5. Annual movement of classes forced by economic needs of administration, and by insistence on annual entrance examinations by high schools.

6. Contents of progam in number, quantity and quality of branches taught, shaped by the N. E. A. acting especially through its Committee of Fifteen and the normal school department.

7. Problems of organization and administration settled by superintendents and their assistants in accordance with economic rather than pedagogical demands.

8. Unification and centralization of school administration due to superintendents and to the Bureau of Education acting as a depositary and purveyor of educational statistics, and as circulator of strong papers and educational activities.

9. Lastly, though not fully discussed in my paper, I may mention the educational theories of superintendents and normal school staffs influenced by European, especially by German, schools of pedagogy and philosophy.

MEETING OF THE PROVINCIALS AND SUPERIORS OF RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES OF WOMEN

PROCEEDINGS

The Executive Committee of the Parish School Department, wishing to extend the influence of the Department to all the schools of the country, decided to arrange for annual meetings of the Provincials and Superiors of religious communities of women teaching in the parish schools of the United States. The first invitation was sent to them at the time of the Boston Convention and invitations were sent in each succeeding year. For the Pittsburgh meeting it was decided to have a special program, and, accordingly, Rt. Rev. Bishop Canevin sent out the invitation to the meeting, to all general superiors in the country. The meeting was held under the auspices of the Parish School Department with Rev. Joseph F. Smith, president of the Department in charge. The Bishop of the diocese, however, had the full responsibility of the meeting, and the details of the program were arranged and directed by him.

A meeting was held on Wednesday afternoon in St. Paul's school, at 4 o'clock. There was a large attendance. Bishop Canevin gave a talk to the Superiors which was much appreciated. Bishop Hartley of Columbus, and Bishop Schrembs of Toledo, were present and spoke. An informal discussion was held, and after the meeting the representatives of the various communities had an opportunity to become mutually acquainted.

A second meeting was held on Thursday afternoon in the same place. A paper on "The Religious Teacher" was read by Rev. M. J. O'Connor, S. J., of New York. After discussion, and a few words of advice from Bishop Canevin, the Bishop gave his

blessing and the meeting adjourned. It was the opinion of all present that great good for the schools would result from an annual meeting of the representatives of our religious communities called by the Bishop of the diocese, and held under the auspices of the Parish School Department at the time of the annual convention.

FRANCIS W. HOWARD,

Secretary.

PAPERS

THE PARISH SCHOOL AND ITS TEACHER

RT. REV. REGIS CANEVIN, D. D., BISHOP OF PITTSBURGH

The impossibility of assembling and accommodating all the Catholic teachers of the country at a convention has suggested to the Catholic Educational Association the advisability of having a special meeting of the Provincials and Superiors of religious communities, or of their representatives, so that the spirit and the thought of the convention may be carried by them into their communities, and in this way reach and influence all the teachers and schools of the country. This conference of the Superiors of the teaching orders, or of their representatives, has been arranged by the Association as the best means of attaining these ends.

In speaking of the present condition of parish schools, compared with the schools of twenty-five years ago, the first thought which presents itself to our minds is the marked change in the attitude and disposition of the Catholic people towards Catholic schools during the past quarter of a century. Twenty-five years ago parochial schools were considered by many as inferior to the public schools, not only' in regard to the buildings, but also with regard to their equipment, and to the system of education followed by our Catholic teachers. Parents of standing and education, families ambitious for the advancement of their children in knowledge, and desirous of fitting them for success in business, in the professions, and in all the higher callings of life, hesitated to entrust them to our parochial schools. To-day the change is most gratifying. The very class of people and of families that twenty-five years ago hesitated to send their children to the parochial schools, are now the strongest advocates and the

most generous supporters of the Catholic system of education. They are in many places more zealous even than the pastor himself; and are the first to suggest and to urge the erection of a school in the parish. The result of this is the splendid system of parochial schools that is rising on the educational landscape of this country, with 1,334,000 and more pupils, and nearly 30.oco of the most devoted religious teachers in the world.

The growth of the work of Catholic education, like the growth of the Church itself in this country, is without a parallel in history. In 1790 Catholics were less than one in every hundred of our population. In 1830 we were one in every forty, and today we are about one in every five. The Church to-day can claim over 18,000,000 Catholics in the United States. Nowhere have Catholics been so zealous, and nowhere have they been so generous in erecting churches and schools as in this favored land. of ours. To-day Catholics recognize the importance of Christian education as the great hope and security of the future, for the dangers that threaten religion in this country are the dangers of secularism, and they can be guarded against only by the most efficient system of education, and the best equipped teachers. The love of religion, as well as the love of country, admonish us to be vigilant in protecting the children of the Church against the insidious enemies of religious schools, and to labor on until we have attained the very highest standard of educational work. The great battle of the Church with agnosticism and atheism in this twentieth century is to be fought out upon the field of education, and in our Catholic schools must be trained the army that will follow the standard of the Cross. This brings before us the responsibility that rests upon the Superiors of our religious communities who are charged with the formation of the teachers, to whom is entrusted the sacred duty of educating our children, and preparing them to fulfill their duties to God and to society.

Before we can have the school, we must have the teacher. The best teacher is always the best school. Competent teachers can be obtained only by careful selection and by proper training. The teachers of nearly all our public schools are the graduates, not only of the grammar schools, and of high schools, but also