THE CATHOLIC HOUR

AMERICA'S TRIPLE ARSENAL FOR

THE PRESERVATION OF HUMAN
VALUES — THE HOME, THE
CHURCH, THE SCHOOL

The third in a series of four addresses, delivered in the Catholic
Hour, broadcast by the National Broadcasting Company in coopera-
tion with the National Council of Catholic Men, on November 17, 1946,
by the Rt. Rev. Msgr. T. James McNamara, Superintendent of Schools in
the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta. After the series has been completed
on the radio, it will be made available in one pamphlet.

BY

REV. MSGR. T. JAMES McNAMARA
Superintendent of Schools in the Diocese of

Savannah-Atlanta

National Council of Catholic Men

Washington, D. C.



AMERICAS TRIPLE ARSENAL FOR THE
PRESERVATION OF HUMAN VALUES—

THE HOME, THE CHURCH, THE SCHOOL

Dear Fellow Americans:

The story is told that on the

morning of May 31, 1889, a

workman passing below the dam

which held in check waters

threatening life and property in

the city of Johnstown, Pennsyl-

vania, noticed a slight trickling

of the water through an almost

invisible crevasse in the giant

embankment. The seepage of

water through this small open-

ing seemed so little in compar-

ison with the waters held at bay,

that the workman passed on giv-

ing it but scant reflection. That

night thousands of lives and mil-

lions of dollars in property were

lost, all because a heedless pas-

serby did not think that so

slight a seepage could bring

about destruction.

In France and Flanders twen-

ty-eight years ago on a gray

November day, bugles blew the

“cease fire” which stopped the

flowing of a river of blood and

ended a world war. A war, we

were told, that was to end wars

;

a war which was to make the

world safe for Democracy. Men

who were there on that chill No-

vember morning, tell us that

there was a strange new look

in eyes that had stared grimly

beneath steel helmets. And no

wonder, for the world's man-

hood now looked forward to life

instead of death.

With life beckoning, hope came

into the hearts of these sorely

tried veterans of strife; a hope

that their sufferings were not

in vain, and that in consequence,

a new day was dawning for man-

kind. As we look back in retro-

spect over the years that have

passed since the Armistice si-

lenced the guns of that first

world conflict, we are reminded

that those who survived that

horrible carnage anticipated the

future with hope, because they

firmly believed that they, by

force of arms, had proved that

right must inevitably prevail

over might. They also looked

forward with hope because they

thought the philosophy funda-

mental to true democracy had

not only survived brutal force,

but had actually gained the as-

cendency in men's thinking and

acting.

In the years that followed im-

mediately upon the close of that

suicidal conflict—years of un-
paralleled prosperity; years, too,

of unparalleled excesses—no one
took seriously a certain beer-

parlor agitator whose philosophy

of government was so at vari-



ance with the philosophy of gov-

ernment for which men had bled

and died, had fought and won.

His philosophy was considered

as so much seepage by a world

sick of strife but a world sure of

itself. Charlatan, this man may

have been
;

demagogism may

have been his methods. But at

least it could be said of him that

he was alert, more active, more

fired by zeal, although a false

zeal, than those who took him

lightly and to whose places of

command he would eventually

succeed.

While others, secure in their

positions of authority, under-

estimated the power of seepage,

he, realizing its power, continued

his lightly-regarded campaign,

eventually weakening and finally

destroying the structure of exist-

ing government. At first re-

garded as a Gilbert and Sullivan

tragedian, Hitler emerged from

the wreck of government the

symbol of strength for a peo-

ple poisoned and weakened by

the seepage he caused to flow.

In this, our country, we must

begin to take stock, rearrange

our house, and look to its foun-

dations, if the seepage that is in

evidence here is not to destroy

us. If we do not, then we de-

serve the deluge that threatens

us and the consequent destruc-

tion that will follow in its wake.

Contemporary America has only

begun, and that remotely, to

sense the danger that threatens

life, liberty, and the pursuit of

happiness. Gradually, but per-

sistently, Secularism—and this
is the seepage to which I refer

—

is working away at the dam of

fundamentals, which have held

in check the waters of subver-

sive and perversive doctrines

that seek to contaminate the

stream of our national life. In a

way, we ourselves, have contrib-

uted to the flow of this seepage

which threatens the very ground-

work of our national structure.

We, Protestant, Jew, and Cath-

olic, holding in common those

religious truths which constitute

the basic premises of American-

ism, are yet to agree on a civics

text which will bring to the

school children of America a

knowledge of all that is implied

in the term Americanism. In-

structed in the form and the

mechanics of our nation's politi-

cal structure, the average school

child lacks a knowledge of the

reasons out of which this form

developed and for which the

mechanics were evolved as a

guarantee.

