A CATECHISM OF

CATHOLIC EDUCATION

do the Catholics of the United

States maintain at their own

expense a school system in

which are instructed annually

1,981,051 pupils?

Answers to this and to hun-

dreds of other pertinent ques-

tions concerning the history,

organization and administra-

tion of the Catholic school

system in the United States

are found in this pamphlet.

NATIONAL CATHOLIC WELFARE COUNCIL
BUBBAU OP EDUCATION

1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W.

Washington, D. C.

WHY





A CATECHISM OF

CATHOLIC EDUCATION

BY

Reverend James H. Ryan, D.D., Ph.D.

Executive Secretary. Department of Education, N. C. W. C.

NATIONAL CATHOLIC WELFARE COUNCIL
BUREAU OF EDUCATION

Washington, D. C.

1922



Slibil ®bstat:

Ludovicus R. Stickney,

Censor Deputatus.

Imprimatur:

die 27, Februarii, 1922.

Michael
J. Curley,

Archiepiscopus Baltimorensis.

Copyright, 1922,

by

National Catholic Welfare Council

Fifth Printing

The Pauli st Press, New York, N. Y.



TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

History of Catholic Education in the United
States ....

1

CHAPTER II

Statistics of Catholic Education in the United
States.—Catholic School Census of 1920 . . 9

CHAPTER III

Organization of the Catholic School System.
Administration

. 12

CHAPTER IV

Organization of the Catholic School System.—
Types of Schools

19

CHAPTER V

Teachers in the Catholic School System . . 27

CHAPTER VI

Training of Catholic School Teachers ... 30

CHAPTER VII

Curriculum of the Catholic School .... 36
CHAPTER VIII

Reasons for the Existence of Catholic Schools . 48

iii



iv Table of Contents

CHAPTER IX

Attitude of Catholics Towards the Public Schools 65

CHAPTER X

Americanism of the Catholic School ... 72

CHAPTER XI

Cost of Catholic Education 81

CHAPTER XII

How You Can Help Catholic Education . 88



INTRODUCTION

rTlHE Catholic school is one of the greatest moral facts
^ in the United States. During 1920, 1,981,051 children

were educated in Catholic schools. The Catholic school sys-

tem is an institution of which every Catholic has good rea-

sons to be proud. Its teachers are men and women well

trained for their tasks. The quality of the work accom-

plished is of an exceptionally high order. Its Americanism

is beyond question. To inform further our Catholic people

on the history, administration and organization of their

schools is the aim of this Catechism of Catholic Education.

This Catechism may be made the subject of study in the

home and in the school. Clubs and organizations of men

and women will find it a convenient manual for an elemen-

tary study of Catholic education in all its phases.

One of the primary functions of the Department of Edu-

cation of the National Catholic Welfare Council is to spread

information concerning Catholic education. The Depart-

ment stands ready at all times to assist schools, clubs and

organizations in the formation of groups for the study of

what the Catholic school is and what it is accomplishing.

v





CHAPTER I

History of Catholic Education in the United States

1. Q. When were Catholic schools first established in

the United States?

A. The first Catholic schools were established in what

are now the States of Florida and New Mexico. Most of

these schools were founded for the education of the In-

dians. As early as 1606, however, a classical school had

been established in St. Augustine, Florida.

By 1629, four years before the foundation of the first

school in the thirteen original Colonies, there were many

elementary schools in New Mexico. Most of these schools

were destroyed in 1680. The Spanish colonists were

obliged by law to found schools in every village where they

settled.

There were also many pre-Revolutionary schools in

Texas and California, due to the zeal of Jesuit and Fran-

ciscan missionaries. These schools were largely industrial

schools.

2. Q. When and from what country did the first body of

Catholic teachers come?

A. The first group of elementary school teachers to come

to the United States were ten Ursuline Sisters from France,

who, in 1727, founded in New Orleans the first Catholic

academy and day school tor girls in the New World.

3. Q. Had Catholic schools been established in other

places prior to 1776?

1



2 A Catechism of Catholic Education

A. Before 1776 schools had been established in St. Louis,

Detroit, Kaskaskia, as well as in what are now the States

of Maine, Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania.

4. Q. At what date was the first Catholic college estab-

lished in the United States?

A. The first Catholic college was opened in 1677 at New-

town, Maryland, by the Society of Jesus.

Georgetown College, the direct descendant of schools

established at Newtown and Bohemia, dates from 1789.

5. Q. What was the number of Catholic schools in the

United States prior to 1776?

A. Upwards of 70 Catholic schools existed within the

present confines of the United States. Considering the so-

cial and economic conditions prevailing amongst the small

number of Catholics in pre-Revolutionary days, this is

quite remarkable. The total Catholic population in 1789

amounted only to 35,000.

6. Q. Were the Colonial schools State or religious

schools?

A. All the schools in the Colonies, whether established

by Catholics or Protestants, were religious schools. There

were no State schools, supported solely by public taxation.

7. Q. What was the necessary consequence of this fact?

A. The fact that all religious denominations maintained

schools resulted in Catholic settlers organizing and develop-

ing a school system of their own.

8. Q. What was the general character of the Catholic

schools of the Colonial period?

A. Catholic Colonial schools were modeled either after

Continental schools, especially French and German, or af-

ter the system of education established by the Jesuits.

The curriculum was elementary, consisting mainly of

reading, writing and arithmetic.



History of Catholic Education 3

9. Q. Were the Catholic schools of Colonial days merely

separate schools or did they form a system?

A. The elements of a system existed even in Colonial

days, as all the schools in the English Colonies were under

the direction of the Jesuits.

10. Q. What principal factors determined the growth of

Catholic schools in the United States after the year 1800?

A- The most important factors were:

(1) The creation and introduction of religious teaching

communities into the country

;

(2) The expansion of the Church

;

(3) Financial assistance from Europe.

11. Q. How did the creation and introduction of reli-

gious teaching communities assist in the development of

Catholic education?

A. By supplying the demand for teachers of the nu-

merous schools, which grew up so rapidly all over the

country.

The Poor Clares in 1799 founded a school at George-

town. This school was afterwards continued by the Sis-

ters of the Visitation. The community of the Visitation

Sisters, together with the Sisters of Charity (the first

American religious teaching order), the Sisters of Loretto,

the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and the Sisters of St.

Dominic grew amazingly, and in the period between 1800-

50 supplied the great majority of teachers for our Catholic

schools.

As each one of these orders maintained a training school

for its teachers, the quality of the work accomplished by

them in the numerous academies and parish schools under

their direction was of a very high order.

12. Q. How did the growth of the Church affect the de-

velopment of Catholic education?

A. The expansion of the Church, following on the divi-



4 A Catechism of Catholic Education

sion of the country into dioceses and archdioceses, created

new demands for educational institutions. In 1829, a prov-

incial council held in Baltimore ordered the establishment

of Catholic schools “wherever possible.” The decree of

the Council put the seal of ecclesiastical approval on the

rapidly developing Catholic school system.

13. Q. How did financial assistance from Europe aid in

the development of Catholic education?

A. Financial assistance from Europe, especially from

France and Austria, greatly aided the struggling Catholic

schools in their development. Most of the early Catholic

settlers were poor, and, unassisted, they could not have

carried the financial burden of building schools and

churches. The numerous contributions which came from

Europe supplemented gifts of the laity in this country and

made possible the erection of many schools which, other-

wise, could not have been built.

14. Q. What factors influenced the development of the

Catholic school system after 1850?

A. (a) One of the principal factors was the controversy

over the appropriation of State funds to sectarian schools.

Bishop John Hughes of New York presented the Catholic

plea for a just share of the public school fund. His plea

was rejected. It became evident to all that in the future

Catholics would have to maintain their schools without

financial assistance from the State.

At this time the public school system, tax-supported, be-

came a reality. Most of the Protestant denominations that

conducted schools fought vigorously the principle of pub-

lic education. They were defeated. The public schools

of that period were practically Protestant schools and bit-

terly anti-Catholic. Most of the teachers were Protestants.

The Protestant Bible was read in the public school. A

spirit of antagonism to Catholic principles remained a char-



History of Catholic Education 5

acteristic of the public school system in many places until

quite recently. Catholics could not in conscience, there-

fore, send their children to such schools ; the only alterna-

tive was to establish schools of their own and to per-

petuate those which already existed.

(b) The great number of immigrants to the United

States at this time, especially from Ireland and Germany,

doubled the Catholic population and made necessary a wide

extension of the Catholic school system. Religious teach-

ers followed in the wake of the immigrants, and through

the zeal and sacrifice of both, the secure foundations of

the present-day Catholic school system were laid. Not only

were parish schools erected alongside of our churches,

but high schools, seminaries and colleges grew in numbers.

(c) Ecclesiastical legislation made secure the position of

the Catholic school as a necessary adjunct to the Church.

Church authorities ordered the establishment of Catholic

schools “in every place,” and the Third Council of Balti-

more (1884) enacted school legislation which has, since that

time, been the basis and the norm of the development of

the Catholic school system.

15. Q. What has been the development of Catholic

schools from 1870 to the present day?

A. The Civil War retarded the growth of Catholic

schools for a time. After 1875, however, they increased in

number and in attendance with surprising rapidity. The

growth of Catholic education since 1875 has been a normal,

steady one as the following tables show

:



TABLE

SHOWING

GROWTH

OF

PARISH

SCHOOL

ATTENDANCE

FROM

1880

TO

1920.

A Catechism of Catholic Education

fS 'O O Tf VO
GO y—i VO CD

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Cn O
CM O
in oo
00 a

2 CO M h o
oC oC VO cm*'

CM On
IM co
On M-

O O
vo G\

5* ^
5s -~

c .2

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fe *

cm co
VO CM r-i

On VO On
VO On vo co

p o\* r< co
CM »—I r-H C\1

2 5»

> £

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VO VO co to
00 vo fN. VO VO
M; co co on
O} vo" vo" oo" on"
On O *-« ro

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O CO VO Tf r-S
ON co vo vo CO vo On

'O tx. 00 O CM 'rf

I

^®O^OnOOt-h*~<cM

3
«

*>

3

a o
C o

3 I



History of Catholic Education

W
a
H

Pi

O
to

Y\
Q

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2 o
< k
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HM C/5

a w
w 2

cu
(/5

^
S3

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U .
s £
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w w
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< Q a
,
- °

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s
5

> to

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> u

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in

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W
P
PQ

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H

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u

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to c

5 «
C
^

t) _
8 5

«g

d «

vq M 0\ N
tr> Tf- to to
rf rf On CO

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Tf 0\ CV| N O
CM TO

o ^
..tit)

a" §an S
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t) to «
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-

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to to

VO
On vo

t-H lO
vo CO
Tf vo W

00 VO 00
CM vo to
On CM vo

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o vo
00 00
00 oo

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On On On On

Figures

from

Official

Catholic

Director.

For

1920

the

figures

are

from

Director!;

of

Catholic

Col-

leges

and

Schools.

jjOTE

The

number

of

seminaries

has

increased

from

24

in

1880

to

164

in

1920.

The

1920

total

(164)

includes

113

seminaries

for

the

education

of

the

religious

clergy

and

51

for

the

education

of

the

diocesan

clergy.

Students

who

reside

outside

the

United

States

are

not

included

in

the

above.



8 A Catechism of Catholic Education

References

Burns, Principles, Origin and Establishment of the Catholic School

System in the United States, Benziger, N. Y., 1912.

Burns, Growth and Development of the Catholic School System in

the United States, Benziger, N. Y., 1912.

Cubberley, Public Education in the United States, Houghton Mif-

flin & Company, Boston, 1919.

McCormick, History of Education, Catholic Education Press,

Washington, 1912.

Pace, “Catholic Education,” in Catholic Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia

Press, N. Y., 1910.

Official Catholic Directory for 1880, 1885, 1890, 1895, 1900, 1905,

1910 and 1915.

Ryan, Directory of Catholic Colleges and Schools, Bureau of Edu-

cation, N. C. W. C., Washington, 1921.



CHAPTER II

Statistics of Catholic Education in
the United States

CATHOLIC SCHOOL CENSUS, 1920

1. Q. How many Catholic schools are there
in the United

States?

A. 8,706, including all kinds.

2. Q. How many teachers are there
in the Catholic

schools of the United States?

A. 54,265 teachers are engaged
in the 8,706 Catholic

schools.

3. Q. Are all the teachers
in Catholic schools priests

or

members of religious orders?

A No. 1,929 lay professors teach in Catholic
univer-

sities and colleges; 953 in Catholic
high schools, and 2,989

in Catholic elementary schools.

4. Q. How many students attend
the Catholic schools?

A. 1,981,051.

5. Q. How many Catholic elementary
schools are there

in the United States?

A. There are 6,551, including
358 institutional schools.

41,581 teachers are employed
in these schools. 1,795,673

boys and girls attend the Catholic
elementary schools.

6. Q. How many Catholic high schools
are there?

A. There are 1,552 Catholic
high schools, 7,924 high

school teachers, and 129,838 high
school students-

9



10 A Catechism of Catholic Education

7. Q. How many religious novitiates and normal train-

ing schools are there?

A. 309, with an attendance of 10,544.

8. Q. How many Catholic colleges are there?

A. There are 114 Catholic colleges, 62 for men and 52

for women. They employ 1,697 professors and have an

attendance of 13,996. Of this number, 8,343 are men and

5,653 women.

9. Q. How many seminaries are there?

A. 164 seminaries with 1,063 professors and 11,198 stu-

dents for the priesthood.

10. Q. How many Catholic universities are there in the

United States?

A. There are 16 Catholic universities with a teaching

staff of 2,000 and an attendance of 19,803.

NATIONAL SUMMARY OF CATHOLIC SCHOOL
STATISTICS

Schools Number Professors Teachers Students

Universities 16 2,000 19,802

Colleges 114 1,697 13,996

Seminaries 164 1,063 11,198

High Schools 1,552 7,924 129,838
Normal Training Schools 309 * * 10,544
Elementary Schools 6,551 41,581 1,795,673

Total 8,706 4,760 49,505 1,981,051

The above statistics are based on returns made to inquiries sent out
by the Department of Education, N. C. W. C., and published in the
Directory of Catholic Colleges and Schools.

No Exact Data Available.

References

Ryan, Directory of Catholic Colleges and Schools, Bureau of gdij-

cation
?
N. C W. C., Washington, 19? 1.



Statistics of Catholic Education 11



CHAPTER III

Organization of the Catholic School System

ADMINISTRATION

1. Q. How are Catholic schools organized?

A. Catholic schools are organized on the diocesan plan,

each diocese forming a separate unit. In each diocese the

bishop is ex officio head of school administration.

2. Q. If the bishop is the head of the diocesan school

system, is not then each diocese independent in the adminis-

tration of its educational affairs?

A. Yes; each diocese like each State is autonomous in

education, formulating its own laws, devising its own pol-

icies, and administering its own district without external

interference.

3. Q. Does the bishop personally administer the school

system?

A. Under the bishop as chairman there is usually a

school board, commission or committee which establishes

standards, inspects schools, approves text-books—in a
word, performs all the functions of a State Department of

Education. Practically all matters pertaining to elemen-

tary education in a diocese are under the jurisdiction of

this board.

4. Q. Has the diocesan school system an official agent?

A. Yes
;
the official agent of the diocesan school system

is the diocesan superintendent or supervisor of schools, who

12



Organization of Catholic School System 13

is generally a member of the diocesan board of education

and is appointed by the bishop.

5. Q. What are the duties of a diocesan superintendent

or supervisor of schools?

A. The diocesan superintendent represents the bishop in

the government of the schools. He acts also as the exec-

utive officer of the school board in carrying out programs

and policies for the development of the schools under his

jurisdiction. He therefore inspects schools, holds exam-

inations for pupils, makes provision for the. professional

growth of the teaching force and organizes the educational

resources of his diocese.

The diocesan superintendent publishes a yearly report,

giving a complete statistical account of the schools over

which he has charge and submits recommendations for the

improvement of the same. The diocesan superintendent

of schools occupies much the same position as a State

Superintendent of Public Instruction in the public school

system.

