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4—THE CATHOLIC TIMES Friday, April 20.1956 THE CATHOLIC TIMES Published Every Week by The Catholic Times, Inc. Columbus. Ohjo NOTICE: Send All Changes of Address to P. O. Box 636 Columbus. Ohio Executive and Editorial Offices. 246 E. Town Street. Columbus 15. Ohio Address all communications for publication to P. 0. Box 636 Columbus 16. Ohio Telephones. CA. 4-5195 CA 4-5196 Price of The Catholic Timer i» 13 pei rear. Al) whacriptiona abovld be presented to our office throush :he part on of the parishes. RemittaneM ahould be made payable to the Cath Uie Time* Anonymous communication* will be disregarded We do not hold ooraelvea responsible for any riewa .•'pinionn expressed in the enmmnnieationa of our eorreapondenta. Entered a* Second Clan* Matter at Poet Offree. Colnmhua Ohio. St. Francia de Saiea. Patron of the Catholie Prone. Pray for ua _____ This Paper Printed by Union Labor Foretaste of Eternal Joy Maintaining the spirit of holy joy which is the particular mark of the Paschal time—in which is commemorated Christ’s stay upon earth after His Resurrection—the Church reminds us in Sunday’s liturgy that this exaltation is a fore taste. as.it were, of the everlasting joy opened up for man through Christ’s victory over sin and deat^. The disciples had the happiness of being with’Christ during His stay on earth, and in Sun day’s Gospel He tells them that this temporal happiness is only a preparation for the supreme happiness in Which they are to share. "A little while and you shall see Me no longer.” He tells them, “and again a little while rrd you shall see Me, because 1 go to the Fa ther.” That is. the great privilege of being in His presence, of seeing Him parform His miracles, of hearing His words of counsel and instruction was to come to an end, because He was to leAve this world and return to His Father yet alter “a little while” the earthly careers of His fol lowers were to end. too, and then they were to jmn Him in the bliss of heaven, and he with Him for all eternity. Whatever sorrows and trials might intervene, whatever hardships they might have to bear, must seem insignificant, for they could last only “a little while,” to be swept away in the beatific vision Christ's words to the disciples, spoken at the Last Supper, are addressed to us, too, His fol lowers of today, beneficiaries of His mercy, nbeyers of His teachings. In spirit we see Him now, during the forty days between His Resur rection and His Ascension, and we closely ob aerve as He indicates His will for us. Wo know' that these are precious days in the shaping of our lives for the time to come we know that if la but "a little while” that is giv-?n us to pre pare for the life hereafter, and that when that ‘•’little while” is completed it will mean, if we atay true to Him, the entering upon joys “that no one shall take from you." Why should we flinch from adversity, or let the cares and temp tations of the world overcome us, when we have this promise to sustain and strengthen us? For we are, after all, as St. Peter points out In Sunday’s Epistle, “strangers and pilgrims,” making our way through the material world, in which we have been placed, to our eternal des tiny During our pilgrimage we have obligations citizens and members of the human fhmily— to be obedient to lawful authority, the Apostle tells us, and to “live as freemen, yet not using ynur freedom as a cloak for malice but as servants of God We ar? “to abstain from carnal desires that war against the soul we are to conduct ourselves “honorably among the pa gans." We are in the world, but we are. above all, God’s creatures, dedicated to His service, and that dedication must be revealed in all our thoughts and actions Thus shall the joy that is •urs a* followers of His Son lead us to the joy of heaven. ‘Progressive’ Educators Make Mo Progress Modern “progressive educators” (and the term allows shades of meaning from ridiculous extremes to a few who might be hotter called moderates) most often appeal to the criterion of results. This is particulars true of those whn tr? Pragmatists or Experimentalists and consti tute th? radical group, and who forget that they ar? after all experimenting not with guina pigs but with children deserving of more respect. Rut Hus safeguard set down, no one wants to deny th? value of results except that some of these progressive educators are not getting any, and flow illngically try tn shut then eyes to the situs Hon they have themselves created. The public is gradually awakening to this fact There is a mounting storm of criticism, evi denced by mor? and more articles on education in popular magazines like Collier's and Time, in the daily press (eg, the furor over Flesch's book. Why Johnny Can't Read), in business journals Ilk? U. S. News and World Report, in profession *1 magazines. 