The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1952-01-25
Continued from Page y


Dedicate yourself this month to
a new appreciation of the Catholic
Press. Begin your re-education by
a careful examination of your local
diocesan newspaper. 1t will tell
you what goes on in your own di-
ocese. That you ought to know, Of
course. More than that, you will
discover that it gives you an amaz-
ing number of accurate facts and
happenings, not only from all over
our own country, but also from
the remotest corners of the world.
This you will soon learn is be.
cause it has eyes and ears every
where as a subscriber to the serv-
ice furnished by the Press Depart
ment Of the National Catholic Well
fare Conference.
You will discover able feature
articles and penetrating commen-
taries to supplement and explain
the news items. In the light of
what you read in your Catholic
paper, many things which seemed
obscure in the daiIies become clear.
In fact, no Catholic with thirst
for truth and normal supply of
brains can any longer afford to
ignore his Catholic newspaper, un-
less he clings to that old adage:
where ignorance is bliss, It's folly
to be wise"
Now extend your investigation
to the field of the Catholic maya
zines. Variety of choice is almost
endless. A new and wonderful
world OF entertainment, human in
terest and heroic spiritual conquest
will open to you.
Perhaps your interest lies in
some special field and you seek
Catholic periodical to aid your
studies. Here too you will find
competent work at hand in the
pages of respectable reviews, whe-
ther your interest be history, eco
nomics, sociology, politics, educa-
ton, philosophy, theology or
something else. In a word, whether
in journalism, literary output or
scholarship the Catholic Press has
a periodical in almost every field,
doing a very satisfactory job in
most and an outstanding labor in
many
Two special considerations merit
your attention. 1t is one function
of the Catholic Press to expound
truth in all its fulness, another to
defend and bear witness to free
dom.
The first task is very much to
the point at the moment. To dis
cover truth and expose it one must
conquer triviality and shallowness
to the extent of being profound on
occasion.
Unfortunately, if there is one
characteristic of modern newsmen,
with certain notable exceptions,
which more than anything else
tends to vitiate much of their
writing and discount their com
ment on world events, it is their
shallowness. Their writing is filled
with the unexplained happenings
6f the moment, without any pene-
trating regard for past causes or
future consequences.
In the presence of such chaos
in the world of the press, the Cath
Ollie newsman and journalist, with
his sound historic sense, his
grounding in philosophy and the
ology, his grasp of true values in
the light of eternal truth, serves
the public by looking beneath the
surface of ephemeral happenings,
placing them in their proper his
torlcal and moral perspective and
interpreting them in the light of
sound philosophical and theological
principles.
A second consideration holds pc
culiar significance in this hour. As
statiSm, in one form or another,
encroaches more and more upon
free institutions the world over,
the flourishing condition Of the
press in our land evidences the
consoling fact that very large
area of vigorous resistance still
persists.
That strong pressures seek TO
force the journalist into conformity
with official lines of thought in his
reporting and writing, with too
much success, who dare deny? Yet
for every slavishly partisan hack
we find a counterbalance in some
thoroughly independent thinker
and writer, unafraid TO stand on his
own two feet and speak the truth.
The fact that both treatments of
the days news can exist side by
side, often within the columns Of
the same journals. shows that our
newspapers and periodicals have
not vet depenerated into the mere