The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1959-09-11
JOSEPH BRETG-
Please Don't
Misinterpret

Sometimes this business of being a writer makes
me think of the Ku klux Khan or at least of the
florid language used at khan meetings in the old bed
sheet and ~pllloW-caSe days.
| mean to say, occasionally, | feel that it was a
melancholy day, In a Walling month, in a calamitous
year OF a narrowing century, when | decided to become
a journalist.
My present depression stems from a letter written
by a subscriber mean a former subscriber-of one
Of the papers for which | write.
Allow me to set the scene for you. Not long ago,
| devoted a column to the problem of the working
wife. | said that wives should not work in factories or
offices unless it is ineScapably necessary.
That did it. An angry husband took his pen fero-
ciously in hand, ordered the editor of his paper to
cancel his subscription, and voiced the following
opinion of what | had written:
u HAVE NEVER been so revolteds by the I'M
mitigated gall of an editorial in my life-perhaps be-
cause the shoe fits.
hold a job by day and three nights a week. and my
wife works-all to buy those material things like a
Catholic education for my children, or to donate to
the school fund, or to pay the $40 to put the boys in
the Little League, or to pay the insurance as our con-
tribution to the support of our parents.
oh. yes, we also pay the regular bills, but you
see, the part that bites is that we discussed this whole
problem in detail With our priest prior to marriage.
1T was apparent to us then that if we we're to
give our children a better break than a cold water
flat or a front sidewalk for a playground-much less
an education-we'd both works
80 WE TALKED to the Church, and we were told
that the mutual responsibility to build a home went
beyond the mere responsibilities OF parenthood, and
extended to the sacrifice of giving the children a home
to be proud of, and happy in.
"And so we work. And up to now we felt it was q
wonderful God-glVen mission that truly placed an
equal burden on each in proportion to ability.
Nov, thanks to you, we see ourselves as we are
i as a husband, humorous, coWed, keeping up with
the Joneses. and subjecting my wife to the temptations
and stresses of the Workaday world: and my vile,
strained, in danger of her pure wifehness, and tied
up in a mere convenient association to pool earning
power
1--WE thought marriage was a sacrament
TIVE TAKEN the Catholic paper to work and
passed it around at lunch now for over two years, each
week. | tore it up tonight. I'll read it no more-not a
line. not a word. You see, I'm not going to be 'coWed.
Joseph Breig is completely self-sufficlent III his
ivory tower, with his standards to measure all our
failings, even to the safety OF our wives purity away
from home while at work.
"You will probably recognize the enclosed as a
subscription renewal envelope. | won't need it Per-
haps it will convince you I'm motor was not-a
merely occasional reader. I'm certainly not a reader
now-casual, occasional or otherwise
so ENDED the letter. | am not annoyed with the
writer of il. | am sure that when was his age wrote
things equally angry and forceful.
The only thing is, | never said that no wife should
ever work outside the home. | said a wife shouldn't do
it unless it is necessary.
In the case of this particular husband and wife.
apparently it is necessary. That being SO, the wife
rightly works. A priest was consulted, and he told her
to go ahead. Therefore, nothing that | said against
wives working outside the home applies to this couple.
The shoe does not fit.
| hope the husband. having voiced his feelings,
feels better. But do wish people wouldn't mlslnter-
pref what write. 1t makes for a Woeful day In a dis
tressful month in a horrid year in my life as a writer.