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All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. Le& exemplaires originaux dont la couverture er« papier est imprim6e sont film6s en commen9aappiness here, and the guarantee of eternal happiness h ler. To direct you in this all -important search, the '"oiy Church has been established by our blessed Hedeemer, and commissioned to teach you all things what- soever he hath commanded, to point out the duties you musl fulfil, and the dangers and snares you must avoid, if you would save your imperishabh; .souls which the Son of (Jod has purchased with a great price. Among.^t the urgent duties of the present day, for pastors ami peoj)h', tlir re is none more essential, none more vital than tliat of the Christian education of the ris- ing generation. The question of Catholic education is, in fact, the great absorbing question of the ]ir('sent day for Catholics tliroughout the world, and on the manner in which it shall be solved, must depend the ruin or salvation of thousands, jioaita rst in rninani a tit resKiredionrju ritvlforion. Hence we consider it our solemn duty to address you on this vital topic, which so Intimately affects your dearest and most sacred interests, as well as those of your children ; and we aiv confident that our in- htructious and directions thereon will be received with filial ; ♦ PASTORAL LETTEK. 1 docility and obedience that ever distinguish the true nnd faith- vNL fill children of the IIolv Church. '^' ^ Importance of Catholic EbrcATioN. ^ _ At the outset it may lie well to hear in mind certain '^ elementaiy principles of our holy faith. The end and object .\; "aj of our existence is to know and serve God here on earth, and fl "-> afterwards, to love and enjoy Him in heaven. ^ ;; "Man," says Saint Ignatius, "has been created that he,£'^ may praise the Lord his God, and show llim reverence, andv serve' Him, a nd by mgans of this huvv. lii.s soul." This is the"^ one thing necessary ; this was the sole design of the most holy Trinity in creating us. It is for this end we are preserved in existence by the constant action of God, and for this also wc have been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the tree of the C/ros.s. Hence we must strive to enter in by the narrow gate, and must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We must seek iirst the Kingdom of God and His justice. We have not then been created for the purpose of accumulating wealth, of pursuing earthly pleasures, or of, making ourselves a name, but principally for the end and object of serving God m purity and holiness of life, and of thereby reaching our last end, which is clie enjoyment of God in the Kingdom of His eternal happiness. Let us give ear to the oracles of God. " It is written thou slialt adore the Lord thy God, and serve Him alone." — Matt. 4th c, 10th v. "What doth it profit a man to gain the whole world, if he loseth his own soul, Oi- what exchange shall a man make for his soul." — (Matt, IGth c, UGth v.) Hence we are told by truth itself tt» " fear God and keep His commandments, for in this does every man and the whole man consist." — (Eccles., 12th c, 13th v.) This then l)eing the purpose of God in our creation and redemption, it is manifest that our whole life should be a pre- paration for it ; and if, an Saint i'aul says, whether we eat or drink, or whatever else we do, we should do all for the glory of !S it- (Jod ; if, according; to this insi»ired Apostle, our whole life and all its actions, even tlie most ordinary ami trivial, should bo influenced and motived by this one dominant idea of seivinj,' (Jod and saving our souls, for how much greater reason sliould the education of youth, the formation of its character, the bent and tendency of its fresh young life, be directed to this great purpose. If we bear in mind this momentous and caitlinal truth, we shall see at a glance the vast imj)ortance, the evident necessity of a sound Catholic education for the rising generation. It is true that our children must be fitted for the part they will have to play on this w^^rld's theatre, and for this end they need and should obtain such a mental culture as may be necessary or useful for them. ' The Church iM^.if^m and not relegated to the parents^ wearied with their day's hard work, and perhaps unable or unwilling to fulfil it. This duty must not be confined to Sunday, for the inipres- siowH made during that day an^ too easily effaced during the subsequent week. The blessed influence of religion must per- C s > 4 •>> ^, J I C meatc and illumine all the days of youth, as the sun, pouring *. ^ its radiance tiirough the storied window of some ancient cathe- .