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Biodiversity is declining faster than at any other time in the Earth's history, driven mostly by land use change and degradation. Overberg Renosterveld, some of the most species diverse mediterranean type shrublands, are no exception with about 95% of their original extent lost to agriculture. Historically, large herds of indigenous grazing mammals roamed these landscapes. Today the Overberg's agricultural lands are fragmented by land cover change and divided by fences. In the contemporary landscape animals, largely domestic livestock, and plant resources are closely coupled, and overgrazing of remaining renosterveld fragments a significant threat, with potential to cause irreversible damage. The Conservation of Agricultural Resources Act (CARA) (Act 43 of 1983) states that farmers must not exceed the grazing capacity of the veld unless it is protected against deterioration and destruction, and that any land that is degraded or denuded must be effectively restored or reclaimed. Despite this legislation, there is little empirical research on the impacts of livestock grazing on renosterveld, as well as on restoration of overgrazed areas. It was the aim of this thesis to contribute to this gap in understanding. The thesis assessed the role of grazing by different livestock types, namely cattle and sheep, on biodiversity, the soil seed bank, and the restoration potential of renosterveld vegetation from resting the veld. The effect of livestock grazing by sheep and cattle on plant species richness and diversity and growth form diversity was assessed using Modified Whittaker plots and presented in Chapter 3. It was hypothesised that livestock grazing by cattle would have less effect on species richness and diversity and growth form diversity than sheep grazing and that both cattle and sheep grazing would lead to a reduction in species richness and diversity in comparison to renosterveld sites with a treatment of no grazing. Thirty sites where either no grazing has taken place or that have been grazed by cattle or sheep were selected with sites being evenly distributed between Eastern, Central and Western Rûens Shale Renosterveld. At each of the thirty sites, vegetation data were collected from a series of nested subplots of ten 1 m2 , two 10 m2 and one 100 m2 subplots nested within a 1 000 m2 plot. One soil sample was also collected from each 1 000 m2 plot to a depth of 10 cm for nutrient analysis. Findings revealed that sites grazed by sheep had significantly lower plant species richness (median richness = 29 species, mean Shannon-Weiner = 3.39) and diversity when compared to sites with a treatment of no grazing (median richness = 49 species, mean Shannon Weiner = 3.83). Sites with a treatment of no grazing had significantly higher richness of geophyte species (mean = 14.7) than sites grazed by cattle (mean = 7.0) and sheep (mean = 7.1) during the study. The results obtained were in line with the hypothesis that livestock grazing by sheep resulted in a reduction in species richness and diversity and vegetation cover in Overberg Renosterveld in comparison to sites where no grazing has taken place. Sites with a treatment of no grazing showed higher species richness and vegetation cover of non-succulent shrubs, annual forbs and perennial forbs than sites grazed by sheep. It was concluded that livestock grazing of Overberg Renosterveld by sheep needs to be done with care. This can be done by adopting a passive adaptive management approach. Here one set of management protocols can be developed and implemented and through science-based monitoring to inform management, these can be adapted as needed based on the key findings. Chapter 4 investigated ecosystem resilience and the restoration potential of Overberg Renosterveld through an exploration of its soil seed bank as a source for potential recovery. A glasshouse germination experiment investigated the effect of livestock grazing by cattle and by sheep in comparison with a grazing treatment of no grazing on the soil seed bank in Overberg Renosterveld, as well as the similarity between the standing vegetation and the soil seed bank. It was hypothesised that cattle and sheep grazing would reduce species richness, species diversity and growth form diversity in the soil seed bank in comparison with sites with a treatment of no grazing. Soil samples were collected from 30 sites that were also used in Chapter 3. The soil was then spread on top of a 6 cm layer of compost in seed trays, and smoke treated to enhance germination. Seedlings were assigned to growth form categories including forbs, geophytes, annuals, graminoids, succulent shrubs and nonsucculent shrubs and then identified to family, genus or species level. The results of the soil seed bank study were correlated with the vegetation results from Chapter 3 to examine the relationship between the standing vegetation and the soil seed bank. A total of 48% of taxa in the standing vegetation had seed present in the germinable seed bank. However, there were no differences in species richness, species diversity or number of individuals between grazing treatments. The results indicated that livestock grazing has a far less significant impact on the composition, species diversity and growth form diversity of the soil seed bank in Overberg Renosterveld than hypothesised. Instead, the results showed that there was a well-developed seed bank comprising mainly indigenous species with a variety of different growth forms including palatable grasses and shrubs. This indicates that Overberg Renosterveld vegetation has high restoration potential. Chapter 5 showed results on the effects of livestock grazing by cattle and sheep over time on plant species richness, diversity and growth form diversity in comparison with sites protected from grazing. Following collection of a baseline dataset, four years of follow up data were collected. A total of 22 fenced plots across Western, Central and Eastern Rûens Shale Renosterveld had a baseline dataset collected prior to being monitored on an annual basis over four years in grazed/ungrazed paired plots. Results on vegetation recovery from the fenced exclosures showed a significant increase in plant cover over time at sites that were not grazed. Mean species richness increased from 20.6 species to 25.4 species at sites with no grazing. Mean vegetation cover increased from 71% at T0 (the baseline time step) to 120% at T4 (the final time step) at the end of the study. Sites grazed by sheep had a decrease in vegetation cover over time each year from T0 to T4 from 75% to 50%. Results from a linear mixed model revealed that species richness between grazing treatments was significantly different at all time steps in the study. However, the significant differences were primarily due to comparisons between grazed sites and sites with a treatment of no grazing. Therefore, livestock grazing by sheep has a significant effect on renosterveld vegetation over time. Findings from this component of the study indicates that Overberg Renosterveld degraded by continuous heavy grazing has significant passive restoration potential by fencing renosterveld patches to facilitate more effective grazing management. Most of the renosterveld of the Overberg has been lost through habitat transformation for agriculture, and the future of that which remains is uncertain. This thesis affirms concerns around the impact of livestock grazing and shows the importance of improved ecological understanding around grazing management. Grazing by sheep was shown to cause greater impacts on renosterveld than other domestic livestock studied and is therefore a threat to renosterveld. These findings warrant closer attention to management practices around sheep grazing. However, the state of renosterveld soil seed banks offer considerable hope. Findings revealed a diverse indigenous seed bank, showing that renosterveld degraded by overgrazing has high restoration potential. Furthermore, fencing renosterveld to exclude livestock improves species richness and diversity over time. These findings highlight the need for caution when grazing renosterveld. However, where the damage has been done, the potential for recovery is high. Harnessing the soil seed bank in combination with excluding livestock grazing by fencing are effective tools in this critically endangered vegetation for achieving restoration and conservation goals.

There's been a lot of talk about "yield curve control" (YCC) as of late. I found the recent exchange between Joe Weisenthal and David Beckworth (with many others chiming in) very interesting:I normally enjoy Joe's hot takes, but this one... yikes. It is a good example, in my view, of why relying too heavily on the "money view" (i.e.liquidity preference view) of interest rates can cause one to miss the forest for the trees. Let me explain...1/n https://t.co/EjUltLb4dF— David Beckworth (@DavidBeckworth) August 9, 2020

A number of us gathered on Zoom to discuss the subject. What follows is my own take on YCC and some of the issues involved. If you're interested in joining in on a future Zoom discussion, let me know.  One thing I learned from the people I talked to is that my notion of YCC seemed to differ from the way they were thinking about it. Most people seem to have in mind the idea of YCC as a form of interest-rate peg, only with the fixed peg applying to interest rates at all maturities, for example, in the manner of Fed policy over the period 1942-47 and 1948-51.In contrast, I view YCC as a state-contingent policy that pegs (or sets a narrow corridor for) rates at all maturities. The slope of the curve may be held fixed, with policy determining the level shifts in the yield curve (so, basically an extension of the Taylor rule applied to interest rates at all maturities). Or policy could also change the shape of the curve, making it steeper or flatter (so, basically replicating "Operation Twist" type interventions). Let me distinguish this notion of YCC by labeling it RBYCC (rule-based YCC).What is the rationale for RBYCC? The RB part has the standard rationale. But what's the point of YCC then? The way I look at things is as follows. For some odd reason, the Treasury finances the deficit by issuing U.S. Treasury Securities (USTs) with different maturities. These securities are nominally risk-free. But if they all constitute risk-free claims to cash (reserves), then why do/should these objects sell at different prices? And even if there is some "preferred habit" force at work, why doesn't the treasury exploit the apparent arbitrage opportunity, selling securities that trade at a premium (typically bills) and repurchasing securities that trade at a discount (typically bonds). Indeed, why even issue securities that the market discounts (a polite way of saying hates) in the first place? (I offer one rationale here: Maturity Structure and Liquidity Risk).If by "liquidity" we mean the ability to convert a security in reserves (or bills), then it is clear that the liquidity of USTs is a policy choice. It would be a simple matter for the Fed and/or Treasury to set up a standing facility prepared to buy/sell USTs of any maturity on par with reserves, for example. This policy would have the effect of eliminating discounts across all securities. If you don't like this policy, then you'll have to explain why it's a good idea for government securities to trade at discounts relative to each other. To me, this is like saying a $10 bill should be discounted relative to two $5 bills. (Note: I am not saying such an argument does not exist--indeed, my paper above makes one such argument.)The effect of RBYCC would be to render all USTs equivalent to reserves (which itself leads to the question of why deficits can't be financed entirely with interest-bearing reserves). The same would be true of YCC with a fixed pattern of discounts, as in the U.S. from 1942-47. This much was recognized by Friedman and Schwartz in their Monetary History when they wrote "The support program converted all securities into the equivalent of money" (pg. 563). In theory, this type of policy should work as well or better than simply targeting the short rate. It eliminates the liquidity premia on government debt (i.e., it satiates liquidity demand) and it permits the usual sort of Taylor rule to stabilize the economy.As mentioned above, however, most people probably think of YCC as a peg-like policy. One argument against interest rate pegs is that they induce instability. The U.S. experience over 1942-47 and 1948-51 is widely interpreted as having promoted excess inflationary pressure. Let me briefly review those episodes here. At the time, the Fed set the short rate at 3/8% and capped a long rate at 2.5%. Measured inflation remained low, thanks to wartime wage and price controls. Interestingly, the 2.5% cap seemed non-binding. It is likely that long yields remained low because investors expected the Fed to keep the short rate low for the indefinite future. We know that at the time, investors were selling bills to the Fed and acquiring higher-yielding bonds to exploit the apparent arbitrage opportunity (see Chaurushiya and Kuttner, 2004). Inflation only took off once wage and price controls were lifted in 1946. While this burst of inflation was likely only temporary, a concern over inflation led the Fed to raise the short rate to 1% in late 1947 when inflation had already declined from 20% to 10%. Inflation then stabilized for about a year at 8%, before declining sharply to 2.75% in 1948. At this time, the economy went into a recession, lasting until the last quarter of 1949. The inflation rate fell below zero in May 1949 and stayed below zero until July 1950 (so, well over a year of deflation). Let me summarize this episode. Under this YCC policy,
inflation fell from a peak of 20% in March of 1947 to about 10% in November of
1947 with the bill rate still pegged at 3/8%. Then, with the rate hike pegged
at 1%, inflation continued to fall rapidly, hitting a low of negative 3% in August of 1949 (near the end
of the recession). It took until June 1950 for inflation to rise to 0%. Inflation
then began to rise rapidly after June 1950 – the month the United States
entered the Korean War. The Treasury wanted to keep interest rates low to
facilitate war finance. The Fed favored high interest rates to combat
inflationary pressures created by the war. Inflation peaked in early 1951 at
9.5%. Chaurushiya and Kuttner, 2004 write:"It
became abundantly clear during this period that the interest rate caps were
hampering the Fed's ability to achieve its monetary policy objectives and, in
particular, its efforts to contain rapidly rising inflationary pressures."This experiment in YCC ended with the Treasury Accord in March 1951. And the narrative that YCC is is inconsistent with inflation control was born.My own interpretation of these events and of the efficacy of YCC is as follows. First, it seems a bit of stretch to "blame" inflation over this episode as the consequence of YCC. For most of the 1942-51 period, the U.S. was at or recovering from war. Wars are known to place great fiscal strain on governments and financing a war effort with higher-than-normal inflation is likely desirable from the perspective of optimal public finance policy. That is, the U.S. would have likely experienced higher-than-normal inflation under any reasonable interest rate policy. I interpret the interest rate hike in 1947 as an example of how RBYCC can work to control inflation. In this example, the short rate was increased to 1% and the long-rate remained capped at 2.5%, in effect flattening the yield curve. The disinflationary impact of this rate hike seems evident in the data above. So, it seems clear that RBYCC can be used to control inflation, even if it seems to have been employed rather clumsily in 1947. As usual, looking forward to your comments/criticisms, which can be left below. 

The article analyzes the decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court in January of 2015, related to two constitutional appeals of two Muslim teachers who wanted to use the veil during the exercise of their work in the school. The BVerfG will annul a paragraph of art. 57.4 of the Education Act of the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, which prohibited teachers from wearing the headscarf, while permitting the use of Christian and Jewish religious symbols, as contrary to the constitutional right to religious freedom (art. 4 of the German Constitution), art. 3 GC, the right to equal treatment and non-discrimination by religion and by race (Article 3 GC), and contrary to equality in access to civil servants (Article 33 GC). This decision is having a great impact in the inclusion in the German society of the Muslim women citizens with origin in the immigration. The article reflects the legal consequences and the immediate application of this doctrine in lower courts. The study focuses on the use that the BVerfG makes of the techniques of legal argumentation, weighting, proportionality principle, and principle of practical agreement, to resolve fundamental rights in conflict. The BVerfG makes an innovative use in the weighting of the DF, on the one hand the rights related to teachers, such as equality of treatment and parity of religions in a social context of growing religious pluralism, the principle of non-discrimination by Religion, equal access to civil service, non-discrimination of women. On the other side of the balance, they will be placed; the right of religious freedom of the pupils and the right of education of the parents, as well as the constitutional educational mandate of the State and the principle of school peace. The BVerfG will bet on a constitutional model to defend the open neutrality of the State towards religions, reinforcing the current constitutional model of separation with friendly cooperation, but insisting on the need for a new opening and flexibility towards the presence of minority religions, granting (Neutrality open to all religions, Toleranzslösung), in turn with respect to German history and tradition, and rejecting a model of strict or distance neutrality with the religions, (strenge Neutralität Lösung or Distanz Neutralität), separating from the sentence of the second senate of the BVerfG, in the Ludin case of 2003, which left this option as possible. The new decision of the first senate also rejects a model of cooperation (positive neutrality), but that privileges Christian (Protestant and Catholic) confessions or the dominant culture (Deutsche Leitkultur) which would end in a return to a certain confesionalidad of State. The ruling concludes that a general law prohibiting the use of the headscarf to the teachers in the German public schools would be contrary to the GC and that could only be prohibited in the concrete cases in which it represents a real danger in certain circumstances and not by a purely abstract danger, granting the constitutional protection to the two appellants. Summary:I. Introduction. The social context in which the German Federal Constitutional Court takes this decision. II. The argumentation in the decision of the German Constitutional Court in 2015 about the use of headscarfs by school teachers. III. The facts and the Education Law of North Rhine Westphalia. IV. The legal arguments of the Constitutional Court. V. The Rights of the Plaintiffs. V.1. The right to religious freedom and the use of religious garments in that space. V.2. The equal access to be civil servant and the discrimination of Muslim women. VI. The other side of the weigh scale: the Rights of the third parties. Examination of the limits to fundamental rights in the present case. Concrete danger versus abstract danger. VI.1. The negative religious liberty of pupils and the limit of prohibition of indoctrination by teachers. VI.2. The right of parents (art. 6.1. German Constitution). VI.3. The open neutrality principle in the public education and the equal treatment of religions. VII. The examination of the constitutionality of the art. 57 of the North Rhine Westphalia Education Law. VII.1. Restrictive interpretation of subsection 1 of the art. 57.4. It can be used only when facing concrete danger. VII.2. Analysis of the subsection 2 of the article 57.4 of the education law of North Rhine Westphalia. VII.3. The clause of the privilege of the Western Christian values of art. 57.4.3 of the education law. VII.4. Discussion on the art. 7 paragraph 1 and art. 12.3 of the Constitution of North Rhine Westphalia. VII.5. The previous legislative drafts. VIII. Conclusions. ; El artículo analiza la decisión del Tribuna Constitucional Federal alemán de enero de 2015, relacionado con dos recurso de amparo de dos maestras musulmanas que querían usar el velo durante el ejercicio de su trabajo en la escuela. El BVerfG anulará un inciso del art. 57.4 de la Ley de educación del Land de Renania del Norte-Westfalia, que prohibía a las profesoras el uso del velo, mientras que permitía el uso de símbolos religiosos cristianos y judíos, por considerarlo contrario al derecho constitucional de libertad religiosa (art. 4 de la LF), art. 3 LF, al derecho de igualdad de trato y no discriminación por religión y por raza (art. 3. LF), y contrario a la igualdad en el acceso al funcionariado (art. 33 LF). Esta decisión está teniendo una gran repercusión cara a la inclusión de los ciudadanas musulmanes con origen en la inmigración en la sociedad alemana. Reflejaremos las consecuencias legales y la aplicación inmediata de esta doctrina en tribunales inferiores. El estudio se centra en el empleo que el BVerfG realiza de las técnicas de la argumentación jurídica, la ponderación, el principio de proporcionalidad, y principio de concordancia práctica, para resolver los derechos fundamentales en conflicto. El BVerfG realiza una utilización innovadora en la ponderación de los DF, por un lado los derechos referentes a las maestras, como son la igualdad de trato y paridad de las religiones en un contexto social de un creciente pluralismo religioso, el principio de no discriminación por religión, la igualdad de acceso al funcionariado, la no discriminación de las mujeres. En el otro lado de la balanza, se situarán; el derecho de libertad religiosa de los alumnos y el derecho de educación de los padres, así como el mandato constitucional educativo de la escuela y el principio de la paz escolar. El BverfG apostará por un modelo constitucional de defensa de la neutralidad abierta del Estado hacia las religiones, reforzando el modelo vigente de separación con cooperación amistosa, pero insistiendo en la necesidad de una nueva apertura y flexibilización hacia la presencia de las religiones minoritarias, concediendo a éstas el mismo trato jurídico que a las religiones de mayor tradición histórica en el país (neutralidad abierta hacia todas las religiones, Toleranzslösung), a su vez con respeto a la historia y a la tradición alemana, y rechazando un modelo de neutralidad estricta o de distancia con las religiones, (strenge Neutralität Lösung o Distanz Neutralität), separándose de la sentencia del segundo senado del BVerfG, en el caso Ludin de 2003, que dejaba esta opción como posible. La nueva decisión del primer senado rechaza también un modelo de cooperación (neutralidad positiva), pero que privilegiara las confesio nes cristianas (protestantes y católicas) o la cultura dominante (Deutsche Leitkultur) lo que acabaría en un retorno a una cierta confesionalidad de Estado. El fallo concluye que una ley general prohibiendo el uso del velo a las profesoras en las escuelas públicas alemanas sería contrario a la LF y que sólo se podría prohibir en los casos concretos en que ello represente un peligro real en unas determinadas circunstancias y no por un peligro meramente abstracto, otorgando el amparo constitucional a las dos recurrentes.

Entender el territorio a partir del funcionamiento de la economía y, en forma particular, a partir del comportamiento espacial del empleo. A través de la formación de áreas geográficas para el reporte de estadísticas laborales. Midiendo y comparando la movilidad y los procesos de articulación y expansión de mercados laborales locales (MLL). Cuantificando el impacto que tiene el capital humano y la estructura laboral en la variación del empleo a nivel regional. Y ubicando geográficamente Distritos Industriales. En el primer ensayo titulado: Áreas de viaje al trabajo en España un análisis estadístico mutivariante. Se investigó como formar grupos de unidades geográficas determinadas a partir de los vínculos laborales compartidos entre municipios. La muestra fue dividida en nueve estratos. Para cada estrato se capturó la vinculación laboral entre municipios en tablas de contingencia bidimensional que muestran la cantidad los viajes al trabajo y los orígenes y destinos de las personas ocupadas en cada municipio del país. Partiendo de aquí se aplicó Análisis de Conglomerados Jerárquicos para conformar Mercados Laborales Locales (MLL). Posteriormente con el fin de medir y comparar la movilidad y los procesos de articulación y expansión de cada MLL, se analizó el comportamiento diferencial entre los años 2001 y 2011 de cuatro variables en cada MLL obtenido: autonomía de la oferta, autonomía de la demanda, empleo y cantidad de trabajadores. Teniendo en cuenta la evolución entre 2001 y 2011 de estas cuatro variables se clasificó cada MLL en cuatro comportamientos diferentes. También se encontró que el la situación de mercados superavitarios en empleos en el 2001 de los estratos hombres, mujeres y trabajadores manuales calificados, paso a ser deficitario en el 2011. El único estrato que mostro un comportamiento superavitario fue el de agricultura. Segundo ensayo titulado: Evaluación del desarrollo económico medido con variables asociadas a educación en zonas comerciales derivadas de economías de aglomeración y de ubicación en España. En este ensayo se modeló con el enfoque de regresión geográficamente ponderada, la variación del empleo en España entre 2001 y 2011 en función del capital humano y la estructura laboral que habitaba en cada municipio de la muestra en el 2001. Al utilizar regresión geográficamente ponderada se obtuvo la respuesta a las influencias geográficamente próximas de los municipios circundantes, dicha información fue resumida en mapas. Con el fin de conocer el comportamiento del empleo en función del capital humano y estructura laboral a través de todo el país. Indicando aquellas zonas con mayores oportunidades de negocio potencial. La heterogeneidad espacial reconocida en los mercados laborales, se debe a que los mercados laborales varían en su estructura, contexto social e historia, características que son particulares de cada mercado laboral, las cuales, es casi imposible que se repitan en dos o más regiones. Se encontró que la estructura del mercado laboral y el capital humano explica un porcentaje importante de la variabilidad del empleo a nivel municipal. Tercer ensayo titulado: Identificación de Distritos Industriales en México. Se utilizó un el modelo de radiación para la movilidad y la migración para estimar los flujos de viajes al trabajo entre municipios en México ante la ausencia de estos datos. Posteriormente se utilizó análisis de clúster jerárquico para determinar MLL. Utilizando como unidad geográfica de referencia los MLL obtenidos se utilizó la metodología propuesta por el Instituto Nacional de Estadística Italiano (ISTAT) para determinar cuáles de los MLL tenían características de Distrito Industrial y cuál era el agregado sectorial de manufactura preponderante en cada Distrito Industrial. Conclusiones. El posible desarrollo de políticas económicas según las circunstancias locales. Investigaciones referentes a la movilidad de los trabajadores son de mayor importancia porque permiten realizar estudios de corte socioeconómico y del comportamiento de los mercados de trabajo, con especial atención al desempleo. Permiten también llevar a cabo estudios comparativos del desempeño económico y pronósticos regionales, evaluar la competitividad y las disparidades entre regiones, e identificar territorios frágiles que requieren apoyos especiales. Las tres aplicaciones distintas se puede ver la potencialidad de las herramientas estadístico-econométricas para definir zonas relacionadas con la actividad laboral y la relevancia de la misma en distintos contextos (España, México). Los resultados obtenidos son útiles para decisores políticos o empresariales. ; Understand the territory from the functioning of the economy and, in particular, from the spatial behavior of employment. Through the formation of geographical areas for the reporting of labor statistics. By measuring and comparing mobility and coordination processes and expansion of local labor markets (MLL). Quantifying the impact of human capital and the labor structure in the variation of employment at the regional level. And geographically locating Industrial Districts. In the first essay entitled: Areas commutes in Spain for mutivariante statistical analysis. It was investigated as to form groups of certain geographical units from shared working relationships between municipalities. The sample was divided into nine strata. For each stratum the employment relationship between municipalities in two-dimensional contingency tables showing the number of commutes and the origins and destinations of people employed in each municipality was captured. Starting from here Hierarchical Cluster Analysis was applied to form Local Labor Markets (MLL). Later in order to measure and compare the mobility and processes of articulation and expansion of each MLL, the differential behavior between 2001 and 2011 four variables in each MLL obtained was analyzed: autonomy of supply autonomy demand, employment and number of workers. Given the evolution between 2001 and 2011 of these four variables each MLL was classified into four different behaviors. It was also found that the situation of surplus markets in jobs in 2001 Strata men, women and skilled manual workers, step into deficit in 2011. The only stratum showed a surplus behavior was that of agriculture. Second essay entitled: Evaluation of measured variables associated with education in commercial areas derived from economies of agglomeration and economic development location in Spain. In this essay was modeled with the approach of geographically weighted regression, the variation of employment in Spain between 2001 and 2011 in terms of human capital and labor structure that lived in each municipality of the sample in 2001. By using regression geographically weighted is got the answer to the geographic proximity of the surrounding municipalities influences, such information was summarized in maps. In order to understand the behavior of employment in terms of human capital and labor structure throughout the country. Indicating areas with greater potential business opportunities. The spatial heterogeneity recognized in labor markets, is because labor markets vary in their structure, social context and history, characteristics that are particular to each labor market, which is almost impossible to be repeated in two or more regions. It was found that the structure of the labor market and human capital accounts for a significant percentage of the variability of employment at the municipal level. Third essay titled: Identification of Industrial Districts in Mexico. one radiation model for mobility and migration to estimate flows commutes between municipalities in Mexico in the absence of these data was used. Hierarchical cluster analysis subsequently was used to determine MLL. Using as a geographical unit of reference the MLL obtained the methodology proposed by the Italian National Statistics Institute (ISTAT) was used to determine which of the MLL had characteristics of Industrial District and what was the leading manufacturing sector added in each Industrial District. Conclusions. The possible development of economic policies according to local circumstances. Investigations concerning the mobility of workers are most important because they allow cutting and socioeconomic studies of the behavior of labor markets, with special attention to unemployment. Allow also carry out comparative studies of economic performance and regional forecasts, assess competitiveness and disparities between regions, and identify vulnerable areas that require special support. Three different applications can see the potential of econometric statistical-defining work activity related areas and the relevance of it in different contexts (Spain, Mexico) tools. The results are useful for political and business decision-makers.

The Manuscript Legacy of Miroslav Krleža, filed in the Manuscripts and Old Books Collection of the National and University Library in Zagreb under a unique shelf number R 7970, includes two letters which Ivan Supek addressed to Krleža in 1954. The first letter was sent on 1 March, accompanied by an "Open Letter to the Assembly of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (JAZU)," which the Council of the Ruđer Bošković Institute of Physics dated 26 February 1954. The second letter Supek addressed to Krleža on 13 May 1954, and as far as we know, it marked the end of their correspondence in 1954. The Legacy of Ivan Supek, in family possession, contains an official letter dated 5 May 1954, by which Miroslav Krleža, acting as vice-president of the Academy at the time, informs Ivan Supek about two decisions passed at the informal session of the Assembly of the Yugoslav Academy on 29 April 1954; in his intellectual autobiography entitled Krivovjernik na ljevici [Heretic on the Left], Supek cites but a single characteristic fragment of that letter. For the first time a full text of these four documents is published here in my transcription which most faithfully follows the original without any interventions in terms of either punctuation or devices used for emphasis. The Open Letter of the Council of the Ruđer Bošković Institute to the Assembly of the Yugoslav Academy includes a host of hitherto unknown data on the Institute's first four years of development, as it closely documents the chronology of the conflict between the Institute's Council and the Presidency of the Yugoslav Academy from 1950 till 1953, at the root of which was the decision making on the development of the Institute. As Council president, Ivan Supek made huge efforts to reconcile "two different tendencies of development," first by drawing up a Temporary Statute of the Institute in 1952, and later, in the spring of 1953, by making a proposition to the University Senate and the Presidency of the Yugoslav Academy by which "the Academy and University should collaborate at the Ruđer Bošković Institute on common goals." Since the draft of the Institute's Statute at the turn of 1953 to 1954 had stood at a standstill for three months, the Institute's Council decided to send an Open Letter to the Assembly of the Yugoslav Academy with a counter-proposition by which "the Academy Statute should be changed in accordance with scientific development in our country." From the perspective of Ivan Supek, that is, "us physicists," the Institute's successful development was to rest on its self-governance and organic connection with the University, but the Academy's administration was not willing to consider such a formally-based legal framework of the Institute's operation within its system. The Open Letter emerged during a heated debate on the organisation of scientific work in Croatia and Yugoslavia. Academic circles could not reconcile with the fact that, according to the Soviet model, the research work would be organised exclusively at the academies. From this standpoint, the topics of the Open Letter reverberate two strong voices: the addresses of the Nobel Prize winner Lavoslav Ružička during his visits to Yugoslavia in November 1949 and October 1952, and a speech that Ivan Supek delivered on 22 January 1953 at a meeting of the Department of the Mathematics and Physics at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the Zagreb University, published in the March issue of Pogledi. While Ružička firmly stated that the "University ought to be a supreme place for higher education and for the fundamental research in the field of pure and applied science, and a unique place for the attainment of academic degrees," in the interest of the Institute Supek publicly advocated for "a harmonic community of University and Academy," although deep at heart he shared Ružička's views. In the letter of 1 March 1954, Ivan Supek appealed to Miroslav Krleža, vicepresident and Communist Party secretary of the Academy, to help him untangle the relations between the Institute and JAZU, and whom he wished to address in person and elaborate the motives behind the Open Letter. Judging by the events that followed, Supek's attempt proved futile. In the absence of Andrija Štampar, Academy president, Krleža, acting as vicepresident, on 5 May 1954 sent an official letter to Supek concerning the decisions of the informal session of the Academy Assembly held on 29 April 1954. From this letter alone we can learn that the Academy Assembly established 23 March 1954 as termination date of Supek's Academy membership on the basis of his letter on the renouncement of membership, but also that on 29 April 1954 an additional penalty was issued against Supek: that "he disqualified himself for any work at the Academy or collaboration with it." Nevertheless, he retained his leading position at the greatest institute within the Yugoslav Academy. In a letter dated 13 May 1954, Supek asked Krleža to send him the minutes of the Commission which the formal Academy Assembly of 16 March 1954 appointed with an aim to establish his responsibility for the Open Letter, so that he could finally learn "the reasons underlying the accusation against me. The consequences which I may suffer are not an issue here, but it is in the Academy's interest to establish the truth, along with the true motives for drawing up an Open Letter." Here he expressed his disappointment by the fact "that some places [from the Open Letter] were understood as offences, and that they actually distracted discussion away from the principal issues," but insisted on the key point from the Open Letter "that for the selfgovernance of the Institute and its organic connection with the University a change of the Academy Statute was necessary." In the spring of 1954, the Yugoslav Academy headed by Andrija Štampar definitely gave up on the concept of an inter-disciplinary research institute, although under the pressure of the 'young lions' from its largest institute, and in accordance with the Soviet model and the original ideas and decisions of Boris Kidrič (died on 11 April 1953), had an opportunity to take this path in its own development, too. Upon the Assembly's 'reply' to the Institute Council, the concept of multi- and inter-disciplinary approach to fundamental research in natural sciences in organic connection with the University as development model for the Ruđer Bošković Institute faced new risks, including those of political nature, but the research community gathered at the Institute, despite the circumstances, managed to live its 'dream' of self-governance and development in harmony with the University, as confirmed by a decision on the new organisation of the Institute passed on 7 September 1954. This step in the Institute's development was also approved by the Republic government, when on 22 November 1954, in agreement with the Yugoslav Academy, it decided that as from 1 January 1955 the Institute was no longer part of the Yugoslav Academy. Five months after the Republic's decision, another step towards the Institute's lasting 'independence' took place, when by a decision of the Federal Government of 30 April 1955 the Institute as a "self-financed institution" came under the authority of the Federal Nuclear Energy Commission headed by Aleksandar Ranković, and in this formally legal frame operated for eleven years – until Ranković's political downfall on 1 July 1966. Miroslav Krleža, to whom in the crucial days of early March 1954 Ivan Supek offered a mediating role, as a highly-positioned Academy member failed to see this historical opportunity to support the development of natural sciences in Croatia in a new direction, perhaps less exposed to political pressure. Ivan Supek and Mladen Paić, who on different legal grounds by 29 April 1954 no longer were correspondent members of JAZU, seven years later–on 16 June 1961–were elected full members, which is a unique case in the history of the Yugoslav Academy.

