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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