OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2578, 23 May 1871, Page 2

OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.

In accordance with a generally expressed wish we reprint the whole of Dr. Moran’s discourse on this subject:— The Bight Bev. gentleman said: It has been announced to you to-dav that I "would speak on cduca'iou. I am anxious once and for all to bring my views on this subject clearly before you. 1 find there has been a considerable amount of misunderstanding upon this subject in reference to what I said, and as to what my intentions are. The language I used was sufficiently clear, and f think I was very distinct in expressing my intentions ; but there arc always a number of people in this world who will not do without a trihuting to people motives which they do not entertain, so that my lot in this resp' ct is not singular. It has been said for example by one party, that my object is to make the schools secular. I had no such object ; an I I never said such a thing. t am decidedly opposed to such a thing, and I never gave anyone groundfor attributing such a design to mo. In the next place, it has been said that I wish topreventotherdenominat’ons from having such education as they desire, or having religious education in their own way, I have said nothing of the sort; and I should be sorry to see education anything but religions, lam an advocate for religious education ; I hold that all education should be based on religion, am thoroughly opposed to mixed education, and there is nothing I deprecate more than secular education. 1 never said anything, in public or in private, to induce any man to say that I was a favorer of one or other of these systems ; therefore the charge made against me is utterly groundless and gratuitous. 1 intend to occupy your time a little longer than usual this evening, in order, I trust, that I may set you and the public at large right as to my views upon this important subject; and have therefore detertermined at considerable trouble to be explicit ; and I have trie I in preparing my discourse, to so arrange it as to make it imp issible for any man to misunderstand it—impossible for any rigbt-minde I person to attribute to me designs or o iuious, which I do not entertain or hold. Now what I have to say up in this subject may be placed under three heads In the first place 1 shall p ace before you my views, which are those of the Church, on the subject of religious education ; secondly, in reference to what is called the mixed system of education ; and lastly, 1 shall consider the subject of the Government scho ds. Now in what I am going to say, I do n it pretend to any originality whatever. Of course my views upon this subject are nothing new, and do not emanate from myself. They arc the views of the Church, and those view's I am bound to hold, and bound to teach. 1 have little else to do, ther.fore, than to act the part of a relatet ; to tell you what the Church‘holds on the subject, and what the highest authority iu the Church directs. In the first place the Church tells us that nothing is more important for a people, individually and collectively, than religious education ; and I thi->k that evi-ry man who holds the Christian religion or who calls himself a Christian will not disagree with us upon this point. Is not religion the most important of all things? Is not the salvation of the soul the most important of all considerations ? Has not our Divine lledeemer himself said, “ What will it avail a man if he gain the whole world, and I .sshis own soul;” and again, “ What exchange shall a man give for his soul.”—Matt. xvi. 26. Therefore, according to that teaching, nothing is of more importance to ust’. an tire knowing the end of our own being, and the means by which we may attain to that end. And we find further illustrations of its importance, inasmuch as that the Div.ne Redeemer himself became roan and died on the cross for the express purpose of teaching us the importance of that end, and to procure for us the means to attain it. Now from these principles follow the absolute necessity for a religious education. First, wc must kuow what to believe, because faith is so necessary that without it we cannot please God. Iu the next place wo must know what to do, because works are also necessary ; for as the Apostle James teaches, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” Again, my br threu, tho necessity for religious education arises from the fall of the human race. Children are born utterly helpless, without any knowlege whatsover. They continue for many years iu that helples and ignorant state, and if they are not instructed, and taught the end