IN A FEW WORDS

Dr. Mathew
TO those, like myself, accustomed to treat higher clergy, headmasters and mayors with all reverence as members of a higher category of humanity, the appointment of Dr. David Mathew to be one of the Cardinal's episcopal coadjutors comes as something of a shock and a problem. There could be no liner appointment in every way, as I shall point out in a moment, but the fact remains that I have known David Mathew as a personal friend for so many years and that I shall never feel the same towards him again. 1 have often wondered what happens when a contemporary is suddenly elevated to a different degree—what happens to Hitler's army friends In the days of the war?—now I shall know.
A Well-Filled Thirty-Six Years
A T least I can write about him with r't authority. In his thirty-six years of existence he has served in the Royal Navy, been a Balliol scholar, spent some time at the Charterhouse (the lack of a sufficient ear for music has proved the gain of the Episcopate of this country), been a chaplain to two British Universities and to the Knights of Malta, and written a number of historical works which are considered to be in the very first rank both for scholarship and style. I imagine, however, that he owes his well-deserved honour to the success he has made of the difficult task of chaplaincy at London University, where high gifts of administration, tact and personal charm are needed. I think I may say that the Cardinal has few closer or more trusted advisers.
insurance Money
FBRUNO SCOTT JAMES, Priest I– Custodian of the Slipper Chapel at Walsingham, had no difficulty with his earnest manner and resonant voice in hypnotising his audience in the National Hotel last Thursday evening when he introduced the Walsingham Association. The whole romance of England's Catholic history seemed to be evoked as he spoke of the "National Shrine," " Mary's Dower House," the "Lap of Our Lady," the " Holy Ground of Walsingham." I personally was more touched by his commonsense remark that it would be surprising if I went to Hell with my name inscribed in the Book of Our Lady's Shrine. (He didn't put it quite as plainly as that.) I felt that a good tub-thumper might have got up and secured promises of half our fortunes after Fr. James and Fr. Herbert, the Franciscan superior at Walsinghatn, had finished hypnotising and mesmerising us.
Fr. Scott James
CR. SCOTT JAMES, who is still very
young, has been dogged by appalling health which he attributes, I believe, to the bad food in the Anglican monastery which he joined before his conversion. He showed no sign of it on Thursday, and this is typical of him. His spirit and zeal for the Shrine have proved more potent than any physical weakness. That it was at the back of his mind all the time, however, was shown by his constant reference to the need for creating a fund which should free his successor of unnecessary monetary troubles. I would draw readers' attention to the report of the meeting on page 15, and urge them to respond generously. Among other things, nothing is more likely to conserve Fr. Bruno's health and enable him to complete his grand work.
Journalist Convert
IF there is a sounder way of getting the Catholic mind across to the people of England than by the spreading of the Catholic Press it is by the recruiting of Catholics to the National and Provincial Press—and the best way to do that is to convert those who are in responsible positions in it.. I am glad, therefore, to break our rule of not giving publicity to individual cases of conversions (a private matter) in the case of the managing director of the Bournemouth. Times and the Poole and East Dorset Herald, Mr J. E. Putnam, especially as I have been asked to do so. Mr. Putnam, who was received yesterday, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, by the Bournemouth Jesuits, is an ex-Fleet Street journalist, and his wife, the daughter of the late General Sir Harold Tagatt, was converted some time ago. Ad Multes Catholicos Annos (if that's Latin!)
Success at Twenty
AYEAR or two ago I was asked to go to a party in order to hear a young Catholic pianist who had just come from Australia to make a musical career in this country. She was a charming girl and played beautifully, though perhaps with an overdose of youthful fire. I remember thinking, however, how hopeless must be her quest for fame and success in a strange land and in the face of all the competition. And now I open my Sunday paper to see her portrait staring at me because she played before the Queen last week. Congratulations, Miss Eunice Gardiner! Your career is as good as made.
Jesuit Buttress
WERE layfolk tremble when they WI write about questions involving moral teaching—though it is hard to see how they can avoid it when they run Catholic papers that are more than mere registers of ecclesiastical news. Anyway. it is always a relief to feel that one has the firm backing of real moralists, and who so much worth having on one's side as the Jesuits? Hence my pleasure at seeing the current Month, the Jesuit magazine, where our views on peace and war, come in for high approval. "We welcome," writes the Editor, ' as a sound and valuable contribution to Catholic thought the leader on Church and War, published in the CA/110Lic HERALD, In which the editor exposes the fallacies and falsehoods on which extreme pacifism is based and the amoral extremes to which it logically leads" Enough said—for us. I shall feel even more at home than usual yesterday when I enjoy my ImmaculateConception-feast meal at Farm Street.
Topsy-Turvy World
OVERLOOKING my neighbour's newspaper at lunch I read the headline : " Ribbentrop Smuggled to Paris." I would give a friend from the country who had not been in touch with the papers for some time a hundred guesses as to the object of that visit. What will our descendants say when they learn in their history books that the German Foreign Minister was
" smuggled " to the capital of France in order to sign a no-more-war pact between his country and that of his hosts?
Are We Sincere?
IT is odd to what length people can go in detecting insincerity. Here Is an extract from a letter suggesting dark motives behind our W.F.A. scheme: "Is your own sincerity altogether heyond question? For instance, is this campaign of work-for-all that you are at the moment busily conducting really the fruit of a desire for the welfare of the country? Your silence on this matter until the moment of the crisis makes one wonder. It really looks as though you are pushing the scheme because you have a fear that England will re-arm and try to bring up her military strength to the level of Germany and Italy—and you wish to prevent her attempting that."
It's a warning to be more careful in judging others!
THE JOTTER
Recent Remarks
Wise And Otherwise
"If you abolish the censor you may have to call in the police."—Bernard Shaw.
" Mr. Chamberlain is a Fascist in thought and action. He hates democracy." — The new Member for Dartford.
" A great wave of cultural barbarism is sweeping the world today."—The Soviet Ambassador.
"Urgent requests for advice and assistance are frequently received (by the Protestant Truth Society) from parents whose sons or daughters have become acquainted with Roman Catholics who introduce them to the confessional where, under subtle priestly representations. they are in danger of succumbing to the strange lure of asceticism."—The Christian.
"It has been ruled that the length of girls' shorts in athletic contests should be decreased. This decision will, it is surmised, shake the Holy Roman Church to its depthe."—The Freethinker.