The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-09-02
THE CATHOLIC YOUNG MAN
AND HIS EDUCATION
REASON AND FAITH COMMEND
THE TRAINING GIVEN IN
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS.

The Catholic young man and his
education-this phrase states one OF
the most vital problems confronting
the Church today. What the Catholic
young man is going to make of him
self, what he is going to do for society
and for Gods a question fraught
with tremendous import. 1t is a ques
ton for the Church, question for
society, a question for parents, and
above all, question for the young
man himself, writes the Very Rever
end D. NJ. German, LII. D., President
of Dubuque College, Dubuque, Ia, in
Extension Magazine"
How many of our Catholic young
men seriously ask and honestly seek
an answer to the question: What
shall l do with my life? That is the
great problem. Whoever helps him
to answer this question adequately
does the young man service that is
precious beyond reckoning. Answers
both false and true are given every
day. All false answers are based on
a false view of life. The fundamental
falsity is that life's purpose is to make
a living and to win what the world
is pleased to call success. All right
answers are based on right view OF
life. This view does not ignore such
training as will fit youth to make a
living and grasp all the honors that
the world can legitimately give. 1t
rno0oni0nc tho oorth1y nnnHc Nf .
but it will not let him forget the ways
and means to the glorious immortality
that awaits him in the world beyond.
Out of these opposite views of life
spring the conflicting views on educa
tion.. The question, What shall l do
with life? is practically identical
with the other questions: What kind
of education shall | receive? Shall
seek that education which ignores the
nobler part of my being or that which
recognizes me as creature at once
of a passing world and of one that is
eternal? The merest spark of Cath
Ollie instinct should compel the an
swer: l will seek the latter, because
| am not a slave of earth, but a child
of heaven.
The folly that leaves the soul out
of the reckoning is well character
lied in these significant lines:
"And this is education, this the train.
ing
Of an immortal spirit for the skies
Wouldst thou thus teach it virtue by
restraining
It's heavenly aspirations till it dies
Thus fit it for life beyond the grave
BY making it helot and slave?"
Where should the Catholic young
man seek such education as reason
and faith commend? Assuredly, in
the Catholic college which stands for
the complete, effective life. In any
other college he will be thrown into
an atmosphere of Indifference, If not
positive hostility, to those essential
| truths that guide life Alright. 1t is too
painfully evident that non-Catholic in.
situations of higher education TEEN
with specialists who have lost all hold
on the supernatural. These apostles
of unfit are not unwilling to faint the
minds of their pupils with the poison
of unbelief Faith is too precious to
be battered for any advantage that
such colleges can offer. 1t is a mis-.
fortune for any Catholic young man
to enter secular university until by
a thorough course in Catholic philos.
ophy he is equipped to meet the falla.
cious arguments which in such seats
of learning" are urged either directly
or indirectly against his religion. Too
many examples of lost faith are on
record as a result of specious errors
dropped from the professors rostrum
into minds unschooled to see their fall
I.sity. 1t is faith that saves, and the
young man who is truly wise will save
his faith.
The where of education is impor-
tant, but not less important is the
how. The problem of his education
is not solved when the young man
entersa Catholic college. There the
principles that make for right life will
be held before him in theory and ex-
lemplified practically in the conduct
Iof those who direct his education.