6. Q. What are community supervisors?

A. Community supervisors or inspectors are members

of religious teaching orders, who inquire into the work of

the teachers belonging to their own order and report on it,

to their immediate religious superiors. They are not dio-

cesan school officials and therefore have no official status.

In some dioceses, however, they are appointed by the

bishop.

7. Q. What are the reasons for the existence of com-

munity supervisors?

A. Since the majority of teachers in our Catholic schools

are members of religious communities, it is to the interest

of each community to inspect the work of its own members.

The supervision which these community supervisors exert

over their own teachers results in inestimable good to the



TABLE

SHOWING

FUNCTIONS

OF

DIOCESAN

SUPERVISOR

OF

SCHOOLS

14 A Catechism of Catholic Education

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Organization of Catholic School System 15

teachers, the schools, and the diocese. These supervisors

are also of great assistance to the diocesan superintendent

of schools, helping him to keep in close contact with the

different teaching communities and offering him a splen-

did means of putting into effect the regulations and recom-

mendations of the diocesan school board.

8. Q. What are school principals?

A. A school principal is the head of a single elementary

or parish school. He is usually a member of the religious

order which supplies the teaching staff of the school.

9. Q. What are the duties of a school principal?

A. He has immediate and personal charge of the school

and works under the direction of the pastor. Both the

work of the principal and that of the teachers under his

care are supervised by the diocesan superintendent of

schools.

10. Q. How are institutional schools administered?

A. Institutional schools are directed by the Diocesan

Supervisor of Charities. Many progressive educators,

however, are of the opinion that these schools should be-

come an integral part of the Diocesan School System, and

that the educational training given in the same should be

under the supervision of the Diocesan Superintendent of

Schools.

11. Q. How are Catholic high schools organized?

A. (a) In some dioceses a high school board similar in

make-up to the diocesan school board has control of all

high schools. The active agent of this board is the dio-

cesan superintendent of high schools. This plan has

worked well wherever it has been tried out. Many dio-

ceses are preparing to adopt it.

(b) In dioceses where there is no high school board, the

high schools are administered either by principals ap-

pointed by the bishop (if the institution is diocesan) or by



16 A Catechism of Catholic Education

principals selected by the religious community which con-

trols the school.

12. Q. How are colleges and universities administered?

A. By a president and board of trustees.

If the college or university is a diocesan institution, the

bishop is ordinarily chancellor of the same or chairman of

its board of directors. If the college or university, how-

ever, is maintained by a religious order or community, its

administrative and educational policies are immediately

under the direction of the religious superior or provincial

of the order concerned.

Seminaries for the education of candidates for the dio-

cesan priesthood are usually under the supervision of the

bishop in whose diocese they are located. Seminaries for

religious are administered in much the same way as col-

leges and universities.

13. Q. What are some features of Catholic school or-

ganization?

A. The following features are most noteworthy: Free-

dom, cohesion, and unity.

(a) There is no superdiocesan or supernational organiza-

tion which dictates to the Catholic schools what they must

do. Curriculum), training of teachers, and standards oi

instruction are developed and maintained as the needs of

each diocese require. Educational theories and fads can-

not be imposed on a diocesan system from without. The

diocese, however, is free to accept any tried methods of in-

struction or administration which in its judgment meets its

own needs. Home rule in education is one of the significant

characteristics of the diocesan school system.

(b) As our schools are under episcopal jurisdiction,

there is generally present the utmost cohesion. They are

all working with the same definite purpose; therefore, in

spite of the number of different religious communities



Organization of Catholic School System 17

often employed in a diocese, praiseworthy uniformity gen-

erally results.

(c) Catholic schools are united. They are a unit on the

necessity of religious education; on obedience to episcopal

authority
;
on the fundamentals of sound educational prin-

ciples and methods. Although a great deal of freedom in

details is allowed, the acceptances by our schools of the

same principles explains why the underlying unity of Cath-

olic education is maintained in spite of diocesan difference

in organization and administration.

14. Q. Is there an official national Catholic school or-

ganization?

A. Not in the strict sense of the word. Each diocesan

organization controls its own schools. There is, however,

a Department of Education of the National Catholic Wel-

fare Council, under an episcopal chairman, which stands to

our schools much in the same relation as the Federal Bu-

reau of Education does to the schools of the United States.

15. Q. What are the functions of the Department of

Education of the N. C. W. C.?

A. Its functions are advisory and directive.

It acts

—

1. As a clearing house of information concerning Cath-

olic education and Catholic education agencies—for Cath-
olic educators and students, and for the general public.

2. As an advisory agency to assist Catholic educational

systems and institutions in their development.

3. As a connecting agency between Catholic education

activities and Government education agencies.

4. As an active organization to safeguard the interests

of Catholic education.

16. Q. What is the Catholic Educational Association?

A. It is a voluntary organization of Catholic educators,

who meet yearly to discuss educational problems. The



18 A Catechism of Catholic Education

Catholic Educational Association has no administrative

authority over the Catholic schools of the United States

The Catholic Educational Association is divided into Col-

lege, Seminary and Parish School Departments, and into

many other sections. It publishes the Proceedings of the

Annual Meeting and pamphlets on educational subjects.

References

Dunney, The Parish School, Macmillan, N. Y., 1921.

Bums, Growth and Development of the Catholic School System in

the United States, Benziger, N. Y., 1912.

Burns, Principles, Origin and Establishment of the Catholic School

System in the United States, Benziger, N. Y., 1912.

Burns, Catholic Education : A Study of Conditions, Longmans,
Green & Company, N. Y., 1917.

Waldron, ‘The Organization of a Diocesan School System’' (Pro-

ceedings C. E. A., Vol. XL).

Gibbons, “School Supervision—Its Necessity, Aims, and Methods"
(Proceedings C. E. A., Vol. II.).

Johnson, “Diocesan School Superintendent,” Catholic Education

Review, Washington, 1921.



CHAPTER IV

Organization of the Catholic School System

TYPES OF SCHOOLS

1. Q. What are the different types of Catholic
schools in

the United States?

A. The Catholic schools of the United States
follow the

same lines of organization as the State-controlled
schools.

They may be divided into three main classes :
Elementary

schools, high schools, and colleges.

2. Q. What is an elementary school?

A. Parish schools are ordinarily elementary
schools con-

sisting of eight grades.

3. Q. What subjects are taught in parish
schools?

A. The curriculum of the parish school has
practically

the same content as that of the public
elementary school

reading, writing, grammar, spelling, arithmetic,
history and

geography—to which must be added religion. In addition

to these subjects some schools embrace
others of an ele-

mentary character, such as those touching
on literature, art,

and science.

In some dioceses, especially the larger ones,
kindergar-

tens have been added to many of the parish schools.

4. Q. What are institutional schools?

A. By institutional schools we mean orphan
asylums, in-

dustrial schools, schools for the blind,
deaf and dumb asy-

lums, schools for delinquents, and schools
for subnormal

children. The institutional type of school is
fundamentally

elementary in character. The standard elementary
curric-

ulum in certain cases is revised to meet the
subnormalities

of the children who attend such schools.
Institutional

schools are generally boarding schools.

19



^0 A Catechism of Catholic Education

5. Q. What are rural schools?

A. Rural schools are country schools, as distinguished

from urban or city schools. The curriculum is the same as
that of the city school.

6. Q. What school follows the elementary or parish
school?

A. The high school. After a child has successfully com-
pleted eight grades in the elementary or parish school, he

is admitted to the high school. A high school may be a
parish high school, intended chiefly for the children of a

certain parish, or a central high school, intended for the

children of a district or city. There is a tendency in the

direction of making high schools central.

7. Q. What is a high school?

A. A high school is an institution which offers a four
years’ course, following upon eight years of elementary

school training. The high school is often called a sec-
ondary school to distinguish it from the primary or ele-

mentary school.

8. Q. What is a junior high school?

A. The junior high school is an institution which, in ad-
dition to the work of the seventh and eighth grades, offers

two years of high school training. There are very few

junior high schools in the Catholic school system.

9. Q. What are the purposes of a high school?

A. A high school has various purposes

:

It offers a course of cultural and informational value,

sufficient in itself to prepare boys and girls for an intel-

ligent participation in the work and life of the community.

It trains them by practical and vocational courses for

mechanical trades or for business occupations.

Another purpose is to prepare a student for college or

for the higher professional schools.



Organization of Catholic School System
21

10. Q. Are Catholic high schools
co-educational?

A. No. Catholic high schools
are not co-educational ex-

cept when they are parish high schools.
Catholic high

schools are more or less sharply defined
into high schools

for boys and high schools for girls.
Girls’ high schools

are generally known as academies.

11. Q. In what way has this division
into hoys’ and girls’

high schools affected the Catholic
high school?

A. This traditional division has had
its effect on the con-

tent of the curriculum of each
type of high school up to

very recent times. Today, however,
the general tendency

is to offer the same courses to boys
and girls.

Most Catholic high schools, both
for boys and girls,

in addition to the college
preparatory courses, offer instruc-

tion in commerce, secretarial work,
and, in some cases, in

vocational and industrial pursuits.

12. Q. What does it mean for a
high school to be ac-

credited or affiliated?

A. For a high school to be accredited
means that its

“credits” are accepted at their full
value by a recognized

college, State university, or educational
association.

Affiliation means practically the same
thing. It indi-

cates a closer bond of union between
the high school and

the college with which the affiliation
takes place. The af-

filiated school becomes closely connected
with the central

organization or parent institution.

13. Q. Are many Catholic high schools
accredited?

A. The great majority of Catholic high
schools are ac-

credited to the various State
universities, or are affiliated

with the Catholic University of
America.

14. Q. What is the effect on the high
school of being ac-

credited to an institution of higher learning
?

A. Accrediting insures uniformity
in curriculum, as well

as in methods of teaching and in
results.



22 A Catechism of Catholic Education

15. Q. What is a college?

A. A college is an institution with a four years’ course,
following the four years of high school.

16. Q. What is a junior college?

A. A junior college is an institution which offers but two
years’ collegiate work.

The junior college has not found much favor in Catholic

educational circles. It commends itself to those who see
in it a means of giving at least two years of Catholic col-

lege training to students who intend to enter professional
schools.

17. Q. Who are admitted to college?
A. For entrance to college, a student must possess a

diploma or certificate from an accredited high school. On
graduation from college, the student receives the degree

of Bachelor of Arts or of Science, B.A. or B.S.

18. Q. Are Catholic colleges co-educational?

A. As in the high school, there is little or no co-educa-
tion in Catholic colleges. Catholic colleges are divided into

colleges for men and colleges for women.

19. Q. What subjects are taught in Catholic colleges?
A. The curriculum of the Catholic college centres about

the liberal arts. In most colleges, however, students are

permitted a wide range of “election that is, they are al-

lowed, after certain prescribed courses, to select optional

subjects for study.

20. Q. Are Catholic colleges standard colleges?

A. Yes; most of our Catholic colleges are standard

colleges.

21. Q. What is a standard college?

A. A standard college is one which follows certain defi-
nite rules laid down by educational organizations as nec-
essary for the satisfactory accomplishment of work of col-
legiate grade.



Organization of Catholic School System

22. Q. What are these educational organizations?

A. The organizations which promulgate these rules are

voluntary associations of colleges, or, in some cases, State

universities. The Catholic Educational Association, for

example, has a set of standards and a list of standard

colleges.

This list includes 67 Catholic colleges which have asked

for the recognition of the Catholic Educational
Association

and have been accepted.

23. Q. What colleges are recognized by the Catholic

Educational Association as standard?

A. The following colleges are listed as standard (list of

1921)

:

TOR MEN: Mt. St. Mary College, Emmitsburg,

Boston College, Boston, Mass.

Campion College, Prairie du Chien,

Wis.

Canisius College, Buffalo, N. Y.

Catholic University of America,

Washington, D. C.

College of St. Francis Xavier,

Brooklyn, N. Y.

College of St. Thomas, St. Paul,

Minn.

Columbia College, Dubuque, Iowa.

Creighton University, Omaha, Neb.

De Paul University, Chicago, 111.

Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Fordham University, Fordham, N. Y.

Georgetown University, Washington,

D. C.

Gonzaga University, Spokane, Wash-

ington.

Holy Cross College, Worcester,

Mass.

Jefferson College, Convent, La.

Loyola College, Baltimore, Md.

Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois.

Loyola University, New Orleans,

La.

Manhattan College, New York

City.

Marquette University, Milwaukee,

Wis.

Md.

Spring Hill College, Spring Hill,

Ala.

St. Ambrose College, Davenport,

Iowa.

St. Benedict College, Atchison,

Kansas.

St. Bonaventure College, Allegany,

N. Y.

St. Francis’ College, Loretto, Pa.

*St. Francis’ College, Brooklyn,

N. Y.

St. Ignatius’ College, Cleveland,

Ohio.

St. Ignatius’ College, San Fran-

cisco, Cal.

St. John College, Brooklyn, N. Y.

St. John University, Collegeville,

Minn.

St. John University, Toledo, Ohio.

St. Joseph College, Philadelphia,

Pa.

St. Louis University, St. Louis,

Mo.

St. Mary College, St. Marys, Kan-

sas.

St. Mary College, Oakland, Cal.

St. Viator College, Bourbonnais,

111 .

^Admitted June, 1921.



24 A Catechism of Catholic Education

St. Xari«r College, Cincinnati,

Ohio.

University of Dayton, Dayton,

Ohio.

University of Detroit, Detroit,

Mich.

University of Notre Dame, Notre

Dame, Ind.

University of Santa Clara, Santa

Clara, Cal.

Yiilanova College, Yiilanova, Pa.

FOR WOMEN:
College of St. Catherine, St. Paul,

Minn.

College of St. Elizabeth, Convent,

N. J.

College of Mt. St. Vincent, New

York City.

College of New Rochelle, New Ro-

chelle, N. Y.

College of Notre Dame of Mary-

land, Baltimore, Md.

College of St. Teresa, Winona,

Minn.

College and Academy oi Sacred

Heart, Cincinnati, Ohio.

D’Youville College and Holy Angels

Academy, Buffalo, N. Y.

*Our Lady of the Lake College, San

Antonio, Texas.

Loretto Heights College, Loretto,

Colo.

Loretto College, Webster Grove,

Me.

Mt. St. Joseph College, Dubuque,

Iowa.

Incarnate Word College, San An-

tonio, Texas.

St. Clara College and Academy,

Sinsinawa, Wig.

*St. Francis Xavier College, Chi-

cago, 111.

*St. Joseph College, Emmitaburg,

Md.

St. Mary College and Academy,

Monroe, Mich.

St. Mary College, Notre Dame, Ind.

St. Mary College, Portland, Oregon.

*St. Mary College, Prairie du

Chien, Wis.

St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, St.

Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind.

Seton Hill College, Greensburg,

Pa.

Trinity College, Washington, D. C.

Mt. St. Mary College, North Plain-

field, N. J.

24. Q. What must a college do to be recognized as

standard?

A. For a college to be accepted as standard, it must re-

quire not less than fifteen “units” for entrance; one hun-

dred and twenty semester hours for graduation
;
must have

eight distinct departments of study; its faculty must con-

sist of at least eight full-time professors, with definite

academic qualifications
;

its library and scientific equip-

ment must be of a certain kind and of a fixed value. Some

standardizing agencies require more than the above and

some require less. In the main, however, any college

which fulfills the above conditions w^ould be recognized as

standard.

Admitted June, 1921,



Organization of Catholic School System 25

25. Q. What is a seminary?

A. A seminary is an institution for the education of can-
didates for the priesthood.

Seminaries are of two kinds, preparatory and theologi-

cal. The preparatory seminary is equivalent to the junior

college. The theological seminary offers a two years’

course in philosophy followed by four years of theology,

and is therefore the equivalent of the professional school

of a university.

