THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTY IN EDUCATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14441, 6 February 1909, Page 14

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTY IN EDUCATION

.TIIK DEMANDS OP THK ROMAN CATHOLIC,' CHURCH: CAM TIIEY UK CHANTED? (I3y R. W.) "11l (lie churches miLjcni io the Pope clerical power and even,* doctrinc favourable to clcrica! power have been dewlopcd and developed. v;hi'e ail Uml nniinrcd freedom and :> 1! Urn!, guaranteed jl hnv? l>een harassed and denounced, cnbinod anil confined, al'.emiatt-d anil sinrved."—'\Y. K Gladstone.

Lrilicisni of our .State swloni of e;!uruii..;i is legitimate, and the ?<liior of (ho Tablet is iptiie within bis rigbiu in indulging in it, and in setting forth the special grievances of lib co-religionists. We have get a good deal of this kii:d of thing from time to time. But. tlic.-o Blalcmciitt arc varclv accompanied with a clear, definite announcement of what the Roman Church really demands The object or the following notes it to set forth from aullioritive sources the demands of the Roman Church. and to ask i( l hew* denmiiLs Kin Ls complied w.ith in this democratic country. The spireme authority is the famous syllabus of I'ope Pius IX. I have before me a copy of this document iu T.tilh>, hut I i|Uote lielow from an Enslitdi tr;ni-.l:ition that appeared in Ihe Woekiy Uogwler !a. rotognised Human Church organ) of London.

I.—THE DEMANDS OF THE SYLLABUS OF I'OI'K Fllirt IX. 11l IE6I Pope Pius IX an encyclical letter and a syllabiis of the errors of the ii^ r e to his P.lshops for tl.eir guUlance. 'Plioe documcnls tiro of the higlie-il author,ty. The syllabus, aef 'ndicg to th- 1 Dublin Hevieu, wan deli\ - ered ex cathedra. 'Ihe voice of the I'oym then in I hi; docnmi'iit is to his followers lhe voice of tiod. The Pope described If as Ihe only anchor of safely for the coming time. War is declared in this document against many .features of our civilisation to-day. State education is specially ami eliipli.".!ieally condemned. Mv (ihidsiot)-.*, in his "Vaticanism." mentions .that Scluader, Ihe .le.suit. wim one of t.hos? employed hv Ihe Pop? in drawing up Ihe syllabus, and'he (Sehra-der) has made the meaning or the syllabus <-k>a" by ranverting Ihe condemnatory negations into correspondim; atiiniialivc"-. Here is the miiid of the Pope as set forth in Proposition 45:--the entire direction of public schools lit which the youth of a Christian Slate are educated, Excepting Episcopal seminaries. cannot and mu.-.t not l:i> oiven to the Stale, even so thai no right of juty ollpr authority to _ interfere in i.he discipline of the school, in the arrangement of studies, in the conferring of degrees, ( , r in the choice and approval of teachers can be recognised." Schrader expnun<ls this proposition as follows:—"The .-.iipreiu" direction of public schools iu which the youth of a ChrMia-ii Stat" are edncalcd |>erta.iiis to the Cniirch. li is lief <!iitv | 0 watch over all nubile anil privutc schools. M >. that in the enure school svsioiu, l.ttl especially ill what reJukt; to iioac-hoivy inav api Jointed and bnok-i may be emplovvd which s.iall lie free from every suspicion o) error: and that thus matters a.nd mistresses of tho mm | ;.|-ui!ovoi| rectitude may (•C chosen for the senwls of the children and youth m «.vli.,t years. The Church . . . would | ; e unfaithful ... if slm gave up her wholesome in!in<. influence over the primary «clionk would b» eonu>elled to warn a-'I believers awl lo oeclare to llteri, Hiat schools out of which Ihe authority of Ihe Church is <l r ivcn are f-cheols hostile to ihe cburc.h and cannot In attended wit.h good wni-cieiiM." In Pans l|,e editor of the Ijnivirs, Louis Veuillot, was an enthusiastic supuortcr of lope I'ms IX in bJs war aga'inst. our ""."'er'i civiliiai.ion. He h»!d lint parents ni'ght. settle iiuestio::; pertaining io ,'hcir ehik.r.'n's diet or ,tro s =. c ,,lli'uir lK - for'"."Y. '"".'he pn:-tt is ihe fnher of Ihe cluhls Mini, and inns! del: riuiiie hi.- cdnr-i "oil. tie held tint the ddef end of «!itcaitoii was to link- war against a social order where ihe Pope vns not supreme iu power. 'I ho Syllabus of l.'ius IX

(1) win* ,'igani>l »S'iaU:-eontrol!ed o(iiic«if-iou in Clirisiiati countries; (2) J)eciares rhut rho .supreme eout-ro! of jm w-hools pMuin* to the Church (iJvonian 'Jhurch); (3) 'vllirms that ail schools not con- < roii'N.l by Ko»j\an Church «re hostile to that. Church.

lI.—TilK DKCRUKS OF TIIK I'IiOVIX (MAI. curxcii, in MKLlJllfKNl' IN 1569.

