NO ONE WANTS

THE FAMILIES
'Conspiracy against children'
HOPING to find accommodation for the homeless —particularly for married couples—the Liverpool Catholic Social Service Bureau wrote to the three Catholic newspapers asking the readers to help.
The Bureau now reports that " the result was most dis
appointing."
Not one of the very small number of replies offered shelter to mothers and fathers of fa milies.
The report comments:
"This apparent conspiracy against housing children is one of the most pernicious evils arising out of the housing shortage.
" The Christian command to ` suffer little children ' is being openly flouted and children are definitely not wanted.
" Landlords and landladies who put this ban into operation might well consider their moral position in the matter.
" Day by day the list grows of families living in overcrowded and insanitary conditions, in houses, often condemned, for which they pay no rent. in rooms where both sexes are denied all necessary privacy."
Men's hostel
Matrimonial cases coming to the Bureau " have been. if anything, heavier than ever," says the report, " and many of these are a by-product of the housing shortage.
" In dealing with some of these cases, the Bureau has had to get in touch with authorities in Austria, Italy. America, South Africa and, nearer home, Eire."
One of the main needs of a city like Liverpool, the report asserts, is a Catholic men's hostel.
" By that we do not mean a hostel open only to men practising the Catholic faith; but a hostel where a Catholic priest (and ministers of other religions) may freely give religious ministration.
" Men are dying daily up and down the city, in lodging houses and hostels. denied the consolations of the sacraments by the ignorance of their companions regarding Catholics' needs at death.
Is it too much to hope that some of our larger Catholic societies might pool their financial resources to open such as establishment ? "
Commenting on the housing situation in an interview with THE. CATHOLIC HERALD. Canon Lane. the
Bureau's ecclesiastical assistant said : " It is agreed by all social workers that the shortage of houses is one of the greatest contributary factors in many instances to the failure of married life and social unhappiness in general."
Preventing drift
Mr. Frank Patton, " the guiding spirit" behind the work of the Bureau said : "We are most concerned that Catholic men, and families coming into Liverpool should not be left to drift about. We have appealed in the Catholic Press without any result whatever.
"Occupiers of large houses who could offer flat accommodation do not appear to like having children in their homes.
"In my opinion we could do with hostels in different parts of the city to cater for say 30 or 40 people."