ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the tortuous relationship that developed in the nineteenth century between the Roman Catholic Church and the State in relation to the education and schooling of Catholic children. It is a key concept and a fundamental one to an appreciation of the emergence of the dual system itself. Education is literally 'bringing up' – but not one section or fraction of the triple man, but the whole – physical, intellectual, moral – the body, the intelligence, the spirit. Associated with the Catholic school system are two claims that have formed the rallying call of the Catholic Church in England and Wales since 1870. Cardinal Wiseman characterised the achievement of Catholic Emancipation in 1829 as the equivalent for Catholics of what the egress from the catacombs was to the early Christians. The subsequent fight for Catholics was not one for recognition of the right to educate but one for parity of resources between Catholic schools and board schools.
