LOURDES TV

AND A BOOK
FROM: B. G. SANDHURST
SIR,-1 had the privilege of taking part in the television discussion on Lourdes under the chairmanship of Mr. Malcolm Muggeridge, so I may be able to throw some light on the discussion roused by his commentary.
Particularly as ee had a long talk on the matter and agreed that I should have the opportunity of correcting his false impressions. To our mutual regret time forbade this.
Let me assure you that Mr. Muggeridge is a sincere man greatly puzzled by the atmosphere of Lourdes, as every non-Catholic must be.
We are all shocked by the commercialism of the town, or rather of the townsmen of Lourdes, most of whom have been offered the choice of God or Mammon, and chosen Mammon. I too was bitterly disappointed that St. Bernadette and the history of the Apparitions were left out, and did my best to bring them in, but again Time forbade.
To put the matter shortly, Muggerdige is an honest man. Lourdes confronted him with the supernatural and he could not understand it. Which of us with his background would have done better 7
B. G. Sandhurst.
Mop End, Wokingham.
SIR,-After pointing out-quite rightly-that " there are many sacred things which cannot by their very nature be pronounced on by the Church," sou write: " spiritual fruits, of course, arc also part of the evidence which makes Catholics believe in so wellauthenticated a history as that of Lourdes."
But the facts, whether medical or entirely spiritual, are almost impossible to come by the books are both out of print and out-of. date. The Daily Mail last spring. and the B.B.C. recently, by causing our non-Catholic friends to ask interested questions, only embarrassed us the more.
But this week, B. G. Sandhurst comes to our rescue with a book that fills the bill as never beforeand only 5/too: " Miracles Still Happen " (BOM. 190 pages).
This letter is to suggest that making sure non-Catholics read it is nearly as important as making sure we read it ourselves. Here is a lay apostolate that would be open to the old even more than to the young, since we have more leisure as a rote.
Read the book carefully; think out the most telling way of mentioning it to a non-Catholic; and then call at your public library and tell the librarian all about it, explaining that you would like to present your copy to the library, but you know he can't accept paper-backs.
What would it cost to have it bound? Right: you'll get some friend to put up the amount, and you'll bring round the book and the cash. If someone in esery town did that, Our Lady would be better understood and appreciated.
" Mininms."