and that is the apologetic, and it is the apology of Christian philosophy which is to get a hearing today. We must not so much dogmatize as enlarge and explain and spread the truth-spread it like the sunlight in the midst of the darkness. The literature and libraries of this modern philosophy are extensive and vast and deep, and there is much that is true. This is to be culled in such manner as to sift out the chaff.

I believe it is more or less a matter of accepted truth to all of us here that there should be a connected course of philosophy, from the very first elements of logic to the last principles of ethics, but to one who has no principles of philosophy before his mind there are certain questions which are vital in modern life and which no professor of philosophy can possibly take upon himself to omit or pass over lightly the principles of criteriology, advocating a certainty, a fixity, as against the Cartesian philosophy of doubt.

Passing from the particular to the general principles, the principles, the principle of casualty should be insisted upon, which underlies the very basis of philosophy.

Finally, in the science of ethics, the function and scope of our philosophy should keep constantly in mind the principles that underlie the constitution of the State. There are great minds today undermining the Church's idea of the State. These principles, put forth principally by Von Holst, have taken root upon modern thought. They are concentrated in the idea that the State is all.

I may sum up by saying that the function and scope of modern philosophy, whether it be taught in the schools or to those outside should include the principle of the syllogism, the principle of certitude, the principle of casuality, also the principles of the composition of matter, at least the immortality and reality of the soul; and in ethics, the principle of property and the constitutional and fundamental principles of the State.

Federation of Alumni Associations of
Catholic Colleges.

REV. E. J. GLEESON, S. J., ST. IGNATIUS COLLEGE, CHICAGO.

I was asked for a paper on the Federation of Alumni Associations of Catholic Colleges. A partial federation of this kind was attempted fifteen years ago at the time of the meeting of the first Congress of Catholic laymen in Baltimore. The idea was then new, perhaps premature; but evidently it took root and has been growing and freeing itself maybe from some early misapprehensions, as to its nature and object. Associations do not originate their object, but the reverse. Is there an object calling for a federation of Catholic Alumni Associations? Without pretending to give a definite answer, I shall endeavor to suggest some material for discussion that may show whether such a federation be feasible, desirable and timely.

The existence of the Association of Catholic Colleges is a recognition of the necessity at the present time of special efforts in the cause of Catholic education. Not the past indifference or negligence of the Church, but the spirit of the times is the cause of this. Catholics are in the world, but not of the world. They must struggle for both temporal and eternal welfare. Secular knowledge is indispensable for the former; religious training for the latter. Not chiefly because religion makes men better citizens, but because the temporal is a means to the eternal, the twofold training integrates the true, complete education.

The world, absorbed in the temporal and ignoring the eternal is making extraordinary efforts to promote the secular and eliminate the religious element of education. If we would live up to the spirit and be faithful to the traditions of the Church, if we would preserve ourselves, attract and retain even the pupils of our own faith, we must keep pace with, nay, be in advance of the world not only in moral and religious education but also in the teaching of secular branches. Our inferiority in material resources should not discourage us, for if these are necessary to carry on educational work, they are not the measure

of its success, and their attractions and advantages are overbalanced in the minds of the discriminating by evidences of superior mental and moral training.

The promotion of Catholic education requires attention to two fields: to its internal perfection, and to its external assistance and defense. The Association of Catholic Colleges is composed of delegates immediately engaged, in one capacity or another, in educational work. Their devotedness and experience in their avocation make them the proper and the more competent persons for work in the former field. In annual meetings, papers, discussions, they compare ideas and experiences to perfect methods of imparting secular learning and of inspiring it with a religious spirit.

The success of these efforts can be greatly promoted by those who are not immediately engaged in educational work. Many difficulties and much opposition must be encountered.

