Source: Timeline
July 25, 1919 Pacelli to Gasparri:
Re: The School Issue in Germany
Most Reverend Eminence,
The very serious school question in Germany has recently arrived at a solution, about which I am carrying out my duty to report to Your Most Reverend Eminence.
After long and difficult negotiations, the two parties that currently participate in the coalition Reich Cabinet, the Center Party and the Majority Socialists, arrived on July 14th at a compromise, the text of which I have the honor to send here-enclosed (Enclosure I). It concerns three points: the denominational school, religious instruction, and the private school.
Concerning the first point, it is established that in each Community, the desires of the parents or those responsible for a child’s education will decide whether and to what extent there will be a public simultaneous or inter-denominational school (which will admit students of various denominations) or a public denominational school (for children exclusively from one religious denomination), or a school that is non-religious or laicized. A Reich law will have to be enacted to resolve the details of this provision, and until then the current regulations will remain in effect.
In this manner, alongside the inter-denominational school and the denominational school, a third type of school has now been introduced, namely the laicized school (long demanded by Socialism), which will not have in its curriculum any religious instruction, but instead a course of history of religion or of morals. It needs to be recognized, however, that under current political-social conditions, such a disaster is unfortunately inevitable, and then again, it was achieved that the rights and desires of the parents were made the foundation, in place of the omnipotence of the State. The preservation of the denominational school in individual communities, also as concerns minorities, will thus depend not on the decision of the governing authorities, but on the desires of the parents themselves.
Religious instruction remains a subject of the school curriculum, with the exception (as already mentioned) of the non-denominational or laicized school. The frequenting of this course (like the participation in religious practices) depends on the will of the parents or guardians, in such a way, however, that once they decide, the students remain obligated to follow the instruction in question. Corresponding to this provision, also in the laicized school it is the province of the parents to state if they want their children to attend or not the course of study in religion or morals.
The aforesaid norms will allow Catholics most of the time to arrange the establishment of a proper denominational school, even if they are in the minority. But, beyond that, in another point of this compromise, which is particularly important for small groups of Catholics in the Diaspora, the possibility of a private elementary school (Volksschule) is also assured in the event that (and only in such event) there is no public denominational school in the respective community. These private schools must be found to be on a par with the public ones as to their organization and academic formation of the teachers, and this academic and technical equality is required also for the pre-existing private schools. In regard to the latter, an improvement has been attained in the sense that the approval of them does not depend on the whim of the Authorities, but must be conceded whenever the conditions prescribed by law are verified. The Socialists feared that such private schools would easily become caste-based institutions for the richest classes; but this concern has been removed by requiring that there must be an appropriate gradation of school fees in a way that also allows the children of the less well-off classes to attend the school.
Finally, the Theological Faculties existing in the State Universities are preserved.
The aforesaid compromise was debated and approved by the National Assembly in Weimar on July 18th. Interior Minister David declared the Government’s acceptance of it. Speakers from the Socialists and the Center Party equally defended the proposal, which on the other hand was opposed by the Democrats, the parties of the right, and the Independent Socialists (Enclosure II).
The above-referenced provisions, like moreover any type of compromise, are certainly far from satisfying all the legitimate aspirations of the Catholics, who saw themselves forced to make sad concessions and surrenders; nonetheless, considering the current circumstances, it is to be hoped they will be approved by the National Assembly also in the third reading of the Constitution, despite the very strong and growing opposition movement that is being attempted against them.
Humbly bowing ...
Source: Pacelli-Edition.de, Dokt 1036