The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-08-29
,ORIENTATION PART OF
CATHOLIC EDUCATION
System Points to Something Beyond and Above.
to Goal to Be Reached. Prize to Be
Won, Victory to Be Achieved
ny the VERY REV. JOHN w. MOORE. G. NJ.
President of st. Johns College, Bro oLIyn.


which curb passion. Kantism is the
philosophy OF indvidunlism run mad. OF
self-suicency OF personal infallibilty.
In Its essence II destroys all objective
reality and ends in smoke. And yet this
is the philosophy par excellence which
is exploited In many OF our great uni
Versities. Prag1atism, tho slogan OF
which might well be Nothing succeeds
like success" exalts man as did
Prutagoras in "the measure OF the uni
verse" Henri Bergson would have MS
victims OF everlasting fuX tautalus-llke,
ever foiled IN the effort TO Stake Our thirst
for the perfection of life. In all these
systems man revolvos in his own orbit
and never arrives anywhere.
Oricntation q Factor.
The -ne sure factor which the Catholic
system OF education introduces Ia pre-
Cisrly that of orientation. 1t Isoints to
something beyond and above. TO a goal
TO bo reached prize to be won,
triumph to be achieved. a perfection OF
enjoyment by possession of an Infinite
God. And It IL THIS which dlfferentlates
the Catholic college from all others.
These limit their vision 10 this life that
looks beyond The former is not con-
tent with investigating natures laws:
II must "a back to natures God and
reverentlv question His purpose And
here religion steps in to supplement phil
lOsophy. Religion takes the student by
the hand and leads him along all the
paths OF truth. sheedinE the while Hood
OF light on his way. showing him In bril-
liant perspective the relations OF things.
their beginnings, their development. their
end in God. There is n transcendent unity
and perfectly harmonious variety.
There is no discord in the music or the
spheres when religion sweeps the Tyre
Now the question arises: What 10
Nf..N- -.
Is It religion in general. an abstraction.
or do We mean some concrete forcs IN
educNtion and IN life? The latter with
out a doubt. Otherwise tho term In with
out a significance. But II so we must
have defnlteness and dogma Now some
otherwise sensible people and even some
educated persons seem to have POSI-
tive hatred OF dogma. But religion with
out dogma IL unintelligible-a sheer ab-
surdity. II God has spoken TO men. a. AL
Christians believe that He has. lie must
have made we'll known His will and His
law and His truth with sufficient DEFINITE
ness. But dogma Is only revealed Truth
defined for the intelligence OF men.
Not long ago President Wilson made
this statement: scholarship has never.
as far as | at this moment recollect, been
associated with any religion. except the
religion Of Jesus Christ This remark OF
so eminent a thinker az is Mr.. Wilson IL
worthy Of close attention in academic
circles. Scholarship pust ever be In
quest Of truth until It finds that precious
pearl and must therefore in its assoca-
ton touch on religion as the highest mani
fcstation of truth to man by Him who is
the way and the truth and the NE
Here is precisely where differences Of
correlation between religion and educa-
ton ia catholic college finds play.
tn" theory is that science, which 10, after
all but the knowledge OF things in their
| causes. can never come into conf ct with
christian Sogmas, which are but the
supernatural r,lcvatiun OF Him who Is
absolute truth and sonctity and the frst
cause of all things. A Catholic college
as such LAYS no claim to superior IN
I struc'ion in the natural sciences. al
though tho Catholic Church has always
ro,fcrrd learning OF all kinds. and for
many centuries she was the only teacher
But Catholic education as such does
reconcile science and faith. Catholic
. training gives wings 20 effort and fur
nish's compass to guide students amid
/ the mazos of errors which unaided human
thought in philosophy and science has
east and IS casting on the highway of
! ideas.
( The pages of history are strewn with
the debris of educational systems whose
aim was TO solve the riddle of the uni
verse and find a working theory for
daily life. The philosophy OF such sys-
ms IS the philosophy OF error, Wnlcn
Is never stable, while truth Is a hxed
star which never sets. Education. to
meet the demands OF the age, must
, humanize and uplift, must be at once
vocational and general. must enable n
man to earn his bread while directing
his gaze toward the "evt rlasting hills"
: Now the distinctive characteristic of
, Catholic education Is that 1t both
humanzes and supernaturalzes. The
/ humanltics have never ceased to be cul-
! tiNdt.d in the Church's schools, even when
| tn" cry was raised that their inspiration
! was pagan. A determined effort was
made in France In the last century to
exclude the Latin and Greek classics from
catholic schools, But Rome, wise with
the wisdom of the ages retained those
masterpieces of human genius, which are
the heritage of humanity. while strongly
recommending those works OF the early
Christian Fathers which cast Christian
teaching in artistic form. II has never
been proved that such training as In
involved in the study of Greek and Latin
ella sslcs Is Inferior for mental develop
ment to IN" exclusive study OF science
and modern languages. quite tho CON
| trary has been shown by n DISTINGUISHED
prof ssor of Princeton University, who
compared the work of students who in
cluded Greek in their course with that
OF those who chose some science or modern
language instead. Greek as an instrument
Of mental discipline is In the experience
Of this professor unrvalled.
/ And so the tradition of humane let
I, rs" and of religious education rema ms
untouched by the chb and flow of educa-
tional systems. Age after age justifes
, the tradition, although AZ times II may
appear TO suffer eclipse. II continues be-
cause q is so dstinctvely human and so
humanity divine II has beginning and
/ an end. II looks backward indeed, but
/ only TO make greater hast" toward tho
vision which reveals the solution OF all
| questions, human and divine.