Page 145 - March On! God will Provide by Brother Aubert

124 To sAvE AND pERpETUATE

develop out of the present Xaverian school on Maria-
straat.
_ these suggestions were very unorthodox because all
Catholic education in the diocese was directly und.er the
Bisfop-, not in the sense that he shared his magisterium
with those whom he invited to teach but in- a more
factual way: he was the actual manager of all Catholic
schools. I{ Brother Ryken obtained tie permission
that
he- requested as essential to the preservation of his Broth-
erhood, he would be competing against the schools op-
erated by the diocese.
In concocring this "plan', the Founder was in one of
his-expansive moods. Know_ing that the new Bishop had
to be convinced that the Xaverian Brothers woul-cl not
be forever submerged in a sea of debts, particularly the
one owed for the purchase-price of ..Hei Walletje,', he
suggested that he send somi of his men, if noi all of
them, to Germany. Several officers on a local level of the
"Pius Verein," the society planning to subsidize several
schools in the Fatherland, had visiied Bruges to d.iscuss
the details. The "pius Verein,', the piu"s Society of
Gerrnlny, had been established at Mainz in lg4g'and
named in honor of pope pius
IX. Its purpose was to
organize Catholics in dCfense of their religious and civil
rights.
Brother Ryken told Bishop Malou that he would ac-
cept this invitation on rhe tondition that the Society
could arrange to advance for twenty years without i;_
terest several thousand thalers. With such a loan, he
would take care of his present indebtedness.
Another plan that he had in mind was to ask the
two sons of the late Felix Dujardin, who were conducting
the business of their fathei to exempr the Xaveriai
Brothers from- paying the interest for twelve years so
that they could reduce the amount of the principal.