Catholic Problems in Western Canada

by George Thomas Daly

The United States[4] have granted university charters to the various Catholic institutions of higher learning which dot that land of Liberty from coast to coast. And let us not forget,—facts and figures will bear us out,—the independent universities in the United States, in England and in Belgium, only to mention some, have been in many Faculties more efficient and more successful than the state institutions. The remarkable record of St. Louis University, a Jesuit institution, is illustrative of this point. A comparison of the respective medical and dental records of this institution with perhaps two of the greatest professional schools of the United States, John Hopkins and Harvard, gives proof of higher efficiency to St. Louis University. The official bulletins of the Medical Dental Associations give the statistics.

The right of Catholics to their own schools—primary, secondary, university, is a birthright we must always fight for. It is the elementary right of a civilized people to educate her sons as she sees fit. In the battle for this right the best strategy is to offer the accomplished fact of a college and a university which by their efficiency, their intellectual and moral value, impose themselves upon the community and win their way to acceptance. Let us blaze the trail and to-morrow, it will be the great highway of Catholic education for the coming generation in Western Canada.

But instead of this policy of "isolation" which in school matters is the ordinary policy of the Church, some Catholics, in view of circumstances, rather advocate that of "permeation." The presence of Catholics in State Universities will, they claim, create a better atmosphere, abate or soften prejudice, beget a better feeling among the future leaders of the community. In England, it is true, Catholics are allowed to attend Oxford and Cambridge; in Germany, they attend State Universities. The Catholics of Australia have since 1916 also a College in conjunction with the Melbourne State University. Student societies have been formed, Catholic halls opened, courses of apologetics are given to help the Catholic youth in the "steady daily pressure working against them in a non-Catholic university," and to influence religious thought in those centres of higher learning.

Has this "modus vivendi" brought about by various circumstances which it would be too long to analyze here, produced the desired results? In Germany it has not created a Catholic atmosphere in one single university. Have not, on the contrary, the German universities been the hot-beds of Modernism and many a young cleric has come from their halls inoculated with this virus.

As for Oxford and Cambridge, we all know the controversy which divided the Catholics for so many years. As Catholics have been allowed to follow the courses there for only a few decades, we are not yet, we believe, in a position to judge of the influence of these universities on the Catholic body of England as a whole. Time only will tell. But one thing is certain, no comparison can be established between our state universities and these colleges. Although in the halls of Oxford, Christianity "is often attuned to the outlook and temper of the age" as the book "Foundations" (a statement of Christian belief in terms of modern thought, by seven Oxford men) sadly reveals it, nevertheless, there is not to be found in the English Colleges that atmosphere which the absence of religion has created in our state universities. The presence of various denominational colleges on the grounds of our Provincial Universities only gives them a tint of Christianity. The teaching of history and philosophy will tell the tale. "It must be remembered that an Oxford scheme was never Newman's ideal. It was a concession to necessities of the hour. His ideal scheme, alike for education of the young and for the necessary intellectual defence of Christianity, had consistently been the erection of a large Catholic University like Louvain. This he had tried to set up in Ireland. In such an institution, research and discussion of the questions of the day would be combined as in the middle ages with a Catholic atmosphere, the personal ascendancy of able Christian professors and directly religious influence for the young men." (Life of Newman)—by Ward.

Were there question only of postgraduate work, of some special course in agriculture, domestic science, there would be no difficulty, we believe, to see Catholic students take advantage of the marvellous facilities our state universities offer. The matter, the short term of these courses or the advanced age of the pupil would be in themselves sufficient guarantee. But what we strongly object to is the Arts Course, and particularly undergraduate work, even were the contentious subjects, such as philosophy and history, be given by Catholic teachers to Catholic students separately. The Arts Course, we must remember, is the real dominating factor in higher education. For we maintain with Cardinal Newman that a University is a place of teaching universal knowledge and that its object is primarily intellectual. It has in view the diffusion and extension of knowledge, rather than its advancement, which is reserved to Academies. It is the Arts Course of a University, particularly its Philosophy, that gives this general knowledge and enlargement of the mind. Its influence is most telling in the various Faculties where students specialize for their future career. For Philosophy plays such a large part in human life, the movement of opinions and the direction of minds. The Catholic student in those most plastic years, in that critical period of receptivity, wherein ideas are analyzed and synthesized for life time, cannot help but imbibe ideas and doctrines opposed to his belief. The elite alone, we believe, can resist in the long run the influence of that indefinable quality called atmosphere, and maintain among so many cross-currents, the right course. The ordinary and inexperienced mind will be, if not contaminated, at least weakened and this alone is disastrous in a leader. Many changes, many transformations, we know, take place in the mind of youth as it emerges "from collegiate visions into the rough path of real life." As Morley wrote, "We know after the event, the tremendous changes of thought . . . of conception of life, that coming years and new historic forces were waiting to unfold before the undergraduate when he had once floated out beyond the college bar." Yet, the solid teachings of Catholic Philosophy will remain to him as the charter and compass when his ship has taken to the high sea. This is the principal reason why we vindicate the right to our own higher education. To push the argument further, we would ask why should we be obliged to pay taxes to have doctrines opposed to our conscience propounded from the professorial chairs of our State University? The granting of a Charter by the State is but the minimum of our rights.

Dream or Reality?

A Catholic University for Western Canada! Is this but the dream of a far off future or can it be a reality within a few years?—There is the problem which now faces the Catholic Church of our Western Provinces and upon which, in our estimation, rests the influence the Church is to have in the formation of the new and most promising part of our Dominion beyond the Great Lakes. A high conception of the duty of the present hour and the whole-hearted co-operation of every Catholic unit in the West, will without doubt bring its happy solution and make our dream a reality. To act on ideal principles with little or no attempt to forecast accurately what is practicable would be to court failure. We are gradually passing the mile-stone of pioneer life in the West, and the Church is slowly but surely being organized and entering into full possession of her normal life. The duties which Catholic solidarity imposes upon us as regards the Church and the community at large are growing apace with the status of the Church in these new Provinces. Among these duties none, we believe, are more important than that we owe to the cause of Catholic education. Naturally, the burden of the responsibility falls here upon parents whose bounden duty it is to see that the school, college, university, be, as much as possible but the extension of their Catholic home. The rising generation in the West has a right to the benefits of a higher education; to this right corresponds in the community a duty imposed upon its members by Catholic solidarity. For in the growing youth we see the Country and the Church, with whose future welfare it is necessarily united. A true Catholic must have his vision of what the Church ought to be in his Country and must work to make that vision come true.

Through a Catholic University, and through it only, will the Church give its full contribution to the national life of Western Canada by creating as we said, Catholic leadership. We have as Catholics, ideas to give to the nation, to its up-building, and to its prosperity. The sun of Canadian liberty is shining for our doctrines as it does for other ideals. And, strange to say, the most subversive theories seem to take the greatest and most frequent advantage of this freedom. We have no apology to make for our ideas. They stand on their own merit and have been vindicated by the acid-test of time. To bring our message to the country, to spread its beneficial influence is the mission of our Catholic leaders. Only a large number of truly educated Catholic men are able to make their influence felt on the life and thought of a country.

This identification of a Catholic university with our Western Provinces will be an asset to our public life and beneficial to the people at large, notwithstanding their aloofness and unreasoned opposition to our principles and methods. The evils of the times are the direct result of the secularization of education. Catholic higher education is the only antidote and remedy to this evil. Its principles are a vigorous protest against materialistic philosophy. We believe in the mastery of ideas and in the final victory of truth.