^ vr^ )lral, shows, in glorious colors, the images of Christ and His -saints, tliat else would have remained dim or invisil)le. " It h> good for n man when ho hath borne the yoke from his youth," ( Lameu. :» e., 27 v.) — the yoke of Christian education, which i.s that which Christ desires us to take up, adding that " His yoke is sweet, and his burden light." (Matt. 11 c.,20-.S0 \.') "A young man, iut-ording to his way, even when be is old, be will not depart from it," (I'rov. 20 c, G v.,) and when, in the Cljris- tiau .school, the child is made to remember his Creator, he is not likelv to forwt Him iu his maturer vears. KnUCATION l-MrAUTi;!) IN TlIK ('OMMON ScilOOLS NuT liKUGIOUy. The education taught in the comnu)u schools of Ontariois not truly religious (.r Christ ian. TTis true that it is asserted that religion is not ignored iu these schools, since Christian mondity is inculcated and the Bible is read therein ; although, of course, the distinctive doctrines of each Christian denomina- tion are not, and ciinnot bo taught in them. But we hold that r«di;aoji witbi_Mil (b)|£m{i_is not Christianity, and that the ^lov/ers of Ciiristiun morality and virtue can only flourish and l)loom under the shelter of the well-defined doctrines of Christ. (Christian morality cannot be taught without a knowledge of Christ, and tliat again neces.sarily involves a knowledge of His person. His history, His teaching. His commandments, and His Church; it involves, in oilier words, Christianity iti its entire- h w. A'/t? ,}{ (, I r^u Kft rj^^ne^ ^M..t ^n^ ivxa r^^i«. t(. I,!^'-' — 4' i \.y ■ y tv r rA.STt)i;A[. I.KITKI:. \ vy- (.,» and completeness, j In what schools soever tlien the \y distinctive doctrines of oiii' holv religion n re not taii;jht,' Christian nioraliiv cannot lif> tanglit : /and when Christian > . morality is not taught, tlic lu^art, and conscience, and will o r '* / young are liivc u neglect.'d field overgrown witli rank f the and 'i poisonous weeds. Tlu^ morality inculcated in common schools .^ must neces.'^avily l>c ba^ed on the assumption that all Christian / denominat ioi ins ai't; et V jually good, an assumption which of course is utterly untrue, ;inu must necessarilv result in religious indiiyerentism,*.--'TheTl!n)le may ho read in these schools, hut _ ».^hough '•' all scripture in.spired of God is profitahle to teach, to V reprove, to correct, to instruct unto justice,'" — Tim. 2nd v., ord l'^ V :^ f., It IS oidv so wlien interpreted bv the infallible Church c^S,]. ? ^ ^ Christ, to whtun l)elong the Scriptures and the true meaning) j | ^ $ thereof; for, if interpreted by fallil)]e private judgnicnt, it mavL^l^I^ ,i)e '• wrested to tl»e eternal ruin and perdition of its readers,'; 4: i"::^ — (Peter, 2nd ep., ord c, 16 v..) and is sure to beget innumerable o ^.jarring and discordant sects, speaking a very Babel of tongues, 3. '^ tearing into .shreds the seamless garment of Christ, i;'id by their ,^ ^ wranglings and cgntentioiis itringing Christianity itself into •» J J'-^ \ contempt. " It is iu>t," says Demaistrc, " th(! reading of the Scripture, but tiie teacliing of it by infallib le autlionj^' that is useful ; tlu- gentle dove," he continues, " taking the grain in its bill, break- ing it in pin-ts, and tlien distributing it to its young, is a natural in "■/' of tlie Church explaining tlie true meaning of the written W'jpi ' 'ler children. Head without notes a-nd an authoritative cv] i.,;,a!ion, t'.e holy Scripture nuiy jn-ove a deadly poi.son." rr. •!,> rluj (■■cliolic Church considers the reading of Scripture * The mov.Tlity iiiciileatitl in coiniuoii hcIkioIh, if these schodls bo impartial to all sects, must be baseil on the asKumjjtion that all Christian sects are equally g()(Kl, T?ut we hold that, with justice to all Christian sects, it is imixissible that the education impavteii in common schools could be rcligiou.s, for, as the London Timm has lately said, "If education is to be religious at all, it must be at vari- ance with the teaching of Bomo denominations." The mere choice of « xcrsion of Scripture '• tnouuh to make tho school sfctariau. , . ^ ^ ; ♦ lit to .! . .-. ^ of y '^ .\ [1"' J ♦» ir In ic '11 at m :i- of I'ASTOUAL LETTEK. 