3okr>son, G<ov-ae,

Contribution of Catholic

Education to Ameri-

can Life

BY

REV. GEORGE JOHNSON, Ph.D.

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

National catholic welfare conference
1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W.

Washington, D. C.



The Belvedere Press
;

Baltimore, Md.

Inc.



Contribution of Catholic Education

to American Life

S
OME TWENTY MILLION citizens of the United
States of America are members of the Catholic Church.

They believe that a certain definite body of religious

truths is immutably true, and they cherish the conviction

that their lives in every detail must be regulated in accord-

ance with these truths. For them, if they respect the impli-

cations of their Faith, religion is not just one phase of life,

a thing apart, to be exercised at certain times and seasons.

It is all of life. It is their personal relationship with God

and as such it permeates and transmutes every relationship.

In every doubt it is a source of light
;
in every weakness it is

a tower of strength; in every failure it is a promise of hope;

in every victory it is a suggestion of humility. The good

Catholic lives constantly in the presence of God and views

all things from the standpoint of the eternal. He is convinced

that all his thinking, feeling and doing should begin and end

in Jesus Christ.

It is what the Catholic believes concerning Jesus Christ

that determines his thought in every field of knowledge.

This faith is the corner-stone of his intellectual life, even as

it is the ultimate sanction of his moral life. He believes

that Jesus Christ is true God and true man, that the Eternal

Word, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, assumed

a human nature for the purpose of redeeming man from sin

3



4 Contribution of Catholic Education to American Life

and of reestablishing the Kingdom of God on earth. Christ

is not just a prophet, a seer, a great popular leader, an ex-

ceptional philosopher, but He is God—God from God, light
from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of

the same nature and substance as the Father, by Whom all

things were made.

The Catholic believes that Christ established a Church,

and that this Church is quite unique among institutions

known to man. It is not just a particular school of thought,

destined to perpetuate the opinions of its Founder. It is

not just a vehicle for the expression of a certain type of re-

ligious and social aspiration. As a matter of fact, it is not a

human institution at all. It is the projection of Jesus Christ

across the ages. “Behold, I am with you all days, even to

the consummation of the world.” It is the means established

by the Son of God to achieve the purposes of His Incarna-

tion. In the words of St. Paul, it is the “Body of Christ.”

Because the Church is one with Christ, She partakes in

his unique prerogatives as the Son of God. Her decisions in

matters of faith and morals are infallible. She provides

sacramental means for applying the power of Divine Grace

to human weakness. In her teachings are found the way

that leads to happiness—the truth that frees the mind from
the slavery of error, the life that Christ came to bring and

to bring in abundance.

The Catholic asks, What is man—what is human nature?
He finds the answer in the teachings of his Church. Man

is not merely an animal of a relatively higher development
;

he is something unique among living things. He is a creature

composed of body and soul. The soul gives life to the body

and is the object of a special creative act of God. When it

leaves the body the body dies, but the soul continues to live.



Rev. George Johnson 5

It is immortal. At the end of time the body will rise again

from the dead, to be reunited with the soul for all eternity.

The Catholic learns from his Church that when God cre-

ated the first man he raised him up above a purely natural

level and made him a partaker in His own Divine life. Man

thus became, in very truth, the child of God, endowed with

powers of knowing and doing above his natural capacities,

and destined for that happiness which is born of complete

union with God.

All of this was contingent upon man’s readiness to sub-

ject his self-will to the will of God. In the test the first

man failed. He disobeyed God. He sinned. As a conse-

quence, he lost these supernatural gifts for himself and for

his posterity. Though they were subsequently restored by

means of the redemption wrought by Jesus Christ, the effects

of the Fall remained. The guilt itself is washed away in our

baptism in Christ, but there persists a darkness of the mind,

a weakness of the will, and a general downward tendency.

The Catholic believes in Original Sin and its effects. He

does not believe that by reason of Original Sin human kind

is totally depraved. He does not believe that it is incapable

of any good whatsoever, but he does believe that any social,

economic, political or educational program must inevitably

fail if it neglects the fact of Original Sin. Every movement

for the betterment of human society must begin with the

regeneration of the individual.

From his Church the Catholic learns certain definite

things about human destiny. Man was not made for

himself, for society, for the State or for any other created

thing. He was made for the glory of God. The destiny of

man is determined by the Divine Will. According to Divine

Revelation, as interpreted by the Church, that destiny is



6 Contribution of Catholic Education to American Life

accomplished when the individual sinks himself and all his

interests in the love of God and strives in every way to lead

a Godlike life, according to the example set for him by Jesus

Christ, the Son of God. This life is but a stepping stone to

a higher life. Earth is the means given to man to prove him-

self worthy of heaven. The vocation of a Christian is to

labor manfully for the estabhshment of God’s Kingdom.

