The Cardinal's Claim

On every hustings in the land, Candidate John F. Kennedy vowed to back king-sized federal aid to education, and his post-election task force on education three weeks ago urged the spending of more than $9 billion over the next 4 1/2 years, including no-strings grants of $30-$50 per public school pupil. If the soberer President-elect seemed unsure "whether we have the resources immediately to take on the whole program," Kennedy still aimed at massive federal aid. Then last week his fellow Roman Catholic, New York's Francis Cardinal Spellman, voiced a loud objection; some of the money, he said, must go to parochial schools.

Campaigner Kennedy repeatedly opposed federal aid to such schools. "The principle of church-state separation precludes aid to parochial schools," said he, "and private schools enjoy the abundant resources of private enterprise." Cardinal Spellman simply does not accept that view. The nation's nonpublic schools enroll 6,800,000 students, he noted, of which Catholic schools have more than 5,000,000--or 11% of all U.S. schoolchildren.

"Thought Control." Charged the cardinal: "It is unthinkable that any American child be denied federal funds because his parents choose for him a God-centered education." The big-aid plan means that "many millions" of U.S. parents "will be taxed more than ever before for the education of their children, but they cannot expect any return from their taxes." Denying equal aid to children in church-related schools, said Spellman, would deprive them of "freedom of mind and freedom of religion guaranteed by our country's Constitution." Should Congress do so, it would breed "thought control" by compelling a child "to attend a state school as a condition of sharing in education funds." Spellman's strong words were spoken at a windup meeting of his drive to raise $25 million for new Catholic high schools in New York--which he himself reported has been oversubscribed by $15 million.

Protestants quickly disagreed with the protest. "Federal assistance should be restricted to public schools," said Dr. Oswald C. J. Hoffman of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which operates the biggest U.S. Protestant school system (158,000 students). "Let Cardinal Spellman speak for himself. He does not speak for us Lutherans." John F. Kennedy snapped: "No comment."

Direct Grants? Because more federal aid for schools is certain to come, and because Catholic parochial school enrollment is growing faster than public school enrollment, the issue will sharpen. About one out of every three U.S. babies is born to a Catholic family, and parochial schools now enroll as many as 60% of all schoolchildren in heavily Catholic communities. Examples: Chicago, 34%; Philadelphia, 39%; Pittsburgh, 42%.

One possible compromise is direct grants to Catholic students, patterned after the G.I. Bill of Rights, which paid many a veteran's tuition at church-related colleges after World War II. There may be other constitutionally permissible compromises. In any case, U.S. Catholics have acquired vast political power as well as a vast school system. For what they hold as equality of education, they are likely to fight hard, creating a troublesome problem for Catholic Kennedy.

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