44 by chilclreii as an inadequate uiean:-; of inipartiiij^ to them a religions instruction, and a,s a. usaw whorobv the Mord of (Jod is t'xpoi^ied to irreverence, and tliu young in danger of luisuiKi jrstanding its incaniiig, and of thereby receiving impres- sions most iiijuriuus lo the s.ilvation of tlieir souls. There is anotlier consideration to be added here: it- is the Vianeful impressions that may be made on the young mihd by uon-CaMiolic teacliers. The child is naturally disi)osed to respect the teac.lier, to hjoic uj) to him as the embodiment ot wisdom and a prodigy of learning, and to cijusider his words as tiraeuhir utteraiujes, not to be ({uestioned for a moment. It is easy flien to see what fatal, and ])erhaps lasting inij)re.ssions may !)e made on pupils by a casual expression, a suggestive hint, a sneer id ro})ish practices, n general tone of contem})t for (.'atholic usages, indulged in by a teacher who is not a (.'atliolif. We Ovir.selves have heard on good authority that in a certain co;niiion sciiool in this Diocese, which several Catholic childivit atiended, the icacher askvd in a loud voice: — " Who bow down bd'ori' iniiigcs and adore them '." and the answer of course was '• the Papists ! " Hence the Bi.shops of Canada, in the iiisl J'lovincial .Svnod of Quebec a.s.sembled. decreed a< follows :— Mixed .schools, in which the children of the faitiiful, proniiscuonyly mix a\ ith the children of non-Catholics, are taught none, or a false religion, -we adjudgt! entirely dangerous, as l)eing calculated to beget that plague of imitiety cnmmonly called indilferentism. Where- fore we earnestly exhort tiie pastors oi souls to do all in their j)Ower to i)ievent Catholic children from attending them. But if, in some localities, in which no Catholic pchools exist. Catholic children are ol>liged lo attend the mixed schools, let pastors and parents take great care lest such diihlren insensibly inibi])ing the poison of erroi'. .^houh! suirer the U^ss nj' Ijieir faitli and of their purity. " (.'oinnion schools, therefore, are not buch as Catholic iiarents can, in conscience and in justice t«i their diildreii. patronize or ,J^ ll 12 PASTOR/L LETTER. 1' i cncoin-age ; and we hereby declare that Catholic parents can- not, in conscience send their children to sncli schools, save in the absence of Catholic schools, and cron then botli pastors and parents, in the words of the abovc-citcd decree, must take the greatest care lest the children sent to such schools should suffer the loss of their faith and of their purity, SAD EFFECTS OF EDUCATION DIVOKCED FilOM UELKJION. Unchristian education is the very well-head of the impure waters of impiety and unbelief that deluge this century. And liow can it be otherwise ? The stream that flows from an • impure fountahi must be itself impure; the education that ignores the eternal world, and the sacred truths revealed by God iind taught by his own true church, may sharpen the intellect and quicken tlie mental powers, but it will leave the heart a moral wilderness, and nni'=;t of necessity generate religious indif- feventism and unbelief. " From the heart,"' sny.s our blessed Lord, "■ Conu- forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testi- monies, blasphemies," Matt. 15 c, 19 v. It follows, tluirefon', tliat the education which does not cultivati' th<,' heart n(ji' attempt to purify its affections or to cleanse and .'jwc^eton its desires, must needs leave open the sluices to the impure tide of all the evils that curse this miserab!^ world. What Chris- tian man can contemplate without a .sln;dd(.'r tlie terrible picture of indiff'erentism, inlidelity, and even hatred of Ciiristi- anity, which is now exhibited both in Europe and Anierica : The appalling crimes of the Paris Conmiune that made the Avorld shudder M ith horror, the smoking ruivis of tiic noblest and proudest erections of that Ij-^autifnl city, thti blood and wounds of the maityred hostages attest to what blood-thirsty savages, to wliat ferocious wild beasts, unchrij-tian and godless educatioT. may reduce i.^en made in the image of God. Tf European society is honey-combed witli infidel and anti-social principles that are fast sapping the foundations on which law, order and religion repose; if it is fast erumblin2 nnto ruin and If PASTORAL I.ETTEH. 18 chaos ; if it beholds the modern intellect and will in mad revolt from Ohrist and His l)lessed religion ; if it shudders with fear us it sees the gathering clouds of the; wild passions of the multi- tude obscuring the whole firmament, and ready to burst in thunder and destructive floods on its devoted head, it may thank its unchristian schools that shut tlieir doors against the f^rd and against Ilis Christ. Divine Wisdom hath said. " by what things a man sinneth, by ihe same also he is ])unished.'' (Wis., lie. ]7v.) Nor if Ave turn our eyes to uur American conlineul is the specti'cle that meets them more cheering and encouraging. Heiir what the American Bishops, assembled in Council in Baltimore in 1866, had to say on the sad eifects as regards Catholics pro- duced by the conanou schools of that country : — " The experiencu of every day slunrs more and more plainly what strioua cviU and great dangers are entailed uiion Catholic youth by tiieir fre(|uentation of pub- lic schools in this country. Such