904
Souter, J., dissenting
245, but from officials of the religious schools (and even parents of religious school pupils), see ante, at 803 (noting that private religious schools submitted their orders to the government for specific requested items); App. 156a-158a. The sectarian schools decided what they wanted and often ordered the supplies, id., at 156a-159a, 171a-172a, to be forwarded directly to themselves, id., at 156a-159a. It was easy to select whatever instructional materials and library books the schools wanted, just as it was easy to employ computers for the support of the religious content of the curriculum infused with religious instruction.
The concern with divertibility thus predicated is underscored by the fact that the religious schools in question here covered the primary and secondary grades, the grades in which the sectarian nature of instruction is characteristically the most pervasive, see Lemon, 403 U. S., at 616; cf. Tilton, 403 U. S., at 686-689, and in which pupils are the least critical of the schools' religious objectives, see Lemon, supra, at 616. No one, indeed, disputes the trial judge's findings, based on a detailed record, that the Roman Catholic schools,21 which made up the majority of the private schools participating,22 were pervasively sectarian,23 that
21 Litigation, discovery, and the opinions below focused almost exclusively on the aid to the 34 Roman Catholic schools. Consequently, I will confine my discussion to that information. Of course, the same concerns would be raised by government aid to religious schools of other faiths that a court found had similar missions of religious education and religious teachers teaching religiously.
22 The Jefferson Parish Chapter 2 program included 46 nonpublic schools, of which 41 were religiously affiliated. Thirty-four of these were Roman Catholic, seven others were religiously affiliated, and five were not religiously affiliated. App. to Pet. for Cert. 143a-144a.
23 The trial judge found that the Roman Catholic schools in question operate under the general supervision and authority of the Archbishop of New Orleans and their parish pastors, and are located next to parish churches and sometimes a rectory or convent. Id., at 144a. The schools include religious symbols in their classrooms, App. 75a, require attendance at daily religion classes, id., at 76a, conduct sacramental preparation
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