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PAGE 2-B—THE BULLETIN, September 19, 1959.
Catholic Education
Has Two Focal Points
(By Representative John R.
Foley of Maryland)
Catholic education in the
United States has two focal
points. Doctrinally, there is the
Catholic belief regarding man,
his nature and supernatural
destiny. Historically, there is
the Third Plenary Council of
Baltimore, 1884.
The Catholic position on edu
cation is completely unintelligi
ble unless the 'primary fact of
man’s supernatural life is recog
nized. As F. J. Sheed says “To
omit God from your study of
things is to omit the one being
that explains them; you begin
your study of things by making
them inexplicable.”
The starting point of any dis
cussion regarding Catholic edu
cation must always begin with
at least a recognition of the ad
herence by Catholics to the fact
that man is supnaturalized; that
Almighty God who has so won
derfully ennobled human nature
and still more wonderfully re
created it had invited us to be
partakers of His divinity.
NEWMAN EXPLAINS
This doctrine extended to edu
cation is magnificently explain
ed by the illustrious Newman:
“I wish the intellect to range
with the utmost freedom, and
religion to enjoy an equal free
dom; but what I am stipulating
for is, that they should be found
in one and the same place, and
exemplified in the same pfersons
... I wish the same spots and
the same individuals to be at
once oracles of philosophy and
shrines of devotion. It will not
satisfy me, what has satisfied so
many, to have two independent
systems, intellectual and religi
ous, going at once side by side,
by a sort of division of labor,
and only accidentally brought
together ... I want the intel
lectual layman to be religious
and the devout ecclesiastic to
be intellectual.”
Thus, Catholic education, be
ginning in the home, and con
tinuing in the primary school,
the secondary school, and into
the institutions of higher learn
ing, constantly recognizes the
commingled nature of man.
In short, the ambitious ob
jective of Catholic education as
outlined by Pius XI is to pro
duce saints in every class and
profession, for every state and
condition of life, from the sim
ple and uncultured peasant to
the master of sciences and let
ters, from the humble artisan to
the commander of armies, from
the father of a family, to the
ruler of peoples and nations,
from simple maiden and matrons
of the domestic hearth to queens
and empresses.
Treating of Catholic educa
tion in the United States his
torically, one must focus his
attention on the Third Plenary
Council of Baltimore, 1884.
Much precedes that Plenary
Council and a great deal fol
lowed therefrom. But Baltimore
is the center through which and
from which Catholic educational
policy in this Country moved.
The Third Plenary Council of
Baltimore provided, among oth
er things, for the erection of
the Catholic University at
Washington, D. C. It decreed
that a parochial school was to
be erected and maintained near
each Church unless the local i
Bishop judged that a postpone
ment be allowed. Within fifty
years, 60 per cent of the
churches had schools in con
nection with them.
(Continued on page 8-B)
AS CATHEDRAL SCHOOL OPENED
These scenes at Cathedral School, Savannah, were typical of
first day activity at Catholic Schools throughout the Diocese of
Savannah as Diocesan Schools opened September 81h with record
enrollments. Enrollment figures for the 1353-GO term are now be
ing compiled by the office of the Superintendent of Schools, the
Rev. John J. Cuddy. These figures appear on page 1-A
(PHOTOS SAVANNAH NEWS-PRESS)
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