and has led us more than once from obvious facts to their causes, from immediate problems and their present solution to those that are more fundamental and therefore of greater importance. Doubtless, too, our thinking has ended in convictions as manifold. and varied as the questions to which our attention has been drawn. But if there is any one conclusion in which all our particular findings can be merged and to which we can all readily give our assent, I venture to say it is this: the eventual success of our institutions, our methods, our entire organization, depends upon the earliest training that the child receives. The university must reckon with the college and both must reckon with the elementary school. So long as education is left to unconnected agencies, each doing its best, or-its worst, it matters little how it starts; indeed, it would be impossible for the elementary school to shape its work beyond its own limits in any systematic fashion where no system exists. But the moment coordination is effected or even contemplated, the significance of the elementary school becomes evident-not merely for psychological reasons, however weighty these may be, and not simply for the advantage of the individual pupil which must certainly be kept in view; but above all for the purposes of organization. As the science of bodily life has gone back from the study of large conspicuous organs to that of the various tissues and from these again to the investigation of cellular units, so the science of education and its practice as well have come to recognize in the school the vital element out of which all the rest is built up with the strength or the weakness which that element possesses.

Here again, needless to say, a considerable share of attention has been devoted by the Association to the parochial school and its problems; and it is an encouraging sign for the progress of our work that the handling of these problems has attracted in each of our meetings so lively an interest. But for this very reason it seems to me important that we should come to a closer acquaintance with the prime mover in the parochial school, and realize more fully to what extent his work affects the whole course of Catholic education. In the language of the philosophers, we are familiar with the formal and material causes of the school; its final cause or purpose is distinctly before us; what

calls for present consideration is the efficient cause and the influence which that cause inevitably exerts.

"The Pastor and Education" is not, assuredly, a startling title, nor is the relation which it expresses an artificial one devised for the sake of academic disputation. We are not called on here to bring the pastor from afar into contact with educational work, ́ and much less to demonstrate any thesis concerning the function of the parochial school in the work of religion. Our purpose is rather to bring home to our own minds the bearing of the pastor's activity upon the whole system of Catholic education. Knowing by personal experience in our own school days somewhat of the pastor's position in this respect, and having learned, by later observation, something more of his influence, we now seek to understand, from our actual point of view as teachers, the nature and extent of that influence and of that position.

Both, in a way, are unique. While the college professor, as such, is mainly concerned with the imparting of secular knowledge, and while the elementary teacher, as such, has simply to deal with the immature pupil, the pastor, by reason of his office, is the exponent of the highest religious truths and is charged with the practical application of those truths in the lives of his people, whether child or adult, learned or unlearned, carefully sheltered from the world or exposed to its manifold dangers. If other teachers defend the faith, he must see that the faith is preserved; and if others expound the law, he must make sure that the law is obeyed.

What meaning, then, can a system of education, in the modern sense of the term, have for one who holds such an office and bears its responsibilities? For answer, we have only to follow in outline the ordinary career of the boy or girl who passes on from the parochial school to pursue higher courses in college or university. The college may be Catholic or non-Catholic; its teaching may include religion or exclude it; its moral atmosphere may be wholesome or injurious; and the student may win honors or barely fulfill a minimum requirement. In any case the important point for the pastor is this: what will be the attitude toward religion of the young man and young woman who return from college to reside, perhaps to practice a profession, within the limits, it may

be, of the parish in which they grew up? Passing over the obvious reply to this question, let me point out at once the significant phase of the pastor's situation. Whatever has been expended on the pupil in the parochial school-time, money and teacher's work all this mental and moral capital, accumulated through years of labor and care, is turned over for further development to college or university, to an institution geographically remote from the pastor, or at any rate beyond his personal control. On the other hand, the final result of this investment-the faith and moral character of the college graduate-is of vital concern to the pastor and his work. Of necessity, therefore, his interest must extend to the secondary and the higher education. Both to preserve the fruit of his labors in the parochial school and to safeguard the growth of religion among his people, he has a right to demand that the proper sort of education shall be given in the college.

