THE CHURCH AND NATION BUILDING

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIV, Issue 1, 4 January 1917, Page 24

THE CHURCH AND NATION BUILDING

By Very Rev. W. J. Lockington, S.J.

■ A meeting such, as this makes one's heart thrill with pride. It is the .expression of a force that is pulsing through the veins of our nation : a force that means life and vigor and strength: a force,, that is irresistible and : a force that makes for glorious nationhood : a force that has been handed down to us by our forefathers and one that we shall guard and bequeath to our childrenthe splendid force of. our Catholic Faith. This force is the leaven of, progress and liberty and the essence of civilisation. To-night we -shall consider one of its manifold relations to the nation and to our national ideals, and shall prove not only that our faith is a.valuable national asset but that it is an indispensable factor in true nation building. A nation's greatness depends in great measure upon the education of its people. The foundations of education are laid in childhood's days..- Therefore it follows that the greatness of a nation depends upon the education of its children. First, I purpose to explain the reason of the firm; attitude of the Catholic Church in the matter of the education of her children, and to show that there is nothing unreasonable in the claim that the New Zealand Catholics as part of the democracy of New Zealand urge to the democratic Government of New Zealand. Catholics are engaged in nation building, and strive to form citizens worthy of our nation. The granting of our claims will make for the morality of the community, the benefit of all classes, and the betterment of New Zealand. In the course of my lecture I hope to prove this in a way that will lead every open-minded man to acknowledge the truth of this statement. '■f* ' Objections. I shall deal first with objections. Many objections are based on ignorance of what constitutes our claims. This ignorance I shall endeavor to remove. Needless to say I do not intend to deal with objections based on bigotry. Bigotry is the loquacity of ignorance. At a time like to-day when .her sons of every creed stand shoulder to shoulder fighting for her, New Zealand has no. place for the bigot. Many fair-minded men are opposed, not to our demands but to what they are told are our demands. For example: 1. The people are insistently told that, we demand payment for religious teaching. That is no claim of ours. We ask no payment for religious teaching. 2. That our claims if granted will injure the existing educational system is another objection that many think is a weighty one.. We have no wish to injure the State school system, that has been elaborated with such patient care by our statesmen. That system is complete up to a certain point. Viewed from a material standpoint it is a beautiful creation, seemingly complete in its oarts.. But. examine it closely and critically; measure it. by the standard set for man by God, and we see that it is incomplete. Externally it seems competent to attain* its end—the training of human souls; but it is a simulacrum, it is inanimate. We wish to take that and vivify it, to make it a living sentient being. In short, far from injuring it, our: one wish is to.give it that which it lacks, namely the breath of life, and perfect it. We yield to none in our cultivation of secular learning—and the Church is the greatest benefactor of mankind in this matter—but we insist that ft must be hallowed by faith and employed wisely by uniting it to religion. ~\;!! Jv - > ~'":,;:!'*":■'f*;-';■

;- 3. Again ‘we are asked : > ‘ Do ! you Wish to go ■ back: to the educational muddle of 60 years ago. which obtained when your system of denominational schools existed ?’ Our answer to that is; * Certainly not. ’- Fifty years' ago the* denominational• schools were : back- - • ward. They did not differ in that respect from -those; of other systems then in vogue, for our educational system in . those days was in its infancy. There were no buildings ;j it was , almost' impossible to get a competent teacher. 7 But this ■ objection is' not a just one. Let me prove this by an illustration. ' Suppose that a ‘ competent man who 50 years ago was a member of the\ Municipal Council of Wellington were to seek re-election to-day. ■* Would it be fair for men to point the finger of scorn at him and object to his election on the grounds / that formerly when he, was a councillor' the streets of Wellington were lighted with kerosene lamps or with candles ; that there were no swift-moving trams and trains ; that there was no sewerage; that' the streets were rough and uneven ? All will agree that men would not thus criticise him. Electric lighting was unknown and -kerosene the best illuminant obtainable. - Our train and.tram systems are slow growths following world-wide study and the result of latter-day engineering invention, such as was undreamt of 50 years ago. The councillor at that time did the best that he could with the means at his disposal. Because we have means of rapid transit to-day do critics laugh at the slowmoving bullock team? No. All look back with admiration at the dauntless pluck of the hardy founders of our nation whose fearlessness and .grim determination laid the foundation of God’s Own Country. The citizen who moves swiftly along our smooth sidewalks to l dav does not dream of harshly criticising the slowmoving pioneer who ploughed knee-deep across the same ground 50 years ago.

