Public School Education

by Michael Müller

Grace does not destroy nature. And it is nature that—

"... as the twig is bent, the tree inclines."

But let me ask you, How can you think that you are as good a Catholic as others; you who object to the teaching of the Church, to the persuasion of all sensible men? Indeed, your language betrays you. Your very language convinces me still more of the necessity of having Catholic schools where our children learn the language and imbibe the spirit of their spiritual mother—the Catholic Church. The Public Schools are none the better for your having frequented them. Let us suppose a father wishes to send his children across the ocean. Now he knows for certain that the vessel which is about to leave for the old country will be wrecked; he also knows that a few of the passengers will be saved, as it were, by a miracle, but he knows not who they are. Will he send his children by that vessel?

Now the Public Schools are like a large vessel. The greater part of those who have embarked in it have suffered shipwreck in their faith and good morals. What father, then, will be mad enough to send his children by this vessel, across the ocean of time, to their heavenly fatherland?

There are others, again, who assert "that we must not attempt to have Catholic schools until we can afford to conduct them so as to compete with the Public Schools."

The point in question is godless schools, which are condemned on account of being infidel in principle. Even with all their faults, our schools are, it must be conceded, not infidel, but Christian schools. We are at liberty, there, to teach our children our holy religion whenever we wish. We can give them good books, and bring them up in a religious atmosphere. If we do for the establishment and organization of Catholic schools what we can, God will not hold us responsible for the loss of those of our children who did not profit by their religious education, while, on the contrary, we remain accountable to God for those who, for want of a Catholic education, suffer shipwreck in their faith and morals, and are lost forever. In the sight of God, the above excuse will avail us nothing.

Some, even most of our schools, may have been more or less defective in the beginning. Well, what was the Church at the time of the Apostles? There were then no gorgeous cathedrals as nowadays. The Christians were instructed and sanctified in the Catacombs, and in poor private dwellings. So, in a country like ours, the kingdom of heaven is compared to a mustard seed. Churches and schools are insignificant in the beginning; but, by degrees, more life and splendor is infused into them, and they grow up to perfection.

We honor and venerate the Apostles as the corner-stones of Christianity. Happy, thrice happy, those pastors who lay solid foundations for future Catholic life by establishing nurseries—Catholic schools—for its maintenance and propagation. Their reward will be like unto that of the Apostles. Our successors will bring our feeble beginnings to perfection. This is the natural course of things. We may not have the happiness to witness a plentiful harvest from the seed that we have sown with so much toil and labor; but we should nevertheless bear in mind that those bishops and priests who have the happiness of laying the foundations of future Catholic life in our country, resemble our Lord Jesus Christ, Who suffered His Apostles to perform even greater miracles than He Himself had wrought.

I know the above objection is more frequently made in the New England States than anywhere else. Now it is a well-known fact that the Yankee race is fast dying out. They have either no children at all, or only one or two. Hence it is that the larger portion of the Public School children are the children of Catholic parents. These States foresee that were the Catholic children to leave their schools, their Public School buildings would soon be empty, and stand there as eloquent monuments to tell on the folly of the States for having erected them. Now in order to keep the Catholic children at their schools, and thus keep up their fine lucrative establishments, they have, in several places, taken in the Catholic priests as members of the School Boards. Truly, "the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light." These priests, by accepting the honor! of membership! of the School Board, give, thereby, at least a tacit approbation of the godless Public Schools. Thus the State, by conferring this privilege! throws dust into the eyes of the people. It is, therefore, quite evident that were this tacit approbation of the Catholic clergy withdrawn, were they to erect Catholic schools, the godless schools would soon be emptied and suspended, and there would hardly be other but Catholic schools. The Catholic teachers of the Public Schools would follow our children, and would be too happy in teaching on Catholic ground, and according to Catholic principles.

Should a sufficient number of children be left for the Public Schools, this would be no reason whatever to fear that our Catholic schools could not compete with the Public Schools; for, generally speaking, Catholic children are more talented than those of Protestants or infidels. The reason of this is easily to be seen: they have been baptized; the veil of sin has been raised from their souls, and the Catholic life which they lead makes their minds brighter, more quick to perceive, and to understand what is difficult. About six months ago the priests of St. James's Church, in New York, exhorted the parents to take their children out of the Public Schools, and send them to Catholic schools. What happened? Three of the Public School teachers came and complained to the priests that the brightest gems of their school had left, and that, on that account, they could not have the exhibition which they intended soon to give. A short time ago, at an exhibition in Boston, it was a Catholic young lady that took the prize medal.