TEUILS. — RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 05 



Catholic Cliurcli in America depends more on the faith 

 of the Catholic immigrant than on the faith of the gen- 

 eration which has received its education in the pubhc 

 schools. . . . We see no way of making them (young 

 Americans) Catholics than by the parochial school. 

 Our conscience forces us to take up the work." 



Attention has been called to the ground of action on 

 the part of the hierarchy to show that there is no possi- 

 bility of compromise with it. If the Bible in the public 

 school were the cause of the Catholic secession there- 

 from, its removal might stop the movement; but it is 

 not the cause, and its removal would be a fruitless sacri- 

 fice. We may as well recognize the fact that the paro- 

 chial school has come to stay, regardless of the treat- 

 ment of religion in the public schools. ^ It is a necessary 

 part of a great educational system, which, to provide 

 for its 3,1942 parochial schools, has its teaching brother- 

 hoods and sisterhoods, its 102 colleges, its 35 theo- 

 logical seminaries, and to crown all its great Catho- 

 lic American University at Washington, for which 

 $1,000,000 have already been subscribed, and which, 

 including the endowments of chairs, we are told will cost 

 between $5,000,000 and $10,000,000. 



Here, then, is a theory of education which can no 

 more be harmonized with the American theory than 

 water can be made to coalesce with oil ; here is the dis- 

 covery that it is absolutely necessary to act on this the- 

 ory in order to prevent disastrous results to the Catho- 

 lic Church ; here is an elaborate educational system for 

 whose equipment many millions of dollars have already 

 been invested ; and finally, the authoritative declarations 

 of the Catholic Church referred to in the preceding 

 chapter (p. 75) place beyond all doubt the attitude of the 

 hierarchy toward the public schools, the permanence of 



1 " We must muliply them (parochial schools) till every Catholic child in 

 the land shall have the means of education within its reach." Pastoral Let- 

 ter, Acta et Decreta Concilii, Baltimorensis Tertii, p. Ixxxv. 



^ See Catholic Directory for 1890. 