Treatment of minority groups

in America is proof conclusive

that we, as a people, either are

not cognizant of the basic pre-

mises on which our nation

stands, or we are as yet to be

instructed fully in them. In



either case, American Education

has fallen short of its objective.

Yes, it is true that as a people

we know what is implied in the

Bill of Rights, but we do not

know to all intent and purposes

what is stated in the Declara-

tion of Independence. The body

of the law we feel : the spirit of

the law we fail to teach under

public auspices lest there come

the charge of sectarianism. By

neglecting the spirit, while em-

phasizing the form and mechan-

ics of our unique Democracy,

there has resulted a sort of dis-

tortion in the thinking of many.

This distortion is best described

in the words of a prominent edu-

cator of an equally prominent

Southern university. Lamenting

the progressive obscuring of the

religious values, which are basic

to the American concept of De-

mocracy/ this distinguished edu-
*

cator charged that a new re-

ligion was evolving in America,

the Deification of Democracy,

which comprises the worship of

the will of the majority, where-

in that will means the blotting

out of life, liberty and the pur-

suit of happiness, as these rights

relate to so-called minorities

within the body politic. Democ-

racy, so understood, is seepage

working away at the dam of

fundamentals in our national-

structure. It is seepage widen-

ing divisions among the nation’s

citizens, threatening to sweep

away those essential safeguards

of life, liberty and the pursuit of

happiness, which twenty cen-

turies of Christianity have es-

tablished, supported and sus-

tained. There can be no com-

promise, and certainly there can

be no acceptance.

Secularism is so insidious that

if given but slight ground, it will

threaten the whole structure of

supernaturalism; if its seepage

is not checked, its waters will

engulf fundamentals to such an

extent that only the faintest sug-

gestion of them will remain.

It is, indeed, the hour of crisis

and Democracy can survive only

to the extent that religion flour-

ishes.

The Catholic Church, knowing

how intimately interwoven are

religion and Democracy, seeks

the preservation of human val-

ues, which true Democracy safe-

guards, by stressing the essen-

tial importance of the inter-re-

lation between home, Church and

school. So determined is the

Catholic Church that this essen-

tial importance will not be over-

looked, she calls upon the home

to support both Church and

school. So militant is the Cath-

olic Church in defense of hu-

man values, that she insists that

both home and school determine

their objectives in accordance

with God’s plan in creation.



From time immemorial, the

home has been the great educa-

tive agency, and, in 'the eyes of

the Church, the prime educative

agency. Before the development

of our vast modern school sys-

tem, the child received his prep-

aration for life within the fam-

ily circle. Today, even with that

school system, the Church still

regards 'the home as the school

of schools, and the parent as the

teacher preeminent. Unfortu-

nately, this is not always so in

this streamlined age in which

we live, when apartments have

taken the place of homes, pent

houses the place of mansions,

and automobiles 'the place -of

babies.

Now, sad to say, in many

cases the home is only incidental

to the school, and the school has

become not only parlor, bedroom,

dining-room and bath for the

child, but in a sense mother and

father, brother and sister as well.

Here the child is supposed to de-

velop those domestic .virtues

without which good citizenship

is impossible. Today the school

is expected to so ground the child

in desirable practices that par-

ents will be released from their

God-given obligation of fashion-

ing and forming the true man

and the true woman of character.

The Catholic Church insists

that the school at best is only

supplementary to the home, aid-

ing and assisting, but never

taking the place of the home.

She knows that the home is the

very center of the child's emo-

tional, physical, intellectual and

moral life. Here habits and

attitudes are determined. There

is no doubt but that impressions

made by parents are more fre-

quently than not indelibly stamp-

ed and seldom erased from the

memory of children. Where the

home fails in its duties and ob-

ligations, the Church and school

rarely succeed. It is from the

home properly motivated that re-

ligion and democracy draw their

greatest strength. It is from the

home grounded in religious truth

that the Catholic Church attracts

her teachers whose religious con-

secration dramatizes for pupil

and student those supernatural

truths which are the very es-

sence of true democracy.

And so the Catholic Church

reminds parents that God has

entrusted them with that which

reflects, not only themselves, but

Him as well. In a word, the

Church charges parents to create

that environment out of which

the child committed to their care

will be enabled to achieve a life

unending, a liberty never degen-

erating into license, a happiness

giving peace within and con-

tributing to the peace of others.

In the classroom, the Catholic

Church commits the child to the



care and instruction of one whose

very garb suggests those do-

mestic virtues which are the

firmest props of morality and the

securest foundations of true De-

mocracy. Here the nun, and she

constitutes eighty percent of

Catholic school teachers, inte-

grates religious truths with the

content of other subjects. In

this integration, she enables the

pupil and student to escape the

debilitating influence of secular-

ism, for to her the content of

all subjects to be taught is part

of the plan of an all-wise and an

all-provident Creator. Her meth-

odology is to give practice in the

social virtues and to develop at-

titudes that are at once con-

sistent with the Christian and

the American philosophy of life.

