To the Courts

When New Mexico became a state in 1912, the area around Santa Fe was predominantly Roman Catholic. As more Protestants moved in, there was more & more grumbling about nuns (on the state payroll) still doing much of the teaching in the public schools, and about classroom crucifixes and catechisms (TIME, Sept. 29). Last week Protestant resentment finally led to a state court suit filed by 28 taxpayers who demanded that "all members of Catholic teaching orders be declared ineligible and forever barred" from New Mexico public schools.

New Mexico's Protestant Governor Thomas J. Mabry deplored efforts "to stir up religious misunderstanding." From the state's Catholic hierarchy came a statement: "The authorities of the Church in New Mexico have in no manner whatsoever entertained the muchly haunted and often misunderstood so-called union of church and state. It was only through a high sense of duty of her mission to promote the welfare of human society that the Church permitted itself to accept the office of teacher in the public schools. The Church desires only that justice be done and good will preserved."

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