Why, then, single out for criticism those pioneers in educational matters who so gallantly strove in the lace of tremendous difficulties to educate young New Zealand? Are they, too, not worthy of admiration? While others engaged in the feverish rush for gold, they, remained behind—Anglican, Presbyterian, Catholic and others. They had scarcely any funds and no schools woi thy of the name: but they did their level best, and with the scanty resources at their command they trained up the men who built New Zealand. They gathered the children together in what were little more than sheds, and thus laid the foundations of New Zealand education.

But why ask- us if we wish to bring back those conditions?. The folly of such a question should be apparent to all. Beginnings are always experimental and success is generally won through repeated failure. For instance, when the Government of England some 80 years ago began to take an interest in education, it gave to the whole English nation for the education of its children the sum of £20,000 sterling. To-day England for the same purpose gives £16,000,000.' In the same way the tiny seed planted in poverty by our pioneers has grown to the splendid tree of to-day. Why not be just and give the same -meed of praise and appreciation to these nation builders as we do to those others of whom we have spoken? f

4. Another objection that is sometimes made is, 'You will arouse sectarianism.',. No ;' sectarianism is a rank growth, the offspring of prejudice and ignorance, and can live only in the darkness. ' True education will annihilate it, for it dies when the bright light of truth is focussed upon it. It is not from -the Catholic Church, the possessor of complete truth, that sectarianism is to be feared. .In Belgium and in. Canada Protestant and Catholic schools are in the same block of ground and use common "playgrounds. Sectarianism is nourished by text-books written in a way that is unjust and often insulting to the Catholic religion. A friend of mine lately searching for a good primary history in Sydney could not gee one suitable for Catholic boys. . Take the presentment of history that is contained in such books ! Take their books on Catholic questions. • .In some the Church is Babylon, the Pope anti-Christ, our religion superstition., > Men educated "'■•' ' '.'. ■■'":■.-.'"■•'" '.■■•'■■•.-• ''',•','•. './:: -. ■-£-/ "■'•'■.:■• ';:'"'-.- *& ..

t-r----in such ;an atmosphere easily believe slanders'against, >s i tbs Church. —v.ca;'.vL::-'iV . •

W “ 0 V**UlVA*. t 5. Others object: - You wish your Church .to get j d control Vof State : money!’ .•. Again .we > answer—No. - $ We r say to the State ;V‘. We shall build t schools r according ' -to ,your f requirements, schools that must satisfy .-.your., .. inspectors. We shall train teachers. that. : you can,test ; S and use registration ; to' if - you -consider - that ..they 1, . .■• -- ... , P ■ .. , . r rr> ‘mi."' ' " : - • are not; up to your standard - 0f... efficiency. v The young ;; New; Zealanders, the ‘ future _ men and . women of our country. whqm in thousands we are educating ;in our : schools, will, :be trained by registered teachers in sub-' jects ' that the State ordains.. ■’ The •_ quality of that ; teaching may v be tested .by the State. All - that we , ask is that these teachers,, registered by the State as % qualified ■to teach, teaching ; in ' buildings approved- of . by the State, teaching subjects. selected by the State, 3 shall be ,paid by the State from ’ the money given .to the State by the democracy of New Zealand for the education of the future citizens of New Zealand. Not

