The Catholic times. [volume], May 09, 1952, Image 4

About The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current

Image provided by: Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH

                
THE
CATHOLIC TIMES
Published Every Week by
The Catholic Times, Inc.
Columbus, Ohio
NOTICE: Send All Changes oi Address to
P. O. Box 636 Columbus. Ohio
Executive and Editorial Ottices:
246 E. Town Street. Columbus 15. Ohio
Telephones: ADams 5195 ADams 5196
Address all communications tor publication
to O Box 636. Columbus 16. Ohio
Price of The Catholic Times is $3 per year All
•ubscriptions should be presented to our office through
the pastors of the parishes.
Remittances should be made payable to The Cath
olic Times
Anonymous communications will be disregarded.
W* do not hold ourselves responsible for any views
or opinions expressed in the communications of our
correspondents.
Ent, red as Second Class Matter at Post Office
Columbus, Ohio
St. Francis de Sales, Patron oi the Catholic Press
and of the Diocese of Columbus. Pray for Us I
This Paper Printed by Union Labor
A Call io Duty
Mans young people of our communities will be
graduating from grade school, high school and col
lege a lew weeks. Thousands ot others will mark
intermediate advances in the progres- toward a life s
work All of them will soon lie called upon to make
an important decision, sooner or later, that will al
feet not only themselves, but in a sense the welfare
of the whole community.
The three great influences in the life of a child
are his parents, his priest and his teachers. Within
this sphere of influence there are many serious du
ties. One of the most important and at the same
time, easily neglected of these obligations is that
of counseling the young person and aiding him in
choosing a state of life.
The call that comes from Almighty God to young
boy or girl to give over his or her life to His service
takes many forms. For some, it may come quite
clear and distince and be ever present. For others it
may be veiled, for God's own good reason, and inter
mittent.
Whatever the case may he, it is the solemn duty
of all those to whom the child looks for guidance to
help interpret the call and to offer every consid
eration needed for the young person to enable him
to give a definite answer with a good conscience.
A vocation to the Sacred Priesthood and to the
religious life is a special gift of God. No one earns
it or deserves it. It is something to be prayed for,
trusting in God’s goodness to answer our prayers.
Last week, in a letter to the priests of the Dio
cese, Bishop Ready sounded a call for concerted
prayer by the people of the Diocese, priests and
laymen, young and old. alike, for a great increase in
vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.
He has set aside Mary’s month of May as a special
time of prayer for this purpose and directed that a
special prayer be recited after each Mass for this
intention.
Added to our prayers always the most import
ant consideration* up must all realize our duty to
aid the Bishop, by every means possible, in provid
ing priests and Sisters to tarry on the work of Christ
in the Diocese of Columbus.
-O-
The Heavy Burden
Of Tvranny
The Administrative Board of the National Cath
olic Welfare Conference has called upon all Amer
icans to pray for those untold numbers of our fel
low human beings who bear the heavy burden of
tyranny. I he Bishops of the Board made their ap
peal to all, Catholic and non Catholic alike, io pray
for all who suiter so severely, no matter who they
are or what their religious affiliation.
This is the second time within the year that the
Bishops have expressed their sorrow at the shock
ing plight ot so many members of the human fam
ily around the world. Each time they have made a
strong plea for prayers to the all-merciful God to
lighten the sufferings of so many of His children.
That the Bishops’ words need to be heeded is
emphasized by the latest news dispatches from the
iron curtain countries, China, in particular, is re
ceiving the most furious onslaught of (hi* enemy
of God. There were 500 American Catholic mission
aries in China at the start of the Rod conquest. To
day the number is below' 80. A similar story can be
told of other nations enslaved. Of ionise it is heart
cning to hear reports of the steadfastness the
faith of the native clergy, religious and people But
it is highly problematical how long the church can
continue to function in the lace ot wholesale brutal
persecution.
