Sermon

THE SERMON

Cardinal Vaughan, standing on the steps of the throne, delivered the sermon, taking as his texts the words, "And God created all men in His own image;" "And they gave Him a coin of the tribute and He said to them, ‘Whose image and superscription is this?’ And they said to Him ‘Caesar’s.’ And then He said, ‘Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s’ "; and "All souls are mine: as the soul of the Father so also the soul of the Son." At the outset his Eminence dwelt upon the fact that it was the imperative duty of all parents to provide adequately for the religious, mental, and moral training of their children, knowing that the souls of those children were immortal, and that the parents were answerable to God for their future well-being.

By common agreement Catholics, Church of England, Nonconformists, held it to be essential that children at the present day should. have a good instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and such other elementary sciences as would fit them to faithfully fill their places in the world. But it was essential that religious instruction should be given to the young daily, and Catholics, members of the Church of England, Wesleyans, and members of the British and Foreign Schools Society, provided for such instruction by conducting schools of their own. All were recognised and assisted by the State, and hence, down to 1870, all were upon an equal footing. But in that year the Nonconformists at large, finding that they were left out in the cold —.either without schools, or that they were bound to frequent the schools of the Church of England. the Catholics or the WesIeyans, declared themselves dissatisfied with that arrangement or compromise. In not wishing their children to frequent the schools of a denomination to which they did not belong they were quite right, but they would have done better if they had built their own schools as the Catholics had done.

By the Act of 1870, it became the fundamental law of the land that in Board Schools there should be either no religious education whatever or it was to be of an indefinite and undogmatic character; no formularies, no catechism. Hence the zealous clergymen of the Church of England or of the Catholic Church felt that such schools were not those they could accept. Yet these schools where undogmatic religion, or no ‘religion at all was taught, were to be supported wholly out of the rates. Hence the Nonconformists had, practically, endowed schools, and hence had arisen the extraordinary anomaly that in a free country such as England, where all were supposed to stand on the same footing, two classes ot parents had been created—those whose children should be educated at the public expense entirely, and those who maintained voluntary schools, and whose children were educated partly at the expense of the fmperial Exchequer, while the rest was found out of the pockets of the voluntary managers. But the inequality and divergence became greater as time proceeded, and the theory had been put forward that they must now have board schools not in a supplementary character, but universally and compulsorily, so that there should be one national system of’ education without definite dogmatic Christianity in it.

Thus the onscience of those who objected to this was invaded, and. the rights of the citizen were being. ridden over. There were two ways of bringing about this universal system—one by trampling down and extinguishing the voluntary schools, or by passing stringent laws which would render the position of the voluntary school manager one no longer able to be maintained against the demands of the State. Voluntary schools could be reduced in number by demands for structural alterations, for the acquisition of playgrounds,. the introduction of different subjects, the improving of appliances, and so forth ; whereas now over a thousand voluntary schools have been strangled or starved out, and had surrendered to board schools, in a little time another thousand or more might, by the same means, be bound to succumb.

This was the danger before them. They might be told that they could teach their children religion at the end of the week, but not during the school hours. But. it was their firm belief that religion must be made the daily life of the child, and that. its mind must be definitely instructed in the truths of the faith. If religion was to season and influence the whole of the child’s life it must be received daily, for it must enter into and be assimilated with the child’s regular training.

To suggest that all the religion that was necessary could be taught at the end of the week was like suggesting that the amount of salt used with one’s food during the seven days of the week should all be taken on the seventh day. They could not accept for their children any school education in which the Catholic religion did not prevade that instruction—which did not teach it dogmatically and with definiteness. To tell them they must take something else was simply to raise the standard of persecution. They had no share in the rates except the paying of them, for others entered into the enjoyment of them, and Catholics said that was unjust and unfair.

They were told the secular schools were open to them, but the price was the giving up of their religion. They said, as Catholics, they could not do that. What was to be done? Let them not undo the work of 1870, and let the school boards be kept, but let them be for the whole country. Let the rates be levied upon the whole of the people. There was no wish to deprive the Nonconformists of anything that suited their consciences, only extend the rate and give the Catholics their fair share of it. Some years ago Church rates were universal and compulsory, but by Dissenters and Catholics objecting to their payment for the enjoyment of one class they were removed, when the country came to see that there was a real injustice. Instead of abolishing the school rates, let their application be made universal, and all schools that were doing a definite work in secular education receive a fair share of the rate.

Let a man representing the ratepayers accompany the Government inspector, and the two go together or separately. as desired, go to all the schools that were in receipt of money from the rates, and see that the money was applied directly to the secular instruction which was the work the Government desired from the various schools. That would be fair, and Catholics would do all the rest in regard to providing buildings, staff, material, and so on. In conclusion, his Eminence begged his hearers to think over these things, and to discuss them among themselves, so that they might realise their position and responsibility in the matter. If they were well instructed upon the matter of parental rights and duties they would be able to prick that bubble which was set before them of the rights of taxpayers over the homes of Christian parents.