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Issue 17.1 of the Review for Religious, 1958. ; A. M. D. G. Review for Religious JANUARY 15, 1958 Retreats in Retrospect Thomas Dubay Spiritual Cancer . Francis ~1. Macl:ntee Roman Documents . R. I:. Smith Book Reviews Questions and Answers For You~ Information VOLUME 17 NUMBER 1 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS VOLUME 17 JANUARY, 1958 NUMBER 1 CONTENTS RETREATS IN RETROSPECT--Thomas Dubay, S.M .3 FOR YOUR INFORMATION .34 SPIRITUAL CANCER--Francis J. MacEntee, s.j .3.7 SURVEY OF ROMAN DOCUMENTS--R. F. Smith, S.J .4.2 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 50 BOOK REVIEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: Editor: Bernard A. Hausmann, S.J. West Baden College West Baden Springs, Indiana . 51 SOME BOOKS RECEIVED . 59 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: 1. Preferred Mass on a Ferial Day of Lent . 60 2. When Does an Anticipated Renewal of Vows Begin to Run?. 60 3. Personal Gifts and Poverty . 61 4. Saving Money for Desired PuFposes . 62 5. Permission Required for Minor Necessities . 64 6. Elimination of Precedence in the Refectory . 64 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, January, 1958. Vol. 17, No. 1. Published bi-monthly by The Queen's Work, 3115 South Grand Blvd., St. Louis 18, Mo. Edited by the Jesuit Fathers bf St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approval. Second class mail privilege authorized at St. Louis, Mo. Editorial Board: Augustine G. Ellard, S.J.; Gerald Kelly, S.J., Henry Willmering, S.J. Literary Editor: Robert F. Weiss, S.J. Copyright, 1958, by The Queen's Work. Subscription price in U.S.A. and Canada: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy. Printed in U.S.A. Please send all renewals and new subscriptions to: Review for Religious, :3115 South Grand Boulevard. St. Louis 18, Missouri. Review t:or Religious Volume 17 January--Deceml~er, 1958 Ecllt:ed by THE JESUIT FATHERS St. Mary's College St. Marys, Kansas Published by. THE QUEEN'S WORK SI=. Louis, Missouri REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS is indexed in the CATHOLIC PERIODICAL INDEX Retreats in Retrospect Thomas Dubay, S.M. IN SIX RECENT issues of this REVIEW~ seven hundred sisters told with considerable detail what they think about the prob-lem of more fruitful retreats for religious. This temperately told tale was no trite tally, for the sisters expounded their posi-tions with logic and insight. Yet all the same, we still lack an adequate analysis and evaluation of their views, without which, of course, the study remains truncated. But even more im-portant, we also lack solutions to many ot~ the problems they raised. This present article aims at contributing a mite toward the filling of both needs.2 I shall not, however, attempt to discuss every problem unearthed by the study, but those only whose solution is most signific~tnt and pressing. These latter we will review in the order in which they occurred in the original articles. Source of Retreat Masters Where ought religious communites to get their retreat mas-ters? From religious communities, manifestly. But which? Ought retreats to be given by priests from the same order each year or by priests from different orders? Most of the sisters queried favored the latter choice. As I went through the sisters' stated preferences regarding the sources of retreat masters, the overall impression I received was one of dissatisfaction with a current tendency to rigid uniformity. This dissatisfaction, while not universal, was especially noticeable in those congregations which are not attached to any order of men but nonetheless re-ceive retreat masters t?rom one order alone. Only 11.3% of the sisters belonging to these communities positively liked their custom, 73% positively disliked it, and 15.7% were indifferent. 1R£VIEW gOR RELIGIOI./$~ January through November, 1956. 2The reader will note that much of our discussion is pertinent to the retreats of all religious, men and women alike. THOMAS DUBAY Review for Religious Even among sisters attached to a religious order of men, 18.75% desired retreat masters from other orders at least occasionally, while another 18.75% were indifferent to the source of priests. The remainder preferred all priests to come from their own order. We may conclude that among religious women unat-tached to any order of men the vast majority prefer their retreat masters to come from different congregations each year. Among sisters affiliated with an order of men a notable minority like an "outsider" at least occasionally. With these opinions I must register a hearty agreement. But before delving into the realm of reasons I would like to clarify the position .here taken. I do not hold that a change of ordereach year is necessarily desira.ble, even for religious attached to no order of men. So frequent a change may be helpful, or it may not be. If one order consistently furnishes more skilled or more holy priests, there is no reason in the wide world why that order should no~ be tapped more often than others. Secondly, for sisters attached to a religious order of men I think that the usual retreat master should be a priest from their own order: a Dominican for Dominicans, a Trinitarian for Trinitarians, and so on. A majorityof sisters in these groups desire this arrangement, and their desire should be respected insofar as it is compatible