Every one who loves God, and therefore his fel
lowman, must be heartsick at the thought ol all this
We cannot long maintain oui own self respect if
ve now fail to raise our voices to Almighty God to
spare these brothers and sisters of ours in the
human flesh .lust as model n methods of communi
cation have made the people of China or innermost
Africa our neighbor, so all of us must loci more
keenly the obligation of love for and mercy toward
our fellowman now in sore distress.
If there nothing else we can do, it is certainly
within the reach ot all that they lift their hearts
and voices in prayer. The plea ol our Bishops to all
of us. Catholic and non Catholic neighbors alike, is
but an appeal to our sense of duty to obey the
fundamental law of love given by God to all men
The heavy burden of tyranny can he lightened by
prayers of brotherly love.
—•—.. .................... ...
Motherhood Dav
Amidst the usual celebrations, the sending of
flowers and the visits home the observance of
Mothers’ Day should have an added overtone this
year one that might easily be missed in all the
hapny clamor
This day has been set aside by official procla
mation to do honor to all our mothers, living or
d«ad The day for most ol us, and rightly so, has
an individual ami particular significance We think
of one particular mother and of the individual
who owes so much to hci Me thank God on Moth
ers’ Day for our own mother and pray God's bless
ing and an abundance of His good things for her.
There is a wider and more general aspect, though
of Mothers Day, which becomes increasingly clearer
and more important each year of our modern era
It is the consideration that in honoring our own
mother we ar al the same time honoring her state
of life itseif We arc paying homage to a person
our mother, and at the amc time, to an exalted stale
ot life motherhood
I he present age has been singled out lor many
unique qualities -ome good and some had One
of the worst of these qualities is the growing
conviction that motherhood, lar from being an ex
alted state, is actually .something to be avoided.
Men have gone so far in this enlightened age that
many look upon motherhood as the cause of many
of the world’s evils.
There are people today who say that overpopu
lation is the cause o| the principal evils ol the
world, that it breeds hunger and want fosters
Communism, and in general, keeps back the human
race from its destined progress.
Our observance of Mothcis' Day. May 11 comes
right in the midst of the Fifth World Health As
sembly, held in Geneva Switzerland, Horn May 5
to May 24 Observers say that one of the main
questions confnnting this oig.iniz.Uion is the prob
lorn of over population and that a world system of
birth-control may be recommended.
Along with our prayers for your own mother
on Mothers’ Day, all thinking men and women
could well offer a prayer that no such slighting
and immoral action will be taken and that the in
stitution of motherhood will retain its exalted
position in the minds and hearts of all.
o-------------------
Applause For The
Supreme Court
After the attack made upon private schools of
the nation as being divisive, it was cheering to all
sincere Americans to learn that the United States
Supreme Court had upheld the teaching of religion
to our youth in public schools by a released-time
program. President Conant of Harvard and the peo
ple attending a convention in Boston of public
school administrators, had opened an attack upon
all private, non tax-supported schools as being con
trary of the “principle” of unity in education. The
opposition voiced by them is not new, but it was
something of a shock to good people of our beloved
nation who still have some idea of true freedom.
Accordingly it was all the more encouraging to
’Those who have at times doubted the trend of things
in this great democracy to see the highest legal
court in the land declare that it is within the (Con
stitution for the public schools to permit students to
attend classes in religious instruction according to a
voluntary released-time plan. There may have been
some who had begun to suspect the Supreme Court
of being somewhat liberal in recent years this new
est action is, therefore, reassuring. Perhaps the ris
ing sentiment oi the people for things fundamental
and true, as against the loud and raucous words of
communist propagandists, is now having a salutary
effect. This would point to the necessity of all right
thinking citizens taking an active stand in matters
which concern the welfare of their community and
the nation at large.
If the audience fails to applaud an artist on the
stage, he justly feels his work is poor if the public
office holder receives no approval from the voters,
he may rightfully feel that his efforts for justice
are not wanted. Hence, a hearty word of commenda
tion to the U. S. Supreme Court.
