The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-08-10
OUR COUNTRY AND OUR
SCHOOLS.

At the annual convention of the
Catholic Educational Association, held
in San Francisco recently, Rev. R. H.
Smith said in part:
Our Catholic schools are essential,
not only to the propagation and glory
of the Church, but also to the well
fare and prosperity of our beloved
country. | shall sketch their mutual
dependence-the debt which each
owes to the other. 81
Standing out conspicuously among
the nations of the world today. rises
the distinctive nationality of our glor-
lous republic. It's greatness does not
depend on its material triumphs, but
on something higher and nobler. The
glory of America is that it is the
home of freedom. Ours is a nation
built upon the recognition of the fun
est extent 1t rests on the broad
foundation of popular rights and indi-
Vidual liberty. That liberty we hold
deareH than our own lives. 1t is the
true source of all our prosperity. 1t
is the cornerstone of American civil
zation. On it depend our existence
as free people and our destiny as a
great nation. 1t is to the principles
which the founders made the basis of
the government of our republic that
we owe the marvellous progress the
Church has made in this country.
Ta4
ence which is ours by the guarantee
of our Constitution. Perfect liberty
of action, unhampered by government
alliance or state support, is more fav-
orabie to the progress of the Church
than the most powerful despotism in
her behalf. 1t was due to this con-
stitutional freedom also that the
Church has been able to accomplish
such splendid results in the important
work of Catholic education. In spite
kinds, in spite of the heavy financial
burden imposed on parents by pay
ment of the double tax, Catholic edu-
cation in this country has grown and
expanded until we have today a sys-
tenn so complete and successful that
it challenges the wonder and admira-
ton of every thinking man of the
day. And all this would have been
impossible without the principle of
freedom of education guaranteed by
the Constitution and handed down as
one of the essentials of our civiliza-
ton and condition of our national
greatness.
We gratefully acknowledge the debt
our Catholic schools owe to our coun-
try. But they have rendered in return
transcendent services. They are nur-
series of the purest patriotism; they
stand a strong bulwark against the
evils that threaten the nation; and
they are, after the Church itself, the
surest hope of the perpetuity of the
republic and of the maintenance of
its free institutions.
--ss The rights and the liberties on
which our Constitution is based have
long been embodied in the teachings
of the Church and have often formed
the basis of her actions The ideals,
morals and laws which have moulded
our civilization are the heritage of
the Catholic Church. Catholic patriot
ism is written on every page of our
country's history. The one sentiment
that animates the breast of every
Catholic citizen of this land is devo-
ton to the government, the Constitu-
ton and the flag. This is the pa
triotism that is taught in our Catholic
schools, and of it's sincerity our
schools are now giving the strongest
practical proof. In this hour of our
country's supreme trial, there stands