one farthing of that money will" go to Church or priest. ~-,., 6. The question is often asked of lis : 'Why do you not agree to give half an hour daily for religion as for other subjects V We answer to this that religion cannot be classified with 'the other subjects.' - Religion is part of everythingthe atmosphere of religion is essential .to the very life of the child.- Without it death follows. It is as necessary to the well-being of a child as is water to a fish. Let me illustrate what I mean by an example. Reformers are to 'be .found. oh every hand with schemes for the training of the mind of the child. There is one thing that the Church on her part is determined on—namely, that such swirling silliness, masquerading under the name of education, shall never be allowed to injure the souls of the children committed by God to her care. • . - What is the reason of the inflexible determination of the Church in this matter of education ? The reason is that education that does not take cognisance, of religion is no education, and training that is not based on religion is no training. The Church has a right ,in this* matter, for remember, secular teachers are a very modern institution, and the Church has ever been the guardian of the knowledge of the world. Attitudjj of the Church. - The attitude of the Church is the same to-day as it was 2000 years ago, when she received her orders from God, and her attitude will be the same through all time, for she cannot change. Before the coming of Christ, learning was considered the exclusive right of the higher classes. The Church declared that it was for all equally. She had regard for the high destiny of man, for the reason and end of his existence. .' Man was created to praise, reverence, and serve God, and thereby save his soul, and the other things on the earth were created to help him to-attain this end.' ■'■''„,..-' .'",-'•/

~.y All .means must be directed :to the end desired,, or si 's else. cease'to be means Man's destiny is to reach r f : God in heaven—as Christians* we must admit this, — therefore .'; all man's training; must • fit -; him for that l end. : & • Therefore knowledge-that does hot turn a man. to God - * is : not education. And remember,' a man turned from ' God is •a •' man «;turned' .from man also, for true love of ,* j : the neighbor ■is based on love of V God:. The logic ':;W'i our position is irrefutable. ~ C '" ' ! The most impressionable days of life are the day? > .'.; of plastic childhood, and the, Groundwork of .training' : J must be laid then to enable one to; attain perfect man- ' 'hood. - As the tender plant is shielded un^til-it is strong , j enough to resist the cold of winter, so must the delicate > r ._ ■■■■ soul of the child be guarded until it, s too, is strong : - "• in its possession of truth and knowledge and can resist-; . the chilling blast of evil that it must encounter. , -'; . r -

, No New Fight: . This is no new fighjferfor the Church. In {the first '' centuries. she was confronted by it; We find St. ' ChrV- - sostom answering a parent, who asked ""if he might . send his child to the public schools of the time: ' Will the teachers in -those schools" guarantee/ the integrity ? ' of the f souls of your children, a'nd be responsible for ; r their virtue and for their faith ?'- The saint speaks of / religious training as the foundation of character. « When the foundations of a" building ' are' sapped he : j says, 'we should seek rather for architects to reconstruct the whole edifice than for artist's to. adorn the , walls. In.fact, the choice lies between two alternatives ■ —a liberal in public schools or. the salvation of their souls in religious schools.' « ;,',- Those words might have been said, by a Catholic bishop in the twentieth "century, 'instead :of St. Chrysostom. ,-; With the experience ; of twenty cen- ! ; turies behind her, arid her infallible Guide always with • her, the Church knows fully the danger of training men . without a knowledge, active and practical in its results, of their -high- destiny. -The Church has always been the patron of true education. In those ages of light and culture that are sometimes • ignorantly referred to as Dark Ages, there were 37,000 Benedictine schools in Europe, and the result as v ; seen in the large libraries - of MSS. that are to be found to-day in every University in Europe;/' Every parish priest's house was a school, and the Church is the foundress of the great Universities..-'■■" ..." "> .-'--'i "■•/■.-■y. r '. ".'V'.:-••'; ' ■ . She understands the soul : : and its weakness—humamim est errore— the necessity of guarding it. As one of her princes, Cardinal Pie says:—The most religious people in the world if they read nothing but bad books and newspapers will, at the end of thirty years, become a nation of unbelievers.' Religion is the foundation of .any culture-worthy of the name and • the history of nations proves this, justifying thereby the attitude of the Church. ' . ... ':

Sound Nationhood.