is the nature of the Kystem of teaching therein employed that it is not possible to prevent youn^' C'atliolics from incurring through its influence danger to their Faith and morals, nor cuu ive ascribe to any otho- cause that destructive upirit of indiifercn 'srn which luis made, and is now making such rapid strides in this country, and that corruption of morals which we have to deplore, eren in those of tender years. Familiar intercourse w ith those of false religions, or of no religion ; the daily use of authors who assail with calumny and sarcasm our holy religion, its practices, and even its Saints these gradually impair in the miuds of Catholic children tho vigor and influence of the true religion. Be ^ides, the morals and examples of their fellow-scholars are generally so cornii)t, and so great their license in word and deed, that, through continual contact with them, the modesty and piety of our children, even of thosi- who I.ave been best trained at home, disappear like wax before the fire. But Catholic Bishops are not liic otdy witnesses to the terrible consequences that flow from atlcndauco at these god- less schools. The December number of the American Edvca- tional Monthljj, a magazine published in New York, and i: stout defender of secular educatior, thus ])lainly stated: — "Jt is well to repciil here what was said in tlic begininng : 'hal knowledge is not virtue itself, but oniv tlie hand- maid o^ vTtue. This is tho lesson of Connecticut statistics — a State having a iirst-dass university as well as the usual network of common schools : in every nine and seven-tenths marriages, u I'ASToRAL LKTTEH. tiiei« 1)1 div( univ( ?. Ohio, which has sity comparable to Yale, and whose common schools are pre- sutnably no better than Connecticut's, has but one divorce in twenty-four marriages, in a much larger population. There are graduates of common schools who make it their business to procure divorces by observing prescribed foims, yet \\ itliout the knowledge of one or the other of the parties— contrary to the spirit of the law." "Professor Agassiz," says a late Boston i)ftper, " has rtjcently given a portion of his valuable time to the investigation of the .social evil, its causes, and its growth, and the result has lilled him with dismay. To his surprise, a large number of tln^ unfortunates who lead a life of sin and shame, traced tlx'ir fall I«) influences that surrounded tliem in publii? schools." riiere can be no doubt the same state of morals exists in other cities of the Union, and may be traced to the sanie cause. The fact is that godless education is fast dc-christianizing American society, and is reducing it to a state in which it but too well answers t(» the description given by St. Paul of those wlio, in his day, banished God from education: — " And as they liked not," says tiie Apostle (Koni. 1 c, 28 v.) 'to have God in their know- ledge, God delivei'cd them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient,- being lilled with all iniipiity, malice, fornication ; jnoud, haughty inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, foolisli, dissolute, without affection, without fidelity, without mercy, &c., &c. The picture is too faithful, but it certainly is not flattering. ( 'an Catholic parents contemplate it without a shudder t and ought they not make every sa:;rifice to support and encourage our sej)arate schools, in which their children are taught the j)rinciitles of that faith, without which it is impossible !•> plea.se God, (Ifelt. c. 11.,) whilst they at the same time receive a sound Catholic education. It may be said tliat the common schools of Ontario have not yet produced the terrible moral rovo a stumbling-block to the child's salvation, even if it should procure him all wordly profits, she must utterly disapprove. " The Church," says John Heniy Newman, "regards this world and all that is in it as a mere shade, us dust and ashes, compared with the value of one single soul. She liolds that it were better for the sun and moon to drop froiu heaven, for the earth to fail, and for 1(5 I'ASToUAL LEITEU. all tlie many millions who are on it to die of starvation in extremest agony, as far as temporal affliction goes, than that one mil shauld he lout:' Directed and animated by this prin- ciple, our holy Father, Pope Pius IX, has declared in the famous Syllabus, that Catholics cannot "approve of a system of edu- cating youth unconnected with Catholic faith and the power of the Church, and whicli regards the knowledge of merely natural things; and only, or at least primarily the onrls of (sirthly social life." ('SyllaluH, ].r(,p. 48." Our lioly Father has also, in writing to the Archbi.shop of Freiburg, in (Icrmany, laid down the Catholic