Japan nimmt eine besondere Stellung in der Weltgeschichte ein, indem es als einzige nicht-westliche Macht unter den Großmächten die Geschicke der Weltpolitik im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert mitbestimmte. Als solche spielte es auch eine bedeutende Rolle in der Entwicklung der modernen Völkerrechtsordnung. Innerhalb weniger Dekaden stieg Japan von der Position einer peripheren Nation im Schatten Chinas zur Hegemonialmacht in Ostasien auf und wurde – zumindest formal – gleichberechtigt in die Gemeinschaft der Nationen aufgenommen. Dieser Aufstieg zeigte überdeutlich, dass der souveräne Gebrauch von Völkerrecht nun nicht mehr nur eine Domäne der westlichen Mächte war und dass das Völkerrecht damit endgültig die Grenzen eines ius publicum europaeum hin zu einem "Weltrecht" überschritten hatte. Untersuchungen der Rezeption des westlichen Völkerrechts konzentrieren sich im Wesentlichen auf dieses frühe Kapitel der Rezeptionsgeschichte, sind jedoch bei aller Anerkenntnis der Erfolge Japans erstaunlich verhalten in der Bewertung der Rezeption selbst. So wird diese von vielen als zu passiv, eurozentrisch, "positivistisch" (ein Merkmal mit eher negativer Konnotation in Japan) und epigonal kritisiert. Ein alternativer Interpretationsentwurf sieht Japans Völkerrechtsrezeption zwischen 1905 und 1945 als Vorläufer einer revisionistischen Bewegung, die die normative Vormachtstellung des Westens in Frage stellt und eigene Ordnungsvorstellungen verfolgt. Dieser Diskurs steht in Zusammenhang mit der jüngeren Debatte um sogenannte "Asiatische Werte" und der postkolonialen Kritik an Völkerrecht in jüngster Zeit. Beide Argumentationsstränge sind jedoch, wie ihre innere Widersprüchlichkeit zeigt, irreführend hinsichtlich der Rolle, die das Völkerrecht in den Außenbeziehungen Japans spielte. Dieser Aufsatz möchte daher ein umfassenderes und zutreffenderes Verständnis dieser Rolle ermöglichen, indem es die Geschichte der Rezeption und Anwendung von Völkerrecht in Japan seit Anbeginn im Jahre 1853 bis zum Ende Japans als Imperialmacht im Jahre 1945 nachzeichnet und noch einmal die Frage nach ihrem kritischen bzw. konstruktiven Potential für die allgemeine Völkerrechtsentwicklung stellt. Zusammenfassend zeigt sich, dass das Völkerrecht in Japan anfangs eine rein funktionale Rolle innehatte, insofern seine Observanz gegenüber den westlichen Mächten einen hohen Grad an "Zivilisiertheit" signalisieren sollte und gegenüber den ostasiatischen Nachbarn als argumentative Waffe einer aggressiven Imperialpolitik diente. Japan hatte mit dieser Strategie auch Erfolg und konnte die verhassten "ungleichen Verträge" bereits 25 Jahre nach Abschluss des letzten Vertrages revidieren und sich nach 1905 als Hegemonialmacht in Ostasien etablieren. In Anbetracht dieser Funktion ist es daher kaum verwunderlich, dass japanische Völkerrechtler und Politiker eine eher passive, eurozentrische und "positivistische" Haltung gegenüber dem Recht einnahmen. Eine offene Kritik an der Völkerrechtspraxis vor 1919 hätten Japans Ziele eher gefährdet und wäre, selbst wenn ein solcher Wille dazu bestanden hätte, angesichts der Machtverhältnisse auch weitgehend wirkungslos geblieben. Aus den gleichen Gründen betrachteten japanische Politiker jedoch die liberalen Entwicklungen des Völkerrechts in der Zwischenkriegszeit eher als Bedrohung der japanischen Sonderstellung in Ostasien und schlossen sich dieser nur mit äußersten inneren Vorbehalten an. Dies gilt für den Völkerbund ebenso wie für das Verbot des Angriffskrieges durch den Briand-Kellogg-Pakt, und nur äußeres Prestige und die Furcht vor Isolation bewegten Japan, diesen beizutreten. Zudem wäre es irreführend, den "Positivismus" japanischer Völkerrechtler als Ausdruck eines Mangels an Kritik schlechthin zu verstehen. Kritik und Reserviertheit gegenüber dem westlichen Völkerrecht existierten seit Beginn seiner Rezeption und nahmen mit jeder subjektiv empfundenen Zurücksetzung Japans in der Weltpolitik noch zu. Diese Entfremdung brachte eine Tradition der "kritischen" Völkerrechtswissenschaft in Japan hervor, die insbesondere die politische, wirtschaftliche, soziale und historische Bedingtheit des angeblich "universalen" Völkerrechts in Augenschein nahm. Seine Hochzeit hatte dieser Ansatz in den Kriegsjahren von 1931 bis 1945, als Japan aktiv den status quo der internationalen Ordnung herausforderte und eine eigene normative Ordnung in Ostasien zu begründen suchte. Allerdings waren japanische Völkerrechtler wider Erwarten, auch wenn sie die kontinentale Expansion argumentativ unterstützen, nicht deren glühendsten Befürworter, sondern argumentierten aus einer defensiven Stellung heraus. Angesichts der Herausforderung, ein "Ostasiatisches Völkerrecht" erfinden zu müssen, warnten sie eher vor einer radikalen und irrationalen Abkehr vom normativen status quo und traten für eine graduelle Entwicklung neuer völkerrechtlicher Konzepte auf Grundlage des kritischen Studiums klassischen Völkerrechts ein. Sie suchten damit ihr Gebiet und ihre Profession gegen die zunehmenden Angriffe und Spott in der japanischen Öffentlichkeit zu verteidigen, allerdings mit geringem Erfolg. Die häufigen Verletzungen humanitären Rechts in den Schauplätzen des Krieges zeugen von der zersetzenden Kraft des "totalen Krieges", der ihre Argumente zunichte machte und sie selbst überrollte hätte, wenn nicht die Kapitulation im Jahre 1945 dieser Entwicklung Einhalt geboten hätte. Aus diesem Grund jedoch dient die Völkerrechtsrezeption Japans auch nicht als historisches Beispiel für eine "Herausforderung der normativen Hegemonie des Westens", sondern eher als warnendes Beispiel für die Notwendigkeit eines rationalen und konstruktiven Diskurses um normative Konzepte internationaler Ordnung heute. ; Japan takes a special place in global history as the only non-western power among the great powers which shaped the course of world politics during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Within less than half a century, Japan rose from a peripheral power in the shadow of China to the hegemonic power in Northeast Asia and was accepted as equal power (at least on the formal level) into the hitherto all-European family of nations. As such, it also played a significant role in the development of the modern international legal order as it is today. Japan's accession to the hitherto all-European concert of powers in 1905 demonstrated that the competent use of international law was not the exclusive domain of western powers anymore and that international law had shed its last vestiges of being a merely "European public law" and become a truly universally applied law. And yet, studies of the reception of international law in Japan, which largely focus on the early period between 1853 and 1905, often conclude their analysis with a mixed appraisal of the process, as they characterize it as being overly passive, Euro-centric and "positivistic" (a word of negative connotation in the Japanese context) and therefore merely derivative. An alternative interpretation, however, places Japan at the vanguard of a revisionist movement that challenged the hegemony of western international legal discourse and sought to establish an autonomous order in East Asia in the second phase of its engagement with international law between 1905 and 1945. This discourse ties in with the so-called "Asian values" debate and postmodernist criticism of international law in recent times. However, both narratives, as the inherent contradiction indicates, are misleading in their representation and analysis of the role which international law played in modern Japanese internationalist relations. This article aims to present a more coherent and consistent picture of international law in Japan by pursuing the whole trajectory of its reception and application in Japan's foreign politics, from the opening up of the country in 1854 until the final demise of Japan's imperial project in 1945. It argues that western international law during the initial phase of its reception had a purely functional role, as a signal of "civilization" and co-operation towards the western power, and as an argumentative weapon of expansion towards its East Asian neighbours. As such, it served its overall purpose well, as Japan managed to renegotiate the odious "unequal treaties" twenty-five years after the last was concluded and by 1905 had established itself as the hegemonic power in Northeast Asia. Considering this functional role, it is therefore not surprising that Japanese experts and politicians took a passive, Euro-centric and "positivistic" attitude towards the law. It did not serve Japan's interests to criticize international legal practice until 1919, nor would it be realistic to expect that Japan had the power to change it, even if it wanted to. However, it is also for the same reasons that Japan was inwardly reluctant to go along with the "Wilsonian" changes of international law in the 1920s, as multilateral institutions and the outlawry of war served Japan's purposes less than the classical law. It is merely for reasons of prestige and fear of abandonment that Japan would go along with these developments until 1933. Moreover, it would be erroneous to confuse Japan's apparent "positivism" with a lack of criticism in general. Feelings of estrangement and inner reservations co-existed with the apparent compliance right from the start and were carefully nurtured by successively felt slights and discriminations on the political side, whatever their claims to reality. This estrangement engendered a tradition of critical studies of international law in Japan which specifically addressed the political, economic, social and historical contingency and particularity of "universal" international law. This approach had its heyday during the war years between 1931 and 1945, when Japan actively challenged the political status quo of the international order and tried to carve out its own autonomous sphere in East Asia. However, contrary to expectations, international lawyers, although advising the Japanese authorities and justifying Japan's aggressive policy with their arguments, were not its most ardent supporters, but argued from a defensive and losing position. Faced with the challenge of inventing an "East Asian International Law", they warned against an irrational iconoclasm that would uncritically destroy the normative status quo and argued for a gradual evolvement of normative concepts on the basis of the existing order. Thus they tried to defend the law and their profession against a rising tide of criticism and contempt of international law in the public, with diminishing success. The frequent violations of international law in the theatres of war gave testimony to the eroding forces of "total war" that undermined their position and would have swept them away if surrender had not intervened in 1945. However, it is also for this reason that Japan's reception of international law does not serve as an historical example of "challenging the normative hegemony of the West", as more recent commentators would have it with a view to other rising powers, but rather as a warning reminder of the necessity of rational and constructive negotiation of concepts of normative order today.

[ES] El cómic es un medio de comunicación popular en el que la narración se resuelve con viñetas dibujadas acompañadas de globos y textos breves. Se editan en serie en tiras o páginas de los periódicos o en cuadernillos independientes y se utilizan para la narración de una anécdota, un chiste o un relato. Los cómics son de fácil lectura, asequibles para todos los públicos, por eso son importantes en la educación infantil, en la transmisión de estereotipos de género y en la propaganda política. La función principal de los cómics es entretener y únicamente los mejores lo logran. No todo el cómic ha de ser chistoso pero si provoca la sonrisa consigue llegar a una mayor audiencia. En el cómic existen autoras/es de guiones chispeantes y dibujantes de ambos sexos extraordinarios. También hay bastante zafiedad y vulgaridad en el medio, por ello hay que rebuscar para encontrar los que merecen la pena.Pensamos que a pesar de que son menos publicitadas siempre ha habido autoras de magníficos guiones y excelentes dibujantes de nuestro sexo. Existe un cómic feminista de calidad, en el que se denuncia, con humor y por tanto de una manera bastante eficaz, el egoísmo de los hombres y las injustas y desiguales relaciones entre géneros que perviven todavía en este inicio del siglo XXI, debido al dominio patriarcal. Destacamos a algunos hombres sensibles con el tema como Sempé, Reiser, Quino, Forges2 (de los años 80 en adelante) y Álvarez Rabo. Pensamos con Ana Merino ( 2001) que las mujeres han creado a partir de los años 70 del siglo XX un cómic alternativo y feminista en el que se narran con humor vivencias propias o de mujeres reales, creíbles y próximas; en ellos además encontramos el reflejo de los sentimientos y de la sexualidad femeninos no distorsionados por la visión androcéntrica. Este cómic es una novedad, muchas veces es autobiográfico y en él las lectoras nos reconocemos. En el cómic feminista las autoras expresan su malestar al sentirse marginadas en el mundo actual, injusto, desigual y patriarcal. En este trabajo los analizamos desde la perspectiva de género y observamos principalmente la imagen femenina y los roles atribuidos según el género. Estudiamos en particular a algunas autoras. Como pionera feminista destaca Nuria Pompeia, que publicaba en los años 70 unas viñetas muy expresivas ilustrando textos reivindicativos aparecidos en "Vindicación feminista" o en un libro de Lidia Falcón, además reseñamos los cómics de: Roberta Gregory, Mary Fleener, Claire Bretécher, Maitena, Julie Doucet, Debbie Dreschler, Cathy Ghisewite, Phoebe Gloeckner, Jessica Abel, Lynn Johston, Marjane Satrapi y Mirta Lamarca. Analizamos brevemente los cómics de supermujeres, el cómic futurista y el de ciencia ficción. Hacemos también una pequeña historia de los tebeos infantiles en la España de Franco. Los tebeos femeninos durante el franquismo eran diferentes a los que leían nuestros hermanos, los héroes casi siempre eran ellos y el papel reservado a nuestro sexo era el de la novia del protagonista pero pocas veces la protagonista de aventuras propias. Los tebeos femeninos durante la post-guerra y primeros años del franquismo, como los de la colección "Azucena", eran bastante aburridos, conservadores y ñoños; únicamente aparecían leñadoras, princesas, duquesitas, hadas y príncipes y la historia terminaba con el ascenso social de la protagonista, siempre y cuando ésta fuera piadosa, dócil, hacendosa, obediente y de buen corazón. A partir de 1965 cambiaron un poco y las historias de príncipes azules dejaron sitio a historias románticas. Hay que destacar como excepción algunos más acordes con la modernidad como "Florita" (años 50 y 60), "Mary Noticias" (años 60), "Lily" (1962), o "Ester y su mundo" (años 70 y 80). También los tebeos de "La pequeña Lulú" aportaron un poco de aire fresco para las niñas que vivimos en los años 60 en la España nacional-católica y, ya en los 70, "Mafalda" de Quino se hizo muy popular porque reflejaba con genialidad los cambios ideológicos y los interrogantes que nos preocupaban en ese momento histórico. ; [EN] Comics are a popular means of communication in which the narration is resolved with drawings accompanied by brief texts and bubbles. They are published in series in strips or on pages of newspapers or as independent books and are used to narrate an anecdote, a joke or a story. Comics are easy to read, accessible to all audiences, and that is why they are important in children's education, in the transmission of gender stereotypes and in political propaganda. The main function of comics is to entertain and only the best ones manage to do so. Not all comics have to be funny, but if they provoke a smile then they reach a wider audience. In the world of comics there are writers of witty scripts and extraordinary cartoonists of both sexes. There is also a lot of coarseness and vulgarity in the medium, and therefore one has to look hard to find those that are worthwhile.Although they have always received less publicity, there have been women authors of magnificent scripts and excellent cartoon drawings. There are quality feminist comics, which denounce, with humour, and therefore quite effectively, the selfishness of men and the unjust and unequal relations between the genders that still persist at the beginning of the 21st century because of patriarchal domination. We can also point out certain male authors who are sensitive to this topic, such as Sempé, Reiser, Quino, Forges4 (beginning in the 1980s) and Álvarez Rabo. Like Ana Merino (2001), we believe that in the 1970s women began to create a feminist and alternative type of comic which narrates with humour the life experiences of real, credible, familiar women. We also find in them the reflection of female feelings and sexuality undistorted by an androcentric point of view. This kind of comic is new, often autobiographical, and women readers can identify with it. In feminist comics the authors express their malaise at feeling marginalized in today's world, which is unjust, unequal and patriarchal. In this work we analyse feminist comics from the perspective of gender and look mainly at the image of women and the roles attributed to them because of their sex. Certain authors will be studied in particular. As a pioneering feminist, Nuria Pompeia stands out. In the 1970s she published some very expressive cartoons to illustrate texts of protest that appeared in the journal "Vindicación feminista" or in Lidia Falcón's book. In addition we take a look at the comics by Roberta Gregory, Mary Fleener, Claire Bretécher, Maitena, Julie Doucet, Debbie Dreschler, Cathy Ghisewite Phoebe Gloeckner, Jessica Abel, Lynn Johston, Marjane Satrapi and Mirta Lamarca. A brief analysis is also made of super-woman, futuristic, and science fiction comics. Furthermore, a brief history is given of children's comics in Franco's Spain. The comics addressed to girls in the Spain of Franco's time were very different from those their brothers read. The heroes were always male and the role reserved for women was that of the protagonist's girlfriend –the girls and women rarely experienced their own adventures. Comics for girls during the post-war era and the first years of Franco, such as those of the "Azucena" collection, were quite boring, conservative and drippy; there only appeared woodcutters, princesses, little duchesses, fairies and princes and the story ended with the social ascent of the protagonist…as long as she was pious, docile, hard-working, obedient and had a good heart. After 1965 they changed somewhat and the stories of Prince Charming gave way to romantic stories. Certain comics more in touch with modernity can be highlighted, such as "Florita" (1950s and 60s), "Mary Noticias" (1960s), "Lily" (1962), or "Ester y su mundo" (1970s and 80s). The "Little Lulu" comic strips meant a breath of fresh air for those of us who were little girls in the National-Catholic Spain of the 1960s, and in the 1970s, Quino's Mafalda became very popular because it reflected with great wit the ideological changes and questions that concerned us at that historic moment.

Origin countries' governments are increasingly adopting policies to attract the resources of their migrants and their communities to stimulate development. These policies, sometimes referred to as 'diaspora engagement policies', range from securing the rights and protection of migrants while they are abroad, to strengthening the migrants' sense of national identity and their linkages to the origin country and promoting remittances, financial investments and contributions to development. This study examines migrant communities and organisations from three countries - Ghana, India and Serbia - and explores how the governments of these countries have perceived 'their' respective migrants and, more specifically, the way in which these governments have attempted to engage migrants and their organisations in the interest of national development. The strategies adopted demonstrate various levels of commitment to policies for migrants. At times governments accommodate the needs of migrants into existing policies; other times they design new policies to support the specific needs of migrant communities and some other times they decide not to introduce any national policy to engage the diasporas. In fact, recognizing the value of migrants does not necessarily translate into concrete policies that welcome them to take part in national development. The present study focuses specifically on how origin country governments have formulated and implemented four specific policies: I Facilitation of remittance transfers and finance investments. Several countries have introduced policies to encourage official remittances including increasing the competition among money transfer services leading to reduced transfer fees, expanding the banking and transfer service networks to reach remote areas, and introducing remittance receivers to banking services and savings schemes. In some cases these changes have occurred thanks to financial reforms introduced by governments to open the market to competition and liberalise the foreign exchange. Many obstacles still exist to channel remittances from informal to formal services, not the least the persistent lack of trust of some migrants towards their government and, more generally, the fact that transferring money formally often provides more advantages to the government and service agencies than to the migrants. II Promotion of migrants' investment in small-to-medium size enterprises (SMEs) in the origin countries. SMEs represent an exciting potential both for migrants and their origin countries. Most countries, including Ghana, India and Serbia, are willing to dedicate resources to either create institutions to support migrants' enterprises or to promote public events to encourage the diasporas to become part of a transnational network of entrepreneurs. However, the general investment climate in the origin countries continues to be the principal concern of migrants interested in SME development and overall most of the entrepreneurial activities supported by migrants in origin countries are still the result of autonomous activities of individual migrants rather than specific investment programmes. III Encouraging the transfer and circulation of skills. The government of India has created a systematic method to attract the skills and the human capital of its diaspora for the development of various sectors of the Indian economy. Ghana's main concern remains the health sector and it is acting to prevent the departure of its health professionals as well as on attracting Ghanaians abroad to provide temporary service in the national health system. Serbia's interest in this area has not yet been matched by actual policies. The future outcomes of the policies enacted by India are awaited as they will provide valuable lessons for other countries. IV Implementation of collective development projects initiated by migrant organisations. Migrants' potential for development has always been present and migrants have participated in development activities independently or as part of migrant associations for decades. By and large, collective development projects continue to be designed and implemented by migrants and their associations without the intervention of international development agencies or governmental bodies. In the Serbian case, the diaspora has requested the government to provide greater guidance to migrant 4 associations so that they can direct their resources to areas of need. India has recently established an institution to provide such guidance. The case of Ghana offers an alternative view as migrant associations are reluctant to participate in large projects where they do not know personally local actors, particularly if government agencies are involved. As a result, the Ghanaian government's strategy so far has been to showcase the achievements of migrant organisations' projects rather than to intervene. The study also identifies certain aspects that seem to affect the way in which origin country governments respond to their diasporas:  Government's perceptions of its own migrants shape the manner in which migrants are described in public discourse, whether they are seen as a positive or negative force and, as a consequence, whether they are included or excluded from national policy. A country's migration history and trends greatly influence these perceptions and will shape the strategy adopted by a government towards its migrant communities.  The historical relations between a government and its migrants and their communities abroad greatly determine the policy approach taken by a government. Migrant communities that have historically been suspicious of the government's intentions will require much more reassurance from the state that its activities are promoted in the genuine interest of migrants. Establishing positive linkages will be much less difficult for governments that have maintained contact with their migrant communities over time.  The contributions that migrants can make to development may appear to easily fit into a country's national interests. However, it can be difficult for a government to include migrants in its national development plan as migrants add an extra set of interest to existing arrangements. Origin country governments also have the delicate task to find a good balance between the rights provided to migrants and nonmigrants.  Even when a government sees value in engaging its diasporas and believes that a long-term collaboration with migrants could lead to development, it might not have the necessary resources or the institutional capacity to design, implement and evaluate diaspora engagement policies. These policies in fact require the participation of various government departments, which must reach agreement to design cohesive policies and coordinate their implementation. Such availability of time and resources might not always be available in countries where there are more pressing national priorities.  A country's level of development and, even more importantly, a government's commitment to improvement through economic, financial, and social reforms seem to have a strong effect on the outcomes of diaspora engagement policies. Persistent low transparency and accountability, extensive bureaucratic processes and high levels of corruption reduce migrants' interest in becoming involved in development. In some countries, migrants' lack of trust in the government will discourage them from becoming involved in development, particularly when migration and development initiatives involve government agencies.  Pressure from governments and international agencies might push origin countries that are not interested or ready to engage migrants to commit to diaspora engagement policies. These activities seldom turn into action or last beyond the initial period of funding. Government policies to support migrants' involvement in development, as much as migration and development initiatives promoted by international development agencies, must be designed with a clear understanding of the characteristics of the migrants they are meant to support, of the historical relations that exist between the government and its migrants, and the interests and the objectives of the diasporas. Migrants should be given the opportunity to negotiate their own role in national development and to influence development policies. In the end, to be appealing, policies to engage migrants should provide added value not only for the government and its specific projects, but also for migrants who often go beyond their personal call of duty to lend a hand in the development of their origin country.

En Colombia el proceso de construcción del Estado – Nación ha estado marcado de manera constante por unas ideas asociadas a imaginarios raciales de carácter esencialistas, llamados hoy en día como "Colombianidad" con variaciones regionales configuradas, tal como se desarrollara a continuación, alrededor de los mismos criterios. Retomando la idea central del texto que le dio origen a este proyecto de investigación, representaciones regionales como la Santandereanidad, Vallecaucanidad o Antioqueñidad, se han configurado a partir de los mismos esquemas argumentativos de los imaginarios esencialistas que han pretendido desde el siglo XIX expresar la identidad nacional. Hoy es claro que su mas grande limitación han sido incluir ideas que han subvalorado la dignidad de una gran cantidad de colectivos sociales en virtud de su condición étnica, de genero, culto o pensamiento político, desconociendo la natural diversidad de las diferentes comunidades culturales presentes en el país. Hoy día, cuando la nación colombiana se prepara para conmemorar los doscientos años de la independencia de la corona española, es innegable la validez de la presente temática, especialmente por que propicia la difusión de elementos fundamentales para entender de que manera las elites gobernantes han pretendido configurar la imagen de la población de esta comunidad política. En este contexto la presente ponencia pretende mostrar en primer lugar los ejes del discurso a partir de las variables de espacio, tiempo y la naturaleza humana, haciendo énfasis en su articulación con los discursos identitarios configurados especialmente a partir de la Comisión Corográfica, evento que se llevo a cabo a mediados del siglo XIX. En todos los casos, los esquemas simbólicos descritos a continuación surgen de la articulación de los planteamientos de sus gestores oficiales y de su correspondencia con los esquemas desarrollados por los textos escolares adoptados como textos oficiales para la educación básica primaria entre 1845 y 1945. La sistematización y análisis de la fuente primaria, se hizo a partir de la definición de variables. De acuerdo con la estructura de los documentos consultados, la información presentada estaba referida de manera significativa a condiciones espaciales, concepciones sobre el tiempo y la tipificación de la naturaleza humana. En un primer momento se revisan los hilos conceptuales y valorativos de quienes incidieron en la definición de los atributos de la identidad nacional. Este listado inicia con Manuel Ancizar, autor de la celebre Peregrinación de Alpha, publicada en 1853; continua con José María Samper y su Ensayo sobre las revoluciones políticas y la condición social de las Republicas Hispanoamericanas (1861); Eduardo Posada y su Peregrinación de Omega (1908); Miguel Jiménez López y su ponencia presentada en el Tercer Congreso de Medicina: "Nuestras razas decaen, el deber actual de la ciencia" (1918) y Luis López de Mesa, autor del ya clásico texto De cómo se ha formado la nación colombiana (1934). Esta serie documental permitió precisar los postulados de los discursos identitarios e identificar sus continuidades y modificaciones en el amplio lapso de tiempo que delimita la presente prepuesta. Los resultados logrados al sistematizar esta serie, serán comparados con los obtenidos en la revisión de los textos escolares a los que se pudo acceder, entre los cuales vale la pena mencionar: Catecismo de Geografía (1839), Lecciones de Gramática y Matemáticas (1846), El Libro de Oro de las Escuelas (1864), Compendio de la Historia de Colombia (1911) La Citolegia Colombiana (1912), La Niñez Colombiana (1912) y Cartilla de Urbanidad para niños y niñas (1928). La validez de esta serie de documentos esta dada por su carácter de textos oficiales y por ende de dispositivos difusores de las concepciones impulsadas desde el Estado. ; 1. PRELIMINARES. 1.1. RESUMEN 1.5. AUTOR 2. INTRODUCCIÓN 3. GENESIS DE LOS DISCURSOS IDENTITARIOS 3.1. LO ESPACIAL, LO TEMPORAL Y LA TIPIFICACION DE LA NATURALEZA HUMANA COMO VARIABLES DE ANALISIS. 3.2. TEXTOS ESCOLARES Y DISCURSOS IDENTITARIOS. 3.2. LOS TEXTOS ESCOLARES COMO VESTIGIOS PARA LA INVESTIGACION HISTORICA. 4. RESULTADOS DEL ANALISIS. 4.1. LA TEMPORALIDAD. 4.2. LA ESPACIALIDAD. 4.3. FISONOMIA Y TIPIFICACIONDE LA NATURALEZA HUMANA. 5. CONCLUSIONES. 6. RECURSOS DOCUMENTALES 6.1. FUENTE PRIMARIA 6.2 FUENTE SECUNDARIA. ; In Colombia, the process of construction of the State - Nation has been constantly marked by ideas associated with racial imaginaries of an essentialist nature, called today as "Colombianidad" with regional variations configured, as it will be developed below, around the same criteria. Returning to the central idea of the text that gave rise to this research project, regional representations such as Santandereanidad, Vallecaucanidad or Antioqueñidad, have been configured from the same argumentative schemes of the essentialist imaginaries that have tried to express identity since the 19th century. national. Today it is clear that its greatest limitation has been to include ideas that have undervalued the dignity of a large number of social groups by virtue of their ethnic condition, gender, cult or political thought, ignoring the natural diversity of the different cultural communities present in the country. Today, when the Colombian nation prepares to commemorate the two hundred years of independence from the Spanish crown, the validity of this issue is undeniable, especially because it encourages the dissemination of fundamental elements to understand how the ruling elites have tried configure the image of the population of this political community. In this context, this presentation aims to show, first of all, the axes of the discourse based on the variables of space, time and human nature, emphasizing their articulation with the identity discourses specially configured from the Chorographic Commission, an event that takes place. carried out in the mid-nineteenth century. In all cases, the symbolic schemes described below arise from the articulation of the proposals of their official managers and their correspondence with the schemes developed by the school texts adopted as official texts for primary basic education between 1845 and 1945. The systematization and analysis of the primary source was made from the definition of variables. According to the structure of the documents consulted, the information presented was significantly related to spatial conditions, conceptions about time and the typification of human nature. At first, the conceptual and evaluative threads of those who influenced the definition of the attributes of national identity are reviewed. This list begins with Manuel Ancizar, author of the famous Pilgrimage of Alpha, published in 1853; it continues with José María Samper and his Essay on political revolutions and the social condition of the Hispano-American Republics (1861); Eduardo Posada and his Pilgrimage of Omega (1908); Miguel Jiménez López and his presentation presented at the Third Congress of Medicine: "Our races decay, the current duty of science" (1918) and Luis López de Mesa, author of the now classic text On how the Colombian nation has been formed (1934 ). This documentary series made it possible to specify the postulates of the identity discourses and to identify their continuities and modifications in the long period of time that the present proposal delimits. The results achieved by systematizing this series will be compared with those obtained in the revision of the school texts that could be accessed, among which it is worth mentioning: Catechism of Geography (1839), Lessons of Grammar and Mathematics (1846) , El Libro de Oro de las Escuelas (1864), Compendium of the History of Colombia (1911), La Citolegia Colombiana (1912), La Niñez Colombiana (1912) and Urbanity Primer for boys and girls (1928). The validity of this series of documents is given by their character as official texts and therefore as disseminating devices of the conceptions promoted by the State.

After a turbulent month of stiff opposition to his health care reform plan during which tempers flared, insults were hurled, and loud voices drowned all attempts at logic and reason, on Sunday President Obama and his family flew to the summer resort of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, for a well-deserved vacation. This will be a time for reflection and tactical decisions: the President will have to decide whether to agree to a watered-down version of his original plan -which would have the vote of a few Republicans in Congress and thus allow him to claim some bipartisanship- or to go ahead with his original proposal and sign legislation on a strictly partisan line, with Democratic votes only.The latter scenario would appease his core supporters on the Left but would result on his exclusive "ownership" of the health overhaul process, and thus expose him to open war with Republicans for the rest of his term. It would also risk the political future of those 48 Democrats who were elected in districts carried by John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Republicans are already optimistic that 2010 will be a replay of the 1994 mid-term legislative election in which Democrats lost 52 seats in the House of Representatives and the Clinton presidency appeared weak and defeated. Therein lies the paradox that haunts the White House: while Democrats have a majority of votes in both House (259 to 177) and Senate (60 to 40), if they use their advantage to ram through their original plan as the progressive base wants, they may be dealt a resounding defeat in the next election. It is thus business as usual in Washington, where political expedience always ends up trumping good policy reforms, and where the opposition resorts to fear mongering to effectively defeat hope for change. The main point of contention is the government-run public insurance plan that would be offered to consumers and employers, who could then choose between public or private health plans. Republican critics, in an inherently contradictory argument, claim that a public option would be inefficient, would interpose government bureaucrats between doctors and patients, and, because cheaper (and one would assume, just as good or even better), it would draw the private competitors out of business as the majority switches to public insurance. At present, it is corporate bureaucrats that to protect their companies' profits, insert themselves in the process to determine who can be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions, and for those who do get it, which services and medications are covered at any given time. But by using fear tactics which include the labeling of the public option as "socialized medicine" or misrepresenting voluntary end-of-life counseling as "death panels", Republicans have effectively killed the government's plan, stirring up the anxiety of even those members of the upper and middle class with stable jobs, who voted for Obama but are happy with their insurance coverage. Because they only co- pay a third of it, most of them are unaware of the unsustainable costs their employers are incurring (the cost of health care has more than tripled in the last eight years) and the downward effect this has on their wages. In the current political climate, any measure that would seemingly add to the federal deficit or to a raise in taxes is a non-viable proposition. In times of crisis, Americans recoil to their original Lockean perception of the government as an intruder into the private realm, and are easily persuaded to deride and fear any expansion of its power. This has a singular ring of truth at present, when the government has bailed out Wall Street and owns a large percentage of the automobile industry. Republicans have thus had an easy time convincing the public that after "nationalizing" the bank system and the auto industry, the government is now coming after their health plans and that the United States of America will be soon be under a centrally planned economy. Never mind that Social Security and Medicare are both extremely popular programs that the government owns and runs. Logic has no place in this debate; basic instincts and attitudes carry the day.As the White House sees the public option become increasingly unattainable, they are starting to move away from it, calling it "only a means to an end", not an end in itself. Its purpose is first, to guarantee universal coverage by making health insurance affordable to all, and second, to reduce the skyrocketing costs of health care, as competition would make private insurers lower their premiums. If there are other ways to meet these two goals, they are willing to listen. The White House is signaling its willingness to compromise by accepting a co-op system of patient-based mutual care as a substitute of the public plan. Intent on defeating any bill acceptable to the President, Republicans who, on the one hand agree that co-ops are acceptable to the "American way" (read: not an "evil" Socialist invention), are also warning that they could be a Trojan horse through which the government would still get into the health care business. But by accepting the co-ops option and dropping his initial proposal, Obama could change the dynamics of the debate. As a less controversial way of controlling costs, this compromise would enable him to peel off the votes of a few moderate Republicans, such as Olympia Snowe from Maine. It would also, assuage the concerns of the Blue Dogs, a group of fiscally conservative Democrats, and thus forge a wide majority with some bipartisan cover.The next six weeks will be a defining period for the Obama's presidency. The President will most likely go before Congress (the format is as yet to be determined; it could also take the form of a televised national address) for the greatest moment of truth in his leadership, namely, to announce whether he has succeeded or failed in bringing the country together on health reform. It will be a decisive test of his twofold promise of change and unity. Historically, most presidents have seen their own parties lose seats during their first term. Will a triumph in health care enable Obama to defy History in the 2010 election? Not necessarily. It will definitely allow him a breathing period, but the election will be determined by the state of the economic recovery in the months preceding it, and even more importantly, by the public's perception of said recovery: if unemployment proceeds unabated, even as growth resumes, then the Democrats will probably lose their majority in the House. Obama has been quite successful in tying the health care reform to economic recovery, but as Tom Daschle, the most knowledgeable person on this issue, recognizes, a major health care overhaul that will have a noticeable impact on the economy will not be achieved in one piece of legislation only. It will require a long process of which this will only be the first leg.For now, it appears the President and leading Democrats in Congress may settle on passing a modest reform which, with some Republican support, may help them claim some kind of victory. But even this may prove elusive, as most of those in opposition are not engaged in the process in good faith but just bent on delivering a political defeat. This is clear for example in Senators Grassley's and Coburn's reluctance to publicly distance themselves from those among their town hall constituents that threaten to bring their guns to Washington to settle the question.As I was ready to send this article for publication, news got in from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, that Senator Ted Kennedy, a major leader of health reform and the author of a robust bill still circulating in the Senate, has passed away after a courageous fight against brain cancer. He was 77 years old. Let us all hope that his untimely passing is not an omen of the fate of health care reform legislation in the hands of this Congress. Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Geography Director, ODU Model United Nations Program Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