of their creation, ami the means to attain that end, they will probably remain for ever i i ignorance. Again, we a>e bo m with our p .ssions and evil inclinations. ] o v are wc o overcome these? how subdue our passions? how resist successfully our inclinations '1 Iu the words of an old poet : “ I see and approve the better things and follow the averse ’ \Ve cannot succeed against them unless ave are early trained according to the precepts of our holy religion. And th}s religion, avhat does it teach ? avhat does it place before us ? what does it demand ? It teaches us the most sublime mysieries, such as the existence and eternity of God, the incarnation of our Saviour, the Sacraments, anti the sacrifice of the Mass ? These are sublime and exalted truths nob to bo learned in an hour or iu a day, and if they be not carefully and frequently inculcated, is there not strong reason for believing that these things avill be forgotten or neglected ? Thus great preparation is required for the recept ; o •, through proper channels, of Divine grace. Children haa r e to be trained -drilled as it avere— i i order that they might knoav hoav properly to acquire Christian ami moral habits. As I have said, this is not the avork of an hour or of a aveck, it is the work of years, almost of a life, an 1 from it folloavs tho necessity for religious education. And this is particularly necessary in the age iu which ave lia'e, avhich in a certain sense is a material age. This materialistic tendency is spreading abroad, and can only be met by a thorough religious education, There is much immorality and invligiou, immoral prints are circulated by the million, and the rising generation can only be guarded against their evil influences by a religious education This is the teaching of the Church ; and I hold that religious education is absolutely necessary and indispensable not only for the salvation of the individual, but for society, and for the good of the commouwcab.h. If youth be allowed to grow up immorally, they avill bo a pest to themselves and their f unifies, and a curse to society. Upon this point the Church on the one hand, and the greatest philosophers, statesmen and o; ators, o i tie other, arc perfectly agreed. “The great work of education,” says Milton, “is to repair the ruin of our first parents by learning to know God aright; to love him, to desire to imitate him as best we may, possessing our souls in true virtue,

which being united to true science, makes up the highest attainable perfection.” Locke * declares that a literary without a virtuous education is rather an evil than a benefit. Washington says, “ Of all dispositions and habits which lead to public prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. A volume could not trace all their connection with private and public society. Lit it be simply asked—Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments in courts of justice? And let ns, with caution, indulge the supposition that morality can he maintained without religion.” I’ortalis, Minister of Public Instruction under Napoleon 1., addressed the Legislative Assembly thus— •* There is no instruction without education ; no proper education without morality and dogma. We must take religion as the basis of education ; and if we compare what the instruction of the present day is with what it ought to be, we cannot help deploring the lot which awaits and threatens the present and future generations.” That was prophetic; we now see the result of the education which had been previously given in France. For the last twenty years—since 1860—the system which he there condemns, did not prevail in France. The education imparted in the common schools has been good in the main, but it haa not been able to overcome the pernicious effects of the system in vogue sixty years ago. Guizot, who was Minister of Public Instruction under Louis Philippe, writes in his Meraoires (c. 3, p. 69, Paris, I860)—‘ In order to make popular education truly good ami socially useful, it muss be fundamentally religious. Ido not simply mean by this that religious instruction should hold its place in popular education, and that the practices of religion should enter into it; for a nation is not religiously educated by such petty mechanical devices. It is necessary that national education should be given and received in the midst of a religious atmo - phere, and that religious impressions and n« ligious observances should penetrate into all its parts.” “ Religion is not a study, or an exercise to be restricted to a certain place and a certain hour ; it is a faith and a law, "Inch ought t> be felt everywhere, and which, after this manner alone, can