.A icw yen rs after I lie publication of tho syllabus, in April. 1563. a council of Koniau l.altiolic Bishops was hold in Aid. nourue, ari-.l <i>von decreas on educalion were agreed upon. In the ji,-.si <l o c-rEO the oate ;ir<> described as " daHgeroui ami, poisonous purines," W n,J as inflict in./ •ill llijui'} 1 on t1,.. ''paw,,,. „r ,| ie C.-hurcl,." III? «is'o:id davee is a,-, follows:1 Ileiu'f wo condemn fliai pdiipntion of r< ii r ' V °'- ' "' i ' o ' l ls '-'"parated from she Catholic fai!Ji and from ihe power of t!„> hnrch, and, Iherefore. wo shall lake oaro to remove the Catholic children from those sflHwls' which a,-,, ealkl ln ; XC( | since jn I he-it. according to the civil law, jhi' t iHirch can exorcise no authority nor have any power in regulatiug tho studies, selecting Ihe books, or in the choice o! the' teachers.

_ liulceree j, "all the clergy and the faithml are admonished to erect where possible Catholic .schools. In decree 4, a claim is made 0 n the public revenue for tli» building ami maintenance of iliose se|iariit c ediools. In decree 5 it is said that the l.overninenis are not prevented from inspecting i.lie schools. In decree 6 a claim is made on the public revenue for tho building and conducting of "training whools" for i!:o iau'lior.s in the tl Catholic school?.' 1 I.M deme 7 propositions 45, 47, 48 of rhn of IW Pius IX arp qiiolcd. and ih--s6 .11-0 described as selling forth ihe '• sound principles of education " in which Ihe clergy are to " continually ittsM'Ucl" Ibr fiiithfnl.

These decrees bring the war against State si hoofs clearly and disliuelly iliio the Southern Hemisphere. They declare: (1) That, no "Catholic" child shall attend a (oniuion school. Provision for his I'd licit ion must. 1« nwde by Ihe enetion of a separate school, or in some ot'i-er way. (2) th-'so " Catholic" schools are to be built and ihe tc-aehers supported by money from the public revenue. (3) Unit sopavi'.te " Caiholic ' training eelu.ols for teachers are necessary and assistance should be given fr.-iu the public Treasury for tho " building and conducting of these schools.'' ° In seeking to enforce these decrees a free use of ihe armoury of ihe Church's discipline is made use of. The Confessional is a mighty engine for exacting obedience to the laws of the Church. Jn the famous Pa.storal of the .New South Wales Bishops of 13*79 no confessor was allowed, save for "exceptional realms," to grant absolution to patents whose eliildien al,tended the public schools of Xew South Wales, in which, by the way. the Christian religion was rccogui-ed and the door also thrown open for the priest to enter in and imparl "Catholic" teaching. 111. TilIC PECULIAR PRINCIPLES OF TIIK CTIUUCII THAT MAKES THESE DEMANDS. I'he prelates of the Roman Catholic Church in their war aga-inst our State.

schools contend tli.it f-lioir existence i? a violation of flic principles of religious liberiy, ami that their existence. is a menace lo the moral welllwiiifr of the comimuiity. Lot lis lock nt there two point. 1. The epilation of religious liberty.--Archbishop Vauiflian said in the course of his battle with Sir Henry Parlies that "no bishop or priest must move a litUe linger lo interfere with the liberty of (he subject." Now. the syllabus of Pope Pius IX, from which l)r Yaiighan got his marching orders in his educational crusade, sets forth some very peculiar views about relisrious equality and llie lilx'rtv oE the subject. Proposition 77, according to the Jesuit Schrader. teaches as followsln our time ii is still essential that the Catholic religion should be held as the only State religion lif the exclusion of all forms of religion. Sclirador, in commenting on this, -sivs i'he Po|>e condemned in his AUocit : on of .Inly 26, 1856. the Spanish Government for granting freedom of worship. and he " rejected" this law and declared it " null and void." 'There is in Spain to-day "freedom of worship" iu didia.no" of the Pope. But this '■ freedom" Ill's its drawback-,. In the December nuiiibei- of Blackwood's .Magazine there is an illustration of this. In the provinc of Geroua, in Spain, ihore is a community of Spanish Protestant*, with a Spanish pastor. 'I his Protestant mission has six schools, with over 600 pupils. On the 7th December, 1907. a boy aged live died whose parents were memln'rs of thi! Evangelical Church and teachers in the mission schools. The Protestant pastor was ashed to conduct th" funeral service. He did so, having obtained a_ judicial and municipal permit. The I'iishoi) of Gerona instituted prweedin-rs at law against the pastor, his brother, and tin; falher of the Ixiy. Tile trial took place at Gerona on (Ictolier 26. 1908. and the Protestant iiiiiiist-ci- a.ud the others were sentenced to two months iin|iiisonment. line,. and costs! The ground of offence was I hat the hoy had been bap. tised a Roman Catholic. There is no Slate aid to Protestant schools in Spain, ■and liberiy is tlenir-tl to thum to bury even their own tlead. Such is religious equality as practised by (lie liishnp of (ieronu.