La ciudad de Manizales se ha identificado por ser una ciudad universitaria, culta y con una historia cafetera y agrícola importante, no solo a nivel regional sino nacional. Sin embargo en la actualidad estos factores, han estado deprimidos debido al entorno económico, político y social que atraviesa en estos momentos el país. En Manizales se empieza a ver que el desarrollo de las actividades industrial y comercial se convierten en estratégicas y fundamentales para el desarrollo y mejoramiento económico de la ciudad y de la región. En este sentido, las Pyme que son consideradas como pequeñas y medianas empresas se vuelven una oportunidad importante para propiciar la generación de empleo y el crecimiento de la región, ya que estas se encuentran ubicadas primordialmente en los sectores industriales más intensivos en el uso de mano de obra, teniendo en cuenta el tratamiento diferencial frente a la gran industria, esto obedece a que la tecnología empleada por las Pyme generalmente ha sido mas adecuada respecto a la dotación de factores productivos del país, que la tecnología utilizada por la industria grande, convirtiéndose en una fuente importante de generación de empleo. La atomización de la producción de las Pyme contribuye a incrementar la competencia en el suministro de bienes industriales, ya que éstas tienen una participación considerable en la oferta de bienes de consumo y de bienes de capital. Entre los sectores con mas alta participación, se destacan: las confecciones, el calzado, productos de madera, muebles no metálicos, plásticos, productos metálicos y maquinaria. Generalmente las Pyme son más intensivas en el consumo de materias primas nacionales que las grandes empresas, por lo que sus efectos multiplicadores sobre el resto de la economía son proporcionalmente mayores. ; Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) ; INTRODUCCIÓN 1 1. REFERENTE CONCEPTUAL 3 1.1 AREA TEMÁTICA 3 1.2 AREA PROBLEMÁTICA 20 1.2.1 Desarrollo De Las Exportaciones A Nivel Nacional 21 1.2.2 Exportaciones de Caldas 23 1.2.3 Exportaciones de Café 24 1.2.4 Exportaciones no tradicionales 25 1.3 FORMULACION DEL PROBLEMA 29 1.4 ANTECEDENTES 29 1.4.1 Libros 29 1.4.2 Tesis de grado 30 1.4.3 Información Varia: 31 1.5 JUSTIFICACION 32 1.6 OBJETIVOS DE LA INVESTIGACION 37 1.6.1 Objetivo General 37 1.6.2 Objetivos Específicos 37 2. REFERENTE TEÓRICO 38 2.1 CARACTERÍSTICAS SOCIALES, POLÍTICAS Y CULTURALES PROPIAS DE LA CIUDAD DE MANIZALES Y PERSPECTIVAS QUE APUNTAN AL CRECIMIENTO DE LA REGIÓN Y A POTENCIALIZAR LAS EXPORTACIONES 41 2.2 ASPECTOS INTERNOS A TENER EN CUENTA EN EL PROCESO DE EXPORTACIÓN 50 2.2.1 Existencias de procesos de exportación 51 2.2.2 Interés del no exportador 51 2.2.3 Potencial exportador 51 2.2.4 Trayectoria 53 2.2.5 Dificultades en las exportaciones 53 2.2.6 Estrategias de mejoramiento 53 2.2.7 Países donde exporta 53 2.2.8 Plan Exportador 54 2.2.9 Capacidad Interna 58 2.2.10 Selección del mercado y la contraparte 60 2.2.11 Promoción y comercialización 60 2.3 ASPECTOS EXTERNOS A TENER EN CUENTA PARA INICIAR UN PROCESO DE EXPORTACIÓN 65 2.3.1 Beneficios arancelarios 66 2.3.1.1 Grupo andino 67 2.3.1.2 Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración - ALADI 69 2.3.1.3 Tratado de Libre Comercio del grupo de los tres - G3 73 2.3.1.4 Acuerdo sobre Comercio y Cooperación Económica y Técnica entre Colombia y la Comunidad del Caribe -CARICOM 76 2.3.1.5 Ley de Preferencias Arancelarias Andinas - ATPA 77 2.3.1.6 SGP Andino 79 2.3.1.7 La cuenca del Pacifico 80 2.3.1.8 Mercado Común Centroamericano 83 2.3.2 Requisitos para la Aceptación del Producto en Mercados Internacionales 84 2.3.3 Leyes Nacionales de Beneficios al Exportador 86 2.3.3.1 Politica de Promoción de Exportaciones 86 2.3.3.2 Zonas Francas 89 2.3.4 Instituciones y programas que apoyan las Pyme en las Exportaciones 96 2.3.4.1 MINCOMEX 96 2.3.4.2 Cámara de Comercio 105 2.3.4.3 ACOPI 108 2.3.4.4 BANCOLDEX 110 2.4 Supuestos Teóricos 114 2.5 Operacionalización de Variables 115 3. ESTRATEGIA METODOLÓGICA 121 3.1 TIPO DE ESTUDIO 121 3.2 DISEÑO 122 3.3 POBLACIÓN Y MUESTRA 123 3.4 FUENTES DE INFORMACION 128 3.5 TÉCNICAS E INSTRUMENTOS 129 3.6 CRONOGRAMA 130 3.7 PRESUPUESTO 131 4. ANÁLISIS, TABULACIÓN DE LA INFORMACIÓN Y ELABORACIÓN DE LOS RESULTADOS 132 4.1 ANÁLISIS E INTERPRETACIÓN DE LOS RESULTADOS 132 4.1.1 Empresas Pyme que han iniciado un Proceso de Exportación 133 4.1.2 Interés de las Pyme por Iniciar un Proceso Exportador. 135 4.1.3 Zonas hacia las cuales las Pyme piensan exportar. 137 4.1.4 Trayectoria de las Pyme en Procesos de Exportación 139 4.1.5 Dificultades que ha tenido la Empresa para Iniciar un Proceso de Exportación 140 4.1.6 Existencia de Estrategias para Contrarrestar las Dificultades al Iniciar un Proceso de Exportación 142 4.1.7 Zonas a las cuales Exportan las Pyme 144 4.1.8 Plan exportador 146 4.1.9 Existencia de un Departamento de Comercio Exterior 147 4.1.10 Existencia de Capacidad Interna para competir a Nivel Internacional 149 4.1. 11 Capacidad Interna 152 4.1. 11.1 Capacidad de Producción de la Empresa 152 4.1.11.2 Cantidad de Trabajadores que posee la Empresa 154 4.1.12 Selección del Mercado y la Contraparte 157 4.1.12.1 Realización de Investigación de Mercados como apoyo al Proceso de Exportación 157 4.1.12.2 Mecanismos Utilizados para la Promocion de los Productos 159 4.1.13 Promoción y Comercialización 160 4.1.13.1Formas de Comercialización del Producto 160 4.1.13.2 Mecanismos Utilizados para la Recepción de Información sobre Comercio Exterior en las Empresas 162 4.1.14 Leyes Nacionales 164 4.1.14.1 Conocimiento de las Leyes de Beneficio al Exportador 164 4.1.14.2 Conocimiento de los Beneficios Gubernamentales 165 4.1.15 Programas de Apoyo a la Exportación. 167 4.1.15.1 Conocimiento de los Programas Existentes de Apoyo a las Exportaciones de las Pyme 167 4.1.15.2 Satisfacción o Insatisfacción de las Pyme en relación con la Calidad de los Programas 169 4.1.16 Entidades de Apoyo 171 4.1.16.1 Entidades o Instituciones que Prestan Apoyo a las Pyme para realizar el Proceso de Exportación 171 4.1.16.2 Servicios Sugeridos por las Pyme sobre Comercio Exterior a las Instituciones 173 4.1.16.3 Exigencias Internacionales al Momento de Exportar 175 4.2 Matriz DOFA 177 CONCLUSIONES 186 PLAN ESTRATÉGICO PARA FORTALECER EL POTENCIAL EXPORTADOR DE LAS PYME DEL SECTOR MANUFACTURERO DE MANIZALES 189 BIBLIOGRAFIA 201 ; Maestría ; The city of Manizales has been identified as a university city, cultured and with an important coffee and agricultural history, not only at the regional but also national level. However, at present these factors have been depressed due to the economic, political and social environment that the country is currently experiencing. In Manizales we are beginning to see that the development of industrial and commercial activities become strategic and fundamental for the development and economic improvement of the city and the region. In this sense, SMEs that are considered as small and medium-sized companies become an important opportunity to promote the generation of employment and growth in the region, since they are located primarily in the most intensive industrial sectors in the use of hand of work, taking into account the differential treatment compared to large industry, this is due to the fact that the technology used by SMEs has generally been more appropriate with respect to the allocation of productive factors in the country, than the technology used by large industry, becoming in an important source of job creation. The atomization of SME production contributes to increasing competition in the supply of industrial goods, since they have a considerable share in the supply of consumer goods and capital goods. Among the sectors with the highest participation, the following stand out: clothing, footwear, wood products, non-metallic furniture, plastics, metallic products and machinery.Generally, SMEs are more intensive in the consumption of domestic raw materials than large companies, so their multiplier effects on the rest of the economy are proportionally greater.

Part two of an interview with John Clementi. Topics include: The interests of John's children. How John feels about no longer working in litigation. John's thoughts about September 11th. How John feels as an Italian American. ; 1 SPEAKER 1: Um, we've… as I've said before, we've been fortunate in that we've… um, our recruitment and retention, we've just been very successful people coming here and… but I think everybody wants to leave a legacy of-of fairness and opportunity and I hope we do the same. Um, I would be thrilled if they did, um, but, um, honestly I-I really don't… I don't see it happening. I have a daughter who desperately wants to go into publishing. I have another daughter who is… is going to be a music major and so that leaves my son and he's too young to-to tell but, uh, uh, I don't know. SPEAKER 2: In any way or…? SPEAKER 1: [Laughs]. Not really. [Laughs] Not really. Well, I shouldn't say that. I had a daughter who… my-my oldest daughter has worked for us, um, for three years, um, in the summers and my, uh, middle daughter worked here last summer. Her first job, actually. So they've been here and they worked here, um, uh, during the summers. My son, he's getting to the age where pretty soon he's going to be able to work so we'll hopefully get him down here. SPEAKER 2: [Unintelligible – 00:01:10]? SPEAKER 1: Sometimes I-I miss the camaraderie of-of, um, of the people that are involved in the administration of justice but I'm-I'm even told that that has changed, that that is a much more, um, not as collegial in atmosphere as it used to be. But I-I miss, I miss the intellectual aspect of the law more than anything. I can't say that I miss sitting around courtrooms waiting for things to happen but, um, I miss the people more than anything. Both of the partners that I worked for, [Frank Gettins] and [John Longo], have passed away and, uh, they were both very kind to me and they were just real wonderful, brilliant people in the law and I really enjoyed them and miss them. But all in all, I-I think that this business has afforded me to go places and do things that I probably wouldn't have done otherwise, 2 you know, but all in all, I don't think I regret, regret that decision very much. My hardest? SPEAKER 2: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: I don't know. I think those moments when it just doesn't work out with an employee, it must come to mind immediately to me as it is difficult. Because nobody likes to let anybody go and I can think of a couple of instances in my life where it just had to happen. And you know, I was a pretty sad person for a while after that but by and large, we've been fairly fortunate that we haven't had a lot of the crises. Well, I think about it a lot, especially lately with what's going on subsequent to September 11th and the reason I think about it is obviously because the attack was on the United States but also because I'm privy to the Italian press. I get Italian newspapers delivered and also I'm able to watch Italian television from the satellite and it has become readily apparent to me that you know, Italy is not America and vice versa and public opinion and sentiment is not the same. I realize that if I'm Italian, I'm Italian by virtue of perhaps my personality, you know, my background, you know, by blood, if you will. But I honestly, intellectually, psychologically, I am American. My allegiance of 9/11 have, you know, really put that in bold print in my mind. The reaction thereafter has made it even more so. You know, I've come to realize how important the system really is. That you know, all of the clichés about you know, being the worst system of government that man has devised, or the best system, you know, not that great but the best. Well, it is by far the best. The people, I think the spirit that was exhibited in the aftermath of 9/11… I don't envision the same thing happening in Italy. All of the 3 commentators, even the commentators who have never been terribly sympathetic to the United States and the one that comes to mind is Oriana Fallaci, who is you know, a fairly famous journalist who was the 70s version of Christiane Amanpour, happened to be living in Manhattan when it happened and you know, commenting on the aftermath. You know, I just don't think that there's another country in the world where you know, people would stand by the street to thank people leaving the site, you know, to salute police officers. That's American and so to that extent, you know, I'm American. As Italy goes, it's so unique, I'm so proud of what it represents. You know, it's always been, to me at least, sort of the aesthetic of the Western World. It's the filter through which all things aesthetic are somehow passed. You know, I always admired Italian clothes, Italian cars, Italian furniture, Italian modern art, the Italian soul, you know, the affection, the hospitality, respect, you know, all of those things. So it's kind of a balancing act but as I say, the recent events have sort of brought into sharper focus what it means to be American. I never thought I'd say this but it's fairly clear to me it's much more important to feel that than it is to feel the other thing. Maybe in the context of this exercise, maybe that's not what we want to hear but you know, we're able to have this discussion because of that and that doesn't happen in all that many places. That's kind of my take on being Italian American. I'm sorry that Italian Americans, as time goes on, will understand less and less what it means to be Italian. And I am so supportive of this program because I think as time goes on, people who have an Italian surname aren't going to really know and their feelings will be largely clichés and popular media.4 But all in all, it's been important to me to understand Italy and I feel what it is to be Italian and I think I do. But as I said before, recent events have made it clear to me that it's more important… okay, I'm sorry. SPEAKER 2: No, that's all right. Just that very last sentence, being important to be an American. SPEAKER 1: Well, to me it's important to understand what it is to be Italian, especially when your parents are of Italian descent but recent events have made it clear to me that it's more important to understand what it is to be American because going forward for better or for worse I think it's going to define a lot about how we feel about ourselves. SPEAKER 2: Would you like to add anything else? SPEAKER 1: No. I was very supportive of the notion of the oral history of Italian Americans or Italians in this area. I sincerely hope that we're able to find many people who are either immigrants or who have a direct knowledge of what it was like to be an immigrant coming to this country, to really understand, I think in the broader sense, what it means to be an immigrant, period, in this country because it's something that we all share sooner or later in our experience. Thank you. SPEAKER 2: I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the community presentation. SPEAKER 1: Really? I hope so./AT/pa/cy/mb

The Biodiversity Coalition Newsletter No. 13 May 1996 An International NGO Network for Biodiversity Conservation (C/- P. 0., Cygnet 7112, Tasmania, Australia, ph/fax: +61-02- 9 5174 5 ) Code Number: NL96008 Size of Files: Text: 64K Graphics: Line Drawings (gif) - 19K GEF ABANDONS BIODIVERSITY In petulant refusal to be guided by the CBD's COP, let alone operate under its authority and control, the GEF Council has effectively stopped funding biodiversity projects. At its latest meeting in Washington (2-4 April 1996), GEF Council approved less than $5 million for expenditure on only two biodiversity related projects - one involves Kazakhstan which has not ratified and the other involves the ten southern African countries including Namibia and Angola which have not ratified - out of total approved expenditure of more than $260 million. --- FAO STILL UP TO ITS OLD TRICKS AT LEIPZIG FAO(UN)'s supposedly 'technical' international conference at Leipzig next month looks like being a political 'talk-fest'. This regrettable prospect is a direct and inevitable consequence of the FAO(UN)'s self-serving political aggression. On the one hand, their CPGR networks stubbornly refuse to recognise the new international legal regime with respect to ownership and control of genetic resources established by entry into force of the Biodiversity Convention. --- HELP! The Biodiversity Coalition is in desperate need of funds. Local sources of financial and in-kind support are not likely to be forthcoming next financial year (from June 1996) for a variety of reasons. While we appreciate that most recipients of the Newsletter are in no position to contribute financially to its continued publication - which is one of the objectives of the Newsletter, after all - this is a plea to those organisations and individuals who may have some capacity to pay to consider making a substantial contribution. --- EX-SITU/IN-SITU CONSERVATION - DEFINITIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES The Biodiversity Convention defines 'ex-situ conservation' as "the conservation of components of biological diversity outside their natural habitats" while 'in-situ conservation' is defined as "the conservation of ecosystems and natural habitats and the maintenance and recovery of viable populations of species in their natural surroundings and, in the case of domesticated or cultivated species, in the surroundings where they have developed their distinctive properties". --- SUSTAINABILITY - FOR WHAT AND FOR WHOM? A Job for SBSTTA "Sustainability" has become one of those words which everyone chooses to interpret in their own way to reflect their own interests. While the problem is not limited to biodiversity conservation, if the Biodiversity Convention is to be properly implemented, the CBD's COP must come up with its interpretation of sustainability - based on advice from its scientific advisory body, the SBSTTA. --- CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF TRADE IN WILD FAUNA AND FLORA (Abridged Draft Prepared by the Wildlife Use Working Group of the Species Survival Network, a network of NGOs working within CITES for the protection and conservation of species in international commercial trade, 5 Jan 1996) --- COMMERCIALISING TRADITIONAL USES - MAKING THE TRANSITION FROM HUNTER-GATHERING TO AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION A common theme in the history of human civilisation is the domestication of wild species of animals and plants as the key to producing agricultural surpluses capable of supporting urban communities. Such domestication is necessary to allow intensive production to meet high demand - especially in these modern days of global trade and massive markets. --- ITTO DOES BETTER Donors now contribute substantially more money to the ITTO [International Tropical Timber Organisation] than they do to the GEF biodiversity window. The graph, reproduced from the latest issue of 'Tropical Forest Update [6(1 ) March 1996/1 ], the ITTO's own in-house magazine, shows they have donated about US$130M over the last eight years. --- COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN AND COUNTRIES PROVIDING GENETIC RESOURCES - THE POLITICS OF DEFINITIONS The final text of the Biodiversity Convention refers to 'countries of origin' of and 'countries providing' genetic resources. This distinction was lobbied for by seed and gene bank interests (the IARC networks, national agencies of both 'north' and 'south' and corporations) to ensure that the Convention's benefit sharing obligations did not apply to holders or users of genetic material already held in ex-situ collections at the time of entry into force of the Convention [See Article 2. Definitions and Article 15(3) Access to Genetic Resources]. Countries of origin (of specified genetic resources) are those conserving those resources in-situ and/or providing resources directly from in-situ sources i.e., not from ex-situ collections. --- NICARAGUAN ARMY TO DEFEND NATURE: IUCN [Bulleting 4/95] reports that "Environmental conservation will now be one of the Nicaraguan army's priority objectives." "The Nicaraguan army is a green army, not because of the colour of its uniforms, but thanks to its commitment to natural resource conservation in our country", said General Joaquin Lacayo, Commander-in-Chief of the Nicaraguan armed forces. --- PAYING THE RENT With donor governments having left the field for a while in stopping GEF funding for CBD implementation, now is the time to push for establishing a COP-controlled fund based on contributions from corporate users of genetic resources - principally seed and gene companies, pharmaceutical companies and biotech companies. Exploratory discussions need to be pursued vigorously by the Secretariat to the mandate given to it by COP 2 to "further explore possibilities to identify additional financial resources" with a view to convening a meeting of interested corporations later this year. --- RATIFICATION PROGRESS 142 countries have now ratified the Convention, as of 21 February 1996. It is particularly pleasing to see that Poland and Yemen despite the latter's recent troubles, have now ratified. The following 35 countries, however, despite being original signatories to the CBD, have still not ratified. Other Governments and NGOs with access to these tardy Governments are urged to persuade them to ratify as soon as possible: As ever, the absence of the USA remains a great disappointment. --- COOPERATION GOING WELL While the GEF may have gone off in a sulk, other international agencies have been showing enthusiastic support for the CBD. Following signature of an MoU with the Ramsat Secretariat last year, the CBD Secretariat has just signed a similar MoU with the CITES Secretariat. Also, in March this year, the IOC [Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission] has committed itself to full cooperation through SBSTTA. Interestingly, it looks like UNESCO-serviced international organisations and networks, like the IOC, the Man and the Biosphere Programme and the World Heritage Committee, are all responding very positively to the CBD - in marked contrast to FAO and the World Bank. --- WHODUNNIT The Biodiversity Coalition is a project of WWF(Australia) funded by the Biodiversity Unit of the Australian Federal Government's Department of Environment. It is coordinated by Alistair Graham and its principal output is this Newsletter plus the giving of advice, encouragement and support to numerous groups and individuals, many of whom have contributed to the ideas and information in the Newsletter. For further information, please contact: Alistair Graham, C/- P.O., Cygnet 7112, Tasmania, Australia; ph/fax:+61-02-951745 --- Invitacion FORO LATINOAMERICANO DE BIODIVERSIDAD Mayo 26-29 de 1996, Centro de Convenciones Hotel Irotama, Santa Marta, Colombia, en contribucion al proceso del: Foro Global de Biodiversidad Antecedentes El Foro Latinoamericano de Biodiversidad es la contribucion regional al Foro Global de Biodiversidad auspiciado por la UICN, el WRI yel PNUMA, como un aporte al debate asociado a la Convencion sobre Diversidad Biologica firmada por los Jefes de Estados en Rio de Janiero en 1992, puesta en vigor a partir de diciembre de 1993, y hoy en dia ratificada por alrededor de 130 gobiernos. Desde entonces se hart realizado tres Foros Globales de Biodiversidad cuyos resultados han contribuido a la definicion de la agenda para la toma de decisiones durante las reuniones de la Conferencia de las Partes.