doctrine on tliis subject in the following i)lain and emphatic statement :- - "It is »K>t wonderful that these unhai)i)y efforts [to spread irroligii»u» and revolutionary principles] should be directeil chiefly to cornipt the training and education of yojith ; and there is no doubt that the yreate-t injury is inflicted on society when the directing' authority and salutary power of the Church are with drawn from imljliu and private education, on which the hnpinncBs of the Church and of the commonwealth depends ko much. Fo" thuH society i», little by little, deprived of that truly Christian spirit which alone can permanently secure the foundation of peace and public order, and jtromote and direct the true and useful progress of civilization, and give man those helps which are neces.sary for liim in iirder to attain after this life his last end hereafter -eternal happiness. And in truth a system of teaching which not only is limited to the knowledge of natural things, and dot^ not pass beyond the boimds of our life on earth, but also dejtarti* fnmi the truth revealed by iiod. must necessarily be guided by the spirit of error an 1 lies ; and education, which without the aid of the Christian doctrine and its salutary moral j)reccpts, instnicta the minds and moulds the tender heart of youtli, which is so prone to evil, must infallibly produce a generation which will have no guide but its own wicked pas^sions and wild conceits, and which will be a source of the greatest misfortune to the commonwealth and to their own families. But if this detestable system of education, so far rem«ved from Catholic Faith and eocltBiastical authority, becomes a source of evils both to individuals and t" society, when it is employed in the higher teaching, and in schools frequented by the better class, who does not see that the same system will give rise to still greater enls if it be introduced into primary schools ? For it is in these schools, .vbove all, that the children of the people ought to be carefully taught from their tender years the mysteries and precepts of cur holy religion, and to be traine hading a place in all that concerns education and instruction that whatever else the children may learn should appear subsidiary to it. The young, therefurc, ure exiKmed to the greatest perils w henever, in the schools, education is not clo-sely united v. ith religious teaching. Wherefore, since [trimary achooJB are e.';lal>lished chjefly to give the people a religions education) » . I'AsTOItAL LETTEIl. 17 and to lead them to piety and Chriatlau morality, they have justly attracted to themselves, in a greater degree than other educational institutions, all the care, solicitude, and vigilance of the Church. The design of withdrawing primary •chools from the control of tho Church, and the excrtiona made to carry this design into effect, are therefore inapirtd by a spirit of hostility towards her, and l>y the desire of extinguishing among the people the diviuo light of our holy I'^aith. The Church which has founded these schools has ever regarded them with the greatest cure and interest, and looked ipon them as the chief object of lier ecclesiastical authority and government, and whatsoever removed them from her inilicted serious injury both on her and on tho schools. Those who pretend tliat the Church ought to abdicate or suspend her control and her salutary action upon the i)rimary schools, in reality nsk her to disobey tiie commands of her i >ivine Author, and to ha false to the charge sho h.i3 received from God of guiding nil men to sidvation ; and in whatever country this pernicious de;sIgn~iST'removiug the scliooh from the ecclcHiastical authority should be entertained and carried into execution, and tlie j'oung thereby expoaed to tho danger of losing their Faith, there tlie C!lun-uh would be in m the necessary Christian education and iastructif n, but, moreover, v.v.uld feel herself obliged to warn all the Faithful, and to declare thnt no one ca:\ in oouRcicnce frequent such schools as being adverse tothe (.'fttholic Churo.'i." * ^1 ^^ 1 • V : . : j 5: ' ^n^ '^ l^ ■* * » ' - sJ V . 