To be destitute of ardent zeal for the spiritual welfare of children, is to see, with indifferent eyes, the Blood of Jesus Christ trodden under foot; it is to see the image and likeness of God lie in the mire, and not care for it; it is to despise the Blessed Trinity; the Father, who created them; the Son, who redeemed them; the Holy Ghost, who sanctified them; it is to belong to that class of shepherds, of whom the Lord commanded Ezekiel to prophesy as follows: "Son of man, prophesy concerning the shepherds of Israel: prophesy and say to the shepherds: Thus saith the Lord God: Wo to the shepherds of Israel.... My flock you did not feed. The weak you have not strengthened; and that which was sick, you have not healed: that which was broken, you have not bound up; and that which was driven away, you have not brought again; neither have you sought that which was lost:... and My sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd: and they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered. My sheep have wandered in every mountain, and in every high hill: and there was none, I say, that sought them. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Behold, I Myself come upon the shepherds. I will require My flock at their hands."—(Ezek. xxxiv. 2-10.) To be destitute of this zeal for the Catholic education of our children, is to hide the five talents which the Lord has given us, instead of gaining other five talents. Surely the Lord will say: "And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."—(Matt. xxv. 30.)
What a shame for pastors of souls to know that the devil, in alliance with the wicked, is at work, day and night, for the ruin and destruction of youth, and to be so little concerned about their eternal loss; just as if it was not true what the holy Fathers say, that the salvation of one soul is worth more than the whole visible world! Since when is it, then, that the price of the souls of little children has been lessened? Ah, as long as the price of the Blood of Jesus Christ remains of an infinite value, so long the price of souls will remain the same also! Heaven and earth will pass away, but this truth will not. The devil knows and understands it but too well. Oh! how he delights in a priest who is called, by Jesus Christ, "the hireling, because he has no care for the sheep, and who seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and flieth."—(John x. 12.)
On the Day of Judgment, such a priest will be confounded by that poor man of whom we read, in the life of St. Francis de Sales, as follows: One day this holy and zealous pastor, on a visit of his diocese, had reached the top of one of those dreadful mountains, overwhelmed with fatigue and cold, his hands and feet completely benumbed, in order to visit a single parish in that dreary situation; while he was viewing, with astonishment, those immense blocks of ice of an uncommon thickness, the inhabitants, who had approached to meet him, related that some days before a shepherd, running after a strayed sheep, had fallen into one of these tremendous precipices. They added that his fate would never have been known if his companion, who was in search of him, had not discovered his hat on the edge of the precipice. The poor man, therefore, imagined that the shepherd might be still relieved, or, if he should have perished, that he might be honored with a Christian burial.
With this view he descended, by the means of ropes, this icy precipice, whence he was drawn up, pierced through with cold, and holding in his arms his companion, who was dead, and almost frozen into a block of ice. Francis, hearing this account, turned to his attendants, who were disheartened with the extreme fatigues which they had every day to encounter, and availing himself of this circumstance to encourage them, he said: "Some persons imagine that we do too much, and we certainly do far less than these poor people. You have heard in what manner one has lost his life in an attempt to find a strayed animal; and how another has exposed himself to the danger of perishing, in order to procure for his friend a burial, which, under these circumstances, might have been dispensed with. These examples speak to us in forcible language; by this charity we are confounded, we who perform much less for the salvation of souls intrusted to our care, than those poor people do for the security of animals confided to their charge." Then the holy Prelate heaved a deep sigh, saying: "My God, what a beautiful lesson for bishops and pastors! This poor shepherd has sacrificed his life to save a strayed sheep, and I, alas! have so little zeal for the salvation of souls. The least obstacle suffices to deter me, and make me calculate my every step and trouble. Great God, give me true zeal, and the genuine spirit of a good shepherd! Ah, how many shepherds of souls will not this herdsman judge!" Alas! how just and how true is this remark. If we saw our very enemies surrounded by fire, we would think of means to rescue them from the danger; and now we see thousands of little children, redeemed at the price of the blood of Jesus Christ, on the point of losing their faith, and with it their souls; and shall we be less concerned and less active for these images and likenesses of God than for their frames, their bodies?
