Newspaper Page Text
FATHER CRONIN
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1963
BOOK SECTION
PAGE 3
The Catholic As Citizen
Is Subject For Studious
PRACTICING WHAT SHE LEARNED. Sister Dolores Marie, a
Sister of Charity from New York, explains a point of Cath
olic doctrine to a woman in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Sister is
using the Spanish language, which she learned at the Insti
tute for Intercultural communication, of the Catholic Uni
versity of Puerto Rico. The Institute offers language, social
and cultural studies for missionaries preparing to work
among the people of Latin America.
Latest Books
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (NC) GASNIER, MICHEL. Joseph
—This list of Catholic books The Silent. (Paulist Press. 95
THE CATHOLIC AS CITI
ZEN, John F. Cronin, S.S. He
licon. $3.95
Some years back Father Cro
nin of the National Catholic
Welfare Conference published
Catholic Social Principles, a
work that should be read by
college students. Problems of
housing, unemployment, dis
crimination, medical care for
the aged, taxes and federal
power are quite complex and,
without clear guiding princi
ples, are almost impossible of
satisfactory solution. Capable
men who give their time and ta
lents to government must often
be tempted to despair when
seeking adjustments for, like a
pile of lumber, action in one
area causes movements in other
areas. It becomes necessary for
such men to distinguish between
what is a matter of justice and
what is a matter of convenience
in many cases. The author’s
prior work is concerned with
guiding principles, the present
one with application know-how.
THE EMPHASIS in the first
part of the work is on social
action in the local community.
The general theme of the for
mation of the image of Christ
in society itself is brought to
bear first of all on what the Ca
tholic image in the local com
munity ought to be, then on
what it often is. Strong stress
is placed on community invol
vement. The Catholic must re
cognize that many others in his
community are vitally interest
ed in the healthy development
of social institutions and that
cooperation that cuts across re
ligious commitment is demand
ed. All parents share the same
problems to a great extent.
Certain of these problems would
benefit by a unified approach.
Father Cronin mentions the
three D's as an example—
drinking, driving, dating. It is
difficult for the individual teen
ager to go against the crowd
and it is socially undesirable
to isolate him.
THE AUTHOR goes on to
treat of people with “frozen
emotion”. When this section
was first published as an ar
ticle in Our Sunday Visitor it
evoked widespread response. It
seems to be a common obser
vation on our society. Here as
elsewhere in the book he stres
ses the importance of personal
involvement. In all the social
ills of our society there is the
God-given responsibility of
treating with each other as
persons, not as social statis
tics. Could it be that the dis
tinguishing mark of the Chris
tian is to see his brother in
each individual of the mass of
people? The author raises this
question in the mind of the
reader.
THE SOCIAL problems of
race and Christian unity are
topics for consideration. The
reviewer found the account of
the National Conference on Re
ligion and Race most apposite.
Our own Archbishop Hallinan
and Dr. Benjamin Mays of
Morehouse College were active
participants of this Conference
in which seventy national reli
gious bodies were represented.
The outstanding feature of the
Conference was that for the
first time in our history the
major religious groups met in
a common cause. Considering
that this is an area charged with
emotion one would do well to
carefully read this chapter.
From race tensions the author
naturally passes on to religious
tensions and the function of the
apostolic Christian in his ap
proach to the community prob
lems of religious harmony and
tolerance. The advice given by
Pope John in his last encycli
cal letter is re-echoed in these
pages.
PROBLEMS THAT go beyond
the scope of the local commu
nity are considered in the last
two chapters. The vote, graft,
special favors, taxes, traffic
laws and other laws are all
stirred in the pot. Augustine
considered politics a result of
original sin and Aquinas coun
tered that it was quite natural
activity of man. The fact re
mains that we are members of
a political community and must
solve the problems of states
rights and federal power, go
vernment enterprise versus
private initiative and comped-
SIBERIA, ITS CONQUEST AND
DEVELOPMENT By Yuri
Semyonov. Helicon, $7.95
Every now and then a book
turns up that, literally, opens up
a whole new world to the rea
der. This applies, with timely
aptness, to this history of Sib
eria, written by a Russian who
lives and teaches in Sweden,
writes in German and translates
into English with sparkling cla
rity and sly, colloquial wit.
Geographically, this is certa
inly an off-beat book. Probably
not one person in 10,000 in
the U. S. (or , for that matter,
anywhere else outside of the
Soviet ) knows anything at all
about Siberia except that Paul
Muni (or was it Robert Taylor?)
once stamped around in the snow
there in a highly stiff-upper-
lip movie.
There is, however, nothing
offbeat, dull or pedantic about
die story that Prof. Semyonov
has to telL Here is the back
ground, tersely andeffecdvely
narrated, of one of the major
aspects of die Cold War - the
tension between China and the
Soviet Union, with all its explo
sive possibilities for therestof
the world. The roots of this
tension are sharply defined and
clearly traced by the author in
a series of chapters that follow
the lonely wanderings and ela
borate expedidons that almost
compulsively carried Russian
culture and the Orthodox faith
father and farther eastward,
across the Urals and, finally,
to the Amur River and the Pac
ific itself, there inevitably to
clash with the incredible excl
usiveness of the Celestial King,
dom.
Equally absorbing, though
perhaps not so pressing in the
don, poverty, medical care for
the aged, and the Church and la
bor. Even in these areas of na
tional concern and congression
al action Father Cronin has
words of advice on what and
how the individual can do to
keep from getting lost as a
mere suds tic. He does not
consider overpopulation and
consider overpopulation and
nuclear warfare, since his at
tention has been directed to
highlighting ideas that he con
siders as having value in mod
ern America. The work is a good
guide in the areas of commu
nity, race, religious unity, po
litics and economics—areas in
which the modern apostle may
find it difficult to exercise his
powers of humility, forgive
ness, tolerance and suffering.