exercise all its b nelicial influence upon our minds and our lives.” I have not yet read the opinions of any Catholic authorities on tins subject; but I now came to a very beautiful passage from Dupauloup, the eloquent Bishop of Orleans, who says “*es; the presence of God, Ilia active pre-cnee, I might almost say His perscual presence, must be often reddle I during the course of each diy, and in the midst of the inevitable difficulties and different phases of education, God and His holy name, the thought of His power and His goodness must be frequently and lovingly brought in; otherwise, religious and moral education will be either null or worthless. The child must be inspired with the love and fear of God ; with the love of God, that noble and pure feeling, so natural an I so lively in a young heart, and so fitted to urge it to great things. The love of God, and besides the fear of God, not a hateful and servile fear, but t mt filial fear, resped, ful yet tender, of which Bossuet, the tutor < f the great Dauphin, wrote:—‘Let him by all means learn all the : deuces suitable to his position ; and even all those that can in any way perfect the culture of his mind, adorn hs i:f-, and recommend him to the learned ; but. above all, from hj s tender*.st youth, from his very cradle, fit him first learn the fear of God, wbi;h is the best support if human life.” The Church therefore does not stand alone in inculcating the absolute necessity of religious education ; she is supported iu her teaching by the greatest philosophers and statesmen. They hold that religious civ., cation is not only necessary for the in dividual, but is necessary for the wrl!-b ing of society ; an-1 they hold more than that, viz,, that all education should be founded on religion—which should juot be relegated to a certain time or hour, but carried into all the re'ations of life ; and that without such education the result would be not to make virtuous citizens, but on the contrary make them dangerous to human society. The n xt question I come to is that of mixed education ; and it is very well that you should have a correct idea of avhat is meant by this. By mixed education is meant the state of education which pre rails in the con> mon schools of the Uni-ed htates, in Irelaiv', and iu Holland. It does not exist in any other countries in the world—at least so far as lam a rare. It is a system that gives a liberal literary and scientific education to children of all denominations, without interfering with the religion of any. The authorised version of the Bible, which we do not recognise, is read, and religious instruction given by the masters or mistresses, iu some places, hut not to those children whoso parent; object. Before proceeding fur; her, it is well for me to tell you that the Chur.h condemns such a system as this. You must not understand for a moment that 1 entertain anything new upon this subject; or that I am extreme in my views ; or that I am opposing what any other Catholic Bishop is free to adopt in reference to this subject. The Church has spoken; it has condemned it, and will nqt give any sanction to it. If in any other country iu the world, Catholic Bishops have been quiescent, it is merely because they arc placed in such lamentable circumstances, as oblige them to tolerate it, Their silence Lnt to l.e taken as approbation. You are not to understand that I mean that they arc anywhere quiescent under such a system. Without a single exception, the Bishpps iu Ireland have risen against it again ami again. The present Pope having been consulted on this subject, addressed a letter, in 1831, to the Archbishop of Friburg, iu Germany, from which I take the following extract: —“ But if this detestable system of education, so far removed from ( atholic faith and ecclesiastical authority, becomes a source of evils both to individuals and society, when it is employed in the higher teaching and in schools frequented by the better class, who does not see that the same system will give rise to still greater evils it it be introduced into primary school ? For it is in these schools, above all, that the children of the people ought to be carefully taught from their tender years the mysteries and precepts of our holy religion, and to be trained with diligence to piety, good morals, religion, and civilisation. But in these same schools religious teaching ought to have such a leading place in all that concerns education and instruction, and whatever else the children may learn should appear to be subsidiary to it. The young, therefore, are exposed to the greatest peris whenever, iu their schools, education is not most closely united with religious teaching.

