Their attitude to democratic institutions is attested by the fact that none of their conventions ever fails in its resolutions to “deeply deplore the loss of the temporal power of Our Father, the Pope.”  Their subjection to priestly domination is indicated by such resolutions as this, bearing date of May 13th, 1914: 

The Knights of Columbus of Texas in annual convention assembled, prostrate at the feet of Your Holiness, present filial regards with assurances of loyalty and obedience to the Holy See and request the Papal blessing.

On June 10th, 1912, one T.J.  Carey of Palestine, Texas, wrote to Archbishop Bonzano, the Apostolic Delegate:  “Must I, as a Catholic, surrender my political freedom to the Church?  And by this I mean the right to vote for the Democratic, Socialist, or Republican parties when and where I please?” The answer was:  “You should submit to the decisions of the Church, even at the cost of sacrificing political principles.”  And to the same effect Mgr.  Preston, in New York City, Jan, 1, 1888:  “The man who says, ’I will take my faith from Peter, but I will not take my politics from Peter,’ is not a true Catholic.”

Such is the Papal machine; and not a day passes that it does not discover some new scheme to advance the Papal glory; a “Catholic battle-ship” in the United States navy; Catholic chaplains on all ships of the navy; Catholic holidays—­such as Columbus Day—­to be celebrated by all Protestants in America; thirty million dollars worth of church property exempted from taxation in New York City; mission bells to be set up at the expense of the state of California; state support for parish schools—­or, if this cannot be had, exemption of Catholics from taxation for school purposes.  So on through the list which might continue for pages.

More than anything else, of course, the Papal machine is concerned with education, or rather, with the preventing of education.  It was in its childish days that the race fell under the spell of the Priestly Lie; it is in his childish days that the individual can be most safely snared.  Suffer little children to come unto the Catholic priest, and he will make upon their sensitive minds an impression which nothing in after life can eradicate.  So the mainstay of the New Inquisition is the parish-school, and its deadliest enemy is the American school system.  Listen to the Rev. James Conway, of the Society of Jesus, in his book, “The Rights of Our Little Ones”: 

     Catholic parents cannot, in conscience, send their children
     to American public schools, except for very grave reasons
     approved by the ecclesiastical authorities.

While state education removes illiteracy and puts a limited amount of knowledge within the reach of all, it cannot be said to have a beneficial influence on civilization in general.

The state cannot justly enforce compulsory education, even in case of utter illiteracy, so long as the essential physical and moral education are sufficiently provided for.