1-aw schools are complaining that the students sent them cannot do the necessary work: liberal colleges have led th? attack on poor basic training, hig industries lately have entered the fray, appalled at the ignorance of joh ap plicants. W? were hardly surprised then to read that General Twining, Air Force Chief of Staff, has found himself sucked into the dispute. The Gen eral is alarmed over the potentialities of Russia's «ir force. They ar? not merely quantitative, but. what may he more shocking to our readers, qual itative Our program is being held up not only because of failure to allot funds hut also, in a pior? serious way, by our failure to produce en fineers. scientists, and trained technicians of almost every type Were unjimited sums to be psade available, this is no simple sure answer. Where ar? th? men* The problem is basically •ducatinnal many schools are not produciing. On the other hand Russia is getting cduca tional results It is graduating 90.000 scientists tgainst our 30,000 annually, and still 53 per cent pf our high schools do not give courses in physics. It is “progressive” in tl\y real sense of the term. While our lads are learning how to conduct them selves on dates (Social Science course), how to boil water (Home Economics), how to build a Mexican village (the “project” method), Russian children ar? learning fundamental mathematics ■nd mechanical kills they are mastering their #wn language and. unfortunately, they arc learn Ing how to make out a strong case for Vommun lam and world revolution It is most of all interesting to learn that Rus da has already tried what is essentially the fal lacy nf “progressive" education. There was a time when they too read Dewey and his name Was held in honor. Till the mid ’30s Russian dreamers, too, experimented with education. Stu dents participated in the preparation of courses •f study, in the actual selection nf teachers, in the regulation nf discipline Like in some Amcri Mr schools, they played at various "activities.” Hutchins puts it bitterly, indulged in little “fake experiences.” Then th? Reds woke up. Thev returned immediately tn what some of our educators seem to despise—education. They restored- discipline they reintroduced the tradi tional methods of essentials and time-honored contents of the past. Friends are u'orth more than money.—French proverb. A faithful friend is a strong defense and he that hath found him hath found a treasure.—Ec clesiasticus vi.’ 14. Before you make a friend, eat a peck of salt with him.—This proverb, which has passed into several languages, is thus explained by Aristotle. “Nichomachean Ethics” vii, 2. 46: “A friend is tried every day.” Salt is the symbol of preser vation. Just Among Ourselves Pasting Comment Considered or Inconsiderate A current magazine says that surveys have shown that the averajJ? senior in high school has a vocabulary of 15,000 to 18.000 words. Fur ther the squib declares that the vocabulary of the average adult (taking into account the spate of the Ph.D.’s that bursts periodically from our universities) is about 12.000 words. There seema to be something wrong with these statistics. A long time teacher of English in high school thinks that the lad who compiled the figures was careless with his pencil. An extra zero has likely been introduced into the high school re port. For, says this seasoned teacher, if the average high school senior has a vocabulary of even 1,500 words, he is parsimonious in his use of over half of them. A high school senior is a person who haa spent three years, and is spending a fourth, in learning to dispense with a vocabulary altogether. He speaks a spluttery sort of jargon that may be called tecnose. It consists in adenoidal or tonsiilated grunts, elliptical slang, addled wise cracks, and a welter of mispronounced and mis used verbalisms. Put the average high school senior to the task of plainly defining plain words that ought to be in the vocabulary of any person who can read a newspaper or a weekly review, and you will see some astounding things, ft was a high school senior who defined antithesis as “a dis ease of the lungs.” It was a high school senior who wrote that decorum means a “group of people, enough to start a meeting.” It was a high school senior who defined anthology as “a subject studied in college.” It was a selected group of high school seniors who were called upon tn study and discuss these eight lines from Milton's L’Allegro: Towered cities please us then. And the busy hum of men, Where throngs of knights and barons bold, In weeds of peace, high triumphs hold, With store of ladies, whose bright eyes Rain influence, and judge the prize Of wit or arms, while both contend To win her grace whom all commend. And here follows some part of what these richly vocahularied seniors did with .1. Milton Exhibit A—“Men are grouped together bp cause they are going about their daily task like be? which creates noise. The storekeeper with their inviting faces to buy their goods. The buyer buys the goods and