COMPLETE EDUCATION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 35, 28 August 1902, Page 4

COMPLETE EDUCATION.

His Grace the Coadjutor- Archbishop of Sydney in opening anew •ohool-hall at Waveriey a few Sundays ago delivered an address on Education. All alike, said his Grace, Catholic and non-Oatholio, will ever maintain that the work of eduoation is second to none. Its importance to the individual and to society oannot be overestimated. Bat it must be sound and complete. Sometimes what Bhould be a blessing is perverted and becomes an affliotion or a curse. Education might be noxiouß. Then if it would be complete it must prepare a man to procure his living, to fulfil his duties in the domestic oirole, to bear profitably the responsibility of oitiienBhip, and, more than all, to glorify his Creator, for whose greater honor he and all things were called from nothing. It ia well to be olear on this point, for our position I olaim to be not only tenable, but impregnable. Our position is that

Eduoation has Four Essential Parts.

The physical man must grow in strength and vigor. Man's mind must be enlightend by knowledge of the arts and sciences, aooording to his needs. Man is a being of free will, and hiß character must be formed according to virtue ; and in the fourth plaoe, the whole man, body and mind and will, ia to be elevated to the life of Christianity., and by virtue of Faith, Hope, and Charity, he is to glorify his Creator here on earth and to secure to himself a throne and a crown in God's own kingdom of Heaven. We have the education of the mere animal man, of man as an intellectual being, of man as a responsible being, and of man who has a supernatural end and destiny, who is satisfied only with the possession of truth and wisdom and goodneHS. These parts of education may be arranged on an ascending scale. Lowest we might plaoe the education of the physical man, yet it is fundamental. If we have not a sound, healthy body, a healthy mind will not make us perfect. A healthy mind in a healthy body was the pagan ideal of man. Higher is the intellectual training. Higher still is the moral training that makes a man good, and above all is the religious training that makes a man a child of God and an heir of heaven. I would compare the physical education to iron, the intelieotnal education to silver, the moral education to gold, and the religious education to a precious pearl beyond all price, that outvalues them all. This work of eduoation must be carried on by stages. It has its primary, its intermediate, and its stage of perfection. You know these stages correspond with the primary, with the grammar, or high school, and with the university. In all these stages no essential part of eduoation should be neglected— not the physical, mental, moral, or religious stages. The impressions of ohildhood are never lost, and ohildhood is constantly receiving impressions from its actual surrounding's, be they good, bad, or indifferent. This fact is proved by

The Solicitude of Parents for their Children,

the solicitude of the mother or nurse for the life and oomfort of the little child, the solicitude of father and mother as they see the child acquire the use of speech, and then advancing in age, in wisdom and grace in their own eyes ia the Bight of their neighbors. But the home education is not enough ; the school must be allied with the family, ani the education begun at home, and continued at home, must be carried on also in the school simultaneously. Therefore, parents will require that their children be, so to Bay, reared in an atinosphereor religion at home, and parents will require to see that this same atmosphere of religion will surround the child

when it ia absent from hoire and engaged ia school work. Parents know that the work of moral and religious education is the most difficult part of the work of education. In time the child

will be old enough and strong enough. Mere application with talent is quite enough to master the arts of reading and writing, and to acquire relative perfection in the ordinary sciences. When there is a question of being good and obedient, modest and truthful, parents find there is a great difficulty, and greater difficulty still they fiud in leading the child to fidelity to morning and night prayers, to reverence God, in bringing the child to approach the Holy fciacraments without which graoe ia unattainable. Parents find this their most difficult task, and therefore when the child is withdrawn from their eyes the parent is most anxious that all impressions tnp.de on the child should be most iavourable to religion and piety, and should impregnate the heart of the child with the fear and the love of God, reverence for parents and charity for all mankind. Now there are often failures, sometimes in physical, sometimes in intellectual education, and children do not advance in knowledge ; but more frequently they are failures in moral education, and failure in moral educttion brings with it the ■" neglect of religious duty. The consequence is Catholics believe education is not complete unless it makes ua good, and enables us to serve God and gain Heaven. We are the more solicitous about our moral and religious training because wisdom teaches us that they are as gold and precious stones in education. If so the virtue of prudence will lead us to take special precaution in behalf of moral and religious education. They are of more vital importance, and success is wot at all sure. We may have done all and yet not have done enuugh. These are the reasons why we have made sacrifices for Catho>io schools, and why we would turn our very churches into schools to provide for our children, not ouly physical, but religious training, to secure and enhance the happiness of. all. It is a wonder that anyone can be opposed to ub on this question.

