THESIS APPROVED

BY

îÊllìawd..C ÂJA 8L& M a.1 or Adviser

Dean THE HISTORY OP THE RELIGIOUS VACATION SCHOOLS

IN THE LEAVENWORTH DIOCESE 1929-1945

BY

SISTER MARY PATRICK RILEY, O.S.B.

A THESIS

Submitted to the Faculty of the Creighton University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Education

OMAHA, 1948 THIS THESIS IS DEDICATED

TO THE MEMORY OE

MY MOTHER

MY EIRST AND BEST

TEACHER OE RELIGION

7 8 5 3 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The writer expresses her deep appreciation to Reverend Mother M. Lucy and the Sisters of her Religious Community for the oppor­ tunity of pursuing graduate study at Creigh­ ton University. Special acknowledgement is offered to Doctor Daniel C. Sullivan, her major adviser under whose direction this study was completed. Finally, sincere thanks are offered to the pastors and teachers of the Religious Vacation Schools and to all those who helped make this study possible. TABLE OE CONTENTS

Chapter Page

I. INTRODUCTION ...... 1

II. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OE THE RELIGIOUS VACATION SCHOOL MOVEMENT...... 15 Oregon Venture Advent of the Catholic Rural Life The National Council of Catholic Women Confraternity of Christian Doctrine

III. BEGINNINGS OE THE RELIGIOUS VACATION SCHOOL IN THE LEAVENWORTH DIOCESE . . . 33

Growth and Development Administration Organization and Operation Curriculum

IV. NEED OE EOLLOW-UP PROGRAM ...... 52 Correspondence Course

V. Evaluation...... 67 VI. RESULTS OE THEQUESTIONNAIRE ...... 72

VII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION...... 95

APPENDIX...... 100

BIBLIOGRAPHY 119 LIST OP TABLES

Table Page

1. Changes in Enrollment, 1929-1945 .... 107 2. Vacation Schools of Diocese of Leaven­ worth . . . 108

3. Report of the Religious Vacation Schools Summer, 1945 ...... 110

4. Catholic Children Attending Public Schools . . 112 5. Religious Instruction Offered in Parishes Without Parochial Schools ...... 113

6. Approximate Humber of Pupils Annually in Vacation Schools, Openingbefore 1936 . 115 7. Approximate Humber of Pupils Annually in Vacation Schools, Opening after 1936 . . 117

8. Map of the Religious Vacation Schools in the Leavenworth Diocese ...... 118 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The month of June, 1945 marked the twenty- fifth anniversary of an event which has had a profound and widespread effect on the Catholic life of this country. This event was the inauguration of the first organized Religious Vacation School at Cottage Grove,

Springfield and Junction City, missions of St. Mary's parish, Eugene, Oregon.

The history of the Religious Vacation School is surprising in that it covers a period of years considerably longer than one would at first suspect.

No doubt many pastors in the land have devised sim­

ilar plans in their attempts to answer the problem

of the religious education of Catholic children attend­ ing public schools. However, because of the want of detailed information concerning such attempts our history of the vacation school must, of necessity, be incomplete. With the birth of the Catholic Rural Life Con­ ference, we can trace the advance of the vacation

school through vigorous movements that have borne it on. Later that organization asked the National Council of Catholic Women to take charge of the novel undertaking 2 which got it3 original impetus from the success achieved by Father O’Hara in Oregon. In order to give proper credit to each, the writer will treat the matter in the first chapter under four heads; first Father O'Hara’s work in Oregon will be recorded; following that, the work of the Catholic Rural Life Conference, the National

Council of Catholic Women and the Confraternity of

Christian Doctrine will be traced.1

The humble beginning of the Religious Vacation School gave little hint of the tremendous growth it was to enjoy. The first year showed a record of three schools, four teachers, and forty-seven pupils. Recent records show that there were 8,523 schools with over

700,000 pupils enrolled.* 2 But while the achievements can scarcely be overestimated, there is a world of work

to be done.

Today the Religious Vacation School program is an integral part of the Confraternity of Christian Doc­ trine. Its twenty-five years of life fill a rich and varied chapter in the history of education in the

United States. God has blessed its beginnings and

Edward Lilly, "The Catholic Religious Vacation School," Educational Research Bulletin. IV (March, 1929), 11.

2Eastem Kansas Register. November 23, 1945. 3 growth. May His benediction crown all its efforts in the years that lie ahead.3

OBJECTIVE OF THESIS

It is the purpose of this thesis to record the origin, development, character and efficacy of the

Religious Vacation Schools in the Leavenworth Diocese from 1929-1945. It is also expected to answer the

Catholic demand to describe the name and nature of the

Religious Vacation School as it exists in this country and to indicate some of the results which are being achieved. Furthemore the writer aims to point the way to future development in the organization and the program for the Rural Vacation Schools. This research should prove a source of information to all interested in the Religious Vacation Schools, and may be of use in furnishing data to those who seek information on the education factors in the diocese. It should also increase the already active interest and facilitate progress in the Religious Vacation School movement.

PREVIOUS WORK DOME IN TIE FIELD

In 1945 Father Leo Herken, Diocesan Director of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, compiled a general history of the Religious Vacation Schools in 3

3Ralph Richards, "The Religious Vacation School," Our Parish Confraternity. May, 1945, p. 3. 4 the Leavenworth Diocese. This record was sent to the

National Welfare Council at Washington, D. C. The

present thesis differs from Father Herken’s account in several particulars: object, method of approach, and comprehensive nature. Father Herken aimed at a brief survey for the files of the National Catholic Welfare

Conference at Washington. His record is a compilation of general statistics which he had at his command. He made no attempt to give a detailed presentation, and as a result Father Herken’s account is far less compre­ hensive than is the history here.

METHOD OF INVESTIGATION

The sources from which were gathered the data contained in this thesis include the following: Files of the various newspapers published in Kansas between the years 1930-1945; Magazine articles describing several important features on the Religious Vacation

Schools; Personal Interviews with former teachers; Catholic Directory; school records; questionnaire.4

A letter explaining the nature of this history was in­ cluded with each questionnaire.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

A definition of terms as used in this thesis

4 Cf. Appendix, p. 104. 5 are: Religious Vacation School is an organized school of religious education for three hours during the fore­ noon, five days a week, for four weeks during the public school summer vacation. It is for children who do not attend a Catholic school through the regular school year.

By “an organized school" we are to understand an educational arrangement with a definite system for enrolling, classifying and grading pupils, with compe­ tent teachers and intelligently planned programs of study and sufficient instructional materials for ef­ ficient teaching and learning.

By "religious education" we mean not only the instruction of the mind in Catholic doctrine and precept but also the training of the will, the purifying of the emotions, the inculcation of high ideals and the forma­ tion of right habits of moral conduct and religious practice, so as to produce the true and finished Christ­ ian character.

RURAL RELIGIOUS VACATION SCHOOLS are those which are held in farming sections where there is either a parish with the Catholic farming population scattered for miles around, or a farming community removed many miles from the parochial church or mission church.®

®Leon McNeill, "The Seminarian and Vacation Schools," Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Proceed­ ings. October 9, 1937, p. 344. 6 WEEK-DAY RELIGIOUS SCHOOL aims to gather Catholic children for religious instruction during special

"release" periods granted by the public school; it also functions during, before school, and after school hours as well as on Saturday, according to local arrangements.6

RELIGIOUS VACATION SCHOOL MANUAL is a graded course of study used by the Confraternity teachers since 1936 as a basic outline for conducting classes for Catholic children attending public schools.?

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC WOMEN is a federating force uniting all organizations of Catholic lay women within the United States, without destroying the autonomy of anyone, but rather increasing the effectiveness of each by stimulating larger membership and greater activities.®

THE NATIONAL WELFARE CONFERENCE is a clearing house of information regarding activities of Catholic men and women; a common agency acting under the authority of the Bishops to promote the welfare of the Church and of

Catholic activities and to make Catholic teachings more7 *

®Paul Ellinger, "Rural Religious Vacation Schools," Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Proceedings, November 15, 1941, p. 151.

7Lilly, op. cit., p. 9.

®Thomas Driscoll, "Religious Vacation School Manual," Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Proceedings, October 3, 1936, p. 191. 7 widespread and effective.9

THE GONFRATBRNITY OP CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE is an organiza­ tion of Catholic men and women volunteering to assist the priests and Sisters in the seeking out and the in­ struction of the Catholic children attending the public school. Because of the nature of the organization and the object or end of its work it is an official part of the Catholic Action program of the Catholic Church.9 10 * ACERBO HIMIS - Encyclical Letter of Pius X, to the

Sacred Bishops of the Universal Church on the teachings of Christian Doctrine.11

EPISCOPAL COMMITTEE composed of three members of the

Hierarchy for the establishment of a National Center as a bureau in the National Catholic Welfare Conference to be of service to diocesan catechetical officies.1^ CATHOLIC RURAL LIFE CONFERENCE organized at St. Louis

1923, emphasizes the importance of education in the development of that satisfying rural order toward which efforts are directed and fosters a comprehensive

9The National Catholic Almanac, St. Anthony's Guild, Paterson, New Jersey, 1945, p. 345.

10Ibid.

•^Leroy Callahan, "The Priest, Sister and Laity in the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine," Journal of Religious Instruction, July, 1935, p. 419. 1 P Pius X, "The Teaching of Christian Doctrine," American Catholic Quarterly Review, XXX (December, 1934), 296. 8 program of rural education both secular and religious which will not only flourish in a well established rural community, but will also reach out to isolated families in the remote country districts.13

While the vacation school has had its growth in rural districts, it is adaptable to urban localities where a like need exists. The vacation school has been a part of the program adopted by the Rural Life Confer­ ence, and hence the reason for its popularity in rural districts.14

Furthermore the vacation school cannot be con­ sidered an isolated unit. It is a very important part of the whole religious education program. It is the great religious dynamo that annually recharges the family’s interest in the religious education of its children and gives zest and direction to the school year instruction. 15

There is no apparent conflict between the Relig­ ious Vacation School and any other religious instruction class. There is a place for each and all these agencies

13Francis Wolfe, MConfraternity of Christian Doctrine," Journal of Religious Instruction, V (December 1934), 296.

14Lilly, on. cit., p. 1.

13William McMulloy, "The Religious Vacation School Manual," Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Pro­ ceedings, October 12, 1937, p. 144. 9 of good in our country. One cannot help but see the wisdom of the Church in taking advantage of the leisure of their public school children to offer them a chance to learn the saving truths of faith. God alone knows how many will come to know and serve Him through the instrumentality of the Religious Vacation School.

While it is clear that the complete ideal of

Catholic education is not attained by this type of in­ stitution, it is certain that these schools meet a real situation in our land. They have the power to teach the saving truths of faith to many who would other­ wise never hear of Divine Providence, never learn Divine

Wisdom, never experience Divine Love.-1-®

His Excellency, Most Reverend Pierto Pumasoni Biondi, formerly Apostolic Delegate, who had reports on the success of vacation schools in many dioceses writes: It would be difficult to overestimate the importance and necessity of establishing Religious Vacation Schools especially in places in which there is neither a parochial school nor a resident pastor.

The letter continues with the statement that:

To instruct children in a knowledge of their holy faith is one of the works of mercy and I trust that all who can will assist in the work of the Religious Vacs-tion School.

16Thomas Cassidy, "The Religious Vacation School," Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Proceedings, October 3, 1936, pp. 161-162. 1 7 A. E. Munich, "The Religious Vacation School," Catholic Educational Review, XXVIII (April, 1930), 374. 10

The Religious Vacation School has operated suc­

cessfully in city, town and country; in large parishes

which have parochial schools and in parishes and missions

unblessed by parish schools; in remote stations where

religious services are infrequent; in summer camps, mining districts, and defense areas, among whites, Mex­

ican, and Negroes; for the benefit of Catholic children

and at times for groups of children who were almost

entirely non-Catholic. With a uniform basic pattern,

it is sufficiently flexible to be adapted to almost any environment which can reasonable be imagined. Public

schools, parochial schools, churches, parish halls, vacant store buildings, private homes, barns, and even

the great out doors have all been utilized for the holding of classes.

Despite the glorious record of our Catholic schools sind the universally accepted ideal of "A Cath­

olic school for every child and every child in a Cath­ olic school,"18 it has long been recognized that hundreds of thousands of our children either have no

opportunity to attend Catholic schools or for one reason or another are not enrolled in schools which are avail­

able for them. Many factors have combined, however,

l^Leon McNeill, "The Religious Vacation School," Journal of Religious Instruction. September, 1943, p. 42. 11 to make such religious education impoverished and inef­ fective. Neglect of parents, lack of trained teachers, uninteresting courses of instruction, inadequacy of text­

books and visual aids, great distances, bad roads, and

inclement weather have all played their part in depriv­ ing our Catholic pupils of their rightful Christian heritage.

The many obstacles met in secular education and the almost universal objection to the religious enlight- ment of public schcel children, demanded that the gap of infrequent and insufficient spiritual training be bridged. Vacation schools offered a remedy. Properly staffed and conducted with a recognition of the child’s inherent desire for play and recreation, particularly

during the vacation period, the Religious Vacation School became a potent weapon for enlightening the un­ tutored in our Faith which too often has meant loss of

Faith. The Religious Vacation School movement rapidly grew and expanded and as it developed, teaching aids of necessity sprang into being. Able directors among the priests and zealous instructors among the Sisters and laity brought about the organization of these 12 schools in many dioceses of the country,19

With the fonnation of the Episcopal Committee of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine in 1934, with

Bishop O ’Hara as its chairman, and the establishment of the National Center of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine in Washington the following year, the vacation schools received the full approval and encouragement which make them a powerful force for religious education in our country. The success of the vacation schools gave added impetus to the organization of school year religion classes to care for public school children.

Monsignor McNeill, one of the pioneers of the vacation school movement, wrote in 1935:

We have never lost sight of the fact that what these underprivileged little ones need is a year-round program of religious instruc­ tion, and that the vacation school is only a part, albeit a most important part of such a full year program. From this it follows that we should have an enriched unified and pro­ gressive program embracing religious instruc­ tion classes in which serious work is done during the school year, and also the Religious Vacation School with its added educational experiences and character building activities during the period of the summer vacation.20 The good accomplished by the Religious Vacation

Schools is unquestionably beyond our reach. It can

Ibid. p. 44. 20oiive Biddison, "A First Born Grows Up,” Land and Home, September, 1945, p. 82. 13 positively be stated, however, that they have done exceedingly great work in bringing the truths of our religion more clearly and firmly to the minds and hearts of the youth of this country and thus insured the growth and spiritual influence of our faith in present and future generations*

The cause of our holy religion must continually progress or it fails in its purpose. The Religious

Vacation School has done much to advance the banner of Christ in the youthful world of today. May the con­ tinued and perfected use of the vacation school implant knowledge in our youth that becomes a searing flame of faith for them, and good example for others.