all is content.” Exhibit H—“The towered cities please us. They are noisey with the hum of busy men. There are throngs of bold knights and barons, who in time of peace there is great praise. There are many ladies in the city. When it rains it shows in their eyes.” Exhibit C—“He states that we are pleased with the tall buildings of cities and the constant noises that are found within a large city and that there are many beautiful ladies in the city who are influenced by rain and that many men fight to win one particular women whomever it may be.” Exhibit D—“He is trying here to say that during a lime of peace the knights and barons are held in the city because they have no other place to go and since they had nothing else to do they went and jost with one another for the eye of a damsel. This was done by different feats of arms. The looks of these women had the power to command them. So Milton was meaning that the lords had nothing else to do so they just played around." You notice in the quotations the lush vocabu lary of the high school seniors, and also the graceful ease with which they shape abundance of words into graceful phrases. And what sim plicity and directness is here. “They went and jost with one another for the eye of a damsel.” The keen understanding of words enjoyed by these high school seniors is well exampled in their interpretation of phrases taken from the eight hnes of L'Allegro already quoted 1. toweled cities—“The tall buildings over all men. “Tall cities with large skyscrapers," “The cities had so many towers in them that they looked as if they were all towers." 2. hum of men “Singing of men as they walk along the street,” “People moving up and down the street talking or singing "The noise created by talking and the autos." 3. needs of peace.—“While in peace the knights havt^ nothing to do and s they do no good as weeds a field “The restraining of the fight ing spirit of the lords felt to them as weeds holding them back “In time of war the fields would be trodden down by soldiers since it is peare time the weeds grow.” 4. store of ladies—“Different kinds or variety* of ladies “Probably means that there were numerous ladies about so that it looked as though there was a stqie full o( them “l-adies at stores and everything they see they want to buy.” 5. high triumphs hold—‘“The ladies held the men in high esteem "Tournaments and similar gallantries “They were so successful in war that no one wants to fight or make another war." 6. to u hi her grace—"To w in her favor—have her appreciate him "To get her for himself “To win the favor and admiration of the ladies.” A man’s vocabulary consists of the words he knows, readily remembers, and uses cor rectly. It is not possible to believe that the thirty two high school seniors,—not run-of-minc sen iors, hut selected as superior,—whose work we have been viewing are equipped with a vocab ulary of 15,000 to 18.000 words. It is manifest from their wrnrk that they are cramped in ex pression. and do not readily find words to carry their meaning, even when they have any intel ligible meaning to convey. There must be something wrong with those surveys which rat? th? average citizen as a 12.000 unrd man (and he's (ar overrated al that) and the high school senior as a 15.000-18.000 genius. Maybe 1500-1800 is right. Or 150-180. //,C WASHINGTON LETTER WASHINGTON A govern ment agency, in attempting an official definition of the word “church." has so narrowed th? concept that its effort could have far-reaching ramifications The agency, the Internal Rev enue Service, is attempting the definition in connection with some regulations the law re quires it to. promulgate. The problem is similar to one which faced the legislative branch twice in the last six years. In 1950, when Congress was amending the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, a spokesman for Baptists pointed out that the word “church” did not protect independent churches, and Congress changed the law to make its provisions apply to “church, convention or associ ation of churches.” In this way, Congress implemented its in tention to exempt from taxa tion churches in whatever form they might be organized. In 1952, a change proposed in the Internal Revenue Serv ice regulations would have ex cluded religious orders from the meaning of the term "church", but this change was not then adopted. In 1954. proposed legislative changes in the Internal Reve MONSIGNOR HIGGINS In a statement from his hos pital bed, Mr. Riesel himself put the challenge to “the de cent men of labor" very point edly. “For God’s sake,” he said, “stop looking the other way. Stop apologizing and sidestep ping. Use the AFL-CIO Ethical Practices Committee to begin a real, all-out war against the mobs." l/*t Us hope and pray that "the decent men of labor" will respond to this dramatic challenge without fear or fa vor, let the chips fall where they may. The sooner the bet ter. There is no