The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-06-18
President of Columbia University

/ ~ u Z H# a
his colossal vanity, have placed, him at
the center OF the universe which is
thereafter to be measured and dealt
with in terms Of his personal satisfac-
tons. So it has come to pass that
after nearly 1900 years much of the
world resembles the Athens OF st.
Paups time, in that it is wholly given
to idolatry; but in the modern case
there are as many idols as idol wor-
shippers, and every such idol wor-
shipper finds his idol in the looking
glass. The time has come once again
to repeat and to expound in thinder-
GUS tones the noble sermon of st. Paul
on Mars Hill, and to declare to these
modern idolators whom, therefore, We
ignorantly worship, Him declare
unto you" H.
There can beno cure for the worlds
ills and no abatement of the worlds
discontents until faith and the rule
of everlasting principle are again re-
stored and made supreme in the life oil
men and of nations. These millions
of man-made gods, these myriads of
personal idols, must be broken up and
destroyed, and the heart and mind of
man brought back to comprehen-
sion of the real meaning Of faith and
it's place in life. This cannot be done
| by exhortation or by preaching alone.
1t must be done also by teaching;
careful, systematic, rational teaching;
that will show in simple language
which the uninstructed can under
stand what are the essentials of a
permanent and lofty morality, of a
stable and just social order, and of a
secure and supreme religious faith.
Looks to Education.
Here we come upon the whole great
problem of national education, it's sue
cesses and its disappointments, its
achievements and its problems yet un-
solved. Education is not merely in
struction-far from it. It is the lead
ing of the youth out into a compre-
hension of his environment, that. COM
pretending, he may so act and so con-
duct himself as to leave the world bet
ter and happier for his having lived
| in it. This environment is not by any
means a material thing alone. 1t is
material, of course, but, in addition, it
is intellectual, it is spiritual. The
youth who is led to an understanding
of nature and of economics and left
blind and deaf to the appeals of liter
ature, of art, of morals and OF relig-
ion, has been shown but a part of that
great environment which is his inner
itance as human being. The school
and the college do much, but the
school and the college cannot do all.
Since Professionalism broke up the SOL
| idarity of the ecclesiastical organiza-
ton in the western world, and since
democracy made intermingling of
state and church impossible, it has
been necessary, if religion is to be
saved for men, that the family and the
church do their vital cooperative part
in a national organization Of educa-
tional effort.
The school, the family, and the
church are three cooperating educa-
tional agencies, each of which has it's
| weight of responsibility to bear. II the
family be weakened in respect Of its
moral and spiritual basis, or If the
church be neglectful of it's obligation
to offer systematic, continuous and
convincing religious instruction to the
young who are within it's sphere of
influence, there can be no hope for a
Christian education or for the power
full perpetuation of the Christian faith
in the minds and lives of the next
generation and those Immediately to
follow. We are trustees of great
Inheritance. If we abuse or neglect
that trust we are responsible before
Almighty God for the infinite damage
that will be done in the life of indi.
viduals and of nations.
Church and State.
The contacts and associations Of
civilized men are many and various
The two contacts and associations