with the preferences, of the minority. The formers' reasoning is i, alid: they feel that their, own priests bettei understand their spirit and way of life and hence can direct them more effectively. Since this is ordinarily true, the usual retreat for such. religious ought to be given by a priest belonging to their own order. However, since a sizeable number of these same religious women desire atlease an occasional change, I think that an outside priest should be invited every few years. Reason-able wishes e~cen of minorities should be respected, and this wish is reasonable. Now why is it desireable for retreat masters to be chosen from a number of different orders of men? First of all, the 4 January, 1958 I~ETREATS IN RETROSPECT supply of really top-flight retreat masters in any religious con-gregation is limited. This observation bespeaks defect in no order, since it simply reflects the fact that human abilities are distributed according to a normal curve. TO my knowledge no order is bursting at the seams with men highly gifted with the specialized talents needed for successful retreat work. If a community chooses its. retreat masters exclusively from one order of men, and especially from one province of that order, it may in time exhaust the supply of the best. A partial solution to this difficulty is the return of the good retreat master. When such can be arranged, and when the priest' has another set of meditations and conferences available, there seems to be no rea-son why he should not be invited for a second or third retreat. After all, a priest of proven ability is a far more secure risk than an unknown quantity. A second reason beckoning variety--and to my mind, a much more potent one than the first--is the danger of insularity. If we religious, men and women alike, are perfectly frank with ourselves, we will have to admit that we too often tend to horizon our outlook to our house, our province, our congregation. We may not intend it, but we do incline that way. We tend to insularity in our works, our "devotions," our interests, our spirit. In something of this context Thomas Merton refers to "the tyranny of restricted human systems and 'schools of spirituality' that might tend to narrow us down to a particular esoteric out-look and leave us something less than Catholic.''3 No one order .of men or women has a monopoly on helpful approaches to the love of God. We have a special love for our own society. Fine, we should. But we should also be interested in the works, the interests, the devotions, and the spirits of o~her orders and be more than ready to grant that in all likelihood they are just as worthy "as our own. The Catholic Church is catholic, and we aBread in the Wilderness (New York: New Direction, "1953), p. 41. THOMAS DUBAY Review for Religious religious are first Catholic and then religious. Would it not, therefore, be healthy for all of us to listen to a retreat master t~rom another order once in a while? Would we not stand to profit from another viewpoint? Not another truth, mind you, but another viewpoint on the same truth. Could not an "out-sider's" look at our own spiri( perhaps cast valuable light on our own appreciation of it? I, for one, think so. So also does a sister who observed to me that "we had one Dominican retreat master who was as Franciscan as any Franciscan we've had." Said another: "Personally, I am not a Franciscan, but St. Fran-cis's detachment, joy, and poverty have helped me tremendously, which led me to do much reading in Franciscan spirituality." Our final reason supporting a variety of retreat masters is the danger of monotony stemming from a sameness of approach. This objection is real for it was mentioned over and o~,er again in the sisters' comments. Some orders of men have a set retreat methodology, and ~sually it is an effective one. And yet i~or all that, a year-in, year-out repetition, of the same routine of subject and technique can be tiresome. We must agree that it is neither pleasant nor overly profitable to hear the same medita-tion subjects discussed year after year, and all the more so when they are treated in much the same manner and according to a prefashioned approach. On this score we might remember that God Himself in writing His Book chose to use a large number of different men with widely diverse backgrounds, techniques, and literary styles. He knows that men need variety . . . and He gave it to them. Among religio.us some like a sameness of approach~ but most do not. Those who do not seem entitled to an occasional change: But we must not be too rabid in our desire for variety. There are difficulties attached to it. Obtaining capable priests year after year from different r~ligious communities is without doubt a somewhat uncertain and perhaps unpleasant preoccupa-tion for the higher superior. It is much easier to have a stand-ing agreement with some one order of men for the simple reason Januavy, 1958 RETREATS IN RETROSPECT that uncertainty and negotiation are done away with. Then, too, it seems safe to suppose that most sister superiors have relatively few contacts with the higher superiors of orders of men. They may not, as a consequence, know exactly where to turn for com-petent retreat masters. What can be done? Two possible solutions occur at the moment, and there are doubtlessly others. The first bespeaks a widespread effort. Some national organization of religious women (or men, as the