Just Among Ourselves
Patting Comment Considered or Incontiderefe
Last week, in noticing the inaccuracy of those
who regard atomic power as something man has
created, we said that man cannot create anything.
There is need, however, to notice that there must
have been a first creation. Man can make things out
of other things he can go to work on a world that
is here to work on. But there had to be first things,
and these could not have been made out of other
things, for they were first. First things had to be
made out of nothing. They had to be created. And
the creative power must be self-existing, eternal,
infinite. The Creator is the infinite God.
Recently there appeared a book by Professor
George Gainow of George Washington University,
a book called “The Creation of the Universe.” This
book, like others of its kind, is misnamed. It does
not discuss creation at all, but development. It does
not get back to rc. Uy first beginnings. And it is
po full or final explanation of a complex world to
liace back its history to a time when it was less com
plex. It may be worth while to trace such a history,
hut this is not a history of creation. The complexity
and development of the universe is a marvelous
mystery, and we should be glad to have any real
light that may be shed upon it. But the outstanding
mystery is not the complexity of the universe hut
the fact of the universe. Upon this these so-called
“creation” books shed no light at all.
Professor Gamow, according lo the review of his
book in a current weekly, is Russian born. This fact
might lead the unwary lo suspect that he is going to
claim that the Russians created the world up to
now they seem to have claimed authorship in almost
everything else. But the professor is an American,
and he offers no tribute to the Russians by ascrib
ing lo them the creative power. In fact he ascribes
that power to no one he docs not discuss that power.
And he docs wrong to use the word “creation" in his
title.
Says the review: "In a popular vein, aided by
his own sketchy drawings, Gamow reasons that
3.400,000,000 years ago the universe probably start
ed as a bundle of condensed energy.” That sentence
presents in brief space both the vagueness and the
inaccuracy of expression common to many modern
I realises that claim to he scientific, especially those
that also try to he "popular.’’ VVc read that the pro
fessor makes a guess (“the universe probably start
ed .”) and then reasons upon his guess. The re
sult of this thought and imagination may well be
entertaining certainly it cannot he scientific.
And the professor’s guess that the earth "started”
as a bundle of condensed energy fails to touch the
real beginning. It will not do to say that the world
started as a world. For the original bundle of en
ergy (whatever that might mean) is a world already
existing. It does not explain itself. Its own origin is
still in question. Where did the bundle come from
and how was it packed with the power and the
blue prints to develop into what it has become in
3,400,000,000 years?
'the word “energy" is a common fog-word. It is
like the words “charge of electricity" in some of the
physics books. When we read that electrons are
charges ol electricity we reasonably inquire wheth
er these "charges" are bits of matter, or whether
the books mean "hits of matter charged with elec
tricity." They must be one or the other, and in
cither case they are material things,—just as mater
ial as the great world around us.—and call for ex
planation as loudly as the whole complex universe
calls for it.
So it is with “energy.” Is the professor’s “bundle
ot condensed energy” a bodily mass that has energy
or is energy itself a hodily mass? The concept
of material energy the void, existing alone, as
the explanation of bodily substance is really not a
concept at all hut a contradiction. Nor can it claim
up to (lateness, for it is a very old and very stale
contradiction, going back to some of the earliest
Greek cosmogomsts.
To taste the Gamow stew further in the words
(doubtless inadequate) of the review: “Five min
utes later (that is, five minutes after the
"start” which was 3 400,000,000 years ago)
the elementary particles had formed neu
trons, protons, and electrons. At this stage the tern
perature hovered at a billion degrees Centigrade
and energy was so rife (so says the review yet
there was nothing but energy, the condensed bun
dle) that it was denser than iron. Gamow has named
this primordial soup the "ylem” (pronounced eye
lem)."
Lot us read a companion piece of science by the
famous Mr Dooley, written about .fifty years ago.