Wherefore, since primary schools are established chiefly to give the people a religions education, and to lead them to piety'and Christian morality,_ they have justly attracted to themselves, in a greater degree thm other eductional institutions, all the care, sol oitude, and vigilance of the Church. The design of withdrawing primary schools from the control of the Church and the exertions made to carry this design into effect are, therefore, inspired by a spirit of hostility to her, and by the d sire of extinguishing among the people the divine light of our holy faith. The Church which has founded these schools has ever regarded them with the greatest care and interest, and looked upon them as the chief object of her ecclesiastical authority and government, and whatsoever removed them from her inflicted serious injury both on her and on the scuools. Those who pretend that the Church ought to abdicate or suspend her control and her salutary action upon the primary schools, in reality ask her to disobey the commands of her Divine author, and to be false to the charge she has received from God of guiding all men to salvatv, n; and in whatever country this pernicious design of removing the schools from ecclesiastical authority should be entertained and earned into execution, and the young thereby exposed to the danger of losing thc.ir farh there the Church would ho bound not only to use her best efforts, and to employ every means to secure for them the necessary Christian education and instruction ; but, moreover, would feel herself obliged to warn all the faithful, and to declare that no one can in conscience frequent such schools as being adverse to the Catholic Church. So that in what I hue .lone I have simply done my duty, and obeyed the head of our Church. The same Pontiff has condemned the following proposition—that “ Catholics can approve of a system of education which is outside the Catholic faith and the authority of the Church, and -which aims, or at least chiefly aims, at imparting a knowledge Of things merely secular. l oavo said that this system of mixed education does exist only in Holland, Ireland, and the United States; it does not in Austria or Pnissia : I am absolutely certain of that. 11ns is a matter of some importance, because we are constantly told that it is to the system of mixed education that prevails in Prussia that she owes her rise to one of the first nations of Europe. This is a mistake; it is no such thing. Upon this subject I will read you the letter of the Archbishop of Posen to the Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin, which is printed in the report of the Education Commission of 1868. He savs:—“The mixed system has never been applied in Prussia to elementary schools ; these have been and are at the present day. purely denominational The revolutionary patty, as well outside as inside Parliament, has been at work for many years, seeking to introduce the mixed system into these schools, but so far it has meet with a determined opposition from ms Majesty’s go imminent.” wtaj . l have said you will understand that our elementary schools, if Catholic, have Catholic books and Catholic teachers ; if Protestant, their hooks and teachers are Protestant, The normal schools for the training of teachers have the same denominational cnaracter ; those for training Catho.ic teachers have Catholic professors and Catholic text books, whilst everything is Protestant in the training of Protestant teachers. The rights of the bishops and pastors are recognised by our Government in regard to the schools of their respective creeds, and are cxercire I in harmony with the rights which are claimed by the State. The result of this system was admirably summed up by Mr Gregory in a speech in the House of Commons, 15th May, 1800. “The result, ho savs “ cf this system is this : An admirable education pervading the whole community, only two out of 100 not being able to read, write, and cypher, and a thorough and cordial acceptance of it by every religious denomination. In Austria, too, the denominational system prevails, and an extract fr.-m the Times of 13th September, 1809, shows how the Protestant schools were managed. ‘ The Protestant schools are for the future to be under tbe direction and inspection cf their ecclesiastical organs. No hooks can be used in Protestant schools which have not bsen approved of by the general conference (Protestant) and by the Ministry for ecclesiastics affairs. If a Protestant school is establishc I at the expense of tbs State, only Protestant teachers can be employed in it. You see, therefore, thet the Church has nothing to complain of in Prussia. All denommati sis get justice, being allowed to educate that children in their own way ; and the Government aids them in so doing. 