CATHOLIC EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1015, 3 January 1911, Page 5

CATHOLIC EDUCATION

: PASTORAL LETTER BY BISHOP ' GRIMES. . • Telegraph.—Special Correspondent.) •*; Christchurch, January l 2. : -.Bishop Grimes , has issued a- pastoral : letter to lie read in the various Catholic churches throughout his diocese, with reference to the establishment of- - St. i Bede's'Collegiate School'in Christchurch. The institution .-will open .in February •next, and, will'.bo conducted, by the Mar•£t "Fathers- under, the rectorship. of .the Rev. Father Graham, S.M., M.A. . -'His- Lordship points: out that whilst Bt. Patrick s College,- Wellington, has done, and continues to do, yeoman servicoJor tho higher education of the youth of New-Zealand,' many of the Catholic people in Canterbury are unor, reluctant,'to send their sons solar away. His Lordship; in the pastoral letter, Bays: I am. confident that this, the new foundation of tl.o Marist Fathers, will not only have the approval but tho practical support of every zealous' priest and intelligent layman -of our diocese. In .founding'this school-for higher. stud"f. , w ® , fulfilling ' a long-felt' ' want. At the same time we are complying with the reiterated wishes of, the 'Apostolic See. v It may be and in fact it is often asked why we i Catholics so strenuously insist, upon Christian schools , and Christian colleges, .and instead of making sacrifices in founding, cquippine:, and maintaining primary and secondary: schoolsof our. own, - why do we not. avail ourselves or the palatial buildings, with the, admirable systems of secular learning, buildings for which we have to contribute, and contribute largely, too ? ■ Is it. not because, animated with the spirit of our Holy Faith, we believe that seciiJar knowledge, no matter how seeminglv thorough,, is always, incomplete without religipus teaching? Is it not because we, are oor.vmced that there can be no ..full knowledge worthy of. the. name; unless it leads to God, the "Alpha and Omega of all creation?"