We hear a little child weeping, and we at once try to console it; we hear a little dog whining at the door, and we open it; a poor beggar asks for a piece of bread, and we give it; and we hear the Mother of our Catholic children—the Catholic Church—cry in lamentable accents: "Let my little ones have the bread of life—a good Christian education"—and we do not heed her voice. We hear Jesus Christ cry, "Suffer the little ones to come unto Me," by means of a Catholic education; we hear him say: "Woe to him who scandalizes a little child"—who makes it lose his innocence—his faith—his soul, by sending it to godless schools; we see Him weep over Jerusalem, over the loss of so many Catholic children, and we hear Him say: "Weep not over me, but for your children"; and neither His voice nor His tears make any impression. We say with the man in the Gospel, "Trouble me not, the door (of our heart) is now shut, I cannot rise and give thee."—(Luke xi.) If an ass, says our Lord, falls into a pit, you will pull him out even on a Sabbath-day; and an innocent soul, nay, thousands of innocent children, fall away from Me and pass over to the army of the apostate angels, and become My and your adversaries, and you do not care. Oh, what great cruelty, what hardness of heart, nay, what great impiety! If we were blind, we should not have sin; but as Jesus Christ has spoken to us on the subject of education through His Vicar on earth, through so many zealous bishops, through sad experience, nay, even through many of those who are outside the Church, we have no excuse for our sin of suffering devilish wolves to devour our youth in our country. "My watchmen," says the Lord, "are all dumb dogs, not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping, and loving dreams."—(Isa. lvi. 10.) Truly the curses and maledictions of all those who led a bad life, and were damned for want of a good Christian education, which we neglected to give them, will come down upon us! What shall we answer? "And he was silent."—Matt. xxii.
Marvellous, indeed, have been God's gracious dealings with this poor land of ours, so very far above what we could have dreamed or hoped for some years ago, that we may say in all truth that the finger of God has touched us. That touch has quickened Catholic life in our land to a wonderful extent; not, indeed, as yet, with the great exuberance of Catholic European countries, but nevertheless with almost exulting gladness; for to-day there are few indeed of our cities and towns in which at least the pulse of Catholic life does not beat strongly.
But why have these great things been done for us? Why has our Catholic life been increased and strengthened so wonderfully, except to win more souls to Christ, to bring more of the American people into closer union with God? If this be so, then we must not leave our Lord to work alone; we must be fellow-workers with Him, by helping forward the growth of holiness, the progress of the spiritual life, the poverty of the Cross, the spreading of His Spirit in opposition to the formal and self-indulgent spirit of the age, and this by every means in our power; and, above all, by multiplying amongst us Catholic schools and institutions. What the future may have in store for the Church in America we cannot tell; whether, when more of God's Spirit has been poured out upon us, our sons and our daughters shall prophesy, and our young men shall see visions, and our old men shall dream dreams, as in the days of old; but of this we may be sure, that in exact proportion as our clergy exert that mighty energy which springs from the living faith that overcomes the world, in order to leaven the mass of the American people, and to build up, throughout the length and breadth of the land, temples and schools to God's holy name, and altars to His honor, will be the manifestation of the kingdom of God with power and majesty in the midst of this American land, and the grasp of God's Church upon the hearts and minds of this American people!
I have now only to add that I submit this, and whatever else I have written, to the better judgment of our Bishops, but especially to the Holy See, anxiously desirous to think nothing, to say nothing, to teach nothing but what is approved of by those to whom the sacred deposit of Faith has been committed—those who watch over us as being to render an account to God for our souls.
Now, should the Prelates of the Church deem this publication ever so little calculated to promote the great cause for which it has been written, the compiler will believe himself amply rewarded for his labor, and he will feel extremely grateful if they encourage its circulation by giving it their special approbation and recommendation.