Ireland, John (1838–1918)

John Ireland was the foremost advocate of compromise and collaboration between Catholic educational values and public schools at the turn of the 20th century. He served the church as archbishop of St. Paul, Minnesota, for nearly 3 decades, but his role as a national reformer should not be underestimated.

Ireland was born in County Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1838, but his family emigrated to St. Paul in 1849. After an education in France, Ireland was ordained a priest in 1861 in St. Paul, and served a stint as a chaplain in the Civil War. He became bishop of St. Paul in 1884 and archbishop in 1888.

Ireland's philosophy of education was but one aspect of his larger view of the relationship between the Church and American society. In fact, Ireland devoted his life to eliminating the sources of conflict between Catholics and non-Catholics and sought ways to unite the Catholic Church with American values. To Ireland's thinking, most of the conflict between his Church and his nation had nothing to do with Church dogma or values, but was fostered by the cultural baggage of the foreign immigrants who dominated the American church in the 19th century. As these immigrants became increasingly American, so also would Catholicism become an American religion. He used every means available to encourage Americanization among his flock.

One means to Americanization was education, and Ireland's views on education were the most liberal among Catholic Church leaders. Should the Church seek out cooperative educational ventures with the public schools, or should parents be required to build and support parish schools?

Always outspoken, Ireland gave voice to a liberal viewpoint that alienated a conservative faction within the American hierarchy that sought to pressure Catholic parents to support only parish schools. As long as this issue was discussed in private, there was an uneasy peace between the liberals and the conservatives. But in 1890, at the annual meeting of the National Education Association, Ireland spoke out on the relations between “state schools and parish schools” and the truce was broken. The speech precipitated a controversy that became a hallmark of misunderstanding and bitter feelings.

His plan would use public funds to support Catholic teachers to instruct Catholic children on secular subjects in classrooms located in parish buildings. The hours from 9 to 3 would be devoted to secular subjects; religion would be taught after the end of the school day. Ireland never claimed that these hybrid schools were substitutes for parish schools, but he did hope that the plan would ensure the religious as well as the secular instruction of [Page 484]children in parishes that would not or could not support parish schools. He believed that this plan offered the hope of a viable working relationship between public schools and parochial schools.

What made Ireland's ideas so controversial was the enthusiasm and support the archbishop expressed for the principles of public education. The conflict came to a head in 1891 when Ireland championed a compromise school plan in two small communities in Minnesota, Faribault and Stillwater, that encouraged Catholic children to attend public schools.

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