26. Q. What is a university?

A. The term designates an institution which, besides a

college, maintains also professional schools and confers ad-

vanced degrees, as M.A., Ph.D., D.D. The university grew

out of the college of liberal arts in the Middle Ages. It is

the product of Catholic science and faith.

27. Q. What subjects are taught in a university?

A. The American university has developed a great num-

ber of courses in the liberal arts and professional schools,

the most important of which are schools of theology, of

medicine, law, engineering, pharmacy, dentistry, commerce

and finance. Catholic universities have taken part in this

development and present much the same character as State

or non-sectarian universities.

28. Q. How many Catholic universities are there?

A. There are 16 Catholic institutions in the United

States offering work of university grade.

References

Burns, Catholic Education, Longmans, Green & Company, N. Y.,

1917.

Newman, Idea of a University, Longmans, Green & Company, N.

Y., 1910.

Newman, “Rise and Progress of Universities,
1” Vol. III., Historical

Sketches

,

Longmans, Green & Company, N. Y., 1910.

Ryan, Directory of Catholic Colleges and Schools, Bureau of Edu-

cation, N. C. W. C., Washington, 1921.

Waldron, “The Organization of a Diocesan School System” (Pro-

ceedings C. E. A., Vol. XI.).



26 A Catechism of Catholic Education

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CHAPTER V

Teachers in the Catholic School System

1. Q. Who teach in the Catholic schools?
A. Most of the teachers in Catholic schools are mem-

bers of religious orders or congregations. There is, how-

ever, a great number of lay teachers.

2. Q. Are lay teachers welcomed in the Catholic school

system?

A. The Department of Education, N. C. W. C., passed
the following resolution with reference to lay teachers:

“That laymen be encouraged to take a larger share in our

educational work, especially by participation as teachers.”

3. Q. Why are most of the teachers in Catholic schools
members of religious communities?

A. The diffusion of knowledge, especially religious

knowledge, has always been regarded as one of the prime

functions of the Church of Christ, a continuation of the

work of the Apostles themselves, to whom Christ said

:

“Go, and teach all nations.” For that reason she has set

aside, and even consecrated, the lives of the men and women

whom she selects as teachers.

4. Q. Are there many men teaching in our Catholic

schools of religious congregations?

A. Yes, there are about forty religious orders of men

whose members teach in the Catholic schools of the United

States. Many of the secular clergy also occupy positions
as administrators and teachers in our schools.

5. Q. Are all these men priests?

A. No, a great number of men teachers belong to reli-

gious brotherhoods.

27



28 A Catechism of Catholic Education

6. Q. What are religious brotherhoods?

A, Religious brotherhoods are congregations of men

bound together by vows. They do not take Holy Orders.

7. Q. What advantages are there in having teachers who

are members of religious communities?

A. There are many advantages. In the first place, reli-

gious teachers labor from the highest motive, namely, the

pure love of God. They receive no personal compensation

for their work. They teach because they see in teaching

the best service which they can perform for the kingdom

of God. The training of children in the knowledge and

love of God is their life’s object. This holy motive is

consecrated by vows taken to God Himself.

Secondly, as a member of a religious community one

can consecrate one’s whole life to teaching, putting aside

any idea of changing or bettering one’s position in this

world. Neither does a religious teacher worry about his

daily needs, as the community provides for them. The

consequence is concentration on the purposes of his pro-

fession with little or no outside distraction.

Thirdly, as a member of a religious community, the reli-

gious teacher is urged and even required constantly to per-

fect himself in his chosen profession. For the religious,

the period of intellectual training never comes to an end.

The religious life is a daily development in character-

building. The formal study, which he is obliged by rule

to indulge in, keeps him constantly abreast of the best edu-

cational thought and principles.

Fourthly, the religious teacher, because of his training

and his vows, is less individualistic than the teacher in a

non-religious system
;
he therefore more easily fits into a

religious system of education and is more ready to accept

the guidance of superiors. This is a vital necessity in the

Catholic system, which is based upon a definite religious



Teachers in the Catholic School System 29

belief and is permeated through and through with a defi-

nite ethical teaching.

Fifthly, the religious teacher exerts an unusual influ-

ence on his pupils. He embodies in his life and conduct the
principles and ideals he professes and inculcates. Per-

sonal influence in an inspiring environment is a most effec-

tive element of the educational process. The high character

of this personal influence is the specific contribution of the

religious teacher in the Catholic school.

In a word, the religious teacher is not only a good

teacher, but he is a good teacher because he is a religious.

8. Q. Is there a need for more religious teachers?

A. It is one of the crying needs of American Catholic

life. Thousands of children today are not receiving the

benefits of a Catholic education because the Church cannot

supply the religious teachers in numbers sufficient to meet

the demand.

9. Q. What can Catholics do to remedy this situation?

A. (a) They can instruct their children in the nobility

of the profession of the religious teacher. If any of them

evince a desire to enter religion, parents should put no

obstacles in their way, but encourage their holy aspirations

towards the religious state.

(b) They can contribute generously to the support of

seminaries, religious novitiates and normal training schools

in which are trained the teachers for our schools.

(c) They can pray God daily to send “more workers into
His vineyard.”

References

Bums, Catholic Education, Longmans, Green & Company, N Y
1917.

Schwickerath, Jesuit Education, B. Herder Book Company, St.
Louis, 1904.

Brother Leo, St. John Baptist de la Salle, Kenedy, N. Y., 1921.
Shields, Philosophy of Education, Catholic Education Press, Wash-

ington, 1910.



CHAPTER VI

Training of Catholic School Teachers

1. Q. What system of professional preparation for teach-

ers is used in the Catholic school system?

A. The Catholic system of training is practically the

same as that used for the preparation of public school

teachers.

2. Q. Outline the various steps in teacher-training as fol-

lowed in Catholic training schools.

A. After a period of preparation for the religious state,

called a novitiate, a religious teacher takes up the formal

work of preparing for the teaching profession. If the

novice, as the young religious is called, has completed her

high school education, she immediately begins two years

of normal training work. If, however, the high school

course has not been completed, the novice is obliged to

take up the study of high school subjects, until she has

satisfactorily finished them. After the completion of her

normal training course, the young religious is sent out as

a student-teacher.

3. Q. What courses are presented in the Catholic normal

training school?

A. The following outline of courses given at the St.

Clare School of Education, Winona, Minnesota, is typical

of the best Catholic normal training school schedules.

30



Training of Catholic School Teachers 31

First Year

Subject Semester

Second Year

Subject Semester

Third Year

Subject Semester

Methods in Methods in History of
Religion I II Religion I II Education I

English . .

.

I II English Economics I
Literature I II

History and Child Sociology I
Civics .

.

I II Psychol-

ogy ... I
Psychology I II Special Supplemen-

Methods I II tary Re-

quirements I
General Mathe- Supplemen-
Methods I II matics .

.

I tary Lec-

tures ... I
School College

Manage- Algebra II
ment .. I

School Modern
Organiz- Language I II

tion ... II

Natural Apprentice
Science . I II Teaching II

4. Q. Does a religious teacher fulfill all the conditions of

professional preparation by graduating from a normal

training school?

A. No
;
she is obliged to attend teachers’ institutes, sum-

mer courses, and even summer school, although she is ac-

knowledged beforehand to be a competent teacher. A few
dioceses offer Teachers’ Institutes under diocesan direction.

Most of the large communities maintain their own summer

schools. The smaller communities attend the extension

courses and summer schools conducted by the different

Catholic universities and colleges. There were 24 Catholic

summer schools in the United States in 1921. The follow-

ing colleges offered courses open to religious teachers

:

Canisius College, Buffalo, N. Y.
;
Catholic University,

Washington, D. C.
;
Columbia College, Dubuque, Iowa

;

Creighton University, Omaha, Nebr.; De Paul University,
Chicago, 111.

;
Fordham University, New York, N. Y.

;
St.

John College, Brooklyn, N. Y.
;
St. John University, Toledo,



32 A Catechism of Catholic Education

Ohio; Little Rock College, Little Rock, Ark.;
St Louis

University, St. Louis, Mo.; Loyola University,
Chicago,

111.
;
Loyola University, New Orleans, La. ; Marquette Uni-

versity, Milwaukee, Wis. ; Notre Dame University,
Notre

Dame, Ind. ; College of St.
Teresa, Winona, Minn. ; Villa

Nova College, Philadelphia, Pa. ; St. Xavier
College, Cin-

cinnati, Ohio.

5. Q. What is the attitude of Catholic
educators towards

more adequate preparation for the profession
of teaching?

A. An attitude of utmost sympathy. During the
last de-

cade there has been a notable increase
in the number of

Catholic teachers attending teacher
training schools. After

graduating from the normal training school, a
great num-

ber continue their studies in the college
for the purpose of

obtaining an academic degree.

If this movement continues for another
twenty-five years,

there will be few, if any, Catholic teachers
who have not

had the most thorough professional
preparation.

6. Q. What is the relative status of
professional prepara-

tion of public school teachers and Catholic
school teachers?

A. According to Dr. P. P. Claxton,
former United States

Commissioner of Education, there were 600,000
public

school teachers in the United States. “Of these,
he states,

“about 30,000 have not gone beyond the
eighth grammar

grade
;
100,000 others, not two years further, and 200,000

more, not four years further. Half our
teachers have thus

had no particular preparation whatever.”

Although we have no exact statistics to offer, for
the

Catholic School System as a whole, it can be
fairly esti-

mated that of the 41,581 teachers in
Catholic elementary

schools, 75 per cent, are graduates of
high schools or have

had considerable high school training, at
least 50 per cent,

have had formal teacher training, and
practically none is

teaching today without a considerable
amount of prepara-



Training of Catholic School Teachers 33

tion acquired in the class-room and by attendance at sum-

mer courses.

Exact figures with reference to the professional training

of Catholic school teachers in Wisconsin are available. In

an article, “The Certification of Teachers in Wisconsin’"

{Proceedings C. E. A., 1919), it is pointed out that: “In

)the State of Wisconsin 42.6 per cent, of teachers reported

^ave training above high school ;37 per cent, have more or

less college training; 19.1 per cent, have professional train-

ing other than Catholic Community and normal ; 74.5 per

cent, have high school training, and 25.2 per cent, hold

certificates.
,,

Membership in a teaching religious community, since it

is permanent, necessarily involves a progressive prepara-

tion for teaching. This is impossible for the ordinary lay

teacher who must begin her work at an early age and who

will not continue it for more than a few years.

7. Q. What is the relative age of teachers in the public

school system and in the Catholic school system?

A. The great majority of public school teachers are un-

der twenty-one. Of the 600,000 teachers, about 150,000

serve two years or less, and 300,000 not over four or five

years. The average teaching life of a public school teacher

is four and a half years. According to Dr. Strayer of Co-

lumbia University, 140,000 teachers, or one in five, left the

profession in 1919, and one in every ten is young and in-

experienced.

Catholic teachers begin teaching as young as public

school teachers. They do not, however, leave the profes-

sion. The Catholic School System, therefore, has no “age

problem.” There are no available statistics, but it can be

safely asserted that 75 per cent, of the Catholic school

teachers are above the age of twenty-five. Of this 75 per

cent., at least 50 per cent, are above the age of thirty.



34 A Catechism of Catholic Education

There is no need to point out what this means in stabilizing

education and in maintaining a high quality of instruction.

8. Q. What is certification of teachers?

A. It is a process which is employed by the State to

testify to the fitness of a candidate for the teaching pro-

fession. Different States have different requirements,

which must be met before “certificates” or “licenses” to

teach are given.

9. Q. How are certificates acquired?

A. Either by examination or by presenting credentials

which show the necessary professional training. There is,

however, no uniformity in the State laws with reference to

the educational prerequisites for certification.

10. Q. Do any States require the certification of teachers

in private or parochial schools?

A. A few do. Alabama, Nebraska, and South Dakota
require certificates

;
Kentucky requires that private teachers

be approved. In many other States there is a tendency to

require certificates of all teachers, public or private.

11. Q. What is the Catholic attitude towards State

certification of teachers?

A. There is no uniformity of opinion among Catholic

educators. A great number, and the number is constantly
increasing, favor reasonable certification requirements. In

New York State, in the Middle West, and in the South

maay religious teachers have applied for State certificates

and have received them. In 1919, the Conference of

Women’s Colleges of the C. E. A. formally approved a plan

for the certification of Catholic teachers.

12. Q. What preparation do the members of religious

orders of men receive for teaching?

A. (a) The brotherhoods follow the same system of

teacher-training as the sisterhoods. The high school

teachers prepare for their work by taking college degrees.



Training of Catholic School Teachers 35

(b) Many of the members of religious orders who are

priests take, after ordination, university degrees in prepara-

tion for the career of professor. They attend either uni-

versities conducted by their own order or the Catholic Uni-

versity of America.

References

Bums, Catholic Education

,

Longmans, Green & Company, N. Y.,

1917.

Sargent, American Private Schools, Boston, 1921.

Schwickerath, Jesuit Educatibn, B. Herder Book Co., St. Louis,

1904.

“Certification of Teachers—A Symposium, 1” Proceedings C. E . A.,
1919.

State Laws and Regulations Relative to Certification oj Teachers,

Bureau of Education, N. C. W. C., Washington, 1921.



CHAPTER VII

Curriculum of the Catholic School

1. Q. What is a school curriculum?

A. It is a fixed course of studies.

Each distinct type of school has its own special curric-

ulum. We speak, therefore, of the curriculum of the ele-

mentary school, of the high school, of the college.

2. Q. Is there a uniform Catholic parish school curric-

ulum?

A. No
;
as in the different State systems of education, so

in the Catholic system, there are found many divergences

in the matter of curriculum. In the main, however, a cur-

riculum of the Catholic school of any given locality closely

approximates the curriculum of the public schools of the

same locality.

The differences in methods and curricula in the different

dioceses are not so wide as to cause educational disorder.

All religious communities and, particularly the progressive

ones, agree on the basic principles of method and curric-

ulum.

3. Q. What is, then, the main difference in the public

school curriculum and in that of the Catholic school?

A. The main difference is in the matter of religious in-

struction. Every Catholic school teaches religion for a

definite period of time each day. Besides this formal in-

struction, religion is made the basis of all other instruc-

tion with which it is correlated and of which it forms the

groundrwork.

4. Q. Give examples of typical public and Catholic school

elementary curricula.

A. The following time schedules of a parish school and a

public school show the similarities and differences that

exist

:

36



TIME

DISTRIBUTION

BY

SUBJECTS

AN©

GRADES

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Curriculum of the Catholic School 37

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38 A Catechism of Catholic Education

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Curriculum of the Catholic School 39

DIOCESE OF PITTSBURGH TIME SCHEDULE
1919-1920.

1500 Minutes Per Week.

Minutes Per Week
Grades 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Religion

Spoken and Written Eng-

250 250 250 250 200 200 150 150

lish 230 230 230 230 250 250 270 270

Vocal Music 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 60

Drawing 100 100 100 90 90 90 90 90

Physiology and Hygiene.. 50 50 50 40 40 40 40 40

Geography 75 100 125 150 150 100

Elementary Science 50 50 50 30 30 30 30 40

Arithmetic 200 200 200 275 250 200 140 200

Algebra ,

.

.

.

60 60

History .

.

.

.

30 90 120 150 150

Civics 20 20 20 20 40

Reading and Literature... 420 420 345 235 205 200 200 200

Recess 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

ARCHDIOCESE OF BOSTON APPROXIMATE TIME
SCHEDULE.

Aggregate time in minutes per week, to be given in the different

subjects of the curriculum.

Minutes Per Week
Grades 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Opening and Closing Exer-
cises 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60

Religion 150 150 150 180 180 180 180 180

Reading and Literature . .

.

Spoken and Written Eng-

540 480 400 200 180 180 150 140

lish 230 200 200 300 300 250 270 250

Penmanship 80 80 80 100 100 90 90 90

Arithmetic 100 210 210 210 230 220 230 230

History .

.

50 50 120 120 150

Geography 80 130 130 130 150 150

Music 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60

Drawing 100 80 80 80 80 80 60 60
Physiology and Hygiene .