Issue 29.4 of the Review for Religious, 1970. ; EDITOR R. F. Smith, S.J. ASSOCIATE EDITOR Everett A. Diederich, S.J. ASSISTANT EDITOR John L. Treloar, S.J. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS EDITOR Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. Correspondence with the editor, the associate editors, and the assistant editor, as well as books for review, should be sent to I~EVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS; 612 Humboldt Building; 539 North Grand Boulevard; Saint Louis, Missouri 63to3. Questions for answering should be sent to Joseph F. Gallen, S.J.; St. Joseph's Church; 3at Willings Alley; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania tgxo6. + + + REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS Edited with ecclesiastical appro,'al by faculty members of the School of Divinity of Saint Louis University, the editorial offices being located at 612 Humboldt Building; 539 North Grand Boulevard; Saint Louis, Missouri ¯ 63103. Owned by the Missouri Province Edu-cational Institute. Published bimonthly and copyright ~) 1970 by REVIEW FOR RELtO~OUS at 428 East Preston Street~ Baltimore, Mary* land 21202. Printed in U.S.A. Second class postage paid at Baltimore, Maryland and at additional mailing offices. Single copies: $1.00. Subscription U.S.A. and Canada: $5.00 a year, $9.00 for two years; other countries: $5.50 a year, $10.00 for two years. Orders should indicate whether they are for new or renewal subscriptions and should be accompanied by check or money order paya-ble to REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS in U.S.A. currency only. Pay no money to p~rsons claiming to represent REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. Change of address requests should include former address. Renewals and new subscriptions, where a~eom-panied by a remittance, should be scat to REvz8w ~oa RE~m~ous; P. O. ~x 671; Bahimo~, Ma~land 21203. Changes of addr~, b~n~ co~es~nd~ce, and orders ~t a~¢ompanitd ~ a rtmittanee should be ~t tO REVIEW ~R RELIGIOUS ; 428 East ~eston St~t; BMfmo~. Ma~land 21202. Manu~ripts. ~ito~al cor- ~s~ndence, and ~ks for ~iew should ~ sent to R~v~w ~oa R~m~ous; 612 Hum~ldt Building; 539 North Grand ~ul~ard; Saint ~uis, Mi~u~ 63103. Qu~dons for answering should be s~t to the add~ of the Qu~fio~ and ~we~ ~tor. JULY 1970 VOLUME 29 NUMBER4 MOTHER MARY FRANCIS, P.C.C. Creative Spiritual Leadership If we are going to talk about creative leadership, we shall first of all want to clarify what we mean by leader-ship and what we mean by creative. That these are not self-evident terms or even pr~sen.tly readily understand-able terms should be obvious from an imposing current witness to creative leadership envisioned as an abolition of leadership, and a transversion of creativity into annihi-lation. While it is true enough that, theologically ~and philosophically speaking, annihilation is as great an act as creation, hopefully we do not analogically conceive of our goal in leadership as being equally well attained by annihilation or by creativityl As God's creativity is to cause to be, something that was not, our creativity as superiors who are quite noticeably not divine, is to allow something that is, to become. As a matter of fact, we assume a responsibility to do this by accepting the office of superior. Much has been and is being written and said about the superior as servant. This is so obviously her role that one wonders what all the present excitement is about. Quite evidently, Otis role, this primary expression of leadership, has been for-gotten by some superiors, even perhaps by many supe-riors, in the past. But why should we squander present time and energy in endlessly denouncing such past forget-fulness? Let us simply remember truth now, and get on with our business. One characteristic of creative leader-ship is to point a finger at the future rather than to shake a finger at the past. St. Clare wrote in her Rule more than seven hundred years .ago that the abbess must be the handmaid of all the sisters, not pausing to labor so evident a fact but simply going on to give some particulars which have a ve.ry modern ring: the abbess is to behave so affably that the sisters can speak and act toward her as toward one who serves them. That dear realist, Clare of Assisi, who Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., is federal abbess of the Collettine Poor Clare Federation; 809 E. 19th Street;. Roswell, New Mex-ico 88201. VOLUME 29 1970 497 ÷ ÷ Mother Francis REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS passes so easily from blunt warnings about such un-monastic natural virtues as envy, vainglory, covetousness, and grumbling, to airy reminders that it is no good get-ting angry or worried about anyone's faults as this merely deals charity a still severer blow--that dear realist had obviously run up against so~ne personalities who were "handmaids" sufficiently formidable to discourage any-one's rendering them personal recognition in this area. The abbess is supposed to be lovable, for St. Clare en-visions a community where sisters obey a superior be-cause they love her and not because they dread her. This was quite a novel as well as a radical theology of superior-ship in Clare's day. And if it remains radical today, it is a great shame that it sometimes remains novel also. The medieval saint makes so much of this point of the lovable-hess of the superior that she returns to it in her dying Testament, begging her successors that they behave them-selves so that the sisters obey them not from a sense of duty but from love. It's not just the same thing she is saying again, however. You note that whereas in the Rule she does not want any fear or dread of the superior, in the Testament she rules out dutifulness as well. It has got to be a matter of love itself. Who, after all, would want to be loved out of a sense of duty? It would be in-suiting, really. Any normal superior would rather be loved in spite of herself than because of her office. St. Clare makes quite a point in her brief Rule and Testament of describing the manifestations of this lovableness she so insists upon. She gives us her idea of creative leadership. And its present practicability may make us want to pause and clear our throats before the next time we utter that bad word, "medievalism," as an indictment. Besides the general affability which Clare describes in Rule and Testament, she underscores an availability rather beyond and considerably more profound than the "let's sit down in the cocktail lounge and talk about salvation history" mentality. St. Clare wants an on-site superior who is "so courteous and affable" (there's that word again) that the sisters can tell her their troubles and need~, seek her out "at all hours" with serene trust and on any account,--their own or their sisters'. This last point is particularly arresting, considering again that this is a medieval abbess delineating the characteristics of a creative superior as she conceived those characteristics in about 1250, not a 1970 progressive-with-a-message. Clare did not favor isolationism in community. Each of her nuns was supposed to notice that there were other nuns around. And she called them sisters, which was quite original in her day. She favored coresponsibility quite a while before the 1969 synod of bishops, taking it for granted that the abbess was not to be the only one concerned for the good of the community, but that it belongs to the nature of being sisters that each has a lov-ing eye for the needs of all the others. Again, there is her famous saying: "And if a mother love and nurture he~ daughter according to the flesh, how much the more ought a sister to love and nurture her sister according to the spiritl" Yes, it does seem she ought. And maybe we ought to be as medieval as modern in some respects. For some medieval foundresses did an imposing amount of clear .thinking on community, on sisterliness, on the meaning of humble spiritual leadership which we, their progeny, could do well to ponder. So, there's affability, availability, accessibility. When we read St. Clare's brief writings and savor the droll confi-dences given in the process of her canonization, we can conclude that this superior often toned her sisters down but never dialed them out. Then, St. Clare insists that the creative spiritual leader be compassionate. There is no hint of a prophylactic de-tachment ~om human love and sympathy nor of that artificial austerity which pretends that to be God-oriented is to be creature-disoriented. No, Clare says of the su-perior: "Let her console the sorrowful. Let her be the last refuge of the troubled." Note, she does not tell. the contemplative daughter to work it all out with God, and that human sympathy is for sissies. And she warns that "if the weak do not find comfort at her [the abbess'] hands," they may very well be "overcome by the sadness of despair." Those are quite strong terms from a woman who did not trade on hyperboles or superlatives and was no tragedienne. Again, she has something v~ry plain and very strong to say about responsibility. For we had better not talk about coresponsibility unless we have understanding of primary responsibility. "Let her who is elected consider of what sort the burden is she has taken upon her and to whom an account of those entrusted to her is to be rendered." So, Clare will have the superior clearly under-stand that she has a definite and comprehensive responsi-bility to a particular group of people, a responsibility which is immeasurably more demanding than counting votes to determine the consensus. She is supposed to cre-ate and maintain an atmosphere in which sisters can best respond to their own call to holiness. Obviously, she can-not do this alone. But she is the one most responsible for making it possible for each sister to contribute her full share in creating and maintaining this atmosphere. She is the ,one who is particularly responsible for not just al-lowing, but helping the sisters, and in every possible way, to r~alize their own potential. ÷ ÷ ÷ Leadership VOLUME 29, 1970 499 + + + Mother Frands REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS ~00 If I may deliver to any possibly frustrated or depressed superiors some glad tidings out of my own small experi-ence, I beg to announce this finding: Sisters are not as hard on superiors as many dour authors make them out to be. They do not expect perfection in the superior. They are, as a matter of fact, quite ready to pass over the most obvious faults and failures in the superior as long as they know she loves them and would do anything in the world for them, and is herself struggling along with them to "walk before God and be perfect," and having just as hard a time as they with this quite exacting but certainly thrilling divine program. Isn't it, after all, singularly ex-hilarating to have been asked by a God who has witnessed all one's past performances, to be perfect as He is perfect[ But that is an aside of sorts. The point I was making is that sisters will sooner forgive the faults of the warm-hearted than the "perfection" of the coldhearted. At least that is my personal observation. It is not faults that alienate people, it is phoneyness. And may it always alienate them, for it is nothing to make friends with. Now, if the superior is set to create and to make it possible for the sisters to help create an atmosphere suited to the response to a divine call to holiness, this atmog-phere will have to be one of real human living. For the only way a human being can be holy is by being a holy human being. I believe one of the more heartening signs of our times is the accent on humanness. For one of our tiredest heresies is the proposal that the less human we are, the more spiritual we are. Another aside I am tempted to develop here is a reflection on how we describe only one type of behavior as inhuman. We never attribute that dread adjective to the weak, hut only to the cruel. .But I had better get on with what I was saying, which is that dehumanized spirituality is no longer a very popular goal. This is all to the good. However, we shall want to be sure when we talk enthusiastically about the present ac-cent on real human living in religious life that the quali-fying "real" is not underplayed. It needs rather to be underscored. Certainly we would evince a genuine poverty of thought to equate real human living with ease. On the other hand, there is evidently a direct ratio between sacrificial living and real human fulfillment, between poor, obedient living and joy, between ritual and liberty, between the common task and real (as opposed to con-trived) individuality. Genuine common living in reli-gious life is not the witness of the club, but of the com-munity. Its real proponents are not bachelor girls, but women consecrated to God as "a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God." Our blessed Lord emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. And no one yet has ever been fulfilled by any other process than kenosis. Beginning with the Old Testament, history affords us a widescreen testimony to the truth of the binding and liberating power of sacrifice. It binds the individuals in a community together, and it liberates both individuals and the community as such into the true and beautiful expression of self-ness which is what God envisioned when He saw that each of His creations was very good. History shouts at us that self-ness is not a synonym but an antonym for selfishness. May we have ears to hearl Just as nothing so surely situates persons in isolationism as establishing a mystique of ease and a cult of comfort, so does nothing so surely both promote and express genuine community as sacrificial action, whether liturgical or do-mestic. This generation feels it has come upon the glori-ous new discovery that the world is good. It is indeed a glorious discovery, but not a new one. St. Francis, for one, discovered this in the thirteenth century. But if joyous Francis owned the world, it was precisely because he never tried to lease it. It is essential that the creative superior be a living reminder that our situation in time is not static but dy-namic, our involvement in the world urgent but not ulti-mate, our service of others indicative rather than deter-minative, and our earthly life not a land-lease but a pilgrimage. Somewhere or other I recently read that the one good line in a new play whose name I happily can-not now recall is the one where a character looks at a plush-plush apartment hotel and remarks: "If there is a God, this is where he lives." I seem to detect a bit of this mentality in some of our experimentation. This would be only mildly disturbing if it pertained to the kind of luxuriousness that keeps periodically turning up in his-tory until a new prophet-saint arrives on the scene to de-nounce it and expunge it from the local roster. What is deeply disturbing is that we are sometimes uttering brave and even flaming words about identifying with the poor at the same time that we are rewriting just this kind of past history. But that is another small aside from the large issue, which is real human living and the sacrificial element that is one of the most unfailing preservatives of that "real" in human living. The material poverty and inconvenience just alluded to is but a minor facet of the idea, but I do think it is a facet. Do any of us lack personal experience to remind us that the poorest communities are usually the happiest? Nothing bores like surfeit, nothing divides like ease. If it is true--and it is!--that the religious community does not rightly understand its vocation unless it sees it-self as part of the whole ecclesial community, the cosmic VOLUME 29, 1970 50! + ÷ ÷ Mother Frands REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS community, it is equally true (because it is the same truth turned around) that the religious community will be to the ecclesial community and the cosmic community only What it is to itself and in itself. The creative leader will want to accent this to her sisters so that they can accent it to one another. Not verbally. Just vitallyl we shall be to the Church and to the world only what we are to each other, no more and no less. And what we are to each other will inevitably serve the Church and th~ world. Every superior is called to be a prophet. Perhaps we could even say that this is her highest creative service in allowing and assisting others to realize their potential and release their own creative energies. Now that we are all nicely educated to understand that the prophet is not the one who foretells the future so much as the one who says something about the present, the creative superior's prophet role becomes not only clear but uncomfortable. Jeremiah would doubtless have had a much higher popu-larity rating if he had limited his observations to a pleas-ant, "Shaloml" It is so much easier to say "Shalom" than to say "Do penance, or you shall all perish." Of course, it is best of all to prophesy both penance and peace, but we shall have to keep them in that order. And our own ef-forts to achieve that real human living which has to be rooted in penance and sacrifice give abundant testimony that peace is indeed a consequence of penance performed in love, of sacrifice as a choice of life style rather than just a choice among things. Obviously, obedience is the profoundest expression of sacrifice. And maybe one of the biggest mistakes that eventuated into that maternalism in religious communi-ties which has had us running such high temperatures in recent press years, is that of supposing that obedience is for subjects only. Allow me another aside to interject here another small idea I have been nurturing. It is, that "subjects" is a very poor word substitute for "sisters" and of itself precipitates a whole theological misconception of what and who a superior is. Subjects are persons ruled over. However, a servant does not rule. We need to get rid of the monarchical connotations of "subject." And if we begin by getting rid of the term "subject," we may be already better equipped to understand that the superior, as servant, is the first "abject.in the house of the Lord." Once we establish her as abject, we shall perhaps be less ready to label her "reject." A creative superior will have to excel in obedience. It is part of her role as prophet. She must obey others' needs at their specified time according to their manner and manifestations. She must respond not just to the insights God gives her, but to those He gives her sisters. She should obey their true inspirations as well as her own. She ought to be obedient to the very atmosphere she has helped the sisters to create. For we can never establish a communal modus vivendi and then sit back to enjoy it. Life, like love, needs constant tending. Life needs living as love needs loving. This very thing is essential to crea-tive leadership. Charity is a living thing and, therefore, it is always subject to fracture, disease, enfeeblement, paralysis, atrophy, and death. The prophet is more called to procla!m this truih and to disclaim offenses against this truth than to wear a LUV button on her lapel. It is much easier to waste a LUV banner at a convention than to tend and nurture love in those thousand subtle ways and by those myriad small services for which womanhood is specifically designed, in which religious women should excel, and to which religious superiors are twice called. Real human living which the creative superior is called to promote, can never be anything but spiritual, sacri-ficial, intelligently obedient, and--yes---transcendental. We need not be wary of the word or the concept. The new accent on horizontalism is well placed, for many of us seem to have got a stiffening of the spiritual spine with past concentration on verticalarity. Still, if we adopt a completely horizontal mentality, we are apt to drift off to sleep as concerns genuine spiritual values. After all, the position is very conducive to sleep. We are most fully human when we are vertical. Yes, we reach out horizontally, but our face is upturned to Heaven. The really lovely paradox is that it is only when our eyes are upon God that we are able to see those around us and recognize their needs. They are, after all, each of them "in the secret of His Face." It is a vital serv-ice of creative leadership that it emphasize the essentiality of the transcendental element in real human living. In fact, we could more accurately talk of the transcendental character of full human living than of any transcendental element. The term of our d~stiny is not on earth. There-fore, we shall never rightly evaluate anything that per-tains to earthly existence unless we see it or are attempt-ing to see it from an eternal perspective. And we shall never really live humanly unless we are living spiritually. Certainly we shall never have a religious community that abounds in warm human affection and mutual concern unless it is a religious community concerned primarily with the kingdom of God. We can properly focus on one another only when we are focused on God. For to be fully human is to share in what is divine: "He has made us partakers of His divinity." The most natural superior is, therefore, the most super-natural. And real human living must be based on a val- 4- VOLUME 29, 1970 503 Mother Francis REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS ues system that is transcendental. In these days one need scarcely look far afield to discover what becomes of com-munity when the values system is not transcendental. A group of individual women, each doing her thing, is' by no means the same as a community which has a thing to do. To such a community, each sister brings her own creative contribution, and in it each realizes her creative potential. And a servant of creativity is needed for all this. There is much more to be said about creative leader-ship, and others are equipped to say it much better. One can only speak out of one's own experience and with one's own limitations. However, it has been my observa-tion that cloister6d living does offer a certain insight into humanity which is sometimes different from that of per-sons whose professional qualifications doubtless exceed those of the cloistered nun. It's quite predictable, really. We ought to anticipate expertise in human living from those who have chosen to achieve human living in such close quarters. We should expect some spec~ial insights into humanity from those who see it at such dose range and on such limited acreage. So perhaps these simple thoughts may have some small point to niake. Let me add, then, only a final word about the realiza-tion of creativity and about the full expression of human living. We've talked about sacrifice, penance, obedience, transcendentalism. Recently, our sisters ran up against an example of a truly fulfilled human being. This was a priest in his seventies. At thirty, he'd got drunk. And a ,series of really devilish events conspired to turn that one mistake into a tragedy for which he was not responsible. He was used by bigots, manipulated by the circumstances they precipitated, and he was deprived of his priestly faculties. He sought help from his bishop who said it was all very sad, but he really could not do anything. He took it to Rome and got put in a file because, though it was all very sad, there was no canon to cover it. He turned to fellow priests who agreed it was all very sad, but they were very busy and there was nothing they could do about it. (I am very rejoiced to report that one Franciscan ~riar did try, desperately, to help.) No priest ever had more provocation to bitterness. He was the example classique of being treated as a number and not as a person. So, who could blame him that he wrote such vitriolic articles after he left the Church? Anyone could understand his contempt for the hierarchy. And when he sneered at the Roman Curia, you could only say that, after all, he had really had it. Only, the fact is, he did not leave the Church, nor did he write vitriolic articles, nor did he sneer. For forty years he lived the obscure life Of a workingman. He went to Mass each day. And he persevered in faith. God crowned that faith with exoneration of the past and the restoration of sacerdotal privileges only after~ forty years, but one can speculate on the interior crowning when one knows that this priest now offers dally Mass w~th tears that are neither self-pitying nor bitterly s~lding. He's just happy. He's just grateful. And he has obviously ex-perienced more personal fulfilment than any[of the local protestors, for he is beautiful to behold. And this is not to say that wrongs don't m~tter or that protests should never be lodged. It is merely] to offer for consideration the evidence of what suffering]and silence and unshakable faith can do in the line of creating a .I fully realized human being. Maybe supengrs need to point.up these things a little more than some] of us some-times do. ! I am scribbling some of this manuscript ag I watch at the bedside of a dying sister of ours. It's my !first experi-ence as abbess with death. And somehow all reflections on religious life, on community, on leadership, ~n creativity are turned upon this one deathbed in this one small cell. I lind it a very revealing perspective. Sister l~as a way of pointing at the ceiling regularly. And whdn you ask: "What do you see? What is there?" she does ~ot check in with a "vision." She just says: "Joyl" That is the direction to seek for it, if you want to lind it on earth. 4. VOLUME 29, 1970 JOHN D. KELLER, O.S.A. Some Observations on Religious Formation and Spirituality John D. Keller, O.S.A., is the rector of the Augustinian Study House; 3771 East Santa Rosa Road; Camarillo, California 93010. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS There has been a great deal written and great amounts of private and public discussion on the subject of religious formation and spirituality in recent years. I hesitate, therefore, to add to an already prolonged dialogue. But I am encouraged to submit these observations to the wider review of the readership of this journal quite simply be-cause they are not those of an onlooker or expert but of a p.articipant.1 And they are not springing from the mem-ories (be they good or bad) of one person's own period of formation. I write as a member of a large diocesan seminary col-lege faculty and as rector of a small house of studies in which and out of which both clerical and non-clerical candidates are living life in community and preparing for the active ministry. I am not an expert, am not a scholar: I write not as sociologist or statistician or psy-chologist. I have a short memory as regards my own semi-nary and religious formation; with it I am not dissatisfied. For the past three and a half years I have been involved in establishing and guiding a rather minor innovation in the religious formation of candidates for my own order. For this lack of expertise I make no apologies for, I would judge, it is well that we hear more from those who come from the land of untidy students, not neat theory. It is a land where individuals correspond to no profile and frequently, alas, do not respond to the analyses and predictions of the community position paper makers. There is frequently quite a distance between theory and reality, between the goals and philosophy and plans of 1 This ~rticle is adapted from a talk given at the annual meeting of R~gion V (Western) of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men in Honolulu, Hawaii, November 3-5, 1969. community study groups and their implementation: pro-posed causes do not always neatly bring abdut their pro-posed effects. My intention is not to rehearse what is ~already (per-haps painfully so) known to you: Houses of formation, as the Church, are in a time of change, innovaltion, and ex-perimentation; initiative, Eersonal choice, ",apostolic ex-periences, questioning, persbnal growth, widening of re-sponsibilities, psychological, counseling ard all on the upswing and have occasion,ed, along with other realiza-tions and "discoveries," chafiges and propose~d changes in religious formation and approaches to th~ life of the Spirit. ' I would like to discuss some observations'I have made ¯ in living with and working with candidates and at the same time indicate the dire'ction of my thl~nking. Father Cuyler's recent report for CARA indicdtes that my thoughts are not without companyfl but there are cer-tainly many points of view. My experience i~ with college age candidates for a men's religious fxatern~ty, but these observations seem applicable in most cases ~o women re-ligious as well. I have grotiped my remarkS¯ under these three headings: the candidates; "format"lon~ ; and spirit-ual life. The Candidates It is axiomatic that our candidates are prgducts of our times. They are articulate; they have been ra,ised on visual media; many come from un'settled home cofiditions; they I are casual in their convers~ttion concermng sexual mat-ters; they respect honesty tb a high degree;' yet they are frequently infected with the cynicism which is prevalent in our society; and like youth of every age they are strug-gling with the personal resolution of the~ discrepancy between ideals and reality.,, ' A study of statistics indicates the number ~of candidates is lower than most of us hi~ve, perhaps been accustomed Io o to. What is most difficult t~ make a determination on is whether or not the quahty is better or, worse. Optt-mists have suggested that we have fewer candidates, but they are of better "quality'(--whatever that! might mean. Optimist or not, my observations are threefold: (1) Many candidates are coming forward with far less "background" as regards their prior religious formation than before. There are fewer presuppositions we might make as regards their general religious belief and prac-tices prior to their becoming.candidates for~ the religious life. The same may be said as regards their family train- I g Cornelius M. Cuyler, S.S., The Changing Direction o] thv Semi-nary Today (Washington: CARA, 1969). .I-÷ ÷ VOLUME 2% 197'0 ]. D Keller REVIEW FOR R[ LIGIOUS ing with regard to manners, use of time, their study habits, recreation, family life style, family authority roles, and so forth. These facts are facts of experience. It is not to say, necessarily, that life in community will be more difficult; but it does say that the trend toward longer pe-riods of probation and orientation is called for. There is a great deal that has to be "got used to." And we must be very patient. As regards background, there is a certain ambivalence in many candidates from another quarter. They are af-fected by a certain "image-lag." The monastic and tradi-tional concepts of priest and religious are still frequently present to the man considering seeking admittance to the religious life. Yet, for the most part, the candidate meets not the bell and cowl, but the call to be his own man and shirtsleeves. The men quickly adjust and very soon one-up us with their call for sandals and beards, but this is a crucial point for many as one image dissolves and the search for a new and more realistic one takes place. Candidates must be taken as they are and from where they are. The need at the moment, as perhaps it was also in the days of our own formation period, is for tremen-dous amounts of firm patience. (2) A second observation on our candidates: They ap-pear to me to be no more nor no less generous than other persons of other times and other places and in other walks of life whom I have known. To oversell their generosity at the offset is to provide the seedbed for the bitterness and resentment toward our new members which is sometimes disturbingly present both among men in the houses of formation and superiors of communities. Our candidates are aspirants--aspiring toward the ideal of Christ's generosity--but they are frequently selfish, their motivation (like ours) is not always 100% pure. And so in the proposing of our programs and in the formulation of policy, we want no penal colony; we do not want to poison the well of our trust in the possibility of doing good with a Lud~eran conception of man's ne'er-do-well nature, but we must accept the fact that selfishness and ignorance do coexist with a man's desire to make a gift of his service and of himself. High ideals coupled with selfish or inconsistent behavior do form a part of the men who wish to join our fraternities. This should not cause alarm: To help resolve this is one of the reasons for their being in training. (3) Our candidates, generally, come 'with the intent of joining in with us. They do want to be a part of what is going on in the religious family. A delicate process must be going on in which the men do feel that they are mem-bers of the fraternity according to their present commit-ment. They must be exposed to the community's mere- bership; join in (in differenlt capacities) the work of the fraternity; be closely linked with the style of life and values of the community. But at the same ume their in-volvement must not be too rapid: predetermined patterns and strong identification with the status quo might cancel out the fresh and renewing insights and contnbutxons of young members; premature inclusion might, make neces-sary withdrawal from the group more difficult or the need to withdraw less apparent; full exposure to all the prob-lems and "intimacies" of the family are not appropriate for the recently arrived and ~often can be a source of dis-traction for the real person,al work at hand. The need for committingl oneself to something is real and we dare not involve ourselves, once having accepted a candidate, in stringing hi.m along indefinitely. Candi-dates should become less and less strangers in our midst and more and more our friends and brothers, or they should leave. The task of formation is also that of inte-gration. Formation" The very notion of "formation" is under attack from some quarters: formation involves being "conformed to"; there is a mold, then, and the program is the cookie punch. Formation, then, is a, threat to the person and his own unique realization of himself. Formation, therefore, is bad and one more examp~le of the dehumanization of the individual not only present in the world but here too in the religious life. That is how the argument runs, and it is buttressed with innumerable examples from the folk-lore of community and convent. If this is what formation is.thought to be, or what it has been, it deserves condemnation. But this argumentation against formation may be refined; examples brought more into line with present practice; the extension of its con-demnation reduced--in gen,~ral, made more reasonable; and it will contain a more s~rious threat to what, I feel, must be involved in the intro~duction of new men into our fraternities. Candidates are joining a pre-existing group of men. They are joining themselves to and identifying them-selves with certain expressed, values and goals. There is a conformation element in the introduction of members to the community. This is related to the discussion by Branick of task and formation in the fine article pub-lished in the RrvlEw FOR I~LIGIOUS last year) This is a fact, I feel, which should not be minimized (personalized, yes, but not minimized). On the contrary, we must at- *Vincent P. Branick, S.M., "Formation and Task," R~vmw RELIGIOUS, V. 28 (1969), pp. 12-20. ,4- 4. + Formation VOLUME 29, 1970 509 ÷ 4. ÷ I. D. Keller REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 511) tempt to give in theory, practice, and the lives of our members a clear representation of our goals, our values, our style of life, our standards--who the community .is. We have an obligation to do this: The candidate has to make a judgment, and he has to be a real sharer in or tending toward these values, goals, and so forth or we cannot hope that his life among us in the future will be a happy one. This brings up a problem which is not the subject of these remarks, but which must be faced: We must have a rather clear understanding of who we are and what we stand for as a community. This does not have to be pre-sented in verbal fashion. In fact it is most convincing when it is seen (not read or heard); but if we have no standards, if we are not clearly standing for something, perhaps we should call a moratorium on accepting candi-dates. All of us are aware of the changes taking place in our houses of formation as regards house rules and discipline. I believe most of us agree with the general thrust of these moves and changes; we accept the rationale behind them. With them as a backdrop I would like to make the fol-lowing observations: (1) Freedom of choice and personally confirmed activ-ity are essential to growth in maturity. But people do make objectively bad choices. And when, with reason, a person's choice is thought to be a bad one, he should be told so. And if a person consistently makes bad choices, his candidacy should seriously be questioned. (2) Frequently candidates' principal occupation is that of studies. It is urgent that the academic program be ex-cellent, that it be demanding of the best the student pos-sesses. The good candidate wants to work; he is being prepared to work in the vineyard; if the candidate finds himself unable to work, he and his superiors, may take this as indication that he is not called to the brotherhood. (3) The period of training is real training for. There is a need, at times, for explicit correlation of the training and the work of the apostolate. This is particularly true of men in the college years. Not only the demands of the future apostolate, but also the present need of these Chris-tians to express their Christian concern for fellowman suggests the desirability and the practice of "apostolic works" during the years of formation. It is well that this be with men of the community already in the field; in works which are allied to the present and future works of the fraternity; that it be work with supervision and encouragement; that it be work with specific goals in mind and which meets the real needs of people in the area. But the experience of many is that this work can easily become overextended, irresponsibly carried out, and serve more as steam cock for seminary pressures than re-sponse to the needs of others. This is not to minimize the value and need of apostolic works. On the contrary, it is to say that because they are important, they deserve greater attention. (4) Part of formation today must include training in the forms of religious obedience which are taking shape in our orders. If the form adopted is one which is relying on consultation with the community, a kind of collegial-ity and consensus, then men must be prepared to accept this responsibility and share in it intelligently. What must be developed, in view of failures in practice which I have witnessed in our own formed communities, is the accept-ance of the fact that regardless of the form in which deci-sions are reached (perhaps after discussion, consensus, and voting), .there is follow-through: though perhaps now seen as more "horizontal," obedience is still a virtue of religion and a normal extended expression of the will of God. (5) In general, there is a great need in formation for more leadership, not less. For the most part, students want more models, more example. They need more en-couragement to reach higher. In this regard I would rec-ommend highly John Gardner's two books Excellence and Self-Renewal.4 And so while authoritarianism will never do, there is in some parts a crippling vacuum of inspiring leadership and demanding standards. Spiritual Lile From "formation" I would like to move on to the sub-ject of the spiritual life. And as I do I would like to call attention to the principal point I wish to make, and at this moment violate. Formation and the spiritual life should not be taken as separate elements of introducing new members into our life. There are elements of discipline and training which we can separate and discuss as it they were separate. But the overriding impact upon the candidates in the house of formation must be that all is marked by the Spirit. We are brothers because we are all possessed by the same Spirit: our rules, discipline, relations between older and younger members, concern for each other, should all be formed by and judged against the Book of Life and the book of our life together. In this regard, conformity to good educational prac- ' John W. Gardner, Excellence: Can We Be Equal and Excellent Too. Renewal: The Individual and the Innovating Society (New York: Harper and Row, 1956). Formation VOLUME 2% 1970 4" 4" ÷ ~. D. Keller REVIEW FOR RELIGIOU5 tice seems imperative. Theory and practice must go side by side. And if we must err (as human it is), far better to be heavier on practice than on theory. Let the house of formation practice a real poverty, let the students realize the cost of living, the budget and the crimp of doing without--far better than theorizing. Let there be good liturgy in the house and let it be a central work and con-cern of the community--far better than a course in lit- There might be one exceptionmthe matter of prayer. Many students are inexperienced in the practice of forms of prayer encouraged in our lives. This most personal and delicate area must receive special attention. If riot, we in-troduce the. possibility of impersonal prayer and innumer-able "periods of prayer" which become education in non-prayer. All of our houses, but especially our houses of forma-tion, should show forth this authenticity: 1.ire in the Spirit finds expression in the life of the community--a kind of symbiosis where there is an unconscious flow and tele-vance of one to the other. In all the seminaries and houses of formation I have come in contact with recently, there is a noteworthy point of emphasis being given in the task of spiritual formation. This is the increased importance and use of what has tra-ditionally been called "spiritual direction." It goes by dif-ferent names and the priests and religious involved in it have varying competence, but its value as being very per-sonal and very helpful is quickly appreciated by our can-didates. Though conferences and classes remain necessary in providing a familiarity with our religious tradition, no house of formation should neglect this tremendous oppor-tunity, nor should religious superiors neglect the effort to provide easy access to the spiritual counselors our young members need. One final point with regard to the spiritual life--the much discussed question of religious chastity and celibacy. My experience in discussing the matter with college stu-dents, candidates for the diocesan priesthood and for the religious life, has been that it is far more a problem for journalists, theologians, and men who are already celi-bates than it is for these men. That is not to say that they do not have trouble with the virtue of chastity, nor diffi-culty in whether or not to make the choice for celibacy, or whether or not they are Opposed to celibacy as an obliga-. tory thing. It is to say that they can see celibacy held as both an ideal and a requirement and feel that they can make a personal, non-compelled, and religiously mean-ingful choice in favor of it. This contradicts the conclu- sions of the recent CARA study on the Seminarians ot the Sixties," but I report to you my personal experience. General Observations I would like to bring these remarks to a close with several general observations on our present situation. There are many possibilities for styles of formation. Most communities are presently in the midst of inaugu-rating revised programs. What needs to be said is that most probably many forms will "work" and different combinations of elements can overcome the deficiencies of a program. Students are willing to overlook the inade-quacies, or at least give them their understanding, as long as we show ourselves aware of them and attempt to compensate--and all the time show the interest which proves we care about them as candidates for full mem-bership and our brothers now. Houses of formation and formation programs are not, nor will they be, perfect. As our congregations and the Church herself, the house of formation will always stand in need of reformation. This fact itself can be educative for our students: houses of training will not be ideal, as life in the ministry and full membership in the commu-nity will not be ideal. This might be a source of rein-forcement for the sense of reality in the candidate needed for mature living and decision. In these moments there is a great need for leadership and encouragement in the works of formation as there is in the Church in general. For new members in particular, uncertainty and hesitancy on the part of those to whom they turn for leadership can be not only crippling but also compound the lack of sureness (despite their some-time's cocky appearances) which surrounds the young. In conclusion, may I point out the obvious and be ex-cused for underlining that which stands in bold print: In the selection of personnel for houses of formation, hap-piness in their own calI must be the primary requisite for such an appointment. And yet one more point: most of our houses have small groups of students and even where the groups are large the cadre system is frequently being employed. This means total immersion for the members of the staff and large amounts of wear and tear. Each member of the entire community does well to attempt to offer them his understanding and cooperation. This, fre-quently, is a very large contribution to the task which is vitally important to all of us, that of initiating new mem-bers into our fraternities. ~Raymond H. Potvin and Antanas Subiedelis, Seminarians ]or the Sixties: ,,1 National Survey (Washington: CARA, 1969), p. 89. + + + Formatlo. VOLUME 29, 1970 HUGH KELLY, s.J. The Heart oj Prayer ÷ Hugh Kelly, is on the staff of St. Francis Xavier's; Gardiner Street; Dublin 1, Ireland. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 51,t "Lord, teach us how to pray." "When you pray say 'Our Father' " (Lk 11:1) That isa petition we must constantly address to our Lord. We must not expect to be taught how to pray once and for all so that we could exercise the art at will, as if we were masters of it. We must constantly be trying, ex-perimenting, learning. Of course if things between God and us were as they should be and as they once were, then prayer would be the most spontaneous, the most natural act of our life. It would not need to be learned. It would be as spontaneous as the smile of a child to its mother; as natural as the thrust upward of the cornstalk to the heat and light of the sun. There was something of that quality in the prayer of the Psalmist. The world about him spoke at once to him of the Creator. Everything in the universe pointed to God and invited him to pray. The sea, sky, earth, the'trees, the storm, the snow, the animals --all of these reminded him that he must praise God for them. Such a prayer was as natural, as necessary, as the act of breathing. It had not to be learned. It was a func-tion of man's activity. For reasons we need not stop to consider, that quality is no longer found in our prayer, or very seldom. Our relations with God are not so spontaneous. Man has so changed the world that it is difficult to see the hand of God in it. As a result prayer has become a complex thing, an art, that has to be learned and practiced with effort. Consider the excellent book of Cardinal Lercaro, Meth-ods of Prayer. It is a study of the different ways of prayer proposed by some of the recognized masters of the spiri-tual life. Each has his own approach and method of pro-cedure. But such methods could not be called spontane-ous or simple. They are elaborately studied. One of the masters, treated of by Lercaro is St. Ignatius. Here is how this saint introduces a prayer, the first meditation in the Spiritual Exercises: "This meditation is made with the three powers of the soul, and the subject is the first, second and third sin. It contains the preparatory prayer, two preludes, three principal points and a colloquy" (n. 46). Whatever the merits of such a form of prayer it could not be called simple or spontaneous. When we consider these different methods, which are so complex and so systematic, we may well ask if there is not somewhere in them a core or kernel of a purer prayer. If we unwrap the different layers, the steps, the tech-niques, shall we find at last something that is the heart or essence of prayer? "Is there.an essential prayer?" asks Y. Congar, O.P., "total, simple, which exceeds and em-braces all particular prayers?'; (Jesus Christ, p. 98). Is there something at the centre of each method, which is the same for all and which constitutes them true prayer? Something which, if absent, will leave them merely empty methods or systems? None of the commonly received definitions of prayer seem to give us what we seek. The definition of St. John Climacus, which is accepted by the catechism, that "prayer is an elevation of the soul to God" implies too much of a deliberate effort--that it is a matter of our own efforts and our own mmauve. It might equally apply to the study of theology, especially as it says noth-ing about love. The definition of St. Augustine comes closer to our aim: that prayer is a reaching out to God in love. Here there is indicated something spontaneous and natural; the role of love gets its recognition. But perhaps it speaks too much of our need of God and may be trans-lated too exclusively into a prayer of petition. It conveys the image the saint expressed in his phrase menclici Dei sumus--we are God's beggars; we stand before the Lord with outstretched hands. Our need of God is total; but our indigence is not our only approach to Him or our most immediate; it is not the ultimate root of our prayer. The words which kept St. Francis of Assisi in ecstasy for a whole night, "'Deus mi et omnia,'" "My God and my all," are certainly close to the heart of prayer. But they miss the essential constituent and inspiration of our prayer, that it is made to our Father. Obviously it is from our Lord alone that we must learn what is the heart of prayer. "Lord,. teach fis how to pray." It is instructive to note the promptness with which He answered that request, as if He had been waiting for it: "When you pray say 'Our Father.' " The condition of our most perfect prayer must be our assurance that we are addressing our Father, that we are addressing Him as Christ did. We are thus availing ourselves of the privilege which Christ won for us. When He said to Mary Magdalen, on the first Easter morning beside the opened empty tomb, "I ascend to My Father and to yours," He summarized His work of redemption: He ex-pressed the full dimension of His achievement. When we ÷ 4- Heart ot Prayer VOLUME 2% 1970 Hugh Kelly REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS say "Our Father" with the assurance which His Beloved Son has given us, we no longer pray merely as creatures, we are not considered by God as the beggars who stand at the door, still less as the puppies which catch the scraps falling from the table. We know we are the children of the household who have their rightful pla~e at the family board. Consider how our Lord emphasized the fatherhood of God in the Sermon on the Mount. The chief purpose of the discourse was to instruct us in our role as children: "That you may be the children of your Father, who is in heaven." Stretching out His hands to the simple folk, the fathers and mothers who sat around, He asked: "Which of you would give your child a stone, when he asks for bread? or a scorpion when he asks for a fish?" We can sense the movement of indignant rejection of such con-duct, in their faces and gestures. No, no; they would never dream of treating their little ones in that way. And then He points the lesson: "If you, evil though you are, can give good things to your children, how much more your Father in heaven will give good things to those who ask?" The little spark of love in a human father's heart which will urge him to be good to his child, what is it to the love in the heart of our Father in Heaven, from whom comes all parents' love? Nemo tam Pater, there is no father like God, St. Augustine reminds us. How much His Sonship meant to Christ, we gather from every page' of the Gospel. It is the source of His joy, confidence, exaltation. It is the support of His strength, His endurance, His resolve to carry out the mis-sion for which He was sent into the world. His life was entirely oriented to the will of His Father, was totally responsive to it. That orientation, that dependence, is His chief lesson to us. We too are sons of God and it should be the deliberate effort of our spiritual life to give our divine adoption its true place in our dealings with God, and not least in our prayer. "Our Father" might well serve us as the true heart of prayer. But there is another phrase of Christ, equally short, and perhaps even more full of suggestion, which might well give us what we are seeking. He spoke the phrase on the occasion of the return of the disciples from the short trial mission on which He had sent them to the cities of Israel to prepare the way for His own coming (Lk 10:17; Mt 11:25). Seeing their naive, childish joy in their suc-cess--" Lord, even the demons were subjected to us"--He thanked His Father for revealing to those little ones the spiritual truths He had concealed from the wise and prudent: "Yes, Father, so it was pleasing in your sight." Ira, Pater: "Yes, Father." This is His shortest prayer, and it is perhaps His most comprehensive one. It gives us His abiding attitude of mind to His Father. It reveals that His soul and spirit were always open to the Father, al-ways fully responsive to the Father's will. At first sight they indicate merely a mood of resignation and accept-ance, such as He showed especially in Gethsemane and on Calvary: "Not My will but Thine be done." But the words "Yes, Father" have a wider and deeper connota-tion. They cover all the emotions and reactions which were His as He looked on His Father's face. They ex-pressed not merely acceptance and submission; they con-vey approval, admiration, joy, praise, and most of all a loving agreement with all His Father is and does and asks. "It cannot be questioned," says Yves Congar, O.P., "that the prayer of loving, joyous adherence to the will of the Father was coextensive with the whole earthly life of Jesus" (Jesus Christ, 'p. 93). Perhaps in these words "Yes, Father" we too can find the heart and essence of our prayer and in some remote way may learn the prayer of our Lord. After all we are sons of the Son; we have within us His spirit who inspires us to say "Abba Father" --we may then without presumption make bold to say "Our Father" or "Yes, Father." These phrases indicate a prayer which is contempla-tion. They give the attitude of a soul which is facing God, looking at Him, listening to Him. "All prayer," says Y. Congar, "is communion in the will and mystery of God. This essential prayer consists in being receptive and wholly offered to God, so that He might be God not only in Himself---but also in His creatures" (Jesus Christ, p. 98). This prayer opens out the soul to catch the influ-ence of God. It looks to God expectantly to see, to learn, to receive, to respond, to admire, to accept, to praise, to approve, to thank. It mirrors in some way the riches of God. It will try to express itself sometimes in our Lord's words: "All My things are Thine and Thine are Mine" (Jn 17:10); sometimes in the words of the Psalmist: "What have I in heaven but Thee and there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides Thee" (Ps 72:26). St. Francis expressed this attitude to God in the words "Deus mi et omnia"--"My God and my all." Thomas "~ Kempis has voiced it in his great hymn of love: "A loud cry in the ears of God is that ardent affection of soul which says: My God, my love, Thou are all mine and I am all Thine; enlarge me in Thy love" (Imitation III:5). This is a rich prayer in which the constituents of all other kinds of prayers are found. It can register adoration, praise, thanks, petition, reverence, submission, offering, accept-ancemall the different moods of the soul when it feels its proximity to God. The phrase "Yes, Father" gives an at-mosphere, an attitude which "is one of total prayer, in which seeing and self-directing to what is seen, receiving ÷ ÷ ÷ Heart oy Prayer VOLUME 29, 1970 ÷ ÷ ÷ Hugh Kelly REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS and self-giving, contemplation and going out from self, are all present, indistinguishably at the very core" (von Balthasar, Prayer, p. 65). This is substantially the re-sponse to the call of God. It is the response of the boy Samuel: "Here I am, for you called me" (1 Sam $:5). God made the first advance to man and spoke to him in His word: a word of love, an invitation to hear what God had planned and designed for His creatures~"Prayer," says von Balthasar again, "is communication in which God's word has the initiative and we at first are simple listeners. Consequently what we have to do is, first, listen to God's word and then through that word learn how to answer" (Prayer, p. 12). When this prayer of contemplation, of presence, reaches a certain degree of intensity, as with the mystics, it will be beyond the reach of analysis or explanation. The soul will remain passive, absorbed in God, knowing only how sweet it is to be so close to Him. But that state of intensity will not be frequent. Normally those who pray in this way are able to give some account of their meeting with God, to distinguish certain forms and fea-tures of prayer, and to realize how rich it is. We have access to the Father only through the Son. We are the sons of God because we share the sonship of Christ. Our prayer then must have the qualities of the prayer of Christ--we can speak in His words and make His prayer ours. The Father will recognize the prayers of His adopted sons as the blind Isaac recognized the voice of his younger son. There are certain notes and tones very frequent in the prayer of Christ which we must make our own. The Mass mentions these prayers explicitly: "He gave you thanks and prayers." And the Gospel testifies abundantly to them. They should be the chief features in our prayer. We should praise God just because He is God and most worthy of our praise. Our praise is the expression of the desire we have that He may be God in Himself and in His creatures. It is the theme of the first part of the Lord's prayer; it is the most frequent prayer of the Psalms. It is the highest, the most disinterested form of prayer. It is the opening note of the Magnificat, the prayer of our Lady spoken when the mystery of the Incarnation was at its newest. If prayer at its best is a loving attachment to God's will, then the prayer of praise must be the fullest attachment to God's will because it is God's will primarily that He should be God. The prayer of thanks may often be a variant of the prayer of praise. "We give Thee thanks for Thy great glory" the Church proclaims in the Gloria. We thank God for being Himself. Even if we owed nothing to Him, He would be most worthy of thanks just for being Him- self, the all powerful, the all perfect. But while fie is ill-finitely great He is infinitely good to us and therefore we must never cease to thank Him. That was the abiding mood of our Lord's soul: "Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me. I know that Thou hearest me al-ways" (Jn 12:41). Our prayer then as sons of God must be as far as we can the the prayer of the only begotten Son, whose Sonship we share. It must express the fullest at-tachment to the will of the Father. It must be compact of adoration, submission, acceptance, all of these as expres-sions of love. We are justified in thinking that our Lady's prayer was of this kind, but in the highest degree. Her prayer was in a unique way a prayer of presence. It was fed from a double source. There was her interior union with the Holy Spirit who had come upon her and had done mighty things for her. But her interior contemplation of God and His design in the Incarnation was immensely deepened by her contact with her Son, the Word made flesh tlu'ough her. In a unique way she was in contact with the Word of God. She was more in contact with it than St. John and could give a greater testimony than his "What we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life--the life was made manifest and we saw it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us" (1 Jn 1:1-2). In the visible presence of her Son she was always gazing on the Word, always listening to it. We are told explicitly of her study of Him, how she kept all His words and deeds in her heart and turned them over in con-templation. This was most truly a prayer of presence. She had but to open her eyes and ears and her mind would be flooded with light. How deeply would His words and deeds speak to one so disposed to hear, to a handmaid so responsive to the Father. When she turned over in her mind what she saw with her senses, what floods of light, what insight and consolation came to her. Who could tell of her growth in the knowledge of God in the long silent years at Nazareth? What more appro-priate prayer could she make than "Yes, Father" in which she gave a wholehearted approval to God's designs? On the eve of His passion Our Lord could give a sad repri-mand to the Apostles--"So long a time have I been with you and you have not known Me." We feel that He could not have given such a reprimand to His Mother though her insight and knowledge were gradual and ever grow-ing. Her prayer must have been an openness to God, a love of His will, a resolve to accept it and do it that could be found only in one so deeply concerned with the eternal designs of God. + 4- + Heart o] Prayer VOLUME 29, 1970 519 Perhaps in such phrases as "Our Father" or "Yes, Father" we are at the heart 9f prayer and can find in them that which was the core of all the methods. Perhaps if we bypass the preludes, the techniques, the preliminaries, and enter 'at once into the presence of God and greet Him in such words, we shall experience that our prayer will become what it should be: natural and spontaneous, a genuine communication with God. Perhaps we are too eager to do the talking, to tell God "various things He knows already." We try to take the lead in the interviews --we expect God to be the patient listener. But surely this is a reversal of roles: "What do we do, when at prayer, but speak to a God who long ago revealed himself to man in a word so powerful and all-embracing that it can never be solely of the past but continues to resound through the ages?" (yon Balthasar, Prayer, p. 12). In the words, "Yes, Father" or "Our Father" we take up the true atti-tude of prayer. We stand before God, we listen to Him, we wait to know His will and His good pleasure; and these short forms of prayer will reveal our response to His word, our docility and submission, our gratitude and praise, and first and last our love. 4. 