bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Active Catholic
Authors: Rooth Marianne 
Published: July 2007

To avoid confusion, I must first make clear that this paper does not concern Catholic Action, the need for which is so stressed by the Hierarchy. Here we are left in no doubt as to What we should do. But I have often wondered when, why and how individual Catholics have been most active—what makes the difference between a preacher and a contemplative, and in what respects they are the same—and this represents the results of these wonderings.What do we mean by an active Catholic? A complication arises at once, because there are obviously two sorts, both equally deserving of the name:
(a) The Catholic who spends his life in purposefully furthering Catholicism, usually by the spoken or written word; the missionary, of whom the great example is St. Paul. Him I will call the Professional Catholic, to distinguish him from(b) the Living Catholic. He is not a preacher. He may be anything from a fisherman to an emperor, but his every thought, word and deed is vitally informed by his religion, which is the raison d’etre of his life. Of course, these divisions are not mutually exclusive. A good Professional Catholic can be, and indeed must be a Living Catholic, and a hitherto silent Living Catholic may start professing his faith at any time. Without irreverence, one can say that Jesus was a Living Catholic for thirty years, and a Professional one for three.For the purpose of this paper, the term Active Catholic will mean what I have described as the Professional Catholic, as his work involves more definite physical action than that of the Living Catholic, whom we will dismiss with the comment that his state is that to which everyone without exception should aspire.
Education “Growing Up In Christ”
Authors: O'Leary M. 
Published: July 2007

St. Paul supplies us with an answer to this ever recurrent question with a phrase which gives us at once a definition and a goal. To the thinking Catholic the process of growing up can never be a haphazard one for it is founded upon settled laws, directed by an established method, inspired by an ideal made concrete in the person of Christ Himself.Now, it is of the very nature of the living being to wish to attain to maturity and the rational being strives towards that maturity not by a blind urge but with philosophic and selective apprehension. The social being, “Man-in-Society”, sees maturity not as his own isolated development, but as the widening, deepening and raising of the life, both natural and supernatural, of the society in which he lives.Viewed in this light, the question of education cannot be narrowed into the confines of the School-system, the examination-syllabus, the University programme. It cannot be conceived, merely, as a branch of politics. On the contrary, the term must be made to embrace the whole of life and society, with every human being as its subject; while for its object we envisaged the rational, harmonious use of all created things. The field is vast, certainly, and by its demands for comprehensive thinking this vastness often frightens away the student. Nevertheless, it is only when viewed in its totality that the question of Education can be made to yield its full fruit of human interest and creative power.
The Dominican Spirit
Authors: Pepler Conrad 
Published: July 2007

The Founder of the Dominican Order was a Spaniard of the thirteenth century, alive to the needs and conditions of his age and steeped in tradition. His spirit survives in his Order, and the friars of to-day still bear the mark of that Spanish modernity and strength.St. Dominic was a man of his age, vital and ‘modern.’ The representatives of the Church in his day had been overtaken by time and in many ways left behind in an earlier age. The Church was losing ground because the churchmen of the time were unaware of current problems and consequently unable to find the right means to correct the bias of the spiritual force then working strongly among the people. The Cathari and Albigenses were the Communists of the thirteenth century, appealing to a general fraternity and calling for a purification of society with as much zeal and apparent asceticism as the Nazi, Fascist-or Communist. They drew the people away from the Church. By their works you shall know them—works testify to truth. These men of austere life seemed to have the Spirit; the Church with its easy-going monks and ecclesiastics seemed in comparison to have betrayed its ideal. And for the heretic matter was evil; things of the flesh, things made by man for his use and delight, art and ritual, had come from the evil spirit of lies, and truth was not in them.Then again the towns and cities of Europe were growing. Commerce had moved from the landlords in their rural stability and passed into the hands of the bourgeois traders of the larger towns, and the centres of culture had also been transferred from the great monasteries dotted over the countrysides of Europe to the nascent universities of the cities.
‘Principium Verborum Tuorum Veritas,’ Ps. cxviii.
Authors: Pope Hugh 
Published: July 2007

