The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1913-10-09


| Thee shall worship the steps of Thy
feet Yet, even when it is not, the very
depth of the hatred of Cor is a tribute
to His greatness.
God in Education
"1f then, God is supremely great in
| human thought, in human language IN
| human experience and in human history,
| what shall we say of God in education?
| If it is the business of education to put
the youth of the race in possession of all
that is important In the history and ex-
perience of the race, surely an education
| that omits God is of all things the most
senseess and the most futile. AS He Is
| the answer to all the great questions of
! human life and human history so is He
! the solution of the most perplexing prob
| lens of education. And most perplexing
| of all is the problem how to educate, to
| conduct. How shall the child learn to be
strong without being cruel, to be humble
without being mean, to be self reliant
without being proud to be generous with
out being prodigal, to be frugal without
being stingy, to be truthful without be-
| ing brutally candid, to be kind without
| being deceitful, to be reverent without
being obsequious, to be prudent without
being timid, to be honest without being
| harsh, to be clean-minded without being
prudish? 1t is, indeed, a delicate task to
| hold the balance so finely poised, espe-
| cially for the immature mind. A hairs
breadth will make the difference a diff
| ference which reason cannot gauge.
| Science cannot help us. self interest can
not inspire sense keen enough to detect
| it. Experience cannot aid us; its toll for
| wrecked consciences Is too costly. 1t will
| not do to lay down a few general moral
maxims; you cannot paint a miniature
| with whitewash brush But religion
can solves the problem and does effec-
oil nlx-n No 1rrffa aI1t l1,tf
thetically. not by reflection but by piety
| by putting before the child mind God
who is perfect goodness by infusng into
the soul of the child the faith to see and
the grace to do.
The Greatest Word
God is, thus, the greatest in educa-
ton as He is in human experience in
general. Some one has said recently:
The greatest word in education Is in
terest.' How ridiculously inadequate
how paltry, how hopelessly futile. The
greatest word in education is God And
oh, the criminal folly of the attempt
to keep God out of education l am not
finding fault SO much with the prac-
tical policy of our public schools, which
perhaps cannot do otherwise but with
the educational theorists who try 10
hold up goddess education as peda-
gogically the best. Is life, then so rich
in sources of inspiration that, in edu-
eating the young we may dispense with
the greatest of them all? Is science so
fertile in resources for lifting the child
soul above sordid surroundings and
curing 1t of inherited weakness?
go ask the judge of the children's
court who is SO often astounded at the
decay of conscience among children:
go ask the brokenhearted parent who is
reaping in disappointment and shame
the folly of goddess education The
co nd fha 81,
of our national good sense For the
thief and the embezzler we have the
prison and social stigma; for the muir
derer we have the gallows and the gull
lotine, but for him who robs the child
OF its. right to knowledge of God, for
him who Stays in the souls of little
children the God-given instinct to learn
about God, we have the highest acad-
emic honors and the most trusted posi- |
lions in the world of education And
the attempt to do without God in the
schools is as vain as 1t is criminal. 1t
cannot succeed, and 1t does not They
snail all grow old as a garnet, and
as vesture shalt thou change them
and they shall be changed This was
said of the physical world, and science
agrees with revelation in teaching that
change and decay are the law of ma
terial existence. 1t is true also and
even more true of human institutions
and human devices. We have seen in
our own day the rapid succession of
educational schemes, each newest de-
vice lauded as the best, and each in
turn set aside and condemned But
lsThou art the self-same, and Thy years
shall not fall There is nothing perma-
nent but God and the justice and the
truth which are His kingdom; and no
scheme of education can stand the test
of time If it is not founded on that
Justice and inspired by that truth.
Position of Catholics
"And now, my dear brethren. YOU real |
lie why it is that Catholics maintain
separate school system. You realize why
IL Is that we have our parochial schools !
our academies, our colleges and our uni |
versity You realize why thousands of
self sacrificing men and women are de-
voting their whole lives to the work of
education, which. in the circumstances,
We regard aspart of the church's mission
to save souls. All over this land Sisters
of the various communities, Christian
brothers, priests, members of the differ
ent religious orders have consecrated /
their lives to this work and labor un-
stintingly for the Catholic education of
the youth of the land. They are not COM
pensated as lay teachers are; they cannot
be compensated in this life for the work
they do. But, as they work for God and
His glory, their hope is that He will re-
ward them in the life to come Greater
love than this no man hath that man
lay down his life for his friend They
devote their lives to the teaching of
your children, and God alone can reward
fidelity such as theirs. He it is whose
greatness inspires their work, and lie
shall be their reward exceeding great
you realize, too, why Catholics are
making so great a financial sacrifice for
their schools. Under our present laws
they are taxed twice, first legally for the
city or state school, and then voluntarily
for their own parochial school. Out of
their own resources, for the most part,
out of the hard earned wages of the
poor, the Catholics of this country contrib
ute more than s10000,0OO every year for
the support of parish schools alone. We
maintain 5000 parochial schools, in which
81, 600 tecahers are engaged, and which
accommodate about 100000 pupils. 1t Is
an imposing system, formidable system,
some of our less friendly critics maintain
But If those critics once understand the
and the motive that actuate
us, surely instead Of blaming they would
praise us for the sacrifices we are making.
For as they ought to know, and as you
do know, we are not opposed to state
schools because they are state schools.
We are not opposed to them because they
make patriotism a virtue. But because
they omit God from the curriculum and
are therefore obliged to be content with
patriotism as the highest virtue We
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