The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-07-03

i
clergy and of the wonderful things
which that education inspired and ac-
complished. And even today wher-
ever the priest is given the sceptre
of leadership in the things that make
for the moral and material better
ment of his community, this is due in
no small measure to the power of his
superior education.
In our modern world the laity are
called upon to take an active part in
dispensing the blessings of civiliza-
ton. If they would perform their task
with credit to themselves and with
profit to the people they must i'm
bibe that broad and liberalizing spirit
of intellectual culture which in former
times made the action of the clergy
so beneficent. And I may say in
passing that if heretofore in America
Catholic 1aymen have not had their
share of the high positions in state
and nation, this was due to their lack
fof higher education more than to any
other cause. In the past poverty
could be pleaded as an excuse for not
securing the higher education. The
excuse is no longer valid. Many have
acquired wealth, and the great body
are in easy circumstances, while Cath
Ollie institutions of higher education
have been multiplied all over the land
ready, like the tabled Briareus of the
hundred hands, to lift our youth up
to those intellectual heights where
knowledge is as pure as the air of our
mountains, as sweet as the water that
springeth from the rock, as strong
as the everlasting hills.
Excellent and useful as is education
in perfecting the mind and imparting
to it power and influence, it would be
incomplete if it did not perfect and
1 strengthen the will. knowledge is
indeed power, but it is a power for
the good of the individual and society
only when steadied by a will thorough
ly consolidated in virtue and moral
ity. This was the teaching of the
father of our country who declared
knowledge and virtue to be the two
essential supports of the republic.
Going further, Washington affirmed
and proved that virtue and morality
cannot be sound and enduring without
religion. This thought is at the very
root of the whole educational system
of the Church. Yes, if religion with
it's wisdom from above and it's eternal
sanctions is necessary to strengthen
virtue and direct knowledge in the
man and the citizen, surely it should
be the most active force in the edu-
cation of those who are being pre-
pared for manhood and citizenship.
And if this is true of all education, it
is emphatically true of the higher
education of college and university
by which are created intellectual
aristocrats and leaders of the people.
4 We sometimes hear it said that our
girls should by all means be sent to
the convent, or Catholic higher school
of learning, but that our boys, after
the parish school training, would be
better prepared for their life-work by
/ attending a secular college, or uni
4 veTsity2-not that" the courses ;" of
studies are better, or the instruction
more thorough, but that contact with
non-Catholic students and professors
will give them that breadth of view
and that spirit of federation which is
so necessary for success in American
life. This argument is founded on the
assumption that the Catholic layman
will not be called upon to explain or
defend his faith, and that elementary
religious training is a sufficient safe
guard for virtue in the face of the
rising passions of youth and in the
cold atmosphere of materialistic
conception of life and duty. But the
assumption is false. The time has
gone by when the clergy were regard
ed as the only teachers and defend
ers of Christianity. This is the cen
fury of the laity To the Catholic lay
man the world looks for information
on religious subjects which it will not
seek from the priest. To him it voices
it's disapprobation of Catholic teach
ing and practice. Not to be able to
furnish the information or supply the
proper defence would argue in him a
lack of appreciation of his duty as a
Catholic gentleman in the surround
ings in which Providence has placed
him. It is time of great crises in
the world. The principles of Chris
tianity are loosing their hold on the
! minds of men, the family is disinti-
i grating, vast social changes are put
ting to the test long established
teachings. The Church alone pos
sesses the forces Of truth and grace
which will save society. To secure
the widest diffusion of these forces is
an obligation imposed upon the Cath
Ole layman by both patriotism and
religion.
To be worthy spokesman and de-
fender of the faith, the Catholic lay
man must be model of Christian
morality. In his private life he must
be sober, stainless and above re-
proach. The strictest honesty should
characterize all his dealings with his
j fellowman. He should account it his
duty to take part in every movement
that makes for the moral betterment
of his community. He should regard
it as his proudest privilege to defend
his country's flag and to spread abroad
the blessings of liberty and peace of
which it is the embodiment.
Il Where will the Catholic layman ac-
quire that thorough grasp and deep
conviction of the teachings of faith