case may.be) could act through a spe-cially appointed committee as ~a~coordinating agency for the ex-change of retreat information. Superiors could forward to the committee the names of priests whom they have found through dxperience especially competent in retreat work. They could receive in return names of others whom they (the superiors) could contact for future engagements. The second possibility envisions the same type of coopera-tion on a limited, inter- or intra-community basis. Several com-munities could appoint individual religibus to exchange and relay pertinent information among themselves. Or within one com-munity (and especially one of the larger variety) sisters could be asked to forward to the provincia!, superior names of priests whom they "have found skilled in the giving of conferences or retreats to religious. Both of these suggested solutions would really be talent hunts. Their success would depend largely on the willingness of the superiors of religious men to appoint retreat" masters accord-ing to the expressed desire of other communities and also on the willingness of certain priests to be "worked over and over" in a rather taxing occupation. Experience seems to indicate that in many if not in most cases these religious men show that willing-ness and would be happy to cooperate insofar as possible in some such plan. If a program of this kind could be worked out, the bother and uncertainty so 'often bound up with obtaining priests from different orders would quite probably be lessened if 7 THOMAS DUBAY Review ]or Religious not entirely eliminated. There can be no doubt whatsoever that we in the United States possess within our land hundreds of earnest and skilled retreat masters, actual and potential It is up to us to exercise ingenuity and initiative in finding and using ¯them. Familiarity with Constitutions Unmistakable is the word to describe the preponderant number o~ sisters that desire their retreat masters to be well ac-quainted with the constitutions under which they live. Of 701 religious, 616 (89%) expressed- themselves positively, on this question, while only five (.7%) registered a negative opinion. The others were °indifferent. The majority view is to my mind soundly based, and that fo~ the ~.oIlowing reasons. i. From a negative point of view an acquaintance with a community's constitutions forestalls blundering statements in con-ferences and meditations. Such are, for example, advising the sisters how to spend time "in their, rooms" when they have no rooms; or speaking of vacations home when they have no vaca-tions, home; or, finally, making suggestions on how to say the Office when they do not say it. 2. Even more troublesome is advi~e that contradicts or seems to contradict provisions contained in the constitutions. Young religious may beupset or confused, while the older are probably annoyed. Neither reaction contributes to a suc-cessful retreat. 3. On th~ positive side we can find pertinent to our prob-lem the venerable scholastic adage that "whatever is received is received according to the condition of the receiver." What-ever the retreat master has to say to his "receivers" will surely be modified and conditioned by the mental set of those receivers. Part of that set is formed bytheir rule of life; and so, if he wants to know how they are going to understand his observations on the religious life, he should try to acquire some of their condition-ing by a reading of their rule. 8 ¯ January, 1958 RETREATS IN RETROSPECT 4. A priest will be much more practical (and interesting) in his meditation expos~ and conferences if he can occasionally choose for the illustration of his principles items selected from a community's own blueprint for life. As I pound the typewriter before me, the thought passes through my mind of the times my own-ignorance of a congregation's constitutions has wasted valuable conference time and rendered application less effectual. More than once has ~he awkward, expression passed my lips: "I do"not know whether you . . . , but if you do, you may find it helpful to . " Hardly a smooth attempt to be practical. 5. .Reading the constitutions enables the retreat master to grasp this congregation's spirit--not that of his order, nor that of a third or a fourth. 6. The work of the confessional can be done more effec-tively, more surely. Questions are understood and more cor-rectly answered. A sister is scarcely helped in her query about a possible infraction of poverty if her confessor knows nothing about her congregation's interpretation and practice of that vow. 7. An easy familiarity with a community's own ,way of life as expressed in its constitution~ is .bound to generate a receptive notein the retreatants. Their confidence in the master.i~ height-ened-- understandably. Sister~ typically love t~eir rule of life and are appreciative of the priest who will trouble himself, to read it for his own benefit. So much for reasons. A. few cautions seem in order. .The retreat master must exercise a bit of circumspection in his use of another community's constitutions. His references m~ist.be r~spectfui. Obviously out of place is any criticisfi~ of rule or custom, whether that ciiticism is patent or merely implied. This has been done and it isheartily re~ented. And.rightly. Con- ¯ stitutions have .been ' approved by ecclesiastical authority far greater .than any an individual priest can rustle .up. His criti-cism~ therefore, carries little weight.It further lal~ors under theburden of bad "taste. 