The purpose of the Religious Vacation School is to establish high standards of religious education for the benefit of Catholic children attending public schools. It goes without saying that the ideal is

’every child in a Catholic school,’ but nothing could be more disasterous than a policy of laissez-faire, of simply folding our hands until the Utopia arrives.

There are 10,000 groups of Catholic children in the United States who are hungering for the Bread of Life with no parish school to minister to them. To these children the Religious Vacation Schools are an 14

incalcuable benefit.2-*-

Within a short space of two decades a veritable

network of Religious Vacation Schools has been spread over the length and breadth of the land. There is no

ecclesiastical province in which there are not annually

conducted a considerable number of vacation schools.

It is apparent then, that the vacation school movement has opened a vast field for Catholic Action on the part

of large numbers of zealous workers, both religious and lay. The same enthusiasm for the Religious Vacation

School that characterized the movement in the first

years still continues unabated.21 22

21Ibid., p. 82.

22Edgar Schmiedler, "The Religious Vacation School in Action," Truth, XXXVII (March, 1933), 16-17. CHAPTER II

ORIGIN AND DEVELO0ENT OP THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT

The practice of holding catechetical instruction for Catholic children attending the public school is not a new phase of Catholic educational activity. Our present common school system had scarcely been organized when Catholics sought ways and means of giving their children not frequenting the parochial school, instruc­ tion in the truths of faith. The rule, at that time, as it is at the present day, was that each pastor should see to it that the children within the confines of his parish be prepared for the worthy reception of the Sac­ raments of Holy Eucharist and Confirmation. Por the most part this instruction was given on Saturdays and Sundays•

The first organized effort to reach the Catholic children attending public schools was made by the Most

Reverend Edwin O ’Hara, now Bishop of Kansas City. In the summer of 1920 Pather O ’Hara was sent as pastor to the parish of Eugene, Lane County, which lie3 at the head of the beautiful Willamette Valley in western

Oregon. At that time three missions were attached to the parish of Eugene: Cottage Grove, Springfield, and

Junction City. In that same year Pather O'Hara was also 16 appointed to serve as director fcf the Rural Life Bureau of the Social Action Department of the National Catholic

Welfare Conference. He had previously made an extensive study of what the Catholic Church was doing, and what its potentialities were for best serving the religious interest of rural .America.1

A survey completed by him in 1919, has shown that while 7,000 parishes in the United States had par­ ochial schools, 10,000 parishes and missions were without Catholic schools. Father O ’Hara sought for a plan that might bring more intensive spiritual training to the rural parishes and missions that had no paro­ chial schools.^

In addressing the Catholic Educational Associa­ tion in June, 1920, Father O ’Hara said:

There are sections of the country in which opportunities for religious instruction of country children will remain largely restricted to the summer season. In many sections Lutherans successfully conduct rural religious summer schools, choosing a month in the simmer vacation when there is a. lull in the farm work. They gather the children at the public school build­ ing or country church, and give them an exten­ sive course of religious instruction of secular branches to vary the program and prevent the day’s work from becoming monotonous. Undoubtedly there are vast possibilities of organizing such summer schools for our Catholic children and

^Eastern Kansas Register. June 29, 1945.

% . P. Leipzig, "Summer Religious Vacation Schools," Catholic Rural Life. VI (May, 1928), 10. 17

the details should he worked out on a compre­ hensive plan.3

Following the example of the Lutherans, Father

O ’Hara planned vacation schools for his missions.

Twenty-five children met at the little mission church

in Cottage Grove on June 9, 1921 to attend the first

Religious Vacation School.4 The records of the Sisters

of the Holy Marne at Eugene, Oregon show that the Sisters

left the Convent to hold classes in the morning at

Junction City, and in the afternoon at Springfield.

Since Cottage Grove has operated its Religious Vacation

School continuously and since it was the scene of the

Jubilee^celebration July, 1945, it is appropriate to trace the events of the vacation school to see how this great apostolate began.

Michael Kobelbeck, the head of a family out­ standing in the history of this little mission, undertook the work of "Fisher”, or home visitor although this term had not been adopted in vacation school terminology.

Since he was acquainted with the Catholics, he visited the families and urged the attendance of the children at the vacation school. Twenty-five pupils registered5*

5Ibid., p. 10. ^Eastern Kansas Register, June 29, 1945. 5Ibid. 18 the first day with the average attendance later reaching thirty. The classes were held in the church which was very substantial but odd-looking because of its unusual octagonal design.

The classes began at 9:00 A.M. and closed at

2:30 P.M. The course of studies included catechism,

Bible History, sacred music, sewing and Mass prayers. The pupils were divided into two groups: those of pre­ school age to the fifth grade, and those of the sixth grade to second year high school. While the boys were given instruction in serving Mass, the girls were taken to the sacristy to learn sewing. The entire group was taught to sing hjrnins and the children became the official choir of the mission, and sang at the Sunday Masses which were held every two weeks.®

The reception of First Holy Communion had taken place less than a month earlier, so that the first Religious Vacation School was brought to a fitting close on Sunday, June 18, with the celebration of Holy Mass by Father Daniel P. Curley, assisted by the newly trained altar boys and the joyful voices of the newly formed children’s choir.67

6Biddison, op. cit., p. 80. 7Ibid.. p. 81. 19

Although the schools in Lane County are the first attempts at organized, formal religious vacation instruction to he recorded, no doubt many pastors had previously held religious classes during the vacation months. For example, Monsignor Wolfe of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, reports:

When I was appointed Superintendent of schools in the Archdiocese of Dubuque in 1922, I was not only to organize, direct and improve the education of the children in the estab­ lished parochial schools, but that I had the responsibility for the Catholic education of all children in the Archdiocese. The first schedule I ma,de was for the Vacation Schools during the summer of 1922. This suggestion came to me, from several priests regarding their efforts to give adequate religious ed­ ucation to the children under their care. Some of them have striven to conduct such schools for four or five years, but they lacked the moral support that a general move­ ment would give them.8

After the first few years of experiment the

program was standardized and the report of the school spread to other parishes. The success of the schools conducted in the missions of Springfield and Cottage

Grove in the summer of 1922 induced the pastor of the neighboring town, Corvallis, to open a similar school for some sixty children in his parish. Mew schools were opened in Oregon each succeeding summer up to and

8Leipzig, op. cit., p. 10. 20

including 1945. Almost without exception, the school, after once tried, became an annual affair.

With his own parochial situation somewhat re­ lieved, Father O ’Hara was not content to remain silent about the possibilities of the Religious Vacation School. As director of a rural body which was fast assuming national importance and as organizer of the Catholic Rural Life Conference he reported to that body at its first annual Convention in St. Louis, in the fall of 1923, the success of the Oregon experiment.

In the fall of 1923 a hundred delegates con­ vened in St. Louis, Missouri, for the purpose of form­ ing a new Catholic organization that would have for its aim the caring for the spiritually underprivileged of rural America. The outcome, was the founding of the

National Catholic Rural Life Conference. The invitation to these zealous ruralists, most of them still active in the work of the National Catholic Rural Life, had gone out from Father Edwin O'Hara (now Bishop of Kansas

City), pastor at Eugene, Oregon, and the undertaking had been launched with the wholehearted approval and encouragement of the Most Reverend John J. Glennon,

Archbishop of St. Louis. The large number of delegates who had responded to Father O'Hara’s invitation evi­ denced the interest felt throughout the country in the 21 spiritual welfare of Catholics living in rural areas.

The delegates who had gathered at St. Louis passed as their first resolution the following:

Where the numbers are not sufficient to maintain a parish school, we recommend that Religious Vacation Schools be held.9

The Religious Vacation School movement was now on foot. With definite support the idea spread and the program received more extensive application with each ensuing summer.

The National Conference had weathered the usual perils of infancy and had grown reasonably strong, the fundamental social values of rural life had been brought to the attention of an ever increasing number of individ­ uals, a fairly thorough program of objectives had been built up. About 75,000 children were receiving the benefits of religious instruction through the instrumen­ tality of Religious Vacation Schools.10

Where there is no full year parochial school the

Catholic Rural Life Conference recommends first of all Religious Vacation Schools. The Conference in its

Manual of Religious Vacation Schools sets up definite

9Katherine Williams, "Vacation Schools in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee," Catholic Rural Life, III (January, 1926), 2. 10Edgar Schmiedler, "Retrospect and Prospect," Catholic Rural Life Conference Proceedings, October 16, 1933, p. 76. 22

standards which demand trained teachers, an enriched

curriculum, carefully prepared materials of instruc­ tions, and progressive methods of teaching.

The summer of 1925 saw the vacation school op­ erating in a much wider field. The Milwaukee Council of Catholic Women sponsored thirteen schools staffed by twenty-eight Sisters and enrolling 900 children.H

Similar programs were promoted by Diocesan Councils in the 3tate of Washington and in the Diocese of Green

Bay, the latter reaching four hundred children through seven schools.^ The work of the St. Louis Archdiocese was continued, and fifteen schools were operated by nuns and seminarians. In Louisville, Kentucky, a new development took place in the employment of young women from Nazareth College as teachers. Six of these girls, after preparing during the scholastic year, 1924-1925, were initiated into the work by actually teaching in four of these schools, having a total enroll­ ment of two hundred one pupils. *15

J-llbid., p. 7. l^James McCaffery, "Religious Vacation Schools," Catholic Rural Life. Ill (March, 1927), 7.

15Catholie Rural Life. Ill (August, 1925), 3. 23

Two new ventures were made in Colorado inhere

two hundred and fifty children received religious instruc­

tion in the two schools at Gorgon and Cameron.

The Ursuline Sisters, who had taught during the

preceding summer, continued their work in the Louisville Diocese, while a few Sisters of Charity labored in the

Diocese of Covington. ^ The Lincoln Diocese also con­ tributed two vacation schools to the total.

In October, the third annual meeting of the

Catholic Rural Life Conference was held at St. Paul,

Minnesota, and passed the following resolution:

Recognizing the fact that Religious Vacation Schools have passed beyond the experimental stage, we urge systematic establishment, devel­ opment and direction of these schools in the various dioceses. As a direct result of this convention, interest

in vacation school work was aroused among the students

of St. Paul's Seminary; a Rural Study Club was later

organized as a part of their local mission society.

Thus was sown the seeds which have borne much fruit.

This institution has played an important role in sup­

plying students to teach in the vacation schools of

14"Religious Vacation Schools in Colorado," Catholic Rural Life, IV (April, 1927), 8. ^^Emily McGann, "Louisville Vacation Schools," Catholic Rural Life, V (November, 1926), 5.

■^Lilly, ojd. cit., p. 22. 24

Minnesota and other states. By the close of the summer of 1925, vacation schools had been established in twenty dioceses scattered throughout the United States.-^

The Second Annual Meeting of the Catholic Rural

Life Conference held in Milwaukee, in 1924, was attended by representatives from Milwaukee Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women as well as by a representative from the National Council. The support and assistance of the Council were pledged to the vacation school move­ ment by these women. With the cooperation of the Council of Catholic Women, vacation schools made rapid progress in many dioceses. Interest was aroused, possibilities tested, propaganda disbursed, and actual aid offered.

In 1925, Margaret Lynch, as a representative of the

National Council of Catholic Women, v/as accorded a posi­ tion on the Board of Directors of the Catholic Rural

Life Conference at St. Paul, Convention. In 1926, the development of the vacation school project was placed in the hands of the National Council of Catholic Women, and in 1927, a section of the official organ of the Cath­ olic Rural Life Conference, Catholic Rural Life, was given over to Miss Lynch for the purpose of circulating

■^Edwin O ’Hara, ’’Rural Religious Vacation Schools," Catholic Rural Life, IV (March, 1926), 5. 25 information on the vacation schools.1® Through this new department news and interesting projects were re­ ported, problems stated, and solutions suggested. The summer of 1927 witnessed a marked advance in the spread of vacation schools.19

The Catholic Rural Life Conference met at Cin­ cinnati in its fourth annual Convention October, 1926, having now weathered the third year of its existence.

The work accomplished during those three years in the vacation school field alone was worthy of much comment; this is evidenced by the following statement authorized by that body at the meetings "During the past summer these vacation schools were conducted in twenty dioceses with a total enrollment of 15,000 pupils."29

Continued growth in the application of this now thnroughly established means of religious education was observed during the summer of 1928, the fifth since the vacation school movement got under way. Two new centers began to function; the Denver Diocesan Council promoted thirteen schools in Colorado, while in Pennsylvania, the

1®Rudolph Bandas, "Vacation Schools and Seminar­ ians," National Catholic Educational Association, XXX (March, 1936), 537. 19Margaret Lynch, "Rural Religious Vacation Schools," Catholic Rural Life. VI (November, 1927), 15. ^"Colorado Vacation Schools," Catholic Rural Life, VI (January, 1929), 15.

785:55 26

Harrisburg group helped conduct five schools wherein six hundred children received instruction. The Archdiocese of Dubuque alone had over fifty schools during the past summer.21 All in all, the project was in operation in more than fifty dioceses in 1928 and reached a very con­ siderable number of children who for one reason or another were denied easy access to a regular parochial school.22

The National Council of Catholic Women is ever alert to promote the work of the Confraternity of

Christian Doctrine. In many parishes in the United

States every member of the National Council of Catholic

Women is a member of the Confraternity of Christian Doc­ trine. We hold that the day is not far distant when

every diocese of the United States will be affiliated with the National Council of Catholic Women; and when this is accomplished there will be more workers and greater zeal for the promotion of God's kingdom on earth... 23

2l0ur Sunday Visitor, July 20, 1928.

22Pelix N. Pitt, "Atchison Meeting of Catholic Rural Life," National Catholic Welfare Council Bulletin, X (November, 1928), 30. 2<%. T. Dignan, "The Confraternity Activities Developed in Lay Societies," Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Proceedings, October 12, 1937, p. 2. 27

First introduced into this country in 1905 in the Archdiocese of New York, the Confraternity of Christ­ ian Doctrine was "by 1934 accomplishing excellent results in manjr dioceses. In Los Angeles its primary purpose was the religious instruction of Catholic children attending public schools. In the rural Diocese of Great

Falls under Bishop O ’Hara, now Bishop of Kansas City,

Missouri, it had demonstrated tha,t under its auspices a well rounded program, utilizing the zeal and energies of every member of the parish could be developed to foster religious instruction not only on Catnoxxc children attending public schools but of adults as well.'0P4.