1- ^ ? -C^L-; OiTR DUTY AS (.'ATHOLICS AND PARF.N'TS. In tlie lace of tlicst^ solemn utterances of tlio infallibJe head of the Chni'ch, and of otir own Canadian hierarchy, whose words we have already quotcnl, no Catliolic can, conscientiously, patronize the connnon or '•' mi.Kcd " schools, so long as he has I'atholic sehouls in which to educate his children. We are bound to ohi'y tb.e Chiircli in this vital matter; " He that will not hear the Church,"' s'lys Christ, "let him be unto thee a heathen and a publican, — (Matt. 17c., 18v.") " lie who heareth you, heareth me.lie wlio d^:s])iseth you,dcspiseth me." (Luke lOc, 16v.) " Obey your prelates and be subject to them," says St. Paul, " For tlicy watch as being to render an account of your souls," — (Ileb. 13c., 17v.) Listen then to the voice of this divnie guide, and follow her directions, " "Whosoever shall do so, peace on them and mercy, and uju)!! the Israel of God," — (Gall. Gc, IGv.) You have hitherto done wonders — you and otir faitliful clergy — to establish separate schools, and to encourage and sup- port them. Let us exhort you to persevere in this great and IS PASTOKAL LETTEK. good work ; by doing so you will bring blessings innuraerable upon yourselves and the children committed to your care. The separate S3hool law is sadly dafective in many respects, and throws serious obstacle;} in the way of the success of our separate schools ; but still we must bear in mind the old adage, that a " half-loaf is better than no bread," and should try to su})ply by our zeal and spirit of sacrifice and unanimity the de- fects of tlie law. Labor, earnestness and devotion will overcome all obstacles, and the seeds which we sow in this matter of Catholic educa- tion, amid so much toil and so many harassing difficulties, will be sure to produce a rich harvest of blessings here, and of un- ending joys hereafter. " They who sow in tears, shall reap in joy." (Psalm 1 25). Tt will be the duty of our beloved clergy, who have already made so many sacrifices in the sacred cause of Catholic education, to see that the separate schools are as efficient as possible. Let them take caie that the teachers are persons of good characters and blameless lives ; that the Cate- chism is regularly and carefully taught, and the secular educa- tion as thorough and satisfactory as may be required. It is by union of priests and parents, both being animated by a sense of their solemn duty, that this sacred cause, so dear to our hearts, can be made to prosper. Both pastors and parents are strictly bound, each in their respective spheres, to labor for the salvation of the little ones of Christ, and to bring them up in the fear and love of God. Failing in this paramount duty, they will iocur a dreadful re- sponsibility before God and His holy Church ; they will de- serve the woes that Christ pronounces against those who scan- dalize His little ones, and the biood of the lost children will be required at tlieir hands. (Ezekiel 3 c, 18 v.) Reflect on this. Christian parents ! At the last day it will not, be asked of you, if you loft your children wealthy, if you procured for them honors and rich possessions, if you provided tliem with a brilliant secular education, if you taught them the PASTORAL LETTTIR. 19 Ig art of makin},' money, or the like ; but the great question will he, " What has become of their souls ?" The enormity of the sin of neglecting the Christiau education of chiklren is equalled ill Scripture to tliat of denying the faith itself: " If any man have not care of his own, and especially of those of his house, he hath denied the faith, and is v/orse than an infidel." (I Tim. 5 c, 8v.) And if our blessed Loid will on the last dread- accounting diiy deny before His father and befo\ His angels those who deny llim, what will lie do to those who are worse than infidels, who are declared to be wore than those who deny Him, in tliat they neglected the Christian education of their children ? It was the strong conviction of their solemn duty in this regard — a conviction that burned with the fire of faith in their souls, which urged our forefathers to sacrifice all that was dear to them on earth — liberty, property, and often life itself* rather than fail in tlicir duty of handing down the faith, pure and undefiled, to tlieir children. This is the precious legacy we have received from them — a legacy endeared to us by their sufferings and tears ; and we shall be recreant to our duty as Christians, and base and degenerate as their children, if we make not every sacrifice to pass down this treasure, pure as gold that is fire-tried, to our descendants. Thus, honor, conscience, faith, the example of our fore- fathers, the voice of our holy Church, and the commands of God — all considerations of our honor as men, and of our duty as Catholics, call upon us to be faithful to our trust as Catholic parents, to support and encourage our separate schools, and our Catholic colleges and convents. V)y doing so we shall plant the faith deep in this Western soil, we shall leave behind us a legacy of great price, more precious far than all the riches of earth, and we " siiall lay up to ourselves treasures in heaven. where neither tlie rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal." (Matt. G c, 19 v.) "They that instruct many to justice shall shine as stars for all eternity." (Dan. 12 c, o v.) '20 I'ASTOKAL LEITEK. Parochial LiuuAuiKii. Tlie education imparted in the separate schools, (•utholi(; colleges and convents should be continued cud improved by good parochiallibraries, stored with Catholic literature. It is not on bread alone that man lives, hi;.; mind requires food as well as his body, find if ho cannot iiiid tiound mental food, ho will seek tliat which is unwholesome and poisonous. This is an age of extraordinary mental activity, and in this intellec- tual activity we should have OiU" shai'u ; but we must take care ihat whil.