PAPAL LETTER TO CANADIAN BISHOPS

New Zealand Tablet, 8 February 1917, Page 31

PAPAL LETTER TO CANADIAN BISHOPS

THE LANGUAGE QUESTION. A late issue of the Acta Apostolicce Sedis contains a letter which the Holy Father has addressed to Cardinal Begin, Archbishop of Quebec, and - the other members of the Canadian Hierarchy. His Holiness says the contentions which have, for some years past, been enkindled amongst Canadian Catholics, otherwise so renowned for their faith and piety, are to him a cause of' intense anxiety. -That these contentions have grown more bitter and have now been made public he knows from many and from the best sources and also from the bishops’ reports. The cause of disagreement was fully manifest. There were Canadian Catholics of French origin and language and there were those who, though not all of one race, made use of the English tongue, and this constituted for them a ground of contention and of strife. ’ ? ; Referring to the question of the use of the French language in the ‘ separate schools ’ of the province of Ontario, which was the subject of two judgments of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the Holy Father thus gives the arguments of those who oppose the French-Canadian contention, ana going on to deplore the bitterness which has been -imported, into public discussions on this question, he exhorts the archbishops and bishops to meet and discuss ways of restoring peace. ‘lf,’ he says, ‘ the question cannot be settled and finished by their ruling let them bring it before the Holy See.’ He then mentions ‘ some special points ’ about ‘ the bitterest controversy ’ — that concerning the Catholic schools in Ontario : Nobody can deny that the civil Government of Ontario has the right to exact that children should learn English in the schools ; and likewise that the Catholics of Ontario legitimately require that it should be perfectly taught in order that their sons should be placed on the same level in this respect with nonCatholic children who frequent the neutral schools, and that they should not be eventually less fitted for the higher schools or be disqualified for civil employments. Nor on the other hand is there any reason to contest the right of French Canadians, living in the province, to claim, in a suitable way, however, that French should be taught in schools attended by a certain number of their children ; nor are they indeed to be blamed for upholding what is so dear to them. Nevertheless,, let the Catholics of the Dominion remember that the one thing of supreme importance above all, others is to have Catholic schools and not to imperil their existence, in order that their children, whilst receiving a literary education, should be taught to preserve the Catholic faith, to openly profess the doctrine of Christ and to live in the exact observance of the Christian law. Love for our children,'the good of religion and the very cause of Christ demand as much. •' His Holiness urges the bishops, in their earnest care for the salvation of souls, to exert their utmost activity to make counsels of moderation prevail with,, a view to obtaining that that which is fair and' just should be granted on both sides.