Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/21
Catholic Church in America”. Mr. Frank F. Sindelar, former secretary of the Catholic Alliance, told of the achievements of the Alliance, doing relief work and political propaganda for Czechoslovak independence during the war, and also outlined its present program, which is to foster religious and civic betterment.
Bishop Addresses Sisters.
The nuns also heard the Rt. Rev. Joseph Schrembs, D. D., Bishop of Cleveland, who urged them to hold fast to the best traditions of their nation. His lordship pictured the two extremes, that of forgetting all about one’s ancestry and that of excessive and harmful nationalism, and warned the sisters against both.
“Rather”, said the bishop, “keep the best of your race traditions, the religion, customs, celebrations, the consciousness of a glorious past, with its saints, statesmen and heroes”.
The bishop also urged a speaking and reading proficiency of the native language by reason of its educational advantages and that he would like to see the wise preservation of the cultural heritage of every national group. He asked the sisters to cultivate an appreciation for the cultural heritage of the Czechs in the hearts of the children they teach.
Czech Art Exhibit.
The nuns attending the summer school also prepared an elaborate exhibit of Czech Art and Literature, which was opened to the public every day from nine in the morning till four in the afternoon. The exhibit contained Czech folklore, painting, the national festivals, historical places. Czech civilization and history, literature, and national, parochial and fraternal journalism. Included in the exhibit was a complete collection of the thirty Bohemian publications in the U. S. Among these was the Catholic daily “Národ”, published by the Benedictine Fathers in Chicago, now in its 34th year, and an entire volume of the Czechoslovak Student Life monthly.
This exhibit as well as the entire course aroused the interest of the nuns as well as of the leading men of Cleveland. Czech and English newspapers frequently published reports about it. There can be no doubt about the cultural work done by Father Ziska O.S.B. during the six weeks. He had given the same course in Chicago in 1926, and plans are being arranged to give a similar course in all the large cities in the U. S.
At present he is teaching not only at St. Procopius College but he is also giving a course to the nuns of the Czech schools in Chicago. He is offering the following subjects for which credit is given: Methods of modern language teaching, Czech American literature, and a practical study of the Czech language.