-it cultivating the nund we be not seduced to eat of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of evil. It was the niortal taste of this forbidden tree tliat " brought death unto tin; world and all our woos," and it .still continues to send forth on society as from a poisoned fountain a torrent of impiety, irreligion and immorality. Tlic anti-Catholic literature that Hoods this Conti- nent is a peculiar danger for f)ur people. Newspapers, maga- zines, and other periodicals and Tiovels arc all impregnated with the spirit of hostility to Catholic faith and practices ; and as the constant drop wears the stone, so the habitual reading of such literature bligths the freshness of the faith, dulls the moral icnse and fills ihc mind with views and principles thai are in direct conflict with the principles and practices ol" tlio Catholic Church. Hence you v,ill sometimes luceb wi'Ji men who can listen with composure to bitter calunniies ur.tered against tlieir spiritual mother, who hold in theory the faith, but who dislike, if they do not positively disapprove of its time-honored practices, simply because they are railed at by Protestants, men in line whose .'sympathies are not with us, and whose heart.'^ have grown cohl towards the Church in lier labor;^, and towards file Holy Father in his great but unmeriU'd aliiiclions. And v.hy tliis sad fact '. Simply because men will read anti-Catholic literature, and will not open a (.'atholic book which would act as an antidote to the poison. You cannot long breathe pestilential atmosphere with impunity, nor can you walk in tlie summer sun without being tanned. Thu virtue of purity may be dee* I'AbTOKAL LEITEK. 21 troyeJ by the periral of immoral books, ami so the virtue of faith may bo weakened and ultimately destroyed by the readiii.t; of unti-Cutholic literature. A3 wo arc situated here, pretty mueh as our co-religionista arc situated in England, the re- marks of the illustrious Archbishop Mannin-,' on this head will be to the point here : — " We live," says the Archbishop, " in a country which for thl-ce huudred years has been pervaded by a spirit of opposition to the Catholic Church. Everything round about us is full of antagonism to the Faith. Tijc whole litera- ture of this country is written by those "'ho, sometimes uncon- sciously, sometimes consciously, assume an attitude of hostility to it. r say sometimes unconsciously, because, being born in that state, they often do so without being aware tliat they have; received an heir-loom of false principles and of false histories respecting the Holy Catholic Church. Without knowing ir, tlu^y are perpetually incorporating them with what they write ; so that tlie greater part of tiie litcraturq of this country, wliich is in the hands of us all, contains a systematic contradiction of that which wo believe. The newspapers wliich iill the v/hole country djiy by day, arc animated by a spirit which is agaiuK! us ; and they are iilled by details and narratives, and correspon- dence, and they must forgive me if I say, fables, fictions, i'abri- cations, absurdities — anytliing that can pander to the inoi- l)id appetite, to the craving for scandals against Catholic institutions, against Catholic priests, against Catholif. nuns. The other day wo road attacks against certain nuns in Paris, which, for studied ])ut transparent falsehood, were worthy of the commission of Henry VIII. How is it possible that Catholics can read these things day by day, and their eyes, and imaginations, and hearts receive insensibly no stain from them ? They who walk in the sun cannot help being tanned. You go to and fro i^ the midst of all this literature and all these daily calumnies, you breathe this atmosphere charged with untruths — how is it possible that you should be unaffected by them ? Do we not hear Catholics sav : — " Am I to believe this ?" " Can m 22 I'ASTOKAJ. LCTTKR. N Xl \ 1 contradict it ?" " If it be not contradicted, tliero must be some trntli in it." Little by little it {•ots into the minds of men uitli, " 1 su])po.so, then, it cannot bo denied ;" " Where there is smoke there is fire." In this way falsehoods are insinuated. They are either never contradicted, or the contradiction is never imblished, or if published, hardly seen. The slander has done its work, and the stain remains." And again : "There is little mortification of the intellect ; the intellect ranges without check and without limit ; men read every book that comes to hand, every newspaper tln-y lind on the table. They do not ask whether it is for the Faith, or against the Faith ; is it heretical, or is it .sound ; is it ])ure, or is it impure. They begin without disciimination ; they read on without fear; they find the book to be heretical, erroneous, .