In a Few Words

The Lord Bishop
j DON'T know how far it is quite I right to underline the popularity of those who are nominated to bishoprics, since implied cornparisons suggest that if A is so popular then B probably is not. But it so happens that Mgr. Walsh, the new Bishop of Aberdeen. is very well known to friends of mine. and consequently my information about him is much fuller and more personal than is usual. The information. for example, that the first thing he does on Friday morning is to enjoy his favourite weekly reading. namely the correspondence page of THE CATHOLIC HERAI 0, is one I cannot somehow hide under a bushel. "He appears to be equally at home preaching a retreat in a convent chapel. chatting politely at a sophisticated cocktail party or eating winkles with a pin at a charwoman's house; but he is really happiest spreading muck on a farm " is part of the further information
received. His enthusiasms are for plain chant, the conversion of England. and travelling the country with. a rucksack on his back. And were it not for the fact that "he is tolerant of almost everything. except birth control. mixed marriages and industrialism." he would probably give up reading this paper aftei seeing these unforgiveable disclosures about the Lord Bishop of Aberdeen.
Catholic Festival Exhibitions
FOLLOWING post-haste on the
Exhibition of Vestments and Altar Plate which opens today in Westminster Cathedral Hall is an Historical Exhibition of English Catholic Life which opens in Farm Street Hall next week. This latter exhibition gathers together books, secret press publications, documents. seals. vestments from early and medieval to modern times. most of
which are privately owned. Particularly well illustrated is the history of the persecution in Tudor and Stuart times. Non-Catholic owners of valuable exhibits have been most generous in putting their treasures at the disposal of the organisers. Imagine what a wonderful Festival Exhibition of English Catholic History could have been got together. had the matter been taken in hand in good time! Meanwhile thanks to a few lonely, but imaginative. pioneers we at least have these smaller attempts to illustrate for the visitors and ourselves the exciting and glorious history of our Faith.
Original Mr. Hobson
AVER lunch the other day Mr. se" Tom Hobson, the Director of Appeals for St. John and St. Elizabeth's Hospital, explained to me his very ingenious ideas for raising the additional f20,000 a year which the Hospital needs if it is to keep going and do its work. Basing himself on the young schoolboy and schoolgirl's love of collecting. he is issuing books of picture stamps covering subjects like Sportsmen, Ships, Engines. Aeroplanes, famous places and churches. as well as albums in which the stamps may be collected and displayed. I am illustrating two of the stamps so far issued. A book of 30 stamps costs 5s.. and the stamps from it can be sold for 2d.
each. We had a discussion about whether the youngsters who under take to sell the stamps in schools and their home neighbourhood should be encouraged by making a small profit on each book of stamps sold. I
thought they should. This would be a reasonable reward in the best spirit of private enterprise. and above all it would keep their original enthusiasm going. Mr. Hobson told me that the idea was being very well received among non-Catholics, as well as Catholics. One nonCatholic firm was ready to have the stamps printed on all their immense correspondence. The truth is that lots of people today will do much to keep the few voluntary hospitals going. Meanwhile may I ask headmasters of schools. who are interested in the scheme (profits could he divided between school funds and boy agents). to write to Mr. Hobson, 34 Circus Road; N.W.8, to obtain further particulars. I feel, that. apart from the cause, his ingenuity in seeking to raise money painlessly deserves our enthusiastic support.
Painters Both
pERRAPS I am unduly moved to A do what I can to promote Mr. Hobson's scheme. because as the conversation went on during our lunch, we discovered that we both belonged to the large army of wouldbe painters who first took up a brush in middle life. But Mr. Hobson takes things more seriously than do, for he went to study under the best masters of the day, and consequently stumped me with conundrums such as: " How do you start off painting a portrait?" or "What method do e.ou adopt for 'marrying' the outline of the head to the background?" I could only answer: "I do just what I feel like doing at the moment." He shook his head sadly, and decided to examine for himself one day the lamentable results of this lack of self-diecipline.
Frustrated Tennis At Home
I FEEL that in this week of superA' sport and, so far, super-weather, I should try and look at the topic from a more homely angle. I imagine that many homes in the T.V. reception area are living in a state of frustration owing to the deterioration of the home tennis. Left to ourselves, we can enjoy a nice quiet game of baseline pat-ball with the occasional emergence of a
critical moment when we send the ball over the wire-netting in an
attempt at an overhead slam. But after Hatching the Wimbledon experts, we go to the courts in the nearest park firmly resolved to work up a cannon-hall service and to take everything possible with a crosscourt volley. The net result is that our quiet game, in which we sometimes keep it up for quite a time, is converted into a tremendous expense of energy. no rallies at all, the quick deterioration of the net, and furious tempers all round. Even so, I believe it's worth it. That's the way you learn, and if we have patience and perseverance. we shall sooner or later actually find ourselves playing tennis. Who knows? If the whole country did it. we might produce a youne Ham Richardson ourselves.
And Cricket Frustration
A MORE serious matter, I think, is
the future of cricket. Here I speak on the basis of seeing and hearing within the home. rather than on watching the real thing. still less
playing. But I am at last really beginning to believe that unless something is done, the days of firstclass cricket arc slumbered in this country. The incident at Trent Bridge when one captain started bowling lobs and the other took his gloves off between shots is only an indication of the general feeling that six-day professional cricket is no longer a day-in, day-out, spectacle worth paying money to see. I agree with many that first-class cricket must somehow be based on amateur club players who love the game and can win or lose a match in one day or at most two. if only the country could get over its inhibition about Sunday niayine, the problem would he simplified. Two two-day matches a week, Thursday and Friday. and Saturday and Sunday. would, I am sure, galvanise county cricket into life again and fill our grounds. Professionals would not go stale and amateurs would get a real chance to play for their county, and finally for their country.
The Jesuit Tragedy
j AM told that the collision which I killed 17 Jesuit scholastics is one of the worst tragedies in the history of the Society, and it is all the more calamitous in that the. Church in Germany is in such dire need of priests, particularly for the Russian zone. The East German Province now only has eight students in Berchmaris College.
Taximen Give The Lead
A CORRESPONDENT, com menting on Fr. Gerald Flanagan's letter last week about restoring the primacy of the spiritual in our Catholic life. ends with the following surprising and rather wonderful paragraph: " Lately I was in a taxi in England and the driver was a Catholic, though I didn't know it. Suddenly he addressed me over his shoulder as I sat behind him: ' Are you ready to die for the Faith, Madam, I am.' And more recently still. when niy Roman taxidriver bid me goodbye at the station, he said: 'You will do all you can to spread the Faith in England, won't you, Signore everything you can'."