4. Hugh Kelly REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 5~0 ROBERT J. OCHS, S.J. Imagination, Wit, and Fantasy in Prayer Robert: How do you mean? voices? Joan: I hear voices telling me what to do. They come from God. Robert: They come from your imagination. Joan: Of course. That is how the messages of God come to us. riG. B. Shaw, St. Joan. This article is in the nature of a plea, even a kind of court plea, for a fcesh look at what used to be called dis-cursive prayer. Inasmuch as it is a court plea, it is a plea of "not guilty." This fresh look might exonerate dis-cursive prayer of two charges commonly leveled against it: of being dry meditation and of being the lowest rung on the prayer ladder, a step quickly taken on the way to the higher prayer of quiet. As we shall see, these two charges are not unconnected. If discursive prayer runs quickly dry, it is no wonder people look for something higher and it deserves its bottom rung. "Exonerating discursive prayer of guilt" is a metaphor. But exonerating those who practise it from their guilt complex is not. They do feel vaguely guilty before God and themselves when they are unsuccessful at it; and when successful they still feela kind of-inferiority com-plex about its lowly status, a feeling that by now they should have advanced beyond it to the prayer of quiet. They feel the only way of progress is up, and so they re-peat their occasional efforts at the prayer of quiet, with middling success. There would be scant harm in this if the prestige of the prayer of quiet did not relegate them to the role of spiritual slum dwellers, blocking their imaginations from exploring the possibilities which lie hidden under the forbidding category of "discursive prayer." This plea has two parts. One is to broaden the scope of discursive prayer to include fantasy, affective reactions (annoyance, complaining, rebellion as well as fervor; 4- 4- 4- Robert J. Ochs, S.J., is a faculty member of Bellar-mine School of Theology; North Aurora, Illinois 60542. VOLUME 29, 1970 521 ÷ ÷ ÷ R. 7. Ochs, SJ. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS desolation as well as consolation), and, not least, wit, an imaginative use of our heads. The other part is histori-cal, a look at the original narrowing of scope of dis-cursive prayer in the 16th and 17th centuries, which soon brought religious writers [ace to face with the widespread "problem of dryness" and issued in the recommendation of the prayer of simplicity as a solution. Not that it was a bad solution. The prayer of quiet is an excellent method for those who can use it. Leonard Boase's book The Prayer of Faith, recommending it again so persuasively-some years ago, came as a real release for many. But I would venture a guess that for every person who was liberated by it, two others eventually felt them-selves hampered, and dissipated their efforts to explore further in a discursive way. And Father Boase's sugges-tion that the night of sense (which includes a night of the intellect), an intense but brief period for great souls like John of the Cross, lasts a lifetime for the common lot, sounded like a sentence to an unlivable life in the twi-light. Boase conceived the work of the mind and imagina-tion as a linear, undialectical, and conflictless a.bsorption of the truths of revelation, that reaches its saturation point rather quickly. It is pretty much limited to medi-tation "in the sense of methodical, analytic study of sacred truth" (p. 47). Not surprisingly, such a simple absorption process can hardly be expected to last a life-time, and before long "the sponge is full" (~i6). Further activity of the mind can only lead to boredom, and so one had best turn to a quiet contemplative view of the whole. Reading Boase one gets the impression that the evolution of prayer is all rather tranquil and uneventful. No doubt our poor prayer seems to prove him right. And yet, one cannot help suspecting that beneath the placid surface of our not very exciting prayer a passion-ate world is seething. The itinerary Boase sketches (ad-mittedly, I am caricaturing this excellent book a bit) takes us along the periphery of this turbulent interior world instead of through it. One has only to recall the eventful cri~es which mark the milestones in any psychoanalysis to sense that something is missing. Ronald Laing has sug-gested that for all our interiority we moderns are living in another Dark Age, before the Age of Exploration of the interior world. The model for "appropriating the faith" might well be exploration and confrontation rather than simple absorption. The eminent historian of modern spirituality, Louis Cognet, has recently tried to get at the origins of this atrophy of discursive prayer. In some homey and yet polemical pages (Les probl~mes de la spiritualitd; Ch. 5; also La prikre du chrdtien, Ch. 8--both Paris: Cerf, 1967), he has attacked what he feels to be a centuries old misunderstanding. The anti-meditation bias arose out of a series of historical accidents in the 16th century and has narrowed the scope of prayer ever since. As he tells it, theology in the late Middle Ages had taken on a highly rationalistic form, becoming a domain of specialists, cut off from interior sources. Spirituality was divorced from it, and therefore divorced from any searching theological activity. Methodical prayer, using simple meditation man-uals, was introduced to provide the uncultured with something more accessible. Thus "meditation" came to be associated with this new idea of untheological prac-tical prayer. Its practice spread so that even the educated depended on these manuals for prayer. By the time so-called mental prayer had become general practice, the impression was also well established that it built on a narrow intellectual base~ The theologically educated lived split lives. However imaginatively they might use their wits otherwise, "mental" prayer engaged their minds very little. Frustration was not long in coming. Cognet is struck by the simultaneous emergence all over Europe of a new problem for the religious writers of this period~ the prob-lem of dryness and disgust. Theorists had to find a way of explaining and coping with the distaste which seemed to afflict educated people who embarked on mental prayer for any length of time. The generally accepted so-lution was to suppose that discursive prayer was just an elementary stage. Dryness was taken as a sign that this stage had served its purpose and should be left behind for more simple forms. Discourse in words and images was to give way to a contemplative look. This scheme became generally adopted during the 17th century. We find it in St. Teresa and John of the Cross whose authority has made it accepted in treatises on prayer down to our own day. It was a good solution for the problem so conceived. It served to highlight the special nature of the prayer of quiet, for which many had a real capacity. But others who could not follow this way out, whose prayer re-mained obstinately discursive for all their efforts to fol-low the "normal" trajectory toward the prayer of sim-plicity, felt condemned to the meagre means available at the elementary level of the spiritual life. Cognet claims that this inferiority complex has hampered growth in prayer ever since. A realignment is therefore called for, Cognet insists. We must especially remind ourselves that the "traditional view" is relatively modern, and ruled by a particular view of prayer conceived to answer concrete problems of the VOLUME 29, Z970 4. ÷ 4. R. I. Ochs, sd. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS late Middle Ages and early Modern period. It was not always so. As far as we are in a position to reconstitute the prayer, of St. Augustine, for example, we must con-clude that he remained'discursive all his life, for all the contemplative aspects of his'prayer. This discursive form did not keep him from the heights of prayer. Nor did it keep Cardinal Berulle on an elementary level. Above all, we should emphasize that these psychological forms of one's prayer.are secondary, that it is one's relation to God in prayer which is fundamental. We should encourage a freer, more pragmatic attitude toward these forms, and arrange them less into stages. The psychological mani-festations of one's relationship to God are more a matter of temperament and style, and even of periods of one's life, which follow a rhythm back and forth from dis-cursive to "contemplative, rather than a set progression from one to the other. Even St. Teresa wrote abundant narratives about her prayer; and Jeanne de Chantal, after a period when she could not start the Our Father without falling into ecstasy, used discursive forms in the same way as the rest of us. Obviously, more is at stake in correcting this mis-understanding than freeing discursively oriented people from their inferiority complexes. (It is a bit hard to imagine vast numbers of people consciously suffering from the classical division into stages, in our contempo-rary scramble for any form of prayer which makes sense.) What is at stake is breaking open the category of dis-cursive prayer, giving scope for people to explore it with more confidence of finding something. At stake is healing the rift between theology and prayer in our own religious sensibility, learning to pray with our minds as well as our hearts (and theologize with our affectivity as well as our heads). There is no mindless prayer of the heart. Human affectivity is saturated with meaning. Closing the gap between spirituality and theology means breaking down prejudices built into the Christian prayer consciousness over generations, prejudices that thinking in prayer can only be idle curiosity, speculation about bloodless truths, asking impertinent questions pi-ous minds were never meant to ask. But there is the book of Job to make it clear that our minds were meant to ask. Surely a great curiosity about divine things is not foreign to prayer. Man was meant to argue with God. The Lord even demands that His people ask an explanation from him. The prophets had questions to put to the Lord who called them. And Mary answered the angel with the question: "How shall these things be?" Besides the prejudice against asking questions in prayer, there is another against using the imagination. Imagination and fantasy could well be what is required to bring heart and mind back together in prayer. Both theology and spirituality, as they are now, suffer from not being sufficiently tooted in the imagination. Discursive prayer does employ imagination and fantasy, but in a feeble, and, one might say, witless way. What is needed is a bolder use of fantasy.in prayer, a parallel to the bold-ness recommended above in asking questions of God. The Esalen Institute, for example, has uncovered re-markable abilities to fantasize in outwardly bland people. Its use of fantasy can teach us something. In guided fan-tasies, for instance, any blocks that occur are looked on as highly revelatory. A person embarking on a fantasy trip through his own body may suddenly find his body impenetrable, or, once inside, find he has no access to his heart. The important element to note here, for method, is that the person follows his fantasy, that there are things the person can and cannot do spontaneously in fantasy, because of their meaningful affective charge. This is much more concrete than our usual attempts to imagine our-selves present in a gospel scene where we try to elicit "appropriate" feelings and, when they are not forth-coming, dismiss our inability unreflectively as just an-other bad meditation. Closer to what masters like St. Ignatius must have had in mind is one case I am familiar with, where a man who had been unable to pray for years began a retreat by imagining himself at Bethlehem but found he could not enter the cave. Feelings of un-worthiness, and of simply not being welcome, blocked his fantasy at that point. He and his director interpreted this, not as an inability to "make the contemplation," but as a sign that he was praying; and he continued to imag-ine himself barred at the entrance to the cave in his repe-titions of the contemplation. After two days of this, dur-ing which the resentments and hopes of his whole past life welled up within him, he reported that he was in-vited to go in. The fantasy, with the block and its resolu-tion, was so much the man himself that it became the carrier for a real encounter and meant the turning point of his spiritual life. These short examples of how the use of mind and imag-ination might be broadened are, of course, not cited merely as .gimmicks, but hopefully as indications of a wider dimension and as reminders of how sluggishly we have used them in the past. Limitations of space preclude elaborating them more. Numerous qualifications would also be in order---discernment to avoid equating the in-terior world with God and our feelings with his Holy Spirit. But God does speak to us in our thoughts and. imaginations, or He cannot reach us at all. + ÷ ÷ VOLUME 29, As a conclusion let me cite the words Robert Bolt gives to Thomas More in A Man/or All Seasons: "God made the angels to show him splendor--as he made animals [or innocence and plants for their simplicity. But Man he made to serve him wittily, in the tangle o[ his mind." The way through a tangle is discursive and dialectical. + + + R. 1. O~h,, S.]. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS JOSEPH T. FORGUE, F.S.C. Religious Life and the Educational ApostOlate Apparent to many engaged in the task of reformulation of the structures of the religious life is the inadequacy of mere personalism to remedy mechanical institutionalism. What seems to be necessary is an approach at once task oriented while incorporating the wide range of personal concerns. The following--an interpretation of the docu-ment The Brother of the Christian Schools in the World Today: A Declaration-- is offered as a model of just such an approach. What are the brothers? It might be said that they are men who, with lucid faith and burning zeal, serve the poor through Christian education, by establishing them-selves as a disciplined community. To be sure, there are many persons with lucid faith and burning zeal; many who serve the poor; many committed to Christian educa-tion; and there are many disciplined communities. The Brothers of the Christian Schools, I suggest, are a unique dynamic convergence of faith and zeal expressed through Christian education on behalf of the poor, facilitated and sustained through the mechanism and mystery of dis-ciplined community life. Christian Education in Service of the Poor In the first place there is the logical and historical pri- ÷ ority that leads to understanding the brothers' coming ÷ together as task oriented. To be sure, the quality of their + corporate lives must go beyond the task; but the task-- Christian education in the service of the poor--is the ini-tial and sustaining motivation for the community. To b~ concerned with an educational task is to partici- ¯ pate in the cumulative process of building the "new age of mankind." It is to foster the development of the noosphere, that network of human cohesion based on the twin dynamism of knowledge and love. To educate is to 527 Joseph T. Forgue, F.S.C., is a faculty member of Chris-tian Brothers Col-lege; Memphis, Tennessee ~8104. VOLUME 29, 1970 ¯ J, T, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS provoke and to evoke an ever increasing growth in criti-cal self-consciousness, to elicit insightful understanding of the structural realities of the world. Education that is in the service of the poor is educa-tion which recognizes that the thrust of history pulsates primarily among the poor. Education that is Christian is education which recognizes that all structures are on be-half of persons, aiding them toward personal and com-munal growth in responsible freedom. Christian educa-tion in service of the poor responds to those who suffer from the imperfections in society and understands that to realistically participate in its task, there must be real and co-ordinated contact with all strata of society for the sake of societal change. The educational task of the brothers, then, ought to be both comprehensive: urban, rural, suburban; and far-reaching: formal and informal. Urban education seeks to minister to the persons who suffer most immediately the brunt of the radical trans-formation in the human self-image caused by the tech-nologization of society. The historic thrust of the broth-ers adds the further dimension: a preference for the. poor of the inner city. Rural education seeks to foster the em-pathy and radicalization necessary for those not touched directly by urban awareness--and this to develop a sense of responsibility for the solutions to the problems of the city. The educational task in the suburbs--similar to the rural task---seeks to promote a sense of unity with, and responsibility for, the city. The result aimed at: the shat-tering of isolationist attitudes reinforced by provincial governmental boundaries. In order to reach all the people, the comprehensive ed-ucational task must be far-reaclfing. The brothers are called to operate through the academic framework of the school (formal education) and to include as an integral dimension of their work various educational endeavors that are outside the regular academic structure (informal education). Disciplined Community Just as historically John de La Salle was confronted by the educational task that was needed and in meeting that need discovered the need for a task force, so the contem-porary need of Christian education in service of the poor requires the existence of a disciplined community. The interpersonal dimensions of men risking their lives to live together in celibate community are not to be slighted, but such dimensions are not the reason for the brothers' coming together as an institute larger than one community. If such were the reason, the need for cor-porate structure apart from or beyond the "local group" would be unnecessary. Hence in describing the Brothers of the Christian Schools such considerations are omitted. They are presupposed as necessary for any human com-munity; they do not specify the uniqu.eness of the or-ganized religious life. The Brothers of the Christian Schools are disciplined-- that is, they have structured aspects of their living to-gether to hold up to themselves the continual demands oI the educational task. Traditionally such discipline has been called poverty, chastity, and obedience. Under the rubric of poverty, the brothers deny them-selves the personal use of individual salaries based on the market value o~ their work, pooling their regular moneys to manifest that they have staked their lives upon each other. Chastity refers to their decision.to live a non-family life style, symbolizing (and making really available) openness to personal mobility to insure meeting the fluc-tuating needs of the corporate task. Subjecting the indi-vidual direction of their careers to the approval of the corporation, the brothers under the rubric of obedience have decided that their individual efforts on behalf of mankind shall be united to, and co-ordinated with, the corporate task. To the traditional disciplines are added two others: one corporate: liturgy--the other personal: meditation. In liturgy the community agrees to meet in communal wor-ship. That is, it agrees to attempt to understand its re-sponse to the world in terms of meeting the demands of the Mysterious Unconditioned. The community under-stands its mission as the mission of the Church: mediating through the dynamic presence of the Spirit, the Father as revealed in Ghrist. Besides the communal necessity to come to grips with the presence of mystery, there is the demand for each to do so in his unique "being addressed" by God. Hence the need for meditation. The disciplined community is a community: which necessitates the decision to enter into regular, serious, personal dialogue on the part of whomever the demands of the corporate task have called to be comrades. There is the concern that comes of risking one's life upon the persons who share the taskmthe concern which enables the brothers to sustain their lives of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Further, the community is composed of brothers who wholeheartedly participate in the common work required when men live together, who foster the formal and in,or-real study and thought necessary for developing corporate self-understanding of their life in Christ, and who, fi-nally, simply let their hair down together in joyful cele-bration of their comradeship. VOLUME ~9 1970 ]. T. Forgue REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 550 Faith and Zeal The members of a disciplined community who are en-gaged in the corporate task of Christian education on be-half of the poor manifest the spirit of faith and zeal. The faith of such brothers is the free response they give to the experience of being addressed at the very core of their selfhood by the Absolutely Unconditioned--me-diated in our traditions by Christ. Further, such faith is global since it understands the free response to be neces-sarily comprehensive, relating to all men everywhere--a catholic faith. The faith of these brothers is futuric since they understand that their free and global response is to the demand that they live their lives on behalf of the fu-ture of men--to build the Body of Christ. The free, global, futuric faith has yet another dimen-sion: it is grateful. Such faith rests upon the gracious cumulative presence of God in history; it is a faith me-diated in time by the Church. Finally, the brothers rec-ognize their faithful response to be ambiguous, always under scrutiny, ever in need of perfection through the systematic prophetic questioning of its authenticity--a faith on the brink of unbelief. Just as the brothers' spirit of faith has five marks, so may the power of their zeal be sustained and characterized in a fivefold manner. The zeal of the brothers is manifested by their remain-ing articulate about the multiple dimensions of their professional field--education--and the specific academic discipline of their speciality. Since effective work demands coherence and specifica-tion the zeal of the brothers is characterized by planning. They must decide to operate on the corporate and indi-vidual level in response to the researched needs of the world as reflected in the specific areas they find them-selves. Such operation must be systematically efficient and highly co-ordinated. The brothers must be guided by the spirit of Romans 5:1,5, living the reality of zeal in terms of patience and persistence. They must suffer the presence of obstacles to their goals, take heart in the struggles they meet, and develop a sense of humor that will keep them from b-solutizing any aspect of their task. The brothers, giving every calorie of energy to their task, will live in the hope which is born of worthwhile effort. Finally, the zeal which sustains a group of Christian Brothers must develop a sensitivity to the real needs of the poor in their midst: that they might burn with a zeal that is salvific for men. Unknown to them will be de-structive fanaticism or self-aggrandizing complacency. Conclusion Such is a suggested model for understanding the broth-ers and their being-together. Unless religious operate out of some such corporate understanding; unless they ac-tually do act with an impact that is at once local, regional, national, and international; then there seems to be little justification for the life style they have chosen. + + ÷ vOLUME 29, 1970 CHARLES A. SCHLECK, C.S.C. Community Life: Problematic and Some Reflections Charles Schleck, C.S.C., lives at 2300 Adeline Drive; Bur-lingame, California 94010. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS The problem of community life in religious institutes today is beset by many different factors both those of an environmental and ideological nature. There are first of all the conflicting currents of pressure with which man is faced in our contemporary societyA There is, for example, the problem of mobility, the fact that men can and do move around much more quickly than before, from one job to another, from one profession to another, from one place of residence to another. There is the consequent "need for change" which this very fact of mobility can easily cause. And very often connected with this, and fol-lowing from it, there is the experience of solitude or loneliness, plus the consequent uneasiness which this causes, not to say anxiety and anguish. There is the pro-found need for love and acceptance, and men are willing to do almost anything in order to get this. At the same time we find the presence of fear, the fear of being ab-sorbed by the impersonalism of our society, the fear of being rejected by others, fears which account for the rather bizarre and defensive behavior of so many, and fears which also account for the profound superficiality and veneerness of the relationships which persons do have--even those relationships which are entered into as an act of protest against other interrelationships. So often our relationships today are often marked by many words, and the doing of many things together, but by very little real personal communication or communion-- of the kind which leaves us free and which leaves others free as well. Thus, many persons in our society today live in real 1See K. Jaspers, Man in the Modern Age, Doubleday, 1957; Marcel, Man against Mass Society, Gateway, Chicago, 1962. solitude, and this throughout their entire lives. This is due at least in part to the sociological uprootedness in which they are almost forced to live. Solitude is never more painful than in many of our larger cities where many complain that they can never be alone, and yet, in reality, are almost always alone, that is, without any real communication or communion of a spiritually and truly satisfying nature. There are others in our society who are psychically incapable of being alone, or of recollecting themselves, or of becoming aware of their true sitnation in the world. Life outside a crowd is for them untolerable, so untolerable that they feel a kind of a pressure or com-pulsion to do everything that everyone else is doing, especially those persons or those groups with whom they identify socially. Thus their frequentation of the same bars, or theaters, or dubs or discotheques and so forth. It is not that they really desire these things necessarily, but they simply must do them because of their need to be "with people" and their fear of being alone. Yet for all this frequentation and for all these encounters, there is little or no real profound and personally satisfying com-munication or communion, whether there be the com-munication or communion of man with man, or that of man with God3 Another reason for the problematic in community life today is the advent and current cult of the many insights into man given to us in and through the existential and personalist philosophies of our time. These teach us that there are three involvements that characterize the exist-ence of modern man who is bodily-spiritual. There is first of all the involvement of man in the world. Even man's knowledge of God comes from the world in which he is rooted by reason of his bodiliness. He cannot even be thought of in his total reality unless the world is also perceived or thought of together with him. In fact, even his redemption or salvation is connected with the world, because man is redeemed as a being-in-the-world, or a being involved in the world. In fact, it is through man that the whole of creation shares in the redemption and salvation. For sanctity or holiness which is the fulfillment of man involves not merely the offer of Christ but the response of man as well. Again there is man's involvement in community. He is quite aware that he is dialogical, that he is not simply a being-in-the-world, but a being-in-the-world-with-others, that he is a listener as well as a speaker. He does not stand alone in society; he stands always in relation to others in society. While he possesses his own personal and indi-vidual natnre, and this in a unique way, still he cannot =See Ignace Lepp, The Ways o] Friendship, Macmillan, N.Y., 1966, pp. l,gff. ÷ ÷ ommunity " Li~e VOLUME 29. 1970 ~. A~ Schteck REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS develop his nature or his person alone; he can do this only in and through the human community, that is, through other human persons. He sees his environment and his becoming and development, as intimately linked up with presence, the presences and influences of other persons, or with the interactivity of many interpersonal relationships. If man has selfhood, he is given this so that he may encounter other human persons who by their presences and interactivity will contribute to his whole-ness and personal fulfillment. No man is an island; and if his personal talents and capabilities are to unfold, if he is to become himself, completely this person which at first he is only potentially, if he is to become uniquely and personally creative, then the unique powers and gifts he has must be awakened .and stimulated to growth through the presence and interaction of others. And thirdly, there is man's involvement in history. There is not one moment of his life when man can be said to possess his own existence fully. What he is now, he became as a result of his past, and it is what he is now --including this past--that leads him on toward the fu-ture, a future to which he is even now already reaching out. Thus, every human life bears the stamp of outside forces, even though it is also internally being shaped by God and by the individual himself. Man's being and person are being shaped not bnly by the apparently autonomous forces of God and himself but also by the coexistential forces of his living moment, those of the hu-man community in which the forces of history are accu-mulated. While man's decisions are free, they' are not made in any kind of vacuum. They have their roots in the soil of human society and its history. And this means both the past and the future as well as the present, since the past and the future enter into our here and now de-cisions to a great extent, greater than many of us imagine. Man lives historically or in history, and he is involved very much in the ebb and flow of history. In short we find many currents impacting on man and his situation in the world today, currents that almost force themselves on us in spite of ourselves. There is the emphasis on personalism, the search for personal fulfill-ment or happiness, the need for independent and respon-sible action, the insistence on the primacy of the person over the society--at least when this is considered in its form of institution or organization--which is considered as being at the service of the person. There is the em-phasis on fellowship, on the sacramentality of our brother, on brotherhood in the sense of togetherness, collabora-tion, teamwork, complementarity, mutual enrichment, or completion, through interpersonal relationships and ac-tivity. There is the preoccupation of modern man with the "world" and the need for religious who are trying to be fully human and Christian to enter as completely as possible into all that is human and can be consecrated to God. The world is our world and we hold a serious responsibility in reference to what it is going to become, and we hold this in communion and cooperation with each other. Therefore, we must be involved in the world and in the human community--in order to become per-sons ourselves and in order to help shape the destiny of man in history, in order to help others become persons themselves.3 Still another source of the problematic regarding com-munity life in religion is the manifold way in which the expression "community" is understood by different per-sons today. As we find in so many other areas of human relationships, our problem often becomes a linguistic problem--we use the same word and yet we do not mean the same thing. The theologian or canonist will mean one thing by the word "community" whereas the sociologist or the psychologist might mean something quite distinct; and possibly the cultural anthropologist might mean something different from all these. And then again, dif-ferent theologians or different canonists, or different so-ciologists or different p?ychologists or different cultural anthropologists might mean different things by the same word. What the theologian refers to when he uses the word "community" within the sphere of his science is a group or corporate entity that we know and regard in and by and through the light of faith, or a community or group that is established and built on a faith vision of one kind or another. What the canonist will mean by the word "community" is a group of persons that lives together following certain norms or laws established by the com-petent authority empowered to establish those rules and regulations. Yet a psychologist or a sociologist would be speaking of something entirely other, of a group of per-sons or an association of persons viewed according to the norms and principles of the behavioral science which they represent. For a good number of psychologists, the word "commu-nity" would refer to a group of persons whose quality and depth of interpersonal relationships would establish them in some kind of communion of unity, personal unity or unity and communion of persons. Thus, they would stress the sacredness of the person, his need to be ful-filled within an expansive and free community. They would stress that persons are ends in themselves, im-portant for who they are as well as and even more so 8See Otto Semmelroth, S.J., The Church and Christian Belie], Deus Books, Paulist Press, N.Y., 1966, pp. 81-3. + + + Community Life VOLUME 29, 1970 ÷ ÷ RENEW FOR RELIGIOUS ~536 than for what they do. They would stress that a diversity of works and personal talents is a good thing in a group, precisely because this variety evokes the actualization of the full range of the human potential which exists within the group and because it also creates the possibility for adaptive changes within the group enriching its total view and being and action. They would also stress the fact that the insights of the person-members serve the community, that personhood is a process, a reality that is not achieved simply in virtue of existing together, but rather by personal exchanges, the kind that imply ac-ceptance of change within the persons "and also a realistic knowledge and acknowledgment of human fallibility. They would emphasize that self-revelation and accept-ance of others, far from working to the destruction of the unity of the group, enhance both the person and the group or community as well. In fact it is these very things that provide the basis for continuing growth in under-standing and love on the part of the various members of the group. The sociologist would be concerned with community within the framework of group formation and operation. He might tend to emphasize the professional and the adult relationships of the members and tend to look at the group in terms of its ability to carry out goals and ob-jectives with some kind of e~ciency. Or he would tend to emphasize or look at a community as a social group phenomenon which identified or did not identify with this or that value system. For example, among the many distinctions which sociologists have made to clarify the social reality of "community" was the introduction of the notions of "gemeinschaft" and "gesellschaft." The first term refers to a community in the sense of a communal collectivity based on diffuse emotional attachments exist-ing between the members. The second term refers to a communal collectivity that rests primarily on the con-scious choice of specific objectives on the part of the membership. This division might approximate what we often call a division of community into a community as home, and a community as service organization. The sociologist is often far more interested in the second kind of "community" than in the first, that is, in the associational community or "gesellschaft" than in the emotional community or "gemeinschaft." Affective rela-tionships are and will indeed remain important to the sociologist, but he does not see them as constituting the totality of human existence, that if they did, they would soon lead a community to becoming dysfunctional or non-functioning, reduced to a kind of love-in experience or amateur group therapy unit rather than an adult associa-tional group having specific objectives. He would see that in some circumstances the affective relationslfips and the constant search for these on the part of a group would simply tend to desu'oy effective performance on the part of the group and to render their associational objectives impossible or difficult to achieve. He would stress that there should be organic solidarity in the membership of the group, and this such that there would be more than mere juxtaposition, but rather an interdependent divi-sion of labor, the key to which would be not that diversity in which each part goes its own way, but that kind of diversity in which each part is deeply concerned with meaningful exchange and for the good of each part, but for this good in reference to the good of the whole. The sociologist is very much concerned with preserving the sovereign demands of the common good together with the dignity of the person. To employ a rather practical example: A sociologist would see that in the case of liturgical experimentation by different groups, this should be concerned with the functional or service con-tributions which this group is making to the larger whole, and not with its own personal wishes or the indi-vidual affective relationships which exist ~znong the cele-brating group. He could easily accept the principle of a pluralistic liturgy based on the notion of vocation or profession, in which each societal role and its contribu-tion to the life of the totality would permit diversity and " yet stress organic solidarity, for example, a Mass for pro-fessionals, for factory workers, and so forth. But he would also tend to consider that it is a fruitless task on the part of liturgists in their attempt to achieve togetherness in the liturgy to try to define their problem in terms of supernatural charity becoming translated into human emotion. A person need not feel affection for another in order to have charity toward this other person, nor need charity always express itself in a social relationship which is defined as affective. Christian love may impel a man to lend a helping hand to another, but this is quite an-other phenomenon than that of holding hands for the sake of holding hands. Though the temptation to unite these two forms or expressions is very great by reason of an appealing and yet rather false idealism, liturgical forms must respect the fact that this equation is fre-quently impossible. The good Samaritan did not form an I-Thou relationship with the man who fell in with thieves, at least if we accept this according to the terms of some psychologists. He bandaged his wounds, put him on his pack-animal, took him to an inn and gave the inn-keeper money to cover the expenses, and went on his way.4 'See R. Potvin, "The Liturgical Community: Sociological Ap-praisal," in Experiments in Community, Liturgical Conference, ÷ 4- Community Li]e VOLUI~IE 2% 1970 4. To further complicate the linguistic problem or the problem of and in communication, the word "apostolic" has also undergone an evolution in meaning. In the New Testament it involved two elements: (1) a kind of juridi-cal element, that is, a commissioning by Christ for some form of leadership in the Church; and (2) a kind of charismatic element, that is, a vision or experience of the risen Lord. The word "apostle" and its corresponding adjective were more or less limited or concentrated on a certain well-defined group of persons in the first genera-tion of Christian history. Gradually, however, the word took on other meanings. It referred to what could be traced back to the Apostles, for example, their writings, their doctrines, their traditions, and so forth. It was later on extended to refer to the Roman See, the Roman Pon-tiff, and finally to the Roman Catholic Church described as the "apostolic Church." Later on in the Middle Ages the word "apostolic" was used to describe a life or life style that was conformable with that instituted by the Apostles of the primitive Church. Thus the monks were Wash. D.C., 1968, pp. 90-3. "Many people use the word community to imply a group welded together by affective bonds, a love-in whereby emotional attachments are generated and maintained. Christian community and the cultic symbols which surround the eucharistic feast should not be reduced to a notion of community with affective overtones . It is unfortunate that the word com-munity and family should be abused as much as they are. The problem is not simply one of definition since the meaning of the words can and does differ in various contexts. The confusion re-sides in the arbitrary conjunction of the elements of one meaning with those of another, and in not realising that they are often mutually exclusive. The end result is frequently little else than stagnant unrealism which precludes the understanding of the social and spiritual realities which are being discussed. Thus the totality of the community of God's people is not a community in the strict sense of the word. Its unity is not the unity of affective homogeneity. It is not emotional attachment nor that of primary, deep, total relationships between people. It is not the unity which arises from the sharing of common territory--all contemporary definitions of community. These exist within the community of the faithful, but they are not that community, nor can their characteristics be at-tributed to it as such. In fact we are in the secular city of God and we have moved from a tribal unity with its kin-like bonds to the unity of the technopolis. As Harvey Cox suggests, there is another alternative to Buber's dichotomy between an I-It relationship and the I-Thou encounter. It is the I-You relationship which is at the base of the secular city. The unity which is characteristic of the contemporary world is a functional unity of diversity whereby people are of service to each other, and one which can be devoid of affecfive connotations, which at times must be devoid of such personal overtones if the common welfare and the 'interests of our fellow men' are to be achieved. Sociologists would say that such unity is based primarily on associational and not communal rela-tionships. In other words, it is not necessary that the baker know personally and like the plumber for the two to be of service to each other. It is even conceivable that if they did their mutnal service might be less efficient." thought to be living an apostolic life by reason of their practice of the common life and preaching. And they were said to be living in conformity with the first community in Jerusalem. While it is true that these elements--com-mon life and the ministry of preaching--were found in diverse ways in different groups, so long as these two ele-ments were in some way present, the group was said to be living the apostolic life. In the sixteenth century the word was again slightly modified. It began to refer to those persons or groups of persons who were sent by the Church to preach the gospel and to live or practice the virtues which the fulfillment of mission entailed. It was not so much a question of their imitating the life of the Apostles, but rather of participat-ing or sharing in their mission. Even semi-cloistered nuns spoke of themselves as having the "apostolic" spirit, cause they participated in the spirit of the apostolic mis-sion, namely, the redemption of mankind. Finally, the word "apostolic" received another altera-tion in recent times. With the advent of Catholic Action, the laity was said to have an "apostolic vocation." It would seem to be this use of the word "apostolic" that brought into being its highly "quantitative" aspect. Some persons were said to be more apostolic than others. Some works were said to be more apostolic than others. And finally some groups and' even religious institutes were said to be more or less apostolic than others depending upon the degree to which they engaged in external works. Under Plus XII an attempt was made to correct some of the inadequate implications of such a use of the word. He spoke of completely enclosed communities as leading a life that was essentially and wholly "apostolic." Thus the word "apostolic" would seem to admit of several essential elements, one ontological--a life that is con-nected with the inner life of the Church, with the life of agape or charity; and the other phenomenological--the various concrete ways or expressions in which the life of agape or charity can be expressed and mediated both in being and operation by persons, or groups, or even re-ligious communities. While we should be able to distin-guish one or other element in the word "apostolic," it would seem to be the wiser thing not to dissociate them from one anothbr, or dichotomize them in our practical attitudes. This could easily give rise to a triumphalism of one kind or another, contemplative or active, and both of these could simply establish more snob clubs in a Church where we already have enough. This linguistic problem or problem in communica-tion is not limited to the area of community. We find it existing in many other areas today. In regard to the area of family planning, for example, during the years in 4- 4- 4. Community lilt VO~UM~ ~, ;~o C. d. $chleck REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS ~40 which the papal commission met, it was quite obvious that there were problems, and serious ones, involving the use of language and words and expressions. Words used were the same, but the ~neanings and emphases, the cate-gories and selective placement of values connected with these words, were extremely diverse.5 This linguistic problem is a real problem. And it would seem to me that because we do not spell out the exact and rather well-defined limited idea or meaning which we have in using the word "community" we come to the rather quick and open conflict concerning the idea of "community" which we experience today. An approach, for example, that would be primarily sociological would easily emphasize an aspect of community or group asso-ciation that is the object of the science of sociology, and it would tend to emphasize the tools and instruments which this behavioral science normally employs. The same would be true if a psychologist Were to approach the same problem. Yet the theological dimensions of community, and the theological presuppositions of com-munity life within a religiously motivated group of per-sons, or a group which faces community with the back-ground of a faith vision, for example, sin-redemption, the ambiguity of man in the world, the manifold dimen-sions of the evangelical counsels, and so forth, might be ignored, even perhaps purposely or intentionally; and this, not because of any hostility toward these dimensions on the part of the experts involved, but simply because these dimensions might not be the specific area of con-cern or competence of a psychologist or sociologist. Yet the practical impact of this presentation could bring about a rather different net result than would be proper or correct; it might bring about a primacy of an entirely different value system as far as "community life in a re-ligiously motivated and assembled group" than should really be the case. The fault would not lie with the sciences or the experts in question, if and when they operate within the limited and specific sphere of their competence, but in the imperialistic attempt on the part of any one of them to make itself or himself supreme where and when it or he is not supreme. The same thing would be true in the case of the Scripture scholar or theologian if they attempted to pronounce on some topic or point which was a point of these sciences and not neces-sarily that of revelation. Thus, there are many complexities within the total understanding of "community life in religion," many of which are perhaps approached much too facilely and ~ See Donald N. Barrett, "The Sociology of Religion: Science and Action" in Sociological Analysis, Winter, 1967, pp. 177-8. without much depth of insight as to the real subtleties of the problem. There are theological or revealed dimen-sions of the idea of "community" which would show that the call to community is not really something special in the sense of unique to religious, such that only they are called to express this reality. All Christians are called to express it, even though not all are called to express it within the framework of associations such as religious are called to be. Moreover, this Christian approach or re-vealed approach to community would show that the Christian ethic gives to already existing human relation-ships new dimensions and exigencies by transforming them through a new specifically Christian basis: the life of the Pneuma of Christ. Secondly, there are other dimensions besides the re-vealed one. There are the behavioral dimensions men-tioned above, sociological, psychological, cultural, and so forth. And finally, there are juridical dimensions in-volved in the notion of "community," that is, certain legal requirements or dimensions established by the agency which gives a group its status, public or civil or ecclesial. In the case of religious communities of public vows, we are told that they are by definition stable forms of life, or stable life styles providing their membership with an organized way of living the evangelical counsels. And thus it is quite reasonable to expect that there would be in their case juridical dimensions to establish and as-sure this stability. This note is referred to in the Per[ectae caritatis and in the sixth chapter of Lumen gentium as well as in Ecclesiae sanctae. By reason of the religious community's being a public and official organ of the Church-sacrament, the hierarchical element of the Church gives it something of the incarnational structure and composition which the Church itself was given by Christ. It is for this reason that the hierarchical element of the Church approves not merely the soul or the spirit dimen-sion of a religious community's life style, but also the fundamental delineations of its body expression or its bodiliness--this for reasons of distinction, and comple-mentarity, organic solidarity, and related identity. The reasonableness of this juridical dimension for publicly approved religious institutes or communities does not mean that the counsels or a life dedicated to Christian service cannot be lived outside such a framework, or within a community or association of persons having no official or public approbation. Such groups have always existed in the Church historically, either by choice of the persons themselves who did not want any such approba-tion for one or other reason; or by choice of the approv-ing agency or arm, estimating that such a group or groups 4. 4, 4- Community Lite VOLUME Zg, 1970 541 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS do not have that degree of stability which they feel war-rants public approbation, at least for the time being.B These are only some of the factors involved in the problem of community and in the problem of man in community, of man looked at in the totality of his personality and condition. It is a problem that will never see any completion or perfectly satisfactory solution. But it would seem to the present writer that many of the problems or at least some of them which religious com-munities are facing today in their desire for renewal could better be resolved by a more clear-cut understand-ing of just what the problem is, or better, just where the sources of problematic lie. Then there must be a re-assertion of certain ideas, especially those of a theological nature, which are involved in the establishment of a community that gathers its members together for religious motives or purposes, those revealed within the Scriptures. In the expression "religious community" the adjective "religious" is just as important as the adjective "rational" in the expression "rational animal." And while it is true that this adjective does not describe all the dimensions and complexities involved in those associations of persons which we call religious institutes or communities, it does point to that dimension which distinguishes these kinds of associations from other kinds not based primarily on religious motives; Consequently, in the remainder of o This does not mean that one may not question the advisability of certain decisions regarding disciplinary and other such matters, for example, the current questioning regarding the legally im-posed uniform pattern for all apostolic institutes. Seeking a greater flexibility in the new legislation for the application of the particu-lar charisms of each institute is one thing; operating as if this were already an accomplished fact, without asking the permission to ex-periment contrary to the Code where this is requested by the compe-tent authority, and thereby facing authority with a fair accompli is quite another. If modern man claims to be so mature, it would seem that the presence of courtesy should be more present today than before. At times one wonders whether this is true. ~ In one of his weekly addresses the pope referred to one of the problems of our times as the phenomenon of anthropocentric reli-gion: "Religion must be by its very nature theocentric, oriented toward God as its first beginning and its final end. And after that toward man, considered, sought after, loved in terms of his divine derivation and of the relationships and duties which spring from such a derivation . To give in religion preeminence of humani-tarian tendencies brings on the danger of transforming theology into sociology, and of forgetting the basic hierarchy of beings and values. I am the Lord your God, and Christ teaches: You shall love the Lord your God. This is the greatest and the first command-ment . It should not be forgotten that to let sociological interest prevail over the properly theological interest can generate another dangerous difficulty, that of adopting the Church's doctrine to hu-man criteria, thus putting off the intangible criteria of revelation and the official ecclesiastical magisterium" (Address of July 10, 1968, Documentary News Service, Oct. 28, 1968). this article I would like to consider some oI the following areas: the nature of community life in religion, its pur-poses, and its ability to be expressed in different ways. The Nature of Community Life in Religion The early Church looked upon its community life as the expression or actualization of the commandment of Jesus--"That they may be one as you Father in me and I in you, that they may be (one) in us." s The very nature of community life in religion demands not just a juxta-position or lining up of persons; nor does it refer merely to a group that has come together for professional serv-ices of teaching or health care or social work of one kind or another. Nor does it refer to a group of merely naturally compatible personalities, or to persons who are forced to live together by reason of some kind of juridical or legal system of incorporation. It implies, rather, a community that has for its model and image the mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity. There we find per-fect oneness and perfect relationship, and yet also, perfect distinction--all of which are essential to constitute their mystery and meaning. The theological notion of community life is aimed at far more than the establishment of a herd mentality, or a common status in reference to material goods, "or to a rule or to certain visible interpersonal relationships estab-lished on certain natural grounds, even though these are in no wise to be excluded. It implies far more than mere interest groups living together, such as teachers or nurses or social workers, even though any one or several of these aspects might be found in community living, at least to some extent. Community life in religion demands that the members of the community live with each other in religion as the Father lives in community of life with His Son and with the Holy Spirit. It asks that the mem-bets of the group show clearly that the charactoe or~sucally Christian commandment of fraternal ~hariotry agape which is the end of the New Law reflects" or corresponds with the characteristic dogma of our Cl~ristian faith, the mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity. For a religious com-munity is one that is constituted or created by agape, in agape, and for agape. And agape is God's love shared in or participated in by men, and becoming operative in reference to other men. Agape is intimacy with God and with other men as God would love them Himself. It sur-passes purely natural sympathies, and dominating or in-stinctive antipathies, making us see other men as sons of God, sharing the divine good with ns and called to share in the society of the elect with ourselves. Agape makes us "Jn 17:20-1. ÷ ÷ ÷ Community Lile VOLUME 2% 54~ ÷ + + C. A. $chleck REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS regard the next person not as a stranger but as our brother, as part of ourselves, as one who is united to us by divine life and whose good we desire as we do our own, good. The Purposes o[ Community Life in Religion Coming to the purposes of community life in religion and viewing them within the framework of revelation, we find that there are a number of objectives which it tries to realize. Not all of these are equal, nor are they all found in exactly the same way .in different religious institutes. Briefly they would seem to be reducible to the. following: liberating or ascetical, charismatic, and apos-tolic. The Liberating or Ascetical Dimension The liberating dimension of community life in religion is quite evident even after only a short experience of living with others. We are quite aware that even in spite of ourselves, it does strip us of much disordered self-love which is at the root of all sin. It provides us and almost forces us to practice the various expressions of real agape, real faith, and real hope in its daily human expressions: Love is patient, love is kind, love is eager but never boast-ful or conceited; love takes no pleasure in other people's sins, but delights in the truth. It is always ready to ex-cuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.9 The common life, in all its demands, acts as a marvelous means for self-giving and opening oneself more and more to and onto others. For most religious it is in practice the most constant occasion they have for personality build-ing, for self-denial, and self- and social-integration that lies at their disposal within the religious life. And this is true not merely in its domestic aspects, that is, in sharing work in the house, or recreation, of life within the frame-work of the religious residence, and common prayer in its various forms, but also in its service aspect, that is, in the common enterprise of the group.10 Community life in religion asks for collaboration with others in an operational community, such as a school or hospital or possibly a more loosely structured apostolate, such as social work. It usually involves a community in which the members have to fit together for a common work. This often means doing some things that one does not always like doing. It also involves that one be pre-pared to face the likelihood that often there may not be the exact kinds of diversions, distractions, ~'elaxations, and so forth that one would especially like. There are ~ I Cor 14:4ff. 1°See J. Coventry, S.J., in Religious Formation, Blackfriars, 1963, "Modern Individualism and Comxnunity Life," p. 37. reasons for this, other values which the community is at-tempting to give witness to: for example, eschatological values, Christological values, ascetical values, ecclesial values, those which are in keeping with the community's total mission within the Church. This ascetical or liberating aspect of community life forms part of the community's witness to the death-resur-rection mystery of the Lord. It witnesses to the fact that persons of different backgrounds, training, intellectual and social capabilities, can still live in Unity and commu-nion, in fact are called to li#e in unity and communion, and this in Christ and through Him, not primarily be-cause of mutual compatibility, but because they are called by the same agape and molded by the same agape. Con-sequently, religious are not entirely free---eVen though they freely accept this limitation of their freedom with the frustrations that this is inevitably going to mean--to reshape or arbitrarily modify their situations, seeking out the most congenial possible local community or select circle of collaborators. Such an approach to community life in religion is like matching blood types and would be just about as evangelical and gospel-motivated. Now in saying this I do not wish to give the impression that some of the attempts being made to establish smaller living groups is opposed to the gospel. It can be a good thing, especially when the motives are very much in keep-ing with the gospel values, a better image of poverty, a better spirit of personal and communal prayer, in short, if the motives are primarily for the establishment of a better religious atmosphere, and this not merely as a kind of an unfounded dream, but as a realistic probabil-ity. Moreover, such a group could provide for a better. sense of belonging. But here we must question the forma-tion of small fraternities among religious which are based primarily and almost exclusively on other values, socio-logical and psychological. The writer would still wager an educated guess that ev

