One man's obligation to the Church A new twist to mixed marriages And now Popeye is among the objectionable

THE pastoral testament of Bishop Manuel Larrain of Talca, Chile who was killed last month has just been released, and it is typical of its author—he was a man utterly dedicated to his people, a pioneer in the struggle for social justice.
"Many have not understood my position," he says in the testament. "They have believed that I was a politician or a demagogue. Before the majesty of death I affirm that I have been neither. I have only fulfilled my obligation to the Church; to end the scandal of the 20th century, the loss of the working class to the Church."
Bishop Larrain—known affectionately as Don Manuel—was killed when his car crashed into an unlighted horse-drawn wagon. Ironically, it was something he had fought against all his life—the backwardness of Chilean rural life—that caused his death: the wagon was of a type used in Chile since colonial times.
Prominent among the mourners at Bishop Larrain's funeral—concelebrated by 23 Bishops and attended by President Frei and his cabinet—were the farmers who now own the land which was once the property of the diocese of Talca.
The Bishop had sold it to them, giving them 30 years to pay for it. Characteristically, he was the first in Chile to put into effect the plan of the Chilean hierarchy to dispose of all land owned by the Church and not used directly for Church purposes.
Pinched by finance
ALTHOUGH the country as a whole has not yet felt the pinch of the new economic crisis, for one man it has certainly brought a large headache. He is Mgr. Canon Arthur Rivers who for the past 19 years has been Financial Secretary of the Archdiocese of Westminster.
But he is philosophical about it, and says, "Quite frankly, we were expecting the 00,000 building ceiling to be put on last year, so this is not so much of a shock." Nevertheless, he admits, the government measures will cost the church more.
Mgr. Rivers' financial career began many years ago with the Chase National Bank in London. After his reception into the Church and ordination he was a chaplain at Westminster Cathedral.
His particular interest is with migrant groups, and as such he is secretary of the Council of Migration in England, and treasurer of International Catholic Migration in Geneva. Therefore, his recent appointment as parish priest of Soho Square will present no new problems to him. He wilt, of course, continue to hold the financial reins of the diocese, at least for the time being.
Just send me one
THE copyright laws which safeguard the rights of composers and publishers are highly complicated and the Performing Right Society which represents the interests of publishers is issuing a circular to explain the law to priests and church musicians.
A clause which gives rise to frequent misunderstanding is the one dealing with royalties. The P.R.S. explains that whenever a piece of copyright music is performed a royalty must be paid, even when the performance takes place in church. In fact, this right is waived when the music is used as part of a service, but if the same piece is sung in church at a concert, then a fee must be paid.
Another thing that has worried publishers for. years is the custom of making manuscript copies of printed works. Choir lofts in particular are full of pirated manuscripts and the publishers spend all their time pointing out to people that not only is this against the law—heavy penalties are imposed on those caught at it—but it is immoral too.
It seems that while we would throw up our hands in horror at someone who steals a loaf of bread, we turn a blind eye when the same chap steals the property of the publisher and composer.
But it must be said that most people do this in ignorance of the law. Like the nun who wrote to a publisher asking for a piece of music, saying: "Just send me one copy. I'll copy the parts for the choir from that." She received a polite but firm letter.
A separatist liturgy WHILE not wishing to enter the battle which has been raging in the correspondence column over priesthood for women. I cannot believe that it is any good campaigning for this until the question of sex-discrimination in the liturgy itself is cleared up.
At present a woman is not allowed to serve Mass, and she may not read the Epistle and Gospel or any of the prayers. If she is in the choir, she is tolerated only because there are not enough small boys in the parish to do the job, and if there are also men in the choir, she must be separated physically from them.
We talk glibly of social justice and equality for all, but we encourage one of the worst kinds of discrimination in our own house. Let's put this straight before attacking higher targets.
Bless our quadrupal bogies
IOFFER YOU a "Prayer for Golfers" compared A by Fr. George Monaghan of California: "0 God, the author and exemplar of poise, power, perseverance and pointedness, give us a portion of your smoothness and accuracy on the golf course. Make all our shots long and true, all our pulls square and plunkey, and all our thoughts and words decent and charitable.
"Make us meek and humble, amiable and unselfish, careful, kind and conversational on the golf course. And may we carry all these God-like qualities with us wherever we go.
"Bless all who play this course. Bless our chainpions, our duffers. our par-ers, our birdies and our quadruple bogies. May they all golf in a spirit of fun, charity, humility and respect for your name. May golf make them better men and bring them closer to you, and one day. Lord, bring them all to your green pastures where all shots will be straight and true and all scores will be pars, birds and eagles."
Tit for tat
THERE would appear to be a certain amount of tit-for-tattery going on over mixed marriages. The Episcopalian Bishop of Rhode Island in America has now threatened to suspend from communicant status anyone in his diocese who agrees to the Catholic requirement that children of a mixed marriage be raised in the Catholic faith.
The Bishop has said: ". . it is necessary to state that an Anglican cannot in good conscience surrender the obligation to supervise the Christian nurture of his children, nor may he make pre-marital promises, whether verbal or written, that appear to give the other party to the marriage sole charge of the Christian upbringing of their children".
Enquiries in Anglican circles in London have revealed that a number of other American dioceses have made similar rules. The American branch of the Anglican church does not come under the direct jurisdiction of Lambeth and bishops there are free to make their own decisions on such matters.
No one here expects any move in this direction by the Church of England. But one cleric familiar with the American scene says that what has been done in Rhode Island and elsewhere reflects the deep disappointment in the Anglican church as a whole about the very limited relaxation made by the Vatican on mixed marriages at the time of Dr. Ramsey's visit to the Pope.
Love, not institutions
RS. MARGARET GROVER is the 31 year. old wife of the vicar of Cookham in Berkshire. Over the past five years she has had a dozen unmarried expectant mothers living in her house. She welcomed them as "one of the family" because she was shocked by the number of girls who were disowned by their own families or had illegal abortions. Now she is compiling a register of families who are also willing to help. So far two have come forward.
"The old attitude towards the unmarried mother isgoing," she says. "People nowadays are more sympathetic—in theory, at least, though as yet they are not willing to help in a practical way." Mrs. Grover feels that it is the duty of the State to provide financial assistance for unmarried mothers, but it is the individual's care and love they need, not the life of an institution. "Of course," she says, "it is quite wrong that their own families will not look after them in the first place. This is the really sad thing."
THE B.B.C. THINK they've got trouble with Mrs. Mary Whitehouse and her "National Viewers' and Listeners' Association". Well, they are getting off lightly compared to the American television networks. In a recent survey of popular TV shows the "National Association for Better Radio and Television" rated Bugs Bunny, Popeye and Porky Pig as "objectionable for children".