of the Church. Every catechetical
instruction, every word of exhortation or encouragement to right
living and doing which is given in the class-room, is a participation
by the teacher in the pastorate of souls, in the announcing and
preaching of the Gospel, in the spreading of the Kingdom of God.
Without the aid of the school, the pastor ordinarily could not
properly teach the young their prayers and catechism, prepare them for
the sacraments, and equip them for the manifold exigencies of life.

"Religious education is our most distinctive work," says Archbishop
Spalding, of Peoria. "It gives us a place apart in the life of the
country. It is indispensable to the welfare and progress of the Church
in the United States, and will be recognized in the end as the most
vital contribution to American civilization. Fortunate are they, who
by words or deeds confirm our faith in the need of Catholic schools;
and yet more fortunate are they who, while they inspire our teachers
with new courage and zeal, awaken in the young, to whom God has given
a heart and a mind, an efficacious desire to devote themselves to the
little ones whom Christ loves. What better work, in the present time,
can any of us do than foster vocations to our Brotherhoods and
Sisterhoods, whose special mission is teaching?"

And Brother Azarias assures us that "There is not in this world among
human callings a more sacred one than that of moulding souls to higher
and better things."

Bishop Byrne, of Nashville, has well said: "The office of teaching has
an advantage in some respects over the priesthood. The teachers are
constantly with their pupils, shaping their souls, coloring them,
informing them, making them instinct with life and motives, and giving
them high ideals and worthy aspirations. In all this their work is
akin to that of the confessor."

The need of more teaching Brothers and Sisters is particularly urgent
and pressing, as the number of pupils is increasing proportionately
faster than the number of religious subjects, and the dearth of
teachers prevents the opening of new schools in many places where they
are demanded, and also hinders the development of the existing
schools. This is the opinion of Bishop Alerding, who wrote: "The
Church is being hampered in her work of educating her youth because
the number of teachers, Brothers and Sisters, is inadequate." And
Bishop McQuaid did not hesitate to say that, "the most pressing want
of the Chu