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FOUR
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
DECEMBER 7, 1957.
(Hite lulldut
The Official Organ of ihe Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia, Incorporated
JOHN MARKWALTER, Editor
416 Eighth Street, Augusta, Ga.
Vol. 38 Saturday, December 7, 1957 No. 14
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1955-1956
GEORGE GINGELL, Columbus President
E. M. HEAGARTY, Waycross Honorary Vice-President
MRS. DAN HARRIS, Macon Vice-President
TOM GRIFFIN, Atlanta Vice-President
NICK CAMERIO, Macon Secretary
JOHN T. BUCKLEY, Augusta Treasurer
JOHN MARKWALTER, Augusta Executive Secretary
MISS CECILE FERRY, Augusta Financial Secretary
ALVIN M. McAULIFFE, Augusta Auditor
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office, Monroe, Georgia,
tnd accepted for mailing at special rate of postage provided fay para-
fraph (e) of section 34.40, Postal Laws and Regulations.
Member of N.C.W.C. News Service, the Catholic Press Association
*f the United States, the Georgia Press Association, and the National
Editorial Association.
Published fortnightly by the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Geor
gia, Inc., with the Approbation of the Most Reverend Archbishop-
Bishop of Savannah, the Most Reverend Bishop of Atlanta, and the
Right Reverend Abbot Ordinary of Belmont.
Catholic Psychiatrist Suggests
14 Rules For Teen Age Dating
(By J. J. Gilbert)
WASHINGTON — This cos
mopolitan and sophisticated city
has been a little startled by a
reminder of how dating customs
have changed.
The olden days were recalled
by a prominent Catholic psychia
trist speaking to the parent-
teacher group of a local Catholic
parish. His remarks were picked
up by the local press, and have
been the source of more than a
little comment since.
The psychiatrist, Dr. John R.
Cavanagh, who teaches at the
Catholic University of America
here in addition to conducting
his private practice, also under
took to lay down “some good fun
damental rules of behavior” for
teen-agers in regard to dating
and parties. In the same speech,
however, he expressed regret
that “most modern parents are so
afraid of their children that they
will not establish or enforce the
simplest rules of behavior.”
“Dating customs have chang
ed,” Dr. Cavanagh said. “Without
giving any applause to the ‘good
old times’ which on the whole
left much to be desired, there
were then well understood rules
for dating.
“For example, then young girls
were kept at home especially
after dark, then going steady was
a preparation for marriage, then
kissing was reserved for engaged
couples, then the male half of
the date was one of the neigh
bor’s children, then the boy came
to the house to pick up the girl
and meet her parents, then there
was a definite destination for
the date, then teen-agers did not
drive a car, then drinking and
smoking, especially by young
girls, were taboo; then petting
and necking were sinful and not
ladylike, then nine o’clock was
the hour for returning home, then
children obeyed their parents
rather, than the parents the chil
dren.
“These well established rules
are now in. the discard because
nobody ‘but Squares ever get in
by nine o’clock.’ ”
The doctor said that “what we
need is a new set of customs
which are established by the
parents and not foisted on them
by immature children who do
not really know what they want,
and need guidance which can be
given only by their parents.”
Here are some of the rules pro
posed:
1. Going steady is a preparation
for marriage and should not,
therefore, be permitted to teen
agers. Going steady, he s a i d,
means going with one partner to
the exclusion of others.
2. Going steadily is usually all
right if it continues to be just
that. He said “going steadily”
means that a boy and girl agree
to go together to the more or less
formal affairs, but go with others
at other times.
3. When a date is arranged the
boy should come to the house to
pick up the girl and meet her
parents, at least on the first date.
He should not sit outside and
blow the horn.
4. When the couple leave the
house they should have a definite
destination and state their ex
pected time of return.
5. If the couple cannot return
at the time expected, they should
call and report why.
6. No car driving should be per
mitted until the driver is old
enough and actually has a driv
er’s license. “Unfortunately,” the
doctor said, “many parents are
accessories in this violation of
the law.”
