Bulletin of Catholic University of Peking

72 BULLETIN NUMBER FOUR

life of China. Thus the theoretical, aif this word may be employed of Dr. Schmidlin’s researches, and the practical study of the question lead to the same conclusion: ‘‘The conversion of the masses depends on the conversion of the leaders.’’ One is reminded in -this connection of the great Indian leader, Mahatmi Ghandi, who a few years ago went up and down India exhorting his countrymen to ‘‘educate for service.”’ In his mind, education was to be regarded not as something unessential to society, something extra, the mere luxurious privilege, as it were, of those who can pay for it, but as a necessary investment of the community for its own well-being and advancement. Ghandi derived this conclusion from the consideration of the material woes of his country, but the argument holds in reference to conversion: “‘Conversion depends on leaders—Leaders are developed in institutions of higher learning—Hence, we must have such institutions.’ This conclusion, arrived at by acknowledged authorities, has the explicit sanction of Pope Pius XI in his encyclical on “‘ Promoting Catholic Missions,’’ issued February 28, 1926. In this document, the Pope doubtless had in mind the provisions of Canon 1379, which makes it incumbent on the local Ordinaries to establish Catholic schools and universities. It would be interesting to set forth the historical, the psychological, and the practical arguments which prove this proposition, but here it is sufficient to rest the case upon the argument from authority, and to consider a few of the points involved in the proposition. That real leaders are ordinarily men of education, or rather of culture,

scarcely needs demonstration. As a prominent American Catholic éducator remarks: “All great and important enterprises have been the work of cultured men. The most materialistic commercial enterprises were the outcome of scientific minds that had been trained along cultural lines. All the great statesmen, painters, artists, have been men of culture.’’ Hence it may be stated that to produce leaders, there must be at hand the ordinary means, that is, schools. To put it briefly, the struggle to Christianize China reduces itself to a race for leadership, and this means that the contest will take place in the field of education.

The question then arises: What are the resources, humanly speaking, of the Church in this contest? and what are the difficulties that must be overcome? Although Catholic secondary and higher education has been heretofore practically unknown in China, nevertheless, the Church is not entirely unprepared for a program of education. In the first place, she has the immense advantage of unity—being the only force that stands united throughout thelength and breadth of China. As a corollary to her doctrinal unity there results a oneness of viewpoint regarding the general aims of education, so that all energies may be turned to working out the common problems. The Church, moreover, possesses the advantage of a complete hierarchical organization extending to all parts of China. This means that a fairly large body of native and foreign Priests, Brothers, and Sisters are scattered through the country. They are in closer contact with the Chinese people than any other group of workers, either re-