• People talk sometimes -.of getting down to the fundamentals of religion. But the whole of religion is fundamental. Compromise is good in dealing with affairs so long as principle is not touched : but religion is-all principle and compromise is impossible. 4 'There is no' possible compromise,' says a prominent American Methodist, B. S. Col ex-, ' that will be satisfactory to Jew, Protestant, or Catholic. We must therefore look for some other way of restoring the moral co-efficient in public education. I think that in the parish school system, the Catholic Church has found it. Mr Thornton, a Congregationalist minister, says:—'We send our child to a Catholic parochial school because we feel that the moral atmosphere there is safer and better than that of the public schools. For the sake of my country I wish that the moral and religious training applied by Catholics in their parochial schools would be largely applied in our public schools.' c Mr. Coler, whom I quoted a moment ago, after speaking of the splendid generosity- of poor Catholics which makes the parish school system possible, says: 'ln these later, years it has .been my pleasure to study your parish school system;- I have, found therein the saving ; principle , that has been- eliminated from the public school system. I have found therein a secular education which in every recent test has shown superior efficiency over the /public school education. I have found, the idea of authority dominating moral "instruction, and the idea of divinity vitalising, secular instruction. I have found the idea of personal responsibilities to God• being pressed home.i upon the minds of the youth. I know of no other v way of/making good citizens. -. I do not believe there is any other way. Therefore I can say, although I am not of your Church, that in its parish ; school, system you have builded aninstitution that makes, for the conservation of the ideal of American life and government.'' , •'.""'• Religious Schools Necessary for Patriotism., -i We have been censured ; in the past for our insistence on the need of a.religipiis' atmosphere 1 in the schools where the future citizens of our nation are being trained. I note to-day that the chorus of blame is diminishing

-——— in volume; silenced by the stern logic of facts. if The eyes.of thinking men are baing opened. Voices of nonCatholics are being raised the whole world over, in protest against godless educatioix —Voices of good men who are judging t godless schools by ;their results. > An American Protestant-.author," after protesting against the godless training in the State schools of his country, speaks thus of American Catholic schools :—'The Rp;man Catholics havef persistently, successfully, and with no'means-but their own, - gone; the other path. „;■ " They i have ;• taught their faith. They have added to the strength * of their '■■ patriotic teaching t the, religious in-. - struction which, entirely aside from its individual moral - value; Jis .an element inseparably bound' with love .of country and to national;/ ideals. Other reli- ' gions gave up, leaving the child's mind untouched byfear of God or respect for ideals. Only Christian schools can form a Christian nation.' ,> A ■ : '" / '.'S * ' Only Christian schools con form a Christian nation! ' Here you have the.teaching of .the Church set forth by a noix.-Catholic who has been, forced to this: conclusion from a study of the wreckage and inevitable failures. that lie strewn in the paths of other systems;'; 'Only Christian schools can <form a Christian' nation.' This is the reason ! why the Church is ever insistent that it is the bounden duty of every Catholic; parent to send v his children to a Catholic school. ; Our country demands that you give your children -training that will make them, excellent';citizens. Our Catholic schools will give this training. Our Church demands that you will give your children training that will make them. good Catholics. Our Catholic -'schools alone can give this training. Godless Schools .a' National Menace. Until recently Germany was held up as a model in educational methods for us to imitate by certain educationalists. They are silent to-day. Yes, silent while the whole world swims in blood; and lands are littered with the broken bodies of the slain—an awful' harvesting that has resulted from the culture of the seed of godless education. Generations, taught to creep in the 1 mud of earth, given as ideals the gods of sense, believing in nothing but material things," have come to maturity and their leaders stand .aghast at the practical application of their teaching—a teaching that at its best has but produced the negation of evident,truth and the destruction of high ideals, and whose finished product as often as not is the cold-blooded voluptuary and materialist as passionless and as voracious as an octopus. If. these educationalists, who in their search for truth were lecPbo recommend Germany to us, would honestly study our educational system, that is the Outcome of centuries of thought and culture, fostered by the eternal steadiness of the Church, they would surely gain knowledge that would benefit our .nation. Earnest educators in other countries are doing this. < One famous University professor;'; a Protestant,' says that there is no doubt in my mind that the Roman'Catholic schools have the finest system of teachixxg yet devised, and I am positive that the time is coming when a; move will be promoted,to have each religion care for the education of its children just as the Roman Catholics are doing at the present time.' • ■ ~ ~■';' >._■,.>;' In America non-Catholics are alarmed at the results of State school education, as shown by the increase in juvenile crime,-divorce, anarchy, and gunmen'. Men . are > holding meetings "to devise ways and means of teaching morality in public schools,'and all eyes y are turning- to the Catholic schools. > ,'; • ' ?,~,:''' ■/ "'There is a film showing in Australia to-day entitled ' Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread.'; It shows most /pathetically the story of a family stricken, by sucldf'i poverty. The widow, to save them from beggary, separates from her children and goes herself to the workhouse, where she is crushed by unchristian aid. Buoyed up by the hope of meeting her children, she; struggles on. A few years pass, arid the children are brought : : her. ; ?: She rushes to them I 'in axx ecstasy of delight, :: but they turn; away 'iriV fear from the poor broken creature that holds put her arms to them. The child does , not " know - its I own mother. ■■■ Heartbroken, by the shock, she loses -her r reason Lookixxg .at this one might • ask is. there anything worse in the world than; a system