9 THOMAS DUBAY Review for Religious The retreat master, secondly, should be reasonably sure of the interpretation he attaches to a principle or regulation. To obtain this reasonable degree of certitude one aid is the applica-tion. of the ordinary norms of hermeneutics. Such would be the consideration of the entire context: paragraph, chapter, whole work; the explanation of the obscure by the clear; the directive help of custom. Perhaps the safest guarantee of correct inter-pretation, however, is the help of a superior of the retreatants. She might favor the priest, with some hints on points she thinks need stressing. She might also offer interpretations that alter the prima facie meaning of regulations contained in the constitu-tions. Since custom is the best interpreter of the law and the retreat master may not know of modifying customs, both he and the sisters will be decidedly aided by observations of this type. Our third caution is a mere reminder that constitutions ought not to be worked td death by overdoing references to them. No Usable directive covering all cases can be given. Good taste and common sense must be the guiding norms. The protocol of getting a copy of the constitutions into the hands of a retreat master ought not to be difficult. It would seem best for the provincial superior of the retreatants to offer a copy to the priest about six months in advance. I stress the word, offer, for the reason that a priest does not especially care to ask for a copy of the constitutions. He fears that the superior might be unwilling or that she may think him curious (I doubt that he is). In any event her taking the ~initiative makes the whole matter more simple. Conference and Meditation Approaches What kind of approach do sisters like best? Intellectual? Emotional? Mixed? Difficult questions, these . . . questions that admit of no facile answer. And further, do the likes of the sisters necessarily coincide with .what is objectively best? It is possible that a religious keenly enjoy an emoti0nally toned meditation expos~ and actually derive little lasting benefit from 10 January, 1958 RETREATS IN RETR~ it. But as far as preferences go, we may recall that among the surveyed sisters-- 1. Almost none (.6%) want emphasis placed on the emotions alone. 2. Slightly more than half (50.5%) desire some stress on the use of emotions by the retreat master. 3. Slightly.less than half (49.5%) want no stress on the emotional approach. 4. A vast majority (93.1%) seek emphasis placed on solid intellectual content, whatever other techniques be mixed in.4 5. A lesser majority (78.4%) want Sacred Scripture to have a prominent place, o '6. In order of preference the intellectual approach out-distances the others; the frequent use of Sacred Scripture ranks second, and a stress on the emotions third. The retreat master is evidently ir~ the position of a cook seasoning soup destined for a hundred palates. But the cook enjoys an advantage in that he can season moderately and depend on the saltcellars to supplement his efforts. The retreat master, however, can lean on no stylecellar to alter the fare he presents. And yet spiritual palates vary .as widely as do material. The situation, nonetheless, is not hopeless. I am strongly inclined to think that while the sisters' differences in preference are real, they are not as deep as they first appear. For one thing, you will note that the whole problem is one of emphasis . . and emphasis is a relative thing, a thing that has many meanings and many degrees. Then, too, desire for stress on one approach does not thereby exclude other approaches. It indicates merely a wish that this one be given a prominent place. Emphases are not mutually exclusive. All things c.onsidered, I submit that the interests of most retreatants will best be served 4 In our original article we erred slightly (by 1.8%) on this point. This error was due to faulty grouping. For the present conclusion we should have com-bined groups 2, 4, 6, and 7 of the questionnaire items instead of 2, 4, 5, and 7. See REWEW FOR RELIGIOUS, March, 1956, p. 91. 11 V Review for Religious rences of the majority propet~ly honored by~ari ~ ¯ 'ing the. following characterigtics, negative and ~ ~[0~ry language, sentimental and.exaggerated orator2 ical devices (e.g.,. whispering, unusual exclamations--alas! oh!) are anathema. Earlier.ages may have felt differentlyi but realis-tic, twentieth-century American religious give evidence ot: little patience with the stage-pulpit mixture. We. typically resent any obvious, artificial attempt of a retreat mfister to play upon our emotions. Quite another matter, of course, is the sincerely felt but restrained emotion of a priest'who is deeply penetrated with his message. I do not think that the sisters who exi0ressed them-selves so emphatically against en~otionalism wish a re.treat master ¯ to be stoical. They, after all, are human and so is he. Rather I think they merely wished to exclude an emphasis on the emo-tional approach and any semblance of artificiality. The priest who knows himself to be inclined to manifest his feelings too freely--even s!ncerely experienced t~eelings--will do well to exer-cise a moderat.ing restraint over them.' . 