Yet we have Opponents.

Some oppose us on the ground of sectarianism, others on the ground of Beoularism, and perhaps there are others who oppose us for both reasons combined. We say to them : 'In the first plaoe, if our reasons are nouud you oannot hinder us in our work. Truth is great and will prevail, and after all iv the end might does not

OTeroome right. Show us where our reasoning is wrong. Falsify our attitude towards eduoation ; disprove the relative value whioh we allot to the essential parts of eduoation, and you will have done something ; but when you say ' no,' instead of ' yes,' you will have to account to reason and to natural justice, for your denial of the rights of our position.'

It ii necessary to be brief, yet I would ask permission for two remarks. With regard to those who raise a cry against Oatholio rights, I would wish to impress upon you, as Catholics and the friends of Catholics, that such people must not even be noticed. Truth never disputes, it shines like the sun, and those who are not blind must needs see it. The Head of tbe Catholio Church who promised to abide with her for ever, is One Whom we adore, and no one should write to a paper undertaking, as it were, the defenoe of the Catholio Church, bringing

Himself and His Feeble Knowledge forward when they had better remain in obscurity. Even a New man would not rashly undertake to defend Catholio truth against its gainsayers. The Catholio Churoh haß now performed her mis ■ion for 19 centuries. .The history of her Councils, the official acts of her supreme Pontiffs are in the hands of all students. The arohives of the Vatican are open to all the world, and we find even the brightest minds of Protestant England, where Protestantism has been enthroned in ascendancy, and the most distinguished graduates of the seats of learning, Oxford and Cambridge, recognising the truth and prerogatives of the Catholio Churoh, and sacrificing all things to oome and receive Baptism and be regenerated within her fold. It is beneath the dignity of our convictions, and is a serious mistake for any Catholio to heed those cries people chooße to raise. It is impossible to prevent discussions, but no sensible person who appreciates religion would ever mind a discussion on religion which is carried on in the columns of a newspaper. This should be your tradition. If yon would read some of the utterances of former cittaens who did honor both to Church and Btate, you would find they agree with me on this particular point.

But what of those who oppose us on the ground of secularism ? They say : 'We have a sound system of education ; if we were to admit Catholics to a share of State aid it would be too costly ; we won't do it.' It was sometimes said that Catholics were retrograde, that they cribbed and confined the human spirit. We ask those persons with all respect : 'Do you look on

Religion as Essential to Education 1 '

If they reply it is not, then I say we must agree to differ, i' they concede that religion is required, then I answer : ' You hav c no right to prescribe to parents what religion is to be taught, or t° enact that they must be content with a fragment of religion. If you say that the Catholic Church is the foe of liberty, allow me to demand what are you doing ? Are you not denying the Catholic parent full liberty in the education of his child ? If he sends his ohildren to a school which corresponds with his faitb, you will give him nothing from the Treasury of the State, but if he sends the ohild to a school that you have established, and where religion is not free, or where it is excluded practically for certain hours, I say you are interfering with the right of the parent, for you say to him, 1 Send your child to this school where there is little or no religion, and we will help you to educate him, but if you send him to another school in the fame street where religious education iB given, you will have to pay for him there, and for the other school as well. If you talk of rights, adhere to the principle of common sense you must. Where rights of citizenship are restricted there is no freedom.' But it will be said to us : ' You are in a minority, and the majority must rule.' Well, we are in a minority. We are in a minority, and we are Catholics, and the Catholic Church forbids all disorder, and the Churoh is the mainstay of all Governments, and as Catholics we will be good citizens whether our rights are recognised or not. We will be an orderly minority, and will be courteous and neighborly, because we recognise all are children of the same Father in heaven. We do this not in the spirit of defeat. We do this knowing that we are fighting a noble cause in which it would be a glory to suffer even defeat But where is defeat ? Look at this hall which reords a new triumph. We have a sound and complete education, whether we have assistance from the State or not ; the cause will be carried to triumph by a Catholic minority. The late W. B. Dalley — whose memory the people of the State revere— said in the year 1879 in a speech, that the archdiocese of Sydney had spent on the work of education, in buildings, in introducing nuns and brotherß, £125,000. Since then, how have things been carried on ? Those figures have been doubled and trebled. At the present time there are 23,887 children receiving sound and complete education in Catholio schools, and if we take what the State takes, about £4 for each child, you will find the Catholic body, over and above their common contribution to the State schools as taxpayers, spend 495,548 annually.