X. ARCHBISHOP IRELAND AND THE SCHOOL QUESTION

The Fàribaull-Stillwater Agreement

"1. The school buildings remain the property of the parish. They are leased to the school commissioners during the school hours only—that is, from 9 A.M. to 3:45 P.M. Outside these hours they are at the sole disposal of the parish; the pastor and the Sisters who teach can hold in them such exercises as they deem proper. The lease is for one year only; at the end of the year, the archbishop may renew the lease or resume the exclusive control of the buildings.

2. The teachers must hold diplomas from the State, and the progress of the pupils is determined, as to the various branches of profane learning, by parochial examinations held in conformity with official requirements. The class rooms have been furnished and are kept by the school commission, and the Sisters receive the same salaries as are paid to the ordinary teachers.

3. During school hours, the Sisters give no religious instruction; but as they are not only Catholics, but also members of a religious order, they wear their religious habits, and do not alter their teachings in any respect. The schools, although under the control of the State, are, in respect to instruction, precisely what they were before the arrangement was made. The Sisters teach the catechism after school hours, in such a way that the pupils notice merely a change from one lesson to another. Besides, at 8:30 A.M., that is, before the regular school hour, the children attend mass; and on Sundays, the school buildings are at the exclusive disposition of the parish.

4. The public schools are scattered in various parts of Minnesota cities, and children are required to attend the school in the district wherein they live. Faribault and Stillwater are excepted from this rule. Catholic children can attend the schools in question from all parts of the cities; the Protestant children living in the districts where our schools are situated may do so, but are not obliged. The result is that almost all the Catholic children of the two cities attend these schools, whereas there are very few Protestants, and the influence is almost wholly Catholic."

Text—Will: Life of James Cardinal Gibbons, pp. 224–225.