7. No dating on school nights.
When there is no school the next
day and they have a date, the
couple should return at a “rea
sonable hour.” A “reasonable
hour” is one long enough after
the end of the function which
they attended for a couple to get
a “quick, bite” at the nearest res
taurant and return home.
8. All parties should be chape
roned. Unchaperoned parties “are
the product of the confused in
terpersonal relationships of our
times and should not be permit
ted,” he said.
9. Mixed parties for grammar
school children are psychologic
ally unsound and should be for
bidden by the parents. Formal
dancing schools are an exception
10. Grammar school children as
a rule, especially in large cities,
should not be out after dark un
less accompanied by responsible
adults.
11. Solitary dating by grammar
school children should be for-
Continued on Page 5)
Portuguese Africa: A Summary
THIS WORLD OF OURS
(By Richard Pallee)
By this time I have visited
every Portuguese territory in Af
rica from Guinea clear down to
Mozambique. It is perhaps op
portune to pull some thoughts to
gether. In succeeding pieces I
shall try to do-
some more ov
erall viewing of
the situation.
P o r t u guese
Africa is the
third largest
empire on this
continent and
is the only one
to date that seems unaffected by
the tugging and pulling, regard
ing colonialism. The Portuguese
territories are oases of quietude
on a continent in turmoil. And
yet there is no force behind the
rule that Lisbon exerts over the
millions of Africans under its
guidance.
In Mozambique recently I was
visiting a local administrator at
a place called Zavala. He is in
charge of the interests of 70,000
natives and exerts his control
through exactly one dozen Af
rican subordinates called sipaios
or regulos. He has no arms, aside
from a few pieces for hunting and
lives without the slightest pro
tection of any kind. Aside from
Africans doing their military
service one rarely sees a uniform
in all Portuguese Africa. This
does not mean that these terri
tories are sealed off from the
world or impervious to outside
influences.
In Guinea there is concern
One-Sided Education
about what is happening in the
French zone and disquitude about
Islam. In Angola there is a feel
ing that events will be determin
ed by what happens in the Union
of South Africa and the Belgian
Congo, the two great neighbors.
In Mozambique, South Africa is
even closer and to the north is
Tanganyika and Kenya, both in
the throes of a newly born na
tional consciousness. Neverthe
less Portugal is going about its
business unmoved by this prox
imity and completely convinced
that its policy is the only one in
the long run.
The problems of Portuguese
Africa are multiple and complex.
There is the need to increase ec
onomic production enormously
and this by a country that is
largely agricultural and with lit
tle exportable goods. There is
need for education on a wider
scale and above all ' for hun
dreds of more missioners. I am
convinced right down to the
ground that the real problem of
Africa and the only hope of its
future is the spread of Christi
anity effectively and rapidly.
Under paganism there can be no
hope for the individual or for the
society. And in the Portuguese
world in spite of valiant efforts
and an abundance of good will the
number of missioners is too few.
I am equally convinced that
Islam is a most serious menace.
The Holy Father has said so in
his recent Encyclical on Africa
in which he insists that the dan
ger of the easy attraction upon
a great number of minds of a
religious conception of life which,
although calling strongly upon
divinity, none the less attracts its
followers to a way that is not that
of Jesus Christ.”
For some time after I had been
in the Middle East I thought that
perhaps there was some basis
for the hope that Moslem and
Christian, both believers in God
might find a common ground,
not in dogma, but in action
against the adversary of. both
who believes in no God at all
and in no human dignity. These
months in Africa have convinced
me of the contrary; that Islam
is a powerful and dangerous foe
as it was centuries ago and in
Africa above all is^fmakmg ex
traordinary headway.
Portuguese rule is sound and
efficient, in the hands of hun
dreds of competent and dedicated
men who serve their nation self
lessly. Economically they pay
their way without outside assist
ance and no demand for it. They
believe they have a mission in
Africa and propose to remain
there to fulfill it. They are the
only European people to have
maintained this continuity of
purpose down through the cen
turies. I have talked to hundreds
of them. They know they are
working in the face of almost
universal defection from the idea
of a European mission and that
the French, British and others
are on the way out. They are
convinced that just as they have
weathered other and as severe
storms they will manage to come
through this one unscathed.