Strengthened by prayer, the

nun’s whole character is the

product of consecration to God

through the formation of the

true and perfect Christian in the

lives of the little ones committed

to her instruction. With her

teaching is no profession; it is

a vocation to which she accepts

the call to form men and women

of character. It is a life’s work

subject in no manner to the

vagaries of time and circum-

stance. Perfection in teaching

means for her greater security

in the attainment of eternal sal-

vation, which alone prompts her

dedication to the desirable ob-

jectives of the classroom. She

knows that the better she quali-

fies herself for the teaching pro-

fession, the more God is pleased

with her, and so she does not

content herself with mediocrity

in her chosen work. Her educa-

tional objective is the harmoni-

ous development of the whole

child and all his faculties. To

cultivate and strengthen child,

body and soul, mind, heart and

conscience, she knows is the

business of true education. From

her own Catholic training, the

nun has the conviction that Edu-

cation permeated through and

through with the sublime truths

of Religion, makes not only for

the highest type of citizenship

in the Kingdom of God, but

makes likewise for the highest

type of American citizenship.

As an American, the Catholic

teacher rejoices that this con-

viction is supported by no less a

person than he whom history

terms as the “Father of Our

Country.” “Of all the dispositions

and habits,” said George Wash-

ington, “which lead to political

prosperity, religion and morality

are indispensible supports. In

vo in would that man claim the

trib ute of patriotism who should

labor to subvert these firmest

props of the duties of man and

citizens. Whatever may be con-

ceded to the influence of refined

education on minds of peculiar



structure, reason and experience

both forbid us to expect that

national morality can prevail to

the exclusion of religious prin-

ciples.”

This conviction of the “Father

of Our Country,” so reminiscent

of our country’s Declaration of

Independence, is re-echoed today

more and more by thinkers m the
American field of education. The

eminent head of the Department

of Philosophy in one of the coun-

try’s leading universities, a non-

Catholic, speaks as follows

:

“Religious development is just

as essential as it is intellectual.

Anyone who thinks otherwise is

a moron. We have altogether too

many intellectual, or artistic, or

musical geniuses who are re-

ligious morons. Religion and

Education should go hand in

hand to achieve the final goal of

a life better fitted for success.

Religion is necessary and should

find a place in every educational

institution, from the primary

school to the university, through-

out the land.”*

With religion the citizen is a

creature of God, dedicated to

preserving the dignity with

which God has endowed him.

Without religion he is simply the

creature of the State, a pawn

in the play for power on the

part of those who would use him

*Dr. Charles Gray Shaw—New
York University.

to achieve omnipotence for a

State of their own creation. With

religion properly inculcated, the

citizen, even though he fails in

his upward climb, must ever

seek not only his own welfare

but the welfare of all others as

well. Without Religion indoc-

trinated with the doctrine of sur-

vival, the citizen is motivated by

fear and the determination to

survive even though survival

means liquidation for his fellow

citizen.

The Church in the Catholic

philosophy of Education becomes

the bond between home and

school. She belongs to neither

exclusively, but very definitely is

part of each. To her, parents,

pupils and teachers are God’s

children to be guided along the

way to that full and rich ma-

turity that can be found only

in Christ.

Because the family is not a

perfect society, that is, because

it is not, out of its own resources

capable of attaining fully its end,

it needs the help of other in-

stitutions or societies. The

school is one of these, and the

Church is solicitous that the

school serve the home as an

adjunct and not as an usurper.

In Home, Church and School,

the Catholic Church charges

parents, pastors and teachers to

take due care that this noble

concept of child and pupil is



never obscured. The Catholic

Church looks with alarm on the

threat to this noble concept,

which emanates from the secu-

larizing influences so rife in the

world today.

Seeing the seepage of secular-

ism gradually widening the gap

in the dam of fundamentals, the

Catholic Church prayerfully,

through her head, the Pope of

Rome, calls -for a salutary union

of thought between Catholics and

other believers in God. (Sertum

Laetitiae) In the midst of crisis,

the Catholic Church is happy in

the knowledge that her schools,

from primary to university, to-

gether with other religious

schools in the nation, enable the

educational system of America

to reflect totally the philosophy

of government which has made

the United States the highest

exemplar of human liberty and

human dignity. Hopefully the

Catholic Church looks to the fu-

ture, knowing that this philos-

ophy of government, once it takes

hold in its fullness of meaning on

the thinking of the citizens of

the United States, the home, the

Church and the school will stand

forth conspicuously as the triple

and secure arsenal of human

values.