We present the quotation tn conventional spelling
each reader may supply his own brogue: “First it
(the earth) was a mere squdge in which never a
living thing could be found. This period lasted a few
million years, and then the mush caked and became
budding material, and trees grew out of the build
ing material and fell down and became coal. Then
the water came but where it came from 1 don’t
know, for there was no God at the time—and cov
ered the earth, and then the water evaporated and
left little points of land sticking up with ready
made men and women occupying them, and at that
moment the Bible began."
THE CATHOLIC TIMES, FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1952
WASHINGTON TETTER
Top Court
WASHLNGTON—The United
States Supreme Court may have
put a brake on an aggressive
and growing campaign on sec
ularism in this country.
If it has, the decision uphold
ing the “released time" program
of the New York City public
schools is truly one of the most
important in the history of our
highest bench.
The decision in Zorach ▼. Clau
son, as the "released time” case
is technically known, came at a
time when secularists were def
initely on the offensive. Some
were saying the First Amend
ment to the Constitution meant
not merely that there could be
no established religion, but that
the Government could not have
anything to do with any relig
ion or all religions. There could
be no cooperation at all. That,
of course, is only a step removed
from hostility to religion.
Others were saying religious
and private schools should be put
out of existence. One suspects
that they really meant to say re
ligious schools should be put
out of business, and threw in
the private schools as a sort of
“red herring.” In any event, the
religious and private schools
v. ere accused of being “divisive.”
’’be were “divisive” because
they were not secularist. Noth
ii was said about the secular
ist schools being “divisive” be­
LOUIS F. Rl DENI
Oddities nev
er end, and no
better evidence
can be found
than in the
strange way so
many people
accept the slo
gans or argu
ments of the
communists.
This fact is
brought to
mind by a letter received from
a textile worker, an official of
his CIO union. He refers to the
question raised by some as to
whether the Smith Act, under
which the 11 communists were
convicted at Foley Square, may
be used to injure free trade un
ions. Naturally, he is concerned.
The answer is an emphatic
“No.” The Smith Act declares
illegal any conspiracy to advo
cate the overthrow of the govern
ment of the United States by
violence. It applies to the com
munist conspiracy and to noth
ing else. Day after day, in The
Daily Worker and other Red or
gans, the communists contend
that the Smith Act will not only
curb the Rod conspiracy but al
so harm labor unionism. That
is to be expected of the commun
ists. For them it is a logical ar
gument. for they contend that
the Communist Party is "the van
guard of the workers,” that it is
the sole agency that can think
and act for the workers. There
fore, according to their concept,
any curbing of the communist
conspiracy is an injury to the
“party of the working class"—
in other words, to those who do
all the thinking and acting for
the working class.
Mary ’s Maypo le
her
Hits Secularism
cause they were not religious.
Still others belabored Prot
csiant clergymen and laymen for
their efforts to support and ex
tend religious instruction, eith
er through “released time” or
other projects.
In the majority opinion in Zor
ach v. Clauson, Justice William
O. Douglas said “we are a relig
ious people whose institutions
presuppose a Supreme Being,”
end that “we find no constitu
tional requirement which makes
it necessary for government to
be hostile to religion and to
throw its weight against efforts
to widen the effective scope of
religion.”
Justice Douglas also said: "We
guarantee the freedom to wor
ship as one chooses. We make
room for as wide a variety of
beliefs and creeds as the spirit
ual needs of man deem neces
sary. We sponsor an attitude on
the part of government that
shows no partiality to any one
group and that lets each flourish
according to the zeal of its adher
ents and the appeal of its dogma.
When the state encourages re
ligious instruction or cooperates
with religious authorities by
adjusting the schedule of public
events to sectarian needs, it fol
lows in our best traditions.”