The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine strives to reach those groups who do not attend religious in­ struction in the Catholic school system. It strives, and with notable success, to encourage children and youth to enroll in Catholic schools. But the apostolic work of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine is to bring a knowledge and love of Christ to those "vast numbers" whose plight was described with pathetic elo­ quence by the saintly Pontiff, Pius X, in his letter

24Ruth Craven, "Services of the National Center of The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine," Proceedings of the National Catechetical Congress, October 12, 1940, p. 517. 28

Acerbo Minis. The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine aims to mobilize under the direction of the parish priest the great resources of intelligence, good will, and solid piety among the laity for the extension of Catholic Faith to these multitudes. It may be said with confidence that no greater loss could be inflicted on the cause of Christian education than would result from failure to harness these immense resources of in­ telligence and good will to the chariot of Christ.25

The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine has taken account of the number of Catholic children who do not attend our parochial schools and of the adults,

Catholic and non-Catholic, who desire to be instructed in religious truths, and has wisely planned its program, which the Supreme Pontiff has paternally blessed and warmly recommended. This program fills many gaps, supplies means that are suitable, timely and necessary; it shows how to carry out more broadly the commandment given by Jesus Christ: "Teach ye all Nations."

The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine has de­ veloped over a period of many years a course of study for Catholic public school children in the elementary

^5Roy J. Deferrari, Essays on Catholic Education in the United States, pp. 426-429. Washington, D. C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1942. 29

level. This course is embodied in three small "School

Year Religious Instruction Manuals," one for grades one

and two, another for grades three, four, and five, and

another for grades six, seven and eight; these manuals have been used successfully by thousands of catechists.

A great number of dioceses have based their diocesan

program directly upon the Catholic Manuals.

Each manual contains an introduction; an outline

of subject matter with general and specific aims; a

t list of visual aids; lists of textbooks; supplementary

reading materials* and pupils’ and teachers' references; and a directory of publishers. The content proper of the course contains thirty-two weekly lessons each.

Each lesson appears as a teaching unit under the head­

ings Picture Study and Story, Doctrine and Practice, with a fourth heading, Liturgy in the upper grade p/2 manual.

On January 12, 1935, the Decree of the Sacred

Congregation of the Council ON BETTER CARS AND PROMOTION

OP CATECHETICAL INSTRUCTION directed that: .... in every parish .... there shall be established before all others ....

^Thomas Driscoll, "The Religious Vacation School," Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Proceed­ ings, October 6, 1931, p. 191. 30

the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine accord­ ing to Canon 711 #2. 27

In establishing the National Center of the

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine as a bureau of the

National Catholic Welfare Conference, the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine was given a definite recognized place in the program of Catholic Action for the United

States. The Bureau of the National Catholic Welfare

Conference, is young in years, small in staff, but big in the work that lies before it.* 2® At present the Con­ fraternity of Christian Doctrine is represented in one hundred dioceses.2^

In 1931 the Department of the National Welfare

Conference made a survey of the manner in which re­ ligious instruction is provided for Catholic children not in Catholic schools. Infoimation was sought from all archdioceses. Six archdioceses and thirty-nine dioceses responded. It was found from these forty-five dioceses, using the term diocese for all, that thirty- seven conducted Sunday schools, fourteen Religious Va­ cation Schools, and thirty-four week-day classes. In

2^Comelius Collins, "The Confraternity, A Pro­ gram of Catholic Action," Proceedings of the National Catechetical Congress, November 15, 1941, p. 32.

2®Craven, 0£. cit., p. 516. 29Sastem Kansas Register. November 23, 1945. 31 parishes without parochial schools it was reported that thirty-seven dioceses provided week-day classes in religion. The progress that has been made during the past ten years in this field is shown by the fact that of the seventy-three dioceses that reported in the

N.C.W.C. survey for 1941, only two do not have Religious Vacation Schools.

The 1931 surveySO dealt with arrangements for religion classes and especially with types of program. The 1941 survey, 33- on the other hand was more extensive in that it sought information on legislation and volun­ tary agreements, teachers qualifications, standards of State Department of Education for courses in relig­ ious education, interest of states in moral and relig­ ious education, and Bible reading in public schools.

Father Franer, who compiled the 1941 report, states that because there are no absolutely exact figures for the number of Catholic children enrolled in public schools, an attempt was made to secure approximate figures from the Diocesan Directors of the Confraternity

^James E. Cummings, "Report of the NCWC Survey on Religious Instruction of Public School Children," Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Proceedings, Novem­ ber 18, 1941, p. 46.

31Ibid., p. 46. 32 of Christian Doctrine.

One value of the report, however, is that it gives us some indication of the number of Catholic children not attending Catholic schools who are actually receiving systematic religious instruction. Other in­ teresting statistics included in the report are that the enrollment for the year 1940 in the vacation schools of seventy dioceses amounted to 253,082, with a. total of 11,233 teachers. Of the latter number, 13 per cent were priests, 6 per cent seminarians, 40 per cent Sisters, and 41 per cent lay people.32

The Religious Vacation School cannot be accepted as a satisfactory solution of the problem of Catholic elementary education, as it is only an emergency measure intended to supply religious education for children who are unable to attend a parochial school. For this reason the Religious Vacation School should not be given a permanent place in the program of Catholic ele­ mentary education. Our Catholic Philosophy of Education demands that religious education be the cardinal point of the entire elementary curriculum; the Religious Vaca­ tion School therefore, can have ground for existence only so long as this ideal, or a close approach to it remains unattainable.

•^Ibid., p. 48. CHAPTER III

BEGINNINGS OP THE RELIGIOUS VACATION SCHOOL IN THE LEAVENWORTH DIOCESE

The Diocese of Leavenworth consists of twenty- one counties and comprises the Northeast section of the

State of Kansas* Some areas of the diocese are solidly

Catholic, hut in some of the counties the Catholic population is small and scattered*

Although individual efforts in holding summer­ time religious classes for children who do not attend parochial schools had been known before, no organized plan of Religious Vacation Schools was in operation in the Diocese of Leavenworth before 1929. Pew if any of the parishes lacking parochial schools failed to pro­ vide for the religious instruction of the children.

But most of this effort was expended in the old and popular "Sunday School", with its brief period and ir­ regular attendance. It has proven to be inadequate for the present day needs of children. In the fall of 1928 Hiss Eulalia Erbacker,^-

St. Mary’s, Kansas, then President of the Leavenworth

^Miss Erbacker is now (1945) Sister Mary John of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. She entered the Novitiate on December 8, 1938. 34

Diocesan Council of Catholic Women strove to interest her Board of Directors in promoting the vacation school movement. With the help of the Jesuit Fathers at St.

Mary’s Kansas, and of the Right Reverend Monsignor Patrick Mclnerney, Spiritual Director of the Council, through whom she received the approval of the Most Rev­ erend Bishop Johannes of Leavenworth, Miss Erbacker began to organize the schools.

Then Mother Mary Olive Mead, Mother Superior of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, was asked to supply

Sisters for the vacation school project to which she generously consented. In succession then, Miss Erbanker conferred with the pastors of the various rural parishes. The following summer 1929, Religious Vacation

Schools took form in the Leavenworth Diocese. Three hundred ninety-seven children were enrolled in nine schools conducted by twenty Sisters of Charity.

The success of the first year’s experiment was a strong argument in favor of the vacation schools and their establishment seemed assured. The Diocesan

Council helped organize these schools, supplied the first textbooks and materials for teachers and pupils. The course of studies in these schools was outlined by the

Catholic Rural Life Conference.

In 1930 morning sessions ranged from two and 35 one-half hours to four hours. School was generally held for half a day. The pupils age ranged from five to sixteen years. At Osage City an evening class was con­ ducted for adults interested in the faith. The parish of Ottawa devoted an additional two hours daily to singing and choir work. In six schools at that time one hundred and twenty-one children were prepared to receive their First Holy Communion.

In 1930 the Benedictine Sisters of Mount Saint

Scholastica College were asked to teach in the vacation schools. Previous to this, in 1925 they had taught a vacation school at Bendena. In 1931 the Benedictine Sisters taught in five vacation schools.

In 1932 a Diocesan Director of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine was appointed in the Diocese.

The Most Reverend Francis Johannes, Bishop of Leaven­ worth appointed the Reverend Thomas K. O ’Connor, pastor of St. Mary’s Church, Kansas City, Kansas, the first

Diocesan Director of the vacation schools. The vacation school project was placed under his jurisdiction. He enlarged and increased the work during the years 1932- 1941. Bishop Johannes made it mandatory in the Diocese of Leavenworth, that every parish that did not maintain a t>arochial school should annually have a vacation school, at least two weeks. The Leavenworth Diocesan 36

Council of Catholic Women assisted in the work which today is recognized as the Helper's Unit of the Confra­ ternity of Christian Doctrine.

The year 1933 saw ten new schools opened in

different parts of the diocese. The total enrollment

during that year was 1405. The following year, 1934, was a banner year for the schools, as thirty-three were holding sessions with an enrollment of 2000 children.

In this year the Benedictine Sisters taught the follow­

ing schools! Alma, Argentine (Mexican), Bendena, Bur­ lington, Coal Creek, Delia, Hiawatha, Lillis, Meriden,

Olathe, Ottawa, Summerfield, Troy, Waterville, Irving and Wheaton. The Ursuline Sisters taught Louisburg,

Emerald, Homewood and Perry. The Sisters of Charity

of Leavenworth taught in thirteen of the thirty-three

vacation schools, namely: St. Mary, St. Thomas, Kansas

City, Kansas, Garnett, Horaniff, Easton, St. Joseph of the Valley, Toganoxie, St. Mary, Rossville, Osage City,

Scranton, Lawrence and Sacred Heart, Leavenworth.2 in

1935 the Benedictine Sisters opened a vacation school

in Atchison for the colored children. This was the first such school in the diocese for negro children and

shows the gradual expansion of the vacation school

^Archives of St. Mary College, Xavier, Kansas, 1934 37 proj ect •

During the years of depression from 1932 to

1939 many obstacles were faced by the parents who were sending their children to these schools. Nevertheless the vacation school held up remarkably well under these obstacles.

A few more schools were added to the rapidly * expanding vacation school project during these years, Many sacrifices were made by the parents, but they made these sacrifices willingly in order to keep the schools in session. The records show an enrollment of 1507 in

1937 with an increase to 1613 in 1938. In 1940 there were about forty vacation schools in the diocese with an enrollment of about 1600 children. Prom 1929 to

1940 there were approximately 2500 children who made their First Holy Communion at the end of the vacation schools.

In 1941, Father O ’Connor, on account of press­ ing parish duties, asked to be relieved as Director of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Our present

Bishop, Bishop Schulte, accepted his resignation and the Reverend Leo Herken of Nortonville, Kansas, was appointed to succeed him. Father O ’Connor spent much time and energy in promoting the vacation school project and his work firmly established the schools in the 38

Leavenworth Diocese. During this time there were about eighty Sisters of the various Orders, engaged in vaca­ tion school work in the diocese. Seminarians and lay- women also assisted with the schools.

The Reverend Leo Herken, present Director of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, took up where

Father O'Connor left off. Under his wise direction the Religious Vacation School program has brought under its beneficent influence a larger and larger proportion of the public school pupils of the diocese. Every parish and mission where there is no parochial school now has a vacation school. Even in some parishes where there is a parochial school there are vacation schools for children attending public schools.

Owing to the war, there was a general migration to war plants and industrial centers in many of the localities of the diocese. As a result the enrollment went down in many of the vacation schools. War restric­ tion on travel by automobile also created problems in attendance. But in spite of all these obstacles the vacation schools for the most part carried on their work.

The pastors did everything possible to keep the vacation schools working and to them belongs the credit of keep­ ing the schools going during this war period.

The Religious Vacation School is decidedly a 39

pariah affair. The common practice is to have instruc­ tion given in each parish separately under the auspices

of the pastor, assisted by religious and secular teachers.

Like all parish activities, the Religious Vacation

School classes are supervised by the pastor, even when

the classes are managed by a group or society of lay- women.

The pastor or priest having charge of the parish or mission makes a survey and announces the time of

classes. To make sure that all will come, he visits the homes and arranges for the transportation of the children. Either he himself brings the children, or has some of the people do it. Arrangements are made by the pastor for the Sisters to teach the school and a place for them to stay while taking care of the vaca­ tion school. The enrollment has increased through the zealous efforts of pastors in visiting and contacting those Catholic parents who are indifferent.

Some of the pastors start their vacation school immediately after the close of the public schools. Others again wait until the latter part of May or June.

A few hold their schools yearly just before the opening

of the public schools. However, most of the schools are conducted in the early summer before the hot weather. 40

Experience has shown that it is better in most

places to conduct the vacation school for two weeks with both morning and afternoon sessions, than four weeks, forenoons only. The transportation problem is intensified when the school lasts four weeks. Likewise it is more difficult to interest children for four weeks than for two.

Host of the Religious Vacation Schools adopt the public school grading as a standard. A few have special classes for those children who are deficient in the knowledge of their religion. These classes pre­ pare for the Sacraments of Penance, Holy Eucharist and

Confirmation. Other factors such as size, age, and intelligence are also considered in the formation of the first class. When better acquaintance of the children reveals a more satisfactory means of classifi­ cation they are advanced. This method prevents dis­ couragement in the older and larger but less intelligent pupils. The deficiency of knowledge that is sure to manifest itself is partly supplied by frequent review of the work of the previous grade. The number of teachers in a given school is

determined in great part by the number of children,

their different needs, and the availability of teachers. 41

At least two teachers are necessary for the best results in any given school, 3ince a better system of grading is thus provided for. At present there are four chief sources whence the Religious Vacation School teachers are drawn. The greater number come from religious com­ munities of women who staff our parochial schools throughout the regular school year.

Attendance at University summer sessions, need of complete rest and relaxation, and the duty of an annual retreat are causes which limit and render inad­ equate the number of Sisters available for the work*

At the present time the Sisters of Charity of

Leavenworth, the Benedictines of Atchison, and the Ur- suline Sisters of Paola are taking care of the relig­ ious instruction of children in about fifty rural par­ ishes. It is an unquestionable fact that the increase in the number of pupils brought under systematic in­ struction in the past sixteen years in our diocese, is due to their labors. The influence they exert over the children and parents is incalcuable. Their psycholog­ ical effect on non-Catholics is one of profound admir­ ation and respect because of their complete devotion to duty; they are a source of justifiable pride to Catholic people because their presence indicates marked 42 progress, and their labors are a source of satisfaction, relief a.nd incentive to any priest.

The Sisters thoroughly enjoy their work and also derive spiritual benefit from it. It is a genuine spiritual work of mercy, a species of missionary enter­ prise that appeals to them. After they have once taken up the work, the Sisters are eager to enlist for it again and again.

Seminarians in ever increasing numbers have also been responding to the call for teachers. In far flung missions, particularly where there are many inconven­ iences and unusual hardships to be endured, seminarians can labor more effectively than Sisters. The Sacred

Congregation of the Seminarians has transmitted through the Apostolic Delegate, a strong recommendation that seminarians be employed in teaching vacation schools.