Issue 15.1 of the Review for Religious, 1956. ; A. M. D. G. Review for Religious JANUARY 15, 19 5 6 Sisters' Re÷rea÷s~i .".'- . Thomas Dubay Novice Master and Secrecy .John R. Post Forbidden Readlncj . John J. Lynch Book Reviews Questions and Answers VOLUME XV , NUMBER 1 R ViI::W FOR Ri LIGIOUS VOLUME XV JANUARY, 1956 NUMBER 1 CONTENTS SISTERS' RETREATS--I--Thomas Dubay, S.M . 3 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . l0 SOME RECENT PAMPHLETS . 10 NOVICE MASTER'S OBLIGATIONS TO SECRECY-~John R. Post, S.'J. 1 l QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 1. Difficulty in Submitting to Superior's Will . 2. Permission to Offer One's Life to God . 22 3. Occasional Confessor of Religious Women .22 4. Permission for Private Penances . 23 5. Indulgences for Little Office of B.V.M . 24 6. Name of a Religious Institute . 24 7. Lowering Veil for Holy Communion . 25 8. Ordo to Follow in Convent Masses . 25 FORBIDDEN READING--'John 3. Lynch, S.J . 27 FOR YOUR INFORMATION . 46 BOOK REVIEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS-- Editor: Bernard A. Hausmann, West Baden College West Baden Springs, Indiana . 48 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, 'january, 1956. Vol. XV, No. I. Published bi-monthly: ,January, March, May, 'july, September, and November, at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter, ,January 15, 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Augustine G. Ellard, S.'J., Gerald Kelly, S.3., Henry Willmering, S.J. Literary Editor: Edwin F. Falteisek, S.J. Copyright, 1956, by Review for Religious. Permission is hereby granted for quo-tations of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 3 dollars a year: 50 cents a copy. Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us, please co~nsult notice on inside back cover. Review for Religious Volume XV January--December, 1956 Published at THE COLLEGE PRESS Topeka, Kansas Edited by THE JESUIT FATHERS ST. MARY'S COLLEGE St. Marys, Kansas REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS is indexed in ÷he CATHOLIC PERIODICAL INDEX Sisters' Retreats l Thomas Dubay, S.M. INTRODUCTION THIS article and the others that will follow it1 deal with the results of an experimental study of retreats for religious wo-men. A summary of the purpose of the study can perhaps be given in no better way. than by reproducing the note addressed to each sister participating in th3 survey. Dear Sister : The purpose of this study is to help you to make more profitable retreats. If you will be so kind as to join hundreds of other sisters in answering this question-naire, you will be make a noteworthy contribution to this end, for it is hoped that through publication the results of this study may be made available to retreat masters. Because mere statistics are not .of themsel;ces too reliable, space is provided after the questions for your further comment. And the more comment you offer, the more you will help this study. If the space provided is not sufficient, you are urged to add pages of your own. Sittce it is your individual opinion that is so valuable, Sister~ I would suggest that you consult with no one. Further, you may be assured that your opinions will remain secret. Your Mother Superior has agreed to return all questionnaires without anybody's reading of them. And certainly I will not know you. None of your answers will be interpreted as, negatively critical and so you should feel perfectly free to state your full and frank views . May God bless your kindness! Of approximately 1300 questionnaire forms distributed to a large number of different communitiesz located in all parts of the United States, 701 were returned with answers. These 701 returns seem to represent a reasonably good cross section of the American sisterhood in age distribution, type of order, and kind of work. In respect to the 'number of years of professed religious life the respondents are distributed in the manner indicated in Table I. TABLEI: PROFESSION AGE OF PARTICIPATINGSISTERS 1-5 years . 108 6-10 years . 97 11-20 years . 173 21-30 years . 156 31-40 years. . 97 over 40 years . 66 ~Editors' Note: There will be five more articles. 2A rough estimate would place the number of distinct congregations between 30 and 50. 3 THOMAS DUBAY Review /:or Religious 2~ wide variety of occupations is likewise represented. Table II shows the kinds of work done by the sisters. TABLE II: OCCUPATIONS OF PARTICIPATING SISTERS Teaching in grade school . 230 Teaching in high school . 187 Hospital and nursing education: . . 86 Teaching in college . 79 - Domestic . 55 . Social work . 13 Home for aged . 10 Represented by numbers under ten are the following occupations: orphanages, office work, postulant or novice mistresses, public health nursing, cloistered life, and several miscellaneous offices. Nine sis-ters did not reveal their occupations. That many sisters are vitally interested in the retreat problem is evidenced both by the care with which 701 filled out a nuisance of a questionnaire and by the many appreciative messages that ac-companied their answers. These kind observations we will pass by here and commend to God for reward. Even a brief reading of the returned survey forms can leave no doubt that the sisters have been frank--sometimes bluntly frank-- both in their praise and in their blame. The excerpts that follow are statements characteristic of the sincerity, care, and goodwill with "which the replies are replete. I have tried to answer seriously and thoughtfully the various questions, and hope there is no inconsistency in my answers, or any misleading statements, dust thinking along these lines in order to answer the questions has been, in a sense, a meditation and an inspiration. Hope I haven't been too far out in left field on these answers-~but it was a good opportunity I couldn't afford to miss !--even though I just made it late to class! Father, you must be smiling or laughing at my preachy manner. But no . . . I don't presume to be saying (rather writing) authoritatively. ,Just presenting my observations, since better retreats and better retreat masters for sisters was for a number of years a special object of ~y poor prayers. In the whole course of this study, it has seemed wise to place considerable stress on the sisters' written comments for the reason that a mere statistical presentation viewed alone can be misleading. When explained by the living observation, statistics can be most enlightening and helpful. Manifestly only a fraction of all the sisters' comments can be January,. 1956 SISTERS' RETREATS--l[ included in these articles, but the excerpts ~he writer has chosen are repregentative. There were so many striking statements, so many shrewd observations, so many sincere analyses Of retreat problem~, '~o. many grace-inspired kindly remarks, that, when pressed to choose "~mong them, he felt like a little boy give~n free reign in a well, Stocked candy shop. Only he had no free reign, for lack of space.:has mercilessly curtailed the number of sisters' comments reproduced in "these articles. Perhaps some future detailed stu.dy can exploit the untapped riches of their observations. Views of extreme minorities (i.e., .of one or two sisters only) are usually not represented in the written observations; for their comments, if placed next to an excerpt representing ten or fifteen sisters, would produce an imbalance in favor'of the former. These extreme views are not neglected, however, for they appear in the numerical summaries. It need not be stressed that the views of the sisters are not necessarily those of the present writer. One ~eason is that he is here interested in presenting the sisters' opinions, not his own. A second--and this one is metaphysical--is that what one sister af-firms another sometimes denies. In this connection, however, we should remember that the c6ntradiction is often merely apparent; for rarely are the sisters speaking about the same retreat master or exactly the same idea. SOURCE OF PRIESTS We sh,ll first consider the question, as to whether 'sisters prefer their retreaq masters to come from the same or different orders of men year after year. This item in the questionnaire wfiiworded as follows : As a source of re~reat masters would you prefer p~iests __always from the same order from different orders ~it makes little difference to me Further comment: (space provided) While we will give first of all in one summary a picture of the views of all of the sisters on this question, it would be a mistake to "rest content with that picture alone. There are on this point three types of situations among congregations of religious women, Some are attached to orders of men; others are not so attached' but do obtain their retreat masters from one order of men alone; and still others are not attached and do not restrict the source of retreat. m~isters to one order of men. A priori we might expect different THOMAS DUBAY Reoieu~ [or Religious reactions in the three groups to the question under discussion here. This expectation is borne out to some extent by the answers to the survey question. ]Due to the fact that no sister participating in this study was asked to identify either herself or her congregation, it was impossibl~ to distinguish in most cases into which of the three categories a given reply fell. However, a considerable number of sisters did distinguish their congregation in this general way and so some basis for a com-parison is possible. We will first give a cumulative picture of all the replies relative to this question. TABLE III: PREFERENCE FOR SOURCE OF PRIESTS--ALL SISTERS Always from the same order . 148 (21.8%) From different orders . 353 (52.0%) It makes little difference to me . 178 (26.2%) As already indicated, not much can be proved from this overall picture; and so we will proceed to our breakdown. TABLE IV: PREFERENCE FOR SOURCE OF PRIESTS SISTERS ATTACHED TO AN ORDER OF MEN Always f, rom the same order . 60 (62.5 %) From different orders . 18 (18.75%) It makes little difference to me . 18~ (18.75%) Here we notice a considerable deviation from the overall pic-ture. Most sisters attached to an order of men wish to receive their retreat masters from that order alone. In the~e congregations, bow-ever, there appear to be two rather strong minorities of another mind. TABLE V: PREFERENCE FOR SOURCE OF PRIESTS SISTERS UNATTACHED TO ANY ORDER OF MEBNUT RECEIVING RETREAT MASTERS FROM ONE ORDER ALONE Always from the same order . 10 (11.3 %) From different orders .65 (73.0%) : It makes little difference to me . 14 (15.7 % ) Here also a noteworthy deviation from the overall picture can be seen, and that in a direction opposite to the deviation found in. the immediately preceding table. Because the two groups of sisters included in Tables IV and V almost perfectly balance each other off, the position of unattached sisters receiving retreat masters from several orders of men is fairly well "refledted in Table III, once due allowances are made. As he went through the. returned replies, .January, 1956 SISTERS' RETREATS--I the present writer received the impression that this third group of sisters is for the most part Well pleased with its custom, i.e., re-ceiving priests from different orders. We may turn now to the reasons the. sisters give for their various preferences. The number of excerpts given in each group is approximately proportionate to the number of preferences regis-tered in that category. Those who prefer, the same order: I prefer priests from the same order as my own because I feel that they understand my obligations better and are thus able to help me more. Our community always have the same religious for retreat masters, and there seems to be a definite continuity of purpose represented in their retreats--which is fine. I think that it is ideal to have a priest of one's own order, as he knows and has the same spirit and can lead one in one's own spirituality. A religious usually comes to appreciate what is traditional in her congregation. We always have . We have priests where I come from, and believe you me, Padre, they're "tops" ! If there are two branches of the same order--one for men, one for women--then the sisters profit greatly by having retreat masters of the same order. The retreat master then understands best the way of life through which the sisters are to reach heaven. For any sisters it would be hard to have different ways of spiritu-ality presented and urged on them by priests of various orders. Sisters preferring priests from different orders: I think they should be selected for personal ability. Many'sisters I know get tired of having the same order, as we generally do. Each order has something special, something beautiful that they follow. Knowl-edge of the various orders will not only broaden our intellectual and spiritual outlook but also make for a deeper understanding and cooperation between the orders. I prefer priests from different orders as it would give variety to the types of medi-tations given. The for instance are fine but you always know what their meditations are going to be based upon. I like to be surprised once in a while. I would not consider the order if I had a choice but would find men who were' holy and knew how to inspire others to holiness. However, when one order is always chosen, some souls will grow weary because they like change. It is possible that continued use of the same order would exhaust their supply of the "best." I like the return of the good retreat master. I have made retreats given by the same one five times and am ready for another five more. Where I was in-clined to think the order produced the individuals, I've grown older and wiser and am sure that life, life-work, and production is all an individual job. There are two orders that I like best, but because in their members I have met real sanctity. We are in spirit and have made the effort to get priests, but this is not a hard and fast rule. We have had others and they have also been excellent. THOMA'S' DUBA'Y ¯ Review ~or ~V'e would become more broadminded if we had different orders. We hav~ the same order always, but many sisters have expressed the wish for men from different orders. Some orders of retreat masters adhere to one form of presentation more or less. ¯ . . I hate to say this but sometimes the meditation becomes boresome before he really starts. ~ iCrom different orders--However,'a priest of any order should not try to instill the particular virtues, customs or religious devotions of his order. He should not adopt an attitude that his order is superior to all others. This is boring. Sometimes a change of method is good. I like it when I do not know what the next conference is about. Wl£en the retreat masters come from different orders, they have a different approach and p~attern. This is good. I believe each order has its particular talents to offer, and being human, variations ofeven the most fundamental topics are appreciated.' I have made several retreats and having had' the same order of priests conducting them, I was able to tell almost exactly what incidents Father was about to discuss and in almost the same words he used. Sisters to whom the source of priests makes little difference: I have,made retreats under priests of several orders and I find the order doesn't make much difference--it is the personal sanctity, earnestness, and understanding that counts¯ It is not the order; rather it is the personal holiness of the priest which would be an inspiration to follow. As far as particular retreat masters are concerned, it really matters little who he is, where he is from, or what religious congreg, he represents. The important thing is that he himself is a truly spiritual man, well prepared td give the retreat, en-thusiastic for the cause--the cause of Christ and the interests of His consecrated Spouses. Can love them all! and respond to all. However, I think a religious priest would understand better community problems and regulations than secular priests. The habit does not make the retreat master; it's his union with the Divine Master that makes the difference in the retreat. I believe they should be chosen for their individual capabilities, not confined to orders at all. It might be a good idea if some center could be designated "~here one could send in names to be recommended and likewise receive such information. FAI~IfLIARITY WITH CONSTITUTIONS The. next item of inquiry offered results charac.terized by a greater degree of agreement than the preceding. Dealing with the retreat master"s, familiarity with the congregation's consfitutions, the quest.ion was framed in the fo!lowi.ng words: " Do you like the retreat master to be. familiar with the Constitutions of you~ ,. congregation and refer to them in his talk~? .-~, .yes ___no ___it makes little difference Further comment: danuaCg, 1956 SISTERS' RETREATS--][ The vast, majority of sisters, 616 (89.0%), desire the retreat master to be well acquainted with their particular constitution.s, while an exceedingly small° numl~er, 5 (.7 %), register an opposing vote. A small minority, 71 (10.3%), do not see that a knowledge of the constitutions makes very much difference. The latter group offered the following comments on their answers: I should like the retreat master to be f~miliar with the Rule but not necessarily the specifications given in Constitutions. Retreat should be a time of spiritual deep-ening. Intei'pretation of Constitutions belongs to the religious superior. I think it is more important that he know the spirit of the congregation than the actual constitutions, for every sister can read "these latter at any time herself. If he gives me the spiritual fundamentals, I can apply thXem to my own life. ,I know the practical details of my Rule and its spirit, better than he does. Often retreat masters interpret our rules in terms of the spirit of theic institutes. The sisters holding the majority opinion have a wide variet)~ of somewhat related reasons for their view: Very definitely. You prefer someone whose foundation is sound. It doesn't help you to gain the spirit of someone else's order. If your Constitution states specific virtues, it is more helpfhl to discuss these. Every sister knows that her Rule is her way of life and she has more confidence in you if you are willing to take the time to study God's plan for her. If he isn't familiar with the Rules and practices of tl~e community, it is the better part of wisdom not to assume that this community is exactly like that community'. It loses some of the rapport when a retreat master, for example, keeps referring to. "when you say the office; now in the recitation of the office, etc." when it so happens that your community, does not say the office. Knowing that the retreat master is familiar with the Constitutions makes it easier to discuss problems in confession. It is of no encouragement to have the confessor ask one: Do you have to do that? When I ask for guidance or enlightenment, I presume the confessor to know what I have to do and tell me frankly." If he is familiar with our Constitution he will know. Interpretation by someone outside the community sometimes brings a greater ap-preciation of the rule. The retreat is more practical, and you fed as though he is interested in your com-munity and the advancement of its members in the spiritual life. That is our custom and we prefer it. 'However, retreat masters must be prudent and careful, never permitting themselves the liberty of direct or indirect criticism of an approved rule. We had that ~xperience once and the sisters resented it. This is essential, I think, if a, pplications and illustrations are to be meaningful. As members of a religious congregation our sanctification will be attained by doing God's will according to the spirit and customs of our particular congregation. What better thing could be done during retreat than to .get more deeply acquainted with them? THOMAS DUBAY .It makes us feel he takes more interest and thus gives us more confidence. Customs and traditions are important and a talk on visits home to sisters who are not permit'ted to visit home is wasted. Very definitely. I have gone through whole retreats in which the talks were geared to teaching sisters, and our whole congregation is engaged in nursing. Besides the spirit of each community is different, also the practice of particular virtues, appli- .cation of rules, etc. I think the retreat master should discuss the Constitutions beforehand with some superior or the provincial in order to be sure he applies it as intended. We may conclude from these observations that ordinarily the retreat master will do well to read over a copy of the sisters' con-stitutions before he begins to prepare his retreat. Because it is in the nature of the written word to need a living interpreter, he can also with profit seek comments and observations on community customs 'and interpretations from some one of the older sisters. 'She will ordinarily be a superior. OUR CONTRIBUTORS THOMAS DUBAY, author of The Seminary Rule, is now at the Marist Col-lege, Washington, D. C. JOHN R. POST is master of novices at Shadowbrook, Lenox, Mass. JOHN 3. LYNCH is a professor of moral theology at Weston College, Weston, Mass. SOME RECENT PAMPHI'ETS GRAIL PUBLICATIONS, St. Meinrad, Indiana The Mass: Homage to God. By Paul R. Milde, O.S.B. Pp. 28. 15 cents. dog Is Your Heritage. By John M. Scott, S.J. Pp. 45. 15cents. The Holy Man of Ars. Saint dohn Baptist Vianneg. By Dom Ernest Graf, O.S.B. Pp. 40. 25 cents. Saint Luke Paints a Picture. Our Lady of Perpetual Help. By Sister M. Julian Baird, R.S.M. Pp. 8. 5 cents. FROM OTHER PUBLISHERS Spiritual Direction. A Current Bibliography. Department of Religion, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana. Pp. 11. Padre Magin Catala. By Aloysius S. Stern, S.J. University of San Francisco, San Francisco 17, California. Pp. 20. Free on request. So You're Going to Teach Religion. By Richard R. Baker, Ph.D. George A. Pflaum, Inc., Dayton 2, Ohio. 10 cents. Time Out to Think. By Gene J. Jakubek, S.J. San-Del Printing Co., 602 :Gratiot Street, St. Louis, Missouri. Pp. 22. 15 cents. 10 Novice Masl:er's Obliga!:ions Secrecy John R. Post, S.J. A master of novices by reason of his office is made the custodian of many secrets. His young charges in asking for direction confide in him their faults and spiritual difficulties, and in so doing they lay on him the obligation of concealing these faults from others. To reveal or even t-o use this knowledge outside the limits laid down for the entrusted secret would, of course, be sinful. Yet, a master is often obliged by canon 563 to give a report to higher superiors on the conduct of his novices; and, in order to protect the order from unsuitable members, he may even desire to dismiss a novice on the basis of knowledge learned only in confidence. Can he reveal or use such knowledge with a good conscience? This ap-parent clash of obligations poses a few moral problems which the following pages will attempt to solve. It will help at the beginning if we clarify in general the position of the novice master with regard to his novices. There is more to his job than the rejection of the unfit. He must also act as spiritual director. His work, then, is not exactly the same as the doctor's who examines candidates before entrance. The doctor's work is primarily for the benefit of the order and is known as such by the candidates. Father Vermeersch remarks that a doctor who examines applicants for their physical fitness is thereby excused from the obligation of keeping his entrusted secret as far as revealing his findings to the superior is concerned. The reason given is that the boy understands this to be the purpose of the examination and implicitly gives his ~onsent beforehand to the doctor's revelation. But, if a .novice master wants to carry on as a spiritual director, such a consent on the part of his novices cannot be presumed. Human nature being what it is, he could not expect young men to confide in him their faults and failings while they know that he is free to use this knowledge for their dismissal. So, 'to maintain the confidence of his charges, he must in his many interviews with them consider himself bound by the various secrets, except in the rare cases where the commo,n good allows revelation, trusting that divine providence and his own powers of persuasion will rid the order of undesirable members. GENERAL DOCTRINE ON SECRETS A secret is some hidden knowledge belongjng.to.a person by 11 JOHN R. POST Reoiew for Religious strict right, ,which cannot be sought after, used, or revealed by an-other con.treaty to the reasonable will of the owner. Thus the ob-ligation of keeping a secret usually derives from the virtues of both justice and charity. For example, to learn from reading the incoming mail that a novice's brother is thinking of becomi~3g a priest and to reveal it before the matter has b~come public might be displeasing to the novice and hence against charity. The act would also violate justice, first, because the information belongs only to the novice and his brother by strict right, and secondly, the act breaks an im-' plicit contract with the novice to keep secret the matter of his letters. Of the four different kinds of secrets-~confessionaI, entrusted, promised, and natural--only three have a definite place in the work of a novice master. The con~:essional secret concerns the knowl-edge communicate~d to a priest in the sacrament of penance.1 The entrusted secret is one that is confided to another under a con-tract that he will not use the information without the consent and according to the good pleasure of the giver. This contract is im-plied when one goes to consult with doctors, lawyers, or priests acting in their professional capacity. The natural secret concerns something one happens upon in the life of another and which the nature of human society demands should be kept secret. All three of these secrets bind under grave sin if their revelation' would be seriously harmful. On the other hand, moralists agree that there is.no secret-~ex~ cept the confessional--which does not have its limits. The reason is that no obligation to keep a human secret is so strong that a stronger obligation to reveal it cannot present itself. In other words, when an obligation to conceal interferes with a higher good, ~t shbuld cease. This principle, however diffic[dt in practice, is gen-erally recognized in theory. The Church overrides the obligation to keep a natural secret when she asks her children, to testify to im-pediments found in future spouses and priests. Doctors, too, are sometimes obliged to report bullet wounds to the police in accord-ance with the principle that the common good at times demands exceptions even to the entrusted secret. It is certain doctrine, there-fore, that the revelation of a human secret is justified when it i~ necessary to prevent preponderant h~arm to the community, to the owner of a secret, to its recipient, or to a third party. Sometimes, too, revelation can be justified if the consent of the owner'can be 1Though canon 891 forbids the master to hear novices' confessions generally, it does allow it in certain cases. , 12 January, 1956 OBLIGATIONS TO SECRECY reasonably presumed. THE CONFESSIONAL SECRET The. obligation of keeping secret whatever is known from a sacramental confession is the weightiest there is--stemming as it does from the divine law and protecting one of the most precious means of salvation. Every priest, therefore, is forbidden not only to reveal confessional knowledg,e, but even to use it in a way that would render this consoling sacrament odious or more burdensome to penitents. A novice master, for example, who knew only from confession that one novice had an aversion for another could not, without the permission of l~is penitent, use this information in making out the bands, or groups, for recreation, even though he knew it would be for the penitent's good. The reason why such use of confessional knowledge is forbidden is not merely that it might work a hardship on the individual penitent, but also that the very fact that if such use of confessional knowledge were permitted, it would be a-bur-den for penitents in general and would make confession more diffi-cult. Hence, even in a case in which the individual penitent might be pleased (e.g., because he was removed from the company of someone he found disagreeable), the novice master could not use the knowledge without express permission. One might think that the novice's permission for such changes as these could readily be presumed, but it is" the universal teaching of theologians today that permission may never be presumed for the use of confessional knowledge. The reason is again the same: if permission could sometimes be presumed, this would diminish the security the confessional is supposed to offer and thus make con-fession more difficult. During confession, of course, the master is free to advise, per-suade, and guide the penitent out of his difficulties and even to bring up m.,atter from previous confessions. But outside of confession, if be wishes to speak to the novice about confessional matters he should have permission. Such permiss!on would be implied if the novice himself took the first step by referring to matters he had confessed. Tt~tE ENTRUSTED SECRET It would seem that most of the novice master's knowledge of his charges will come under the heading of entrusted or committed secret. Because he is designated by the order as the spiritual father 13 JOHN R. POST~, . ~ . ; ~ Revieu~ for Religious 6f '.the .novices, ~there~is set up. between him and th~'m the mutual understanding that ,whatever is: confided to him will be kept hidden and~never used in any way that will jeopardize their interests. This promise or pledge.is inherent in his office; and, since the'common good not only of the novitiate, but of every community in which his novices w.ill _live depends' so much upon the confidence which they have in superiors, it is largely his duty to build up this con~ fidence in them from the very beginning. Some of the entrusted secrets are stricter than others, depending upon the channels through which they come to him, so we propose to treat them according to these several channels--secrets of mani-festation and spiritual direction, paternal denunciation and chapter -of faults, and inspection of mail. MANIFESTATION OF CONSCIENCE AND SPIRITUAL DIRECTION Next in strictness to the seal of confession is the secrecy which surrounds the rhanifestation of conscience. The reason for this is that'the manifestation, like the sacrament, has for its primary pur-' pose the spiritual Progress of the one making it, and to achieve this purpose some disclosure of conscience is necessary. Slnce, then, it comes so close in its matter and purpose to the sacrament of pen-ance, this .secret, of all the entrusted secrets, should be 'held the most sacred. Nev.ertheless, except in the case where the manifestation is made ~ander the seal of confession, more latitude is allowed the master in the use of what' he hears, always safeguarding, however, the rights and ~eeliflgs of the one who makes it, and always avoid-ing anything that 'would diminish confidence in. his office. The authors'who comment on this subject say that the novice aster '}nay not reveal anything heard in manifestation, even to higher superiors, without the consent of the novice. Thus, if a master were asked by his provincial or canonical visitor whether he had n.oticed an impediment in a certain novice, and the master knew of this impediment only through manifestation, he would be obliged to answer with a polite, "I do not know," or something similar. Wl~at then, if the impediment were an invalidating impediment --for. example, the novice had once apostatized from the Catholic Church~ and joined a non-Cath01ic sect--and the novice could not be persuade.d.to.d0 anything about it? The master may not reveal the. impe.dim.ent.o He may and should instruct the novice of his se~iou.syobligation to have the impediment removed before going L4" lanuat~, 1956 OBLIGATIONS TO SECRECY on; but, if the novice still refused, the mastei could neither reveal the impediment nor use. his knowledge for such things as dismiss-ing him, °or refusing to recommend him for vows, or even delaying his profession if the novice were acceptable on every other count. In matters such as-the foregoing, the secret of ~manifestation is, for all practical purposes, like the confessional secret. But when there is question merely of the spiritual good Of the novice, greater latitude would be allowed for the use of knowledge because, in some cases at least, permission to use manifestation knowledge may be presumed. The reasons for this are, first, that there is no absolute prohibition of presumed permission as there is in matter of con-fession, and. secondly, all n~vices understand that the novitiate is a time of probation where hard things will be asked of them-. More-over, in some orders novices are ins'tructed beforehand that-one of the purposes of the manifestation is to provide superiors with knowl-edge that will .help them to govern paternally, assign subjects to proper offices, guard them from temptations, etc. In strict right, then, the novice master can, unless the novice expressly forbids it. use manifestation knowledge to change his occupation, living quar-ters, companions, etc., provided that there is no danger of revela-tion and the best interests of both novice and the order are served. .But presumptions must yield to facts; so sometimes prudence may require that, before using this knowledge in a way displeasing to a novice, the master sound him out beforehand. Outside a novice's manifestation, of course, the master may speak to him irl private about sins mentioned, not in confession, but in manifestation in order to warn him or to exhort him to do better, provided that everything is kept under the same seal of secr.ecy; for these private interviews of spiritual direction partake of the nature of a manifestation. PATERNAL DENUNCIATION AND CHAPTER OF FAULTS According to Suarez, the denunciation of another's faults to .a superior as to a father is only a method of-fulfilling the, injunction of fraternal correction imposed on all Christians b) our Lo~d ih Matthew 18:15. Going on occasions to the st~perior first, instead of directly to the culprit, though a departure from the order estab-lished by our Lord, does, nevertheless, fulfill the gospel injunction substantially; for the superior, acting solely .as the instrument ,of the inforrfiant, is obliged to use this knowledge within the limits "of the informant's "ih~ention. 'Pr~siaming, then, that the-informant's JOHN R. POST Review for Religious intention is exclusively one of charity for a fellow novice, the master is obliged to act towards the delinquent as a lather, who desires ,only the correction and improvement of his son, not as a judge who, looking first to the common good, may for that end punish severely and even dismiss from the order. This being so, suppose a novice master learns from one boy that another has been speaking against the institute. Could he dis-miss the culprit or hold up his vows or give him a public penance on the strength of this denunciation alone? No, for this would be acting judiciall~l and contrary to the intention of the informant, whose only intention presumably was that the delinquent be ad-monished privately and Watched over for his own good. $o, in paternal denunciations the master is obliged to restrict his use of the denunciation to what is nicessary for the private correction of the delinquent. Can a superior reveal the matter of the denunciation to others? Not any more than is required to attain the end of the denunciation. But, if. it is necessary to tell the provincial, for example, in order to change the delinquent from one office to another, the master must warn him that this knowledge is in the paternal forum2 and cann6t be used judicially. If others have to be consulted, the same warning must be given to them and the name of the delinquent withheld. But, if it is impossible to get their advice without revealing the name, they must be bound to strict secrecy also. With regard to the use of such knowledge, the master may do whatever he judges necessary for the spiritual good o~ the delinquent short of notable injury to reputation and expulsion. Hence, he may admonish him privately, reprehend sharply, change his occupation, even though these may be repugnant to the novice. In all of this the novice master is bound under a double, secret to the informant. The first is an obligation not to use the knowl-edge contrary to his intention; the second not to reveal the name of the informant and to protect him against any harm that might be-fall him as a result of his act of charity. Both of these ard entrusted secrets. Obviously, if the fault is more serious and the intention of the informant is primarily to protect the community from an unworthy 2For a more complete explanation of the difference between the paternal forum and the judicial forum, the reader is referred to the article "Paternal Government and Filial Confidence in Superiors," by John C. Ford, S.J., REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, II (1943), 146-55. 16 Januar~j, 1956"'" OBLIGATIONS ~: :to SECRECY member, then, this would not be a paternal but a judicial' denunci-ation; and the master would ~be free to proceed to dismissal if he judged it wise. When it is not clear, however, what kind of denunci-ation is being made, the master must question the informant about his intention; for he would be violating an entrusted secret if he began proceedings in the judicial forum without the consent of the informant. And this consent the latter is obliged to give as often as dismissal by. moral estimate is the only way to prevent grave injury to a third party or to the community. The chapter of faults, like the paternal denunciation, is another form of paternal correction. Here a novice in the presence of the master is admonished of his exterior faults by each of his fellow novices in turn. This should be done of course out of the sincerest charity, the only motive being to improve the individual spiritually. The master's use of information learned in chapter, therefore, is governed by the same principles that were laid down for the paternal denunciation, except that, since all present have already learned of the fault, he has more freedom as far as the reputation of the sub-ject is concerned. About this exercise Father John Ford, S.J., writes, "It is not proper to use judicially material revealed therein. The fact that all novices participate in this exercise does not change the principle. But the fact that all are present is the reason why only lesser ex-ternal faults are fit subject matter for revelation in the chapter, and why it would be improper for anyone to reveal anything serious enough to warrant the dismissal of a novice. If an imprudent novice. were to reveal such a fault, all present would be bound by the secret and the master of novices would be obliged to presume that the revelation was intended as part of the exercise of fraternal cor-rection, and therefore, not to be used judicially,, for example, by dismissing the novice." THE INsPEcTION OF MAIL , The last of the secrets entrusted to a novice master are those which be learns from the inspection of mail. Since this right of in-spectioh is given to him only to help in the paternal governm, ent of souls and to protect their interior lives from harm, he may never use this knowledge for any other purpose. As Father Genicot says, "He cannot make a wider use of it, unless he, can presume the con-sent of the writer or receiver, which cannot be presumed, of course, if it would cause hardship to either one.''3 Although the subject 3Tbeologia Moralis, 3rd ed., I, p, 395. 17 ~JOHN R. POST Review [or Religious matter of letters is not usually as confidential as that in the patelnal denunciation, still both are in the paterna! forum; and their use and revelation should follow the same principles. Canon 611 denies to all superiors the right to open letters of subjects to or from higher superiors. To do so, therefore, would be to invade the natural right of the subject; and, if a letter of this kind were opened by mistake, the knowledge so acquired could not be used without injustice. SOME IMPROBABLE CASES OF ENTRUSTED SECRETS Thus far we have taken for granted that revelation of an entrusted secret was not necessary to prevent serious harm to the community or to some third party. Now, let us consider some occasions when the preponderant harm done to others by concealment might seem to.justify the revelation of such a secret, or at least its use in dis-missing a novice. First, suppose a novice master discovered in man(festation that a novice had a habit of impurity that made him unfit for the re-ligious life and that might bring great harm to the community. Could the master reveal this knowledge to the provincial with a view to the novice's dismissal, if after exhortation the novice re-fused to go? Or, could the master himself use the knowledge to dismiss the novice without revealing the cause? It might seem at first that a master of'novices could reveal such knowledge to the provincial. And he could if it were only a ques-tion of choosing between the. harm to the individual novice and that threatening the community. But a third element enters into the case in favor of concealment, and that is the element of general confidence in the institution of manifestation as such. The moral harm done to a community by a loss of confidence in its spiritual directors is so great that moralists are inclined to say that no ex-ception to the secrecy of spiritual direction should be allowed.4 And, if we consider, as we have done, how close the manifestation comes to the sacrament of confession in its matter' and its purpose, we should not wonder that, more than all the other entrusted secrets, it should share somewhat in the inviolability of that sacrament. ~A principal difficulty against this solution seems to come from an, analogy, with other entrusted secrets. Most theologians, for in~- :(Cf. Francis J. Connell, C.SS.R., American Ecclesiastical Review, March, 1953, pp. 200-201; John C: Ford, S.J., "and Gerald Kelly, S.J., ,'Theological StudieL March, 1954, pp. 83-84. 