At a later period, the Irish, so much taunted for their ignorance in reading and writing, paid heavy taxes to the British Government, and, be it said to their honor, they, for a time, deprived themselves of the most useful knowledge, not on account of their opposition to schools, but because when the teachers of their choice were hunted down by government officials, and shot like wild beasts, if caught in the act of teaching, they refused to go to the State schools, which they could not attend without betraying the faith of their ancestors.
We also pay taxes, and will continue to do so in submission to a most unjust law; but, thanks be to God! we are at liberty to seek legal redress, and our exertions should increase until it is obtained by those very means which were used to establish godless schools, viz.: the press, lecturing, preaching, etc., to form, again, public opinion in favor of Christian schools, and electing such men to legislatures as are down upon godless schools, and advocate the establishment of Christian schools for the well-being of our country. In the meantime, in order to preserve the true faith, and save the world from the deadly indifference into which it is falling, Catholic schools must be got up, and kept up, at any cost.
Finally, there are some of the clergy who say, "It is so much trouble to get up schools, and to support them—where to get the teachers, and the money to pay them." True, it is troublesome to establish schools; but we have to live on troubles. Our very troubles become our ladder to heaven, if borne for the sake of Jesus Christ. If we do not wish to undergo troubles and trials of every kind for the sake of Jesus, and for the salvation of those for whom He shed His heart's blood, we should not have become priests. Our right and claim to heaven can be established only by following our Lord, and by carrying our cross after Him.
As to the fear of not getting money for building and supporting schools, let us look at those magnificent school-buildings in every city and town of the country. Where did those priests who built them get the money? It was no angel from heaven that brought it. The parents of the children that are educated in these schools gave it. Let us rest assured that money will not be wanting to a priest if his zeal is great enough to show to parents the absolute necessity of Catholic schools, in order to save their children from becoming scourges for society in this life, and from becoming victims of hell in the next. Let a priest unite great charity and affection for children, and he will at once lay hold on the hearts and money of their parents. Those parents who have no money to offer, will most willingly offer their labor for so noble a work. This has been our experience for years in every place where we took charge of a congregation. Let every child—the poor excepted—pay from thirty to forty cents a month. The money thus collected will cover all the expenses for teachers, and for the books of the poor children. Parents are but too happy to have a priest who takes a lively interest in the temporal and eternal happiness of their children. For the promotion of this happiness, parents will give to the priest the last cent they have got—nay, their own hearts' blood, if necessary. This we have witnessed many times. We have established schools in country places, where the people made very little money; yet they were but too happy to give us money for the building and support of schools. There are hundreds of priests who can say the same of themselves. And should there be refractory characters who do not care about a good Catholic education, let us refuse them absolution, as penitents who are not disposed for the worthy reception of the sacraments. We cannot scruple to do this.
The voice of common sense, the voice of sad experience, the voice of Catholic bishops, and especially the voice of the Holy Father, is raised against, and condemns, the Public School system as a huge humbug, injuring, not promoting, personal virtue and good citizenship, and as being most pernicious to Catholic faith, and life, and all good morals. A pastor, therefore, cannot maintain the contrary opinion without incurring great guilt before God and the Church. He cannot allow parents to send their children to such schools of infidelity and immorality. He cannot give them absolution, and say, "Innocens sum!" For he must know and understand that parents are bound before the Almighty to raise their children good Catholics, to plant in their hearts the seed of godliness and parental obedience; this was their promise at the baptismal font. They are bound in conscience to redeem this promise; but they cannot do this, so long as their children go to the Public Schools; for it must be conceded that children attending these godless Public Schools are in proximate occasion of sin, and this occasion is in esse for them. This being so, parents cannot receive absolution unless they remove from their children this occasion of sin. "I do not see," says the Archbishop of Cincinnati—and many other bishops say the same—"I do not see how parents can be absolved, if they are not disposed to support Catholic schools, and send their children thereto."
"Duty compels us"—says the Bishop of Vincennes, Ind., in his Pastoral Letter of 1872—"duty compels us to instruct the pastors of our churches to refuse absolution to parents who, having the facilities and means of educating their children in a Christian manner, do, from worldly motives, expose them to the danger of losing their faith. This measure, however, being very rigorous, we intend that it shall be recurred to in extreme cases only, and when all means of persuasion have been exhausted."
As for teachers, there are everywhere many young ladies who have received a splendid education, and who would feel but too happy to become teachers for our children, and bring them up in such a manner as to fit them for business in this life, and for heaven hereafter.
But why so many objections? It was in the following manner that two bishops silenced all such objections, and made Catholic schools spring up all over their dioceses in a short time: they told their priests "that, were they not to have schools within a certain limited time, they would dismiss them from their dioceses; and that, should their parishioners not be willing to provide the means for establishing and supporting Catholic schools, they would withdraw from them their priests." This looks like believing in the Catholic Church. From the moment that the priests saw this determination of their bishop—the people were overjoyed at it—Catholic schools, and, with them, Catholic life, sprang up, and diffused itself at once all over the two dioceses.
Let, then, everyone of our clergy take courage, and the Lord will dispose the hearts of the rich and the poor in his favor;—the hearts of the rich to provide him with means, the hearts of the poor to aid him, by their prayers, in the promotion of so noble a work as is the establishment of good Catholic schools.