Numbers have been brought back to the Faith; whole fam­ ilies prepared for Baptism through the instruction of the seminarians, who at the same time gained capacity and really valuable experience as catechists. In our own diocese the seminarians have been very active. From 1937 to 1943 inclusive, vacation school at Waterville, St. Monica's parish was taught by seminarians. In 1938 the Jesuit Scholastics took over the vacation school work at Our Lady of the Snow’s 43

Indian parish, Mayetta, Kansas. In 1944, Alma, Alta

Yista and Eskridge vacation schools were taught by Sem­

inarians. They also taught at Bendena, St. Patrick’s parish from 1926-1932.

A third source of supply of vacation school teachers is found in the public school teachers who are willing to devote part of their summer vacation to the work of imparting the saving truths of Christ to the uninstructed young. A certain public school teacher in the diocese gave three weeks of her time and refused to accept even transportation coverage.

Local women with former teaching experience are some­ times secured for vacation school work.

The fourth source of teacher supply brings the

Catholic College woman into the picture. Some of these have been placed in full charge of the schools, others have been assigned to specialized tasks. Par­ ticularly does the organization of the Religious Va­ cation School provide an opening for teachers who are competent in the field of art, music, organized rec­ reation and handwork. Most of these are trained through the instrumentality of the Confraternity of Christian

Doctrine.

Various organizations are helping in sundry ways to foster the vacation school movement. Diocesan 44

Council of Catholic Women for instance render various services to the cause.

Local conditions govern the manner of providing for the lodging of the Sisters. While in the parish the Sisters stay at the parish house which the pastor vacates for the time of the vacation school. Seminar­ ians have found their residence with a congenial family, and the same type of accomodation is found for lay

teachers who may not live in the vicinity of the school.

Financing a Religious Vacation School is often a real problem, due to the very conditions which neces­ sitate such a project. The various items of expense include the board and honorarium of the Sisters, trans­

portation, textbooks and recreational equipment. In nearly all of the Religious Vacation Schools in the

Diocese of Leavenworth the expenses are drawn from the

parish budget or a special collection at the close of

the vacation school. Lacking definite figures the writer cannot offer an estimate of the costs of these

schools. Results amply demonstrate that the Religious

Vacation School is one of the very best investments of

our time, energy and money. Various organizations give other than financial

help to this cause by finding a convenient and suitable

home for the Sisters where a convent is not available 45 and by listing families with names of children who attend public schools and who are or should be Catholics*

The generous assistance of one or more tactful woman in contacting families designed by the pastor is most helpful to the Sisters engaged in this work as is also the provision of transportation and convenient lodging for children living too far from the vacation school center.

When necessary, aid in carrying on a health program is provided. Salvaging suitable material and preparing handwork courses for the children in the form of illustrated religion books, posters, scrap books, and charts are supplementary tasks for every vacation school project. Moreover, many types of religious articles are easily made and add to the profit and joy of the pupils. Finally, in every center, interested small groups of lay women, public school teachers, and others with normal training assist the religious in actual teaching. In rural districts, various means of transpor­ tation are used in bringing the children to where the vacation school is held; busses, truck and automobile, are being used; many of the children walk, while in certain localities neighbors willingly alternate in taking children to school. The place in which classes 46 are held vary according to local needs. For the most part classes are held in the parish church basement.

In some instances the rural and public schools were used but usually in localities where the Catholics were in the majority. In those parishes having a parochial school, where a vacation school was necessary, the parish school was used. Wherever the place is, it should be such that the children will have easy access to the Church.

The daily schedule called for the attendance at Mass every morning starting about 8:30. After Mass the children would repair to the place where the vaca­ tion school was to be held. The opening of the school began with the registration of all the children. The card asked for their name, their parents’ name, dis­ tance from school, etc., whether they would like to take a correspondence course during the winter months.

At the end of the school these cards would be sent in to the Diocesan Office of the Confraternity of Christian

Doctrine and these children’s names sent to Mount Saint

Scholastica College, Atchison, which had charge of the course. Ea.ch morning the daily exercises were begun by the singing of hymns by the children. The fundamentals

of the catechism were stressed in both the lower and 47 higher groups of children. The teachers were free to choose the textbooks for their school; and the same was true in regard to the Bible History. However, most of the schools used the Baltimore Catechism and the Diocesan Catechism used in the parochial schools of the diocese. A recess period was given at 10:30

A.M. and again in the afternoon.

REGISTRATION CARD N a m e ...... Age .... Grade . . . Date of Birth ......

Address ......

Parish......

Rather ...... Religion ...... Mother ...... Religion ......

Number of Years Attending Vacation School ......

B a p t i s m ......

Pirst Communion ......

Confirmed ...... Distance from Church ......

Correspondence Course for Religion ......

Correspondence Course for Bible History ......

Sister ......

Order ......

Date 48

The following daily schedule was outlined for the Religious Vacation Schools by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine:

8:15 - Mass

9:10 - Picture Study and Sacred Stories 9:30 - Christian Doctrine

10:00 - Conduct and Religious Practice

10:10 - Recess and Supervised Recreation 10:30 - Singing

10:45 - liturgy

11:00 - Project Work 11:50 - Closing Prayers 12:00 - Dismissal

The daily schedule must necessarily be adapted to local circumstances. Where teachers are best quali­ fied to teach a specific subject, departmental work produces excellent results.

Since the war nearly all the schools had all day sessions with two complete weeks of schooling instead of four weeks with one-half day of school. This was done to conserve gas and tires and also to give the children more time to help their parents with the farm work. In the afternoon interesting projects were worked out by the pupils. Smaller children draw, color, 49

and mount pictures; make paper frames for holy pictures; cardboard altars, cribs, picture books, rosaries of paper chains. Older girls make miniature vestments;

small altar linens; boys make crucifixes, shrines for their homes, altars, wooden plaques, etc. The religious projects have proven to be a real help. They appeal to

the children; they have a decided religious and educa­ tional value. The things that a child makes and takes home, simple as they are, but loved because they are his own creation, serve not only as a renewed reminder

of the lessons learned, but can be the instruments of an apostolate in the home. They bring objects of re­

ligion to many places where they have never found their way before. Though the vacation school is completely sep­

arate from the regular parish school wherein secular subjects are taught, its aim is the same; namely, to

educate the child religiously. The Religious Vacation School proposes not merely to instruct the child in the truths of his religion but strives to lay the setting and build the groundwork of a truly Christian

character.

In line with the best trends in modern education many of the visual aids recommended by the National

Center of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine are 50 now in use* The instructors strive to make child feel that he is a vital factor in the work of the Church.

He is taught to express the truths of his religion in an objective manner so that he may carry out the same principal in adult life. In addition to the regula.r program it has also been found stimulating to have at least one outing during the term; this may take a variety of foims, such as a field day, a picnic, or a hike. Such an event especially when held toward the end of the term, will serve as an incentive to attendance and continued interest.

During the years since the start of the Religious

Vacation School approximately 20,000 children have attended these schools.* Do not these figures speak for themselves? Do they not prove what a blessed suc­ cess the Religious Vacation School has been in our dio­ cese? Pastors, sisters, seminarians and teachers alike testify of the blessings that have come over the face of our diocese because of these Religious Vacation Schools. Many pastors tell of the gratitude to God of men and women who have been redeemed from their coldness and indifference and brought back to the practice of

*Cf. Table 1, p. 107. 51

the Faith hy the happy conversation of their little ones

on the truths they themselves learned in their childhood.

There is no pastor or lay person who would not recognize

the blessings of the Religious Vacation Schools, and express grateful appreciation for its establishment in the Diocese of Leavenworth.

The vacation school has proved its worth as an

agency of religious education in the Diocese of Leaven­ worth. This diocese has passed through the period of experimentation, and now regards the Religious Vacation

School as an important part of the effort to bring the truths of faith to an ever widening group of children.

The experience of the past sixteen years has

demonstrated, that the vacation school is a powerful

instrument of religious education. It is felt that it will be a means of preserving the faith of numerous

children in the small towns and country districts. The people of the Leavenworth Diocese are looking forward to further development and strengthening the internal

organization of the vacation school, and to an increased number of Religious Vacation Schools in the diocese.

In the Diocese of Leavenworth it has been

attempted and with success to bring religious instruction

the year round to underprivileged children attending

the public schools, and making God better known in homes

where religious principles have failed to function. CHAPTER IY

THE NEED OP A POLLOW-UP PROGRAM

The Religious Vacation School is of short dura­ tion. It is not right to pour spiritual nourishment into the soul for one short month and then abandon it

and let it starve for the eleven months to follow.

The child needs and is entitled to perpetual care, re­ ligious instruction must be made available for the

entire year. This may take various forms. In many

parishes children attend religious instruction every Saturday throughout the school year. Classes are held

a half day, thus strengthening and preserving the knowledge and contacts effected by the session of the previous summer, as well as promoting the further re­ ligious development of the children. The hours between nine and twelve on Saturday morning are utilized for this purpose. A half hour of organized play serves to make the program more attractive.

The Sunday school and the Religious Correspon­ dence Course are other means of supplying this necessary follow-up program. Whatever means are employed, it is certain that the best and most lasting results will be reaped where a systematic follow-up plan supplements

the vacation school 53

The Religion Correspondence Course provides a means of instruction for children and adults who cannot otherwise be reached or assembled for effective relig­

ious instruction. Distance, lack of transportation and frequently impassable roads prevent many good Cath­ olic families from attending Mass and hearing the Gos­ pel of joy. The names of the children whose religious schooling is retarded by these circumstances are secured from the local pastors, and the United States mail is called into service as a medium to bring the catechism lesson into the isolated country home. In the Diocese of Leavenworth the Correspondence

Course in religion is conducted in the following manner: To determine the number of children who may be in need of such a course, a request is sent to each pastor asking him to list each child in his mission, with this infor­ mation; child's name, whether the child had received the

Sacraments of Baptism, Holy Eucharist and Confirmation; age, grade, parents' names, post office address; how far from Churdh, how often they attend Mass; and how many instructions had been received from the pastor or cate­ chist during the nine months of the school year.

When the most Reverend Bishop Paul C. Schulte asked Mount Saint Scholastica College to take charge of a Religion Correspondence Course for the children from 54

the rural areas where there are no Catholic schools, a stimulus was provided for the initiation of Confraternity work into the college. Information concerning the courses was sent in September to almost 540 children,

400 of whom responded. Uow 325 of them are keeping up

regularly with the work and write that they appreciate

what is being done for them.1 Most of those registered

for the course are children of families scattered over 12,524 square miles. The children from thirty-one

rural parishes are enrolled.

A Unit was needed to take care of the correction

of the lessons and regular mailing. A call for volun­ teers brought ten upper-classmen who immediately recog­ nized the project as vital Catholic Action, and each

one induced another student to come to the next meeting when actual work began. Sunday morning was chosen as

a suitable time for catechetical work. The students willingly sacrificed two or three hours every two weeks

to carry on the work of the Correspondence Course. A chalxman was appointed, and typists for addressing the

envelopes and secretaries for follow-up work to the pastors and students were selected. The group soon had an orderly system of filing, mailing, addressing envelopes

^Eastern Kansas Register, March 15, 1946. 55 and filing them with each family’3 name. A great aid to expedite the filing of envelopes with correct mater­ ial was putting the number of the courses in the stamp corner. This was done when typing the address, and the number of the lesson was marked after the return address.

A complete ledger is kept, giving a complete picture of the whole course. It tells the full story of each parish, gives the name of the child enrolled in the course, hi3 grade, and course number, the grade of each lesson returned, the remittance sent in by each correspondent, the date of mailing and receipt of each lesson, the names of those who did not answer and those who started and fell by the wayside, or moved to places where they could go to a Catholic school.

The Correspondence Course, which was developed by the Reverend Leo Herken, Diocesan Director, is divided into three distinct classes and takes care of the children in the grades and high school this year.

Bishop Rink’s, A Catechism of the Catholic Religion,

Humber 1, is the text studied in Course I, by children up to and including the third grade. The tests covering the material are chiefly completion and matching.

Phillipp’s, The Baltimore Catechism, Number 2, is used for Courses II and III. The first half of the book is covered in Course II by the children in the fourth, 56

fifth and sixth grades. The last half is studied in Course III by those in the seventh and eighth grades and in high school. The test3 for these two courses include both direct and thought questions. A few prac­ tical maxims or helps to Christian life are included in each lesson.

A series of sixteen lessons are mailed semi­ monthly. In preparing for each lesson the pupil is referred to specific pages in the catechism. After studying the pages assigned, he is asked to lay aside his catechism and answer the questions on the test, which he returns to the college by the date indicated.

The next lesson is not sent out until the previous one has been returned.

The cost or remittance which is paid by either the student or his pastor is very small. For Course I, twenty-five cents is asked and for Courses II and III, thirty-five cents each. If more than one from a family is taking the course the fee is thirty cents per person. The Most Reverend Bishop defrays the remainder of the expense.

Bi-weekly, about twenty girls spend Sunday morn­ ing correcting and sending out catechism lessons to cover three hundred children who are not privileged to attend Catholic schools, this is but a small fraction 57

of the large number of those who are in public schools, even in the Diocese of Leavenworth in which these children live* These volunteers began their work with enthusiasm* Some of them attended public schools them­

selves and were glad to have the opportunity to review the fundamental truths of their religion.

Sympathetic understanding of the little ones whose papers they were grading, was needed on the part

of the teachers. Some of the college students, who had no experience with children, had to be guided to

a better understanding of them according to their age capacity. Encouraging notes written to the children

established a bond between the student teachers and their correspondents. Comments on the neatness of the papers were made frequently in the beginning of the course. Many children strove to do better. These brought an improvement in penmanship and also in grades.

Prejudice had to be broken down in some locali­ ties. No response was coming from a certain mission parish; but when one of the Confraternity members visited relatives in the vicinity, they mentioned the fine res­ ponse which had been given to the course. Soon the lessons began coming in from that mission. It seemed that the parents had decided the venture was a new one, and not worthwhile so did not encourage their children 58 to answer until aroused by the interest of the neighbors.

The students who volunteered for Confraternity work in the form of the Religion Correspondence Course came from fifteen dioceses in ten different states. At the regular meetings, which are opened with the official prayer of the Confraternity, they also studied the Manual and discussed its contents. Occasionally they invited outstanding authorities in the field to speak to them. They hope to go back to their parishes with a clear knowledge of Confraternity set-up, and an eagerness to help where they are needed. They have learned the truth of the statement made by Pope Pius X, forty years ago when he wrote that: "When preformed as it should be, the teaching of the catechism never fails to be of profit to those who listen to it."

They feel amply repaid for their time and labor for they realize that they are privileged to share in a great cause - that of spreading Christ’s kingdom.