2. There is the question of Ihe relation of the State Schools to morality. Uis assumed, as the New South Wales bishops put, it, that they are "seedplots of future immorality, and "calculated" to ••corrupt the political, social, and individual life of future Citizens." It is further assumed that 11 school system controlled l,v Koman ecclesiastics will save a people from these dire evils. Hut. both these assumptions need to be proved. Universal State schools are abiTOst things of yesterday. We cannot test, Ihfir workings liy an appeal lo historv. Hut, clerical control of tho "political, social, and individual life'' of u nation is not a fliiiif of yesterday. We can appeal to historv lo see huw- it worked. Clericalism dominates Spam: it is to-day in the van of civilisation? I,ook elsewhere. " Wlio ever " savs Macaiiluy m the first chapter of bis " iiis-t-ory of Kngland," " passes in Oermany from a bottian Catholic to a Protestant 'nriueipably, in Switzerland from n Roman (.'atliolic to a I'mte-.-tanl Catif-on, in Ireland from a lioinaii Catholic lo 11 Protestant county, finds that he has pawed from a lower to a higher grade of civilisation. On the other side or the Atlantic the same law prevails." lhe Japiil States when tho Pope rei"iied as tornporal King are said bv some authorities to have h«en by no means a. model nation. If would be intcrcstin<u'to compare the criminal records of t& Papal .States with those of another nation coutro.led hy a non-elerieal Goveriimetil. It would irn some way to justify the truth 01 talseliood ol Hip assumption that a civilisation dominated by Roman ecclesiastics is the highest type of civilisation.

IV-—WHAT THE GRANTING OK TIIK The representatives of the. Church of home 111 the Southern Hemisphere miirlit as well cry tor the moon to tall into their laps as to ask t-> have the control of our educational syst.-.itis. Thev ,io ,„. t therefore, make the full demand of the sviiabus. . ' demand, however, iimicli, ami tlie grantof it would invo|-,v the <niadim? up of our State of cdi:c:u.ioii. lhe graiu.it.tr „f t J lc dwiiaml woul.l mean eJiitlc.-s little rival schools 'sout-tviixl all over _ tlio iiiMl; it. wonl-d meati separate training schook for. teacher*: and every deuominaton in the land would be entitled to nwko the same demand. In New Somh "ales ccclcsia.ilin; ignored tl;e fact that, there were 20.000 children outside ail the schools in 1879. and sUniso-J the Government for multiplying the Slate schools ami tfarvmg the denomina.t.iinal schools! Tho same thing would show itself i,,. r0 . D,, noul j. iialiom; wou'd be more Ca-.icr lo get grants for their schools th.-ni to provide educaton for llio.-e outside tho schools. There is a uieasitre of har<!t?hio in Kontan Catiiolics betinng a share of the luxation that uoe; to support the Slate liul little hardships of this kind press on many sliouldeis. ThoiK'inils of I'rofestatit children arc sent to private schools all over thu, land: their educational bill must annually tail into tens of thousands of pounds, anil their parejita tire ta?;od for our State schools. A multitude c.f people pay nmnicipa.l tins a.:;d wator and use neither of tlift-e. Were our educational revenue obtained by a sixx-ial tvtte our Roman Catholic brethren inieht l ji exeuipte<l from this rate; but then every parent who sent his children to a private school would lcj.ve a plea for exemption also. If this alleged hardship cannot l<e removed, would any injustice ln> done bv flying over the schools 1 lie o'd " fl.'i.ir" of 30 years rjao. If the old flag were flying certain wle«iasl-ifs woirid 'nor sav that "Gtd had been banished from our schools."