These words throw into strik
ing relief the contrast between
Enemies Of Free Labor
Fo«, Not Friend
Those who recognize the com
munist fifth column for what it
is, solely a servant of the Soviet
dictatorship, recognize how false
any claim is that involves the
communists with the free trade
unions. CIO committee reports
on the unions expelled because
of Red leadership tell the story
very well. They show that the
Communist Party is interested
solely in advancing the purposes
of the Stalinite dictatorship and
is opposed to the trade unions
in reality.
This realization is further
borne out by the destruction of
the free trade unions in every
country where Soviet satellite
regimes have been set up. The
communist newspaper Troud,
published in Bulgaria, states this
quite bluntly in its issue of Feb
ruary 22: “Because the people’s
democratic state (that is, the Red
rule in Bulgaria) is one of the
forms of the dictatorship of the
proletariat ... it is now political
ly incorrect to speak in defense
of the workers’ and employees’
interests as it was in the past,
and the trade unions do not have
and cannot have such a task.”
That is putting it plainly
enough. The "trade unions.”
which have only the name and
no longer the reality of being
work ers’ organizations, have
only one function under any Sov
iet regime. That function is to
get out production and to exploit
the workers, compelling them to
give what is ironically called
"voluntary extra service" to the
Red-ruled state. Workers’ ex
pressions of grievances are to be
prohibited and “labor discipline”
imposed by the so-called trade
unions.
The secularists, who have been
very much on the offensive, may
not be stopped but only tempor
arily halted. However, the pause
could provide a breathing spell
during which Protestants, Jews
and Catholics who believe in the
American way could regroup
their forces for the defense of
democracy.
Labor's Evident Duty
The communist contention that
the Smith Act is halting the Red
conspiracy will injure labor is
as false, therefore, as previous
contentions of a like character.
When the Foreign Agents Regis
tration Act was passed in 1938.
and when it was supplemented
by the Voorhis Act in 1940 to
cover subversive organizations,
The Daily Worker then cried
aloud that the trade unions
would be affected. Nothing of
the sort occurred, and it could
not occur. The trade unions are
not seditious groups, and their
very existence is contrary to the
whole concept of the Communist
Party, the agent of Moscow.
The time has come for trade
unionists to reject all the efforts
of communists to make out that
their party is "part of the labor
movement.” This has already
been done in the sense that those
unions which have had commun
ist control have been ejected
from the CIO. It has also been
reflected in the general attitude
of the American Federation of
Labor, including its report on the
slave labor camps of Soviet Rus
sia.
The bleak lines of oppressed
workers under every Red satel
lite regime, who are being ar
bitrarily moved from their’
homes under orders of the Red
bureaucracy, give testimony to
the oppressions of the working
people which follows in the wake
of Stalinite domination. The pic
ture of their oppression should
be presented in every trade
union meeting in order that the
slavery which is spreading un
der the name of “workers’ eman
cipation” may be fully exposed.
INQUIRY CORNER
So
the American and the nazi and
communist ways. Contrary to co
operating with religious author
ities "by adjusting the schedule
of public events to sectarian
needs, “Hitler and Stalin began
early to fix compulsory state
and party demonstrations at
times that conflicted with relig
ious events. Their purpose was
to discourage and prevent at
tendance at religious ceremon
ies. This is not the American
purpose. It never has been, and
the Supreme Court has called
attention to the fact again.
"The government must be neu
tral when it comes to competi
tion between sects. It may not
thrust any sect on any person. It
may not make a religious ob
servance compulsory. It may not
even coerce anyone to attend
church, to observe a religious
holiday, or to take religious in
struction. But it can close its
doors or suspend its operations
as to those who want to repair to
their religious sanctuary for wor
ship or instruction.”
Who Originated May
Devotions To Mary?
Q. What is the origin of the
custom dedicating May to the
Blessed Virgin?