time to lose. A Two-Way Proposition It would be unrealistic to as sume that “the decent men of labor"- who are in the over whelming majority in the American labor movement can solve the problem of labor racketeering without the whole hearted cooperation of employ ers. politicians, and the guard ians of the law. Thl role of employers in solving this srandalouj prob lem I* particularly important For it is obvious that much of Wrong Book Agency Tries to Define "Church 9 nue Code provided that a tax payer might make deductions of up to 30 per cent of his in come for gifts made to “a church or convention or associ ation of churches or a relig ious order.” While the bill was under discussion, a spokesman for the National Catholic Wel fare Conference appeared be fore the Senate Finance Com mittee and pointed out that the proposal to classify religious orders separately would indi cate that they are not consid ered a part of, or come within the meaning- of, the term “church". Congress ultimately struck the term “religious orders” from the measure and the Sen ate Finance Committee stated specifically in its report that it did so because it believed “that the term ‘church’ should be all inclusive.” In January of this year, the Internal Revenue Service gave notice of proposed changes in its regulations. In a section per taining to “unrelated business activities” of churches, the IRS proposed to include in the gen eral exemption provided for a “church, convention or associa tion of churches,” only those religious orders the members nf which perform “sacerdotal” Too Much Winking (Continued (rom page 1) is not so simple as some of la bor’s critics make it out to he. For exampl^, the president of the National Association of Manufacturers, in a public statement on the Riesel case, left the impression, perhaps unwittingly, that the problem can he solved by the labor movement alone. This is a great oversimplification. The labor movement, to be sure, can and should do a great deal more than it has done thus far to po lice its own ranks and to elim inate the minority of unsavory characters who are preying on its members and giving it such a bad reputation in the public mind. th? racketeering in the labor movement is a two-way propo sition. a collusive and mutually profitable arrangement be tween unscrupulous labor lead ers and unscrupulous employ ers who are willing to pay a fancy price for ,#soft" contracts at the expense of the rank and file workers. The New York waterfront scandal is an elo quent case in point According to the experts on this subject, many of the employers on the waterfront, far from cooperat ating with the A FL when it expelled the discredited inter national Longshoremen's Asso ciation. secretly sided with the I.L A. which they had come to respect as a docile union. A few days before the attack on Riesel this unsavory tie-up between the racket-infested I.L.A. and some of the water front employers was again ex posed by a former Assistant District Attorney of New York City, William J. Keating, in a new book entitled “The Man Who Rocked the Boat.” Mr. Keating says very bluntly that “the discredited union's most fe.vid backstage supporters, of course, were the shipping and stevedoring companies, whose New York Shipping Associa tion kept agitating for a prompt election (between the old I.L.A. and the reform un ion chartered by the A.F.L.) Th*' A.F.L. wanted to delay the election, in order to have more time to organize, but amid all the big talk about the forces of government being on the side of the federation against the beleaguered I.L.A.. the hoods and the employers got what they wanted: on Decem ber 17. th? National Ijibor Re lations Board announced that th? election would be held five I TH£ SEARCH FOR functions. Rut the proposed regulation would operate to ex clude from the statutory co emption the “unrelated busi ness activities” of religious or ders of nuns or religious bro thers. A hearing on this point has just been held by the IRS, and a spokesman for the NCWC was invited to appear. The NCWC representative protested, in part, that the proposed reg ulation involves a violation of the tradition of separation of church and state. It was point ed out that “the unwarranted interpretation placed upon the statute cuts off certain branch es of the Catholic Church but leaves other churches, such as the Baptist or Congregational Churches, intact.” II was further argued that the regulation, contrary to Congressional intent, “endeav ors to decree that certain or ders are not a part of the church unless they discharge functions arbitrarily set up in the proposed regulations.” It was amply demonstrated that the term “church" includ es religious orders, and any other religious organization w’hich is an integral part of the church and is engaged ir carry ing out the functions of a church. days later cutting the nor ma! electioneering period by more than three weeks.” Joint Responsibility