F.P.A. APPEAL : 111.13.C.

SHOCKS AMERICANS
SIX weeks ago I described the lovely little chapel in the retreat house at IVlarygrove, Ontario, with a tabernacle shaped liS e ii tent. Fr. John Shea from Marygrove writes to me in California to say that lie has had a letter from a Bishop in Persia. This good bishop read in the "Catholic Herald' about Maryerove and wrote to ask fat a photograph He thought that his bedouins would also like to have a tabernacle shaped like a tent.
Good cause?
ifIUT here on the beautiful ••-• Pacific coast. I hear nothing of England and can only imagine what is happening in the Test Matches and in the printing dispute. The only news from England is distasteful: Billy Graham's comment on our parks which has much publicity and the news that the Family Planning Association is to have
By Fr. Bernard
Basset, S.J.
an appeal as the Week's Good Cause, Americans are rightly shocked by this. The plugging of contraception is unknown in the States. Men of every creed stand firmly together in defence of family life. Families of seven and eight are not uncommon and no American would tolerate the campaign which we Englishmen are forced to en ciure. The Protestant bishop of Southwark has done England and his Church no good over here. As for the B.18.C., most thoughtful Americans dislike it anywey as a tool of the Government; after three months in this land of liberty I am coming round to their view.
American TV
VIRST reactions to TV in the -1 States are unfriendly for the Commercials are neverending, they force their way into every programme, even int() the news. People over here have grown used to them and regard them as a nuisance, but prefer them to our system of paying f or a licence. No American has to pay a dime. The programmes are more simple and spontaneous and I. for egne. have found far more freedom and laughter in them than in the normal programme on the B.B.0 Programme planners seem to enjoy greater liberty and they are free of the governess atmosphere which marks the B.B.0 I have now made two television appearance in Cleveland and Detroit. A phone call in the morning was the only preparation. There was no rehearsal, no script, no taboos. At my interview in Detroit the first question Was: "Why do the English still want a Queen?" I was free to answer for as long as I wanted and said just what I Uptight,
California
AMERICANS in Europe are sometimes •boastful and people resent it when they talk of what they Iowa at home. The terrible fact is that they have almost everything, especially in California, San Francisco must be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The climate is glorious, there is fruit and wine in abundance, the redwood trees in the forests are two thousand years old and 250ft. tall. Al. the retreat house, El Retire, each retreatant has a toilet and a shower-bath M his roorn. Palm trees mak& the garden feel cool. A. huge St. Bernard dog makes the Stations of the Cross with the retreatants while an aviary fills the air with song. In many parts of the continent history and historical buildings are lacking, here there are 18th century mission churches to supply the need.
Tailpiece
EVEN out here on the Pacific coast the jokes are all about Ireland—like the one about the motorist who found the gates of the levelcrossing half open, After waiting for ten minutes he summoned the ancient porter to complain. "The gates are half open," he queried. "Ali !" said the Porter. "We were half expecting a train."