EDUCATION AND RELIGION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1349, 29 January 1912, Page 4

EDUCATION AND RELIGION.

ARCHBISHOP REDWOOD'S ADDRESS A NEW SCHOOL. FORMAL OPENING CEREMONT. The nov Marist Brothers' School ia Iliiwkeitniic Street was solemnly blessed and formally opened yesterday by Archbishop Redwood, in the presence of about 150 parishioners. School work will commence to-day, and L is anticipated that, to begin, there will be an attendance of about 100 boys. Amongst those who attended the opening ceremony were: His(•race Archbishop Redwood, tho Ven, Archdeacon JJevoy, the Rev. Father O'Shca (Vicar-General), the Rev. Father . llickson (administrator of the parish), (ho Rev. Dean Rcgnault, Brother Frederick, who is to take charge of the school, and others of the leading Roman Catholia clergy and liiity. Reunions ceremonies proper to the occasion having been duly carried out, Father IHcksou,.in a brief address, detailed the events which led up to the erection of tlie school, and outlined the financial position. Nearly four years previously, he stated, the land on which * tlie school stood iviw purchased at a cbst of JC2OOO, the purchase money being borrowed at live per cent. Quite recently steps were taken to turn the land to account for school purposes. The central school at liouleott Slreet had Ix-come inadequate

lor the wants of Catholic boys throughout the city, and it was decided to replace it with two schools, one in the parish of le Avo and the oilier in the parish ot J. horudon. The Te Aro School erected at lasiinu and King Streets had been opaned a year previously, and that day lie school in Thormlon parish had been blessed and solemnly opened. The morrow would see the In-pinning of tho scholastic ycai. .Hit building had rost JC2OOO, and iurnislniig it had cost about another JMOO so that tho parish was face to face with a debt of nearly XHOO. The money for tho building had been lent, free of interest, for five years, by three Catholic gentlemen who had always been prominent in a similar way -where Catholic interests were concerned. The architect employed to design tho building was Mr. John* S. Swan. An examination of (lie premises would show that hi- had done everything possible, for this comfort and convenience ot the boys who would use the school, and of tho teachers who would be engaged in it. The contractor, Sir. V. Hudson, of Island Hay, had very faithfully carried out his portion ot tho undertaking. iMither Hicksou mentioned that, it was proposed to repair and renovate a' cottage adjoining tho school, in order to make it a residence for the three Brothers who would be engaged as teachers. This would entail an expenditure of ,£2OO or ,£3OO additional to tho sum he hud named.

Archbishop Redwood endorsed what Tather Riekson had said in regard t6 llio?e who had ko well carried out tho w«irk i of erecting the school, and joined him in expressing gratitude to those who jiiid provided the necessary loan free o! interest. , The Archbishop then turned to an address upon "the Christian Ideal , of Education." The proper standard by which to judge nil systems of education,' he said, whether pre-Christian or postChristian, was the Christian ideal. Tho more it approximated to- the Christian ideiil the more it was commendable; the more it deducted from this ideal the more it wii« coMJeinnablc. Pagan systems ef education had invariably failed to grasp the ideal of the _. paramount personal value of the individual. ■ In savage education n limit was set by tho measure of «pnsi> and development in the adult, individual Tliei , * could bo no progress, and no reward for desirable innovationIn China and oMier countries until recently, the customary methods and forms of education hiul allowed no scope for departure ifrom traditional usage. The utmost achievement of such a system was In make a man a good citizen and soldier. Factors which tended to produce a. nond man as'well as a good citizen cud soldier were ignored. The Greeks and Romans aimed higher than citizenship. Tho Greeks educated for beauty and happiness, the Romans for success and effectiveness. Both included civil excellence. The Greeks and Romans made education free to a certain extent, but they did not make it universally free. They ruthlessly murdered weak and deformed children, they slaughtered slaves and captives, and treated women as chattels. They failed to recognise that, every individual, however humble, had a right to freedom and happiness. Freedom, under the Christian ideal, implied a recognition of the value of the individual, inasmuch as God was the common Father of mankind. The Christian ideal was tho first great Magna Charta,- the first great charter of freedom. Under its sway the greatest evils of paganism had been uprooted. It had destroyed (ho despotic tyranny of the father. Unliko a Roman father, the Clixistiaji father was strictly answerable for tho lives of his children. Christianity taught the sacredness of tho marriage tic. It taught as well, where, as in the Catholie Church, it was faithful to its tradilions, that the marriage tie was indissoluble, and that divorce was unchristian and opposed to the best interests of the State. Iu addition to these tilings, Christianity taught, in a definite manner, that there was a life beyond the grave, and that consequently there aro spiritual values infinitely beyond any temporal values. According to- the understanding of education in Christian times, spiritual interests were supreme. They took precedence over the physical, over the intellectual, and, if a conflict were possible, even over the moral. Herbert Spencer had defined education as a preparation for complete living. Christianity accepted this definition, but insisted tliat no education was complete unless it prepared for the life to come as well as for this life. Christianity did not destroy what was good in previous systems of education. Some of them had retained and inculcated tho conservative virtues, and these, advantages were retnined under Christianity. Christian meekness of spirit was not in conflict with' the development of healthy muscularity and Christianity neither disregarded nor condemned the cultivation of the mind. What it did was to idealise education, and to introduco an entirely new element —tho spiritual. This was not' a mere augmentation, for the spiritual. was a transforming element which vitalised oilier elements in educational development. The Catholic Church in each succeeding ago of her history had faced educational problems entirely new, but she had always been true to her mission, and had maintained as her first principle that spiritual interests were supreme. For so doing she had suffered much misrepresentation and calumny, and her people had paid heavily, as they were now doing in the cost of this school. "More shame' for tho Government!!, which, like our own, ■fine, mulct, and penalise Catholics for their sturdy maintenance of that principle which alone guarantees a complete and all-round education," said the Archbishop. Religious training for every.individual, ho continued, should be added to the school i system. In this way alone could character I be built, and it must bo done by the worship of God according to the faith of I the children's parents. The principles he had enunciated wore the principles of the school opened that day. Concluding, the Archbishop formally declared the school open, and dedicated it lo his natron saint, St. Prnncis Be Sale*. A collection taken up, from the pcoplo who had awnihled to witness the opening of the school, realised .SIM in actual cash, and promises of additional sum?, abrogating i!2O, brought the total up (0 «Cl3O. .