Whilst it is true that this Kingdom will be perfectly estab-

lished in heaven, it is likewise true that its beginnings must

be established here upon earth. Hence, the Catholic is

obliged in conscience to strive for the progressive betterment

of the conditions of human living, and he is not absolved

from responsibility for such human ills as might be eradi-

cated through the application of his intelligence and effort.

He is commanded to love God with all his heart and soul

and mind and strength, but he is at the same time reminded

that any declaration of love for God is vain and false if it

does not include a love for his neighbor.

Such, according to the teachings of the Catholic Church,

is the vocation and destiny of mankind. It is the only

way to happiness. Because it is supernatural, it cannot be

achieved by purely natural means. Christ said, “Without

me you can do nothing.” St. Paul exclaims, “I can do

all things in Him that strengthens me.” In other words,

man cannot achieve his destiny by his own unaided powers.

He needs the assistance of Divine Grace.

Such are the fundamentals of Catholic belief that dictate

the Catholic philosophy of life. For the Catholic they are

not mere theories. He regards them as fixed and certain.

His experience in living according to them has proven satis-

factory. In them he has found comfort and happiness and

peace.



Rev. George Johnson 7

This being so, what is more natural than that he should

desire to transmit them to his children? Accordingly, he

builds schools in which Catholic children are taught the

elements of Catholic faith and morals, the while they are

being instructed in secular knowledge. In every age since

the days of the Apostles, Catholics have maintained schools.

They could never be satisfied with a scheme of education

which would concentrate upon the things of this world to

the neglect of religion.

The State maintains a system of free, tax-supported

schools. Originally these schools were religious in character,

but sectarian jealousies rendered it impossible to maintain

them on this basis. As a consequence, they limit their edu-

cational program to preparation for those phases of life

which are purely secular, leaving to the churches the task

of supplying religious instruction outside of school hours.

The Catholic sees in this arrangement a compromise dic-

tated by necessity. It may be good opportunism, but

he cannot justify it to himself on the basis of his philosophy

of education. He has no desire to limit the opportunities for

education that his non-Catholic neighbors are providing for

their children. Yet he wants his own children to be educated

according to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Such

an education they cannot receive in the public schools.

He would not be satisfied with the palliative of the Sunday

School. He desires for his children a school in which the

Catholic religion is the foundation, the interpretation, the

atmosphere of all instruction.

The parent is invested with the primary right to determine

the education of his child. This is sound social philosophy.

It has the sanction of the Supreme Court of the United

States. It is a fundamental American principle, a safeguard



8 Contribution of Catholic Education to American Life

of liberty and democracy. Acting upon it, the Catholic

builds, equips and maintains his own schools.

Thus it happens that there is today in the United States

a system of schools extending from the kindergarten to

the university, established by Catholics and by them volun-

tarily supported, in which the attempt is being made to

provide an education in accordance with the Catholic in-

terpretation of the spirit of Jesus Christ. In effect, this

great project is a glorious contribution that Catholics are

making to the welfare of their country. Financially, it

represents a considerable saving to the commonwealth.

Catholics contribute their share to the support of public in-

struction; meanwhile they provide their own schools for

their own children. If the Catholic schools were closed to-

morrow, millions of children would be thrown on the re-

sources of the State. However, this is a mere detail. The

real contribution of the Catholic school to American de-

mocracy is something infinitely more precious than mere

money. It is something that enters into the very warp and

woof of our national life and insures the perpetuation of

our most cherished institutions.

First of all, Catholic education makes for the develop-

ment of that sound individualism which is the cornerstone

of democracy. This is because it insists upon the sacred

character of human personality. Belief in an immortal soul,

redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ and destined for eter-

nal union with God, must produce a respect for the human

race that could never be the fruit of materialistic philosophy

and behaviouristic psychology. One’s sense of responsibility

towards one’s fellow man takes on a new significance when

one recalls the words of the Saviour, “Whatsoever you do

to the least of my brethren you do unto me.” One’s own



Rev . George Johnson 9

sense of self-respect, the guardian of fundamental rights, is

strengthened when one ponders over the text
—
“Ye are gods

and sons of the Most High.”

The reverence which results from the conviction that wre

were created by God, for God’s purposes, and hence, that

we belong to God, produces in the heart that most beau-

tiful of all noble traits, humility. “The Son of Man came,

not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” The hum-

ble man realizes that it is the will of God that is signifi-

cant and not his own whims. The world does not revolve

around him, but he, in common with all things created, re-

volves around God. Mr. Walter Lippman has named

“disinterestedness” as the virtue most necessary in a modern

world. Only he can be utterly disinterested who, in season

and out, is conscious that his destiny is to do the will of

God, and to lose himself in the service of others for the love

of God. This is the very definition of humility.

