The Parochial School: A Curse to the Church
By Editor
"The Parochial School. A Curse to the Church; a Menace to the Nation. By Father Crowley. An Expose of the Parochial School—An Appalling Amount of Priestly Graft, Sacrilege, and Immorality—The Loss of Thirty Million in the United States," etc. By Jeremiah J. Crowley, a Catholic Priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, and an American citizen. Published by the author, Sherman House, Chicago, Ill., U. S. A. Such is the title page in part of a book of 416 octavo pages which lies before us. Price $1.00. The most scathing arraignment of Catholic parochial schools yet published, altho the author is still a priest, and accredited as an able, upright man. The book is an eye-opener, and should be read by Catholics everywhere. On the authority of Bishop Spalding, of Peoria, Ill., the author says: "The fact is that Catholic bishops were the ones who seized upon the parochial school idea. The Catholic people did not want it. Why did the priests and prelates adopt it, and why do they champion it to-day? The answer is fourfold. First: Because they saw and see that there never can be any union of church and state in this republic as long as its citizens are the product of public schools. Second: They saw and see that the indoctrination of Catholic children with liberal and progressive ideas is impossible in schools wholly under Catholic clerical influence. Third: They saw and see that the parochial school gives ample opportunity to train Catholic children to close their eyes, ears, and mouths to clerical drunkenness, grafting, and immorality, Fourth: They saw and see in the parochial school an immense opportunity for graft."