SUPPLEMENT TO1
THE TABLET.
A IVeekly Record o f E cclesia stica l News.
L o n d o n , J u l y 2 , 1 8 9 2 .
NEWS FROM TH E SCHOOLS.
The Catholic School Committee. Letter from the Archbishop-Elect. The following document has been issued by the ArchbishopE lect o f Westminster to the clergy, secular and regular, and to the laity o f the diocese :
Rev. and dear Fathers, and dear Children in Jesus Christ,— A collection is to be made, in all the Catholic churches in Great Britain, on the day upon which this Letter will be read, in behalf of the work of the Catholic School Committee. Some persons will ask— What are the special claims of the Catholic School Committee upon our generosity ? The question is worth answering, because, according to the estimate formed of the importance of the work undertaken by this Committee, will be the response to the present appeal.
The Catholic School Committee, established by the Bishops in 1847, represents in matters of elementary education the Catholic dioceses of Gteat Britain, and has one clerical and two lay delegates for each diocese. This Committee, which for 45 years has rendered most valuable service to Catholic education in Great Britain, is now engaged principally upon two great ■ works which ought to enlist the sympathy of every Catholic in the kingdom. The one is that of training teachers for our schools ; the other that of raising and maintaining religious education, by means of diocesan inspection, examination, and report. Let us examine for a few moments what is being done under each of these heads of work.
Our Catholic Training Colleges. I f Catholic education is to be maintained and recognized by the State, properly-trained Catholic teachers must be forthcoming. Hence the necessity for Catholic Training Colleges, equipped with a staff of competent Catholic teachers, and provided with all the necessary modern appliances.
We possess three such Colleges ; one for masters at Hammersmith,'*' and two for mistresses in Liverpool and Wandsworth. Over 700 trained masters, and nearly 2,000 trained mistresses, have been sent out from these institutions, and the supply is kept up regularly year by year.
The training of teachers is no question of choice. It is no matter of luxury, which might be dispensed with under certain emergencies, because, for instance, it is costly, or because money is needed for other purposes. The training of Catholic teachers is simply a question of life or death, of the continued existence of Catholic Public Elementary schools, or of their speedy extinction. The condition on which our Elementary schools exist is, that they be e ffic ien tly taught, and this by teachers who have passed the Government Examination. Training Colleges having become an absolute necessity, we might as well talk of shutting up our schools as of closing our Training Colleges. They exist for the benefit of the people and o f the Church spread throughout Great Britain. No single diocese is large enough to support or to absorb the services of a single College. It is to the advantage of each and all that the Colleges should be limited in number and should be com
The following is an analysis of the students trained at Hammersmith since 1854:
Teaching in Catholic Elementary Schools
Industrial Schools, Reformatori and 346
Government Prisons ,, ,, Training Colleges Inspectors’ Assistants
In Board Schools In Private Schools, &c In Iloly Orders Emigrated Lost sight of ... Dead
23 3 S 32 31 11 28 68 104
377
Mr. Oakeley, H.M. Inspector of Training Colleges, writes: “ My opinion is, that the proportion of your former students now at •work in Elementary schools is a very good one.”
mon to all, subject to a government and direction in which all the dioceses have a due and proportionate influence. An educational establishment, moreover, requires a large number of scholars as a condition of its efficiency and of its healthy life. Hence few Colleges are better than many, from both the intellectual and the economic standpoints.
The Bishops have long since placed the Training Colleges under the general oversight and inspection of the Catholic School Committee. That portion of the cost of these Colleges which the Government throws upon voluntary contribution, is defrayed by the :School Committee. We are called upon by the State to provide the sites, the buildings, the plant, the staff of Professors required, and one-fourth o f the cost of each scholar. Upon these conditions the Government undertakes to pay the remaining th ree-fou r th s of the annual income for current expenditure.
During the last year the amount which the Catholic School Committee had to pay towards the annual expenditure o f the three Colleges was ^2,200. This sum will probably have to be augmented in the future, for increasing demands require increased expenditure.
Here, then, is the first head under which the Catholic School Committee puts forth its claim to your generosity.
No one can be so obtuse as not to perceive at once that the whole future efficiency, and even the existence, of our schools must depend upon our Training Colleges. The support of the Colleges ought therefore to be the first solicitude of every Catholic interested in popular education. Every mission, every school, every Catholic family dependent upon a Catholic school for Catholic education, is dependent upon our Training Colleges. The claim to their support is therefore stringent and well-nigh universal.
Diocesan Inspection.
The next great reason for contributing generously to the present collection, is because the Catholic School Committee supports our national system o f diocesan religious inspection. Religious inspection is vital to Catholic schools. O f what use to have Training Colleges, and Catholic schools, if the Catholic Faith, the Catholic Spirit, the Catholic system of life and conduct were banished from their midst ? Now there would be a danger in this direction were there no officers set apart to watch over and secure these most sacred interests.
It is fitting and necessary that such officers should exist. The Government appoints its Inspectors, and they take up a formidable position in the eyes of managers, teachers, and scholars. Upon their Report depends the credit of the school before the country, and also its income. They occupy, therefore, a post of influence and control which might easily become dominant and irresistible. There is, for this reason, a not unnatural corresponding tendency on the part of teachers to subordinate everything to the necessity of passing a successful secular examination. Thus religion might be easily dethroned from her post of honour and put into a secondary place through the exacting tyranny of the money consideration.
To counteract this tendency an$j pressure, it has been found necessary everywhere to appoint Diocesan Inspectors, whose business it is to maintain the divine claims o f religion to the place ofhonour and prominence in the schools. This has been found necessary not merely in Catholic, but also in Church of England schools ; to this extent, that there is not a Prot.estant diocese which is not provided with its Religious Inspectors. If this be found necessary in schools o f the Church of England, with its diminutive Catechism and its undefined system, how much more necessary must it be in Catholic schools ! The doctrines of the Catholic Church are numerous, and precisely defined ; and her catechism is a popular text-book of theology. The duties she imposes, the practices she inculcates, govern and pervade the whole life o f her children. They are not fetishes and charms appealing to ignorance and superstition ; but logical consequences flowing from the great mystery of the Incarnation, in varied application to the lives of men. Hence the need of bringing them home to the reason as well as to the heart o f the young. This religious training of the intellect and affections demands time, attention, skill and devotion on the
