The Irish standard., 1917-02-10
Dr.. ]. ]. Walsh
Discusses Women
and Ed ucation
Says That Ignorance Today Consists
in Knowing Too Many Things
That Are Not True-Disposes
of Some Prevalent Errors.


lack of knowledge, but in the know
ing of too many things that are not
true" said DR.. James ]. Walsh in a
recent lecture in Brooklyn. Among
the prevalent false notions we find
that which says, This is the first
time in the history of the world that
women have been able to procure an
education The opposite is the case.
There are no less than half dozen
times in the history of the world when
women were very we'll educated The
women of the Renaissance were mag
nificently educated, and in the early
centuries women taught with men in
the universities Of France and Italy.
When Women's Education Stopped.
IF you were to find out for your
self why the education of women dis
appeared during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries you would find
one of the greatest proofs that the
Catholic Church is not opposed to
progress, as she is accused of being.
Women were we'll educated until the
Reformation obliterated the old edu-
cational system and introduced new
and destructive one. 1t was at that
time that the education of women be-
gan to disappear. They had excellent
times when the old Catholic rights
governed, but in their greed for gold
Protestant rulers took over the valu-
able property of the monasteries, and
thus the opportunity for education was
lost. The nearer we were to Rome
the more chances women had for edu-
cation.
with regard to the inferiority of
women as compared with men, there
is no question of actual inferiority in
the position taken by the Church.
The meaning is that there must be
only one head to the family. What
good woman wants is generally what
God wants. The only reason why the
women do not get the vote is because
so many of them do not want it. They
must be educated up to it. Where
they want it, out West, they got it.
The Church and Education Of Women.
"The policy of the Church in regard
to the education of women may most
readily be exemplified at places in the
worlds history where she has con.
verified whole nation and is enabled
to work out her own ideas. Consider
the case of Ireland, a country where
there was no pagan feft. What did 8
woman do here? Is not st. Brigid
honored as second only to st. Patrick:
Ireland became the schoolhouse of the
world, so much so that any European
at that time, at least north Of the
J Danube, who could read or speak the
Greek language, had been taught by
an 1rishman, or by one whom an Irish
man had taught. OF the work done
in st. Brigid's School in Kildare We
hear from Gerald, the Welshman. who
Travelled throughout the continent fol
many years before coming to Ireland
and who says that at Kildare he sa"
the most beautiful book in the world
We have also preserved for us to this
day in the Dublin Museum a transa
ton Of the Scriptures, probably made
at Kildare, which has not yet a peer as
regards beauty Of decoration. At st
Brigid's School women were taught tt
make lace, and to this school we owe
our beautiful Irish lace of today. The
position of the Church is sufficiently
set forth if ! say that the BLESSED
Virgin is second only to the Divine
Son Himself in the ranks of tho
Church, and st. Teresa, who was large
ly instrumental in saving Spain tt
the Church at the time for the In
QUESTION, has place of honor among
the statues of the fathers of The
Church in Rome.
The Cult of "Educaton."
NOWdudyS IcOIut IhAlN lhhI "'
educated mother can take better care
of her children and preserve then
from the inroads of disease more sue
cessfully than an nneducated mothc
can. Apart from the fact that it hal
been found that women Of very higl
education have very few children O
none at all, owing to attractions out
side the home, statistics of two tyr
ical American cities display the falsit.
of the former notion. These statistic
show that the foreign-born mothe
saves one more ont of every sevcl
children than does the native-borl
mother. The reason for this is OF
vious. Babies can thrive only whei
they are given devotion and unselfis
care Devotion cannot be delegated
The foreign-born mother takes an il
terest in her home, which is her al
In fact, all of lis think that we hav