AN IRISH ROMAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY. [TO THE Enrroa OP THE
"SPECTATOR."] SIE.—I observe that in dealing with the Irish University deba e in the Spectator of March 31st you say : " What Mr. Balfour wanted to say was that, as we see in Rhenish Prussia, education inevitably strips Roman Catholicism of its most injurious features." Doubtless it does, if the education is not of the kind that is feared by some people like myself, who are opposed to Roman Catholic Universities on educa- tional grounds. But then you mast remember that the sole University in Rhenish Prussia, the University of Bonn, is in no sense Roman Catholic; there is a Roman Catholic Faculty of Theology, there is also a Protestant Faculty (which, by the way, was adorned not long ago by one of the most Evangelical of recent German theologians) ; outside these Faculties the University, like any other in Germany, is simply secular, without tests, religious instruction, religious services, or any of the usual features of a denominational University ; and it would probably puzzle most students to decide whether a given Professor was Roman Catholic, Protestant, or neither. But now contrast this professorial University with its HiVreiheit, Lernfreikeit, and total freedom from examinations as we know them—unless you count the exercises for the doctorate—with the sort of University English parents expect, with its collegiate life, chapel services, examinations, constant intercourse between teachers and pupils, and regu- lar course of study, leading np to an examination in which the teachers examine their own pupils, or at least set ques- tions to them. Is there not a golden opportunity here for the clerical obscurantist? And do you really suppose he will not try to take it? And in view of the ignorance of most laymen as to educational detail, the chances are that he will get it. Now, if the question were to be decided by a Home. rale Parliament, we who object to the University on educe.. tional grounds could say to our Irish friends: " We pity you: but still, you pay, not we." But it is rather hard that as British taxpayers, we should be expected to pay for what we know is likely more than not to be worthless. If I am asked, " Bat how do you know? " I can refer you to the protests of Liberal Catholics against existing Roman Catholic education ; notably to the remarkable article by " Voces Catholics " in the Contemporary Review for May last, with its examples of the kind of scientific instruction given by certain Roman. Catholic professors in Germany, and of the causes that led to the collapse of the Swiss Catholic University of Freiburg; and to an article by an English Roman Catholic'in the Piled two or three weeks ago, pointing out that even at the German College at Rome seminary priests learn no Greek, no Biblical criticism, and take even their Aristotle in Latin. If the learned clergy are thus taught, what will the laity get? A Nationalist friend of mine, indeed, tells me that what the Irish Roman Catholic laity want is not a Catholic so much as a Nationalist atmosphere for their University. As a Home- ruler, I wish they had it; but I do not suppose the wish is shared by Mr. Balfour or by yon.—I am, Sir, &c.,
J. S. MANN.
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