‘The sum of Thy Words is Truth,’ and for us who have to search for that Truth fidelity or loyalty to it when discovered. Easy in theory, difficult in practice : ‘ascetic practices,’ says St. Jerome, ‘for example continence or mortification of the flesh, are of great value; but nothing is so mortifying as knowledge of the truth ‘(On Nahum ii. i, P.L. xxv, 1244); he seems to be thinking of a man’s reactions on coming up against some wholly unexpected truth, something running counter to his preconceived notions. ‘Nothing,’ says St. Augustine, ‘is easier for a person not merely to say but really to think he has discovered the truth ; but how difficult a thing that is ! ‘(De Utilitate credendi, 1). If the Bishop of Hippo could ever have felt annoyed, he who had made the search after truth the passion of his life must have felt indignant when Secundinus the Manichee told him : ‘the truth makes you as angry as philosophy made Hortensius ‘(Ep. ad Augustinum, 3, P.L.xlii, 574).Our Dominican history furnishes us with three great examples, among many others, of this unflinching loyalty to the truth as they saw it, a loyalty which was not obstinacy but conviction based on the triple foundation of reason, faith, and their outcome—humility.
In Studiis Perseverare
Authors: Thomas Ivo 
Published: July 2007

The obligation to be perseverant in study is an essential characteristic of the Order of Preachers. It has been so from the beginning. The modern form of the Constitutions shows the importance which the Order attaches to it, not only by the express statement of this obligation in Constitution No. 189, but by the repetition, almost word for word, of that statement in No. 690. In a document generally regarded as reflecting the succinctness of the Code of Canon Law, with which it was brought into conformity in 1932, and as somewhat sharply contrasted with earlier editions in this respect, such a repetition carries enormous force. It provokes an enquiry into the mode of life which it conditions and into the character of those who are dedicated to its fulfilment. The text itself is instructive: ‘Our priests, by reason of their vocation, or of the special purpose of the Order, are all the more (i.e. by comparison with those students not yet ordained to the Priesthood) bound to be perseverant in study throughout their whole life, especially in the study of dogmatic and moral theology, of sacred Scripture, of the Holy Fathers, and of the other sacred sciences, both for the purpose of fostering spiritual life in themselves, and in order to render themselves daily more fit to exercise the apostolic ministry with fruit.’ (Constitutions, 189).The reference to the special purpose of the Order requires the further quotation of Const. No. 3 : ‘Our Order is known to have been specially instituted from the beginning’ for preaching and the salvation of souls.
The Rule of Saint Augustine
Authors: Gumbley Walter 
Published: July 2007

These notes are intended to be nothing more than a brief summary of Père Mandonnet’s excellent and exhaustive treatise on the origins of the Rule of Saint Augustine, extending over a hundred pages and forming part of the monumental work entitled Saint Dominique, L’Idée, L’Homme et L’Oeuvre, published in 1938 (two years after his death) by his disciples and assistants Père Humbert Vicaire and Père Reginald Ladner, in two volumes. This work, with the exception of five valuable études critiques, has recently been translated into English by Sister Mary Benedicta Larkin, O.P., of Sinsinawa, Wisconsin, U.S.A. As unfortunately these essays which occupy eighty-two pages of the original book have not been listed by the translator, but only referred to numerically, their titles are here given for the guidance of those who cannot have access to the French edition :—(1) The Chronology of Saint Dominic’s Life between 1205 and 12107, by Vicaire; (2) Cardinal James de Vitry’s account of the Preacher-Canons of Bologna, by Mandonnet; (3) Paul of Hungary’s Summa de Poenitentia, by Mandonnet; (4) The Constitutions of the Order between 1220 and 1227, by Vicaire; (5) The Beginnings of the Order of Penance, by Mandonnet. Admittedly these studies are technical and do not all touch directly on Saint Dominic and his work, but Vicaire’s first study, not a very lengthy one, could have been included in the translation with much profit.The Rule of Saint Augustine, as universally known to-day, is prefixed to the Book of the Dominican Constitutions, and is incorporated in the Institutions of many other religious Orders.
Fatima and the People's Theology
Authors: Vann Gerald 
Published: July 2007

‘For I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid, a weak man and of short time, and falling short of the understanding of judgement and laws.’ (Wisd. ix, 5.).What do we mean by the ‘mind of the Church’? In the most obvious sense the Church is an autocracy : the life and the power and the wisdom are from above, from the Head which is Christ. But there is another sense in which the life of the Church has its democratic aspect: for the vitality and vigour of the Church, the degree in which the life and power and wisdom are used and expressed, this depends not least on the masses of the faithful, on their acceptance of and response to what is given. So the development of the Church’s dogma is a process which can be found to begin from below : first the gradual fermentation of the idea in the devout life of the layfolk, then its discussion and analysis in the controversies of theologians, then finally the decisive voice, the consecration, by the wisdom from above, of the truth in these new discernments and elucidations of ancient fact. Can there be a similar process in the realm of morals? We do well to remember the power of the Spirit in giving to the hearts of the simple and unlearned a sense of the right and the good. In two ways this connatural knowledge, as St. Thomas calls it, differs from the work of the theologian and may complement it: it goes straight to the conclusion, while the theologian, working in another medium, must first sift and test the premisses; it concerns the particular fact or type of fact, where theology is concerned primarily with the general principle.
Stray Thoughts on the Lay Apostolate
Authors: Ripley Francis J. 
Published: July 2007

