PARISH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT PROCEEDINGS FIRST SESSION TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 1911, 2:30 P. M. The opening session of the Parish School Department was held in the College Theatre. The President, Rev. Joseph F. Smith, said the prayer, and addressed a few words of welcome to the members present. The minutes of the last meeting having been printed in the report of the Detroit convention, it was moved and carried that the minutes be approved as published. It was moved and carried that the chair appoint a Committee on Resolutions and a Committee on Nominations, to consist of five members each. The President announced the names of the members of committees as follows: Committee on Resolutions-Brother John Waldron, S. M.; Rev. Hugh Boyle; Rev. Michael J. Larkin, S. T. B.; Rev. John A. Schmitt; Brother Constantius, F. S. C. Committee on Nominations-Brother Eliphus Victor, F. S. C.; Rev. R. W. Brown; Rt. Rev. Msgr. H. C. Wienker; Rev. A. V. Garthoeffner; Brother George, S. M. A paper on "Our Children and Their Life-Work," written by Brother Luke Joseph, F. S. C., of Kansas City, Mo., was read by Brother Joseph Matthew, F. S. C., of Memphis, Tenn. An extended discussion followed, and the meeting adjourned. SECOND SESSION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1911, 9:30 a. m. The meeting was called to order by the President at 9:30 a. m. Prayer was said and a hymn was sung. A paper on "Some Educational Errors," was read by Rev. Robert B. Condon, D. D., of La Crosse, Wis. The paper was discussed by Rev. J. A. Dillon, of Newark, N. J., Rev. J. B. O'Leary, of Galveston, Texas, and others. The meeting adjourned to give place to the joint session of the College and School Departments.1 THIRD SESSION THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 1911, 9 a. m. The meeting was called to order by the President, and after the prayer and hymn, the Committee on Nominations presented the following names for officers of the Department for the ensuing year: President-Rev. Joseph F. Smith, New York City. First Vice President-Rev. A. E. Lafontaine, Fort Wayne, Ind. Second Vice President-Rev. E. F. Gibbons, Attica, N. Y. Third Vice President-Rev. W. D. Hickey, Dayton, Ohio. Secretary-Rev. F. W. Howard, LL. D., Columbus, Ohio. Members of the General Executive Board from the School Department-Very Rev. J. A. Connolly, V. G., St. Louis, Mo.; Brother John A. Waldron, S. M., Clayton, Mo. Members of the Department Executive Board-Rev. Geo. A. Lyons, Boston, Mass.; Rev. J. B. O'Leary, Galveston, Texas; Rt. Rev. H. C. Wienker, Harbour Creek, Pa.; Brother Eliphus Victor, F. S. C., New York City; Brother Angelus, Xav., Baltimore, Md. Other nominations were called for. On motion, the Secretary cast a ballot for the nominees presented by the committee and they were declared the officers of the Department for the ensuing year. The President on taking the chair thanked the delegates on behalf of himself and his associates in office for the honor of elec 1 See proceedings of this session, p. 115; paper and discussion, p. 169. tion. He referred to the growth of the organization and pointed out the good that may be done through it. He assured the delegates that the officers would labor with fidelity and zeal to promote the welfare of the Department. A paper on "Retardation and Elimination of Pupils in Our Schools," was read by the Rev. Patrick J. McCormick, of the Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. Discussion followed, participated in by Rev. A. Garthoeffner; Bro. George Ebert, S. M.; Rev. J. B. O'Leary, and others. The Committee on Resolutions, by Rev. H. C. Boyle, chairman, presented the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted: RESOLUTIONS OF THE PARISH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT We testify to and recognize with filial gratitude the excellent results that have followed the recent legislation of our Holy Father, Pius X, in the matter of the early admission of our children to the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. We urge upon pastors and teachers solicitous care of those children who seem to be especially favored by grace, that from their number there may come priestly and religious vocations to bless their work and to contribute to the spread of the Kingdom of God in human life. We desire to emphasize the fact that the aim of elementary education is discipline-the training of the will to habits of virtue, study and industry. We protest against any tendency to replace it by seeking to procure in the first place mere information or mere manual or mental efficiency. We recognize the need of reverence and respect for authority, if religious and civil institutions are to be firmly grounded. We demand them as a portion of the products of a Catholic system of education. Anxious to preserve the fruits of Catholic education in our parochial schools, and recognizing the imperative needs of the continued training of our Catholic youth in Faith and morals during the perilous years of adolescence, we urge upon pastors and parents the establishment and development of Catholic secondary schools wherever existing conditions permit. Since good drawing and good penmanship give adequate training to eye and hand for elementary education and serve as efficient preparation for vocational training, we strongly recommend that these branches receive careful and constant attention in our schools. We protest against those influences that would lessen the attachment of the child to its home; against the debasement of its moral nature by vicious or indecent spectacles that seek the patronage of children; and we urge that the child's love of home be fostered in every possible way, and that he be taught to appreciate and to love the art that has grown out of religion, the Christian art of this and other centuries. After prayer and the singing of the hymn, "Holy God We Praise Thy Name," the meeting adjourned. FRANCIS W. HOWARD, Secretary. PAPERS OUR CHILDREN AND THEIR LIFE-WORK BROTHER LUKE JOSEPH, F. S. C., LA SALLE ACADEMY, KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI One of the prominent topics of discussion in the educational world to-day is the subject of vocational education. Not only is it proposed to readjust our present elementary school systems so as to coordinate them with the vocational schools, but the experiment has already been actually carried out in several States. Some decades ago the great cry of secular education was "Back to Nature"; now it is, "Back to Work." If formerly it was godless, the present aim seems to make it soulless. True, the latest educational movement in Germany, the Continuation School, seeks to offset the purely utilitarian purpose of industrial education by laying stress upon training, not for trade, but for citizenship. We are thus brought back to the pagan idea of educating the child for the State, the military being replaced by the industrial element. To the teacher in our parochial schools there is nothing new in this phase of educational theory. After the parish school had emerged from that period in its development, when the event of first Communion marked for most pupils the end of their schooling, the highest grade generally included a section whose vocational training was limited to a practical knowledge of elementary bookkeeping. Even to-day, where there is no Catholic high school, one or two years of commercial training are added to the usual course in the parish school. These upper grades are strictly vocational classes, designed to fit our pupils for their work in life, especially along commercial lines. But this use of the term "vocational education" is a common and narrow one. The difference in scope between its re |