SHALL WE PETITION PARLIAMENT?

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 38, 19 January 1894, Page 17

SHALL WE PETITION PARLIAMENT?

fHE school question is well to the fore at Home and abroad. In America it is now a burning question. In England and Ireland it is a great subject of controversy. In the colonies it is, and will be, a matter of ceaseless agitation. We are in a minority and can only hope for the redress of our grievances by continual appeal to the reason and sense of justice of our fellow -citizens. It is slow work, for we have a heavy mist of ignorance to dispel, and a very mountain of prejudice to beat down. But we are surely gaining ground, and we know the value of St Francis de Sales' motto, " Festina lente " (make haste slowly). We may be a long way from the goal. We are steadily working our way thereto, making our work more and more perfect as we march along. Catholic schools are every year increasing their now acknowledged great proficiency. The test-hour may come at any time. Our teachers are prepared for it, and onr children will give a good account of ttanselves. We have no doubt but that patrons of Catholic ■chools will see to it that 1894 will outstrip any of its predecessors in the matter of scholastic excellence. We hope that their efforts will be nobly seconded by the Catholic laity and that all Catholic schools will be well and regularly attended by all Catholic children. Even taking into account our many disabilities, with punctual and regular attendance, our devoted teachers can produce, as hitherto, the most desirable results. To keep our schools in a state of efficiency is the primary duty of the Catholic people. They are bound, especially in this age of open unbelief, to give their children a thoroughly Christian education. To keep up agitation of the question, to constantly drive home the reasonableness of our claim to our own money for secular instruction, is also a most important duty. We should take advantage of every move in the political world to further our educational interests. Our brethren at Home and in America are just now in many places preparing petitions for presentation to Parliament, asking for r«dress of existing grievances. Why not join with them and petition our own Legislature for justice to our schools ? The world, through the rapid interchange of news and modern conveniences of travel, has become a very Bmall place. Our friends at Home are stimulated by our action at the antipodes. We have the same grievances and the same motive of action, and the same methods of obtaining justice naturally suggest themselves. Anyone who reads the recent charge of the Bishop to the clergy and laity of the diocese of Nottingham will feel that he is reading what again and agafn has been expressed by Bishop Moran in these columns, and frequently said by the New Zealand hierarchy. "The present law," says Dr Baoshawe, " obliges Catholics to pay heavy rates in order to build and maintain public schools to which they cannot conscientiously send their children, and which are, therefore quite useless to them. These schools, which we cannot use' are pampered in every way at our cost. They are often built in palatial style and most expensively furnished ; they are supplied without stint with highly-paid teachers ; they offer every branch of a high-class education to the children of the rich and middle classes, without charge, at our expense, though

we cannot, except at the cost of conscience, share in the benefit." It seems that as the grievance at Home is the same as in these new lands, so the identical pretexts for refuging justice are the same. There is a sort of universal brotherhood whose cardinal doctrine is expressed in the hackneyed phrase, " We cannot pay money for the teaching of dogma." In vain Catholics in Ireland and England and the colonies answer, "We do not want money to teach religion. We want no State church— we pay our own clergy. We want simply our own money back for efficient secular teaching only, of which alone Government takes account in any school." It is all the same ; the senseless shibboleth is repeated to catch the thoughtless. It is our duty to use every means of enlightening our fellowcitizens by pulpit, Press, and platform. The reasonableness of our claim ought to be constantly presented. Constant dropping wears away stone. Constant expounding of our rational appeal will tell in the end and cause the mountain of bigoted prejudice to crumble away. The question is now asked in many parts of this Colony : " Shall we present petitions to the coming Parliament ? " It is for the hierarchy to effectively answer the question. Our natural leaders, wise and vigilant, are in the position to decide what will be best for the great cause. We cannot help thinking with our correspondent in this issue, that a petition Betting forth a clear statement of our rational claims for justice and briefly dealing destruction to the flimsy pretexts which, as bogeys frighten the multitude, would, if signed by all the Catholics i of the Colony, do immense service in New Zealand, and, to some extent, help our brethren beyond the seas.