‘If we pass in review the long and sorrowful sequence of woes, that, as a sad heritage of sin, mark the stages of fallen man’s earthly pilgrimage, from the flood on, it would be hard to find spiritual and material distress so deep, so universal, as that which we are now experiencing.’ Those are words of Pope Pius XI, written in the Encyclical Caritate Christi Compulsi some twelves and a half years ago. If they were true then, they are more true than ever of to-day when the bloody shroud of war has enveloped nearly all mankind.But one feels sometimes that too much ink is devoted to the description of what is obvious. Having, therefore, recalled these striking words of Christ’s Vicar, let us not dwell here upon the depressing thought of the plight of modern humanity; rather we will turn to the remedy for such an unhappy state of affairs.‘As these evils crowd in upon us, what hope of remedy is left to us’ asked Pope Pius XII in his Easter Homily in 1940, ‘except that which comes from Christ, from his inspirations, and from his teaching, a healing stream flowing through every vein of our society? Only Christ’s law, only Christ’s grace, can renew and restore private and public life, redressing the true balance of rights and duties, checking unbridled self-interest, controlling passion, implementing and perfecting the course of strict justice with his overflowing charity.
Some Notes on Arthur Koestler
Authors: Birrell Anthony 
Published: July 2007

Arthur Koestler is unique among modern novelists for two reasons. Firstly he has written novels which have achieved wide popularity without in any way sacrificing their claim to be serious literature. Secondly, his political philosophy is sufficiently mature to enable him to analyse left-wing politics from a left-wing standpoint and yet to arrive at conclusions far more balanced and critical than we are entitled to expect from any British political commentator starting from the same assumptions.
The popularity of his two novels, Darkness at Noon and Arrival and Departure, has been achieved by his use of all the reader-appeals of the modern best-seller. His subject matter is extremely palatable to those types of middle-class intelligentsia who frequent the circulating libraries. Koestler’s chief appeal, of course, is his topicality. The setting of his novels is in modern Russia and Germany. But one has only to compare his grasp of political realities with the tedious platitudes and gross over-simplifications of such a political novelist as Philip Gibbs to appreciate Koestler’s mature and informed political criticism through characters and vividly localised details.
Sovereignty and Peace
Authors: Leibholz Georg 
Published: July 2007

Lionel Curtis has now collected in one volume four of the pamphlets he wrote during the war). We are greatly indebted to him for this collection which certainly deserves careful reading by all who are devoted to the cause of peace and who take the shaping of the future seriously. For the essence of his case, here powerfully stated, is that sovereignty excludes the rule of law and leads to anarchy and to a fragmentation of human society in which the will of the stronger ultimately prevails. Such a world is doomed to war unless the national States surrender their sovereignty and merge it into one international sovereign State.In fact, it cannot be disputed that international law has failed to maintain peace between the States and that this is mainly due to the fact that the national States have not relinquished their sovereignty. For sovereignty is uncontrolled, irresponsible and unlimited power. It embodies in collective entities the evil spirit of selfishness which knows no restraints and no standards of judgment other than its own. It entitles the State to maintain its political existence in the international sphere, even against justice and law. This state of affairs explains why, in the age of the national state, every international question of political weight has become overlaid by considerations of force and power, and why any State, for the sake of its honour, its political existence or its vital national interests can declare war on another State and thereby annul the existing international relations between the States. Writers on international law have even developed the doctrine of the lawfulness of war, although the effect of war is always to exclude the operation of law. Briefly, sovereignty legitimizes licence and arbitrariness and makes an effective institutional world organisation impossible. It perpetuates chaos in international relationships and cannot lead to a pacification of the world.
The Hostages
Authors: de Pange Jean 
Published: July 2007

I was arrested by the Gestapo on May 16th, 1941, and taken to the prison of la Santé. Two months later I was transferred to the Fortress of Romainville, then being used as a concentration camp for prisoners usually released only by death or deportation to Germany.For cell companions I had three young men from Nantes: Caldecott, a chemist, Hévin, a railway draughtsman, and Labrousse, a student of Legal History. Caldecott, a charming fellow with fair hair, bright eyes, a slightly ironic smile and determined manner, was of English extraction.Romainville was like a convict prison. No priest ever set foot there. Religious services were forbidden. Convicts’ dress was worn. The first time I met Julien Cain, the Director of the Biblioth&que Nationale, I failed to recignize him in this costume of yellow canvas. Soon I was wearing it myself.One day I asked him: “Are we hostages here? We shouldn’t be since we haven’t been accused.” He thought that actually we Were not hostages.Shortly afterwards my question assumed sinister significance. A corporal told me that I must prepare to leave. Was it as a hostage for Nont-Valérien where the executions took place? No, Julien Cain was certain that I was returning to la Santé.
Charles Du Bos
Authors: Norman George 
Published: July 2007