Mr. Keating is equally caus tic in his criticism of some of the politicians and law enforc ing agencies' for their reluc tance to lower the boom on no torious racketeers even when they had more than enough ev idence to support a conviction in the courts. Needless to say, he is also very severe, and rightly so. in his edndemnation of the labor movement for its failure to face up to its own responsibilities more courage ously and effectively. Negatively, the moral of all this is that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. That goes for employ ers, labor leaders, politicians, and the guardians of the law. From the more positive point of view, the moral is that the elimination of racketeering in the field of labor management relations is the joint responsi bility of all the parties con cerned, including the politi cians! 1-et us hope that the misfor tune suffered by Victor Riesel will result in a cooperative ef fort on the part of all four groups to solve a problem which they have all been wink ing at too long. They have an obligation to solve this prob lem as rapidly as possible in the name of public decency and morality. Also, for the pro tection of the average working man and the average consumer who, when all is said and done, are the ones that have to pay the cost of racketeering—in terms of inadequate wages and working conditions on the on? hand, and exorbitant paces on th? other. Inquiry Corner Q. Is one ever permitted to sell or give an eye to some one who is blind? A. White the Fifth Com mandment ordinarily forbids any self-mutilation except for preservation of life there seem to be some who* consider it morally possible to submit to this operation for another. In a publicized case? recently in Italy a priest left directions that his eyes be surgically transplanted to help others to sec, but this was to be done immediately after his death. For a person to do it while living some extraordinary need must exist. If some important figure (e.g. the pope, a presi dent etc.) were to go blind it might be morally permissible for someone to sacrifice one eye so that such a person might see and so continue his work for the common good. Certain ly it could not be done merely for money nor for anything except a motive such as that mentioned in the New Testa ment: “Greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John: 15:13). Q. We have so many social functions during Lent and on Sunday night etc. Is this change from old-fashioned, customs a sign of changing times or of lack of faith and Christian moral stamina? A. In a different context Tope Pius XII spoke of the dif ference between this younger generation in its inclination to “turn your backs upon the past and to place all your hop?s and aspirations in the future" and the older generation with its conservative tendency. (“Rights of man", Christmas 1942) There are probably dif ferences in our social customs which are due to increased fi nancial and social privileges which are accorded to young people in our time.. Some of these differences may well re flect a compromise with the world and an excessive desire for amusement, regardless of Lent or Sunday services. On the other hand the greater freedom of young people has also produced good works and spiritual activities which did not exist before. As the Holy Father states we .should try to JOHN C. O’RRIEN Father Healey------------------ harness th*-' energies and en thusiasm of young people and ner, The Catholic Times, Rox as driving power and the rurb oi restraint are coupled to gether, the natural difference I ‘tween the o Ider and the younger generation can give rise to no danger." Q. Where can I obtain a list of Christian names suitable for Baptismal names? A. There me a number o( publications such as the pamph let “Is II a Saint’s Name?” There are many lives of the saints which provide more than a list, giving at least a sketch of the life of the saint. Out standing in this area ate such collections as Butler’s (avail able now in a new edition), Englebert's "Lives of the Saints" and the “Book of Saints’’ edited by the Benedic tine Monks of Ramsgate. A daily Missal or church calen dar provide.^at least a list of saints for the various days. It is always posible to ask a priest for advice in choosing an ap propriate name, especially the pastor of the place. Q. Who was St. Raymond? A. There are several saints of that name. St. Raymund of Pennafort, whose feast is Jan uary 23rd was general of the Dominical Order, adviser of Pope Gregory IX and compiler of Canon Law. St. Raymund Nonnatus, also a Spaniard of the thirteenth century was ac tive in the newly-founded or der of Our Lady of Ransom. He gave himself as a captive upon his return he was made a cardinal by Pope Gregory IX. Q. What is the meaning of the word “canon” in the ex pression "Canon of the Mass"? A. It comes from the Greek word for rule, since it is the most fixed and regular part of the