On retreat day, held on the first Sunday in

March, the entire student body was received into the

Confraternity. Thus the grain planted in September has grown to include the whole college, and the field is ripe for more and better work next year. A local Commission of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine was organized as a part of the National Federation of 59

Catholic College Students.

Prom what has "been said above, it is easy to see how deeply the Correspondence Course enters into the lives of many hundreds of children - and not only their lives, hut the lives of their parents and the non-

Catholic neighbors. It is not to be thought that the

Correspondence Course takes the place of the instruction of the pastor in regard to the children any more than does a Sister's school. The pastors themselves do not feel that they are being supplanted. Indeed, they wel­ come this work as an aid, for the Correspondence Course accomplishes what many local pastors have tried to do themselves. But it has been their experience that by themselves they could not successfully carry on the correspondence work for more than a short time. The diocesan method provides order, regularity, and stability to the course, releases the pastor from financial res­ ponsibility and assures him that the children of his parish or mission are receiving regular religious in­ struction.

A good measure of the merit of any method is its success. The children are always eager for the lessons to come, and always seem sorry when there is a delay in the prompt return of their lessons. Two years experience in Religion Correspondence work, shows that it has won 60 the approval of pastors, parents and children, and that it is suited to the missionary conditions of the Diocese of Leavenworth.

The correspondence always arrives at the child­ ren’s home on a certain day. Children always like to receive mail, and it is no small "boast on the part of those children living in the rural sections of the diocese that they have some mail coming to them each day. The Religion Correspondence Course is a helpful means of instruction, and often leads to the formation of a religious study circle in the home, "but we cannot place it on a par with personal instruction by compe­ tent teachers.

Has the Correspondence Course been successful?

Commendatory letters from pastors and parents and the response of children themselves provide an affirmative answer. Moreover, the fact that 90 per cent answer all the questions proves the experiment to be successful, and makes one realize that almost all do want to learn more about God and His Church. Last summer a young priest was sent to one of the small missions in the diocese, to prepare the children for Confirmation and Hirst Holy Communion. At this particular mission there were ten taking the Correspondence Course. For several weeks a priest was unable to reach this place because 61

of road and weather conditions. While instructing there,

the priest was edified at the knowledge of one little lad, the only one who was to receive First Holy Commun­

ion. He was only eight, hut the manner in which he

responded and his unusual understanding of Confession

and Holy Communion surprised the priest. And this lad had gained the knowledge through the Correspondence

Course. This is only one example. Other striking and

impressive incidents could he related which have actually taken place throughout the diocese as a result of this

excellent course being offered to the children, whose care must ever he kept in mind.

Hot only has it heen an opportunity for the

children to learn more about their religion, hut it has

also heen a great boon to the parents to revive their Faith. Naturally the parents have taken an interest

in the course. Their letters indicate that they are

studying the lessons with their children. It has become for them a family study club. It was suggested that they say the Rosary in common during the month of October that they have some special devotion during Lent, such as the reading of a spiritua.1 book, and an altar during the month of May. From the many letters received, from the requests for Rosaries, prayerbooks and other relig­

ious articles, we know that the suggestions are being 62

carried out in many a home.

Moreover, the Correspondence Course has been a

little missionary. The catechism, the lessons entering

every two weeks into these homes where the priest was

never welcome before, have changed the attitude toward

the Church. It has rekindled the faith of many a

father and mother. In a missionary district, six

fathers and mothers asked to receive the Sacrament of

Confirmation with their children. Pastors have reported

many conversions due to the course. Non-Catholic fathers and mothers, helping their children with the

lessons became interested in the Catholic religion,

with the result that they are within the fold today*

Truly then, the Correspondence Course has

played and is still playing an important part in fur­

thering Christ's kingdom in the Diocese of Leavenworth.

In addition for the first time in the history of the diocese, high school students attending public high schools are being given an opportunity of taking

a similar course through the mail. More than 200

students have signified their desire to take the course, which is being conducted by the St. Mary College,

Xavier.2

^Eastern Kansas Register, September 21, 1945 63

Under the supervision of Sister Leo Gonzaga, about fifty helpers in the college department of St. Mary, Xavier, assisted in the correspondence work.

The high school courses are based upon the text written by the Reverend John Laux, and comprise an outline for four years of study.3 The correspondence committee on the helper’s unit of the Confraternity of Christian

Doctrine corrected more than nine hundred papers up to February 1.

In addition to the students in public high schools with the diocese, one student is enrolled from Oklahoma, and one from St. Joseph, Missouri, Two adults are also enrolled. Out of the 166 students who took the course one hundred of the persevering students were girls; sixty-six were boys. It was estimated by the correspondence study committee of the helper’s unit of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine at the St.

Mary College, Xavier, that twenty-five of the 166 students completed their course during April, and a majority of the others finished before June 1. Plans are already under way to improve the organization and methods of checking and correcting papers, so that a much greater

^Eastern Kansas Register, March 29, 1946 64

number of students can be enrolled next year.4

Starting the third term with a larger enrollment

than last year, the CCD Correspondence Courses in both grade and high school give promise of a banner year in

the religious courses by mail. The grade school depart­ ment of the Correspondence Courses has well over 500

enrolled in the catechism and more than 300 in the

Bible History courses according to Father Herken, Dio­ cesan Confraternity Director.

This is the first year for the courses in Bible History and the interest shown so far in this branch is encouraging and edifying. Four courses are being offered in Bible History - two for the lower grades and two for the upper grades. Two more courses for the upper grades will be written this winter and ma.de avail­

able nex£ fall (1946). The course for the lower grades

is based on the text by the Most Rev. F. J. Knecht, while the upper grades will use the book written by

Bishop Gilmour. Sister M. Ethelburg of Mount Saint

Scholastica College, Atchison, and her staff have charge

of both the Bible History and catechism courses.

The courses for high school students likewise

Eastern Kansas Register, May 17, 1946. 65 show an increase of students over last year. A course for third year students is "being added this year. Most of the students who took the course last year are again enrolling with the intention of completing the four year course. Father Louis Hauber and Sister Leo G-onzaga. with with their staff at Xavier take care of the high school department•

Students in the high school religion courses are listed by parishes as follows: Alma 32; Bethel 8;

Bonner Springs 1; Burlington 2; Corning 28; Delia 3;

Doniphan 4; Edgerton 4; Eudora 21; Fidelity 2; Leavenworth 10; Marysville 63; Mercier 7; Mooney Creek

11; Nortonville 6; Olathe 12; Osage City 9; Ottawa 1;

Perry 6; Rossville 7; Sabetha 21; Atchison - St. Louis

Parish 3; St. Patrick’s Parish 14; Tonganoxie 10;

Troy 12; Valley Falls 4; Bendena 8; Waterville 8. All in all, the Correspondence Course seems to have filled a very definite need in the diocese, in caring for about eighty-five per cent of the children who are handicapped and underprivileged. They ordin­ arily would receive from three to six instructions a year owing to the uncertainty of attending, and irreg­ ularity of classes consequent upon missionary conditions,

^Eastern Kansas Register, September 13, 1946 66

inclement weather, sickness in the family, etc. The Correspondence Course probably has its best promise of

continuance from the active approval and support given

it by the laity of the diocese, by the Sisters and the

priests. Objection is sometimes made that the teaching

of religion is too personal. to succeed by the corres­

pondence lessons, that they place in the hands of the

teacher, the mother, material with which she may give

personal instruction to her children. The Religion

Correspondence Lesson is studied in the farm home by the whole family group under the supervision of the mother. Thus is strengthened the practice of family

religious instruction.

The Religion Correspondence Course offers one

effective means of continuing through the year the good work of the Religious Vacation School. CHAPTER V

EVALUATION

In particular cases however, and under certain

conditions the Religious Vacation School is recognized

in Catholic circles as a more efficient means than the Sunday School for reaching children who cannot he

brought the influence of the parochial school. Specif­ ically these cases are such as arise (l) where the es­

tablishment of a parochial school is for the time being impossible, (2) in places where children cannot be accomodated in the parochial school, (3) in places where Catholic children are attending public schools.

The only means of reaching these children used to be the Sunday School. To meet this contingency, Catholics

are beginning to send their children to the Religious Vacation School. While they realize that it falls

short of the noim set up for Catholic Religious training, they appreciate its value as a complement to the too often sketchy and superficial training of the Sunday

School.

It was feared that children would not attend

schools of religion held during vacation time. As a matter of fact vacation begins to lose its savor within

a week or two. Then, too, the souls of the little ones 68

are hungry for the bread of doctrine and the life of

frequent contact with the Church and its Divine Host,

and daily association with consecrated persons, draw

irresistibly to the Eternal Magnet, whose yoke is sweet and whose burden is light. The children do attend in

surprisingly large numbers and with edifying regularity.

Frequently they leave the closing exercises of the vaca­ tion school with genuine regret and they live in antici­ pation of the next year's session.

Fears were expressed that the vacation school would militate against the growth of the parish schools.

Pastors replying to the questionnaire are unanimous in the opinion that the Religious Vacation School project helps rather than hinders attendance at parochial schools. The following is a typical answer; "The

Religious Vacation School promotes rather than inter- fers with the parochial school." Bishop O'Hara has called attention to the significant fact that whereas the spread of contraception has accounted for an alarming decrease in the public school enrollment, and has made its tragic effect felt even in our own ranks, Catholic schools by no means have suffered such a downward spiralling enrollment, and his Excellency voices the opinion that this encouraging fact is due, at least in part, to the wholesome effect of Religious Vacation 69

schools.1 In many parishes where there was previously

no parochial school, the vacation classes have generated

a demand for the full-year Catholic school and have

effectively paved the way for its establishment.

From what has been said above it is sufficiently

apparent that the chief effectiveness of the Religious Vacation School seems to lie in the fact that it provides

at least the bare essentials of a religious education

for a great many children who would never be brought in contact with the ordinary Sunday School, or would not

be given sufficient instruction through the Sunday School only. Although the movement is still too young to pa.ss

a final judgment upon its value, it cannot be denied

that it has produced some desirable results.

A few external evidences of this interior im­

provement a„re hinted at by those who replied to the

questionnaire. One is the formation of contacts to the

Church by association with priests and Sisters. There

can be little doubt that such contacts will prove a

potent influence for good in later life.

Likewise, the awakening of a religious sense of

the child has its reaction on the religious life of

parents. By leading the children closer to God, the parents also have been brought close to Him. Several

iLeon McNeill, "The Religious Vacation School," Journal of Religious Instruction. September, 1943, p. 45. 70 careless Catholics have been brought back to the Sacra­ ments because of the exhuberant interest of their children in religion. And non-Catholic parents have admitted that they have been forced to take a new outlook on re­ ligion because of their children’s love for the know­ ledge of God. A non-Catholic mother whose two Methodist daughters have attended the vacation school for five weeks recounted the impression made upon the children by the story of heaven, adding further that she herself through her daughters’ enthusiasm had begun to think about that subject.

Another non-Catholic mother of five pupils heartily opposed the idea of school during the children’s vacation days. After one week of listening to her daughter's bubbling account of her lessons, the mother became one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the vacation school. The children unknowlingly turned their parents toward God. We have the living proof of the poet's words, "The child is farther of the man."

Vacation schools have proved successful because of the consecutiveness of the instructions; and children are free from all other school work. The chief diffi­ culties are: insufficient number of workers; inadequate facilities for holding classes. The chief consolations are: children are responsive generally despite the 71 difficulties; home visiting establishes a religious con­ tact in the family, that children are thus kept in the way of salvation by reception of the Sacraments is the chief consolation.

Under these headings the writer has given the sane view concerning the present status of the Religious Vacation School, namely that while it does not represent the ideal which Catholic theory and Catholic philosophy seek, and can never be substituted for the parochial school, nevertheless, in view of the present conditions it may prove a workable solution for a difficult and complex problem. CHAPTER VI

RESULTS OP THE QUESTIONNAIRE

In order to make this history as complete as possible, a letter of inquiry was sent to the pastors of each parish. The cooperation of the Diocesan Direc­ tor was requested in securing the names of the pastors in the diocese who would be in a position to give the desired information.

Prom the fifty letters that were sent to the different pastors forty-three responded. Information was sought from the Diocesan Director and the Mother- houses of the Religious Orders whose members teach the

Religious Vacation Schools.

A questionnaire was then mailed to the pastors and to those who were asked to give the required data. The completed questionnaire received from forty-three parishes f o m the basis for the discussion and tables that follow. The following pages form a summary of the answers received to the questions in the questionnaire. IS YOUR PARISH IN THE RURAL OR URBAN DISTRICT? *

R u r a l ...... 40 U r b a n ...... 11 Rural and Urban . . . 3

*Cf. Table 2, pp. 108-109 73

Rural vacation schools are those which are held in farming sections where there is no parish and the

Catholic farming population is scattered for miles around, or a farming community removed many miles from the paro­ chial Church or mission school.

Figures prove that the rural parish is the chief source of Catholic population and the principal nursery of vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.

Certainly the religious needs of this great body of children should not be disregarded.

HCM MANY TEACHERS TAUGHT THE FIRST YEAR?

Except in far flung missions where Seminarians do most effective work, two teaching Sisters are usually in charge of a vacation school. Several lay teachers complete the staff in a well organized school conducting religious dramatization, picture study and project classes correlated with Christian Doctrine taught by the Sisters and Seminarians. If religious are not available, lay teachers teach Christian Doctrine under the supervision of the pastor. The number of teanhers in a given school is determined in great part by the number of children, and their different needs.

BY WHOM IS THE VACATION SCHOOL TAUGHT? Religious Vacation Schools are conducted by

Sisters and laywomen under the supervision of the local 74 pastor in those parishes not halving a parochial school.

During the past summer (1945) these schools were con­ ducted in about fifty parishes with an enrollment of approximately 1300 children. This work is under the supervision of the Reverend Leo Herken, Diocesan Director of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

The Benedictine Sisters of Atchison, the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth and the Ursuline Sisters of Paola are taking care of the instructions of the Cath­ olic children in public schools in the diocese. The Sisters of St. Francis from Denver conduct a vacation school at Hartford.

In forty-three parishes religious teachers only are employed. The parishes of Doniphan and Horaniff report that religious instruction is given by the pastor. In the parishes at Holton, St. Joseph of the Valley and Lillis, pastor and laywomen give instruction. One parish Emerald, reports just one lay teacher. Rossville vacation school was taught by one Jesuit and two Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth.

The above varies from year to year.*

WHAT IS THE PRESENT NUMBER OP TEACHERS FOR YOUR VACATION

SCHOOL?

*Cf. Table 3, pp. 110-111 75

The present number of teachers for the Religious

Vacation School is generally two for each parish. St.

Mary Academy, Xavier had six teachers; Troy, three;

Lawrence, three; Rossville, three; Lillis, four; St.