«candalous, licentious, and yet they do not bum it ; they do not even put it down. Tfie CatljolicCliurclj strictly and wisely prohibits the reading of any books that are written by tlio.se ' »io have fallen f from the Faith, or teach a false doctrine, or im])ugu the Faith, or defend errors.. And that lor tliis plain and sound reason : tlie Church knows v(!iy well that it is not one in a thousand who is able to unravel the subtlety of inlidel olijections." ' Tn view of these dreadful ravages caused by an innnoral and iinchristian literature, we mo.st earnestly warn our flock away from .sucli poi.sonous pastures, and we declare to them that they cannot in conscience read books tliat are dangerous to their faith and morals, as tljey are forl)iddcn to do so by the divine and eccl iiastical law. We earnestly exhort our beloved clergy to establish in their respective missions paroeliial libraries, so as to place within reach of their people good Catholic books which will explain and vindicate the doctrines of our Holy Church, and refute olyections against them, wliich will serve to improve the heart whilst imparting useful instruction to the mind. We must encourage Catholic literature ; we must ''oppose the attacks of falsehood and immorality by the arms of KJ ;». TASTOltAL LliTTRU. 23 truth and purity, nnd \}m we can do by the establishment of ^ parochiul libraries Good books are so many effective preacUora oi trutli and sound morality. Tliey instruct and edify; they enter- tain and improve ; they elevate and refine the tasto, and contri- bute to a pure and healthy tone of mind. In a country likd this, in vviiicU many families live far from Church, and are ^' unable to assist at mass and hear a sermon every Sunday, tho "^ circulation of i;ood books would seem to be a positive duty not a necessity. Our clergy sliould also encourage their people ^ to take well-conducted Catholic newsjiapcrs. As it is numbers ^ of families lake cheap weekly newspapers, which, whilst they do not contain a singh; friendly word towanls the Catholic '^ Church, are stuffed with gusliing accounts of " tea-mcetings,'\ t| " socials," " Bible meetings," ct hoc ffcnm omne. ]»y tho perusal ^^ of such papers, some lose tlie very lanjjuage of Catholiciam, aD4.j adopt t]iat of the conyeiiiid..Q.^'^hus you will hear some people A /^say that they are going to " prayers " or to " meeting " when they | mean that they are going to assist at the holy sacrifice of i\\^ MaW;^.- It is ea.sy to >seo wliat injury all this is calculated to inmct, for inaccuracy of language iti such matters logically begets a confusion ani- 14 PASTORAL LKTTKIt. II \vc hiive drawn out this Pastoral to so great a length, tho vital importance of tlie subject treated must plead our justifica- tion. We have endeavo ed to point out the importance of Catholic education, and the dangers that result from an unchris- tian education. We have .shown that the education imparted, in the common schools of Ontario cannot be religious, for the simjilo reason that it cannot, in justice to all sects, be denomi- national. AVe have pointed out tlie duty of our clergy and of our Catholic parents on this subject, and we earnestly exhort them to be faithful to it. To insure tlie eflicient working of our separate school system: — We, having invoked the holy name nf God, deem it our duty to ordain as lollows :-- Art. 1. — Xo Catholic parent, living within the legal limits of n .separate school, shall send his (.•hildren to mixed or com- mon schools, they being adjudged by the Canadian hierarchy as dangerous to faith and morals. Should any Catholic parent uufortun.Ttcly persist in violating this ordinance, he shall be refused the holy Sacraments until such time as he shr.U con.Sv-^nt to obey the Cliurch in this matter. Ai;t. I [.---Every Catholic rate-payer living within the kgul limits of a separate school, shall pay his school taxes to said -choiil under a penalty of being refused tb.e holy Sacrament.^. If foi' grave and special reasons, exemptions should b.e claimed IVniii the;-'e ordinances, let the pastor, and, if n. cessary, th\ ordi-r ot ids Lordship. Ni(;hulas (!aiian, >>rr.