together A revolutionary explains his cause Germany 1 s. 6d. England 94d.
A NEW fund giving support to missionary work all over the world will be inaugurated by the German Bishops on September 1. The fund, called Juvate, will be supported in part. by a contribution from each diocese of 1.5 per cent of the church tax monies they receive. (Germans pay a "church tax" amounting to about 10 per cent of their income tax to the government which then distributes the money to the churches.) Already German dioceses have a scheme for "adopting" a particular mission. The Essen diocese, for example, aids Church work in Hong Kong, the Trier diocese aids Bolivia and the Berlin diocese aids Hiroshima.
German Catholics in addition support the Adveniat fund, devoted to the Church in Latin America and the Miserior fund—the name comes from Miserior super iurbarn, the words with which our Lord took pity on the hungry multitudes—which is concerned with social and welfare work all over the world.
Last year these two funds raised nearly £9 million. That is about 1 ls. 6d. for every church-going Catholic man, woman and child, In England Catholics give aid to underdeveloped countries through CAFOD. This year their contributions amounted to £100,000: in other words 9-1-d. for every church-goer.
Empty language
THERE'S an interesting piece on language-for worship in this month's issue of Outlook magazine. The Rev. Paul Oestreicher writes of the hopes of many Anglicans that the Prayer Book will be rewritten in up-to-date language, admitting that "I simply have no idea when the cumbersome machinery for reforming the worship of the Church of England is going to come up with some good texts."
He points out however, that it would be possible to put the whole Communion Service into Daily Mirror language and still not understand a single idea in it. "Those who use it have got to want to understand it. Not just understand the words, but to understand what those words mean."
Fr. Oestreicher continues: "Don't make the mistake of imagining that new language will give us new faith. If we want to understand the meaning of life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth it's going to take all our mind and heart and soul and will."
All this might act as a reminder to us as we reform our own liturgy. Along with modern language must come among, other things, better preaching, a much closer knowledge and love of the Bible and a return to the basic requirement of Christianity--charity. Without these we might just as well say Mass in Chinese.
A testament of love
ON THE Opposite page Cardinal Shehan dis cusses peace and patriotism. I have just read the testament of a South American priest who was killed while leading a detachment of guerrillas in a battle against State forces in his country.
Fr. Camillo Torres, of Colombia, declared that he was bound to take violent means to combat the governing, privileged few there, who keep the vast
numbers of peasants in unspeakable squalor.
Revolution, he maintained was the only way to institute a government that would "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, educate the ignorant and fulfil the laws of charity". Thus, not only was it permissible for Christians to play their part in it, but it was obligatory for those who saw revolution as "the only effective means of realising the love of all people".
Fr. Torres was himself the product of an upperclass family and had studied sociology at Louvain University and in the United States. It was his researches into the conditions of life of the Colombian peasantry that caused his political views to move increasingly to the left.
Although he never abandoned the Catholic Faith or accepted the philosophical premises of Marxism, he became convinced towards the end of his life that Catholics had a strict obligaton to support the proletarian revolution and its demands for the complete overhaul of political and economic structures.
A change of name
ONE of the oldest and most popular Catholic magazines will have a change of name in October. The 30 year old Redemptorist Record becomes Reality, and from being a mouthpiece of the Redemptorist Order it will become, its editors hope, a national Catholic magazine.
"We can never rest," they say, "till we are publishing a magazine that is so attractive and of such quality that it can compete with its secular rivals for the minds and hearts of men."
Redemptorist Record (price 9d.) has a circulation of 50,000 and at present keeps its head above water without advertising. But it may find the "big league" somewhat harder going. Not only will its production costs soar but it will find the competition fairly tough.
The ecumenical magazine Sunday, for instance, is steadily building up a worthwhile Catholic readership. Launched four months ago at Is. a copy the total circulation is now around 250,000.