George Matulaitis Journal

180 Canon Law in any way or the teaching and spirit of the Church. I also investigated how the Church has handled the situation in other countries where the schools have been secularized and religion is no longer part of the curriculum. The Catholic Society of Vilnius, both Polish and Lithuanian, was up in arms over the school issue. Both priests and lay people came to consult with me about what is to be done. The Polish teachers have split into two factions; the staunch Catholics have decided to demand unequivocally that the schools remain Catholic; the non-practicing Catholics and non-Catholics want to negotiate and compromise with the Bolsheviks. The Polish delegation came to see me, asking that I make peace among them and give them direction in this matter of preserving the Polish schools. The lawyer Wróblewski also visited me to find out what I thought about the secularization of the schools. I have been told that at one time he appeared to be a zealous Catholic, who, it is said, even kissed priests’ hands in public. Later, he became a radical Polish nationalist, a support- er of the National Democrats. Now, when other winds are blowing, he has joined the leftist party, the Social Democrats. He explained the difficult situation of the Polish schools. If they decide to submit to Bolshevik demands and do away with the teaching of religion altogether, the priests can protest and the parents can boycott the schools, saying that they are godless and so on. If they do not obey the Bolsheviks, the Polish schools will fall apart of their own accord because the Bolsheviks will refuse to fund them and may even confiscate their buildings and permits. With prices going up, teachers’ salaries must be raised. But there are no funds. The students’ tuition is already considerable and cannot be increased any more. In the secondary schools established by the Bolsheviks, the teachers are well paid and education is free. Without financial support the Polish schools will not be able to compete with the Bolshevik schools and will have to close. The students will be dispersed and eventually will come to the Bolshevik school if they want to get an education. If we support the Bolsheviks and maintain the Polish high schools, the children will be taught by competent teachers in the proper manner, while religion could be taught in some other building nearby.