1 he Government and all denominations can work cordially together, because, as I have said, there are no difficulties. Where there’s a will there’s a way, and there need be no diffiailtios m the way of establishing the denominational system here ; any difficulties are purely imaginary. Let justice be done ; let us work energetically, and we are bound to succeed. In regard to France, there is no such system as mixed education in the primary schools ; though the Church has much to complain of as t > the e lucation imparted in the higher schools, where it partakes more of infidelism than anything else. Tbe returrfs for 1866 show there were 21 03D schools under tbe nuns and monks, attended by 2,037,264 scholars These schools are purely denominational, directed bv the Church, and supported and encouraged by the State. In addition to these, there ■Were 53,310 lay establishments. The bishop of each diocese was at the head of the Commission for education, also a member of the School committee for each department and the parish priest is a member of the committee in each parish. In these schools religion formed the basis of education ; and, as showing the feeling of the people towards the former, I find the average attendance at lay schools was 55 ; while it was 97 m schools conducted by religions teachers, fhe total number of children attending school was 4.980.000, out of a total population of 40.000. so that one out of every eight went to school at this tune. Hie same system prevails in Belgium and in Austria where the same fair play is shown to the minority—for, in the last-mentioned country, the majority of the population ae C .tholics, numburlng about 31 hj out of 35 millions, and justice is done to all denominations. You see, therefore, that the mixed system is opposed to the teaching of the Church, I have not spoken of Italy or Spain, where there is but one din minatiou. In the other countries the Government arid people have found means of working together ; and all denominations arc sati-lled, h’causj the education of their own children can ’be moulded as the please. These remarks would be incomplete were I not to place before you statements showing the result of

the mixed system in the country wlere it most prevails—the United States of America. The Catholic Church holds that this system leads to infidelism ; and that is the reason why we are opposed to it. It is also destructive of revelation. This we know f |- om experience ; it is a matter of fact and of history. Upon this subject I could quote innumerable authorities of every sort Catholic, Protestant, Presbyterian, kc., clergymen, learned statesmen, and philosohers, to show that it has led to infidelity, but shall only quote one authority. It is the opinion of an eminent Protestant prelate, the Bishop of Tenessee, who says of o? the system. “ There was just no religion at all in it. It was secular, and took no notice of God, or of Christ, or of the Lhurcli of the living God, or, except in the most incidental way, of CDd’s Holy Word. It was quite true that in some schools—the number was comparatively sma'l—the Bib'e was road and in some the Lord’s prayer was said, but who could presume to call that Chr.slian education ? M crely reading the Bible without explanation or comment was not instruction. What would be said of a military school where the profes ors only read a chapor two on military tactics, but gave no lessons, made no comments, required no drill ? How could they expect mere reading the Bible to the young would make Christian men and women ? But, in the great majority of schools, even then was not done ; and so the youth of the country left the school re my in figures, skilful with the pen, well instructed in the anatomy of the body and mechanism of the steam-engine, but utterly ignorant of the principles of duty, trnth, religion, and honor, without knowing the Ten Commandments or the Apostles’ Creed ! The result was stated hy the Kev. Dr Chcover- that five-sixths of the people of the United States do not attend any place of public worship.” It was this which made a distinguished Prussian remark : to study its geography, its laws, its institutions, and I find 2009 religions and nobody believing in God.” He (the writer) believed that this lamentable sta'e of things grew out of the secular system. Fox, the founder of the first reformatory for children, very well asked, “ Of what use is it to a commonwealth that its rogues should know how to read, and cypher; These acquirements arc only so many master-keys put into their hands to break into the sanctuary of human society,” Thus we see that the result of this teaching is that men grow up utterly ignorant of the principles of duty, of truth, religion, and honor; and for these reasons it is that I am opposed to the system and deprecate it. Give us schools for ourselves, that is all I a-k ; let us educate our own children ; and let other denominations educate their children m their own wav. I do not wisli to interfere with any ; nor do I wish to restrain the liberty of any. I ask for liberty for myself—l love liberty—but I am opposed to license and tyranny in the name of liberty. _ We only ask for justice and for help in this work out of the taxes, to which we contribute our share. And let each denomination have its share. I now come to the last point of my discourse, the system of education existing in the common schools of this Province. According to the Act that establishes them, the teachers in these schools are bound to read the authorised version of the Bible and give instruction from it. Now this is what puts it out of our power to make use of these schools. The State h.