Out of humility grows charity. The ideal of Catholic

education dictates that the child be inspired to grow in love

for his fellow man as he grows in love for God. Now de-
mocracy is a form of human association that relies ultimately,

not upon force and compulsion, but upon free cooperation.

Such cooperation is born of a sense of common interest.

The realization of mere physical needs experienced in com-

mon is no guarantee against disintegration. The only safe

bond is love. The man who sees Jesus Christ in his fellow

man, who realizes that the interests of his fellow man are

the interests of his Saviour, will have the strongest motive

in the world for making all the many sacrifices of time and

effort and money that are necessary if more and more people

are to have life and have it more and more abundantly.

This love is the foundation of true civic virtue, of that



10 Contribution of Catholic Education to American Life

quality of citizenship that is ready, not only in some major

crisis in the affairs of the nation, but constantly, day in and

day out, at work or at play, to think and act in terms
of

the common good, be the cost to self whatever it may.

His belief in Original Sin and in the salvation wrought by

Jesus Christ implants in the heart of the
Catholic child

the principle of self-discipline through
self-sacrifice. He

learns that a Crucified Head demands crucified members,

and that being part of the Mystical Body of Christ, he must

fill up what is wanting in the sufferings of Christ. He must

cooperate in his own regeneration. He must do violence to

his selfish impulses and desires if he would grow up
in all

things to the Head, even unto Christ.

In other words, Catholic education is based on
the princi-

ple of asceticism. This fact alone should
recommend the

Catholic school to the sympathetic attention
of thinking

Americans. At the present moment no trait in a citizen is

more valuable for American life than self-abnegation.
It is

the only guarantee of obedience to law. It
renders unneces-

sary that multiplication of laws which threatens
to bring all

the law into disrepute. Legal enactments,
backed by all

the police power which the State can muster,
will forever

fail in their purpose with a populace that
is unregenerate.

“The Kingdom of God is within you.” Obedience is a
virtue

that is born of a natural distrust of self and a
willingness to

do violence to self for a higher good. Those
who from child-

hood have learned that there is no redemption
save in the

shedding of blood, who have learned the rudiments
of read-

ing, writing and arithmetic at the foot of the
crucifix, whose

teachers, in personality, garb and demeanor,
exemplify

,
even

to the smallest details of their lives,
the principle of self-

sacrifice, who have tasted the joy that is born of
mortifying



Rev. George Johnson 11

themselves in little ways from day to day, are splendidly

equipped to accept the burdens of liberty and to bear the

responsibility of freedom.

Finally, the Catholic school develops in the child the

attitude of faith. He acquires the disposition to believe.

Conscious of the limitations of his finite intelligence as com-

pared with the infinite intelligence of God, he does not en-

visage, as the only possible world, the world that only he can

know and understand. Faith liberates the mind and lends

it the courage to dream dreams. Faith is an antidote against

the dread poison of disillusion and cynicism which is working

such havoc in certain circles today. Faith in God breeds

faith in man and that valid faith in self laboring in partner-

ship with the Divine. “I can do all things in Him that

strengthens me.” Whatever the peril of the moment, what-

ever the selfishness, the stupidity and the cupidity of his

contemporaries, the Catholic, sustained by his faith, em-

boldened by his hope, mellowed by his charity, can face the

future with gleaming eye and glowing countenance, knowing

that the high resolves of his nation and his nation’s founders

can be achieved and will be achieved, according as men

learn to put less and less trust in themselves and more and

more trust in God.

This is the contribution the Catholic school would make

to American life. Needless to say, it has not as yet suc-

ceeded in perfecting this contribution. Educational practice

always lags behind educational ideals. It is one thing to

have a great vision and another thing to understand the

mechanism whereby that vision can be realized through

classroom procedure. All education is experimental in char-

acter. Catholic schools may have failed to measure up in all

things to their full possibilities, but at least they have clung



12 Contribution of Catholic Education to American Life

fast to their fundamentals, as the loyal, devoted, unobtru-

sive, self-sacrificing lives of the Catholic rank and file attest.

The Catholic school in the United States looks forward to

the future with firm hope and high resolve. It feels it has a

great contribution to make to its beloved country. With

the aid of pedagogical science, it is striving to master its

method. In the free atmosphere of America it can thrive,

protected by that tolerance which has been written into our

fundamental laws and which is characteristic of the Ameri-

can people. As the years go on, it will yield to the nation a

richer and a richer harvest because it plants its seed for the

glory of God.