18 ~ ]anuarg, 1956 OBLIGATIONS To'SECREC~ stance, will allow a doctor, to warn a prospective bride qf he finds that her fianc~ has a contagious disease which would threaten her health and future happiness. Here is an entrusted secret which can. be revealed to protect a third party, why cannot the same be done~ '~ove? Because, though both are entrusted secrets, still the s.ecret. of manifestation is on a higher level than that of the medical secret; for the confidence which men have in their spiritual directors is both more important for the common good and also more fragile than. the confidence they have ifi their doctor.s, though both are important. For all practical purposes, therefore, the secret of manifestation should be kept almost as inviolable as that of confession. Can the novice master in the~ case above use the manifestation knowledge to dismiss the novice without revealing the secret to any-one.? Even if he had the power from the provincial, it would seem that he should forego the bare use of it for purposes of dismissal. Father Ren~ Brouillard says that, although in strict right a superior could, to avert a preponderant harm to th~ community, use mani-festation knowledge against an individual, still it would be prefer-able for reasons of prudence and discretion not to use it euen in extreme cases because this kind" of secret approaches the nature of the confessional secret; and a betrayal might easily mean the loss of confidence by'the whole community,5 Next, take a case involving a secret' learned only in paternal denunciation. One novice reports to the master that another has been the aggressor in a mutual sin of unchastity: and, when ques-tioned by the master, the culprit admits it, but says that it is the only time he has ever sinned that way and he is really con- "trite. Moreover, the master cannot persuade him to go willingly. When the master questions the informant about his intention i.n making the denunciation, he finds that it was ~nly to help the. culprit to amend. Hence, if the informant is unwilling to let the master act judicially, the master's hands are tied. The reason is that the threat to the moral health of the community or third ¯ party does not seem to be great enough to excuse from the entrusted secret, especially since other means such as exhortation and separ-. ation of the two novices can still be tried to avert the danger. But," if it were clear that the delinquent were confirmed .in a habit of unchastity with others, then the master, after using all other means,. could resort to dismissal even without, the consent of the informant; fbr the d~iinquent wou'ld in this c~se ,constitute a proportionately gRevue des comrnunautes religieuses, III (1927), 104. 19 JOHN R. POST Review for Religious grave threat to the virtue and reputation of the community. Lastly, suppose the master of novices learns through the inspec-tion of mail that one of his charges just before vows has a debt of $10,000 hanging over his head. His creditor, knowing the situa-tion, writes in his letter that he. intends to "bleed" the order for the sum after vows. The master knows of thi~ debt only through this letter and is unable to persuade the novice to leave. What he to do? In this case to protect'the order from serious harm, the master could dismiss the novice, despite his pbjections; and, if it were necessary to forestall distrust, he might even make public the reason for dismissal. Such cases, thank God, are very rare among novices, due largely to the careful examinations they go through before entrance and also to the fact that, when there is just reason for dismissal, they can usually be made to see it. But, when a case like the above does arise, the master must remember that in choosing between two evils charity always obliges him to choose the less; the two evils here being the harm to be done to the community or to a third party by his concealment, and the harm to the culprit and the institution of fraternal correction, or manifestation, c;r inspection of mail by his revelation. NATURAL SECRETS When the ordinary religious observes an otherwise hidden fault of a fellow religious, he is bound in justice and charity not to re-veal it any more than is necessary, in this matter the novice master is not like an ordinary religious. As regards his novices, he is not only a spiritual director, but also a superior. If he should find a novice engaged in some prank, he would certainly not violate justice by giving him a public penance--though he might violate charity if a private admonition were sufficient for the correction of the cul-prit and for the preservation of religious discipline. Moreover, if the fault were sufficiently serious, he could proceed to the dismissal of the novice. Novices recognize from the beginning that the master ha~ this right, for they know that they are undergoing an exam-ination by the order. A~.d just as in a scholastic examination the results can be used by the teacher to dismiss a boy from school, without any violation of a natural secret, so too in the use of this knowledge which he. acquired from personal observation the master of novices has the widest scope in which to exercise his administrative powers. 2O January/, 19~6 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS As regards externs, the novice master has the same basic duty as others to preserve the natural secret. Suppose, for instance, that he had dismissed a novice for some fault that he had observed, and later were asked by a school or a business firm for the cause of the boy:s dismissal. He would be violating a natural secret were he to reveal this fault if it would not unfit the boy for business or a stu-dent's career." The case, however, 'would be some'what different if be were asked to give testimonial letters concerning an ex-novice of his who wanted to enter another religious order, for here canon 545,n.4, makes it clear that merely natural secrets must give way to the needs of the Church. By the same token he is bound to re-veal the natural secrets of his novices when ordered to do so by his own higher superiors; and, if they are significant enough, he may include them in his regular report (can. 563). CONCLUSION To sum up, then, the master of novices must try to balance as best he can the interests of both the order and the individual soul; and, when any one of his obligations to secrecy seems to tie his hands~ let him take consolation from the words of the divine master, "Let them both grow until the harvest . . . lest while you gather up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it." ( ues ons ncl Answers I In my striving for perfection I find if difficult to submit to God's will by acceptlncj my superior as she. is. Her inconsistencies induce murmur-ing; her injustice provokes scandal; her partiality seems at times unbear-able. What can I do about it? Sister might do well to cultivate the habit, by reading, reflection, prayer, exercise, experience, etc., of seeing the whole matter through God's eyes, as it were, and then of feeling about it as that vision suggests. God sees the superior's imperfections, but also the good consequences that sooner or later He can draw out of them. He does not like her inconsistencies either; but He does not expect human beings to be completely qonsistent, and He will make those deviations conduce to greater good eventually. Similarly He views 21 :QUi~'~IONS"AND ANSWERS Review [oF Religio~s "her injustice and,partiality and disapproves of them; ~but they also ¯ ~re tolerated in His infinitely, wise a'nd holy' and potent designs. He '.knows that if sister shouldobey an imperfect superior perfectly, hei? ¯ obedience would be all the more excellent, and more to His glory, ,and especially to her own pleasure and gain and sanctity in" the end. She would also be more Christlike, with all the advantages ' that this likeness implies; Christ's obedience would haste been rela- ¯ tively commonplace had the powers, in His time been just what :they should have been. The malice and unreasonableness of His persecutors were His opportunity. : May. a religious, without seekln9 permission from his superior, offer his life to God, that is, volunteer to let God take his life for some special pur-pose? Whatever good there is in such an act is contained in loving God with all one's forces, or in trying to accomplish the will of God "on earth as in heaven," or in being perfect as one's heavenly Father is perfect; and very obviously no permission is required for such practices. Superiors do,not have authority in the matter of directly terminating life. Even if. they did, it would seem that one could go over their heads to the Supreme Superior of all superiors. --AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD, S.J. I am a sister and a supervisor on a hospital hall. I wanted to cjo to confession. A priest of one of the ~:ify parishes had finished visiting a patient, and I asked him to hear my confession in a vacant room on the hall and also told him that I could not !eave the hall becauseof a patient. who was in a critical condition and r.equired constant attention. He kept hesltatincj and asklncj me questions. Finally he said he could~not hear my .confession outside of the confessional in the chapel. Why couldn't he? This priest, since he had jurisdiction for the confessions of .other women in the diocese but did not antecedently possess special .jurisdiction over you/ a religious woman, is. termed the occasional confessor of religious women. He could hear your confession validly .only in the legitimate place. This is the only case in which place is required .for the t~alidity of a confession. The confessions of women, including religious women, may not be heard licitly ohtside of the .confessiorial except in a case of sickness or for other reasons of about ~the same or greater import than sickness (c.,910,' § 1). If such a :reason existed, he could have heard your .confes~i0fi bdth validly danuary, 1956 ' QUESTION'S AND ANSWERS and licitly outside the confes.sional, e.g., in the room you mentioned, Examples of such sufficient reasons are those of a sister'confined~ to her room by a sickness that is not serious, deafness, a sister who wishes to go to confession but cannot leave a patient, the probable danger of, a sacrilegious confession or Communion, the probable danger ofserious infamy or scandal, of gossip in the community, or shame or fear with regard to going to the confessional. The prudent and at least probable judgment of the confessor of the sufficiency of the reason for hearing the confession outside the confessional is all that is required. Regatillo gives what appears to me to be a very sound practical norm of action for a confessor when he is requested to hear the confession of a religious woman outside the confessional and the sufficiency of the reason is not immediately clear to him. The confessor is to indicate the prohibition of hearing a confession in this manner except for a sufficient reason; but, if the religious woman insists, he may hear the confession outside the confessional Any .precautions prescribed by the local ordinary on the confessions of women outside the confessional are to be observed. A sufficient reason existed in this case, and the confession could therefore have been heard both validly and licitly outside the confessional. Cf. Regatillo, Institutiones Iuris Canonici I, 355; De Carlo, De Religiosis, n. 172, 5 ; Genicot-Salsmans, Theoloqia Moralis, II, Ed. 17, n. 319. Our constitutions read: "In ~he practice of ordinary private corporal mortifications and penances, the sisters are to be directed by the judcj-ment of the confe'ssor alone; for external and public acts they must have also the permiss~ion of the local superior." I am a mother provincial, and I have a sister who is practicin9 private penance with the consent of her confessor in a way that is injurious to both her physical and mental health. Are her local superior and I simply powerless to do anything? This article of the constitutions is to be interpreted according to the practice of the Holy See in approving constitutions. Accord-ing to this practice, the permission of a confessgr or spiritual director suffices for private acts of mortification and penance. A superior may" also grant this permission. It is more prudent tb consult one,of these, especially for habitual acts; but permission is not o~ obliga-tion unless this obligationqs stated in the laws or customs of the institute. For public acts, i.e., those dbne in the presence of at least a good part of the community, such as the community penanc~'s ~ir~ the refectory, the permission of the superior is necessary, rail su- QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Reoiew [or Religious periors also have the right of vigilance, over private acts and may moderate or forbid such acts, even if permitted by a confessor or spiritual director, when they create a danger to health, religious discipline, or the work of' the institute. All such matters of their very nature fall under the government of superiors, e.g., the care of the health of subjects is not only a right but also an obligation of superiors. --S-- In our community we have always recited the Little Office of the B.V. M. in English. Do we cjain ÷he indulcjences granted for the recitation of this office? The indulgences are listed in the Raccolta, n. 318. Can. 934, § 2, enacts that the indulgences attached to prayers may be acquired by .reciting the prayers in any language, provided the translation is approved. The Little Office of the B. V. M. is an exception to this norm, since the Holy See has declared that for the gaining of its indulgences this office must be recited in Latin when the reci-tation is public but may be recited in the-vernacular when the recitation is private. The Holy See has also defined private recita-tion in this matter. "The recitation of the Little Office of the B. V. M. is still to be held as private although done in common within the confines of the religious house and even when done behind closed doors in a church or public oratory attached to the house." (Acta Sanctae Sedis, 40 [1907], 187-88.) The common or choral reci-tation of the office by sisters is within the confines of the religious house, since it is done in the semipublic oratories of convents. If exceptionally a community Should recite this office in a church or public oratory attached to the house, the doors are considered open only when the public is admitted generally or indiscriminately, not when a few determined persons are allowed to enter. There-fore, not only the individual but also the choral recitation of this office in the houses of religious is to be considered~ private and, if done in the vernacular, sufficient for the indulgences in either case. Cf. Beringer-Steinen-Maz0yer, Les Indulgences, I, nn. 206, 756; De Angelis, De Indulgentiis, n. 92; Heylen, De Indulgentiis, 67; Battandier, Guide Canonique, n. 272. Is ÷here any law of the Church on the name or title of a religious insfi-÷ufe? This legislation is found in can. 492, § 3, which prescribes that 24 danuar~l, 1956 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS new.congregations may not assufiae the name of any religious in-stitute already established. It is sufficient that the flame be somewhat different, e.g., Sisters of St. 3oseph of Cluny, Sisters of St. doseph of Newark. The title or name of the congregation may be taken from the attributes of God, the mysteries of our holy faith, some feast of our Lord or the Blessed Virgin, the saints, or the special purpose of the congregation. The name should not be artificial nor should it express or imply any form of devotion that is not ap-proved by the Holy See. If I may presume to add anything to this law and practice of the Holy See, I would suggest that the name should not be unduly long; and I would emphasize this suggestion even more for the names of provinces and especially of houses. --7-- Is it a fact that the Holy See stated that sisters are not to lower their veil before or after receiving Holy Communion.7 Some communities have stopped doing so; others still do it. I have no knowledge of a published statement of the Holy See directly on this practice. The S. Congregation of the Sacraments did say: "When Holy Communion is being received, all those things are to be avoided which create greater difficulty for a young person who wishes to abstain from Holy Communion, but in such a way that his abstinence will not be noticed" (Bouscaren: Canon Lau; Di- _ gest, II, 214). It can also be held that the same principle is implicit throughout this instruction, which treats of daily Communion and the precautions to be taken against abuse. It would be more in the spirit of this instruction to eliminate the practice. Even prescinding from the instruction, I see no good reason for the retention of the practice. It is also the cause at least of wonderment to small children when done in church. The same lack of reasonableness is to be predicated of an unna.turally slow pace in approaching the altar rail or in returning to one's place in the chapel or church. Like the rubrics of the Church, other practices should express reverence in a natural manner. --8-- I am a religious priest and,regularly say the community Mass in a con-vent. May I never say the Masses of my own institute? Convent chapels are semipublic oratories? The principal semi-public oratory is tba~ used for the religious exercises, especially for the hearing of Mass; other chapels of the house are secondary semi- 25 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review [or Religiou's public oratories.~ The generhl principle is that the place of celebra-tion determines'the ordo (calendar) to be followed for Mass. Tl~erefore: 1. In the principal semipublic oratory, every priest, diocesan or .re!igious, must say Mass according to the ordo of such an oratory, whether the ordo is diocesan or proper to the religious, e.g., "Fran-ciscan,~ Dominican. a. The priest does not follow the special rites or ceremonies of religious orders or churches, e.g., a diocesan priest does not me, ntion the founder of a religiotis order in the Cont~iteor. b. The. priest may celebrate votive or requiem Masses permitted by the ordo of such an oratory, even though not permitted by his own ordo. ' c. When the ordo of such an oratory permits private votive Masses, the priest may say the Mass of the office of the day for such a place or a votive or requiem Mass, and in all of these he follows the ordo of the oratory in every respect. Or he may say the Mass that cor-responds to his own ordo, even if only that of a blessed. If he does so, he is to say the Mass in the festal, not votive,' manner, i.e., he says the Mass exactly as he would in his own church or oratory. d. The norm for a principal semipublic oratory applies also to a church "and a public oratory. 2. In the secondary semipublic oratories, a priest may.but is not obliged to follow the ordo of the place of celebration. He may and ,prefer.ably should follow his own ordo, because of the general prin-ciple that the Mass should as far as possible be in conformity with the office. 'This norm also applies to Mass in a private oratory and outside a sacred place. ~ 3. The ordo of the oratories of lay religious is the diocesan i~rdo except in the case of religious who have a proper ordo. In practice a proper ordo will be found only iia the second'order of nuns or third orders of c0ngreg.ation~s of sisters. These have the right of following the ordo of the first order of religious men to which they are affili-ated, e.g., Franciscan sisters have the right of following the ordo of the first order.of Franciscan men to which they are affiliated. An in-stitute subject to the diocesan ordo may also have some special Masses granted by the Holy See. 4.~. Cardinais and bishops have the privilege of following' tl~eir own ordo wherever they celebrate. Cf. J'. O'Connell, The Celebra-tion of Mass, 58-61.'---JOSEPH F. GALLEN, S.J. 26 I:'orbidden;,. Re ding John J. Lynch~ S.J. | T-is 'rather cor~mon knowledge among Catholics that ~l~e Church | forbids her subjects to read certain publications which she~judges would be a threat to faith or morals. Beyond ~hat g~neric"facL however, common knowledge does not proceed very far--partiall~r, perhaps, because more detailed information is not a practical ne-cessitj" for the many who prefer to restrict their reading either 'to professedly Catholic publications or to literature which di3es not verge ori religious or moral matters. But it' is also unfortunately true that more detailed information on this law is not abundantly available except.in technical manuals of moral theology and canon law. Hence even those who desire or need enlightenment find them-selves under a certain handicap for want of informationa.l sources. It is primarily for that latter reason that the subject appears, ap-propriate to REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. Even though limitations of spac? forbid an exhaustive treatment here, it may be possible to in-dicate the basic principles involved and to recommend for more de-tailed explanation other authors' whose writings in the vernacular are conveniently available. THE CHURCH'S RIGHT TO CONTROL RI~ADING The point of departi~re for any intelligent discussion of this question is the established fact that the Church is divinely instituted, vested with full right to teach authoritatively and to rule in matters religious, and charged byr Christ Himself with the responsibility .~f safeguarding Catholic faith and morals. In these matters the voice of the Church is the voice of God and commands the same unques- [ioning obedience which is due the word of God Himself. Further-more-- a psychological fact which any rational individual must ad-mit- the printed word Can and does exert on the human intellect .and will a most powerful influence for both good and evil and is, consequently, a mighty factor in the preservation or destruction of personal faith and morals. Hence in all reasonableness we must concede the right and duty of the Church, if she deems .it necessary, to exercise a measure of control over the literature we read anal to establish norms and regulations whereby the faith and morals" of her subjects will be protected from what we might call "subversive influences," Neither her authority in that sphere, nor her essential 'wisdom in the exercise of that authority, Can be yalidly que~tioned :2,7 JOHN J. LYNCH Reoieto for Religious once we face the fact of her institution by God as official and ~iuthori-tative custodian of faith and morals. THE FACT OF LEGISLATIVE CONTROL In wl~at specific form has the Church de facto expressed her pro-hibition against certain publications? For practical purp6ses we need consider but two documents, one of which restricts itself to the presentation of generic norms which proscribe certain type~ of lit-erature, while the other provides an enumeration of individual works and authors condemned specifically by name. This latter chtalogue is commonly referred to as the Index of Forbidden Books; the more generic legislation is derived from Book III of the Code of Canon Law. They are not mutually independent and unrelated documents, as we shall see. And while the Index is probably more fa~iliar to most people as a term of reference, it is the Code upon which we lean more heavily when decision must be made regarding our freedom to read certain literature. Occasionally, too, local bishops will exercise their rightful .author-ity in this regard and forbid their respective subjects to read ~pecified publications. But since legislation of that kind is invariably brought to the immediate attention of the faithful from the puligit and through the diocesan press, there is no need here to delay; on that species of prohibition. I. THE CODE OF CANON LAW: CANON 1399 Canon 1399 lists eleven different categories of writing:which, regardless of title or specific author, are automatically classified as forbidden reading for Catholics. It is in no sense of the Word an arbitrary catalogue. Divine natural law obliges us to avoid;'if p?s-sible, reading anything which may imperil our faith or mortal recti.- tude. The Church in her wisdom and from the wealth of her ex-perience has merely specified that fundamental obligation of natural law by indicating in this canon various classes of literature, which are most likely to pose such a threat to the average individual. Since her norm of judgment is the ~iverage Catholic, and because We must concede the existence of Catholics who are above average in knowl-edge. of their faith and in unswerving adherence to its priniiples, a word about the pectiliar nature of this law is necessary for° an ap-preciation of its obliging force~ Law Foundbd on Presumption The law enunciated in cani3n 1399 is of the type which is said 28 danuar~t; 1956 FORBIDDEN READING to be: ;"founded on presumption." In other words, the legislator of such .a statute first, with good reason, pre.sumes something to be uhiversally true, and then on the basis of that presumption formu-lates a~ law. Presumption of Fact What is presumed as true may be a fact of some sort, on the assumed universality of which legislation is thereupon enacted. If, however, the fact presumed can be disproVen as non-existent in a given:instance, the law based thereon collapses in a sense, i.e., does not oblige in that individual case. Such laws are said to be "founded on a l/resumption of fact"; and it is the intention of the legislator that his law shall not bind in isolated instances where by way of excepiion the presumed fact is not verified. Perhaps an example will further clarify this notion of presump-tion of fact. Civil law, for instance, holds a husband legally re-sponsible for the support of all children born to his wife during their marriage. The fact on which that legislation is founded is the presumption, valid in the .great majority of cases, that a husband is the~natural father of his wife's children. If, however, contrary fact can be proven in an individual case, the law yields to that fact and dbes not apply in that particular instance. Presumption of Universal Danger Another presumption upon which legislation is sometimes based is that. of universal danger, i.e., danger to the common welfare. In this case a certain act is reasonably presumed to be usuaIl~t dangerous to the.individual and as alu~a~s a threat to the common good if not contr'o]led by law in each individual case. Hence the presumption, .or basis for the law, is twofold and directly regards not only the welfare of individual subjects but also and primarily the good of the commhnity as a whole. For this latter reason such a law does not cease t}o oblige the individual even if it should be apparerlt that the act in question threatens no danger to him personally; for there remains the further presumption that to allow individuals to make that d_ecislon for themselves will inevitably pose a threat to the common good. Thus, for example, in time of severe drought some communities 'have" f6rbidden all outdoor fires unless in each case a permit be first obtalne~t from local civil authority. Such a prohibition is founded on the'presumption tbat'danger to the community cannot be effec-tively ~iverted.if private citizens are allowed to decide for themselves ,JOHN J. LYNCH Review for Religious what precautions are adequate against ,uncontrolled conflagration. Hence civil authority reserves that decision to itself; and despite the acttial efficacy of .the precautions he may take, the individual will be held liable if he lights a fire without the permission of proper officials. For the primary presumption still obtains, viz., that it is dangerous to the common good to permit individuals to make such decisions for themselves without supervision. Presumption of Canon 1399 It is on this latter presumption of universal danger that the Church bases her law prohibiting certain types of literature. She recognizes th'e fact that the general faith will be imperiled if in-dividuals are allowed to judge for themselves in these cases the presence or absence of personal danger. Consequently this law is intended to oblige even those who have every reason to believe that the reading of° certain forbidden matter will not in the least affect their personal faith or morals. In the interests of the common good, the .right to pass judgment on that question is legitimately reserved by the Church to herself. Hence this positive law of the Church is designedly more strict than is natural .law on the same point. Natural law demands only that one avoid reading what is dangerous to oneself; positive Church law requires that we refrain also from reading whatever ecclesiastical~ authority }~as judged to be a threat to the faith and morals of the average individual. Natural law obliges us to consult only our own consciences when choosing matter for reading: ecclesiastical" law en-joins the further obligation of consulting designated superiors be-fore we can consider ourselves free to read certain publications. Extent of Canon 1399 Before summarizing the content of canon 1399, a brief word about the extent of the prohibition which this law expresses: 1. With the ~xception of cardinals, bishops, and several other .high ecclesiastics, all Catholics--clergy and religious as well as the laity--are subject to the Church's law of forbidden reading. It .goes without saying, of course, that no exemption from this positive law can ever imply freedom from natural law. Regardless of dig-nity or rank, no individual can escape the obligation of avoiding as far as possible any reading which may de facto constitute for him personally a threat to faith or morals., It is only within that area where positive precept is more stringent than naturhl law that cer-tain Church dignitaries are declared immune from obligation, on ,]anuarg. 1956 FORBIDDEN READING the legitimate presumption th~at the same exceptional qualities which merit them their rank will likewise guarantee their immunity from the harmful effects of the literature condemned by ecclesiastical law. 2. We are forbidden not only to read certain literature, but also to publish it, retain it in our possession, translate it into other lan-guages, and to sell or in any other way make it available to others. 3.' Although the Code speaks primarily of books, it also ex-plicitly states that, unless the contrary is evident in a particular con-text, the law applies equally to all manner of publications, whether booklets, pamphlets, magazine or newspaper articles, if these are substantially concerned with forbidden matter. 4. The prohibitions of this canon, although binding gravely in conscience, are not absolute in the sense of removing certain pub-lications irrevocably beyond the reach of Catholic readers. As will be seen later,in more detail, permission ~o read such matter can and will be granted v~hen reasonable request is made of proper authority. With these preliminary notions in mind, a glar)ce at the stipu-lations of canon 1399 will provide at least .a bird's-eye view of the literary area proscribed by ecclesiastical law. To cope with all the legal ramifications of this complex statute would require that genius and skill peculiar to professional canonists, and for that reason the following survey is purposely restricted to the larger aspects of the law. _As a possibl~ aid to memory,, the exact order of the canon itself has been abandoned in an effort to gather its finer and more elusive details within several broader categories. The four divisions actually employed here are still not completely distinct from one another; but they may serve to fix more firmly in the reader's memory the various types of literature which the Church considers most likely to exert a malign influence on the faithful. A. SCRIPTURAl. WORKS Since the Bible is the word Of God Himself and one of the au-thentic sources whence we derive the revealed truths of our Catholic faith, the Church has always exercised extreme vigilance over the exact letter and substance of Holy Scripture. As the constituted guardian of divine revelation, she insists therefore upon her exclusive right to pass judgment on any publication which attempts to repro-duce or to interpret the Bible either in whole or in part. Scientific scholarship, if exercised competently, objectively, and without bias, will never contradict the scriptural teaching of the Church. But there always remains the possibility 'that unscientific methods, re- 31 JOHN J. LYNCH Re~ieu~ /:or Religious ligious prejudice, or misdirected piety will adulterate the conclu-sions of biblical scholars; and for that reason the Church has re-stricted our right to read two classes of scriptural writings: 1. All editions of Hol~l Scripture which are compiled or pub-fished bq non-Catholics, whether these editions be presented in the language in which they were originally written or in ancient or modern translation--in other words, any non-Catholic edition of the Bible or parts of the Bible. The example which comes immediately to mind is the King James version so commonly used by English-speaking non-Catholics. But those who have engaged in biblical studies may also recognize such standard works as Rudolph Kittel's Biblia Hebraica, Psalterium duxta Hebraeos Hieronqmi by J. M. Harder, Nestle's Novum Testa-mentum, and Chicago Bible, an English translation of old and new testament compiled by a group of scholars under the auspices of the University of Chicago. All of these, as well as numerous others, are automatically ban'ned for most Catholics. By way of excep-tion, however, the Code allows anyone who is engaged in the study of either theology or scripture to make use of such works, provided that they are known to be faithful and integral reproductions of the original and to contain nothing by way of annotation or com-mentary which impugns Catholic dogma. Under the same. proviso, this privilege also applies to vernacular translations by Catholics when the reason for their prohibition (as explained immediately below) is failure to obtain proper ecclesiastical approbation. 2. Scriptural publications of Catholic authors who have failed to observe ecclesiastical law regarding prior censorship. (One infallible sign of proper compliance with this requirement is the "Imprimatur" usually found at the beginning of religious books published by Catholics.) Hence (a) Catholic editions of the Bible text, either in the original language or in translation, 0s well as (b) annotations'and commentaries on Sacred Scripture, are prohibited reading if they are published even by Catholics without proper ecclesiastical examination and approval. B. WRITINGS DESTRUCTIVE OF FAITH Faith can be understood here in a rather broad sense so as to include firm intellectual a~sent not only to those dogmas solemnly defined or traditionally taught by the Church as having been re-. vealed by God, but also to what may be termed the rational pre-rqquisites of faith in that strict, sense and the corollaries which 32 danuarg, 1956 FORBIDDEN READING logically follow from revealed truth. In order to protect effectively the hard core of revelation, the Church must also guard that peri-phery of truths and principles which, although not divinely revealed or solemnly defined, are inextricably linked to the deposit of faith. It is with this realization that canon 1399 goes into some detail-- repetitiously perhaps in spots--as to the various species of writing forbidden as pernicious to Catholic faith. 1. Writings which attack or ridicule Catholic dogma, or which impugn religion in general, or attempt in ang wag to destro~t the fun~aments of religion; publicatiohs which defend heresy, schism. or other errors condemned by the Holy See. This synthesis of several sections of canon 1399 comprises two generic methods of discrediting the Catholic faith: the direct attack whereby the positive teaching of the Church is allegedly refuted and claimed to-be false: and the more indirect approach whereby, even perhaps without explicit reference to Catholicism, certain false doctrines are defended as ostensibl~ true. The threat in. either case is reductively the same: either to wean the reader away from the true faith through disparagement or specious argu-ments or to attract him intellectually or emotionally to beliefs which a're opposed to Catholicism. When the Code speaks of attacking theological truth or of de-fending doctrinal error, it implies a deliberate, methodical, concen-trated attempt to prove or disprove by means of formal argumen-tation. Isolated and gratuitous assertions, incidental to some other predominant and harmless theme, would not suffice to verify this notion. So too of ridicule, calumny, skepticism, and the like. If such aspersions be persistent and an integral part of an author's manifest thesis they can go a long way towards creating doubt about re-ligious truth and can be sufficient to classify a work as condemned, under this heading. Heresy in theological terminology is th~ pertinacious denial or doubt of any truth which has been infallibly declared by the Church to be part of divine revelation. It is the rejection therefore of dogma, which signifies any doctrine so taught by the Church. By schism is meant the refusal of one already baptized to submit to the 're-ligious authority of the pope or to live in communion with the members of the Church who do acknowledge his authority. Over and above these more blatant defiances of ecclesiastical teaching authority, there-are other doctrines which may not di, rec~ly contradict the above-mentioned truths but which are at 33 JOHN J. LYNCH Reuieto /:or- Rel~'gious variance with certain other theological pri~nciples or conclusions which the Church defends as certainly true even though not con-tained perhaps in the direct revelation of Christ. Denial of these truths is condemned by the Church not as heretical but as false or erroneous. The :undaments o: religion are natural or supernatural order, on ness of our faith. Among these last and immortality of the human soul, bility and fact of divine revelation, all those truths, whether of the which depends the reasonable-' would be classified the existence freedom of the will, the possi-the possibility of miracles, 'etc. Many of these "fundaments" have also been explicitly taught by the Church, and hence would qualify also under one or another of the preceding paragraphs. With regard to the writings of the ver~f early heretics, theologians generally admit that they are not at the present time forbidden ab-solutely, at least to those who are well versed in the faith. The reason they alleg~e i~ that the errors defended in these ancient works have long since been universally recognized as false and no longer pose a common threat of perversion. Hence such collections as those of Labbe or Migne may be kept intact and their contents read~ even though they do include some of the heretical writings of ¯ Tertullian, Eusebius, Origen, and others. The same exception, however, cannot be made for the works of Luther, Calvi;a, Jansenius, and their like, whose errors are still extant and still dangerous. There is no need, however, to return to the Reformation era to find examples of literature which explicitly attacks theologidal truth or defends theological error. Unfortunately such writing is all too plentiful even in our own day. Christ and Catholicism, for instance, by Frederick A. Johnson .(New York: .Vintage Press,. 1954) openly attacks Catholicism both by specious argument and by ridicule, defends heresy, and propounds lesser theological errors. Its subtitle, "A Provocative and Trenchant Analysis of the Real Re-lationship Between Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church," is an accurate portents°of "its theme insofar as the real relationship alleged is one of substantial incompatibility rather than that of identity. Teachings explicitly attacked in one way'or another in-clude the apostolic origin and succession of popes, the indefecti-bility of Church doctrine, devotion to our Lady, the divine insti-tution of the Mass and the dogma of transubstantiation, the effi-cacy of indulgences and sacramentals, and th~ divine origin of all the sacraments except baptism and the Eucharist. (It is significant, 34' FORBIDDEN READING incidentally,, to note on the dust jacket that rMr. Johnson's education ?and background are technblogical, his occupation that of engineeri'ng, his "interest" philosophy, and his hobbies travel, music, and photo-l~ raphy.) Less crude in its presentation, and motivated perhaps by the best of misdirected intentions, is Giovanni Papini's The Devil (New York: E. P. Dutton ~ Co., 1954), originally published in Italian as II Diabolo. The heretical thesis which the author strives to estab-lish is that God's love and mercy are incompatible with an eternal hell and that we may therefore hope that eventually even Satan may achieve salvation and hell cease to exist. 