A. The dedication of this joy
ful month to Our Lady seems to
have been originated by Father
Latomia of the Roman College
of the Society of Jesus in the
eighteenth century. To counter
act infidelity and immorality
among the students he made a
vow to devote the month to
Mary, and it has received the
world-wide approval of Catho
lics. Pope Pius VII granted an
indulgence of 300 days each day
for observance of the devotion
either in public or in private,
which according to the Raccolta
has been increased to 5 years for
private devotions and 7 years for
public. In his Encyclical on the
Liturgy Pope Pius XII said,
“There are besides, other exer
cises of piety, which although
not strictly belonging to the
sacred Liturgy, are, nevertheless,
of special import and dignity
.. Among these are the prayers
usually said during the month of
May in honor of the Blessed
Virgin .”
What is the Index of forbid
den books?
A. Exercising the power and
responsibility given by Christ
for the protection of minds and
souls the Church has always pro
tected the faithful against books
that are harmful. The Muratori
an Canon of 170 A. D. showed
this conceri? for a pure version
of the Sacred Scriptures and the
first list of forbidden books ap
peared in the early fifth cen
tury. The first general catalogue
of forbidden books to be called
by the name Index was issued by
Pope Pius IV, following the
Council of Trent. In addition
to the relatively few books listed
in the Index the Church pro
hibits the following groups of
books: Religious books without
Catholic censorship, such as un
authorized editions of the Bible
and reports of visions books
against the faith, attacking re
ligion or ridiculing Catholic
teaching books against morals,
such as those teaching supersti
tion, spiritism or impure ideas.
The reaction to such prohibitions
indicates the Catholic's under
standing of his religion, for such
action protects him from poison
ing his mind, just as parental
GRETTA PALMER
Dangerous Business
"Whatever is
worth doing at
all,” said G. K.
Chesterton, "is
worth doing
a 1 y.” He
used the para
dox as a de
fense of that
much abused
creature, the
un-career wom
an, who man
ages to fill her days with noth
ing but the roles of mother,
nurse, cook, seamstress, teacher,
gardener, family physician and
electrical repair man. An ama
teur at everything, shfc is safe
from the insanity that threatens
the one-sided expert in any field.
The amateur can thrive only
in a community that puts other
values above money: as soon as
profit is taken really seriously
she or he is rapidly pushed to
the wall by the professional in
any tradw or field. The best is
the enemy of the good here, as
always. And when the competi
tion becomes fierce and severe
enough, the amateur is given
two choices and only two: he may
select a hobby and ride it until
it becomes a full-time job, or re
tire from all his fields of inter
est and quietly starve as a hobo
en the rails.
The specialist is. however, the
enemy of the person. This fact
the Church has recognized
throughout her history. The re
ligious orders are a case in
point: you never heard, did you,
of a Mother Superior who broke
down from over work? Or of a
monk who became so engrossed
in his monastic activities that he
needed three sleeping pills a
night in order to rest?
The Church is never on the
side of the one-sided even her
contemplatives are forced to
share a period of relaxation from
prayer even her most over-bur
dened prelates must take some
time from active duties for med
itation. That is one of the rea
sons why the Church is safe
from any of the exaggerations
and lopsided monomanias that
trouble enthusiasts outside her
fold. The life she urges is a well
rounded life, with no unseemly
bulges nor piercing cornices.
She is at war with every neuros
is—for every neurosis is a nar
rowing of interest to a single as
pect. good or bad, of man's ca
pacities.
Misconception of Life
The pagan world has learned,
at fourth or fifth hand, a meas
ure of this ancient wisdom: its
psychiatrists urge patients to
knit or weave, to circulate
among other people, to cultivate
a hobby as a brake upon their
primary occupation. But these
things are recommended to them
on the low grounds of self-inter
est alone. "Do this,” say the
physicians, "and you will worry
less." Or. “Try this, and see how
much your sleeping habits are
improved."
authority safeguards their chil
dren. A good explanation of
this important work has been
published recently entitled,
"What Is the Index?”
Q. How can I answer a paci
fist friend of mine who says that
Christ taught meekness and not
bloody war between men?
