Public School Education

by Michael Müller

"As the pastor is, so is the flock. We enjoy full religious liberty in our country. All we need is good, courageous pastors—standard-bearers in the cause of God and the people. We would be only too happy to follow them, and to support and encourage them by every means in our power. What an immense amount of good could thus be achieved in a short time! Our religion never loses anything of its efficacy upon the minds and hearts of men; it can only lose in as far as it is not brought to bear upon them. What is most wanted is not argument, but instruction and explanation.

"I can hardly account for this want of zeal for true Catholic education in so many of our clergy, who are otherwise models of every virtue, than by supposing the fact that their ecclesiastical training must have been deficient in many respects, or that they must have spent their youth in our godless Public Schools, where they were never thoroughly imbued with the true spirit of the Catholic Church—the spirit of God.

"I have quietly, for some time, studied, as far as I was able, the prevailing spirit of our people; noted the remarks and efforts of a few ecclesiastics, laics, and Catholic periodicals (and, alas! how very few) made in behalf of the sacred obligation of education, and endeavored to compare the results with the efforts, and the observation made is sadly disheartening.

"Examine the Catholic almanacs, the census of the various States, or those of the United States, and ascertain, first, the number of Catholics in the country; second, the number of those between the ages of six and twenty-one years; then divide this last number by the number of Catholic schools, including colleges, academies, convents, parochial and private schools, and the quotient will be what? Indifference to Catholic education! In other words, this simple operation in vulgar arithmetic demonstrates that in no country claiming to be enlightened can be found thirteen millions of Catholics with such an inadequate number of schools as we have, or are likely to have, if a policy widely different from that which prevails at present be not early inaugurated and steadily pursued. It is, indeed, true—and I willingly, cheerfully admit the fact—that most of our priests, and nearly all our bishops, are exerting themselves zealously, strenuously, and with marked success, in the cause of education. But not all the priests; not all the bishops are enlisted in the cause; nor are all in positive sympathy with it. All may be, perhaps are, agreed in believing that Catholic education is necessary; but all are not agreed as to the necessity of Catholic schools in which it may be secured. Unanimity exists as to the end, but not as to the means to that end. And this lack or absence of unanimity, especially among those whose peculiar province it is to shape and direct Catholic sentiment, has produced, and continues to produce, the most injurious consequences.

"Many of the clergy are not opposed to the Public Schools, nor do they feel reluctant to publicly make known the "faith which is in them," when an opportunity presents itself. Many are opposed to these schools, but theirs is a negative opposition; that is, they are not in favor of them. They believe that Catholic schools are better and safer, but they do not consider it a duty incumbent on themselves to undertake the labor and trouble inseparable from the establishment and direction of parochial schools. These reverend gentlemen are simply neutrals; that is, if men may, or can, be neutral on such a subject.

"Thought is free, and it may, perhaps, be impossible to have entire unanimity in matters of opinion only; but if one of the ends sought to be attained by the Church be the securing to each child a Catholic education, it is very evident that the establishment of schools should not be left to the discretion or whim of the several pastors. Upon subjects far less important than that of schools, the statutes in many dioceses are clear, explicit, binding. Is there any reason for their silence on the subject of education? Our bishops have not only the power, but the will, to enforce such matters of discipline as they deem necessary. This granted—because too clear to be denied—does it not follow that the establishment of schools maybe made obligatory upon pastors? Let discipline be made uniform, and we will not witness such an anomalous condition of things as exist at present. Duties are never in collision; obligations never clash. There is but one right thing to be done, but one right cause to pursue, all things considered; and whatever is in conflict with this cannot be a duty, whatever may seem to be its claim. In some parts of this country, the sacraments are refused to those who decline to have their children attend Catholic schools where such are convenient; but there is not, so far as I am informed, in those parts, any rule making it obligatory upon pastors to establish such schools. In other sections, to withhold the sacraments for such a cause is unthought of. The consequence is that many Catholics are at a loss to understand why it is that an act which subjects them to such severe punishment in one diocese should in another not call forth even a mild reproof—pass unnoticed. In actions indifferent in themselves, it may be wise, "when in Rome, to do as the Romans do"; but where principle is involved, such an easy adaptability cannot be encouraged.

"In this laxity of discipline, and in this want of uniformity, in this wide difference of opinion among those who give direction to Catholic sentiment, and who speak, as it were, ex cathedra, may be found some of the causes for the indifference existing among our people on the question of Catholic education.

"But it is so convenient to allow things to go on in the old way, and so hard to establish anything new. Yet a thing which, in the great struggle between the Church and antichrist, is one of the most powerful means of victory, is really worth the highest sacrifice. Indeed, the establishment of thorough Catholic schools is the most important step that can be taken by our clergy to solve certain social questions, and which can be solved only on Catholic principles. The greatest social danger of the age, is the dechristianization and demoralization of the rising generation. This dechristianization and demoralization are, to a great extent, the cause of the wretchedness of society, and make that wretchedness almost incurable. What enormous dimensions has this evil assumed under the present godless system of education in the Public Schools! But even the evils resulting from this system might, to a great extent, be healed, if the clergy labor, with the zeal and fire of apostolic times, to have good schools, and imbue our children therein with thorough Christian knowledge, with fervent piety and earnest devotion. Oh! if the children of light were only as wise as the children of the world, we should witness wonders. It is true that evil makes its way in this world better than goodness does, but it is also true that goodness does not prosper, because those who represent it take the matter too lightly, or do not go about it as they should. More is often done for the worst cause than men are willing to do or to sacrifice for the best. A great deal has of late years been done for the establishment and maintenance of Catholic schools. Let us sincerely hope that a great deal more will be done, and more universally; and need requires us not only to pray, but to work with all our strength, with inexhaustible patience and devotion, at the establishment of Catholic schools, and make, for this noblest of objects, sacrifices not less generous than those made by infidels in behalf of godless education."

It was thus that the good old gentleman spoke to me. He uttered great truths. His language is that of all good Catholics in the country. I have often heard it. It is no exaggeration to assert that the salvation of those of our clergy who have charge of congregations depends, in a great measure, on the solicitude with which they promote the thorough Catholic education of those children who are confided to their care.

"Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I Myself come upon the shepherds, I will require My flock at their hand."—(Ezek. xxxiv. 9, 10.)