Charles Du Bos has a particular interest for English-speaking readers from the fact that he, a great Frenchman, was not only partly English but that his sympathies were so largely Anglo-Saxon. Some of the last years of his life were spent in America, though he died near Paris in 1939. Had he lived through the occupation to the present delicate task of ‘rehabilitating’ France, who can say what bearing his unobtrusive influence might not have had on the evolution of French policy? Though ignored in his lifetime by the general public, as Martin-Chauffier says in his introduction to the Byron of Du Bos, “there is scarcely a first-class mind in Europe which does not know him and feel for him the surest and best-founded esteem; ... It is not the least of undertakings to trace his influence on so many writers, so many works, so many matters which have stirred public opinion to passion.”That so potent a mind was unrecognised by the mass is due to the simple fact that Du Bos did not write what the mass cared to read; such writing, while it finally moulds thought and ideals, does so indirectly and slowly. It might also be thought that he wrote too little. For years Charles Du Bos suffered from a “paralysing” difficulty in writing at all; when he seemed to have overcome it, the first Great War supervened; at its close the same “total inhibition”—a doubt as to his own powers and a resulting scruple in writing—returned to him at intervals. His circle, the most exclusive of French cenacles, attributed his lack of production to a less fundamental cause: Du Bos, they believed, was too gifted in another way—he was a superb talker.
Censorship and Criticism
Authors: Evans Illtud 
Published: July 2007

Twenty-five years ago, Father Martindale, writing on “The Movies” in the very first number of Blackfriars, decided that “the thing can be used as well as misused, like thyroid or theology”. Since he wrote, the situation has changed: it can no longer be said that in the cinema “voice-anxiety is eliminated”, and we are usually spared “Bishops wearing their mitres at the tea-table and Abbesses giving absolution”. The “hundreds of thousands” who visit the pictures weekly in this country have become as many millions. But the need for a solid basis of criticism is as urgent as ever. The vast technical development of the cinema, its tremendous commercial growth and social importance, have not been matched—at least not among Catholics—by much discrimination.It is of little use any longer to deplore the existence of the cinema. It is firmly established as the most popular form of entertainment, and one supposes that Catholics are to be found in their proportion to the population as a whole among the weekly millions. There are many features of the cinemas as an industry which are certainly deplorable, but these should not prejudice an objective examination of the cinema as a medium, though in fact “what is wrong with the films?” can usually be traced back to “what is wrong with the Big Business behind them?” But it is difficult to envisage much change in the commercial side of the cinema: the tendency is all towards more mergers, more mammoth corporations spreading their tentacles from the studio right down to the local Ritz. For the cinema is not strictly an art; it is an industry which—among many other people—employs artists. Like any other commercial undertaking, the question it ultimately asks is: “Will it pay?” From the factory (the studio) to the shop-counter (the box-office) this is the real preoccupation; and the millions queueing nightly from Barnstaple to Bogota, they are the people who decide.
Reflections on a Critique of Jacques Maritain
Authors: Graham Aelred 
Published: July 2007

Not a little interest has been aroused by the publication, in a recent issue of the Tablet (18/8/1945), of a review by Mr. T. S. Gregory of M. Maritain’s Christianity and Democracy. Even more hostile in tone than an earlier critique (see Tablet 18/11/1944) of the author’s The Rights of Man, its manifest aim is to belittle, if not wholly to discredit, the reputation of the distinguished French philosopher. 6) Maritain has never escaped criticism even’ from his warmest admirers; they have noted a tendency to over-simplify complex historical issues, an occasionally unpersuasive manner of discoursing as it were from a great height, an uncertainty of judgment in aesthetic and literary matters. But these and possibly other limitations have done little to diminish their respect for him as a noble Christian intelligence and perhaps the ablest metaphysician of our day. His writings now have their recognized place as source-books of modern Thomism, to which professors of theology and philosophy are accustomed to refer their students. For this reason, if for no other, Mr. Gregory’ remarks merit serious consideration.The worth of a political essay may fairly be judged on its own account, without reference to its author’s views as expressed elsewhere; but when it is made the occasion for a radical attack upon a philosopher’s system of thought, we have the right to expect from the critic familiarity with the philosophical standpoint in question. Mr. Gregory offers little to justify this expectation; he knows that Maritain has somehow achieved considerable fame, but betrays no inkling of that upon which it is based.