A PROTESTANT CLERGYMAN ON CATHOLIC EDUCATION

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 4, 28 January 1904, Page 4

A PROTESTANT CLERGYMAN ON CATHOLIC EDUCATION

From the ' W A. Record ' (Perth) we take the foillowing extract from a speech delivered by the Rev. Dr. Todd, an Anglican clergyman, at a distribution of prizes held in connection with the Sisters of Mercy School, Midland Junction, Western Australia. Bishop Gibney and Father Morris (pastor of Midland Junction) were present. D. Todd took as his subject ' The education given in the Catholic schools,' and after some preliminary remarks said :—: — I am, like Moses of old, a man of slow speech, I hardly know where to begin. I have been asked to testify as to what I know of the work of the Catholic schools. It gives me great pleasure to say that 1 have been a frequent and welcome visitor here ; that the Rev Mother and Father Morris have afforded me the fullest opportunities of examining the children on the subjects taught. My testimony is that the work done in the past year is excellent. I take it, my Lord Bishop, that you founded this school— first, to give a good elementary education to Catholic children, and such non-Catholic children as might attend Your schools are doing in this direction a work as good as that done by the State schools From one point of view they are doing better work, because they are doing it without any such generous supplies of apparati— improved desks', maps, stationoiy, tools, etc —as are given by the State to its schools And in the second place, I take it, my Lord Bishop, that you founded these schools to give the children of your Church sound instruction on the Catholic Faith I have no doubt bait that this work is as ably done as the secular work I admire the principle 1 commend all who hold that the teaching of religion should Go Hand in Hand with secular teaching. Religion is the foundation, 1 lie rule, the motive of every life which can be called a life at all. Man has a body, and man has a mind, but man is a spirit, and if we neglect that life of the spirit, which is the diwnest part, we neglect all the noblest 1 acuities which constitute the dignity of man's nature But because you, my Lord Bishop, believe this, and insist upon acting out your belief, the State will do nothing for you, not even give your schools an annual inspection to test whether your schools are as efficient as you say they are Hence the following wrongs are done to the Catholic community — 1 The imtiail cost — purchase of ground, erection and equipment of these schools — is thrown upon a religious community, not the most numerous or wealthiest in the State. 2. The cost of maintenance of these schools is laid upon you They are doing work for the State The State, I lwe always held, should pay those who do its work. At the average per capital rate paid for children in the State schools, this school has earned £800 Did the Government pay this sum 7 I am sure we would see an immense advance in manual training, etc , which cannot be begun for want of funds 3 Education is not free to all children in the State Many boast that it is, but the boast must be modified into this — ' education is free to all who go to the State schools, it is Not Free to those who go to the Catholic schools ' Ilerice it is no wonder that Catholics feel that the old penal law has followed them out to W A. Further, the Catholics ha\e not only to support their own schools, but, as citizens paying taxes, they help to support another set of schools, from which very few of their children — at least, in the metropolitan districts—derive any advantages I

have always maintained that the State should subsidise the schools founded by religious bodies if, in secular education, they came up to the standard of merit laid down by the State for its own schools. My Lord Bishop, we read now and again an appeal to the members of' the ' free ' and other churches not to send their children to your schools. I never direct my people to send their children to your schools. I never direct my people to withdraw their children if they go. The parents are free ciU/.enb. It would be an impertinence on my part to interfere with their right to educate their children how and where they please. I would, however, speedily become openly impertinent and interfere did I see any effort made, or had any apprehensions of an effort being made to turn them away from or tamper with their faith. We are told that it is on account of that danger these cries of warning are raised. But when raised, and when it is said that the atmosphere of these schools is too fetid, too unwholesome, for any Protestant child, some evidence to convince the mind should be presented, to show that the cry is needed, that this> danger is real. Did I think my children attending this school were being tampered with in regard to their faith, I would leave no effort unmade to withdraw them. An Ounce of Fact is worth more than tons of outcries. I have one family whose children attend this schoal, who have, in fact, never been to any other but a convent school . It is a strange coincidence, if it be nothing more, that this family is the only family seen as a family in my church ; yet we Church df England people are taught, and we profess to believe, that the family, not the individual, is the unit in the Christian Church. All the members of this family who have been confirmed are my most regular attenders at Holy Eucharist ; two of its members are teachers in my Sunday school. The eldest daughter has lust received the appointment of organist in my church. She is still in her teen's, I believe ; it speaks well for the musicalßeducation she received here that one so young is competent to fulfil the position of organist in a church like mine I do not say this attention to religious duties as a family is caused by the attendance of the children at a Catholic school— that would be to assert an absurdity — but to prove that the atmosphere of this school has in no way lowered their ideals of, or belief in, the tenets of the Church to which they belong. There are other children of6my Church at this school ; all are in my Sunday schoql. In Respectful Behaviour there, reverence to their spiritual pastor, they are good examples to their fellow scholars. Of all our University scholars of the Church of Ireland who filled the professorships of mathematics and Ex. Physics in the Catholic seminaries of Ireland — Blackrock, Clongiowes, St. Jarlath's, the Sacred Heart, etc , I never heard of one who found the atmosphere unwholesome. My only brother filled one of these posts ; he is to-day the Rector of Bessbrook. Another myth that has- gained ground is that ignorance and superstition are characteristics of all Catholics, and that the Catholic priesthood desire to retain these traits m their people Why th.en did you build these schools ? A paucity of University degrees among the members of a Christian people is no sign of ignorance If it were, then the majority of the Colonial clergy of ivy Church are ignorant men ; and I deny that they- are Catholics will go to Universities of a certain type only, and prefer to go without University degrees than go to any other. The rising generation of Catholics are not being brought up in ignorance. The Best School :n this colony is a Catholic school — the Christian Brothers' College in Perth The best school for girls I ever saw, and I have seen schools the wide world over, was the King's Inn St Convent School in Dublin ; for boys, 1 think Rlackrock has no superior. Would to God my Chinch had one such for boys and one such for girls in{ Perth My Lord Bishop, I envy you your schools. My] emy is not of a sinful kind ; it is not, I assure you, the ' envy that always hateth the excellence it cannot reach ' Four years I undertook University work in this colony. My class graduated last November The first man to gain a degree from Adelaide University without loa\ing the Slate is one of whom lam proud — a good son, a loving brother, a true friend— one who devotes his musical talents to the services of his Church. You know, my Lord, I refer to J. C. Westhoven ; he is not an ignorant man, nor a superstitious Catholic.