.

Physical Exercises and Re-

30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30

cess 150 150 150 100 100 100 100 100

Totals 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500

Approximate Home Study
150 225per week •• •• 300 500 500



40 A Catechism of Catholic Education

5. Q. Is the curriculum now in use in the elementary

schools of the United States satisfactory?

A. Not altogether; many objections are urged against

it. The general belief seems to be that it needs “human-

izing,” so that it will more adequately prepare children for

their duties as workers and as citizens.

The curriculum of the Catholic elementary school is

showing the influence of these criticisms and is, like the

public school curriculum, gradually being changed to meet

the new conditions of American life.

6. Give an example of typical public and Catholic high

school curricula.

UNITS OF STUDY OFFERED IN CERTAIN

HIGH SCHOOLS.

North West Philadelphia

Central Catholic H. S.

Subjects Association
* For Bops

Religion 2

English 4 4

Latin 4 4

Greek 1

Mathematics 3 4

History 3 2

Commercial Subjects 1^ 7
Physics 1 1

Chemistry 1 1

Modern Languages 2 3
Manual Training

Mechanical Drawing

1

m
Botany, Biology or Physiology....

Physical Geography or Natural
V2

Science A

NOTE—Each unit represents 1 recitation period per day for a school
year of from 36 to 40 weeks, or approximately 180 periods.

*The figures for the North Central Association represent the result

of a summary of reports from 869 schools (U. S. Bureau of Education,

Bulletin No. 6, 1915).



Curriculum of the Catholic School 41

PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS OF WASHINGTON, D. C.

Periods Per Week Minutes Per Week

Subject

English

Year-

Latin 5

Mathematics 5

History 5

Physical Geography 5

Bookkeeping

German 5
French 5

Spanish

Biology

Typewriting

Chemistry

Greek

Physics

Mechanical Drawing 3

Shorthand

Civics and Commercial Law
Commercial Geography and

Economics

II III IV

5 5 5

5 5 5

5 5 5

5 5 5

5 10

5 5

I II

225 225

225 225

225 225

225 225

225

225 225

225 225

225

135

225

225

135 135

225

III IV

225 225

225 225

225 225

225 225

225 450

225 225

225 225

225 225

135

225 225

225 225

225 225

225 225

180 135

225 225

225 225

NOTE—Pupils carry from 22 to 25 periods per week; each period
being 45 minutes in length.

WEST PHILADELPHIA CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL FOR BOYS.

II III IV

3 3 2

5 5 5

5 5 5

I II

135 135

225 225

225 225

225 225

180

ill

135

IV

90

Periods Per Week Minutes Per Week

*

Subject Year—
j

Religion 3

English 5

Latin 5

Mathematics 5

Ancient History 4

Modern History
American History

Physical Geography 3

Bookkeeping 4

Spanish

225 225

225 225

225 225

135

Physiology

Typewriting

Chemistry

Greek

Physics

Mechanical Drawing

Shorthand

Penmanship

Civics & Comm. Law
Comm. Geog. & Economics

135

180

135

225

135

180

90 135

225 225

5

5

4 4

5 4

1 1

2 2

2 2

135 135

225

225

225

180 180

225 180

45 45

90

90

90

90

NOTES—Pupils carry 30 periods per week, with Religion, English,
and at least two years of Latin, Mathematics and Spanish required.

*On 45 minute period basis; probable that actual period is somewhat

less than this.



42 A Catechism of Catholic Education

PHILADELPHIA CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOLS.

From Report of Parish Schools, 1920-1921.

CATHOLIC GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL.

General Course—1350 Minutes Per Week.

First Year Second Year

*Min. Per . *Min. Per.

Religion ..180 4 Religion ...135 3

English ...225 5 English ...225 5

Mathematics .. .180 4 Mathematics ...180 4

Science ...135 3 Science ... 90 2

Bookkeeping ..135 3 Latin ,...180 4

Latin ..135 3 French or

History ..180 4 Spanish .

.

...135 3

Drawing . . .

.

.. 45 1 Typing ...90 2

Music .. 45 1 Stenography ...135 3

Penmanship . .. 90 1 Drawing .. .

.

...45 1

Music ...45 1

Gymnasium . ... 45 1
Penmanship ...45 1

Third Year Fourth Year

*Min. Per. *Min. Per.

Religion ... .... 90 2 Religion .... ...90 2

English . . .225 5 English . . .

.

...225 5

Mathematics ...180 4 Mathematics ...135 3

Chemistry . ....180 4 Physics . . .

.

...180 4

History . . .

.

...180 4 History and

Latin ...180 4 Civics . . .

.

...135 3

French or Latin ...180 4

Spanish .

.

...180 4 French or

Drawing . . ...... 45 1 Spanish .

.

...180 4

Music ...45 1 Drawing . .

.

...45 1
Gymnasium ...45 1 Gymnasium ...45 1

Typing ... 90 2
Music ...45 1

*Min.—Minutes per week. Per.—Periods per week.



Curriculum of the Catholic School 43

WEST PHILDADELPHIA CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL
FOR BOYS.

Classical Course 1350 Minutes Per Week.

First Year

*Min. Per.

Second Year

*Min. Per.

Religion 135 3

English 225 5

Latin 225 5

Ancient Hist 180 4

Mathematics .. .225 5

Physic. Geog...l35 3

Bookkeeping ..180 4

Religion 135 3

English 225 5

Latin 225 5

Spanish 225 5

Mathematics ...225 5

Physiology 135 3

Typewriting ...180 4

Third Year

*Min. Per.

Fourth Year

*Min. Per.

Religion ..135 3 Religion ....90 2

English ..225 5 English ...225 5

Latin ..225 5 Latin ...225 5

Spanish ..225 5 Greek ....225 5

Mod. History ..135 3 Spanish ...225 5
Mathematics . ..180 4 Amer. Hist. ...135 3
Chemistry . .

.

..225 5 Physics .... ...135 3

*Min.—Minutes per week. Per.—Periods per week. %

7. Q. Compare the courses offered by two typical col-

leges—one Catholic and the other non-Catholic.
A. The following tables show the curricula offered by

St. Xavier’s College, Cincinnati, and Amherst College, Am-

herst, Massachusetts;



44 A Catechism of Catholic Education

COMPARISON OF COLLEGE CREDITS

Courses for A.B. degree at Amherst College, Amherst, Mass.,

and St. Xavier's College, Cincinnati, Ohio, with semester hour

credits. A semester hour is defined as a 50-minute lecture, reci-
tation, class exercise or two-hour laboratory period per week,

per semester.

Amherst St. Xavier

Subjects Required College College

Religion 8

English 6 12

Latin or Greek 12 16

Modern Language 12 16

Science 12 8

Mathematics 8 6

History or Philosophy . .

.

6

History 6

Philosophy 16

Public Speaking 2

Total required subjects 58 88

Total units required for degree 124 128

Units of required subjects . 58 88

Units required by majors required . .

.

36 0

Balance, free electives . 30 40

NOTE—Majors are subjects pursued for 6 semester courses (at Am-
herst College) pursued either consecutively or during junior and senior

years. Majors may be chosen from group of required or elective sub-
jects, provided courses fulfill requirements.

Amherst St. Xavier

Subjects Elective Offered College College

Art

Astronomy yes
Biblical Literature

Biology yes

Chemistry yes

Economics yes

Education yes

Geology yes

Greek yes

History yes

Latin yes

Mathematics yes

Modern Languages yes
Philosophy yes

Physics yes

Political Science yes

Music

Sociology yes



Curriculum of the Catholic School 45

COMPARISON OF COLLEGE CREDITS BY
COLLEGE YEARS.

Courses for A. B. degree at Amherst College, Amherst, Mass.,

and St. Xavier’s College, Cincinnati, Ohio, with semester hour

credits in required and elective studies for each collegiate year.

A semester hour is defined as a 50 minute lecture, recitation,
class exercise or two-hour laboratory period per week, per

semester.
FRESHMAN YEAR.

Subjects Amherst St. Xavier

Religion 2

Latin 6 8

English 6 6

Science 8

Mathematics {
Greek or Mathematics 6

Public Speaking 1 2

Electives 12

Total 33 32

SOPHOMORE YEAR.

Religion 2

Latin 6 8

English 6

Science 6

History 6

History or Greek 6

Modern Language 6 &
Public Speaking 1 2

Electives (

Total 3
} 32

JUNIOR YEAR.

Religion 2

Logic 4

Psychology 6

Modern Language 8
Major and Minor Electives 12

Required Majors 12

Free Electives 18

Total 30 32



46 A Catechism of Catholic Education

SENIOR YEAR.

Subjects Amherst St. Xavier

Religion 2

Ethics 3

Metaphysics . 3

Major and Minor Electives 24

^Required Majors 12

Free Electives 18

Total 30 32

Grand Total 124 128

*Required Majors are so called because the course of study at

Amherst College must be so arranged that it will include two majors,

both of which must be completed in the Senior year. A major subject
at Amherst College consists of six semester courses in the same subject

pursued during six consecutive semesters or during the Junior and

Senior years.

8. Q. What general conclusions may be deduced from

the above comparisons?

A. In the first place, the curricula of the different types

of Catholic schools are practically the same as those offered

by the more progressive public schools and non-Catholic

colleges.

Secondly, while religion holds the first place in the Cath-

olic plan, it is by no means the only subject considered in

the curriculum.. In the Parish Schools of the Diocese

of Pittsburgh 200 minutes are given weekly to the study of

religion
;
in the Archdiocese of Boston the time varies from

ISO minutes to 180 minutes. A consideration of time
schedules demonstrates the falsity of the charge that a dis-

proportionate amount of time is given to the teaching of

religion. We acknowledge, however, that the spirit of reli-
gion permeates all the work done in the Catholic class-

room. Literature, history, geography are interpreted and

understood in the light of religious faith. The child’s reli-

gious inheritance is accorded first place, and it serves to

give life and color to the appreciation of all the schoolroom

activities.



Curriculum of the Catholic School 47

The Catholic elementary school curriculum is more con-

servative than the public school curriculum, insisting @n

the elements of knowledge and carrying through the train-

ing in these subjects up to and including the eighth grade.

Catholic schools have been slow to adopt the tendency of

present day public education to introduce industrial and

vocational subjects into the curriculum after the sixth

grade. This policy is not the result of lack of funds so

much as a belief that the “old” curriculum is the best, all

things considered.

There has been little or no experimentation, so to say,

with the Catholic school curriculum. Educational fads and

fancies have found but small sympathy with Catholic edu-

cational authorities, with the result that there has been

practically no disturbance in the Catholic school curriculum

during the last quarter of a century.

The curriculum of the Catholic high school or college

manifests the same general policy of Catholic education;

namely, to insist on fundamentals. The basib studies

—

language, mathematics, science, history—are emphasized in
all Catholic colleges and high schools. Electivism is re-

duced to a minimum. The retention of Greek, although in

most cases an elective, is a clear indication of this adher-

ence to the traditional conception of what the curriculum

should be.

References

Dunney, The Parish School, Macmillan, N. Y., 1921.

Burns, Catholic Education, Longmans, Green & Company, N. Y.,

1921.

MacEachen, Teaching of Religion, Macmillan, N. Y., 1921.



CHAPTER VIII

Reasons for the Existence of Catholic Schools

1. Q. For what reasons has the Catholic Church estab-

lished a separate system of schools?

A. For the foliowhig reasons :

Because the Catholic Church is the divinely appointed

custodian of the whole body of revealed religious truth and

is charged with the duty of teaching it to all men and to all

nations. “Going, therefore, teach all nations.’* To do this

adequately, a separate system of schools in our country is

necessary.

Because the child is a moral agent, and his education

must therefore be moral in the sense that it must recog-

nize the fact that the child is endowed with an immortal

soul and is answerable to God for all his actions.

Because will-training is looked upon by the Church as

no less important in the educative process than physical or

intellectual training.

Because religious knowledge is itself intrinsically valu-

able in the process of education.

Because religious training is the best training for a

citizen.

Because the Church has, by positive law, made the estab-

lishment of schools a matter of religious policy.

2. Q. Does not the public school system accept the neces-

sity of moral training?

A. Theoretically it does, but it does not and cannot give

the best moral training, which must be Christian. The

public school can train children at most in the natural vir-

48



Reasons for Existence 49

tues, and even in this it is not successful. It cannot appeal

to the highest motives, which are spiritual and religious.

Catholic education, which is based on Christian principle,

besides inculcating supernatural virtues, the development

of which every Christian must look upon as fundamental,

gives as well the most efficient training in all the virtues

which make upright, honorable men and women.

3. Q. Explain why moral education is a reason and a

justification for the existence of Catholic schools.

A. In the words of the Bishops' Pastoral : “Education

is a co-operation by human agencies with the Creator for

the attainment of His purpose in regard to the individual

who is to be educated, and in regard to the social order of

which he is a member. Neither self-realization alone nor

social service alone is the end of education, but rather these

two in accordance with God's design, which gives to each

of them its proportionate value. Hence it follows that

education is essentially and inevitably a moral activity, in

the sense that it undertakes to satisfy certain claims

through the fulfillment of certain obligations."

4. Q. Why is the training of the will looked upon as so

important by Catholic educators?

A. Because will makes character, and character is more

important than mind. In fact, a trained mind without a

trained will means a mind without moral training, a mind

that is without defence against evil impulses or evil

solicitations.

The Pastoral Letter says : “An education that quickens

the intelligence and enriches the mind with knowledge, but

fails to develop the will and direct it to the practice of vir-

tue, may produce scholars, but it cannot produce good men.

The exclusion of moral training from the educative process

is more dangerous in proportion to the thoroughness with

which the intellectual powers are developed, because it



50 A Catechism of Catholic Education

gives the impression that morality is of little importance,

and thus sends the pupil into life with a false idea which is

not easily corrected.”

5. Q. Why is Catholic religious knowledge essential for

the proper training of the mind?

A. Because religious knowledge is the noblest, the high-

est, and the most important knowledge which the human

mind can acquire.

Because religious knowledge, as taught by Catholic

teachers, is a reasonable and reasoned belief, and a thor-

oughly logical body of doctrine on the highest object of

human thought.

Because the study of the Catholic religion introduces the

pupil to the great historical Church, the mother of all mod-

ern civilized nations.

Because the study of the Catholic religion develops the

emotional and esthetic powers of man and directs them

aright.

Because an education without religion starves the intel-

lect, the heart, and the esthetic faculties.

6. Q. Why does religious education prepare one for a

full and complete citizenship?

A. Citizenship does not consist merely in the intellectual

recognition of the rights of a government to rule and of

one’s duties as a citizen to obey. Good citizenship is

founded on the will to obey. It, therefore, demands, be-

sides knowledge, a sense of responsibility, respect for au-

thority, and recognition of the rights of our neighbor, all

of which flow naturally from a religious education. By

combining into a whole the intellectual, moral, and reli-

gious elements in education, the Catholic system is the sur-

est and best medium for the training of loyal, upright, and

intelligent citizens.



Reasons for Existence 51

7. Q. Besides formal religious and moral training, what

other things characterize the Catholic school?

A. One of the most prominent characteristics of the

Catholic school is its religious atmosphere. The majority

of the teachers are members of religious communities, and

are known and recognized as such by the children. Their

manner and ideals of life are religious. Their garb is

religious.

The class-room of the Catholic school is decorated with

religious pictures and symbols, thus elevating the tone of

the school and helping the children to concentrate on the

great purposes underlying Catholic life.

The school is situated next to or in close proximity to

the church, emphasizing by this fact the close connection

which exists between them. The pastor, by his constant

watchfulness over the children and frequent visits to the

school, exerts a most powerful influence for good.

In a word, the whole atmosphere of the Catholic school

is religious. It is, therefore, an unexcelled medium for

instruction in the truths of faith and for the development

of character in each child who has the privilege of attend-

ing it.

8. Q. Can the Sunday School or the religious vacation

school supply all the religious knowledge or moral training

necessary for citizenship?