2. While most ~eligious harbor a strong dislike for flowery language, the)) do seem to appreciate a .well-#pok~n sentence, English that is clear, correct, and intelligent. We do not need to labor the point that there is a vast difference between over-done verbiage and a first-class command of language. 3. Absolutely es~entihl in the minds of a vast majority of sisters is a sound intellectual current runiling through medi-tation exposes and conferences. With thi~ pFeference I am in complete agreement. I do not mean to imply, howev.er,' that. meditations and conferences are to be periods .of intense intel-lectual gymnastics. But they should serve as channels for the. conveyance of solid doctrine.on anintellectual level transcending the catechism. In a meditation on the Blessed Trinity, for ex-ample, I can see no reason for refusing to touch upon the intel-le'ctuai generation of the Word and the spiration of the Holy Spirit. These trutl~s, if we work overthem, can be put simply 12 / January, 1958 RETREATS IN RETROSPECT and explained clearly. Coordinated with the divine indwelling they can be°ihvaluable spurs toward sanctity. So, too, can abbre-viated theological analyses 0f the beatific vision, de~otion to. the Sacred Heart, and the mediation of Mary. Repet!tion is .the soul of monotony . . . and s~ is triteness. If a retreat master seldom offers new insights, rarely teaches what has not been heard ten. or twenty times already, ~carcely ever delves more deep!y into God's reve!ation, he is likely to leave little mark on his hearers. ¯ Sisters are people--they like to listen when they learn. 4. The retreat master must at all times keep .his presenta-tion gimple. While he does well to develop some of the finer. points of theology, he must keep his vocabulary lind phraseology tuned to a non-theologi~ally prepared audience. .Profundity of thought and simplicity of presentation can go nicely together. Most sisters are.intellectually capabl'e of understanding theologi- .cal concepts, but nonetheless many of them lack the technical ¯ training needed to grasp these concepts i'f they are ~ffe~ed in fancy terminology. In his outlook on conference-giving to religious; the priest must be careful not to confuse a lack of knowledge with a lack of intelligence. Some sisters may not hav.e too much of the former in matters theol6gical, but most are well equipped with the latter. 5. Attractive~ apt analogies and illustrations are indis: pensable helps, because ~hey suktain interest and pave the way to clear explanation. One i~eed only study the master teacher, Christ, to see how effective a concrete, well-illustrated approach can be. Instead of discoursing abstractedly about a psychology of pride, Jesus hammered home His teaching by talking about places at a banquet table, a boasting Pharisee, and ~a small child. Instead of extolling in the abstract the good-example angle of the religious life, a retreat master can nail down his point by doncretizlng it: "Every time you leave the door of this convent you give. the world a. wordless sermon, a sermon it needs badly, a sermon on the beauty of voluntary .poverty, chastity, and obedience." Or rather than a mere theoretical disquisition on 13 THOMAS DUBAY Review for Religious generosity, why not follow up the theory with a few concrete ideas about being available for extra jobs around the convent: substitution for a sick sister, extra duty in the hospital or class-room, acting as a companion (a happy one). Theory is fine, but apt illustration is even better. 6. It seems to me that an abundant--but not overdone --use of Sacred Scripture sh0ul'd usually find its way into the retreat meditation and confei:ence, The word of God Himself has an efficacy with souls Ufishared 'by the most clever words we humans can concoct. One sister remarked in this connection that "it is only too late that one finds the beauty and worthwhile passages in Holy Scripture. Personally, I have found myself living in close union with God by just one passage studied in the New Testament at meditation or spiritual reading." The retreat master, therefore, in gathering together material for his conferences ought to search the sacred pages (with the help. of a concordance) for apt scriptural support, Well-chosen texts will enlighten the minds and move the wills of his listeners far more effectively than his own words ever will. Theology in Retreats If ever a universal statement is dangerous, it is when discuss-ing the problem of theology in retreats fc~r religious. So varied are the talents, tastes, and training of typical groups of retreatants, that a priest's efforts to trim his treatment of theology to suit the preferences of all are almost predoomed to failure. And yet, while we may not be able to meet the needs of each and" every religious, I think we can tailor our approach to care for the great majority. First of all, I think it is safe to say that very few sisters and brothers have more~than a handshaking acquaintance with theology . . . real theology. I know full well that many have taken ~he mushrooming colleges courses in "theology," whether in their own juniorates or in regularly constituted colleges; but for the most part these are merely college religion courses 14 Janua~'y, 1958 RETREATS IN RETROSPECT labeled theology. In any event, we can agree that few brothers or sisters have taken the theology that priests have taken. The retreat master may not forget, therefore, that in his planning he ought not to assume technical knowledge or training in the .sacred science. Positively,. he