An international Value
SIR,-The Catholic Film Centre of the Archdiocese of Sydney, Australia. have received with dismay a notice from the Catholic Film Institute of England, saying that owing to lack of finance they are unable to continue the publication of "Focus," the film review magazine.
As far as we are aware this is the only magazine of any considerable distribution that is published for English-speaking Catholics. Instead of this unique, popular and reasonably priced publication being discontinued, it should, so it seems to us. be able to attract an increasingly large circulation. Although the Catholic Film Centre of Sydney is the main agent for distribution in Australia, distributing over four hundred copies, there are as well quite a few other subscribers here. • The value to the Catholic Film Apostolate of a magazine like Focus ia quite inestimable, especially for the tremendous influence that it has with the teenage group-just the group who arc most adversely influenced by the commercial films of indifferent and bad morals.
"Focus" is welcomed in our schools, both day and hoarding, for the first advice can be given about the pictures that the children will see during their Saturday matinees. In the secondloplace, it is a sure guide to the films the ehildren are allowed to see in the quota of commercial films during their school year.
The Catholic Film Centre has been able to increase the numbers of subscribers enormously during the past few years, and intended to go on doing so, for "Focus" does the Apostolic work of having priests review the commercial films and also the film strips for us in this country.
Surely the English-speaking world should be able to maintain such a necessary and excellent Catholic Film Review. The Catholic Film Centre of Sydney is prepared, as a gesture of good will and encouragement, to forgo the allowance for its bulk order, in spite of the discrepancy in our exchange. Perhaps other centres may also find that they can make this gesture to help maintain publication.
Catholic Film Centre Sydney.
We are happy to be able to inform the Sydney Catholic Film Centre that there is no question of "Focus" being discontinued. Temporary holiday arrangements have apparently been misunderstood in Sydney. But we are glad to print the above letter to make better known the work of the magazine and of the Catholic Film Institute.-Editor, CATHOLIC HERALD.