that .breaks the closest uuibn of hearts on earth—that " of the child and its mother? Yes— a system that sep- ; arates'a child from its God; and that system is what we v are fighting against to-dav—the deadly system 'of education; Aiid we do not stand alone in thinking thus. ; Non-Catholic nations the whole world oyer are with us. Let us take Protestant, countries . ;; and; see how, 1 taught experience, they have rorouglii;; 'religion "once again into 'the schoolroom.'- ' >v. r -> v % <:■ > Protestant Countries. - V/;;; Holland, after thirty years' experience; of, godless '; schools i : . founded -denominational schools.:; Catholics are - one-third of. the population, Calvinists. more": than, one- ' '■'. half of the population. ; All: are. greed as: to. the j failure ■/, ; of the godless schools. Loth denominational schools '" are equally supported by , the State, .which' regulates their organisation and. their teaching'.-, The State pays \ one-fourth the cost of buildings and one-fourth the, . cost of repairs. Secondary education is also assisted and a -promise has been made to. assist a denominational University. If 25 families apply, they can get a school, which will be supported by the State. . . " ; ': '.Germany, sonic years ago, after bitter, persecution, agreed to the denominational school system. r Before 'that, from 1870 onward, Bismarck and his.allies fought ; with all their power to crush the Church.' The iniqui- . toils Falk laws of 1872 excluded religion from the. and caused eight out of twelve Prussian Sees to s be vacant, as well as 1400 .parishes. It was not a\. "question of creeds but. of a contest between Christianity and atheism. As' Windthorst, the-O'Connell of Germany, exclaimed : ' Our fight for. the school is a fight for Christianity, a fight for the Cross, a fight in which every, believing Protestant should stand on our side.' The Catholic Centre Party fought against this for years, and finallv obtained concessions from the nation in favor of religious teaching. It were well for the ', world if that nation had listened earlier and avoided the results of the godless Kultur ' that we are fighting against'to-day. ■ \. -•- Canada has reverted to religious schools. .The ponulation includes 2,000,000 Catholics, while no other denomination numbers 1,000,000. The Catholic" majority give full justice to the minority of whatever denomination—justice to all. A good Catholic cannot bo unjust. . > ' • England also has given justice in this matter", The present position of Catholics is as follows as regards - primary, education: —The Education Act of 1902 abolished the School Boards, transferring, their functions to the local general authority — the County Coun- . cil or the Urban Council. It equalised the condition of Board (State) schools and of denominational schools in regard to maintenance by public funds, whether from local rates or from Government grants, both schools being of an equally public character in regard to secular education. The cost of school building must be found by the Catholic congregation, whilst the State, through the local County Council, provides all working expenses for all secular instruction. The .school buildings are vested in the denomination that builds them. Each school has six managers, who_ have the appointment or the dismissal of teachers. . In State schools the local Council appoints all six : in religious schools the local Council appoints two and the trust body owning tho schools appoints four (in; Catholic schools these are usually a priest and-. three prominent laymen). Three Bills have been brought forward in Parliament to change these schools, but were unsuccessful. In Englaud there are five recognised Catholic residential train- . ing colleges for female primary teachers, with 507 students, to which the State pays £19,266 per annum. There is also one. college for male .primary teachers, towards, tho expenses of which the' State pays'£6o42 .per annum; In England, and Wales there were in 1870, 354 Catholic schools* in 1906, there were t 1063. .■' Here we have a justification of the claims of our ; Church. and a proof of what non-Catholics . think 'of .. them. X" Germany, Holland,, Canada, England, ;Scot- }. land, with a total population of .. 112,000,000 people, - the ;: great majority of whom are non-Catholics, estab- '.;!' lish and support religious schools,. Surely New Zea*

