Catholic Problems in Western CanadaDaly, George Thomas
Religion
Catholic Problems in Western Canada
Daly, George Thomas
Catholic Church -- Canada
In our own country, the urgent necessity of introducing religion in our
public school is now for every serious-minded Canadian an agonizing
problem. How many attempts have been made to solve it? Was it not the
principal topic discussed at the Educational Conference of Winnipeg
(1919)?
The neutral school, we conclude, has been weighed and found wanting.
The hand-writing is on the wall of every country where the experiment
has been made and tells the same tale. _Facts_ and _principles_ give
reason to our "Separate Schools."
* * * * * *
_Why "Separate Schools?_"--Because it is our right and our duty to have
them.--This is our simple and straightforward answer to the ever
renascent objection of those who are not of our opinion. That _right_
rests on the solid rock of Justice, of History and of Religion; that
_duty_ we owe to our children, to ourselves, to our Church, and to our
country.
[1] This chapter formed a series of articles in the North West Review
of Winnipeg. The following editorial comment accompanied our
concluding article.
"This week we publish the last of the series of articles by Father
Daly, C.SS.R., dealing with the separate school question.
"We consider his contribution on this ever topical and historic problem
one of the best reasoned and for the average man the most concise and
useful yet published. It might well be issued in pamphlet form and
kept for reference in every Catholic home in Western Canada, because
the subject is one likely to be controversial for an indefinite period.
Sometimes one finds Catholics who are not as well acquainted with the
fact as they should be that the question of Catholic education can
never be compromised. A solid and reasoned knowledge of this fact is
in some respects as essential as if it were an article of faith,
especially in Western Canada, which, as Father Daly points out, is the
classic land of the school problem.
"Doubtless attempts will be made in the future to bring elementary
education through the pretext of Canadianization, under the "invisible
head" of this country. Or as in the United States segregated attempts
may be made to abolish parochial schools altogether.
"Where there are so many probabilities and so much at stake it might be
well for the average Catholic to be in a position to give a good
account of himself by showing a thorough understanding of the question.
"If the present civilization succeeds, it will do so by adopting the
methods of some, if not all, of our big corporations of to-day, and
thus make of nations, huge Trust socialisms where the individual will
hunger no more for freedom because of his having never tasted it. The
one great desideratum to this end is the absolute control of
education--an end that will never be reached so long as the Catholic
Church continues to save Christian civilization through its religious
schools.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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