The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-08-01

IuedI ScHOOl is LnaC In which secular
knowledge and religious truth blend
together in inseparabIe union. And
yet do not condemn the State. Tn
view of all the circumstances of the
country, in view Of public opinion to-
day, what can the State do but leave
out the teaching. of religion from it's
course of instruction, and, in Justice
to all the people, strive to render IFS
schools as unsectarian as schools can
be? The State is doing all that the
conditions of the country allow. Let
us be fair to the State, praising it for
the good which it does, and excusing
it for the defects which it cannot
avoid. 1t is our duty to ourselves and
to our children to make up by extra
ordinary efforts in other ways for the
defects which at the present time are
1nseparable from the schools or col
leges of the State. For Catholics TO
anathematize the State on account of
It's educational work would be wrong
and foolish. Would you have the
state, ask, close the schools and col
leges because it cannot today do other
wise than make them unsectarian?
How, then, could the masses receive
an education? How could even a large
number OF the children of Catholics
be educated? Catholics are far from
having either school buildings to &C.
commodate all their children, or the
masters to teach them. And. as the
facts are such, will you censure chill
dren of Catholics who attend state in
stitutfons, and in anger withdraw
from them all spiritual care? By so
doing, you may say, the Church would
show her prediction for the pupils of
Catholic institutions, and aid in build
ing up those institutions. But, I reply.
will you dare neglect unto death the
Itwo-thirds of your children, in order
to ebestow special affection upon one
third?
What would do is this: I would
work with redoubled energy to make
up for the necessary exclusion of re-
ligion from the programmes of state
institutions, by doing all in my power
to bring the Catholic pupils of those
institutions under the influences of re-
ligious teaching; and, at the same
time, | would work, as far as my abili-
ties permit, to build up-but not in
angry protest against the state school
the Christian school and the Chris
tian college.
The Christian school and the Chris
tan college! Thrice blessed are the
children who are enrolled as their
pupils, whose daily mental nutriment
is secular and religious knowledge
combined
Christian Schools and Colleges.
In the Christian school, secular
knowledge finds in its union with re-
ligious truth its own completion. All
knowledge is deficient which does not
lead men back to God, the Author of
all being; that does not show how all
things fit into the general workings of
Supreme Providence. God is ever
present in the worldly His invisible
government, by the Incarnation of the
Word, by the Church, which continues
the Incarnation. At every point hui
man society touches upon the super
natural. If God, Christ and the Church
be taken away from the school, science
and art, then history and literature
are wrenched from their true .rela-
lions, and only partial and truncated
| studies of them are possible.
In the Christian school the youth re-
ceives an education of mind and heart
that teaches him all his duties, and
| fits him for all purposes of his exist
ence. In the Christian school the
teaching of religion goes hand in. hand
with the teaching of secular knowl-
edge. There the dogmas and precepts
of faith are daily lesson, and the
practice of religious duty daily ex-
ercise.
So important is religion in the form
alton of character, in the cultivation
OF morals, in the preparation for the
life of eternity, that, when possible, it
ought to be taught as daily lesson,
and with all the force and diligence
which the most skilled masters pos
sess. 1t ought to be taught so as to
be indissolubly connected with other
affairs of life, and be sunk so deeply
into the souls Of pupils as to be made
part Of their very nature. Religion is
no accident in mans career; it is no
veneering of his manners; it is no
secondary matter in his life. 1t is
all-essential as his motive power of
action and as the determining agency
Of his whole existence, and conse-
quently it must be considered the vital
element in his education. Unless re-
ligious teachings be provided in the
school and college, where the youth
spends the greatest part of his work
ing time, there is great danger that
this teaching be not sufficient, and that
its effects be not enduring. The Cath
olic school and the Catholic college
have their own place and their own
work in America. They are the ideal
homes Of learning, and Catholics
should have them wherever it is pos
sible.
The Mission Of Catholic Colleges.
From schools and colleges where re-
ligion is blended with secular learn
ing, we are led to expect ideal results.
Without such results Catholic schools
and colleges can give to the country
no justification for their existence. I
wish to speak especially of the mission