Joseph of the Valley, three; Waterville, three, Doniphan,

one; and Emerald, one.

WHAT IS TIE APPROXIMATE HUMBER OF CATHOLIC PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE PARISH?

Results from the questionnaire show that approx­

imately 1154 Catholic children in rural areas of the

diocese are attending public schools. As only thirty-

eight of the pastors answered this question this is not an exact estimate of the number of Ca,tholic children attending public schools.

WHAT PROPORTION OP THESE CHILDREN ARE RECEIVING INSTRUC­

TION? As can be seen from Table 4 only* eighty-five

per cent of these children are receiving instruction.

This leaves about fifteen per cent that are receiving

only such instruction as is given in the home.

This table is not as complete as the writer would wish it to be, but many of the pastors failed to give the required data for this question.

*Cf. Table 4, p. 112. 76

DO M Y HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ATTEND? NON-CATHOLICS?

Twelve parishes reported that high school stu­ dents attend the vacation school. Burlington 3;

Everest 3; Fidelity 25; Sdgerton 1; Hartford 6; Holton 3; Mound City 2; Ottawa 3; Osage City 28; Troy 3; Rossville 8; Waterville 4; Wetmore 8.

Many vacation schools permit non-Catholics to attend when they wish to do so. Naturally a certain number of conversions result. Baptisms mentioned in the reports from 1929-1940 total about one hundred and twenty-five. The following parishes have non-Catholics attending. Ottawa 4; Bendena 2; Tonganoxie 3.

The high school students in the vacation school present a special problem, but the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine plans to build up a program adapted to their interests and needs. That the high school students should follow a course of study which not only reviews the fundamentals of Catholic Doctrine and prac­ tice, but which treats the serious problems which they must face now and in later life is the work of this organization. The method for this group should stimulate initiative; call for self activity and allow abundant discussion. It should aim to guide the students in working out questions and problems, and, in arriving at the truth by their own efforts. 77

ARE TEBRE ANY SECTIONS IN IEE PARISH WHERE THE DISTANCE

PROM CHURCH MAKES IT PIPE I CULT POR THE CHILDREN TO ATTEND INSTRUCTIONS?

Twenty-eight of the pastors say that transporta­ tion is a hig problem for many parents. Some of the children come a distance of twelve to eighteen miles.

Eighteen report that distance is no handicap. One pastor says that his parish serves people in 25 square miles.

Another pastor reports that his parish is county wide; some children live about seventeen miles.

IS THERE ANY SYSTEMATIC PLAN OP VISITING THE HOMES OP

CHILDREN WHOSE PARENTS ARE INDIPP5RENT IN REGARD TO ATTENDANCE AT VACATION SCHOOL?

Twenty-six of the pa,stors answered "yes" to the above question. Eight answered "no". Nine left the space blank. Those pastors that answered "no" said that there was no need for visiting homes as the attendance of the children at the vacation school was excellent.

One answered that there were no indifferent parents in his parish. Here are some of the means used by some of the pastors.

1. Pamily visitation

2. Announcements and good will 3. Secure the cooperation of the parents

4. Pastor’s zeal 78

5. Stress need of Catholic education

6« Personal interviews with parents, with follow-up

interviews when children are absent

7. Department of teachers of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. HOW ARE THE PUPILS GROUPED?

The returns indicate that practically all

classes in the Religious Vacation Schools are grouped

as follows; Primary, Intermediate, and Junior High.

One parish reports that grouping is done according to

ability to receive instruction. One pastor remarks that it is impossible to group the children due to dissim­

ilarity of needs and scarcity of teachers, to follow a system of grading used in the elementary schools. It

seems that the most workable method is to classify them according to their needs; namely, with a view to prepar­ ation for a certain Sacrament. 1. Prayer class, made up of those not old enough to prepare for any Sacrament.

2. Pirst Communion class. 3. Confirmation class.

A conscious effort should be made to bring each child’s religious education level up to that of his secular education. Grade and grade grouping should conform to the best educational standards. 79

IS THE SCHEDULE OUTLINED IN THE VACATION SCHOOL MANUAL FOLLOWED IN YOUR VACATION SCHOOL?

There is no special course of study in the

Leavenworth Diocese. Several of the schools follow the plan outlined in the Religious Vacation School Manual published by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

This well graded material and the ably selected teacher helps have been used by a few parishes with a great amount of success.

IF NOT WHAT METHOD IS BEING USED? Each pastor or Sister in charge of the vacation school chooses his or her own course of study which consists of Bishop Fink * s Catechism and Gilmour1s Bible

History, both these textbooks are used in the parochial school of the diocese. Many of the visual aids recommended by the

National Center of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine are now in use. Most of the parishes adopt the method suited to their locality. Owing to the different local conditions existing in this diocese, some of the rural schools being remote from any Church, it is practically impossible to observe strict uniformity of system in the instruction of public school children.

In some places the Confraternity Edition of the

Young Catholic Messenger Series is being generously used to supplement the more foimal class work, and to continue 80 the process of education through the school year.

ANY INCREASE IN THE PAROCHIAL SCHOOL AS A RESULT OP THE

VACATION SCHOOL?

Many pastors, especially in the rural districts, replied that they did not have a parochial school. One pa.stor reported that there was an increase in the Cath­ olic high school enrollment.

In the total enrollment in 1934 there was a decrease of 119. Pather O ’Connor, then the Diocesan Director of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, explained this as the result of the fact that some of the children enrolled in parochial schools.

ANY PROJECT WORK CARRIED ON?

Answers to the questionnaire revealed that all parishes with the exception of one had carried on some type of project work. Project work particularly in the form of devel­ oping booklets in correlation with the class lessons is an important part of the program in the vacation school. In the Religious Vacation School the child develops his own booklet under the direction of the teachers. Project activities are not mere "busy" work, or assignments which are intended only to keep the pupils occupied.

The development of an attractive 'booklet containing pictures, drawings and brief compositions correlated 81 with typea of instruction can he made genuine learning activity and it is beneficial.

The children who attend the vacation school where the projects are made, often express their regret that the school will not continue longer than two or three weeks. They look forward to the coming year with the inquiry "will we make booklets next year"?

This project consisted in making booklets, charts, miniature altars, plaques, etc., many of the parishes reported that the boys and girls were taught how to sing hymns. The training of singing aims at developing some knowledge and appreciation of proper Church music and to train the children to the spirit of prayer in thus knowing God, their Father. Devotion and practice in the method of serving Mass is accorded the boys, while in some places the older girls are taught how to care for the altar and mend the linens.

HAS THE ATTENDANCE AT THE RELIGIOUS VACATION SCHOOL A

BENEFICIAL INFLUENCE ON THE PARENTS AND THE FAMILY LIFE?

IN WHAT WAY? The following are some of the benefits listed from the returns of the questionnaire.

Alma - Parents are grateful but do not follow up and help the children in some cases. Children seem more mannerly, love their religion more, pray more, receive the Sacraments more and attend Devotions frequently.

Basehor - I believe the vacation schools arouse the interest of parents in religious matters and principles.

Bendena - Better disposed toward the Church and Religion

Burlington - Religious standpoint.

Corning - More interested in religion and parish affairs

Emerald - Parents are really interested in school and it seems to make them more interested in their Church and pastor.

Edgerton - Bringing fallen away Catholics back to their religious duties. Everest - Very much so.

Pidelitv - They are interested in the religious reading material etc. Parents help their children with their lessons. Hartford - Greater sense of responsibility for religious training. Holton - Religious life is renewed and many a lax parent is edified by his children. St. Joseph of the Valley - It has been a help in getting more parents to Church.

Kickapoo - In every way. The people take an interest.

The children become better acquainted with the priest and Sisters. It will help vocations in the future.

Louisburg - In Church duties 83

Osage City - In this day and age more parents are saved by their children than children by parents at least down here in the missionary fields.

Ottawa - There have been a number of converts.

Rossville - It brings some of the people to the more faithful attendance at Mass. Sabetha - The value of a Catholic education, I hope. Tonganoxie - I think it makes them appreciate their religion better.

Troy - Impresses duty to God and parental obligation of caring for religious training of children.

Waterville - A few parents have become more faithful in attending Church and receiving the Sacraments.

Wetmore - Parents take more interest in instructing and helping their children.

Wea - More regular in Mass attendance and receiving the

Sacraments.

St. Mary (Our Lady of the Snows) - Mo.

Of the twenty-four pastors that answered this question of the questionnaire, twenty-three reported that the Religious Vacation School has a beneficial in­ fluence on the family life. One pastor remarked that it had no influence on the home life. 84

MÜMBER OF WEEKS TAUGHT? HALF DAYS? WHQT.E DAYS?

Results from the questionnaire show that thirty- four parishes have two weeks, whole days; five parishes have two weeks half days, and seven parishes have three weeks whole days.

Most of the Religious Vacation Schools are in session during the month of July. In a smaller number of instances the children are assembled in June or

August. Experience has shown that there are a number of advantages in confining the sessions to the forenoon.

Among these are the fact that the extreme heat of the day is avoided, and that the teachers are assured reason­ able rest and recreation. Then too, if children are dismissed in time to go home for lunch, they can be of some service at home during the remainder of the day; tha.t is a matter of no small consequence in rural dis­ tricts. Experience has shown that a better attendance results when morning sessions are the rule. There are, of course, exceptional cases. A number of successful schools have been conducted in the afternoon.

DIFFICULTIES IN STARTING THE VACATION SCHOOL?

TRANSPORTATION? PARENTAL INDIFFERENCE? Some of the difficulties encountered in starting the vacation school arei inconvenient times of the harvest, long trips, bad roads, inclement weather, fear 85 that the children would not attend school in summer, anxiety as to the cooperation of the parents. Twenty- nine reported one of the biggest problems was trans­ portation, fourteen reported no such difficulties, as children lived near the Church or school. Some children had to travel fourteen to seventeen miles.

The majority of the pastors reported that the parents are most anxious to have their children receive religious instruction. Very few of the parents show an indifferent spirit.

HOW WERE THESE DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME?

Transportation difficulties were overcome by having children board in town with a Catholic family.

In certain localities the neighbors willingly alternate in taking children to school. A few men of the parish agreed to bring all the children of one neighborhood to where the vacation school is held for three or four days and return them. One pastor reports that he uses pressure on the parents otherwise this difficulty is not overcome.

ANY OTHER REMARKS?

Between the years of 1929-1945 we have had vaca­ tion school only two years for a few children who were not coming to the parochial school. Two Sisters of

Charity from Leavenworth remained to conduct the classes. 86

Apart from those two years the pastor or his assistant tried to reach the children who are not sent to the

parochial school.

St. Joseph’s Church - Topeka On account of long distance of travel for the children the St. Mary's vacation school was discontinued.

Instructions are given Sunday mornings between the

Masses. No records kept.

Olpe - Maydale Route # 1

The Sacred Heart vacation school continued with the Motherhouse vacation school in 1939 and since that time no vacation school has been conducted at Sacred Heart. The children of the parish attend the school conducted by the Sisters of Charity at the Motherhouse,

St. Mary Academy, Xavier, Kansas.

Sacred Heart Church - Leavenworth

Priest lives at St. Mary’s College, Xavier, ten miles away. Sisters go out with priest, they take their lunch.

We have Sunday catechism after the eight o ’clock

Mass for country children. There i3 an average attend­ ance of ten pupils. Those children preparing for Pirst

Communion and Confirmation are required to attend the parish school for a month daily after the rural district school closes. Immaculate Conception -St. Mary’s 87

Twenty-five high school students from Sabetha and Fairview attend the vacation school.

St. Augustine - Fidelity On account of the scarcity of children I had no vacation school from 1942-1944. In 1945 I taught the vacation school myself.

St. Patrick’s - Horaniff

Children in public schools who belong to Corning parish have always attended vacation school together with the Coal creek children in one school. About fifteen children of Corning parish attend the public school.

St. Patrick's - Coal Creek The number of pupils for the vacation school has dropped from year to year. This is due not to a lack of interest in the school but to the fact that a few families with children have moved elsewhere.

St. Patrick’s - Emerald.

Besides the two weeks vacation school in June, the children received instructions during the months of

September, October, and November. Classes were resumed again in April and continued each Saturday until the two week’s daily instruction. Two Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth were assisted in the yearly classes by three students from St. Mary College.

Basehor-lansing St. Patrick's St. Francis De Sales 88

Years ago there were as many as eighty children in the vacation school. It was taught by the pastor.

Then for a few years the school was taught by the pastor and a lay assistant. About ten years ago the school was taught by the Sisters of Charity for about three years. Then it was taught by a lay school teacher and the pastor up to and including 1943. My first vacation school here was in 1944. It was conducted by two lay teachers of the parish and myself. The time was spent with fundamentals and review of catechism and Bible

History, training of altar boys and preparing First

Communicants and a little training in singing. The same program was followed in 1945. Two Benedictine

Sisters taught the vacation school of 1945.

St. Joseph of the Valley Leavenworth The Religious Vacation School needs more care­ ful organization so that there is not so much repetition.

Pastors know their own needs and could plan a course for their own school based of course on the Confrater­ nity of Christian Doctrine plan, and manual. Now that the diocese has a Correspondence Course in Religion for both high school and elementary school children, these lessons could well be used by the teachers in both week-day religion schools and vacation schools. Besides 89

the annual report in the Register, couldn’t the Diocesan

Director of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine get

out a bulletin to help the pastors and teachers to uni­

formity and progress? Parish Library .... good

Catholic Action.

Sacred Heart - Ottawa BUILDINGS IN WHICH THE VACATION SCHOOL IS HELD?

It is interesting to note what kind of buildings

serve as "schools", in this work. Very frequently these

classes had to be held in the Church. In some ways it

serves the purpose very well; in others it is not as handy as a school building with the usual equipment.

Typical of buildings used are the following listed in the returns from the questionnaire.

Place of Meeting Number of Schools

Church 23

Parish Hall 7

Public School 12 Old Residence 4

Empty Parish House 1 The place of instruction of course is governed by local conditions. The ideal would be to hold these schools in well equipped classrooms.

DO YOU CONDUCT A WEEK-DAY RELIGIOUS SCHOOL?

It was learned that Sunday instructions after 90

Mass are conducted in ten out of the fifty-three parishes in 1945. Twenty-one provide instruction on Saturday morning; the remaining parishes conduct only Religious

Vacation School during the summer months.*

Osage City reports that the pastor conducts a religion class regularly in the public school for the Catholic students in attendance there. These students get one-fourth credit for the work. The junior high school pupils receive one half hour of religious in­ struction each week. Attendance of senior high school students number sixteen; junior high seventeen students.

