The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1960-06-17
Misplaced
(Continued from page b

CONSERVATISM is called
for with respect to the de-
post of faith and the relig-
ious institutions which relate
to the individual mans aspira-
tons for happiness in the
world to come" he said.
But at the same time, he
continued, the Christian
should be in the vanguard of
all progressive movements in
the life of man on earth -
all tendencies toward the per-
lection of that life and the
fulfiliment of the secular des-
tiny of the human race in
time"
WHEREVER THERE are
even slight signs of the pos
sibility of progress, we should
bend every effort to push for
ward, and not hold on to the
past with the blind obstinacy
of a misplaced conservatism"
he said. Nothing that men
have so far thought or done
is so good that it need blind
us to the possibility of i'm
%provement."
DR.. Adler, presenting "a
non-C Catholic approach" to
Catholicism, went on to score
misplaced conservatism on
the part of Catholics"
He listed three principal
areas in which, he said, this
conservatism manifests it.
self:
u With regard TO political
democracy. He said there is
widespread SIX eptieism"
among Catholic thinkers
about the basic proposition OF
democracy - THE equality of
men, the least gifted Of whom
has sufficient power to par
tieipafe in political life along
with the most gifted"
q With regard TO the ex'
pandins opportunities for all
men TO engage in THE liberal
pursuits of leisure" Some
Catholic thinkers, he said, are
committed TO "the perpefua.
tion of the division of man.
kind into those who r des.
tined only for labor and
those who are destined for
learning"
- With regard to world
government. He said some
Catholic thinkers retain "out-
NODDED ideas about the preser-
walton of national sovereign
ty'' and fail to see that moth
ing short of world govern
ment can be the terminus OF
mans political development
and the perfection of the
state itself"
Basic Christian principles
with regard to the nature OF
man, the nature of human So
ciety, and the secular welfare
of men, Individually and col
lectively, should lead Catho-
lies TO be actively at work in
the promotion of democracy,
of chronological advances and
of world government" DR..
Adler said.
MR.. scHARPER asserted
that us. Catholic Theological
understanding in matters re-
lating TO art has been so
vague that our Catholic writ
ers have failed to produce
one major novel, play or film
that fused profound Catholic
insights into the mystery and
meaning of man with the per.
sistent American vision OF
what man aspired -. to be-
"As writer's" he said I'VE
have not done in our own
right what Villa Gather did
with an American Catholic
theme, or what Graham
Greene or Evelyn Waugh
have done with English Cath
Ollie themes, or Bernanos,
Mauriac and Bloy with
French Catholic themes"
MR.. scHARPER continued:
"As critics and readers we
have ~censured the philoso-
phies of Dresser, Hemingway.
Farrell, Barry, 0'Neill or Fltz.
gerald, but have not asked Of
ten enough what caused them
to leave the household of the
Faith. What attrition had we
permitted in our theology
that made the artist turn 49,.
to a philosophy of nihilism
or to economic determinlsm
or to mechanism as the an
swer to the mystery ami
meaning of man?
THE true artist lives on his
intuitions, and VIC have given
him coneeptual foundations
of immense mysteries in cate
chisms and question boxes.
The artist speaks in symbols
and moves in ritual; ours has
been a religious culture of at.
tenuated liturgy and dime
store aesthetics. The artist, no
matter how wild his conclu-
sions, is a congenital moral.
list, and ours has been a re-
ligious culture of intricate le-