The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1952-08-29
just Among Ourselves
Psssins Comment censidered or Ineensidersse


discussion that has to do with that sort of change
which consists of halves quarters and dimes. =
lesser coins having no modern significance of
such change there is divided opinion all accent
the doctrine CT change for changes sake But when
IT comes to politics business or art or even the
family menu, the case Is far different the voice of
the partisan is heard in the land
person is constantly torn between desire to
see things improved and determination to hold
on to things that he has learned to like His sitlIa
ton is made distressing by the fact that he
has been lectured from infancy in the Great Amer-
can Dogma that every change is necessarily change
for the better. Experience is continually iarrins
him with facts that do not conform to the doctrine
as when ii takes away his street car and leaves
him bus, - but he is so grounded in the doctrine
that he dares neither doubt nor deny
He accepts the great and luminous statements
that you cannot turn back the clock that the horse
and buggy days gone; that progress is newt
ABLY progressing. The advertisements, it is true
tend to make him qualify his theory of the i'm
PROBABILITY of things for they exhibit claims of full
est perfection But here again he is crossed up or
double crossed. For the moment he has accepted
the one toothpaste as absolute exception to the
rule of change and improvement he hears to his
CONSERVATION that ii has been ammonated And
not that alone it has been grassed up with choro-
phyll
But, despite the general belief in change as pro-
gress or Improvement, there is the debatable theory
of change for mere variety, that is, of change for
the sake Of pure change And since what is pure
change to one is improvement in the view of an
other, there is much disgruntled argument Some.
thing in us wants well enough left alone; and some
thing calls for what is fresh and novel To illus
trate the man in the pew is willing to admit that
scholars have done good job in re-translatng the
Scriptures; yet he is distressed when he hears the
old familiar phrases OF the Sunday gospels changed
to new formulas OF speech. He is somehow irked
TO have measures OF wheat" changed to "kors Of
wheat land he thinks privately that the transla
tors must have been thinking of apples) He always
thought that penny day was poor wages but
he Is not inclined to regard "denarus" as much
Improvement on a penny; perhaps however il will
satisfy the clio.
Another instance for years and years that grand
weekly magazine known as The Are Maria came
into Catholic homes in fine familiar and
unchanged dress. Then about twenty years ago.
The outer cover, and some Of the inner formal too
underwent change Well, the newer cover may
have been an Improvement, but it was shock II
was almost as much of shock as the household
would endure If grandma that splendid old lady
who was always decently and similarly dressed
should appear in shorts and halter and with horse
tail hair-do
And the Aue Maria undergoing shift of
editors. appears in still another cover. This one
presents an expressonless Madonna with moon
faced yet pointedchnned) Infant raising his little
hand in Churehan blessing, the first two fingers
forming the proper V. Improvement? Perhaps
Change. certainly, and new shock Here Is the
clash between settled love of the familiar and
traditional, and desire for variety and change And
here arises the question of whether this is not
change for the sake OF mere change and whether
II is worth whe2
Perhaps there has simply got TO be change In
life, for life is journey, and journey is con-
tinual change. But there be no change in the
goal Of the journey, the journey becomes an
aimess wandering Truth is changeless for truth
is the eternal goal of the mind Good is change
less for good is the inevitable object of the will.
Morality is changeless, for it is the union of truth
and goodness in human conduct But there must
be Improvement and thus change, in human eff
forts to appreciate truth and attain to goodness
That is why we must make progress in virtue.
There is no standing still II we do no become
more virtuous as we go on through life we become
less II is back and forth business for most
of us, as days and years go by. There is the un-
changing and Interchangeable goal and the changing
effort Time is change; eternity is changelessness.
And since change can have value only when it is
Improvement. time which is wasted or idly spent in
foolish pursuits is change for changes sake,
and can bring nothing of value
great many people make the mistake of think
ing that progress in virtue and progress in the know
ing and appreciatng of truth means change in
truth and virtue. These folk turn the journey to
the promised land into the wandering in the wild
erness Man is meant to seek truth, but also to find
it, There people today who teach that mans
business in life is TO seek truth, but he is never
allowed to say he has got hold of il. He is ever tc
have an open mind; which is like having open
mouth We need sometimes to close the mouth
upon solid food, or we will gape way into i'm
becllity and starvation.
Man can know truth. changeless truth. He car
always know about II, and bring his daily life
into closer conformity with it. and this is his mair
task. The changeles and the changing. The fixed
goal and true progress To say change affects al
things tas in the phrase there no absoutes'
is as silly to say that there is change at al
in anything.
AS to change in things political. such admins
trations, and the value of change for changes sake
well, there you have us We don't know thin
about It,