The Belgian Bishops appear to be pushing their conflict with
the State to very great lengths. They are irritated by the clauses in the new system, which provide that religious instruc- tion shall be given out of school-hours, though within the school buildings,—a scheme often proposed in England,—and with the order prohibiting them from using State buildings for religious schools. They have therefore directed the priests to refuse the Sacraments to parents sending their children to com- munal schools, to teachers in such schools who use the Catholic catechism without episcopal sanction, and to the professors and pupils of State normal schools. The circular ordering these measures, which are sweeping beyond anything recently at- tempted, has been published, but as yet the interdict, for it is little less, has had scarcely any effect. The parents, even when moved by such censures, are un- der an impression that Rome will not approve such vio- lence, and that the Bishops will be recommended to modify their threats, except in the case of laymen teaching the Cate- chism without authorisation. That strikes too clearly at the root of the priests' influence, the desire for religious instruction, for it conveys it without their intervention.
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