The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-29

practical life ought to be prominently
under the influence Of religion" Such
Is in part the unanimous voice OF
the American Episcopate on the place OF
religion in education. and II requires but
an elementary acquaintance with the his
tory Of education. from the days OF
Clement and Origen at Alexandria, down
through the period OF the medieval ca
thedral and monastic schools to our own
time. to enable one to perceive that these
words are but the echo OF the mind OF
the Church throughout her career. She
has always claimed and exercised the
right to supervise the training Of her
children in the formative years Of their
lives. surrounding them with religious
influences from the start. and we may
say that the story Of civilization is the
record Of her efforts on behalf Of Chris
tian education.
But we Catholics do not stand alone
in emphasizing the right OF the child to
religious as well as secular training. In
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thinkers OUTSIDE the Church who recog-
nize the fundamental soundness Of her
method to the point Of admitting that
any education worthy the name must
include the medication Of correct prin-
cipies of human conduct. since the train
ing Of the mind is worse than useless
without the training Of the heart and
the will. They nave endeavored to sup
ply this need without the assistance OF
definite religious teaching, by intro
ethical training which shall not be de-
pendent on any special form of belief.
Such hopes are only foredoomed to dis
appointment. For. Just as the science
Of geometry rests on certain funda-
mental axioms on which the solution Of
even the most intricate problem depends,
so morality imperatively demands a doc
trinal basis. the sanction and the au-
thority OF a body Of truth which Is to
b perceived partly through the light of
reason and partly through the more
blessed light Of revelation.
Others there are who approach still
closer to us In the matter Of religious
training for the young and openly adro-
Without passing beyond the limits of our
own land the words OF no less a person
than Daniel Webster come TO the mind.
1t would bc hard to find a stronger de-
fence of the Catholic contention than
in his well known speech at the Girard
trial, wherein he boldly proclaims that
the Injunction l'Suffer little children TO
unto Mel is Of perpetual obliga-
ton. 1t addresses itself to-day with the
earnestness and the same authority
which attended it's first utterance 10 the
Christian world. II is OF force every
where and at all times" And again.
1T has ever been the duty OF the great
and good to sanctify human knowledge.
TO bring it to the fount and to baptize
into Christianity" And with
as much clearness as the Catholic
catechism he gives the reason why THE
earliest ana most urgent intellectual
want Of human nature Is the knowledge
OF it's origin. its duty and its destiny.
Whence am |? What am /? And what
is before me-" Now to answer these
means simply 90 teach re-
lision, And then lastly there are some
non-Catholics who have gone still
and have actually sent their
children to Catholic schools rather Than
have them grow up with no religious
training or with one that lacks the
definiteness and perfect consistency of
doctrine.
It's with hearts fun Of humble gratitude
that We Catholics OF America look back
on the record Of those VINO have gone
ploughing whore we now reap, and
record is all the more glorious for
being bound up with struggle and
As far back as 1900, at a
meeting of the trustees OF old st, Peters
In Barclay street, a resolution
was passed calling upon the peope of the
parish to establish a free school for their
children. In 1885, this school was opened
IN the basement of the church, and in the
following year the school building was