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Saturday, August 20, I960 Monroe, Georgia Section Two NO TRUE EDUCATION WITHOUT GOD Divine Commission to Teach Given to Church by Founder FOR GOD AND AMERICA TRIBUTE TO CATHOLIC EDUCATION More than five million students will be returning to Catholic schools soon, enjoying their right to an education enlightened and inspired by religion. One in every nine students in the United States will thus be attending a Catholic school. This tremendous school system would be impossible without the sacrifices of parents who carry a double burden of financial support to provide for the educa tion of their children in schools of their choice. It would be impossible likewise without the dedicated lives and labors of the religious teachers—priests brothers, and sisters—and of the ever-increasing num ber of lay teachers, whose work is vitally necessary in the rapidly growing Catholic school system. To them all, this special edition is dedicated as a proud and glowing tribute! By Archbishop Karl J. Alter of Cincinnati Chairman, NCWC Administrative Board TTROM THE VERY BEGINNING of her history, the Catholic Church has exer cised an educational function. When she was commissioned by Christ to continue His work in the world, she was charged with the responsibility not only of teaching and sanctifying the people of His day, but also of bringing to the nations of the world the truth He had taught in all its fullness. Manifestly this teaching function or responsibility concerned itself immediately and directly with the ex tension and protection of religious truth. Socrates of old taught, with repeated insistence, that the beginning of all knowledge is: “Know thyself.” It is absolutely necessary that we know the ori gin of man, his nature, his destiny, and the relationship which he bears toward God, the Author of all being, if we are to be prop erly orientated to ward the world in which we live. Unless a man knows the answers to these questions, he will find himself con fused and befuddled in his pursuit of all other forms of knowl edge. Hence the edu cational function of the Church even with in its own specific field is of primary im- Archbishop Alter portance. There was a time when this thesis was rejected and treated with indifference or contempt. There was a time not far distant when reason alone was thought to be adequate for all purposes of life. The protagon ists of the so-called Enlightenment, especially the ra tionalists of the 18th and 19th centuries, rejected the necessity and value of revelation. They drew a small circle around man himself and stated that this con stituted his sole area of knowledge. Everything beyond man and his experiences was unknown and unknow able. Reason Alone Not Enough The disastrous cataclysms of contemporary history, the confusion, unrest, and instability of the intellectual world today have convinced our greatest scholars and statesmen that reason alone is not sufficient to con struct even a tolerable earthly order, much less to create hope and happiness for a future existence. If order is to be brought out of the chaotic condi tion of our educational system, if anything like unity of knowledge is to be established, if order is to be in troduced into the intellectual as well as in the practical world it will be necessary to return to the disciplines of the medieval schools and universities. We shall be obliged to restore theology and philosophy to their rightful place as pivotal centers of all knowledge. When Christ stood before Pilate, the question was put to Him, “What is truth?” Perhaps Pilate put the question in a cynical manner, as if to imply that it was futile to attempt to discover truth. Or perhaps he was honestly expressing his own doubt and un certainty—expressing a latent desire to reach the truth. Both attitudes have been repeated over and over again in the history of thought. Today there are, once more, faint glimmerings of intellectual humility and a de- (Turn to Page 2 — Column 1)