A. Both the Sunday School and the religious vacation

school are mere makeshifts in the process of educating

children religiously. Every educator, and especially every

clergyman, appreciates this today.

Thousands of children do not and cannot be made to at-

tend Sunday School. Those who do, are apt to view reli-

gion as a subject out of all relation to everyday life. They

will likely look upon it as a Sunday affair, not closely re-

lated to their week-day experiences. But if religion is to

be vital, it should be correlated, both with life and the



52 A Catechism of Catholic Education

week-day school. It must be taught, and it must be prac-

ticed, every day in the week, not on Sunday only.

George Wharton Pepper in A Voice From the Crowd

(page 100), writes: “It is my earnest desire to express

hearty approval of Sunday Schools and to record my ad-

miration for much of their work. At the same time, how-

ever, I wish to register my conviction that they cannot be

a final solution of the problem of Christian education. The

Sunday School is, in the last analysis, an agency which at-

tempts on one day in seven to repair the damage systemati-

cally done to the Christian theory of life during the other

six. There should not be in a Christian community two co-

existing educational systems, one developed upon the the-

ory that life and the universe are complete without God,

and the other upon the theory that both life and the uni-

verse are merely the sphere of God’s self-revelation.
,,

A writer in the Bulletin of the Presbyterian Board of
Publications and Sunday School Work, 1920, says: “The

Daily Vacation Bible School cannot fill all the gap. It

can only fill the gap in vacation time. It leaves the school

year with the burden of religious education carried by the

Sunday School—a Sunday School meeting one hour a
week. The Religious Education Division of the Inter-

Church World Movement reports that the 1,600,000 Jewish

children in the United States receive an average of 250

hours’ religious education annually. The 8,000,000 Cath-

olic children receive 200 hours of religious education an-

nually. But the Protestant children receive an average of

only 26 hours of religious education annually. What we

supremely value we take pains to pass on to our children.

Do the Jews prize their religion so much more highly than

Protestants? Do the Catholics realize the value of their

religious heritage so much more than the Protestants?

Here is an appalling failure of Protestantism, a failure that

threatens its life.”



Reasons for Existence 53

9. Q. Is the lack of adequate moral training a grave de-

fect in the American educational system?

A. Yes; it is estimated that less than one-half of the

53,000,000 children of the United States have any reli-

gious instruction whatsoever.

10. Q. Is this view with reference to the necessity of reli-

gious education peculiar to Catholics?

A. No
;
the Pastoral Letter says : ‘There is reason to

believe that this conviction is shared by a considerable

number of our fellow-citizens who are not of the Catholic

faith. They realize that the omission of religious instruc-

tion is a defect in education and also a detriment to

religion.”

11. Q. Give some statements from non-Catholic sources

which would hear out this assertion of the Pastoral Letter.

A. George Washington says, in his Farewell Address

:

“Of all dispositions and habits which lead to political pros-

perity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.

. . . Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined

education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and expe-

rience both forbid us to expect that national morality can

prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

Edmund Burke: “True religion is the foundation of so-

ciety. When that is once shaken by contempt, the whole

fabric cannot be stable or lasting.”

George Bernard Shaw, the English author ( Christian

Science Monitor

,

January 14, 1921) : “If you will have

people legislating without any religious foundation, you

will get the sort of thing we had from 1914-1920. The

only remedy for war is conscience, and you will not have

that until you have religion carefully taught and incul-

cated.”

Daniel Webster: “Knowledge does not comprise all

that is contained in the large term ‘education.’ The feel-

ings are to be disciplined
;
the passions are to be restrained

;



54 A Catechism of Catholic Education

true and worthy motives are to be instilled, and pure moral-

ity inculcated under all circumstances. All this is com-

prised in education.”

Former Vice-President Marshall in a speech at Quincy,

111. ( Western Catholic

,

June 11, 1920) : “Never in the his-

tory of the world has there been a time like the present,

when honest men so honestly confessed that government

does not hang upon constitutions and leagues of nations,

but depends upon the gospel of Christ for its salvation.

The real evil of the Church today is that it has turned over

too many of its functions to the State.”

Hon. Arthur Balfour to the National Society in London

(St. Paul Bulletin, October 23, 1920) : “The division be-

tween religious and secular training is fundamentally er-

roneous. It implies a dualism of object, a divided object,

which no thinking man, whatever his views are, can really

approve. If religious training is a good thing, do not at-

tempt to divorce it from the general training of the mind.

Do not put it into a separate compartment, as it were, to

be dealt with on entirely different principles and for en-

tirely different purposes. The training of the young peo-

ple of the country is and must be an organic whole. You

cannot cut it into separate compartments. A school is not
and ought not to be a place merely for filling to the brim

some unfortunate child with what is called a secular

learning.”

Marion L. Burton, President of Michigan University, to

the students of the University of Minnesota : “If religion

is to be sovereign, it meanswthat you must cultivate it. The

religious problem is different from the scientific problem;

it is only by practice of the spiritual point of view that the

appreciation of the highest living is achieved. Though we

need criticism and friendship in our life as students, there

is nothing that we need more than religion—the friendship
of God.”



Reasons for Existence 55

Robert Ellis Thompson in The Divine Order of Human

Society, Philadelphia, 1891 (page 171): “I think it open

to question whether church schools would not be a better

system. In taking this ground, I am not influenced by any

view of the State which would unfit it for educating the

children of the country in any subject which it is fitting

that they should learn. The State is competent to teach

what the Church ought to teach. But the Church, through

its clergy, can bring to bear an authority in education of a

highly ethical kind, which it is not easy for laymen to exert.

It can supplement or replace the parental authority more

readily than a force of lay teachers. And it is less likely

than they to be swayed by the intellectual fashions of the

time and the place, less likely to accept as its divinity the

spirit of the age, because committed to a preference for

what Jean Paul calls 'the spirit of all the ages/
”

Dr. S. Parkes Cadman at Central Y. M. C. A., Brooklyn,

December 10, 1920: "Religious education is the largest

task that faces the world. Culture alone cannot save man-

kind. If it could, Athens today would be the centre of

civilization. There can be no foundation of democracy

except upon the fear and love of God, which is the begin-

ning and end of all wisdom.”

Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, in an address given at the

Good Shepherd Church (Episcopal), Augusta, Ga., and re-

ported in the Augusta Chronicle: "A new element has taken

its place in the world. We are face to face with a teaching

that holds Christianity to be not only an illusion and a

superstition, but a fraud invented to gain control over men.

This you will read in every tract of the Socialists, in every

publication of the Bolshevists.

The virtues of charity, humility, service, are held by

them to be worthy only of the attention of children, and

the world must get along without them
;
from life must be



56 A Catechism of Catholic Education

excluded everything that partakes of religious belief and

organization.

One would say that such a plan could not succeed at this

late date. Anything is possible today. The human mind

was never more credulous than it is now. Never were peo-

ple so easily moved.

While we are comforting ourselves that, although there

may be a storm, the structure that has been built on such a

foundation, and founded so securely, cannot be shaken, we

forget that the protection is not by faith alone, but by

men who are to be leaders as well.

We overlook the fact that instead of being an incidental,

education is an essential part of civilization and Christian-

ity. So fundamental it is that it goes back to the time

when the father instructed the boy in how to hunt and

fish, and make clothes, and when the mother taught her

daughter how to take care of the place called home, and

how to cook/'

National Council of Education, February 28, 1921, at

Atlantic City, adopted this resolution : “In view of the de-

pendence of democracy on religion and the attacks to

which all churches and all democratic governments are

alike being subjected by radicals and radical nations, it is

the duty of all churches, irrespective of divergences of

creed, to unite in an effort to make religious education

more universal and efficient; to emphasize the democratic

element in religious instruction; to correlate religious in-

struction and all elements in public school education help-

ful to religion; it is the duty of public school authorities

to emphasize all non-religious elements in instruction,

which tend to make religious instruction more intelligent

and efficient, and to organize some systematic form of moral

instruction in every public school, and it is the duty of

churches and public schools alike to make earnest effort to

insure a more general reverence for Divinity and respect



Reasons for Existence 57

for all things religious, including respect for churches other

than one’s own, and for everything connected with their

form of worship.”

George Wharton Pepper in A Voice From the Crowd,

Yale University Press, 1915 (page 124) : “The Roman

Catholic Church is the religious group which has perceived

most clearly the dangers of a secularized education. Not

content with protest and lamentation, these brethren of

ours have undertaken protective measures for themselves

and their children. As is well known, they have estab-

lished a graded school system of their own throughout the

country. I have heard it estimated that in these schools

they are giving instruction to about 1,300,000 children. In

the meantime, they are paying to the several States their

full share of the taxes for the maintenance of public schools.

In other words, the Roman Catholic community is simulta-

neously supporting two systems of public education. I

know next to nothing about their financial resources, but

it is safe to assume that before long the time will come

when such a burden can no longer be carried. When that

time arrives, the question will be whether their insistence

upon popular religious education will be given up or

whether a determined political effort will be made to re-

form our public school system. It requires little prophetic

vision to foresee that it is the latter alternative that will be

adopted.”

Editor of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat

,

March, 1920:

“The Pastoral Letter of the Archbishops and Bishops of

the Catholic Church might have been signed by every man

professing faith in the Christian religion in all its variants.

It is the foundation, the only foundation, of a social order

fit to endure. Education without religion
;
science without

religion; culture without religion, serve but to lead man-

kind into competition, confusion, and strife. The recent

Great War was what ought to be the final and complete



58 A Catfxhism of Catholic Education

warning to the world of what must result from national

ambition and policies not founded upon and .directed by

the principles of religion, and especially the religion which

has given the Golden Rule as the chief guide for the acts

of men.”

Mr. Asquith : “I admit as a practical man that denomi-

national schools are an indispensable part of our educa-

tional system. You cannot get rid of them because you

cannot find any practical substitute for them.”

Editor of the New York Times, March, 1910: “The

movement of the Roman Catholics to secure a system of

education which shall not ignore religion is a movement in

the right direction. Their self-sacrificing effort in main-

taining their parochial schools for this purpose ought to

cause us Protestants to blush, when it is compared with our

own indifference in this matter. The religious training of

Protestant children is left almost entirely to the Sunday

School, where the great bulk of the teachers are so in-

efficient and indifferent that they exert no moral influence

over their charges. The bitterness which has existed be-

tween Protestants and the Romanists has become so much

a matter of the past that it ought to be possible to agree

upon some plan whereby our youth can receive some kind

of religious training in the public schools. Surely every

Christian will rejoice to have such religion given, so that

our children will not grow up wholly irreligious and thus

become a menace to the well-being of society.”

Roger Babson, the great statistician, recently sent the

following letter to 16,000 executives as a part of the regu-

lar service of his organization: “The need of the hour is

not more factories or more materials, not more railroads

or steamships, not more armies or more navies, but rather

more education based on the plain teachings of Jesus. The

prosperity of our country depends on the motives and pur-

poses of the people. These motives and purposes are di-



Reasons for Existence 59

rected in the right course only through religion. Legisla-

tion, bounties, or force are of no avail in determining man's

attitude toward life. Harmony at home and peace with

the world will only be determined in the same way.

Religion, like everything else of value, must be taught.

It is possible to get more religion in industry and business

only through the development of Christian education and

leadership. With the forces of evil backed by men and

money, systematically organized to destroy, we must

back with men and money all campaigns for Christian

education.

We are willing to give our property and even our lives

when our country calls in time of war. Yet the call of

Christian education is today of even greater importance

than was eyer the call of the army or the navy. I say this

because we may at any time see our best institutions at-

tacked from within.

I am not offering Christian education as a protector of

property because nearly all the great progressive and lib-

eral movements of history have been born in the hearts of

Christian educators. I do, however, insist that the safety

of our sons and daughters, as they go out on the streets

this very night, is due to the influence of preachers rather

than to the influence of policemen and law makers. Yes,

the safety of our nation, including all groups, depends on

Christian education. Furthermore, at no time in our his-

tory has it been more greatly needed.

We insure our houses and factories, our automobiles and

our businesses through mutual and stock companies, but

the same amount of money invested in Christian education

would give far greater results. Besides, Christian educa-

tion can insure what no corporation can insure—namely,
prosperity.

As the great life insurance companies are spending huge

sums on doctors, scientific investigations and district



60 A Catechism of Catholic Education

nurses to improve the health of the nation, so we business

men should spend huge sums to develop those fundamental

religious qualities of integrity, faith and service, which

make for true prosperity. I repeat, the need of the hour

is-—not more factories or materials, not more railroads or
steamships, not more armies or navies—but rather more
Christian education. This is not the time to reduce in-

vestments in schools and colleges at home, or in similar

work in China, Japan, Russia or South America. This is

the time of all times to increase such subscriptions.
,,

12. Q. Is then religion necessary to national progress?

A. Yes
;
without religion a nation cannot go forward.

Wealth may accumulate, but mankind will decay. This is

the incontrovertible verdict of all history. Religion must

be the very backbone of a nation, and religion can be

learned only in the schools. As the school, so the nation.

13. Q. What is, beyond question, the most important

part of education?

A. To train children to put in practice the moral and

religious principles which they learn at school.

14. Q. Do not Catholic schools exaggerate the impor-

tance of religion by giving a disproportionate amount of

time to its study?

A. They do not. A relatively small amount of time is
given weekly to the formal study of religion, never more

than one-sixth of the fifteen hundred minutes allowed to all

subjects. Religion is, however, always accorded first place

and is never divorced either from the curriculum or from

life. Besides the formal study of religion, religious prac-

tices and habits are taught and inculcated. “To seek first

the kingdom of God” is the basis of all Catholic pedagogy

as well as of all Catholic life.

Present day conditions are such that the school must

insist more rather than less on religion. The decline in



Reasons for Existence 61

morality, both individual and social, which is character-

istic of post-war times, imposes upon the Catholic school

the burden of teaching this generation a standard of ethics

not generally accepted by the irreligious or non-religious

masses amongst which they must live. In doing this, our

schools are not only preserving the faith of our children

and raising up devout followers of Christ, which is the

highest aim of education, but they are at the same time

educating upright citizens for the Republic.

The need of adequate moral training for all our Amer-

ican children is more than self-evident. Not only Catholic,

but non-Catholic children as well, must receive a definite

moral education if our democratic institutions are to en-

dure. The nation need fear little from outside aggression.

It cannot, however, stand if its own citizens manifest dis-

respect for law and order because of ignorance of what is

moral and immoral. This is true of every kind of govern-

ment. It is doubly true in a democracy where the people

rule. In a democracy, high moral standards are manifestly

impossible if the people are ignorant of what true morality

is and have not been trained from childhood in its prin-

ciples and practices.

15. Q. Cite the laws of the Church with reference to the

necessity of religious education and the establishment of

Catholic schools.

A. From the syllabus of Pius IX, December 8, 1864, this

proposition may be cited amongst those which are con-

demned : “48. Catholics may approve of a system of edu-

cation which is separated from the Catholic faith and the

power of the Church and which concerns itself with the

knowledge of merely natural things and only, or at least

primarily, with the ends of social life.”

From the Instruction addressed to the American Bishops,

November 24, 1875 : “There is nothing so necessary as

that Catholics should have schools of their own, and these



62 A Catechism of Catholic Education

in no wise inferior to the public schools. No pains, there-

fore, are to be spared to found Catholic schools where they

are wanting, to enlarge and equip and arrange them more

and more perfectly that they may be put on an equality

with the public schools, both in their teaching and man-

agements.”

From the First Plenary Council of Baltimore, May 9,

1853 : “We exhort the bishops that they take steps to

establish a parish school in connection with every church

of their diocese.”

From the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, Novem-

ber 9, 1884: “We not only exhort Catholic parents with

paternal affection, but we command them with all the

authority in our power to procure a truly Catholic educa-

tion for their dear children and to send them to the parish

or other truly Catholic schools.

All Catholic parents are bound to send their children

to the parish school unless it is evident that a sufficient

training in religion is given either in their own home or

in other Catholic schools.”