A. Your friend is right when
he says the meekness of Christ
under injustice is to be imitat
ed. He is also right in feeling
that war is not the Christian
solution for misunderstandings
and inequalities among men.
For the individual Christian
heroic forbearance under perse
cution has always been most
heartily urged and practiced by
spiritual writers and saints of
the Catholic Church. It is an
other thing, however, to stand
by and see an innocent person
abused. To stand piously by
while a bully is whipping a small
er man, or to merely pray while
a man is beating his wife is
neither human nor Christian a
father may turn his own cheek
as a Christian, but he cannot see
his family mistreated and do
nothing. Likewise in interna
tional affairs defense—and only
defense of the innocent is
unfortunately necessary some
tifnes. It is not true Christian
virtue to stand devoutly by while
men are enslaved, minds are
twisted and souls are destroy
ed by evil men. Our present
Holy Father has constantly urg
ed men to avoid war in every
way possible, and while con
demning communism has never
suggested war as a solution. The
true solution is spiritual. So
long as there is any possible
avenue of peace the, Christian
will not accept war, but if it is
thrust upon him, if the alterna
tive is destruction and degrada
tion of the innocent he can ac
cept war. Christ did not hesitate
to make a whip and drive evil
men from the temple, but He
did teach us from the cross to
forgive our enemies. We can
avoid war by following His teach
ings, but nowhere did He take
away the right of man or nation
to self-defense under unjust ag
gression.
(Send questions to Inquiry
Corner, The Catholic Times,
Box 636, Columbus (16) Ohio.)
That is, in fact, the situation
in which millions of men and
women find themselves today.
They cry, with Arthur Koestler’s
hero, the tragic words. ‘Oh, for
the perfect cause for which to
live and die!” For lack of it they
waste themselves on trivia or
bind themselves to some single,
narrow goal, blinding their eyes
to every other value or beauty
in the world. The loss in human
happiness is immense the loss
in spiritual achievement is be
yenq our calculations.
And out of this curious mis
conception of life—this odd idea
that monomania is the sole road
to success—has arisen an even
stranger and more dangerous no
tion: the belief that religion is
the business only of the few.
Tragic Paradox
Tell the average non-Catholic
today that you consider as your
goal on earth to know, love and
serve God, and he will label you
a professional religious: for that
conception of life is to him
a
specialist’s conception. No mat
ter how broad-minded he may be
—no matter how willing to ac
knowledge the spiritual values—
unless he is a most unusual mod
ern, he will think that you have
expressed an attitude towards
life that is appropriate only to
a small band of professional as
cetics.
But we know better. We know
better because the catechism has
assured us of the fact that every
man and every woman has as his
primary vocation a religious vo
cation—that marriage and moth
erhood, earning a living and be
ing a father and a friend are all
to be evaluated in terms of their
assistance or destruction of the
soul's main aim: the knowledge,
love and service of its God. Any
other goal in life is, in compari
son, constricting and shockingly
narrowing. The soul, made for
slavery to the Divine, suffers
more sharply than any organ of
the body when it is bound into
limits tighter than its needs. To
force a Chinese girl-child’s foot
to remain five inches long for
ever was a cruel thing, when it
was done a half a century ago
to force a man’s soul to confine
’tsclf to smaller goals than those
of God is more cruel.
And that is why, by an odd and
tragic paradox, broadmindedness
is harsher than even the least
tolerant heresy: for it is nar
rower. The man who worships a
God he misunderstands, through
some fault of theology, is at
leas* submitting himself to a God
rf some kind—to Someone larg
er than himself. But the man
v’ho serves a specialty, a tempor
al goal, an ambition bounded by
this earth, has made himself the
slave of a single portion of his
own finite mind.
For anything worth doing at
all is worth doing badly. And the
world needs lions of amateurs
whose vision is so large that it
win not scorn doing a different
task each day to serve its Lord