Undoubtedly the best arrangement is that in which pastor or religion teachers appointed by him, are permitted by state legislation to have access to the public school during the regular class period. Where this is impossible under existing legislation or school policy, the dismissal of the children from public school classes during the regular school session to attend religious instruction in some parish building is con­ sidered next best.

HOW IS IT CONDUCTED? By the pastor, Sisters and lay women of the parish on Saturday mornings and after both Masses on Sunday.

*Cf. Table 5, pp. 113-114. 91

Curriculum is the same as that used in the vacation school.

NUMBER OF PUPILS ATTENDING?

Results from the questionnaire show that about six hundred pupils are receiving religious instruction on Saturday and Sunday morning.

ROW IS YOUR VACATION SCHOOL FINANCED?

The returns from the questions in reference to financial support indicate that but with few exceptions pastors must provide for the financial support of re­ ligious education in their parishes.

Forty-three of the fifty parishes in this study replied that the work is supported entirely by the individual parishes. The report from two parishes calls attention to a, helpful condition that exists in some areas. The report states that the Religious Vacation

School work is "volunteer work - no expenses". Religious education work for children who do not attend parochial schools is seldom supported financially by the diocese.

The information from the different parishes is that no diocesan support is given.

The ways in which the Religious Vacation Schools have been supported are:

1. Parish funds.

2. Special collections. 92

3. Voluntary contributions.

4. Free will offerings by parents.

5. Small assessments, for instance, by way of tuition. WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO THE RELIGIOUS VACATION SCHOOL MOVEMENT?

Alma - I think it is certainly a fine effort to make up

for the ideal, which cannot always be had. Basehor - I am in favor of it, but from my brief exper­

ience I find that those who are faithful during the

year and who frequent the sacraments are the ones that

attend, those needing it most cannot be gotten.

Bendena - It is most important. Having instruction on Sunday in winter is hopeless - roads and bad weather make it almost impossible; vacation school makes up for

it. Emerald - I think it is fine idea and does a lot of good.

Bonner Springs - Favorable.

Burlington - I approve it highly.

Edgerton - The impression made by these two weeks of

instruction is very discernable in the children. Corning - An excellent means for teaching religion and

preserving and strengthening the Faith of children who

do not attend Catholic schools. Fidelity - Indispensible.

Gardner - Makes a deep impression on children which is 93

carried into their homes. Hartford - Helpful.

Kiokavoo - Most favorable.

Holton - Very good in some places but the financial burden is heavy; otherwise beneficial not only to the individual but to the family and parish and influences for a better understanding of non-Catholics and the community at large.

Hiawatha - In small parishes such as this when there is no parochial school it is a wonderful help. Lillis - I think it is a life saver and a saver of souls to many who might easily be otherwise neglected.

Louisburg - Very favorable.

Osage City - It is an absolute necessity where one has nothing else. Ottawa - It ha.s done much for Catholic children who cannot go to parochial schools; it keeps parents informed on trends of religious activities.

St. Mary*s - Our Lady of the Snows - Quite necessary because Sunday school attendance is irregula.r.

Sabetha - I think it is excellent. St. Joseph of the Valley - It is very good for children but it does not last long enough to make a lasting im­ pression on the children like the Catholic school.

Rossville - Very important addition to Sunday school. 94

Summerfield - Absolutely necessary.

Tonganoxie - It is very effective and should be continued. Troy - I am decidedly in favor of it.

Vaterville - My x'eaction is generally favorable though

I notice a few parents in this locality who cooperate whole heartedly at vacation school time to bring their children to instruction, but show indifference nearly the rest of the year.

Vetmore - Favorable.

Vea - The ideal would be to have all the Catholic children in Catholic schools, but in as much as this is almost impossible, vacation school is a necessity, otherwise a certain number would receive little or not religious instruction.

Leavenworth - Sacred Heart - The Religious Vacation

School is all right if not stressed to the point where people consider them equal to the regular parish school.

Leavenworth - St. Joseph of the Valley - A school of two or three weeks, especially one conducted by Sisters, gives only enough time for the pastor and the parish to realize what is missed by not having a parish school. I believe that no form of vacation school can ever hope to take the place of the regular teaching of the catechism by the pastor. My custom is to teach it after both

Masses each Sunday. CHAPTER VII

SUMMARY ANT) CONCLUSION

We have seen that there are over a million and a half Catholic school children in this country who are not enrolled in any parochial school. Various measures are being used in providing these children with the religious instruction and education so essen­ tial to their eternal salvs.tion. The Religious Vaca­ tion School is one of these measures.

The idea of a summer school as a means of pro­ viding for children unable to attend a parochial school was borrowed from the Norwegian Lutherans of Minnesota by Reverend Edwin V. O'Hara LL.D., of Eugene, Oregon.

Rather O'Hara, when confronted by this problem in the missions connected with his parish in Eugene, decided to employ the method that has been used for years by the Norwegians in his home state, Minnesota. After his first experiments with Religious Vacation Schools,

Rather O'Hara became convinced of their value, and in the fall of 1923 he reported the new undertaking to the

Ca/tholic Rural Life Conference at its first annual con­ vention in St. Louis. That organization at once endorsed the Religious Vacation School and adopted the promotion of these schools as a pa,rt of its program. Since that 96

time Religious Vacation Schools have been organized in

some forty dioceses widely scattered throughout the United States. In 1926 the National Council of Catholic

Women succeeded the Catholic Rural Life Conference in

the work of promoting the Religious Vacation School movement. The project has grown and developed with each

ensuing year until at the present time there are approx­

imately 1200 children attending fifty Religious Vacation Schools.

We have studied the character of the Religious

Vacation School under five heads: the origin and devel­ opment, the organization and operation and curriculum. The results effected by Religious Vacation Schools were shown to be beneficial to the children, to the

parents, and to the communities in which they are operated.

The Religious Vacation School is still too new a venture to be given an accurate and final evaluation.

We have noted that it cannot be accepted as a satis­ factory solution of the problem of Catholic elementary education, as it is only an emergency measure intended to supply religious education for children who are unable to attend a parochial school. For this reason the Religious Vacation School should not be given a permanent place in the program of Catholic elementary 97

education.

However, since hundreds of parishes and missions throughout the country have little or no hope of immedi­ ately realizing the dream of a parochial school, there

is a vast field awanting the further growth of the

Religious Vacation School movement. The zeal and energy

of those who have helped the project grow and develop will no doubt continue to spread the Religious Vacation

School to all parts of the country in which the demand exists.

We have seen that the Leavenworth Diocese is

primarily a rural diocese with one hundred thirty-four

parishes of which one hundred and seven have resident pastors. There are seventy-three elementary Catholic schools with an enrollment^ of 7,800. In 1944 forty-

three parishes sponsored Religious Vacation Schools, while in 1945 the number increased to fifty parishes.

Results from the questionnaire 3how that 85

per cent of the Catholic children in the rural areas

of the diocese not having Catholic schools are re­ ceiving some formal religious instruction during the

school year. This left 15 per cent that are receiving

3-Sister M. Ethelburg O.S.B., "Religion by Mail, " The 3enedictine Review, II (January, 1947), 29. 98

only such instruction as is given in the home.

The Most Reverend Paul C. Schulte now Archbishop of Indianapolis, saw the need of religious instruction

and strove to remedy the situation by introducing religion by mail.

Long distances, bad roads, inclement weather in the winter months, sickness, etc., militate against the

regular attendance at class. The Correspondence Course

is as regular and as dependable as Uncle Sam's efficient

postal system, and does provide at set intervals in­

structional materials for the children to study under

the supervision of those who are best equipped by nature

and by grace to teach them religion - their parents.

The ve.cation school registration provided names

of the children who were to take the course. Coopera­ tion of pastors from twenty-four parishes procured a

consequent enrollment of 430 children in the year 1944-

1945. The following year thirty-two parishes contributed

530 names for the roster. During 1946 there were five more parishes cooperating with a total of 500 registered

for the religion course and about 300 registered for

the Bible History course.

The percentage of those responding and completing

the courses was about seventy-five per cent. Several

reasons for the lack of response from the others, were, 99 want of parental interest, failure to check with, pastors on the registration cards.

Recently a pastor wrote that he found his children v/ere not getting sufficient instruction from the Saturday afternoon classes, so he wanted to enroll all his children in the Religion Correspondence Course.

One zealous young pastor with two missions besides his parish has about ninety children on roll. He uses the courses as a guide to his weekly instructions and checks on the children in that way.^

The college students who have volunteered their services in the past two years have imbibed a zeal for the work which has been manifested in their activities after leaving school. They have been eager to partici­ pate in the Apostolate of the laity - to help spread

God’s kingdom so that "all things may be restored in

Christ."

The Religious Vacation School can do much for

Catholic children generally who are not privileged to attend parochial schools. It holds out a most inviting and promising field for fruitful activity on the part of all who are interested in the spiritual welfare of our great number of religiously underprivileged children.

2Ibid., p. 30. APPENDIX 101

Rt. Rev. Francis Johannes, D.D. 1228 Sandusky Ave. Kansas City, Kansas

March 22nd., '30

Miss Eulalia Erhacher, *Pres. Diocesan Council of Catholic Women St. Marys, Kansas

Dear Miss Erhacher,-

I heartily endorse the Leavenworth Diocesan Council of Catholic Women and would like to see every Parochial Organization of women enrolled in its ranks. The idea of the Diocesan Council is not only to have an annual convention at which important topics of interest to our Catholic Women are discussed, hut to engage in Catholic Action according to the mind of the Holy Father, hy taking a decided and united stand against such modern evils as e.g. hirth control and indecent famine attire; to work for the cause of Catholic Education; the spread of the Catholic Press, and to assist the Church, as far as possible, in the reclamation of those who are negli­ gent in the performance of their religious duties. The Bishop urges the Reverend Pastors to give the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women every encourage­ ment. Another Catholic Action which the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women is sponsoring is the Vacation School in places where no parochial school exists. Priests who have had Vacation School are loud in their praises of the great good that these schools accomplish for children and parents, and I urge every Pastor who has no parish school to give Vacation School a trial.

Wishing the Officers of the Council every success and blessing in their labors, I am

Sincerely in Christ, (Signed) Francis Johannes

Bishop of Leavenworth

* Now (1946) Sister Mary John of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth 102

Mount St. Scholastics College Atchison, Kansas February 3, 1946

Reverend Father John Smith Olathe, Kansas

Dear Reverend Father:

I am seeking information in connection with a proposed history of Religious Vacation Schools of the Leavenworth Diocese. To this end I have compiled the enclosed (questionnaire) which is being sent to some forty-three parishes that conduct Religious Vacation schools in our diocese.

If you find it possible to fill out this questionnaire and return it at your earliest conveni­ ence, not later than April 22, I shall be greatly in your debt. Any information in addition to that called for in the (questionnaire) will be appreciated. Thus any reference material like newspaper clippings bearing on the subject of Vacation Schools would be very helpful. I would return you such material at the earliest date possible.

This history is being written in compliance with a requirement for a Master’s Degree from Creighton University. The data compiled through this project will be available for diocesan records. Hence your cooperation will prove a benefit to our Diocese.

Again let me thank you, Father, for any assistance you may be able to offer in this matter.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Sister Mary Patrick Riley, O.S.B 103

ST. MARY’S COLLEGE

St. Marys, Kansas

March 7, 1946

Dear Sister Mary Patricks

At length I located the material connected with our vacation schools at Our Lady of the Snow's Indian parish, Mayetta, Kansas. The first two years the children were taught by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, and only for the first year can I find any attendance number given. In 1938 Jesuit scholas­ tics took over the vacation school work, and I have no printed account of the first year’s experience. Enclosed you will find the accounts which appeared in the Eastern Kansas Register for the years 1939-1943.

With the outbreak of the war most of our Indian families moved to town, and so few children were left on the reservation that we could not have a vacation school in 1943-1945. We shall reopen the vacation school again this summer. During the year we have a catechism class every Sunday A.M. after Mass. The present attendance is around 30. This year there are 60 pupils at St. Paul's Catholic Indian School, Marty, South Dakota. About a dozen grade school children attend Government schools in Oklahoma or Uorth Dakota, and 20 or more are enrolled at Haskell and Holton High Schools.

Hoping that I have answered your questions satis­ factorily and wishing you every success in your research, I am

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Henry Willmering, S.J. QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Name of the Pastor ______

2. Name of the Parish ______

3. Rural? ______Urban?______

4. In what year was the vacation school opened? ______

5. How many teachers taught the first year? ______

6* By whom is the vacation school conducted? Pastor ______Number ______Sisters ______Order ______7. What is the present number of teachers for your Vacation School? ______

8* What was the first opening attendance? (aprox.) ____

9* What is the approximate number of Catholic public school children in the parish? ______

10. What proportion of these children are at present receiving religious instruction? ______

11. Do any high school students attend the vacation school? ______Number ______Non-Catholics? ______

12. Are there any sections in the parish where the dis­ tance from Church makes it difficult for the children to attend instruction classes? ______

13. Is there any systematic plan of visiting the homes of children whose parents are indifferent in regard to attendance at vacation schools? ______14. How are the pupils grouped? Primary ______intermediate ______Junior High ______Any Other ______

15. Is the schedule outlined in the vacation school manual followed in your vacation school? ______105

16. If not, what method is being used? ______

17. Has there been any increase in the parochial school as a result of the Vacation School? ______18. Any project work carried on? ______What type? Booklets, Making Charts, Sewing, etc.? ______Any other? ______19. Has the attendance at the Religious Vacation School a beneficial influence on the parents and the family life? ______In what way? ______

20. Number of weeks taught ______Half days? ______Whole days? ______Hours per day? ______Any others?_____

21. Difficulties, if any, in starting the Vacation School? Transportation? ______Parental indifference ______

22. How were such difficulties overcome? ______

23. Any other remarks? ______Approximate number of pupils for the following years 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945

Buildings in which the Vacation School is held; Church School ______Private Home ______Any other ______

26. Do you conduct a week-day religious school?

27. How is it conducted? ______

28. Number of pupils attending ______

29 • How is your Vacation School financed? _____ 106

30. The expense of the Vacation School is borne by whom? ______Local parish ______Diocese ______

31. What is your reaction to this Religious Vacation School movement? ______

32. Any suggestions to make with regard to the ques­ tionnaire? ______107

TABLE - 1

CHANGES IN ENROLLMENT - 1929-1945

No. of No. of No. of Per cent Summer Schools Teachers Pupils Change 1929 11 18 374 1930 12 23 387 /3.5

1931 17 27 508 /31.3

1932 17 28 550 • /8.3

1933 23 40 745 / 35.5 1934 28 48 712 - 4.4

1935 42 51 1356 /115.7 1936 41 50 1454 -5.3

1937 44 56 1665 /14.5 1938 46 61 1849 /11.5 1939 45 60 1615 -12.6 1940 48 65 1684 / 4.3

