Catholic Archbishop Denounces Montreal Jewish School Bills As Infringements

The Jewish school bills now pending in the Quebec legislature were denounced as measures that infringed on Catholic and Protestant rights and might lead to the establishment of an exclusive laity teaching in Quebec schools by Archbishop George Gauthier of Montreal, addressing thousands of pilgrims at St. Joseph’s Oratory yesterday. In a letter to the Provincial Premier Taschereau, Archbishop Gauthier said that “under no consideration whatsoever should any privileges be granted which might disturb the present school system.”

In his address to the pilgrims Archbishop Gauthier asked why the Council of Public Instruction had not been consulted on the Jewish school bills. The main point of the present school regime, he said, is the confessional character of the teaching, but “this bill would introduce non-Christian religious teaching. The legislature has the right to create a non-Christian system only if the Catholics and Protestants are not prejudiced against it. Our fathers would feel aggrieved if they would see Christians and non-Christians sitting together in counsel,” said the Archbishop.

“The real aim of the bills,” he continued, “is to secure a share of the neutral school taxes. In no other countries are minorities given similar rights,” said Archbishop Gauthier, who claimed that there was danger in this bill if other provincial minorities should demand the same privileges. He felt that the greatest danger in the bill is that it might create a system for the teaching of secular matters only.

Cardinal Rouleau, Archbishop of Quebec, has also declared himself as strongly opposed to the Jewish school bills. In a letter to Premier Taschereau, he says that the project will cause difficulties in the Province, and though the bill is intended only to adjust the Montreal problem, he fears that it may result in an attempt to impose upon the entire Province a neutral school system which has been condemned by the Vatican.