GOVERNMENT KILLS RELIGION, PEOPLE DON'T

Monsignor Joseph Gosche heads St. Michael's Church in Fredericktown. On May 23, he spoke at the baccalaureate service for Fredericktown High School. These are excerpts of his remarks.

If my remarks are not what you expect to hear, please bear with me. I promise you a message of hope at the conclusion.

It is very significant, I think, that high school graduates all over the United States this year are looking for ways to have a time for prayer as they conclude their public school education. ...

It is encouraging that many students are upset, even outraged that they are not permitted to pray at their graduation, and that their baccalaureate service may not be held as a school function. Is it possible that religious faith dies more easily in the halls of government than it can be killed in the homes and schools of America?

Many people have been stirred to action by this latest evidence that atheistic secularism has become the national religion of the United States of America.

On Oct. 6, 1992, in Washington, D.C., a conference "In Defense of Western Civilization" was held. The purpose of the conference was to affirm religious and civil rights in the United States. The keynote address was given by U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr. The attorney general cautioned that a sweeping wave of secularization is destroying the very foundations of our American democracy. Barr asked: How is it possible to speak of the "inalienable rights" of the people, such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, if we deny the existence of God and his place in our public national life? God is the author of those rights. How can we speak of "One Nation under God" while we deny God? Barr maintains that the very foundation on which our Constitution rests is being eroded by our growing secularism.

Today, some ask: How did this crisis happen so suddenly? It did not happen suddenly. ...

Arthur Schlesinger Jr. maintains that of all the bigotry brought to this country by immigrants, anti-Catholicism is the only one that shows no decrease. Bigots keep alive, even in our times, the rumor that the Pope of Rome is waiting for the appropriate time to seize control of the United States. It is said or implied that Catholic Americans hold no allegiance to the United States of America, because their allegiance is to the Pope.

In the year 1802, Thomas Jefferson sent a letter to a church convention to assure its members that the "Wall of Separation of Church and State" would prevent a takeover of the United States by the Pope and his American Catholics. Jefferson was referring to the "Establishment Clause" of the Constitution.

Jefferson could not have foreseen the havoc that would result from that phrase, "Wall of Separation of Church and State." Hi~s intention wa~s to calm the fear of anyone who thought that the Catholic religion would ever become the established religion of our country. It is clear that Jefferson did not apply the "Wall of Separation" to the "Free Exercise of Religion Clause." ...

After decades of controversy, and much injustice to the Catholic Church, the Supreme Court, in 1947, Everson vs. Board of Education, decided that the use of tax fund~s to support Catholic education violated the "Separation of Church and State" and was therefore unconstitutional. It was a split decision. The dissenting justices argued that Jefferson did not intend that the "Wall of Separation of Church and State" should be applied to the "Free Exercise of Religion Clause." ...

From that time to the present, the court has decided which of the ministries of the church may be tax supported, and which may not. Catholic hospitals, for example, may receive assistance from tax funds; Catholic schools may not.

In the year of the Everson Court decision, 1947, I enrolled in a Catholic seminary to study to become a priest. All eight years of my education there were paid with tax dollars which I received under the G.I. Bill of Rights. At the same time, a child enrolled in a Catholic school, who had a learning disability, could not receive assistance at government expense.

Over the years, it has become clear that the "Wall of Separation" was intended in practice ~to be an instrument of discrimination against the Catholic Church. ...

I came to understand why Protestants as a whole had no qualms about saying: You have your schools, the Catholic schools, and we have our schools,

the public school~s. To Protestant friends I would say: But don't forget that I am paying personal taxes to support your schools.

Law and education policy supported that kind of thinking. ...

Finally, the matter of free religious access of Protestants to public schools was dealt with legally. But the solving of one problem created another.

As Protestant access to public schools was denied by law and policy, a great moral vacuum was created in the schools. Protestant ministers and people can remember with pride the powerful moral-ethical impact they had on the school communities during earlier days. The vacuum created by the departure of Protestants from public schools ~signaled the moment that secularists had awaited. They had long wanted, and still work to remove, all references to God and religion from every aspect of national life.

In quick succession the phrase, "One Nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance was challenged. God and religion were not to be spoken of in the classrooms or school assemblies. Textbooks had to be purged of all religious content. Christmas carols could no longer be sung; no Christmas tree or decoration. And finally, there was to be no prayer at high school graduations, and the baccalaureate service could no longer be held as a school function.

No, it didn't happen ~suddenly. And by the way, it is unfair to blame the school ~board, the superintendent of schools or the principal for these prayer restrictions. It's the law, even though it is likely that someday the law will be declared unconstitutional. ...

A word of caution, seniors: Respect human wisdom, but be just a little skeptical about it. We can be misled by human wisdom sometimes. Pray as Solomon did for the wisdom of God; it's the real thing. ...

Finally, I say this to all of us: The best way to assure freedom of religion for ourselves is to promote ~religious freedom for every American Protestant, Jew, Muslim, Catholic, etc., etc. etc.