The Pope's Personal Leadership nNE of last week's issues of the Osservatorc Romano devoted the whole of its last page to an enormous reproduction of a single picture, the photo of the massed crowd outside St. Peter's listening to the Pope's rousing words to the youth of Catholic Action. Looking at the picture—which indeed can only be adequately reproduced in such a Size—I found myself wondering how much we and other nonItalian Catholics miss in not corning under the direct and personal leadership of the Pope. One feels from reading the Osservatore that the Church, led on the spot by the Holy Father, is triumphing in Italy. We, on the other hand, drift for lack of that personal inspiration. The fact is, for example. that I have rarely heard the Pope referred to, save in a formal way, in our pulpits, still less heard his words repeated for the benefit of our congregations.
A Carlisle Broadcast UNFORTUNATELY I was un able to listen to the broadcast evening service from St. Mary's and St. Joseph's, Carlisle, under Mgr. R. L. Smith. But a friend speaks of it with the greatest admiration as a model Catholic broadcast—even though he adds, rather amusingly, that he heard someone asking whether it could be a Catholic service, as the congregation answered the yersicles so well and recited the Lord's Prayer with such earnestness! Anyhow, my friend said: "I thought this broadcast was excellently balanced between the vernacular dialogue and the traditional." As a
school friend of Mgr. Smith, who was outstanding at Stonyhurst for his ability as well as for his ecclesiastical tastes, I have little doubt that these successes are stepping stones to pre-eminence. He is still under 50.
Younger Lecturers, Please TALKING of ages, I always find it hard to take in the fact that Arnold Lunn is now over 60. His energy remains unbounded, and when I lunched with him last week he told me he is off again for six months—to America and later Switzerland. In America he is undertaking a lecture tour. He asked me to mention that this was why he had to refuse all invitations to lecture here, and no one is more indefatigable than he in helping Catholic societies and so on. We both agreed. however, that something ought to be done to encourage the younger lecturer and speaker. With a very few exceptions, Catholic invitations to lecture seem to be distributed among a dozen or so old-stagers who are expected to volunteer until the brink of the grave. I recommend secretaries to scout for new talent and fresh ideas. Believe it or not, they go together, The Labourer is Worthy . . .
HERE is another point in regard to lecturers and speakers which I have made before, but to little apparent effect. It is that the letter of invitation should contain a frank statement of terms. The choice is somewhat as follows: (J) We are afraid we cannot offer a fee or expenses. (2) We are in a position to offer expenses or expenses up to. . . (3) We offer the following fee and cover expenses. It is often forgotten that the lecturer may live by his pen, and to take it for granted that he can afford to devote time and energy gratis is hardly fair to him. At least let him know the position clearly.
Comment on Amsterdam
AFTER we had listened last Sun
day night to a talk on the Amsterdam Assembly. one of my children asked whether Catholics had been present. I explained why Catholics did not join in with nonCatholic meetings of the kind. He answered appositely: " Yes, it would he rather a waste of our time, because what they were saying at Amsterdam is what the Church has always taught and can be found out in any books. We all know it already." It was a simple, but telling point. I still wondered, however, whether we could do a bit more publicising of what we already know.
The Way of the World READING through last Sunday's press. I found the following symptoms of general madness. toad, in the Sunday Dispatch, advocates a world government with power to limit the number of children any family may have.
The People reports that trade unionists are out to destroy the small shopkeeper in favour of chain stores, co-ops and big stores. The Sunday Express has made the really remarkable discovery that Spanish Nationalists attended the International Congress of Democratic Lawyers at Prague. At any rate I can deduce nothing else from the leading article which angrily attacks this Congress for its lies about the British Press, and says that " the most fervent advocates of democracy at this congress came from" Russia, Yugoslavia, rebel Greece and "Franco's peculiar brand of Spanish democracy." Perhaps there was some substance, after all, in the Prague Congress's observations about the accuracy of our Press.
Gerald Hamilton I FIND that my paragraph of last week about this gentleman is open to misinterpretation. I wrote it somewhat hastily under the influence of having read a humorous and flippant article in Lilliput.
am assured by Mr. Gerald Hamilton's friends and by him himself that though he has supported many political causes in his life from Left to Right. he was never a Communist, and 1 can appreciate his resentment at the charge. He is a convert and to-day a faithful son of the Church.
JOTTER
Wise and Otherwise
" Originally. the Ministry claimed that on analysis the tea had been found fit for blending. All that was wrong was that it did not ' react to water as well as it might.' "—Dads Telegraph.