s, it is presumption in them, it is a rash defiance to
the ordinary laws of God's providence, to neglect the daily systematic
training of the minds and hearts of their children, in conformity with
Catholic discipline. Julian the Apostate forbade Catholics to be
educated in their holy faith, for he knew very well that there is no
more certain means of destroying the faith than by not suffering it to
be taught.

It is almost certain that wherever there are no Catholic schools,
wherever the Catholic religion is not taught and practised in school,
there the Catholic religion will practically die out, as soon as
immigration from Catholic countries ceases.

Bishop England has asserted that the Catholic Church loses more, in this
country, by apostasy, than it gains by conversions. Archbishop Spalding,
of Baltimore, asserted one day that, in one body of Methodist ministers,
he observed seven or eight who were children of Catholics, and they were
the smartest preachers among them.

Neglected children of Catholic parents become the worst enemies of the
Catholic Church. The young man who set fire to St. Augustine's Church,
in Philadelphia, Pa., was a Catholic, and he gloried in being able to
burn his name out of the baptismal record. By a just punishment of God,
these neglected Catholic children will become our persecutors.

It is not sufficient to teach the Catechism in church or at home. No!
it is not the _knowledge_ of the faith, but the _daily practice_ of it,
that produces Catholic life. Nothing but the constant practice of our
holy religion can train our youth to withstand the dangers of this age,
and this country. It is not necessary to argue this point. Look at the
tens of thousands of Catholics who never think of going to Mass on a
week-day, and who often neglect it even on Sundays and holy days. Look
at all those who never think of visiting our Lord in the Blessed
Sacrament; who never go to confession more than once or twice a year,
and sometimes not even that. Do they not prove, beyond a doubt, that the
practical _habit_ of devotion was not taught them in their youth?

Look, on the other hand, at those congregations who, in the tender,
susceptible time of youth, were in the habit of going to Mass every day
before the opening of the school. See how, when the bell rings, a goodly
number of them find time, even on week-days, to assist at the most holy
Sacrifice of the Mass. In such congregations there is indeed Catholi