Our efforts to secure an education consistent with conseience, do not enjoy the sympathy and the good will of all our non-catholic fellow citizens. There are few questions less understood, or perhaps more misunderstood by even the fair minded, than the Catholic position on education; and few questions which the secularizers are more willing and desirous to leave obscure or misrepresented. Although public opinion does not always settle questions wisely and permanently, yet the immediateness of its influence makes it a world power today, and if Catholics allow it to be arrayed against them, they will pay dearly for it both from their pockets and in the privation of their natural and religious rights.

Our teaching, at least of the secular branches, is represented as of inferior grade and ignored, while that of secular institutions is ceaselessly and extravagantly extolled and advertised; superiority, intellectual and especially social, is assumed and accorded to them to enlist unconscious vanity in their interest; lack of authority in their management and license in the student body are called up-to-date methods in harmony with the spirit of free institutions, while the reverse are branded as mediæval; escapades, such as are unknown and unpardonable in Catholic.

institutions, are investigated and passed over as excusable pranks of the vivacity of youth; unsectarian and even Catholic clubs. are formed and encouraged in some of them, apparently to profess a broad spirit but effectively to silence the Catholic conscience and inveigle Catholic youth; our separate Catholic schools are attributed to aversion to national assimilation; our protest against a double tax for education is interpreted as a demand for state support for our religion.

State schools are so dereligionized, secularized, materialized, that even protestants who once lauded them as the bulwark of our liberties now see in them the cause of their empty churches. To extend the secularization of education, there are unmistakable evidences of a tendency to make religious schools practically impossible and bring all education under state control. Extravagant and ever increasing expenditures give secular schools such superior material advantages and attractions and so increase the tax burden of those who for conscience sake maintain separate schools, as to make the latter financially almost impossible. There have been covert attempts to make attendance at state schools a qualification for eligibility to public employment. Recent years have witnessed proposed state legislation to monopolize the control of all education in the hands of the state or drive opponents from the field.

in

Not only Catholic education but Catholic interests general need champions. One of the principal agents in the formation of public opinion is the press, including under that term, newspapers, magazines, books, encyclopedias, even textbooks used in state schools and paid for in part by Catholic taxes.

Are Catholics interests fairly dealt with in this vast and important field? In general the unsectarian press claims to wish to treat us fairly, notwithstanding the frequent grounds of complaint we have, even without being too sensitive. I believe most of them would be fair if it paid. Well, Catholics must make it pay, or at least make it unprofitable for them to misrepresent or ignore our rights. Again there is occasional legislation which is not purely civil, but intimately affects natural and religious

rights. Without defenders, these will be ignored or trampled on by the secularist.

To all this it is sometimes answered that the American people are fair minded. Granting this to the fullest extent of its truth, let us remember that fairmindedness does not require our non-Catholic fellow citizens to devote their time to study out our claims, or inconvenience themselves to defend our rights. It only means that they are ready to give us a fair hearing, and would not consciously do us a manifest injustice. But they are unacquainted with our position, and from childhood have been accustomed to misrepresentations of it. They expect us to come forward and manfully present and defend our rights, but have no sympathy with tardy grumblers.

Besides our fairminded countrymen, there are bigots and enemies with whom we must reckon; men who would out-do French infidelity in this country if they could. To assume such a security or confidence in our own superiority or in the fairmindedness of some of our fellow countrymen as to ignore this hostile element would be a folly deserving persecution.

There is still another class, and a large one it is; a class indifferent to the intrinsic merits of religious questions, but prepared for any action that will further their social, business or political interests. Our action will determine whether they I will be fair to us or not. would be opposed to us. tion nor compromise. faith alive and active. to it or crushed by it.

Our Lord foretold that the world With it there can be neither conciliaPerhaps it is better so. It keeps our We must fight the world, be assimilated

It has often been remarked that public men can with impunity be indifferent to, ignore, or even antagonize Catholic claims and interests even bidding for Catholic patronage by professions of broad-mindedness and fair promises. Several explanations of this phenomenon have been offered. The fairminded it is said do so unconsciously, through ignorance. If such be the reason, the fault is our own and the remedy in our power. Another explanation offered is, that they know Catholics to be peaceful, law-abiding citizens, who act, not on