Your Parish Club May Benefit From

This Government Scheme

Front Our Educational Correspondent Between now and the end of February Catholic clubs have a remarkable opportunity of securing representation on the Local Youth Committees which are to he formed by local education authorities for Higher Education.

Those who are thinking of founding Catholic clubs also have this opportunity.

In my opinion the Government's new policy for securing the social and physical development of boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 20 marks the most important advance in education of recent times.

CLUB FILLS A REAL NEED It is all the more valuable in that it is educational only in the wider sense. There are already various forms of instruction available for the adolescent who has left school, but these evening and continuation classes cannot hope to attract those whose object is not to sit in a classroom and be taught but to fill leisure hours after work—often monotonous and always lowly paid.

For these the club fills a real need, as it provides facilities for games, amusements, hobbies and interesting pursuits which arc educational even if not included in the elementary school curriculum.

Priests all over the country have recognised the need for clubs of various sorts for the young people, and many have founded them at considerable cost in money and energy.

Now the efforts arc to receive official encouragement and where necessary official assistance towards general upkeep and even extension.

From our point of view the best feature of the Government's policy is that there is to be no interference with the club's constitution and management, which will still remain under the control of the parish priest or the board or committee of the controlling organisation.

It is reasonable to hope that diocesan bodies, or even a national organisation, may work with the Government in increasing the number of such Catholic clubs and extending the sphere of usefulness.