A suggested reading list of
books published within the last
six years is appended. Recom
mended for apostolic minded
Christians and those interest
ed in good communities.
T.T. McNULTY.O.F.M.
light of current events, are the
backgrounds of Russian relat
ions with Japan and with die U.
S. In fact, if we are to accept
Prof. Semyonov’s view of Rus-
so-U. S. affairs, the Russians,
almost until the 1930’s, were
almost pathetically anxious to
cultivate American good wilL
The asides in “Siberia” are
all too brief. It is understand-
able that, in a book that attempts
to cover almost 600 years of
feverish activity the author
must omit minute details. It is
a bit frustrating, however, to
catch rumors, as it were, of
the curious story about the great
poet Pushkin’s Ethiopian grand
father, who was improbably
named A. C. Hannibal; about
the Russian fleet that sallied
into San Francisco Harbor to
support the Union side during
the American Civil War; and
about the American publishers
who accepted $30,000 bribes
from the Russians for their sup
port in the bargain-counter sale
of Alaska. Prof. Semyonov has
the makings of a raconteur, If
his time should ever permit.
There is one curious feature
to “Siberia.” The author has
omitted or glossed over almost
every instance of violence in
this long account which, if the
history of the rest of the world
is any criterion, should be
chock-full of blood and thunder
of the most appalling sort. Eit
her Prof. Semyonov has an inn
ate distaste for such gory de
tails, or they simply did not
occur, which would make the
Russian conquest of a sizable
and savage portion of the earth's
surface an incredible - an un
likely achievement.
R. U REDDY
released within the past week
was prepared by the Library of
the Catholic University of Ame
rica.
BARRACHINA, IGNATIUS M.
Spiritual Doctrine of St. Augus
tine. (B. Herder. $4.75). A tra
nslation from the Spanish.
BIELER, LUDWIG. Ireland,
Harbinger Of The Middle Ages.
(Oxford University press.
$12.50). A popular work in Ch
urch history going down to the
9th century.
BLUM, S. J. FATHER VIR
GIL C. Freedom Of Choice In
Education. (Paulist Press. 95
cents. Paper). Reprint of the
1958 Macmillan edition.
BUSHNELL, OSWALD A.
Molokai. (World. $5.95). A novel
of the leper island.
CARTHUSIAN, A. Mary, The
Mirror. (Templegate. $1.25.
Paper). A translation from the
French.
CONSDINE, S. J. FATHER
DANIEL, 1849-1923. Delight In
The Lord. (Templegate. $1.25
Paper). Spiritual mediatations
and notes intended to guide re
ligious engaged in various apo
stolic labors.
CORMIER, ROBERT. A Lit
tle Raw On Monday Mornings.
(Sheed and Ward. $3.95). Rest
rained novel of an illegitimate
pregnancy of a widowed mother.
DOM JAN, JOSEPH. Hungari
an Heroes And Legends. (Van
Nostrand, including biographies
of saints.
ELLIS, MSGR. JOHN T. Per
spectives In American Catho
licism. (Helicon. $6). Twenty-
three topical essays and ser
mons.
FLOOD, EDMUND. In Me
mory Of Me. (Sheed and Ward.
$3). A popular study on the
Eucharist and man.
FOLLIET, JOSEPH. Man In
His Environment. (Hawthorn.
$3.50). A translation from the
French in the 20th Century En
cyclopedia of Catholicism.
FOTHERGILL, BRIAN. Nich
olas Wiseman. (Doubleday.
$4.95). Documented biography
of the 19th century English
cardinal.
cents. Paper).* Popular biogra
phy reprinted from the Kenedy
edition.
GOEBEL, BERNADIN. Seven
Steps To The Altar. (Sheed
& Ward. $3.50). A study in pre
paration for the priesthood.
GOOD1ER, ARCHBISHOP
ALBAN . Fifty Meditations On
The Passion. (Templegate.
$L25 Paper). Reprint of the
1925 Burns and Oates edition.
GUARDING ROMANO. The
Life of Faith. (Paulist Press.
75 cents. Paper). Reprint of
the Newnan Press 1961 edit
ion.
KNOTT, MSGR. JOHN C.,
Editor. Love The Bond of Per
fection. (N. C. W. C. Family
Life Bureau. $2. Paper). Selec
ted papers from the 1962
Proceeding s of the 28th Nat
ional Catholic Family Life Con
vention.
KUNG, FATHER HANS. The
Council In Action. (Sheed and
Ward. $4.50). Theological re
flections on the Second Vatican
Council.
LUBAC, HENRI DE. The Dr
ama Of Atheist Humanism.
(World Publishing. $1.95). Re
print of the 1950 Sheed and
Ward edition.
MARCEL, GABRIEL. Homo
Viator. (Gloucester, Mass. Pe
ter Smith. $3.50). An introduc
tion to a metaphysic of hope;
reprint of the 1951 Regnery ed
ition.
MITCHELL ROSAMOND J.
The Laurels And The Tiara.
(Doubleday. $4.95). Doumented
biography of Pope Pius II, 1458
1464.
MORAY, NEVILLE. Cybe
rnetics. (Hawthorn. $3.50). A
volume in the 20th Century
Encyclopedia of Catholicism.
POPES. Seven Great Ency
clicals. (Paulist Press. $1.50
Paper). A revised edition of
an earlier wort entitled Five
Great Encyclicals to which have
been added die two major en
cyclicals of Pope John XXIII
RIGA, PETER, Catholic Tho
ught In Crisis. (Bruce. $3.50
Emphasizes the place of die
laity in the temporal order.
CfflNA-RUSSLA CONFLICT
Siberia’s Conquest
And Development