2. Writings which disparage divine worship, which seek to undermine ecclesiastical discipline, or which deliber'ately and per-slstently hold up to opprobrium the ecclesiastical hie?arch~l or the, clerical or religious state. Although literature of this kind is not aimed so directly against the content of Catholic doctrine, it is not difficult to appreciate the pernicious effect it could have on the practical, faith of individuals. Divine worship in this context is not restricted to the Catholic liturgy, but includes any act by which man~ honors God in Him-self or in His saints. As in the previous category, it is not a ques-tion here of occasional disparaging remarks which may be made in passing by an author, but rather of the calculated development at some notable length of an opprobrious theme. Nor is it sufficien.t that individual clerics, religious, or members of the hierarchy be the, target of such abuse. In order to classify as prohibited reading, attack of this kind must ordinarily be leveled against those states of llfe as ecclesiastical institutions. Christ and Catholicism, mentioned just previously in another context, also amply exemplifies almost every" detail of this category of writing. The chapters on the Mass, the priesthood, the sacra-ments-- to cite only the more blatant--are intent upon establishing our liturgy as farcical pantomime and our priesthood .and hierarchy as sacrilegious usurpations of divine power and authority. 3. Those writings of non-Catholics which treat formally" of religion, unless, it be clear that they contain nothing contrary to Catholic faith. There is every good reason to ,hold suspect the religious writings of. non-Catholics,'wl~ose very segregation from the Church is ~itse.lf religious error and creates strong presumption against, the "cukacy' of ahy religious doctrine they would hold' 6r fea~h. Heh~e 3'5 JOHN J. LYNCH Reoieto t:or Religious the Church forbids us to read such literature until we have ascer-tained through some reliable source that it contains no substantial theological error. Religion must here be understood in" its widest sense as includ-ing whatever pertains to the relation of man to God. Every branch of theology, therefore, is included--dogma,, morals,~ ascetics, scrip-ture, litu'rgy, Church history, canon law, etc. Even many philosophi-cal works would fall into this category insofar as they deal either with God as an absolute entity or with rational creatures in their relationship to God, or treat of those truths and principles which constitute the rational foundations of religion. By "formal" treatment (the Code uses the term ex professo) is meant something substantially more than religious obiter dicta. Either the entire work, or a notable section of it, must .designedly express religious beliefs substantiated by logical evidence, real or alleged. The author must, in other words, be intent upon discussing a religious topic at sufficient length to establish the particular pro-position or thesis which he has in mind. Confronted with such a publication, a Catholic is forbidden to read it unless he is certain that it contains nothing of any import-ance contrary to Catholic faith. That assurance should ordinarily be sought from someone who is competent to judge such matters and who is familiar with the content of the work in question. If it should, for instance, be recommended in established Catholic papers or periodicals, one may safely assume that the permissive clause of the canon has been verified. To cite but one possible example of this type of literature, C. S. Lewis, an Anglican, has written both The Screwtape ,Letters and Beyond Personality. Both unquestionably deal formally with matters religious, and hence qualify immediately as suspect under this pro-vision of the law. (3ust a little reflection will suffice to make one realize how comprehensive this phase of the law is.) Since Catholic scholars seem to have found nothing substantially erroneous in the former, it may legitimately be read. But several theologians have pointed 6ut dangerous theological errors in Beyond Personalit~ , and hence this book may not be read ,without permission from proper authority. C. WRITINGS CONTRARY TO MORALS It should be noted at the very beginning that immorality is a term. which is not properly restricted to violations of the Sixth 36 Januar~l, 1956 FORBIDDEN READING Commandment. Impurity is but one species of immorality, a word which is intended to include also whatever else is contrary to the law of God. Therefore, when canon 1399 proscribes writings which of set purpose attack good morals, it is stating a universal prohibition against publications which would tend to weaken us in any virtue or to attract us to any vice. Later on in the same canon explicit mention is made of several species of immoral themes. But since that comparatively brief catalogue does not pretend to be ex-haustive, it is the universal principle which constitutes the ultimate norm in every case. As was true in matters of faith, so too on this question of moral-ity the prohibition is intended to affect publications which make a calculated and determined effort to discredit virtue or to justify or commend what is objectively evil. Whethe~ directly by means of formal argumentation, or indirectly by recourse to derisive tactics, this impugning of virtue or commendation of vice which is pro-scribed must be something substantially more than passing reference. To be included under this automatic prohibition, it must Constitute at least a notable part of the author's intention and literary~'effort. One such book which would seem certainly to fulfill those requirements would be Joseph F. Fletcher's Morals and Medicine (Princeton University Press, 1954), devoted almost entirely to a defense of contraception, artificial insemination, sterilization, and° euthanasia, and to an attempted refutation of Church teaching in that regard. Much of the literature of the Planned Parenthood As-sociation would likewise fall under this ban, since its avowed pur-pose is to counsel birth control as a means of limiting the size of families. Judging merely from pre-publication announcements, ad-vertisements, and reviews, The Stor~/ of Margaret Sanger by Law-rence Lader (New York: Doubleday, 1955) is likely to qualify as forbidden reading under this beading since apparently it is laudatory of the morality which she advocates. Among the immoralities which are more commonly defended or recommended in writing, and which the Code therefore sees fit to mention specifically by name, are (a) (~arious forms of super-stition such as fortunetelling, divination, black magic, spiritism, and the like; (b) dueling, suicide, and divorce; (c) Freemasonry and similar societies, if they are represented as beneficial organizations harmless to Church and state; and finally (d) obscenity, which may be defined as the deliberate presentation of sexually-exciting matter in a manner calculated to be attractive and to stimulate the sexual 37 JOHN,~J., LYNCH Review for, Religiou, s passions. It should be noted that. in every one of the ab6ve cases, and especially in the last, it is not the subject matter which merits condemnation, but the manner in which the subject is treated. '!t is the impugning of virtue and the approval of vice which consti-tute, the threat to individual, good morals. D. PUBLICATIONS LACKING ECCLESIASTICAL .APPROVAL a) Absolutd Prohibitions Canon i385 6f the Code enumerates various classes of litera-ture which Catholic authors-~even laymen--are obliged to submit for diocesan cen.s.orship and approval prior to publication. The list is quite comprehensive, but may be summed up briefly in the con-cluding words of the canon itself as including "all writings which contain anything having a notable bearing on religion or morals." Should it happen that an author fail to comply with this law and publish without approbation a type of work specified therein, it does not.necessarily follow in every case that the publication is forbidden reading for .Catholics. But there are some such works whose very lack of approval does alone suffice to forbid their being read. One such category has already been mentioned, above under "Script~ural Works" (A, 2). The remain~der comprise books and PamPhlets u;bich relate neu; apparitions, revelations, visions, prophe-cies, or miracles, or u~hich introduce novel devotions. The Church by no means denies the possibility of the miraculous even in our own day, nor is her attitude towards them one of skep-ticism~ But she knows from experience the wisdom of extreme cau-tion in these matters because of the dangers to genuine faith involved. in the excess which is credulity. Many, too,.are easily led astray by the novel and the bizarre in the matter o.f devotions. Hence the Church rightfully reserves to herself the prerogative of examining for theological flaw any innovations in this regard and is unwilling that the faithful be exposed to ~heir influence until her own scrutiny has proven them sound. The lack of an Imprimatur on books and pamphlets of this kind is an indication that they are forbidden reading. Regardless of their actual conformity or disconformity with historical and theological fact, they inay not be read unless officially approved. b) Conditioned Prohibitions This final category includes three' classes of publications which likewise ,call for ecclesiastical approval, but which, if published in 38 danuaG/, 1956 FORBIDDEN READING neglect of that requirement, are proscribed only in the e, vent that their content is at variance with Church teaching on the subject. Strictly speaking, much of this type of forbidden literature is al-r~ eady included implicitly under the prohibition of works which are dangerous to faith. But because the Code sees fit to specify, s6 too shall we. 1) . Editions of approved liturgical books in which ang alter-ations have been made. in such a wag that theft no longer agree with the authentic editions approved b~t the Hol~l See. Our liturgical books include the Roman Missal and. Breviary, with both of which the Roman Martyrology and the Roman Calendar or Ordo are closely relatedi the Roman Ritual and the Memoriale Rituum which contain the prayers and ceremonies used in the administration of the Sacra-ments and in other liturgical functions; the Roman Pontifical and the Ceremonial of Bishops, both concerned with episcopal functions only; and the Roman Ceremonial which contains exclusively pap_~l ceremonies. All new editions,of these books must conform exactly tO the authentic texts published by the Holy See, else they are pro~ hibited. 2) Works which spread a knowledge of indulgences which are spurious or which have been condemned or revoked bg the Holg See. An indulgence is termed spurious if it was never validly granted; condemned, if because of abuses it was proscribed by the Holy See; revoked, if withdrawn or abrogated for some reason after having been once granted. The best way to ascertain the authenticity of indulgences is by reference to the Encbiridion Indulgentiarum: Preces et Pia Opera, which is the official collection of .indulgenced prayers and good works. 3) Pictures, printed in ang manner whaisoever, of our Lord," the Blessed Mother~ the angels, the saints and other servants of God, . if tbeq depart From the s#irit and decrees of the Church. The reason for this precaution was expressed long ago by the Council of Trent when that synod pointed out that many of the faithful acquire and retain knowledge of the faith largely through artistic' representa-tions of its mysteries. Therefore the Council warned explicitly against all images which would be suggestive of false doctrine and occasion theological" error. Thus, for example, we are expres,sly forbidden by the Holy Office to represent our Lady in priestly vest-ments, or the Holy Spirit in human form, either with the Father and Son or separately. This preseht legislation concerns only pictures Which are ira- 39 JOHN J. LYNCH Review for Religious pressed upon paper or other material suitable for publication and does not explicitly refer to medals, statues, paintings, and the like. "Since the Code~ in this section is-cohcerned with;printed publicatio.ns, it.does not legislate here with regard to other sacred images. But by its omission it does not mean to deny that those other representa-tions of religious mysteries can also be at variance with the spirit and letter of Catholic doctrine. A previous canon (1279) covers that more generic question quite thoroughly. Perhaps this outline of Code legislation could best be concluded with a practical suggestion. A good rule to follow when in doubt about a publication of manifestly religious nature is to look for an Imprimatur or some other indication of episcopal approbation. If it is'lacking, and, if one is without permission to read forbidden matter, a prudent conscience will advise inquiry before proceeding further. II. THE INDI~X OF FORBIDDI~N BOOKS It may now be apparent how all-inclusive is canon 1399 in its specification of dangerous reading, and why therefore the Index of Forbidden Books is really of secondary importance as a guiding norm. The Index in substance is merely an alphabetical catalogue-- according to authors where possible, otherwise according to titles-- of those works which Rome has seen fit to proscribe by name. As a rule titles explicitly contained in the Indix are already implicitly condemned by virtue of Code legislation; but only a small fraction of those works to which canon 1399 would apply will be accorded express mention in the Index. It would be manifestly impossible .for the Holy See to know of the existence, to say not.hing of the detailed content, of every potentially dangerous work which is published--and equally impossible to catalogue them in manage-able form even if they could be known. Hence, the Index is reserved for those works which are of special importance, either because of their subject matter or because of circumstances of time, current trends, or ingenious approximation of error to truth. But the very great majority of writings which are correctly classified as forbidden owe their condemnation to the generic provisions of canon law alone. Placing a book on the Index is now usually a matter of underlining an already established fact. Since 1897, when under Leo XIII our modern version was first cdmpiled, the Index has gone through a number of editions, the latest in 1948. Interim condemnations are published periodically in 40 January/, 1956 FORBIDDEN READING Acta Apbstolicae Sedis, and these addenda are eventually incorpor-ated into the next subsequent Index whe.never a new edition seems feasible. Occasionally certain titles are deleted when, for example, a book for one reason or another is judged no longer to represent a serious 'universal danger. It would appear to be the present policy of the Church to restrict to a minimum the number of books explicitly condemned and to depend more and more on the general principles of canon law to guide the faithful in their recognition of forbidden matter. The 1948 Index contains 4126 entries, of which only 255 represent publications of this twentieth century. For the benefit of those who may have occasion t~ consult the Index itself, a brief explanation of some of its terminology and sym-bols may be helpful. Solemn Condemnations. Usually it is the Congregation of the Holy Office which now issues the condemnation of specific publica-tions. In exceptional cases, however, the pope himself may choose to exercise his supreme authority and proscribe a work in even more solemn manner. These papal pronouncements are rare (only 144 books in the current Index are so condemned) and are reserved for writings which are considered to be especially pernicious. In the Index books proscribed by solemn papal decree are designated by the cross or dagger (~'). The practical significance of that symbol is to remind us of the severe penalty of excommunication imposed by the Church on those who would knowingly read or retain such literature without permission. Conditioned Condemnations. The asterisk (*) which precedes other titles in the Index indicates that the work is condemned in its present form until it be corrected ("donec corrigatur"). The im-plication, therefore, is that its errors are not beyond correction and that a revised edition, if submitted to proper ecclesiastical authority, may yet merit approval. The work in its original condemned form, however, remains forbidden reading. "Opera Omnia." Since 1940 the preface of the Index contains this authentic explanation of the phrase opera omnia whereby the complete works ~)f some authors are now prohibited: "According to practice' now in force, when the complete works of a certain writer are condemned by the term topera omnia," each and every work of that author is to be understood as proscribed without exception." If an author has shown himself to be invariably at odds with faith or morals, this sweeping condemnation of all his works is employed is the surest means of protecting the unwary. 41 JOHN J. LYNC~ Review [or Religious "'Omnes Fabulae Amatoriae." This phrase is appended to the names of eleven, of the novelists listed in the Index (Stendhal, George .Sand, 'Balzac, Eugene Sue, Alexandre Dumas, St. and Jr:, Champ-fleury, Faydeau, Henry Murger, Frederic Souli~, and Gabriele O'An-nunzio). In literal English translation the expression dmerges as "all love stories," a concept which is perhaps more accurately ex-pressed by the circumlocution, "all novels which emphasize impure love.'.' In the absence of any authentic interpretation, commentators generally have attached that meaning to the term as employed in the Index. For practical purposes, the expression is intended to ban literally all the novels of the author named but allows for.the pos-sible exception of one or several which may be shown certainly not to offend against canon 1399 and which ha'~e not been forbidden by particular decree. It is, therefore, a somewhat less rigorous con-demnation tba~a is the term .opera omnia which prohibits all an author's works without qualification. Needless to say, however, it ,creates a very strong presumption against any novel which that author may have written and commands extreme caution on the part of any would-be reader. Actually the great majority of titles contained in the Index would be of very little interest to the average modern reader nor does their proscription in any notable way restrict the literary preferences of most. Usually it is only the professional scholars in a specialized field who would have either need or desire to consult them. Another popular misconception of the Church's prohibition of books is that it concerns itself chiefly, if not exclusively, with the risqu~ and the salacious. That impression, too, bespeaks almost total unfamiliarity with both Code .legislation and the Index. As a preferred list of potential best sellers, our ecclesiastical blacklist would be a colossal hoax. III. PERMISSION q~O READ CONDEMNED LITERATURE As has already been mentioned, ecclesiastical legislation against the reading of certain literature is not so absolute as to deny Catho-lics without exception all access to publications condemned by posi-tive law. The Church's prohibition in this regard is basically a pre-cautionary measure intended to restrict such reading to thdse only who in bet judgment can safely survive exposure without con-tamination. Hence she reserves to" herself, in the person' of qualified delegates, the exclusive right to judge each individual case. But she expressly provides for those circumstafices in which neces~sity or genuine utility requires the reading of condemned matter by those 42 ,lanuary, 1956 o FORBIDDEN READING whose ~olidity of faith and morals she recognizes as promising them immunity from harm.' Ordinary Permission ' .Except in the case of exempt clerical institutes, whose members may refer this matter to thei'r major superior, it is one's local ordinary alone who may grant religious, either directly or through a delegate, permission to read literature which" is otherwise forbidden. (It need scarcely be said that the Holy See could likewise grant the same per-mission.) But unless he has acquired special powers beyond tboze which the Code concedes him directly, the ordinary may give that permission only to specified individuals and for specified titles. He would not, for example, allow "all the Sister graduate students to read whatever is prescribed for their course in the history of litera-ture." Those who request permissions under this law will ordinarily find that chancery requires the names of those who want the per-mission, the titles of those works which they wish to read, and the reason which makes that reading necessary. It is usually advisable to channel requests of this nature through someone whose position and personal knowledge make it possible to testify to the reasonable-ness of the petition--a parish priest, chaplain, one's superior, or the dean or head of a department if one is enrblled in a Catholic coll'ege or university. The practice of individual chanceries may vary in this regard and Ioc~aI custom should be as&trained and observed. (A specimen petition may be found on p. 70 of What Is the Index? included ~among the suggested, readings at the end of this article.) Permission to read forbidden matter is granted with the express 'understanding that adequate precautions will be taken to prevent the literature in question from falling into the hands of others un-authorized to read it. And no permission, however broad, can ever release us from the obligation under natural law to protect our-selves from danger. None of us is confirmed in grace simply by complying with the requisites of positive law. It may happen that one's own theological background is not always sufficient to solve every difficulty alleged against our faith and to dispel all doubts which may be lodged against our religious convictions. One's first and urgent obligation in that case is to seek explanation and en-lightenment from some other who is qualified to expo.se the error behind the doubt. And it may sometimes happen that decision to abandon that type of reading will prove a prudent additional course of actioni I 43 JOHN J. LYNCH Reuieto for Reli~t'ous Extraordinary Permission There are some exceptional situations which cannot be pro-vided for adequately or ~xpeditiously with the restricted power granted by the Code to ordinaries in favor of their respective sub-jects. Professional scholars engaged in prolonged research, librarians responsible for the disposition of numerous books, editors and staff members of religious papers and periodicals, college and university professors.-~tbese and others in similar walks of life must often, in order to do their work effectively, have somewhat greater latitude in the matter of probibityd reading. To cope with circumstances such as these, bishops in this country by virtue of their quinquennial faculties, and at least some major religious superiors by virtue of special privilege, may at their prudent discretion allow certain indi-viduals greater liberty. Perhaps the briefest possible way of ex-plaining the limits of this power is to quote from the formula used by the Holy Office itself: "The faculty of granting for not more than three years permission to read or keep, with precautions, how-ever, lest they fall into the hands of other persons, forbidden books and papers, excepting works which professedly advocate heresy or schism, or which attempt to undermine the very foundations of religion, or which are professedly obscene; the permission to be granted to their own subjects individually, and only with dis:rim-ination and for-just and reasonable cause; that is, to such persons only as really need to read the said books and papers, either in order to refute them, or in the exercise of their own lawful func-tions, or in the pursuit, of a lawful course of studies." An official note appended to the above faculty further advises that it "is granted to Bishops to be exercised by them personally; hence not ¯ to be delegated to anyone; and moreover with a grave responsibility in conscience upon the Bishops as regards the real concurrence of all the above-named conditions." It should be clear without further comment that this type of general permission cannot be granted at random or automatically upon request. Admittedly there are times when ecclesiastical restrictions on reading impose a considerable inconvenience, perhaps even handicap, upon Catholic scholars. Unfortunately, that sometimes is an un-avoidable incidental by-product of Church legislation in this regard. But we simply must, recognize and respect the fact that the direct intent of these laws, formulated in obedience to Christ's own man-date to His Church, is the protection of the faithful as a whole ;.n the essentials of faith and morals. If the individual good of acom- ,lanuarg, 1956 " FORBIDDEN. READING parative few must occasionally suffer, it does so out of deference tO the greater good. -~ IV. SUGGESTED READINGS 1. Joseph M. Pernicone, The Ecclesiastical Prohibition Books, Washington, D. C.:, Catholic University of America Press, 1932. Written as a doctorate thesis when the author, presently auxiliary bishop of New York, was in. graduate studies in cation law at Catholic University, this book provides an exhaustive and most competent analysis of those canons of the Code which pertain to forbidden literature. Technical rather than popular in presen-tation, it would nevertheless serve most effectively as an occasional reference book for those who may want more minute explanation of the finer points of the law. \ 2. T.L. Bouscaren, S.J., and A. C. Ellis, S.J., Canon Law: A Text and Commentary, Milwaukee: Bruce, 1951 (ed.2), pp. 778-91. Father Bouscaren is aconsultor to the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith; Father Ellis is a consultor to the Congregation of Religious. Both were professors of canon law at the Gregorian University, Rome. Although their excellent com-mentary is intended primarily for students of ecclesiastical juris-prudence, )eligious in general would find in the pages devoted to forbidden literature much that would help to a fuller understanding of the intricacies of this law. 3. Redmond A. Burke, C.S.V., What Is the Index?, Mil-waukee: Bruce, 1952. Whereas most literature on the subject is directed to theologians or theological students, this presentation, as interesting as it is informative, is addressed "to intelligent laity, whether Catholic or non-Catholic." The author is at present di-rector of libraries at De Paul University in Chicago. Eminently readable, the book provides in addition to the standard treatment of the subject several convenient and instructive appendixes. Samples: better known authors of forbidden works grouped according to subject matter; a complete list of the books written by the eleven novelists condemned with the term omnes fabulae amatoriae; for-bidden titles from the English literature; applications of tfiis law to the readings recommended by the Great Books Program. Father Burke's book would be a highly useful addition to the library of any religious house. .4. Edwin F. Healy, S.J., Moral Guidance, Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1942; ch. XIII, pp. 276-85. Previously profes.- FOR YOUR INFORMATION Review [or Religious sot of moral theology at West Baden College, Father Healy now lectures on the same subject at the Gregorian University in Rome. His college texts in moral theology, of which this is but one, are familiar to many who.have taken or taught such a course in recent years. The chapter devoted to forbidden books is presented, of course, in textbook style and provides a conveni'ent outline of the law's main content together with the most practical of its applica-tions. The corresponding section in the companion volume, Teacher's Manual For Moral Guidance, gives further insight into the purpose of this legislation and provides telling answers to several objections commonly leveled against the ecclesiastical prohibition of books. 5. Malachi J. Donnelly, S.J., "Church Law and Non-Cath-olic Books" in American Ecclesiastical Review, 114 (1"946), pp. 403-9. Although this article is restricted to but one category of forbidden literature, viz., the religious writings of non-Catholics, its practical value is perhaps thereby enhanced. Religion has become a most popular topic even among non-Catholic authors, and there are numerous books of this kind on the market which win almost universal applause for their sincere and perhaps novel approach to spiritual problems. It may be an fiye-opening experience for some to see how Father Donnelly applies canon 1399 to one such book, Be~/ond Personality/ by C. S. Lewis, and demonstrates the caution we must exercise at times when selecting even our spiritual reading. For Your Int:ormation Concernincj Summer Sessions We are happy to be of service to ~eligious by publishing in our March :and May numbers announcements of summer-session courses that are of special interest or value to religious. We are willing to do this for any summer-session directors who] send us the proper information. But it seems to be asking too much "merely to send us a summer-session bulletin and to leave to us the work of select-ing the courses to be announced. Deans who ~vish us to publish an announcement should compose it themsel'ves. The announcement should contain only brief references to the spedat courses for re-ligious, and all the information should be in one paragraph. The material should be. typed double- or (preferably) triple-spaced. 46 January, 1956 FOR YOUR INFORMATION Moreover, it would be helpful if.~opitalization, punctuation, and other mechanics were in conformity with the rules given in our "Notes for Contributors," as published in REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, XIV (March, ,July),- 104 ff., 194 ff. Our Addresses It will help ve.ry much if those who write to us will note the following addresses : 1. Business correspondence should be sefit to: The Coliege Press, 606 Harrison, Topeka, Kansas. 2. Books for review should be sent to: The Book Review Editor, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana. 3. Questions on canon law and liturgy should be addressed to: The Reverend Joseph F. Gallen, S.J., Woodstock College, Wood-stock, Maryland. 4. Other questions and editorial correspondence should be ad-dressed to: The Editors, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, St. Mary's Col-lege, St. Marys, Kansas. New Holy Week Rubrics Of interest to many of our readers is the appearance in the "win-ter issue of Theology Digest (Vol. IV, No. 1) of a concise summary of the new Holy Week order to be observed in the celebration of the sacred ceremonies and the recitation of the Divine Office. Ad-dress: Theology Digest, 1015 Central, Kansas City 5, Missouri. $2.00 per year; foreign, $2.25. Breviary Changes A decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, dated March 23, 1955, made some radical changes in the rubrics for celebrating Mass and reciting the Divine Office. A pamphlet entitled Otffcial Changes in the Breviary, by T. Lincoln Bouscaren, S.J., gives the back-ground of the decree, an English translation of the parts that concern the recitation of the'Breviary, and a brief commentary on these parts. The material concernirig the new rubrics for Holy Week, which was contained in the decree of November 15, 1955, i;, not included in the pamphlet. The price of the pamphlet is ten cents. It is pub-lished by The Queen's Work, 3115 South Grand Boulevard, St. Louis 18, Missouri. (Material for this department should be sent to Book Review Editor, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana.) THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL. Vol I and Vol. II, By Giuseppe Ri¢c~otti. "Translated by Clement della Penta, O.P., and Richard A. Murphy, O.P. Pp. 430 and 476. The Bruce Publishing Co., Milwaukee I. 1955. ~ $15.00 the set. For those Who have enjoyed Ricciotti's Life of Christ in Eng-lish, a similar treat awaits them in the new translation of his two-volume History of Israel. Detailing the dramatic story of God's chosen people from the call of Abraham to the final catastrophe at Jerusalem in 130 A.D., the author gives rich background and a vivid i~resentation of the trials and triumphs of Israel. The Do-. minican translator~ have captured Ricciotti's pleasant style, pre'- senting an engaging history which has already seen four Italian editions and four European translations. In his preface Father Murphy points out that the book "fills a lamentable gap in the field of Catholic,scriptural literature in Eng-lish." One plies library shelves in vain to find so adequate a Cath-olic treatment of Israelite history within a single work. With Ricciotti's training in oriental languages, his years lived in the Holy ¯ Land, and his wide acquaintance with non-Catholic literature, his history is more than "just another book." It does not seek merely to' answer non-Catholic objections, but to present a positive, clear exposition of the Catholic approach to complex Biblical questions. Ricciotti's appreciation of recent discoveries of historians and arche-ologists is evident in a lengthy chapter concern_ing late excavations and surveys, evidence from which he faithfully evaluates and as-similates into his work. The translators supplement this section of his book with findings of the past two years at Qumram and Murabba'at, and they have changed some dates to conform better with the new evidence. Ricciotti's explicit intent is to write history. He avoids long discussions of critical theories. Cautious, especially in the face of recent discoveries in Palestine, he presents his readers with facts and leaves to them the formation of personal' judgments. His one thrust at modern criticism is~to point out that "any critical history must take into account the basic outlines of history as they are sketched in the Bible." The Bible is a historical source par excellence. At-tempts to discredit it on arguments drawn from philology an;:l liter- 48 BOOK REVIEWS' ary criticism are based on false philosophic presfippositions.The fundamental supposition of "impossibility" of Israelite tradition' 'by Wellhausen and others is being shaken and weakened by the spade of the archaeologist. Recent discoveries tend to confirm the tradi- 'tional position, both as to events and their chronology. Where the Bible and other sources are mute, as, for instance~ during the period of Greek domination and after the Romafi seizure of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., Ricciotti reconstructs Jewish h~istory and attempts to fill in, the silent pages of Israel's tragic story. In his role of historian he maintains a steady progression. Any pause, such as to explain prophetism or the importance of an archaeological discovery, is only to enrich the reader's background for a deeper ap-preciation of the history at hand. Because references in the original are principally to German and French sources, the editor thought it "unnecessary to burden Eng-lish- speaking readers with a bibliography" in the English edition. Some may regret this lack, even though the footnotes in the text are more than sufficient, to indicate the author's wealth of source material. The scholar will find this History a helpful reference. It presents a readable and engrossing story for those wishing to learn more of Israelite history and serves as excellent background for an intelligent reading of the Bible.--ROBERT C. DRESSMAN, S.J. THE LIFE OF ST. DOMINIC SAVI'O. By Sf. John Bosco. Transla'red by: Paul Aronica, S.D~B. Pp. 112. Salesiana Publishers, Pafferson New Jersey. 1955. $2.75. In 1857, Dominic Savio, after spending two and a half years under the guidance of St. John Bosco at the Oratory of St. Francis of Sales in Turin, died at the age of fifteen. Two years later, Don Bosco wrote an account of the life of this youth whose sanctity he held in high esteem. Short and unpretentious, this biography was published largely with a view to the spiritual profit of youthful readers. Translated from the fifth Italian edition, The Life of St. Dom-inic Savio has been prepared for American boys,, their parents and teachers. Hence the translator has added to the original text some background on the ,biography itself, a biographical sketch df St. John Bosco, and two appendices. After the author's preface and after seventeen of the twenty-six chapters, all of them 'brief, the translato~ has inserted notes gathered' from the latest .Italian edition of ii}he, work. 49 BOOK REVIi~WS Review [or Religious In the opening chapters, Don Bosco sketches Dominic's life prior to his arrival at the Oratory late in" 1854. Abandoning chron-ological order, he then proceeds to treat of Dominic's stay at the Oratory in topical fashion. Thus he sets forth the boy's deter-mination to avoid sin, his constant efforts' to strive for sanctity, his spiritual practices, his attitude toward studies, his friendships and relations with his associates, his special graces. The final chapters resume chronological sequence in telling of Dominic's final sick-ness and death. In many ways this is an admirable little book. In its small compass we are given the picture of a young saint sharply and sym-pathetically drawn by another saint, a much older and more experi-enced man. The boy's high ideals, his cheerfulness, and general likeableness, so much in evidence throughout, constitute a most appealing element. The attractive biographical sketch of Don Bosco himself sets the stage, as it were, for Dominic's days at the Oratory and puts the reader in a better position to grasp the relation of Don Bosco to his subject matter. One, however, may be inclined to question the complete suitability of the book for today's American boy. For at times, the viewpoint of the author, both because of time and mentality, discernibly differs from that calculated to be easily and properly understood by the modern American.boy. The notes occasionally rectify this matter. On the other hand, the notes them-selves do introduce a comment on Dominic's m(~desty which the average American boy might find difficult to grasp (p. 55). Fur-thermore, there are several passages of St. John's text which seem to call for notes to clarify theological implications contained therein. For example, his reflections on the force of a good First Communion' on a person's life appear to be a somewhat sweeping generalization which might be difficult to substantiate and need, at least, to be set against a proper historical background (p. 8). Again, Dominic's remarks on merit require distinctions (p. 78). The language of the book runs along simply and smoothly for the most part. One, however, does encounter an occasional awk-~ wardly turned phrase as well as several lapses of grammar and Eng-lish idiom. In place of the illustrations taken from the fifth Italian edition, more modern drawings would perhaps be more effective in catching the eye of young people. While this book, then, has many good points to recommend it,- it is not without its drawbacks, especially for young readers. ~EDMUND F. MILLER, S.J. 50 ,lanuary, 1956 BOOK REVIEWS DAYS OF JOY. By William S÷ephenson, S.J. Pp. 176. The Newman Press, Westmins÷er,Maryland. 19SS. $2.S0. In his preface the author tells us that it is his purpose "to set forth as fully and plainly as possible the meaning of this [the Easter] message ." This is indeed no small task, and yet he succeeds admirably. A full understanding of the meaning of Easter and 'the cause of our joy in it demands a mature faith and an understanding en-riched and deepened by all that the Church can tell us about it. It is no small merit of this work that the author makes free use of the wealth that Holy Church has found for us in this mystery. A step-by- step account of the sacred history from Easter to Pentecost is ac-companied by explanations of dogmatic truths, prayers from the Mass and hymns from the breviary, quotations from devotional writers and instructions in prayer. Theresult is not a heavy treatise, but a book which is devotional and inspiring with its piety deeply rooted in dogmatic theology and the" liturgy. Each stage of events in the story of the Resurrection is treated in this way. First there is an account of the event, e.g., the meeting of our Lord and Mary Magdalen; then there is a series of reflections on the mystery in,which the author explains the truths it shows and their meaning for us. The reflections are concluded with a col-loquy in which some liturgical prayer, hymn from the breviary, or devotional poem is read prayerfully. Along with the text, some-times in the form of notes, are explanations of liturgical practices, the account of the beginning of a devotion or suggestions on methods of prayer drawn from the Exercises oF St. Ignatius. With justice the book is subtitled Thoughts for All Times, because the author's handling of his subject relates this central truth of our faith to other truths and to our daily needs. The com-bination of the gospel narrative and the light thrown on it by theology and the warmth of the liturgy is a happy one. Finally, the method of prayer woven into this pattern gives these sublime thoughts and truths a personal and particular meaning. Thus, the