Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-11-17

knowledge Of God derived
through the use of his native
powers has been immeasurably
enriched and perfected and has
been given certainty by the rev.
elation made by God to man
through Jesus Christ. This
knowledge has been attained
not through mans effort. but
through the goodness and mercy
Of God. It is accepted by an
act Of faith made with the help
Of divine grace. OF this deposit
Of revealed truth the church is
the divinely appointed custo-
dian.
Without an unfettered means
of communication. the teaching
Office of the church is sorely
hampered. She counts among
her special blessings in our own
country the important and
fruitful Catholic press.
True Rational Freedom
Because freedom of the press
is a basic right to be respected
and safeguarded. it must be
understood and defended not
as license, but as true national
freedom. The kind Of uncrit-
ical claims for and defense of
liberty which so often have
been made in our day actually
places that liberty in jeopardy.
For this reason we feel that
light must be thrown not only
on its meaning, but also on its
limits.
To speak of limits is to in
dictate that freedom of express
sion is not an absolute free
dom. Not infrequently it is so
presented. 1t is alleged that
this freedom can suffer no cur
tailment or limitation without
being destroyed. The tradi-
tional and sounder understand
ing of freedom, and specifically
freedom Of the press. is more
temperate. 1t recognizes that
liberty has a moral dimension.
Man is true to himself as a
free being when he acts in &C.
cord with the laws of right rea-
son. AS a member of society
his liberty is exercised within
bounds fixed by the multiple
demands of social living. In the
concrete this means that the
common good is to be served.
1t will entail, among other
things, respect for the right
of others. a regard for public
order, and a positive difference
to those human. moral and So
cial values which are our COM
mon Christian heritage. 1t is
within this context that free
dom of expression is rightly
understood.
This recognition of limita-
lions has been given statement
in recent decisions of the Su-
preme Court of the United
States: 1--WE hold that OBJ
scenity is not within the area
of constitutionally protected
speech or press" (Roth VS..
United States, II S. CT. 1904,
Alberts VS.. California, n S. Ct.
1304-June "a, 1857 the deci-
sions touching on this subject
are encouraging to those who
have been deeply concerned
over trends that threatened to
the traditional authori-
ty exercised by the State over
expressions and displays of OBJ
scenity.
Contrary to this trend, the
Court has held that there is
such a thing as obscenity sus-
ceptible of legal determination
and demanding legal restraint;
that laws forbidding the circu-
lation of obscene literature are
not as such in violation of the
Constitution; that the Federal
Government may ban such
publications from the mail;
that a State may act against
obscene literature and punish
those who sell or advertise it.
The decisions reasserted the
traditional conviction that free
dom of expression is exercised
within the defined limits of law.
Obscenity cannot be permitted
as a proper exercise of a basic
human freedom. Civil enact
ments as we'll as the moral law
both indicate that the exercise