The Hemisphere: Church v. Schools

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The American high schools in the Colombian cities of Bogotá, Barranquilla and Cali, run by U.S. and Colombian Protestants, are among the country's best. But henceforth, Roman Catholic parents who send children to the American schools will be liable to excommunication. Crisanto Cardinal Luque warned them of the church's extreme penalty in a pastoral letter read last week to Colombia's 11 million Catholics.

The enrollment of the four schools was about half Catholic a year ago. Then the Ministry of Education, which is out-rightly sympathetic to the religion of the Colombian majority, ordered all non-Catholic schools to provide their Catholic students with religious instructors jointly chosen by the government and the church. The instructors would have the right to scrutinize textbooks and teaching methods. Rather than comply, the American schools decided to accept only non-Catholic applicants, and sadly braced themselves for a big sag in registrations. Instead, more students than ever applied, some whimsically describing themselves as "Independents" or "Buddhists." The cardinal's warning was his answer—but applications went on unabated.