The new Code of Canon Law ordains (Canon 1113) :

“Parents are bound by a most grave obligation to provide

to the best of their ability for the religious and moral, as

well as for the physical and civil, education of their chil-

dren and for their temporal well-being.”

(Canon 1372) “From childhood, all the faithful must

be so educated that not only are they taught nothing con-

trary to faith and morals, but that religious and moral

training takes the chief place.”

(Canon 1375) “The Church has the right to establish

schools of every grade, not only elementary schools, but

high schools and colleges.”

(Canon 1379) “It is desirable that a Catholic university

be founded wherever the public universities are not im-

bued with Catholic teaching and feeling.”



Reasons for Existence 63

Letter of Benedict XV, addressed to the American Epis-

copate, August 10, 1919: “Nor is the Catholic education

of children and youth a matter of less serious import, since

it is the solid and secure foundation on which rests the ful-

ness of civil order, faith and morality. You are indeed

well aware, Venerable Brethren, that the Church of God

never failed on the one hand to encourage most earnestly

Catholic education, and on the other vigorously to defend

and protect it against all attacks
;
were other proof of this

wanting, the very activities of the Old World enemies of

Christianity would furnish conclusive evidence. Lest the

Church should keep intact the faith in the hearts of little

children, lest her own schools should compete successfully

with public anti-religious schools, her adversaries declare

that to them alone belongs the right of teaching, and

trample under foot and violate the native rights of par-

ents regarding education; while vaunting unlimited lib-

erty, falsely so-called, they diminish, withhold, and in

every way hamper the liberty of religious and Catholic

parents as regards the education of their children. We
are well aware that your freedom from these disadvan-

tages has enabled you to establish and support with ad-

mirable generosity and zeal your Catholic schools, nor do

We pay lesser meed of praise to the superiors and mem-

bers of the Religious Communities of men and women

who under your direction have spared neither expense

nor labor in developing throughout the United States the

prosperity and efficiency of their schools. But, as you

will realize, We must not so far trust to present prosperity

as to neglect provision for the time to come since the

weal of Church and State depends entirely on the good

condition and discipline of the schools, and the Christians

of the future will be those and those only whom you will

have taught and trained.”



64 A Catechism of Catholic Education

16. Q. What conclusions may we draw from these laws?

A. (a) The Church, in order to be true to her divine

mission, must establish schools. Her commission “to

teach all nations” authorizes the Church to teach the

truths of salvation to every person, whether adult or child,

rich or poor, private citizen or public official.

(b) If the Church has the duty of establishing schools,

Catholics have the correlative duty of sending their chil-

dren to these schools.

(c) Catholics, where Catholic schools exist, should not

send their children to schools where the teaching of re-

ligion is abandoned or the teaching of morality excluded

from the curriculum.

(d) If religious education is to continue, the Catholics

of Amlerica must not swerve in their allegiance to the prin-

ciples laid down by the Church.

(e) The future both of the Church and of our Country

depends upon our allegiance to the religious ideal in edu-

cation.

References

Pastoral Letter of the American Hierarchy, National Catholic Wel-

fare Council, Washington, D. C., 1919.

Bums, Principles, Origin, and Establishment of the Catholic School

System in the United States, Benziger, N. Y., 1912.

Blakely, Some Documents on the School Question, America Press,

N. Y.. 1921.



CHAPTER IX

Attitude of Catholics Toward the Public School

1. Q. Are Catholics “opposed” to public education?

A. Catholics are not “opposed” to public education.

They recognize the need of public education. They also

acknowledge that the State has rights in the education

of its citizens. They pay their proportionate share of

taxes for the upkeep of the public school system. They

cannot, however, regard as ideal a system of education

which minimizes moral training and excludes religion.

They cannot accept the present system of public education

as suitable for their children because it does not give to

Catholic children the moral and religious training which

they must have. They feel free, as every citizen does, to

criticize and if need be to condemn, any institution which

is the creation of the State and is supported by taxation

upon all classes of people. To say, therefore, that Catho-

lics are “opposed” to public education is either to mis-

understand the position of the Church on education or to

view her attitude with a prejudiced mind.

2. Q. If Catholics are not “opposed” to the public

schools, why do they not send their children to them?

A. (a) As a matter of fact, a great number of Catholic

children, because of the lack of Catholic schools, do attend

the public school. Catholic parents, however, believe that

the religious education of their children must be safe-

guarded at any sacrifice. From the Catholic point of view,

attendance at Catholic schools, wherever possible, is the

only ideal situation because in some countries the State

65



66 A Catechism of Catholic Education

schools are anti-religious and in other countries they are

non-religious, as they are in the United States.

Since education and religion are so inextricably inter-

woven in any complete system of education, for the State

to insist on Catholic attendance at a public school would

be an invasion of the fundamental rights of conscience of

those who believe that their children must be educated

in religion as well as in other subjects. By law the State

must refuse to provide for the religious education of our

children. Therefore, because of this provision of the Con-

stitution of the United States, “Every Catholic child in

a Catholic School” can be our only safe policy.

(b) The fact that thousands of Catholic men and

women teach in the public schools would be evidence

enough of the fact that we do not “oppose” public educa-

tion.

(c) Non-attendance at the public school is an imme-

morial right which we exercise as American citizens

—

namely, the right to educate our children as our conscience

dictates. A number of religious bodies—for example, the
Lutherans, Episcopalians and Jews— maintain parish
schools. There are a great number of private schools

founded and conducted by individuals. Thousands of

of American non-Catholic children attend private or de-

nominational schools in every State in the Union. Prac-

tically every Protestant religious organization provides

for the higher education of its membership outside of State

institutions. Of the 119 colleges east of the Mississippi

109 are under religious management
;
300 of the 400 stand-

ard colleges in the United States are Christian colleges;

more than three-fourths of the college students in the

United States are in religious colleges.

As long as these schools and colleges obey the laws of

the State with reference to education and maintain the

standards of efficiency required of the modern school, the



Attitude Towards the Public Schools 67

organizations which conduct the same are only exercising

a right which morally, as well as legally and historically,

belongs to them as American citizens. To say, therefore,

that an organization is “opposed” to the public school be-

cause it maintains its own schools is to indict every re-

ligious body in the United States as un-American.

3. Q. Do Catholics then recognize the right of the State

to educate?

A. Yes. The Pastoral Letter says: “In accordance

with this purpose (of the Constitution) the State has a

right to insist that its citizens shall be educated. It should

encourage among the people such a love of learning that

they will take the initiative and, without constraint, pro-

vide for the education of their children. Should they,

through negligence or lack of means, fail to do so, the

State has the right to establish schools and take other

legitimate means to safeguard its vital interests against

the dangers which result from ignorance.”

4. Q. Who, according to Catholic teaching has the pri-

mary duty towards the education of the child?

A. The parent has the primary duty in the education

of the child. This right is fundamental and cannot be

delegated to any one else. “Parenthood,” says the Pas-

toral, “because it means co-operation with God’s design for

the perpetuation of human kind, involves a responsibility

and therefore implies a corresponding right to prepare

for complete living those whom the parent brings into the

world.”

5. Q. Does the school relieve the parent of this re-

sponsibility?

A. The school does not relieve the parent of any re-

sponsibility. “The school cannot deprive the parent of

his right nor absolve him from his duty in the matter

of the education of his children .”—(Pastoral Letter.)



68 A Catechism of Catholic Education

6. Q. Does the State accept this philosophy of educa-

tion which we hold?

A. Practically it does. It has wisely never hampered

private initiative in education. The results have been

worthy of the liberty accorded to each citizen, to follow

the dictates of his conscience in the matter of religion

and of education.

Religious education has always been and is today very

strong in the United States. It has produced the highest

type of citizenship. It has at all times intensified loyalty.

It has always accepted the educational requirements which

the State has demanded of its own schools. The State,

moreover, has nothing to fear from the religious school.

American statesmen and legislators recognize this fact.

As in the past, so now, they look askance at the efforts

constantly being made by bigots to do away with the re-

ligious school or to injure its work in one way or another.

7. Q. Is this liberty of education a good thing for

America?

A. Liberty of education is one of the foundation stones

of our democratic government. We have always opposed

State monopoly of every kind. State monopoly in educa-

tion would be the greatest calamity that could happen to

the American people.

8. What would be some of the results of State monopoly

in education?

A. State monopoly in education would entail the follow-

ing results:

(a) The end of all educational freedom.

(b) The establishment of a bureaucratic control of our

schools.

(c) The death of private initiative in education.

(d) The introduction of politics into the school system.

(e) Increased expenditures of public moneys with little

or no increased efficiency in education as a result.



Attitude Towards the Public Schools 69

(f) Multiplication of jobs and office holders in the

school system—a direct menace to political freedom.

(g) Arbitrary educational rules, policies and laws issued

by a central bureau.

(h) Interference with the rights of parents and of chil-

dren in matters of conscience.

(i) The school would be used as a means of propagat-

ing political theories acceptable to those in power. Parti-

sanship in politics would control education.

In a word, the school would be “Sovietized.”

9. Q. Give the official statements of the Church with ref-

erence to attendance of Catholic children at public schools.

A. From instructions issued by Pope Pius IX, July 14,

1864 : “Let all be convinced it is for their greatest interest,

not only as individuals and members of families, but also

as citizens of that most flourishing American nation, which

affords such grounds of hope to the Church, that religion

and piety should not be expelled from their schools.

“On the other hand, the Sacred Congregation is not igno-

rant that sometimes circumstances are such that Catholic

parents may conscientiously commit their children to the

public schools. But this they cannot do unless for so act-

ing they have a sufficient reason, and whether in any par-

ticular case such sufficient reason does not exist must be

left to the conscience and judgment of the Bishops. And,

according to what is herein detailed, this reason will gen-

erally be judged to exist when either there is no Catholic

school in the place or the school at hand is but little fitted

to give the children an education suited to their condition

and circumstance.

“But all parents who neglect to give their children this

necessary training and education, or who permit their chil-

dren to frequent schools in which the ruin of souls cannot

be avoided, or, finally, who, having in their locality a good



70 A Catechism of Catholic Education

Catnolic school, properly appointed to teach their chil-

dren, or having the opportunity of educating their off-

spring in another place nevertheless send them to public

schools, without sufficient reason and without the neces-

sary precautions by which the approximate danger may

be made remote—these, as is evident from Catholic moral
teaching, if they are contumacious, cannot be absolved in

the Sacrament of Penance.”

From the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, 1884:

“Therefore, we not only exhort Catholic parents with

paternal affection, but we command them with all the

authority in our power to procure a truly Catholic educa-

tion for their dear children, given them by God, reborn to

Christ in Baptism and destined for Heaven; and, further,

to defend and secure them from the dangers of secular

education throughout the whole time of infancy and child-

hood; and, finally, to send them to the parish or other

truly Catholic school, unless, indeed, the Bishop of the

diocese judge that in a particular case other provision may

be permitted . . . that all Catholic parents are hound to

send their children to the parish school, unless it is evident

that a sufficient training in religion is given either in their

own homes or in other Catholic schools or when, because

of a sufficient reason, approved by the Bishop, parents

have been allowed to send their children, with all due pre-

cautions and safeguards, to other schools. What consti-

tutes a Catholic school is left to the decision of the

Bishop.”

From the New Code of Canon Law; Canon 1113. “Par-

ents are bound by a most grave obligation to provide to

the best of their ability for the religious and moral as well

as for the physical and civil education of their children,

and for their temporal well-being.”

Canon 1372. “From childhood all the Faithful must be

so educated that not only are they taught nothing con-



Attitude Towards the Public Schools 71

trary to faith or morals, but that religious and moral train-

ing takes the chief place.”

Canon 1373. “In every elementary school religious in-

struction, adapted to the age of the children, must be

given.”

Canon 1374. “Catholic children must not attend non-

Catholic, neutral, or mixed schools, that is, such as are also

open to non-Catholics. It is for the Bishop of the place

alone to decide, according to the instructions of the Apostolic

See, in what circumstances and with what precautions attend-

ance at such schools may be tolerated, without danger of per-

version to the pupils

10. Q. In what spirit are Catholic schools maintained in

the United States?

A. “Our Catholic schools are not established and main-

tained with any idea of holding our children apart from

the general body and spirit of American citizenship. They

are simply the concrete form in which we exercise our

rights as free citizens in conformity with the dictates of

conscience. Their very existence is a great moral fact in

American life. For, while they aim, openly and avowedly,

to preserve our Catholic faith, they offer to all our people

an example of the use of freedom for the advancement of

morality and religion.”

—

(Pastoral Letter.)

References

Cardinal O’Connell, “The Reasonable Limits of State Activity,”

Proceedings C. E. A., 1919.
Pastoral Letter of the American Hierarchy, N. C. W. C., Washing-

ton, D. C., 1919.

Blakely, Some Documents on the School Question, America Press,

N. Y., 1921.



CHAPTER X

Americanism of the Catholic School

1. Q. Are Catholic schools American schools?

A. They are American in the true meaning of the term.

To contrast the private school with the public school

by calling one American and the other un-American is to

reveal both ignorance of the history of education in the

United States and of the purposes and ideals which have

always actuated the private, and especially the Catholic,

schools of the United States.

Neither is the private school un-American because it is

an “immigrant school,” as the author of A Stake in the
Land writes. As a matter of fact, more foreign-born

children, as well as the children of foreign-born parents,

attend the public than the Catholic schools. If, however,

it is un-American to educate foreign children in the Amer-

ican way and according to the best American standards,

then the Catholic school would be un-American.

2. Q. Why is the Catholic school American?

A. The Catholic school is American for the following

reasons

:

(a) Its history is American. Catholic schools antedate

the American Revolution. They have grown pace by pace

with the growth of the country. Catholic schools are not

a foreign importation.

(b) Its curriculum is American. The Catholic school

72



Americanism of the Catholic School 73

follows the accepted American curriculum from the ele-

mentary school to the university.

(c) Its teachers are Americans. The nation has no bet-

ter or truer citizens than the religious men and women

who teach in the Catholic schools.

(d) Its students are Americans or in the process of

Americanization.

(e) Its language is the English language.

(f) It is not socialistic, anarchistic or bolshevistic.

(g) Its ideals are American. The Catholic school be-

lieves in America, teaches love and respect for America,

and has proven its loyalty in every crisis in the nation’s

history.

(h) Its teaching of religion and of practical morality

is American, true to the traditions of the Founders of the

Republic.

3. Q. How does the history of the Catholic school prove

that it is American?

A. The first American schools were religious schools.

The same can be said of our great American colleges. For

over two hundred years after the settlement of the Eng-

lish colonies all the schools were church schools, and many

of these were Catholic. The same is true of the Spanish

and French settlements, where all the schools were Catho-

lic. The tax-supported public school, as a system of State

education, dates from 1850, and has, therefore, no claim

to being considered the only true American system of edu-

cation. Since the very beginnings of the Republic the

private school, and especially the church-endowed school,

has carried the burden of educating great numbers of

American children. It is today continuing that work in

the same spirit in which it was begun by the early colo-

nists and settlers as well as by the Fathers of the Amer-

ican Republic.



74 A Catechism of Catholic Education

4. Q. How is the curriculum of the Catholic school
proved American?

A. The curriculum of the Catholic school in the secular

branches is practically the same as that of the public

school. A glance at Chapter VII will bear out this state-
ment.

5. Q. How do the teachers in the Catholic school sys-

tem prove its Americanism?

A. Practically every male teacher in our Catholic

schools is an American citizen. The great majority of

women teachers, most of them members of religious com-

munities, are either native-born Americans or, since the

passage of the Suffrage amendment, have taken out their

citizenship papers. The general policy of Catholic educa-

tion has always been to insist on American citizenship as

a prerequisite to teaching in our schools.

6. Q. How do the students in the Catholic school prove

the Americanism of the same?

