"The family is prior to the State in right"

“THE education of the child belongs properly to the parent, and not to the State. The family is prior to the State in right, and this is particularly true of rights over children.

“This is a very plain elementary Catholic doctrine on which there can be no discussion and no two views—though, as it must be with all doctrines, there can be any amount of discussion upon the application.”

~Hilaire Belloc: from Essays of a Catholic.