Mass. From the Preface Io the Pater Noster (exclusive) of the Mass the prayers are seldom changed, regardless of the feast or the season. The present Canon of the Roman Missal is that of St. Gregory the Great and goes back, therefore, tn the end of the sixth century. Send questions to Father Ed ward F. Healey, Inquiry Corner, The Catholic Times, Box 636, Columbus (16), Ohio. A Look at Education The report of the CommitUe for the White House Confer ence on Edu cation is be ing hailed in some quar ters as the most compre hensive sur vey of our public school system ever undertaken. In all fair ness, it must be conceded that the committee has brought to gether a great deal of valuable statistical information about the present state *of our gram mar and high schools. But most of its findings have been ob vious for years. Silence in Some Quarter* The 195-page report fails to deal at all with the complaints of many educators that our schools are turning out gradu ates who are woefully deficient in the Tundamentals of an ele mentary education. It is silent on the growing problem of ju venile delinquency among teen agers, although it does ad mit that it should be one of the the aims of our schools to “foster moral ethical and spir itual values.” Th-? committe has nothing to zsay about the deemphasis in the high schools of the science and mathematics, to which many educators attribute the dearth of students in college who are training for the sciences and •engineering, it ignores the tend ency among high school pupils to sidestep the so-called “tough” courses in favor of superficial excursions into the social sciences, which used to be the pres-?rve ‘of the colleges. toothing Wrong? The reason, apparently, why the committee did not consider whether there is anything wrong with the aims of pres ent-day elementary education is that it believed unanimously that nothing is wrong. On the contrary, the authors of the report wholeheartedly approved the direction which our public school education has taken. Although th-? committee rec ognizes, in passing, that the fundamental skills reading, writing and arithmetic are "important," it places singu larly little emphasis upon them. A Littl? of Everything The report indorses w'hat it calls the “new educational ideal,” which e puts so much stress upon training in leisure time activities such as music, dancing and hobbies, on learn ing how to drive an automobile, or how (o swim. "It is no longer thought prop er to restrict educational pro grams to th? skills of th? mind," says the report, “even though these skills remain of funda mental importance. Schools also should attempt to improve the children’s health, to pro vide vocational training, and to do everything else which will bring a child up to the starting line of adult life as even with his contemporaries as native differences in ability permit." No one. of course, will quar rel with the schools for seek ing to improve the health of th-? pupils or to teach them a vocation, if the main job of grounding them well in the fundamentals of an education is not slighted. Statistically Speaking A rec-ent survey by the Unit ed States Office of Education for the year 1949-50 confirms the fact that students are turn ing away from the basic sub jects. In that year 30 per cent of all high school work was in vocation classes. Another 15 pe- cent of the enrollment was found in types of courses listed under “Education for Democrat ic Living.” This includes such courses as world problems, community government, geog raphy, sociology, psychology, consumer education, radio speaking and broadcasting, journalism, general mathemat ics and general science. That diversion of the pupils* interests away from the basit elementary subjects has result ed in an alarming increase in the number fit graduates defic ient in the fundamentals, ha» b-een amply shown by the ex perience of the Army with in ductees. Eleven per cent of the men reporting for military duty have been turned down because they could not score 10 out of 100 in a test covering elementary English, arithmetic and solving of elementary problems. Religion As to the part the fostering of moral and spiritual valuei should have in a system of ele mentary education, the commit tee confessed it was unable to come up w'ith a satisfactory an swer. The difficulty is, the re port stated, ’that the public schools cannot teach religion, and strong differences of opin ion stand in the way of permit ting religious institutions to cooperate in the public schools. It is pointed out that judicial decisions on church state relations had clarified on ly small parts oi the whole question, and urged continued study at community, state and national levels. In short, th^ committee con cluded that public school edu cation is on the right track it just isn’t moving fast enough. Or to pul it another way. there is nothing wrong with th? pub lic schools that more spending will not cure.