-s no power to commission any man to teach religion ; the State’s powers are limited to the preservation of life and property ; and it can only interfere with education as a matter of police. Christ did not give to the State the command, “Go forth and teach all nations,” but to the Church, which alone can commission a man to teach religion. We cannot, therefore, admit a system in which a man without any qualification whatever—who may not even know his own catechism--is allowed to take up the authorised edition of the Bible—which, as I have already said, we do not acknowledge, and do not permit to he used—and give instruction from it to the young. The system is anti-Christian, because it allows any£man to spread his own views ; and the teacher may have no faith himself, and in his explanations may not only insinuate, but positively tench principles opposed to Christianity. We have seen men who so interpret the Bible, as to take from it all Divine authority; and hide d t ike anything from it; why have men bolding the office of Bishops in non Catholic churches denying the Divinity of Christ; yet it is to such men that the Govern mens gives the power to read and interpret the Book The system is esscn'ially opposed to our principles, and we deprecate it on this further ground : —The mere reading of the Bible can never teach religion. Is it not most absurd to put the Bible into the hands of little children when more learned men cannot agree as to the interpretation of it. Little children, therefore, can make nothing out of it; it is impossible for them to do so. We are opposed to its use as a school-book, because we hold it is irrev rent to God to so use it. Then ag.dn, it ia impossible for any Catholic to become a teacher in those schools, as no Catholic can lawfully read and teach the authorized version. The regu’ations then mate it iropo sible for us to have any chance of obtaining such teachers as we can rely upon or place confidence in. I say it—not that I deplore it—that Catholics have passed the necessity examinations, and have received high characters for tlujr qualifications, but when it was ascertained that they were Catholics, it was intimated that no Cathodes won d ho appointed to these schools. From the primary principles of these establishments, and from the mode in which they aie administered, we can have «o confidence in them whatever, they being totally opposed to our principles and our inter. sts. But it has been said that Catholic child en need not attend the reading of the Bible, or be present at the explanations of the teacher. If the education imparted is simply a scientific and literary education, it becomes the mixed system ; and if religion is taught it is not our own religion—in the fo;increase we have the system which is condemned by onr Holy Father, and which has led to such results in the United States ; in the latter an anti Catholic system. There is one other point which I wish to place befoic you. It hai been said, “ What religion can wc teach in grammar, geography, reading, or weiring ? ” Why, toe teacher can teach irreligiou and immorality in almost anything. There have been masters who have placed irreligious and immoral copy lines before their pupils; and with regard io these simp’o things, 1 will just tell you what the ccobrated Dr Arnold, who is known as the prince of school masters, says ‘ I do not understand what you mean hy not being able to teach religion. Give me a lesson in geography, a id J will teach a religion in it.” I have no confidence in teachers op ; osed to the (athol c r whin 1 know from expert-

ence, there are a thousand ways in which they can insult it, and undermine P in the minds of onr children It was only tin* other da}' that I was reading the reports of the commiss'on on National education in Ireland in IS;>8, and there I f >un 1 one of the witnesses stating the case of a mistress of one of the schools in Ireland, who, as she could not teach religion in the school, made an adroit attempt to instil int ) the children a contempt for our Church. If a little girl had dirty hands, she would ask, “Do your priests teach you to have dirty hands,” and if she failed in learning her lesson, the mistress would ask, “Do your priests teach you to be idle ” Well, when I consider what has been written here, and the spirit in which it has been written, I cannot have the least confidence that the faith of Catholic children will be safe in the hands of onr public instructors. If, th.cn, the schools be> c he religious schools, they are anti-Catholic, and wo can have nothing to do with them. If they he mixed schools, wo are also precluded, because they are condemned, and because they lea 1 to in different ism and infidelity. We are driven—in fact, compelled by the necessities of the case—to withdraw onr children from these schools, and establish schools for ourselves. I might speak to you about the bocks used in these schools; but I am unwilling to weary you now, as I have spoken on this point only recently. I hope I have made myself perfectly understood on these points. lam an advocate for religious education; I am opposed to the mixed or secular system, and I am opposed to the system that exists in thin Province. I demand for the Catholic body help from the State to educate their children n their own way ; that granted, I have nothing whatever to say to other denominations. lam anxious that no one should interfere with ns ; and I am perfectly prepared to undertake not to interfere directly or indirectly with anyone. Those are my principles ; and having given you my reasons for them, I hope I have explained myself fully once for all. I ranst apologise to you for having detained you so long on this subject, but I was anxious to sot myself right with yon and the public. In doing what I have done, I have not gone beyond my duty; I have interfered with nobody ; my only object being to do my duty to my Church, in securin' the faith and morality of my people, thus contributing my share to the well-being of this Province, which I have deeply .at heart.