Roman Catholic Opposition to Public Schools
By Editor
The Roman Catholic archbishop, the "Most Rev. Dr. Riordan," of San Francisco, is on his way back from Rome. While passing through England, he spent several days at Liverpool, during which time he gave his views on the American public-school system, as reported in the Catholic Times of that city, of February 8. Below we give some quotations which show what this American prelate says of our public schools:— "Of course the battle is a serious and a difficult one. The public schools are thoroughly equipped for the work of instructing youth, and it is a strain upon us to find resources to enable us to compete with them." After complaining that no religious instruction is given in the schools, he says: "Of course, the result is deplorable. . . . In our country there is an atmosphere not favorable to the growth of religious sentiment amongst the young, and, as a matter of fact, a good many Catholics are impregnated by it." But if religious instruction were given, the archbishop would be still more dissatisfied than he is now, unless that instruction was Roman Catholic. That is the secret of it all. Rome is a foe to our public schools because they teach the youth to think, and thinking is not favorable to Roman Catholicism. The result of no religious instruction in the schools is deplorable from a Catholic standpoint, whether that standpoint is held by Catholic or Protestant.