By PAT JONES
UTRST of all, the serious business of the week. A Super Secretary, a diligent personable female, is required to deploy her talents in the service of the Church international.
She will work at a house in Westminster (a pleasant place with lounges for lounging in during off-duty moments) and together with good wages will have free lunches. etc.
As well as the secretarial duties she will have to have that indefinable something which enables a secretary to pick up the phone. and persuade an M.P. that, for instance, taking a group round the Houses of Parliament is just about the jab he most wants to do—I think it is a quality usually vaguely defined as " Initiative ".
'SEEING LIFE'
HEARING of this job waiting for the right kind of secretary reminded me of the demand there is for office staff in London, and the number of girls Who pour in from all parts of the country, very many of them Catholics.
They come. lured by high wages, a plentiful supply of jobs, and a desire to " see life", ae phrase which means different things to different girls, from a desire to live in a great capital city, follow a career, meet different people, or in fact have b. wider choice of possible husbands.
Many parents must think their dear daughters are walking straight into the jaws of hell when they leave home, sometimes country, for London.
This fear is mainly unfounded, for the parents who worry are usually those who have given their children a careful upbringing, and follow them with their prayers. It is those parents whose marriage is unhappy, whose home is divided, who should worry — for their childreo so often carry with them a basic instability which makes them a very poor risk in a big city.
ENEMY No. 1
VNEMY number one 1124 to the young Cathogirl is bad companions—and
not necessarily the openly immoral kind. but rather the " worldly " set who carry with them false sets of values, the materialists; the goodtime, gay companions who have a strong pull on the young girl, who hates more than anything the idea that she is missing something, some fun, some excitement which may never come again.
The best introduction to London is through a Catholic hostel. There the newcomer will meet and make many Catholic friends. and when she has found her feet, has a chance to take a flat, sharing it with the friends she has made, and getting a leeson in housewifery and budgeting.
Flats are expensive. but four girls can comfortably share an eight guinea flat (one of the reasons why the married man with his one wage finds it difficult to secure accommodation), whereas a girl on her own could often barely afford a single room, while running the risk of chronic loneliness into the bargain.
APOSTOLIC SPIRIT
rrHE girl who is likely I to be happiest is the one with the apostolic spirit--the Legionary, the Cell member, the Young Christian Student or Young Christian Worker. She can safely be sent to the metropolis. knowing that, far from her becoming worse in any way, the capital itself will be improved by her presence.
ELDERLY RELATIVES
THE latest report of the National Old People's Welfare Council states that the housing shortage is still one of the greatest problems confronting the older person. " For
various reasons many are forced to live at the top of the house, which necessitates carrying coal and sometimes water up long flights of stairs. Often, toilet facilities are on another floor.
As for the younger generations not caring for aged parents. the Council has this to say. "The accusation that families today have no feeling of responsibility towards their elderly relatives is still made. Judging from the evidence of surveys and experience of many organisations and individual workers, this general assumption is not true. Younger people often continue to care for their elderly relatives even to the point of breaking down themselves."
And religion? "Unfortunately, many elderly people are not in touch with any church, yet old age is often a time when spiritual guidance is most needed."