SIR,--How frequently does one read of "Maidens All Forlorn!" "B.S." asks where are the eligible Catholic males of 30 years of age and over. Well I, for one, have reached the age of 44 having searchedceaselessly all my life for a Catholic wife without the remotest success and have finally decided that no eligible Catholic girl exists. One neither sees them, meets them, nor knows of anyone who can produce one. But we are always being told that their number is legion, that the dance halls are filled with them and that they outnumber men by fabulous figures. If that were so, I for one, most certainly, given the choice. would not be a bachelor now, nor would I have been for very many years past. One is not only left with the conclusion that either they all aspire to be nuns, or are mad keen to
wmen, b
be careersout from personal experience it would appear that the last thing they would dream of is to succumb to marriage.
Tommy Tucker
Too Late ?
Sr.-On reading your correspondent's letter the thought occurs to me that the ". . . non-existence of the eligible Catholic male of 30 years of age and over" is probably more real than apparent. I have no statistics to which could refer you, nor am I going to offer you any guess-work in that direction, but, of the Catholic men over 30 whom know, all but a few are already safely married, ordained, or lay-brothers of one of the Orders. The remaining few (and I am sorry to be so discouraging) don't seem to have the slightest interest in getting married. I am not, of course, attempting to generalise front my own experience. but I think it might be the same elsewhere. It is probable that there are just a few, a very few, isolated specimens still running wild, and I think a good place to look for them might be outside church after, preferably, Sunday Benediction. How are they caught? I am sure that Miss "B.S." would know more about that than I do.
Alex. McDonald 210 Somerville Road, Birmingham, 10.
Too Bad ?
Sra,-Allow me to offer "B.S." a possible explanation to her query"Where are the single male Catholics of 30 years plus?" The majority have lapsed and therefore unlikely to he found in church or participating in parish activities. The remnant can be divided between those trying a vocation and the contented bachelors. Occasionally an odd character like myself reappears after a dozen years in the wilderness of religious indiffererence to find (?) a total absence of single Catholic girls between the ages 25-35. Could it he that the above also applies to our women?
"Nouns"
Church Musicians
Sir,-As organist and choirmaster of a large city church, I am grateful to Fr. Raftery for his letter on adequate remuneration for Church musicians. It would be a great pity if those concerned with and interested in Catholic Church music neglected the oppoitunity of giving their opinions on this vexed question now that it has been brought into the open.
Vox Humana