land, with its 1,000,000, need not fear to follow where .so many lead ? These facts are an object lesson to lion-Catholics as to t the /reasonableness of our claims. '; \•" t/ v jNW Zealand's Need. ' ' -■•', •' -. .' New ZedlandVnVeds' citizens. 4 We 'shall 4 give them / to her—citizens yielding to. none in loyalty and patfri-, " olism, —for a mail that is t /true to himself and God must be true to his fellow man. We shall train them: and send them into New Zealand life fully qualified in knowledge^and upright in \ character ,. ready to stand " -- as honest citizens in any walk of life. What is to be V said of those who object to the State recognising the ' training for/ the nation of "such valuable 1 citizens and object, ' because in addition to their secular training, they a knowledge t)f God. They are as those ; ; who, for example,, looking for a.;competent workman and .finding ;j one possessed'-'of 1 the" requisite technical knowledge, /reject him,'\ His certificates are in order and testify to his ability, and /.lie asks indignantly,: 'Why do./you reject nie?' We can understand the -amazement; of the rejected one if he were' told, 'Yes, you , are /thoroughly expert, and 'could do the work perfectly but we notice that you breathe, and/ we are. determined, to engage no workman who breathes.' The only thing for such employers of labor to do -is to set up a -private cemetery, for it is dead men they want. You laugh at the thought : yet reflect, and you will see that godless schools are but mausoleums for stifling souls—lethal chambers where spiritual life languishes and dies:; for the breath of the soul is religion, and religion has no place in them. With what horror we look back to the exploitation of child-labor little children of, six and eight years of age Working in .' coal mine's and factories;.! I This was a stifling of life but terrible as it was it is not to be compared with the | stifling of. spiritual life that follows from the systematic reparation of' tho soul from its Creator, that obtains in godless schools: •; •-'.; 'J "'"'-'• ""■ ".* '■■';" . From whatever standpoint we consider our schools, they are an' indispensable factor in solid nation building. From an economic; aspect, the nation will benefit by recognising our schools, for under the- godless system of education the State trains its children at a cost of about £7 13s per child per year. Under our system we train the children for less than half that' cost, and : according to the Protestant testimony that I have quoted we give them a better education and make them better citizens. - >. * ;? . . : .., From a commercial point of view the nation will profit. Study the commercial dishonesty that afflicts the world to-day and you will realise this. Does vice, recede as godless education advances? Our newspapers show that this is not so, for they are filled daily with records of crimes that show the trained mind uncon- ' trolled by morality and religion. Intellectual culture' has no necessary connection with morality. If a boy's will and conscience be not trained -the ..filling of/his memory with facts will be no guarantee that he will not use his knowledge to fashion himself into a con-, summate scoundrel. > - -l<' :'-yj., >"■ Our country's greatest need is not 'so. much the' making of. laws'as the making' of men. The basis of manhood is character. Character is moral strength. Unless this is developed by steady training, a man is useless both as a private*individual and as a citizen. Moral strength depends on high ideals, and these can be attained from religious teaching only. We are living in troubled ;times, and when peace comes our nation will have to face a "period of reconstruction. Wo must save New Zealand from the shifting quicksands of irreligious guidance.- She is among the most democratic of the nations. The Catholic Church is the greatest ,and purest democracy on earth, and therefore is peculiarly suited to our nation. We must show to all that betterment and progress will come from the. .application of Catholic principles. Speaking on this point, Pope Leo XIII. "says':' No practical solution of these problems will ever be found without the assistance of the Church. We affirm without hesitation that allthe striving of men ,will be in vain if they leave out tho Church.? -';-;, ~„-',, '.'•/',' "/./'. . , . ;•;- y;-4'; " *:■ c v- '" • (To b? concluded.) ■ ;; :•