A. In many ways. They prove it by their ideals and

their life. They are always loyal and true American citi-

zens who love and respect their country. No socialists or

bolshevists are bred in Catholic schools. With reference

to this point, the Editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle well

said: “Long controversies have been waged in the past

over church schools, but there is at least this to be said

for them, that none of the young socialists and incipient

revolutionists who are now seen as a danger received

their training in such schools. The root of this revolu-

tionary teaching is agnosticism or a thinly veiled atheism.

Faith in God and reverence for God make for the respect

and observance of moral and social law, and the need for

religious training is seen clearly at a time when men and

women go about seeking to overturn the foundation of

the moral and social order.”



Americanism of the Catholic School 75

The religious school has produced some of the greatest

Americans. Washington, Webster, McKinley and Roose-

velt were the products of religious schools. Of the Presi-

dents of the United States, sixteen were educated in re-

ligious colleges. Of the Justices of the Supreme Court,

seven of the eight college men were educated in religious

colleges. Amongst the great Americans of our own days,

students of the Catholic school from the elementary to the

university, none were more American than the late Ed-

ward Douglas White and Cardinal Gibbons.

In the Great War the Catholic school engaged in every

form of national aid and endeavor. It also sent its prod-

uct, the parish school boy, into the service in numbers out

of all proportion to the strict demands of loyalty.

7. Q. How does the language of the Catholic school

prove it to be American?

A. The language of the Catholic school is English. In

some Catholic schools the teaching of a foreign language

is allowed. This arrangement has distinct educational

value. It brings to the child the culture of the race of his

forebears and the advantages of a working knowledge of

more than one tongue. In all Catholic schools the basic

language is English. The Catholic educational policy is

to insist that all subjects be taught in English, not except-

ing religion. It is necessary, however, to permit the teach-

ing of religion both in English and in a foreign language

in classes of the children of lately arrived immigrants who

cannot understand English or whose parents insist that

the Catechism at least be taught them in their mother

tongue.

8. Q. In the great majority of Catholic schools is not

the instruction given wholly in a foreign language?

A. No. The Catholic schools in which the instruction is

given wholly in a foreign language are very few and are



76 X Catechism of Catholic Education

becoming fewer every year. The policy of the Church in

this matter has not been to force the issue, but slowly to

await the opportune time when each foreign group is pre-

pared for the acceptance of the English language. In this

way it has not offended the racial sensibilities of the im-

migrant and has succeeded in transforming the foreign

language school, within a relatively short period, into a

school where the English language is the sole medium of

instruction. Results have proved the wisdom of this slow

and patient method of attacking a very difficult problem.

9. Q. How does the teaching of religion prove the

Americanism of our schools?

A. Religion has always been recognized, since the days

of George Washington, as the foundation upon which

good government and good citizenship rest. Religion not

only teaches belief in God; it likewise inculcates respect

for law and order. “Render to Caesar the things that are

Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” has always

been the motto of the religious school. Socialism, com-

munism or bolshevism has never found a place in Catholic

education. “The best offset to bolshevism in Amer-

ica,” says the Christian Herald, “is sound religious edu-

cation such as will promote the growth of spiritual mo-

tives in the hearts of all who are accessible to good

training.”

10. Q. What have the Catholics done to bring about a

better understanding and appreciation of our American

democracy?

A. During the reconstruction period immediately fol-

lowing the war the National Catholic War Council under-

took as one of its most important activities a national civic

education campaign. This campaign has been carried on

and intensified under the National Catholic Welfare

Council.



Americanism of the Catholic School 77

An excellent series of Americanization pamphlets has

been utilized in this better citizenship work. The Council

has published and distributed more than 1,000,000 copies

of the Fundamentals of Citizenship

,

a short text-book ex-

plaining the a b c’s of American democracy. A catechetical
adaptation of the Fundamentals of Citizenship has been

prepared in the Civics Catechism on the Rights and Duties

of American Citizens. This Catechism has been published

in several foreign languages, the English text appearing

in parallel column form with the foreign translation,

thereby permitting the stranger in America to read in his

own language of the privileges, opportunities and rights

of American citizenship, the process of naturalization and

the means of acquiring citizenship, and to obtain knowl-

edge of the English language at the same time.

Realizing that in the elementary school system of the

United States the subject of Civics has been almost uni-

versally neglected and that only 10 per cent of the ele-

mentary school graduates eventually reach high school

where Civics is formally taught, the N. C. W. C. has

made as one of the principal objects of its Americaniza-

tion work the introduction of the Civics Catechism into the

6,551 Catholic elementary schools of the country. In the

higher grades of practically all of these schools a simple

course in patriotism and civics, emphasizing the element-

ary facts of government, is now being given.

Community Americanization programs have been or-

ganized by the N. C. W. C. in many cities. More than a

hundred Catholic papers and periodicals recently co-oper-

ated in publishing serially the chapters of the Civics Cate-

chism. Many secular papers and foreign language publi-

cations have co-operated in this work.

Other Catholic organizations have either co-operated in

or initiated citizenship campaigns similar to the one con-

ducted by the N. C. W. C.



78 A Catechism of Catholic Education

11. Q. How has the Americanization work of the N.

C. W. C. been received in circles outside the Church?

A. From many sources has come approval of the Coun-

cil's organized effort to promote better citizenship, both in

the schools and elsewhere. Typical of the praise which

the Council's efforts have evoked is the following editorial

comment from the Post Intelligencer, Seattle, Washington

(Feb. 14, 1921)

:

“It is reassuring to other religionists and provocative

of public confidence to be assured that the Americaniza-

tion work of the Welfare Council is free from denomina-

tionalism of any kind
;
that the Council is planning in the

most constructive way that it can devise to make Amer-

icans, actual and potential, realize that good citizenship is

a matter of great concern to them not only on election

day, but on every other day. . . . But beyond the immedi-

ate work of the Welfare Council is the assurance that the

effective machinery of the Roman Catholic Church is

exerting its great influence in these fretful days of recon-

struction in the direction of better Americanism and bet-

ter citizenship. The Church itself is international, but its

hierarchy and its membership in America are American.

This speaks in many ways, but in none more plainly and

forcibly than in the work of the Catholic Welfare Council."

Father de Ville, of Gary, Indiana, has stated the Catholic

position very well (N. C. W. C. Press Service) : “Many

methods thus far used have not succeeded in winning our

immigrants but in alienating them. With the young men

and women there is a natural tendency to learn English

because the young immigrant realizes he cannot rise in

the business world otherwise. But to strive to force the

older immigrants to learn and use English, to cut them off

from their own language, is to create a pitiful type of

mediocrity that is fatal to that national progress which

depends upon the blending of the genius, the musical and



Americanism of the Catholic School 79

literary traditions and propensities of these people with

our own.”

President-Emeritus Eliot of Harvard has pointed out

“as one danger of ‘Americanization’ the possibility that

efforts will be made to reduce the population to something

standardized which will be known as the ‘American type/

There is no necessity for uniformity at least to this ex-

tent.”—(Sargent, Private Schools.)

12. Q. What further means are taken by Catholic

schools to promote true Americanism?

A. 1. They teach love of country. Love of country, like

love of God, is developed in our children by daily instruc-

tion and training.

2. They give all due time to the study of American his-

tory with the idea of developing in our children admira-

tion and love for the country we call our own.

3. They devote definite periods weekly to the study of

civics and the duties and responsibilities of citizenship.

4. They make the English language the medium of in-

struction and teach our children to love and respect that

language and its literature.

5. They observe all the national patriotic holidays with

appropriate exercises.

6. They possess and fly an American flag on appro-

priate days.

7. They welcome the foreign-bora or the sons of the

foreign-born with a sympathy and love which is truly

American, as well as Catholic.

8. Some Catholic schools are centers of Americaniza-

tion work, where groups of foreign-born meet and are edu-

cated along American lines.

13. Q. What is the motto of every Catholic school?

A. The motto of every Catholic school is “For God and

Country.”



80 A Catechism of Catholic Education

References

McClancy, “Americanization and the Catholic Elementary Schools,
1”

Proceedings C. E. A., 1919.

Coler, Socialism in the Schools, Benziger, N. Y., 1911.

Coler, Two and Two Make Four, Beattys & Company, N. Y., 1914.

Williams, American Catholics in the War, Macmillan, 1921.

Civics Catechism on the Rights and Duties of American Citizens,

N, C. W. C., Washington, D. C., 1919.

Lapp, The Catholic Citizen, Macmillan, N. Y., 1921.



CHAPTER XI

Cost of Catholic Education

1. Q. What does it cost yearly to educate a child in the
public elementary school?

A. In 1920 the States paid $950,000,000 for the educa-

tion of 23,250,000 children in elementary schools, or at the

rate of approximately $40 a child. The annual expendi-

tures for public education in elementary schools in the

United States from 1870 to 1918 are shown in the follow-

ing diagram:

DIAGRAM SHOWING ANNUAL EXPENDITURES FOR
PUBLIC EDUCATION, 1870-1918.

Burgess, Trends of School Costs .

MILLIONS

OF DOLLARS

1870 1880 1890 .1900 1910 1920

81



82 A Catechism of Catholic Education

According to the Federal Bureau of Education, in 1918

the expenditure was $763,678,000 for 20,549,000 children.

Of this sum $421,084,254, or 52.2 per cent, went for teach-

ers’ salaries. This money was distributed as follows:

DIAGRAM SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF EXPENSE

OF PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION.

Burgess, Trends of School Costs .

.Maintenance

Interest and 3% Others
Fixed Charges 3%

37,

Text Boohs

and Supplies

3%



Cost of Catholic Education 83

2. Q. What would be the corresponding annual cost to

the States for the education of all the children now in

Catholic elementary schools?

A. On the basis of $40 per capita, it would amount, ex-

clusive of buildings and equipment, to $71,826,920. This

is much more than double what it was estimated to have

been in 1910—namely, $30,511,010. To the above must
be added the interest at 5 per cent on the value of the

ground, buildings and equipment of Catholic elementary

schools, estimated at $143,653,840, which is $7,182,692.

The total annual saving to the States, therefore, would be

$79,009,612.

A more accurate total might be compiled by comparing
the cost of public education in the State of Ohio, a state

which reflects conditions of both the public schools and

the Catholic schools throughout the nation better, than a

total based on the cost of public education throughout the

United States.

According to the Department of Public Instruction of

the State of Ohio, for teaching alone it cost $29.56 per

pupil in the elementary schools of that State. In 1920

there were 122,964 children in the Catholic elementary

schools of Ohio. It would, therefore, cost the State of

Ohio $3,634,815 additional merely for the tuition of their

children. If we, therefore, conservatively assume that $30

is a fairly accurate per capita cost for each parish school

pupil throughout the United States, the Catholic ele-

mentary schools save the nation, in salaries of teachers

alone, at least $53,870,190 annually. To this, however,

must be added the interest at 5 per cent on the value of

the ground, buildings and equipment of Catholic schools,

which is $7,182,692.

The total saving to the nation yearly, therefore, would



84 A Catechism of Catholic Education

be, on the very conservative computation of $30 per capita,

approximately $61,000,000.

3. Q. What would it cost the State to replace, with new

buildings and equipment, Catholic elementary schools?

A Only a general estimate can be given. The latest
government figures fix the unit classroom cost of new

buildings at $12,800. This figure undoubtedly applies to

the highest type of urban school. If we, for the basis of

an estimate, use one-half of this unit price, or $6,400, as

the average unit classroom cost of urban and rural schools,

and allow for forty pupils per classroom, it would cost the

State, exclusive of school sites, approximately $288,000,000

to provide the Catholic elementary school population with

new buildings and equipment. Inasmuch, however, as the

Catholic school population is estimated to be 80 per cent

urban, this total would be insufficient to replace our

schools.

4. Do Catholics actually expend $61,000,000 annually

for elementary education?

A. No. Exact statistics as to the average cost of main-

tenance per pupil in Catholic elementary schools are not

available. It is perhaps one-half and certainly one-third

the cost of educating a child in the public elementary

schools.

5. Q. What is the value of Catholic elementary school

buildings and equipment in the United States?

A. No accurate figures are available either as to the

actual number of buildings or as to their value. Accord-

ing to Dr. Burns, President of Notre Dame University, in

1912 the “average value of elementary school houses and

sites, together with library and all other property, is $71.99

per pupil registered.” In 1920 the sum is undoubtedly

larger because there has been a very great increase in the

cost of materials and wages since 1913.



Cost of Catholic Education 85

Eighty dollars per pupil would be a very conservative

estimate in 1920 of the average value of Catholic school

buildings, sites and equipment.

At $80 per pupil the value would be $143,653,840.

6. Q. What salaries are paid teachers in Catholic ele-

mentary schools?

A. No exact records are available of the amount of sal-

ary paid Catholic elementary school teachers. It is less

than $635, the average of the minimum yearly salary paid

to public school teachers. If the Catholic elementary

school teachers were paid $635, it would cost the nation

$26,403,935 in added salaries for teachers alone.

Catholic elementary school teachers, however, receive

much less than what is paid public school teachers.

7. Q. How much does high school education cost?

A. In the public high schools of Ohio it cost $49.30 per

capita to educate a pupil. If this average is accepted for

the whole country, the Catholic high school system saves

the nation approximately $6,401,013 yearly, exclusive of

the cost of buildings, equipment, etc.

It has been estimated that in 1917 it cost $14 yearly per

girl and $18 yearly per boy to educate Catholic high school

pupils. These figures are a most conservative estimate and

should certainly be increased to $15 and $20 for 1920. At

this rate, Catholics pay annually for high school education

the sum of $2,101,080. This figure does not include 6,518

unclassified high school students. The fact that many

Catholic high schools, especially for girls, are boarding

schools was not taken into consideration in arriving at the

above estimate.

8. Q. How much is expended yearly for the education

of seminarians?

A. The average annual per capita cost for the education



86 A Catechism of Catholic Education

of a seminarian would be approximately $300. In the

large diocesan seminaries it approximates $550. This fig-

ure includes board and lodging. At $300, $3,359,400 is

expended yearly on the education of candidates for the

priesthood.

9. Q. How much is expended yearly for Catholic college

education?

A. According to recent figures of the Federal Bureau

of Education, the estimated cost in 1918 per capita for col-

lege students, including collegiate, preparatory and pro-

fessional departments, was:

Public Colleges and Universities $509.95

Private Colleges and Universities 291.31

and the average for public and private, $364.92.

At $291.31 per capita, the cost of educating, exclusive

of board and lodging, the students at Catholic colleges in

1920 would be $9,846,895.

No statistics are available from Catholic sources as to

the per capita cost of Catholic college education. The

average tuition, however, in a Catholic college for men is

$100 yearly. At this rate, Catholics expend $2,814,500 an-

nually. For the education of women the average rate of

tuition, board included, is $670. At this rate, $7,391,440

is expended yearly. In all, $10,205,940 is spent for college

education. These figures do not include 2,927 unclassified

college students.

The above sum, however, does not represent more than

50 per cent of what is actually spent, as it does not include

interest on the cost of buildings, equipment, etc., nor does

it include board and lodging for men students, which items

are generally supplied in Catholic colleges. $20,000,000

anuually more probably represents the actual sum ex-

pended by Catholics on college education.



Cost of Catholic Education 87

10. Q. What is the total of money spent yearly by Catho-

lics on Catholic education in the United States?

A. The total annual amount is estimated to be $73,000,-

000. This is not an exact total and probably represents

but 75 per cent of the actual amount spent every year.

11. Q. Is this not an unwise expenditure on the part of

Catholics?

A. Catholics do not estimate the value of their religion

in dollars and cents. Since the State schools do not pro-

vide an education conformable to Catholic standards, we

have no alternative but to spend large sums in training

the young according to the dictates of our conscience.

12. Q. Do Catholics pay taxes for the support of public

education?

A. They do. Catholics pay their proportionate share

for the maintenance of public education besides carrying

the financial burden of supporting their own school sys-

tem. However, it must be remembered that the taxes of

Catholics would be much heavier if the cost of educating

Catholic children were added to the tax budget.

References

Burgess, Trends of School Costs, Russell Sage Foundation, N. Y.,

1920.

