Catholic schools are abandoned and
James p. Monaghan, S. j. The people
are without priests and have no re-
ligious instruction. Protestant teach
ers are everywhere spreading calum-
MES against our Faith; indifferentism,
infidelity and irreligion are beginning
to manifest themselves and threaten
to sap the life of the Church. In a
few short years the tower of defence
has been overthrow, the walls are
broken down and the fairest portion
of Gods vineyard is trampled by
hordes of the enemy Religious desc
lation is written over the fac of the
land.
1t is worthy of note that in the
Spanish-American war the number OF
Catholic officers and soldiers in the
United States Army was close to fifty
per cent. We Catholics rallied round
our Flag, and Catholic Spain was de-
feated and the Catholic Filipinos were
subdued and pacified, largely by
American Catholic valor and at the
price of American Catholic blood!
And to what purpose? To leave them
wounded on the battlefield, the help
less prey of anti-Catholic secret socie-
ties; of an education without religion,
and of the proselytizing energies of
American Protestant missionaries, aid
ed by the Young Mems Christian AS
ISOLATION, whose avowed purpose is
to rob of his faith every Catholic with.
in it's reach.
With American occupation came the
public school system and it's exclu.
sion of religious training. Whether
intended or not, this system rendered
parish schools impossible for lack OF
means, deprived the children of the
Islands of Catholic education, and
left them a prey to Protestant prose.
lytizers.
The Catholics of the United States
remained silent. An organized pro.
test then would have been listened to;
but the valor of the battlefield had
cooled to faint-heartedness, and we
held our peace. And by that silence
gentlemen, you and assumed the re-
sponsibility of placing the entire
school system of the Philippines in
the hands of non-Catholics, many OF
whom antagonize Catholic interests
as much as they may without incur
ring the displeasure of higher officials
For the Government wishes to be fair
and respects righteous protests. But
we made to protest and what is the
result? Today there are six hundred
thousand Catholic children in the pub
lie schools of the Philippines, studying
from English textbooks and reciting
their lessons in English only and
scarce one of them has heard word
of Catholic instruction during the
last fourteen years. Of these there
are over two thousand young men
and women devoting themselves to
higher education in Manila alone
and the number is growing rapidly
Since these are to be the future lead
ers of the people, and on account Of
the cacique or class system prevail
ing in the Philippines, are to have g
far greater influence for good or evil
than the educated in other countries
the lack of religious training is pecu
liarly unfortunate.
Gentlemen, if you could realize the
almost fanatical zeal of the Protestant
missionaries in the Philippines; if yoU
could know the initiative habits Of
the Filipino, which incline him to fol
low his teacher in all things; if you
could hear non-Catholic teachers dis
coursing upon the origin of Papa
authority upon the preaching Of in
dulgences, and upon the causes ant
effects of the Protestant Reforma
ton; if you could learn from such {
source that no uneducated person
understands the missal sacrifice o.
can distinguish between adoring al
image and honoring it in Catholic
sense, and that, after all, no on'
knows much about religion; if yol
could hear from reliable witnesse:
the disparaging remarks of teacher!
and the ridicule which they heal
upon things Catholic; if you coulC
read articles written by students anC
published in the journal of the Philip
pine University to mock at Catholic
worship, and to liken it to paganism
you might begin to appreciate the
peril to which we have exposed the
Catholic Filipino.