The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1922-08-05
MONTANA SCHOOL FOR INDIANS
Symbol of Strength.

This school is the symbol of our
educational system throughout the
United States. OF this system, Bishop
Spalding said that it is the greatest
fact in the history of the Church in
America. 1t represents the struggle
of the greatest religious organization
in the world against the forces of IN
belief. Other Christian denominations
gave up the fight to maintain their
never bowed to secularism in educa-
ton. She believes that the life of re-
ligion, or at least it's vigor, cannot be
kept up and perpetuated in our day
and country unless religion becomes
vital part of education. The fact
that two-thirds of the American peo-
pie are affiliated with no religious de-
nomination is admitted by all to be
due in great part to the absence of
religion from the education of the
young, and there is a growing desire
on the part of Protestants generally
to put back religion into the public
school, from which they now see it
was unwisely banished.
Our indian Charges.
"Now, if religious education is need
ed to save the religious future of the
children OF America, how much more
necessary is it not to save the reli-
gious future of our Indian children?
Other children have at least the home
| whose traditions, inherited from a glo-
| rious Christian ancestry, can, or
should, go long way towards keep,
ing alive the religious spirit. But our
Indian children, whose ancestors have
only recently been converted from pa
ganism, cannot be expected to enjoy
such religious home influence. Their
thorough consolidation in the morality
of the Gospel can only come from the
religious training and the religious at
mOsphere of the Catholic boarding
school established for their special
benefit. 1t was not through the Ca
thedral day schools of the early cen
turtles of Christianity, but through the
monastic boarding schools of the Mid
die Ages that the Church formed her
children in those habits of morality
and religion which developed the
Christian home in the bosom of So
ciety. If Catholic schools are neces-
sary adjuncts of the home in the main
tenance of religion in the hearts Of
our children generally, Catholic board
ing schools are absolutely indispen-
sable for the creation and fostering of
habits of Christian morality in the
lives of our newly converted Indian
tribes. .s.
Tribute to Nuns.
Thanks to the leadership of our
Bishops and priests and the sacrifices
of the laity, we have schools in good
ly number for both whites and In
dians; but these schools could not be
maintained or developed without those
noble bands of consecrated men and
women who are devoting their lives
to the glorious cause of Christian ed
ucation. Without their labors and sac
rifices, the Church in America would
still be in its struggling missionary
stages. Its prosperity and proud EN-
inence among the Churches of the
world it owes in great part to them
II congratulate the Daughters of st.
Ursula on the courage evidenced in
the work inaugurated today. May the
prayers and the generosity of the
friends of the cause they represent
bring it to a glorious completion"
In conclusion, the Right Reverend
Bishop thanked once more from his
heart all who had helped to make
success of the ceremony, and whilst
all the clergy and the choir in union
with the whole congregation joined in
a hymn of thanksgiving to God, the
procession made it's way back to the
church.
The members of the clergy present
were Monsignor Willging, Chancellor
of the diocese; Rev. A. Sullivan, s. j.,
Superior of st. Ignatius Mission; Rev.
Fathers John O'Kennedy, J. Bruckert,
s. j., J. Farrell, S. j., J. Mcnamara,
S. j., j. Cunningham, s. j., Herman
Schiller, S. j., M. A. Dinner, S. J., and
Frank Menager, s. J.
Great credit is due especially to Mr..
E. K. Sheble, construction engineer,
who has spared no pains in planning
the new building and who is putting
all his energy into it's completion.