1941 46 70 1514 -10.7

1942 49 70 1552 / 2.5 1943 49 72 1552 0.0

1944 50 80 1537 - 0.9

1945 50 90 1450 - 5.6 Total... 20684 108

TABLE 2

VACATION SCHOOLS OP DIOCESE OP LEAVENWORTH

Location Parlsh Rural Urban Date of Opening Alma St. Isidor X 1931 Alta Vista* St. Isidor X 1944 Atchison St. Benedict X 1935 Bashor St. Patrick X 1938 Bendena St. Benedict X 1929 Big Springs St. Theresa X 1929 Bonner Springs Sacred Heart X X 1935 Burlington St. Francis Xavier X 1931 Coal Creek* St. Patrick X 1934 Corning St. Patrick X 1934 Delia Sacred Heart X 1930 Doniphan St• John X 1938 Easton St. Lawrence X 1935 Edgerton Assumption X 1937 Emerald St. Patrick X 1934 Eskridge* St. John Vianny X 1944 Fidelity St. Augustine X 1942 Gardenier* Sacred Heart X 1935 Garnett Holy Angela X 1935 Hartford St. Mary X 1940 Hiawatha St. Ann X X 1934 Holton St. Dominio X 1929 Homewood* St. Anthony X 1934 Hornaiff St. Patrick X 1933 Irving* St. Elizabeth X 1933 Kansas City St. John Divine X 1935 St. Thomas X 1934 St• Mary X 1934 Kickapoo Sacred Heart X X 1929 Lansing St. Francis De Sales X 1935 Lawrence St. John X 1935 Leavenworth St. Joseph of thè Valley X 1935 Lillis St. Joseph X 1938

* Without resident Pastor 109

TABLE 2 — Continued

Location Parish Rural Urban Date of Dpening

Louisberg Immaculate Conception X 1929 Mayetta Our Lady of the Snows X 1935 Mound City Sacred Heart X 1942 Olathe St. Paul X 1931 Onaga# St. Vincent X 1944 Osage City St. Patrick X 1929 Ottawa Sacred Heart X 1929 Perry St. Theresa X 1929 Rossville# St. Stanislaus X 1929 Sabetha Sacred Heart X X 1940 St, Mary Immaculate Conception X 1929 Scranton# St. Patrick X 1929 Summerfield Holy Family X 1933 Tonganoxie Sacred Heart X 1935 Topeka St. Joseph X 1937 Troy St. Charles X 1933 Waterville St. Monica X 1933 Waverly St. Joseph X 1934 We a Holy Rosary X 1942 Wetmore St. James X 1938 Wheaton St. Michael X 1931 Xavier St. Mary Academy X 1940

* Without resident Pastor 110

TABLE 3

REPORT OP THE RELIGIOUS VACATION SCHOOLS SUMMER 1945

Place Teachers Pupils Weeks Conducted Sessions by Alma 2 38 2 Sis ters Alta Vista 2 20 2 Sisters Bashor 2 65 2 Sis ters Bendena 2 24 2 Sisters Big Springs 2 20 2 Sisters Bonner Springs 2 33 2 Sisters Burlington 2 37 2 Sisters Coal Creek 2 55 2 Sisters Della 2 27 2 Sisters Doniphan 1 13 3 Pastor Eastòn 2 37 2 Sisters Edgerton 2 20 2 Sisters Emerald 1 4 2 Lay Eskridge 2 28 2 Sisters Everest 2 20 2 Sisters Fidelity 2 27 2 Sisters Gardner 2 20 2 Sisters Garnett 2 68 2 Sisters Hartford 2 22 2 Sis ters Hiawatha 2 15 2 Sisters Holton 2 29 2 Pastor Lay Homewood 2 12 2 Sisters Kickapoo 2 26 2 Sisters L a n a l n g 2 60 2 Sisters Lawrence 3 71 3 Sisters Lillis 4 16 2 Lay Leavenworth, St. Pastor Joseph of Valley 3 30 2 Lay Louisburg 2 37 3 Sisters Mound City 2 25 2 Sisters Olathe 2 24 2 Sisters Onaga 2 27 2 Sisters Osage City 2 30 2 Sisters Ottawa 2 64 2 Sisters Paola 2 30 2 Sisters Perry 2 12 2 Sisters Total.... 70 1Ò86 71

) Ill

TABLE 3 — Continued

r Place Teachers Pupils Weeks Conducted Sessions by Roseville 3 25 2 Pastor Sisters Sabetha 2 16 2 Sisters St• Mary 2 30 2 Sisters Scranton 2 14 2 Sisters Summerfield 2 26 2 Sisters Tonganoxie 2 18 2 Sisters Troy 3 43 3 Sisters Waterville and Irving(combined) 3 24 2 Sisters Waverly 2 13 2 Sisters Wetmore 2 27 3 Sisters Wheaton 2 36 2 Sisters Wea 2 12 2 Sisters Xavier,St. Mary Academy 6 67 3 Sisters Horaniff 1 3 2 Pastor

Total.... 32 364 29 112

TABLE 4

CATHOLIC CHILDREN ATTENDING PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Percent of Place Pupils Attendance Alma 38 85 Alta Vista 20 90 Bashor 65 90 Bonner Springs 44 50 Burlington 34 60 Corning 50 100 Bendena 24 100 Doniphan 13 100 Everest 8 100 Eskridge 30 85 Hiawatha 22 100 Holton 25 100 Kickapoo 25 100 Lillis 20 90 Lawrence 90 50 Louishurg 36 75 St. Joseph of the Valley 35 90 Mayetta 40 60 Mound City 20 100 Olathe 25 90 Osage City 34 95 17 90 Ottawa 65 75 Rossville 40 65 Sabetha 35 60 Horaniff 10 70 Summerfield 26 100 Tonganoxie 30 80 Troy 55 80 Hartford 28 100 Waterville 21 100 Wheaton 29 100 Wetmore 40 100 We a 8 100 St. Mary of the Snow 40 60 Emerald 12 90

Total.... 1154 • • • • 113

TABLE 5

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OFFERED IN PARISHES WITHOUT PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS

Religious Sunday Saturday Place Vacation Schools Classes Classes

Alma X Alta Vista X Bashor X X Bendena X Big Springs X Bonner Springs X X Burlington X Coal Creek X X Corning X X Delia X Doniphan X X Easton X Edgerton X Emerald X Eskridge X Everest X Fidelity X X Gardiner X Garnett X Hartford X Hiawatha X Holton X X Homewood X Hornaiff X Irving X X Kickapoo X Lansing X X Lawrence X X Lillis X X Louishurg X X Mound City X X Olathe X X Onaga X X Osage City X X Ottawa X X 114

TABLE 5 — Continued

Religious Sunday Saturday Place Vacation Schools Classes Classes

Paola X Perry X Rossville X X Sabetha X X St• Mary X X St. Joseph of the Valley X X Our Lady of the Snow x Scranton X X Summerfield X X Tonganoxie X Troy X X Waterville X X Waverly X X We a X X Wetmore X Wheaton X X Xavier X

/ / 115

TABLE 6

APPROXIMATE NUMBER OP PUPILS ANNUALLY IN VACATION SCHOOLS OPENING BEFORE 1936

Place 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936

1. Alma 25 35 25 25 25 25 2. Atchison(Negro) 60 63 3. Bendena 40 45 40 43 40 29 40 50 4. Bonner Spring 40 40 5. Burlington 40 41 45 35 43 32 6. Coal Creek 30 40 45 7. Delia 36 30 35 35 38 42 50 8. Easton 45 40 9. Emerald 30 20 20 10. Everest 30 30 11. Gardner 36 40 12. Garnett 56 50 13. Holton 33 30 30 36 25 25 39 40 14. Hiawatha 15 17 20 15• Homewood 23 26 20 20 16.Horaniff 35 40 49 36 17• Kickapoo 30 30 35 37 40 43 32 39 18. Lansing 16 28 19. Lillis 25 25 31 30 32 32 20. Louisburg 30 35 37 40 45 38 41 41 21. Lawrence 55 60 22. Leavenworth, Sacred Heai’t 35 30 23. St. Joseph of the Valley 39 26 24. Olathe 30 30 30 30 25 27 25. Osage City 30 30 36 42 60 68 71 46 26. Ottawa 80 60 60 58 57 57 57 57 27. Rossville 20 20 20 21 36 36 30 30 28. Summerfield 20 20 20 25 29. Big Springs 30 30 23 20 30 30 32 32 30. St. Mary 35 37 30 36 36 30 30 30 31. Mayetta 65 68 32. Troy 27 27 27 22 33. Tonganoxie 20 20 34. Waterville 27 22 22 22 35• Irving 20 20 20 20 36. Wheaton 20 20 18 18 26 26 37. Waverly 18 20 20 38. Perry 26 28 16 23 24 26 32 35 39. Meriden 20 26 40. St. John Divine, Ksnsas City 56 58 41. St. Mary 90 93 42. Scranton 20 16 16 18 16 16 18 23 Total.... 374 387 508 550 745 712 1536 454 116

TABLE 6 — Continued

Place 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945

1. 25 34 60 60 25 30 45 45 38 2. 60 60 56 3. 60 68 48 50 52 45 42 35 24 4. 45 45 40 40 40 40 40 35 33 5. 32 54 57 53 50 42 26 36 37 6. 65 60 40 60 65 60 40 60 55 7. 80 83 60 65 40 40 40 37 27 8. 52 37 46 49 44 40 40 35 37 9. 22 21 22 22 20 20 20 20 4 10. 30 22 34 20 26 20 20 8 20 11. 29 33 30 30 30 35 26 25 20 12. 50 68 60 63 60 53 62 • 62 68 13. 32 28 28 26 26 26 28 26 29 14. 26 25 17 16 14 15 17 18 15 15. 21 21 23 20 16 18 IS 12 12 16. 32 38 43 16 16 16 3 17. 23 26 58 50 35 21 23 23 26 18. 45 45 45 46 48 48 52 52 60 19. 30 25 20 25 25 23 20 19 16 20. 52 64 49 58 60 60 53 42 37 21. 63 j 93 40 35 25 42 45 63 71 22. 25 39 23. 24 48 36 23 26 25 27 33 30 24. 25 32 30 25 30 25 25 30 24 25. 38 57 42 40 31 31 45 35 30 26. 50 52 56 56 50 48 50 50 64 27. 71 71 49 40 40 50 56 45 25 28. 34 26 30 30 30 26 26 28 26 29. 24 16 16 20 18 18 16 16 20 30. 30 35 34 35 30 30 36 36 30 31. 52 55 40 72 50 41 34 32. 40 40 27 26 30 30 29 43 43 33. 57 65 20 20 25 18 18 19 18 34. 34 23 22 24 26 28 24 35 24 35. 20 35 20 20 21 20 18 20 36. 32 30 35 30 25 27 30 34 36 37. 20 23 25 25 20 20 20 16 13 38. 20 20 18 21 16 16 16 12 12 39. 25 16 18 18 40. 50 50 65 65 60 60 52 41. 42. 17 20 22 27 26 20 18 13 14 Total.... 1568 1703 1481 1421 1276 1230 1196 1118 1041 117

TABLE 7

APPROXIMATE NUMBER OP PUPILS ANNUALLY IN VACATION SCHOOLS OPENING AFTER 1936

Place 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945

Alta Vista 22 20 Bashor 21 22 26 22 40 45 49 65 Doniphan 18 17 16 16 18 16 16 13 Edgerton 30 32 26 28 28 26 29 24 20 Fidelity 30 35 30 30 35 36 36 30 27 Hartford 37 40 36 35 20 20 23 20 22 Mound City 20 20 25 25 Sabetha 18 20 20 20 18 16 We a 10 ) 10 12 12 We tmore 25 20 27 Onaga 19 37 Paola 40 42 38 30 Richmond 20 22 22 20 22 Mooney Creek 20 Xavier 70 75 70 70 69 67 Eskridge 26 28

Total.... 97 146 131 263 238 322 356 419 409 118

VAC A T I 0 N SCHOOLS OF THE DIOCESE OF LEAVENftORTH BIBLIOGRAPHY 120

BOOKS

Archdeacon, John, The Week-Day Religious Vacation School. Washington, D. C.: The Catholic University of America, 1927. Pp. 90. Catholic Church Directors. 1935 to 1945.

O'Hara, Edwin V. The Country Church and the Country Community. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1927. Pp. 115.

NEWSPAPERS Eastern Kansas Register, June 23, 1939.

Eastern Kansas Register, June 24, 1940.

Eastern Kansas Register, September 21, 1940.

Eastern Kansas Register. June 27, 1941.

Eastern Kansas Register. June 22, 1942.

Eastern Kansas Register. September 8, 1944. Eastern Kansas Register, June 29, 1945.

Eastern Kansas Register. September 21, 1945.

Eastern Kansas Register. March 15, 1946.

Eastern Sanaa? Register. March 29, 1946.

Eastern Kansas Register. May 17, 1946. Eastern Kansas Register. September 13, 1946.

St. Louis Register, June 22, 1945.

Our Sunday Visitor. July 28, 1928. The Register, November 7, 1931.

The Register, November 14, 1931.

The Witness, May 24, 1928. 121

PERIODICALS

Alma, Sister. "Vacation Schools," Are Maria. LV (May, 1942), 615-19.

Bandas, Rudolph. "Vacation Schools and Seminarians," Rational Catholic Educational Association. XXX (March, 19367, 537-47.

Barbian, Joseph. "The Religious Vacation School in the Diocesan School System," Catholic Rural Life. Ill (December, 1925), 5-8.

Biddison, Olive. "A First Born Grows Up," Land and Home. September, 1945, pp. 82-86.

Blakely, P. L. "Religious Instruction for Public School Children," Catholic World, March, 1941, pp. 745-47.

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UNPUBLISHED MATERIAL

Staskiewicz, Sister Mary Bronisla. "A History of the Schools Conducted by the Sisters of St. Erancis Seraph of Perpetual Adoration in New Mexico." Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Edu­ cation, The Creighton University, 1943. PERSONAL INTERVIEWS

Sister Bernadine, June 9, 1940.

Sister Constance, June 9, 1940.

Sister Annette, June 2, 1940.

Sister Ignatia, June 9, 1940. Sister Wilhelmena, June 9, 1940. Sister Caroline, June 6, 1941.

Sister Mary Michael, July 7, 1941. Sister Ita, July 7, 1941.

Sister Irene, July 3, 1941.

Sister Georgia, July 9, 1941. Sister Justina, May 17, 1942.

Sister Adelgund, July 11, 1943.

Sister Theodosia, August 3, 1943.

Sister Ositha, August 3, 1943.

Sister Margaret, August 3, 1943.

Sister Octavia, August 7, 1944.

Sister Virginia, June 11, 1943.

Sister Demetria, August 10, 1944.

Sister Sarah, August 10, 1944.