As we battle the "Equity" policy and Bill 13 in Ontario, a little Canadian history of Christian education in Canada can shed light on the issue and help us to move forward. The Manitoba School Act of 1890, under Premier Thomas Greenway removed the funding of Catholic, Protestant and denominational schools in order to establish tax funded public schools. In fact, The Manitoba School Act became a central federal election issue in 1896. On Dec. 18, 1897 Pope Leo XIII intervened with an encyclical called Affari Vos. Just a week before Christmas, Pope Leo XIII made a profound statement on the need for Catholic education and urges the laity, the politicians and his venerable brethren to take action to protect religious instruction. The argument he makes is equally true, if not more so, today. Here are some selections from the encyclical. I hope you read the entire document to discover just how rich, practical, informative and spiritual is the encyclical. By doing this as Christians, we better inform ourselves from the news that stays news.
"The Need of Religious Education"
"There is another point upon which those will agree with us who differ from us in everything else; it is not by means of a purely scientific education and with vague and superficial notions of morality that Catholic children will leave school such as the country desires and expects. Other serious and important teaching must be given to them if they are to turn out good Christians and upright and honest citizens; it is necessary that they should be formed on those principles which, deeply engravers on their consciences, they ought to follow and obey, because they naturally spring from their faith and religion.
"Without religion there can be no moral education deserving of the name, nor of any good, for the very nature and force of all duty comes from those special duties which bind man to God, who commands, forbids, and determines what is good and evil. And so, to be desirous that minds should be imbued with good and at the same time to leave them without religion is as senseless as to invite people to virtue after having taken away the foundations on which it rests. For the Catholic there is only one true religion, the Catholic religion; and, therefore, when it is a question of the teaching of morality or religion, he can neither accept nor recognize any which is not drawn from Catholic doctrine." (5)
"Justice and reason then demand that the school shall supply our scholars not only with a scientific system of instruction but also a body of moral teaching which, as we have said, is in harmony with the principles of their religion, without which, far from being of use, education can be nothing but harmful. From this comes the necessity of having Catholic masters and reading books and text books approved by the Bishops, of being free to regulate the school in a manner which shall be in full accord with the profession of the Catholic faith as well as with all the duties which flow from it.
"Furthermore, it is the inherent right of a father's position to see in what institutions his children shall be educated, and what masters shall teach them moral precepts. When, therefore, Catholics demand, as it is their duty to demand and work, that the teaching given by schoolmasters shall be in harmony with the religion of their children, they are contending justly.
"And nothing could be more unjust than to compel them to choose an alternative, or to allow the children to grow up in ignorance or to throw them amid an environment which constitutes a manifest danger for the supreme interests of their souls. These principles of judgment and action which are based upon truth and justice, and which form the safeguards of public as well as private interests, it is unlawful to call in question or in any way to abandon.
"And so, when the new legislation came to strike Catholic education in the Province of Manitoba, it was your duty, Venerable Brethren, publicly to protest against injustice and the blow that had been dealt; and the way in which you fulfilled this duty has furnished a striking proof of your individual vigilance and of your true episcopal zeal. Although upon this point each one of you finds sufficient approbation in the witness of his own conscience, know nevertheless that we also join with it our assent and approval. For the things that you have sought and still seek to preserve and defend are most holy." (6)
The Christian baptismal responsibility to act
Pope Leo XIII makes it clear that there is a need for the faithful to pray and to take action. These words written nearly 115 years ago are just as encouraging and necessary today in order to fight back the radical secular humanism that is eroding our Judeo-Christian roots in Canada and the entire Western world. Who will protect today’s children and their souls from this abusive and immoral political curriculum if we the majority chose to remain silent? An excellent start is to look back to our rich Christian roots in Canada, such as this encyclical Affari Vos, and use the message as a truthful guide to the future.
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