By Our Special Correspondent
1%/1ISUNDERSTANDING by .1-y2-Catho1ics of the true nature of authority was the reason why so many Catholics failed to see the world as the instrument for the establishment of the Divine Kingdom, said Fr. Laurence Bright at the December Group's meeting at Spode House last week-end.
God had given His world to man in order that man might be able to bring it all within the kingdom which Christ's Passion and Resurrection had already inaugurated, Fr. Bright stated. Human authority, he added, even that of bishops and popes, was never absolute. It was a gift which possessed the whole Church, not something the Church, let alone the clergy, possessed of Herself.
Clericalism, he said, was precisely the denial of this fact. It rested on the idea of the Church as a hierarchical authority with absolute sovereianty over us.
Equality
Maxim im economic equality vos a "true Christian objective", said Christopher Howe, discussing Professor R. Titmuss's refutation of the theory that Britain has been moving towards greater economic equality. • Incomes policy, Mr. Ilowe stated. was useless unless it tackled the relative incomes of different groups on the basis of social and moral principies, and the present government was incapable of doing this.
More information about the effects of monetary incentives, an effective capital gains tax, and radical tax reform were all imperative, he stressed. But ultimately, only educational changes giving true equality of opportunity. perhaps entailing the abolition of highly-privilegeo private education. could bring about the change of climate necessary to ensure great economic equality.
Education
The need for improvement in the educational system was also stressed in the discussion which followed Rosemary Sheed'e review of "The Family and Marriage", a recent Penguin Special by Ronald Fletcher.
Christian marriage needed to be seen as a supernatural challenge to accepted convention, and not just as bolstering up a social morality which had collapsed, it was em phasised.
Much of the criticism voiced at the discussions reflected the opinion that Catholic education was inadequate, not so much in terms of resources, but, more fundamentally, in ideas and educational enthusiasm. It was. therefore, decided to try to organise the next meeting of the December Group so that these problems would be specifically dealt with.
Bishop at 30
Pope John has named the Church's youngest bishop, 34year-old Bishop Alcides Mendoz Castro. to be head of the Diocese of Abancay. Peru, with a Catholic population of 370.000. The prelate was appointed bishop of a titular See by Pope Pius XII in April, 1958, a month after his 30th birthday.
Quote of the week
"The object of teaching a child," said Mr. T. O'Regan. Headmaster of St. Thomas' School, Canterbury, at a recent functon, "is to enable him to get along without a teacher, and a child educated only in school is an uneducated child."