(3) DON'T BE 'COCKY !

—Bernard Sullivan
Reassembling after tea, in comfortable, genial mood, the youthful audience could not have been prepared for the icy avalanche that iscaded over their heads when Mr. Bernard Sullivan took the stand.
" I've been listening to a good deal of criticism from you," he began. " The fact of the matter is you young folk have no idea of what has been going on in Catholic Action in this country while you've been in the Forces. We've been going all over the country addressing meetings, travelling in trains that didn't run over tracks that weren't there. Meantime, some of you have been attending these leadership classes while dodging parades.
" So far, you have not been leaders —you've only been led. Now, let's spend five minutes considering what we Catholics have that the others haven't got—what have we got to lead with. We must try to get something into our Catholicity that went into the building up of that magnificent resistance movement on the Continent. Let us not turn ourselves into a mutual admiration society. The trouble is you have been patted too much on the back up to now. " It's no good starting new societies, blaming the parish priests for apathy. Parish priests know too well that Catholics too often don't keep their interest up in anything for long. Far better than criticising would be to help to build up parish life, enthuse the priests with your own enthusiasm, and show them it is not only a flash in the pan but here to stay." After administering this shock, Mr. Sullivan followed it up with some constructive suggestions: take part in your trade unions—not as Catholics but as good citizens which you will be if you are good Catholics; velunteer to be shop stewards; if you are employers, imbue your calling with Catholic principles. And Mr. Sullivan left them with this parting shot. " In the newt war there will be a fourth service—chemists or scientists—and they will be just as cocky in that war as you have been in this."
The audience devotired this large slice of candour with evident relish, and Mr. Sullivan sat down amid loud applause.