The Education of Catholic Girls | Page 8

our minds could
compass His, that the course of His Providence must transcend our
experience and judgment, and that if the truths of faith forced the assent
of our minds all the value of that assent would be taken away. If these
causes and a few others were removed one may ask oneself how many
"doubts" and difficulties would remain in the ordinary walks of
Catholic life.
It seems to be according to the mind of the Church in our days to turn
the minds of her children to the devotional study of Scripture, and if
this is begun, as it may be, in the early years of education it gains an
influence which is astonishing. The charm of the narrative in the very
words of Scripture, and the jewels of prayer and devotion which may
be gathered in the Sacred Books, are within the reach of children, and
they prepare a treasure of knowledge and love which will grow in value
during a lifetime. Arms are there, too, against many difficulties and
temptations; and a better understanding of the Church's teaching and of

the liturgy which is the best standard of devotion for the faithful.
The blight of Scriptural knowledge is to make it a "subject" for
examinations, running in a parallel track with Algebra and Geography,
earning its measure of marks and submitted to the tests of non-Catholic
examining bodies, to whom it speaks in another tongue than ours. It
must be a very robust devotion to the word of God that is not chilled by
such treatment, and can keep an early Christian glow in its readings of
the Gospels and Epistles whether they have proved a failure or a
success in the examination. In general, Catholic candidates acquit
themselves well in this subject, and perhaps it may give some
edification to non-Catholic examiners when they see these results. But
it is questionable whether the risk of drying up the affection of children
for what must become to them a text-book is worth this measure of
success. Let experience speak for those who know if it is not so; it
would seem in the nature of things that so it must be. When it is given
over to voluntary study (beyond the diocesan requirements which are a
stimulus and not a blight) it catches, not like wild fire, but like blessed
fire, even among young children, and is woven imperceptibly into the
texture of life.
Lastly, what may be asked of Catholic children when they grow up and
have to take upon themselves the responsibility of keeping their own
faith alive, and the practice of their religion in an atmosphere which
may often be one of cold faith and slack observance? Neither their
spiritual guides, nor those who have educated them, nor their own
parents, can take this responsibility out of their hands. St. Francis of
Sales calls science the 8th Sacrament for a priest, urging the clergy to
give themselves earnestly to study, and he says that great troubles have
come upon us because the sacred ark of knowledge was found in other
hands than those of the Levites. Leo XIII wrote in one of his great
encyclicals that "Every minister of holy religion must bring to the
struggle the full energy of his mind and all his power of endurance."
What about the laity? We cannot leave all the battle to the clergy; they
cannot defend and instruct and carry us into the kingdom of heaven in
spite of ourselves; their labours call for response and correspondence.
What about those who are now leaving childhood behind and will be in

the front ranks of the coming generation? Their influence will make or
unmake the religion of their homes, and what they will be for the whole
of their life will depend very much upon how they take their first
independent stand.
It is much that they should be well grounded in those elements of
doctrine which they can learn in their school-days. It is much more if
they carry out with them a living interest in the subject and care to
watch the current of the Church's thought in the encyclicals that are
addressed to the faithful, the pastorals of Bishops, the works of
Catholic writers which, are more and more within the reach of all, in
the great events of the Church's life, and in the talk of those who are
able to speak from first-hand knowledge and experience. It is most of
all fundamental that they should have an attitude of mind that is worthy
of their faith; one that is not nervous or apologetic for the Church, not
anxious about the Pope lest he should "interfere too much," nor
frightened of what the world may say. They should have an
unperturbed conviction that the