The very fact that he begins the process of education and has to deal with its ultimate results, implies that he is concerned, and deeply concerned, with its intermediate stages; and this concern becomes graver in proportion as the coordination of our school becomes more perfect. In a word, the upbuilding of our educational system, while it compels university and college to take the elementary school into serious account, also urges upon the pastor a careful consideration of that system as a whole and in its several parts. Or again, the situation amounts to this: the schools from the lowest to the highest are so articulated that they provide an unbroken intellectual development and thereby determine, on the intellectual side, the entire career of the student. The pastor is even more solicitous that, on the moral and religious side, childhood, youth and maturity should form an harmonious whole, moving steadily on to the attainment of our higher destiny. Continuity is indispensable for the educational result; and a breach of continuity would be fatal where the welfare of souls is at stake.

From this general survey of the situation, we may now pass on to a closer inspection of its salient features, in order to appreciate the pastor's influence, and at the same time to realize the value of his service in the cause of education. Happily, the facts

that we have to consider are known to us all; they simply need to be re-stated with reference to our present inquiry.

By the virtue of his office, the pastor is the immediate representative of ecclesiastical authority for the faithful. From him they learn whatever may be enacted in regard to education by those who are placed in higher position as rulers of the Church of God. Their thought about things that pertain to education, its necessity and advantages, its meaning for religion, character and life, are normally shaped by him. To him also they look for counsel in forming their plans for the subsequent training of their children in academy, college or professional school. In a word, it lies chiefly with the pastor to determine the attitude of our Catholic people towards education and more particularly towards the whole system which this Association represents. Add to this a consideration of practical import-the fact that our institutions are in the main dependent upon the people for their support; it at once becomes evident that the prosperity and even the existence of our educational system is to a large extent conditioned by the interest and sympathy it wins from the pastor.

What I have in mind is not alone the financial support, though that, as we know, is essential. I refer rather to the support of loyalty and cooperation which we continually need in maintaining an unequal struggle for existence. What this competition means for the elementary school, no one understands as well as the pastor. And for this very reason he is fully qualified to appreciate the efforts which the Catholic college is obliged to make in order to keep front with its numerous and powerful rivals. It is this phase of the situation more perhaps than any other, that necessitates joint action all along the line. But if such action is to be effective, our people must be brought to see that the college is no less essential than the parish school and that loyalty to the one means loyalty to the other. I am convinced that no truer lesson can be given to the faithful from the pulpit than that the college exists for their sake, that the seminary is working in their behalf and that the university is striving to protect and advance their most sacred interests. Let this consciousness of the solidarity of our work be aroused in the Catholic mind, and the future of our institutions is secure.

The same lesson can be taught within narrower limits but to an audience that will take it directly to heart. Every teacher, no matter how zealous or conscientious, has need of stimulation, of encouragement, of thoughts and feelings that lead away from routine and compensate for many difficulties of daily experience. Now these various drawbacks are all the more serious when they are accompanied by a sense of isolation, when the teacher has to plod along from task to task with a vague benumbing conviction that no one else is concerned as to how the work is done or what its final outcome may be. The critical point is certainly reached when the teacher is content to say: I will do my best within these appointed limits and take no thought of what lies beyond.

But if the pastor can thus inspire and strengthen the teachers who are already engaged in the work, he can and does render Catholic education a service that is invaluable by encouraging others to devote their lives to the school. The question of securing vocations is a vital one, and the pastor can exert his influence very effectually in directing those whom God calls to the religious life. With his knowledge of the teacher's duties and with the insight he gains as spiritual guide, he is often in a position to speak the decisive word at the moment when it is most needed. He has also frequent occasion to point out, with gentle suggestion and fatherly sympathy, the exalted character of the teacher's work and thus appeal to the noble enthusiasm for good that actuates so many of our Catholic young women. Whatever their subsequent training may be, and whatever the result. of their endeavors, it will always be true, and they will always acknowledge with gratitude, that under Divine Providence they owe the grace of vocation and its manifold opportunities to the pastor who first opened for them the way to the teacher's career. And not their chosen souls alone, but all those who through their ministrations shall grow up in the love and practice of religion will be so many fruits of the pastor's zeal in discovering and fostering vocations.

As a matter of fact, things do not and when they do, a reaction sets in.

always come to this pass. The teacher finds inspira

tion, or at any rate suggestion, from a variety of sources-from