THE
Father Francis J. Heyden,. of
Georgetown University, himself a
distinguished astro-physicist, re
cently warned about the danger
of over-specilization in education
as we are about to embark upon
a frantic race
to catch up
with the Soviet
Union’s output
of scientists and
engineers.
That we need
more scientists
is a proposition
in which Father
Heyden is in full accord. But he
contends that it would be a tra
gic mistake if our colleges and
universities, in their effort to step
up the production of scientists
and engineers, fail to insist upon
teaching such students the basic
elements of a liberal education,
commonly known as the “hu
manities.”
In calling for a well-rounded
education, Father Heyden, of
course, is merely holding fast to
the traditional Jesuit concept of
education — the development of
the whole man. This, indeed, was
once the aim of most of our lib
eral arts colleges, but in recent
years, particularly since the end
of the Second World War, the
trend has been toward speciliza-
tion and away from the tradition
al disciplines.
LIBERAL ARTS NEGLECTED
Fewer and fewer students in
colleges and universities are ma
joring in the liberal arts and
sciences. Whereas at the begin
ning of the century, one out of
four college graduates had spe
cialized in the humanities —
languages, literature, history, phi
losophy and social sciences — in
recent years only one in eight
BACKDROP
By JOHN C. O’BRIEN /// I;, if' 7-'f' IT'
had pursued such subjects as
majors.
While criticism of this imbal
ance in the intellectual equip
ment of college graduates is emi
nently pertinent now, when the
emphasis is on the need for more
scientists, this is not the first
time it has been heard.
For several years not only edu
cators but leaders in government,
business, and the professions have
been bemoaning the : one-sided
ness of higher education.
President A. Whitney Griswold,
of Yale University, for example,
deplored in a speech last January
the fact that the educational sys
tem had “allowed those studies
which for centuries have been
esteemed as the intellectual and
spiritual sustenance of free men
to become confused with other
studies, which, though useful in
themselves, serve no such exalted
— and essential — purpose, and
to decline to a point well below
their proper position in the cur
riculum.”
The dean of the Law School ,of
Columbia University, William G.
Warren, has complained that the
inability of college graduates to
read and write properly was a
“malady of epidemic propor
tions.”
Allen V. Astin, director of the
National Bureau of. Standards,
found that the young scientists
joining his staff lacked the “abil
ity to communicate.” He said he
had to teach, them how to prepare
reports — something they should
have learned at the college level.”
Even labor leaders have noted
the wide gaps in the educational
equipment of colleges and uni
versity graduates. Louis Hollan
der, an official of the C. I. O., as
serted last autumn that many
colleges and universities are “so
preoccupied with developing
technical skills, in their graduates
that they have forgotten all about
developing them as whole men
and women.”
EDUCATED IGNORAMUSES
As a result, Hollander pointed
out, some college graduates, “with
their narrow, pinpointed training,
are absolute ignoramuses in ev
erything. except their aiajbr sub
jects. They know how to make a
good living, but they don’t know
how to make a good life.”
Other critics have noted that in
this modern age, when scientists
play so dominant a role in shap
ing the course of our lives, it is
particularly serious when they
are unfamiliar with the heritage
of the past and the contributions
of religion and philosophy to the
development of civilization.
“The chemist who knows no
history,” says the Education Pol
icies Commission,” and the his
torian who knows no chemistry,
the physicist with no philosophy
and the philosopher with no bas
ic physical science are sympto
matic of the extreme specilization
leading toward fragmentation of
both learning and life. In their
inescapable role as citizens, spe
cialists need a common platform
of values and sensitivies and a
language for communication con
cerning common problems.”
Now that we appear to be on
the threshhold of a vast expan
sion of our higher educational
system, this would seem to be a
good time for a first reading or a
re-reading of Cardinal Newman’s
“The Idea of a University.”
The man who depends too
much on the advice of his friends
can never be independent,