Burns, Growth and Development of the Catholic School in the

United States, Benziger, N. Y., 1912.

Bums, Catholic Education, Longmans, Green & Co., N. Y., 1917.

Statistical Survey of Education, 1917-18, Federal Bureau of Educa-

tion, Washington, D. C, 1920.

Stevens, How Much Does Higher Education Cost

t

Federal Bureau

of Education, Washington, D. C, 1919,



CHAPTER XII

How You Can Help Catholic Education

1. Q. Mention some ways in which you can be of assist*

ance to the cause of Catholic education.

A. You can help Catholic education by sending your

children to Catholic schools; by showing your apprecia-

tion of the merits of Catholic education; by informing

yourself of the aims and purposes of Catholic education;

by spreading information about your school; by assisting

in its financial support.

2. Q. How do you help Catholic education by sending

your children to Catholic schools?

A. Until “every child is in a Catholic school,” where

this is possible, our educational hopes remain unfulfilled.

If you send your children to a Catholic school, your neigh-

bor will probably follow your example.

3. Q. Why should you send your boy or girl to high

school and to college?

A. Because higher education opens to the mind the

Whole field of human thought and endeavor.

Because higher education is necessary for the prepara-

tion of leaders, both in civic and in Catholic life.

Because higher education is the only sure preparation

for a successful life.

According to a recent compilation, of the 33,000,000 boys

and girls who stopped their education after the eighth

grade, 808 “became distinguished;” of the 2,000,000 who

completed high school, 1,245 “became noted,” of the

1,000,000 college graduates, 5,768 “reached distinction.”

With an elementary school education, therefore, the

chances for success are one in 41,250; with a high school

education, one in 1,608 ; with a college education, one in 173.

88

wka*i-

--

„

^



How You Can Help Catholic Education 89

The following charts from the Money Value of Educa-

tion, by A. Caswell Ellis, published in 1917, represent

in dollars and cents what is the value of a high school

education

:

WHAT FOUR YEARS IN SCHOOL PAID
WAGES OF TWO GROUPS OF BROOKLYN CITIZENS.

Those Who Left Those Who Left
School at 14 School at 18

(Yearly Salary

)

(Yearly Salary)

When 14 years of age $200 $....
When 16 years of age 250
When 18 years of age 350 '566

When 20 years of age 475 750
When 22 years of age 575 1,000
When 24 years of age 600 1,150
When 25 years of age 688 1,550

Total Salary 11 years

Total Salary 7 years

5,112.50

$7,337.50

The figures represent the average of actual salaries received by two

groups of children that left school at 14 and 18 years of age, re-

spectively, and were investigated by the Committee on Incentives of
the Brooklyn Teachers’ Association.

SALARIES PAID UNIVERSITY GRADUATES

THE INCOMES RECEIVED FROM THEIR OWN WORK FOR THE FIRST
TEN YEARS AFTER LEAVING COLLEGE WERE REPORTED

BY GRADUATES AS FOLLOWS:

Graduates of

Princeton .

.

Princeton .

.

Yale

1st Year 2d Year

..1901 $706 $ 902

..1906 860 1,165

. . 1906 740 969

3d Year

$1,199

1,332

1,287

4 th Year

$1,651

1,427

1,523

5th Year

$2,039

2,226

1,887

Graduates of

RECORDS FOR SECOND FIVE YEARS:

6th Year 7th Year 8th Year 9th Year 10th Year

Princeton .

.

1901 $2,408 $2,382 $2,709 $3,222 $3,804

The figures are from “The Fifth-Year Record of the Class of 1906,

Princeton University,” pp. 245-259. Reports were from about two-thirds

of the members of the classes. In the same way, ten years after
graduation, the class of 1899 of Dartsmouth reports an average income

of $2,097; the class of 1903 of Northwestern University an average of

$1,863 for the fifth to tenth year after graduation; and the Harvard
Law Class of 1905 reports an average of $2,616 the fifth year after
graduating in Law.



90 A Catechism of Catholic Education

4. Q. Why should you send your boy or girl to a Catho-

lic high school and later to a Catholic college?

A. Because the atmosphere is religious, and therefore

wholesome.

Because the instructors are religious, and therefore be-

lieve what you believe.

Because the training is superior, and therefore better

than that given in most State or non-sectarian schools.

Because the adolescent boy and girl need in an especial

way the support and safeguards which religion alone gives.

Because the companionship is clean and inspiring, and

therefore you need fear no moral contamination for your

children.

Because recreation and athletics are kept within reason-

able bounds, and therefore not likely to be a hindrance to

the acquisition of knowledge.

Because study is supervised, and therefore more apt to

be productive of good results.

5. Q. What reasons should impel you to appreciate the

work of Catholic education?

A. (a) Catholic education is religious. As you love

your religion, so you should love the greatest agency

which the Church possesses in America to spread knowl-

edge—the Catholic school.
(b) Catholic education is efficient. Its teachers, its

schools and its students prove this efficiency. A study of
the Catholic school system impresses one with its manifest

superiority. Non-Catholic educators, statesmen, business

men appreciate the thoroughness and excellence of Catho-

lic education. We cannot and do not expect less of our

Catholic people.

(c) Catholic education is superior education. The

Catholic school is the equal and in many cases the superior

of any school, either public or private. Catholics should

appreciate this fact.



How You Can Help Catholic Education 91

6. Q. Why should you spread information about Catho-

lic schools?

A. Because the Catholic school is not known as it de-

serves to be known, even among Catholics. The statistics

of the Catholic school system, the training of its teachers,

the patriotic purposes of its existence, should be made

known to all. You cannot expect appreciation of your

schools, especially by outsiders, unless you make known in

conversation and by writing the facts about Catholic

schools.

The development of Catholic education in the United

States, particularly during the last hundred years, has been

little short of miraculous. The mere existence of thou-

sands of Catholic schools with an approximate attendance

of two million, should be enough to convince any man that

Catholicism in the United States is alive to its duties and

conscious of its divine purposes as the greatest religious

force in the Republic.

Never lose an opportunity, therefore, of speaking about

your schools or of urging on all a fair study and evalua-

tion of the same.

7. Q. Is there a Catholic rural problem in education?

A. Yes. The farms of this country are being depopu-

lated by large migrations to the city. It is estimated that

80 per cent of the Catholic population is urban, 20 per cent

rural. This rural percentage is decreasing every year.

Of Catholic school attendance, it is estimated that 90 per

cent is urban and 10 per cent rural. Thousands of chil-

dren, therefore, who live in the country are not receiving

a Catholic education. Coupled with this loss in numbers

is the loss in leadership, both civic and religious. It is a

well known fact that a large percentage of the noted men

and women of America have been farm boys and girls,

while in Europe a high percentage of religious vocations

comes from the smaller towns and the country.



92 A Catechism of Catholic Education

8. Q. What can we do to help solve Catholic rural prob-

lems in education?

A. (a) We must, first of all, be convinced of the fact
that there is a Catholic rural problem and that it is in the

interest of the Church to help solve it.

(b) Rural religious leadership must be developed and

the rural Catholic school must be considered as important

as the city parish school.

(c) Catholic vacation schools should be founded in those

districts where the Catholic population is too small to main-

tain a rural parish school.

(d) The formation of groups of lay catechists, who

would go to places where there is no church or school and

regularly teach religion.

(e) The development of a correspondence course in rural

religious education, which should be of such a character as

to reach every Catholic who lives on a farm.

9. Q. Why should you assist your schools financially?

A. Because financial assistance is a moral duty. Not

only does the Church command you to support your

schools, but conscience should convince you that you

must do so.

No Catholic should require urging to support Catholic

education. He should do it willingly because of the neces-

sity of Christian education, because of its admitted effi-

ciency, because it is thoroughly American, and because of

his loyalty to the Church.

10. Q. Do Protestant denominations support their

schools?

A. In 1921, ten Protestant organizations asked for $240,-

000,000 for their educational institutions. The Methodists

alone sought $22,940,000. Most of this money will be de-

voted to higher education.



How You Can Help Catholic Education 93

11. Q. How much money would the Catholic Church re-

quire to make its educational institutions secure?

A. An eminent Catholic educator has estimated that a

trust fund of $50,000,000 would provide for the current

needs of Catholic higher education, and another $50,000,000

would probably be required for Catholic elementary edu-

cation.

12. Q. How can you assist Catholic education finan-

cially?

A. In many ways

:

(a) By contributing your share to the upkeep of your

parish school. The burden of Catholic education must be

borne by each and every individual.

(b) By setting aside in your will a definite sum of

money for educational purposes. No loyal Catholic should

make a will without making provisions for the education of

his own children and for the support of Catholic education.

(c) By endowing Catholic colleges and schools. All

colleges have endowment funds
;
you may be able to endow

a professorship or even a class-room.

(d) By providing scholarships for worthy boys and

girls. Many scholarships in our colleges have been

founded by individuals. In some places, groups of men

and women have organized to give scholarships to ambi-

tious boys and girls who desire a college education. No

greater service, either to the Church or to our young peo-

ple, could be performed by any community.

(e) By assisting young men in their education for the

holy priesthood and by helping to build and endow

seminaries.

(f) By supporting the efforts now being made to train

Catholic men and women as social workers. In this re-

spect, the National Catholic Service School for Women de-

serves universal support.



94 A Catechism of Catholic Education

(g) By supplying our parish schools with adequate play-

grounds and playground equipment, library facilities, and

schoolroom necessities.

(h) By encouraging the efforts now being made to estab-

lish Catholic vacation summer camps for boys and girls.

(i) By supplying the funds with which Catholic educa-

tion can be given to those who live in the country and can-

not attend city parish schools. The Catholic education of

children whose parents are farmers is one of the most seri-

ous problems which the Church faces today.

References

What Women's Organisations Can Do, National Council Catholic

Women, Washington, D. C., 1921.

O’Hara, The Rural Problem in Its Bearings on Catholic Education,

Catholic Educational Association, 1921.

Ellis, The Money Value of Education, Federal Bureau of Educa-

tion, Washington, D. C., 1917.



LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Title page

Table showing Growth of Parish School Attendance from 1880

to 1920 6

Table showing Growth of Attendance at Seminaries for the Edu-

cation of Candidates for the Priesthood from 1880 to 1920 ... 7

National Summary of Catholic School Statistics 10

Map showing Distribution of Catholic School Attendance by

States 11

Table showing Functions of Diocesan Supervisor of Schools for

Archdiocese of Boston 14

Chart showing Gradations of Catholic Educational Institutions

in the Catholic Educational System 26

Time Schedules:

Time Distribution by Subjects and Grades in Fifty Repre-

sentative Cities 37

Washington, D. C., Public Schools 38

Diocese of Pittsburgh Time Schedule, 1919-1920 39

Units of Study Offered in Certain High Schools 40

Public High Schools of Washington, D. C 41

West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys (General

Course) 41

Philadelphia Catholic High Schools 42

West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys (Classical

Course) 43

Comparison of College Credits 44

Comparison of College Credits by College Years 45

Diagram showing Distribution of Expense of Public School

Education 81

Diagram showing Annual Expenditures for Public Education,

1870-1918 82

What Four Years in School Paid 89

Salaries Paid University Graduates 89

95





INDEX

Attendance

—

At Parish School, p. ©.

At High School, p. 9.

At Seminary, p. 10.

At College, p. 10.

At University, p. 10.

At Religious Novitiate, p. 10.

At Normal Training School, p. 10.

Academies, defined, p. 21.

Americanism of Catholic School, pp.
72-80.

Bishops* Pastoral, pp. 49, 53, 67, 71.

Colleges

—

First Catholic College, p. 2.

Organization of, p. 16.

Administration of, p. 16.

Junior, p. 22.

Entrance Requirements, p. 22.

Curriculum of, p. 22.

Comparison Catholic and Sec-

ular, pp. 44, 45.

Standard

—

Definition of, p. 22.

List of, p. 23.

Requirements for Recognition

as, p. 24.

Registration (1920), p. 10.

Number of, p. 10.

Cost of, pp. 85, 86.

Catholic Educational Association, p.

17.

Curriculum

—

Definition of, p. 36.

Contrast with Public School

Curriculum, p. 36.

Of Parish School, p. 36.

Typical Catholic and Public

School Curriculum, pp. 37,

38, 39.

Of High School

—

Typical Catholic and Public

School Curriculum, pp. 40,

41, 42, 43.

Of College, pp. 44, 45.

General Conclusions Relative to,

pp. 46, 47.

Cost of Catholic Education, pp. 81-

87.

Census, Statistics of 1920, pp. 9-11.

Elementary Schools

—

Curriculum, p. 19.

Typical Catholic and Public

School Curriculum, pp. 37,

38, 39.

Registration (1920), p. 9.

Number of, p. 9.

Cost of, pp. 81-85.

Growth of Catholic School System—
1800-1850, p. 3.

1850-1870, p. 4.

1870-1920, p. 5.

Factors of, pp. 3, 4.

High Schools

—

Organization of, p. 15.

Curriculum of, p. 20.

Typical Catholic and Public

School Curriculum, pp. 40,

41, 42, 43.

Junior, p. 20.

Purposes of, p. 20.

Accredited or Affiliated, p. 21.

Registration (1920), p. 9.

Number of, p. 9.

Cost of, p. 85.

Institutional Schools

—

Curriculum of, p. 19.

National Catholic Welfare Council-

Functions of N. C. W. C. Depart-
ment of Education, p. 17.

Principals, Duties of, p. 15.

Public Education

—

Attitude of Catholics Toward, pp.

65, 66.

Right of State to Educate, p. 67.

Parents

—

Duty and Responsibility Toward

Education of Children, p. 67.

Pre-Revolutionary Schools, p. 1.

Number of, p. 2.

Religious Character of, p. 2.

General Character of, p. 2.

Curriculum of, p. 2,

97



98 Index

Religious Education

—

Why Needed, p. 50.
As a Preparation for Citizenship,

pp. 50, 51.

Non-Catholic Advocates of, pp.

53-60.

Time Devoted to, p. 60.

Laws of Church Relative to, pp.
61-63.

Laws Relative to Compulsory At-

tendance by Catholics, pp. 69,

70, 71.

Theoretical Acceptance by State,

p. 68.

Rural School, p. 91.

Religious Novitiates, defined, p. 30.

Number of, p. 10.

Religious Brotherhoods, p. 28.

Schools (Catholic)

—

First Catholic Academy, p. 1.

First Classical School, p. 1.

Plan of Organization of, p. 12.

Administration of, p. 12.

General Features of Organization,

p. 16.

Types of

—

Elementary (See Elementary).

Parish (See Elementary).

High (See High School).

College (See College).

Rural (See Rural).

Academies (See Academies).

Religious Novitiates (See Reli-

gious Novitiates).

Seminary (See Seminary).

University (See University).

Pre-Revolutionary (See Pre-

Revolutionary School).

Institutional (See Institutional

School).

Curriculum (See Curriculum).

Schools

—

Reasons for, p. 48.

Religious Atmosphere of, p. 51*

Spirit of, p. 71.

Americanism of, pp. 72-80.

Suggestions for Assistance of, pp*
88-94.

Number of, pp. 9, 10, 11.
Students, Number of (1920 Cen-

sus), pp. 9, 10.

Superintendent, Duties of, p. 13.

Supervisor, Duties of, p. 13.

Seminaries

—

Curriculum of, p. 25.

Registration (1920), p. 10.

Number of, p. 10.

Cost of, p. 85.

Teachers

—

First Catholic, p. 1.

Number of (1920 Census), p. 9.
Classification of, p. 27.

Training of

—

Advantages of Religious Train-

ing, p. 28.

Curriculum of Teacher-Training

School, p. 30.

Extension Training Courses, p.

31.

Comparison of Professional

-Preparation of Catholic and

Public School Teachers, p.

32.

Age of, p. 33.

Certification of, p. 34.

Universities

—

Administration of, p. 16.

Curriculum of, p. 25.

Degrees Conferred by, p. 25.

Number of, pp. 10, 25.