sh(~uld assume that there are many theological concepts with which the retreatants are not acquainted ai~d about which they will be delighted to hear. These two facts suggest a pair of norms which may guide masters in their ap-proach to theology. First~ any theological concept that is introduced into con-ference or meditation must be presented simply if it is to reach the majority. This caution can hardly be overemphasized. A technical, highly abstract, sparsely illustrated presentation is so much wasted time . . . and sometimes patience. A' priest who uses unexplained theological or philosophical terms (e.g., hypo-static union, satisfactory value, timorous conscience, formal object, eschatological emphasis) may impress his hearers with the pro-fundity of theology, but he is hardly going to lead them to a greater love of God. Yet (and this is our second norm) this does not mean that retreat masters should not present profound truths. They cer-tainly should. God gave us the whole of His revelation for a purpose: the sanctification of souls. If a priest neglects to teach those truths when they can in some way be grasped, he is neglect-ing a powerful, God-given means diGrm[y aimed at the sanctifi-cation of souls. There is a tremendous difference between presenting the-ology in retreats and presenting theology technically. One sis, ter brought this point out beautifully. She observed that a retreat master: should give sisters exactly the same substantial content as he would give to other priests. He need have no fear that they will not be able to understand and live what he himself understands and lives. He should deliver his message, however, without scholarly verbiage, Latinisms, and all the other trappings which serve to im-press rather than to clarify. Through no fault of their own, sisters 15 Review for Religious do not have the.information to cope with this. It is a great mistake, however--and sad to say. a common one--to confound a sister's lack of technical theological learning with a lack of intelligence. It is the priest's task to make the technical comprehensible to the non-theologian. This of course demands inuch more understanding than does a presentation in the language" of the manuals. Most retreat' masters present a very thin gruel by comparison with what the}, could give if tl~ey had greater respect for the potentialities of the sisters. :&nd there are further reasons for introducing simplified theological concepts into. retreats. To my mind triteness of sub-ject matter (and triteness of expression, ~;oo) is candidate number one fo~ the title of b~te noire among the defects of contemporary preaching. We tend to' repeat meditation subjects and medita-tion ideas so unendingly that often little of enduring value is ldft with the retreatant.'If, on the contrary, we delve into the riches of divine revelation and teach the retreatants some of the many things they do we can hardly fail to Sot~nd theolegy not know about God and His.loveliness, leave a beneficial and lasting mark. retreat offers the further benefit of furnishing solid bases for a fervent spiritual life. It is perfectly true that learning is not .an essential ingredient in the make-up of saintliness; but, all else being equal, it is undeniably a power-ful aid. The reasori for this is nothing more. nor less than the age old scholastic axiom: nothing is willed unless it is first known. If we want our religious to live sensible, solid, and saintly lives, we must do our part by furnishing them with lucid explanations of pertinent sections from "moral, .dogmatic, scriptural, ascetichl, .and mystical theology. To offer less is to shortchange." Fine. I suppose we are agreed that simplified but new theological concepts .have a place in retreats for religious. But how is the .individual retreat master going to know (1) what will be "new" concepts for a particular group of religious and (2) whether his treatment of those concepts can be honored by the adjective simplified? A partial answer to the first problem can be worked out by a close cooperation between the retreat master and the provincial 16 January, 1958 RETREATS IN RETROSPECT superior of the retreatants. The latter could volunteer informa-tion on the background of the sisters with particular emphasis on their previous education and present work. If she can indicate with some precision to what extent the sisters have been in-structed in sacred doctrine, all the better. The retreat master needs help in answering the second question also, but this time it must issue from the retreatants themselves. A teacher can hardly know of himself whether or not his classroom presentation is clear and simple. He must hear from his pupils in some way or other, whether by examina-tion or oral comment. A retreat master hears nothing from the former and little from the latter. If he is brave enough, he might invite written comment. Toward the close of the exercises he could pass out a one-page opinionnaire asking for a frank evaluation of his exposition. If he does this, he should make it perfectly clear that he is not looking for an oblique pat on the back but for a statement of unadorned fact. Private Interview with the Retreat Master We approach now a question on which there is sharp dis-agreement between two large groups of American sisters. That question is whether or not sisters making a retreat should be allowed to approach the retreat master for a discussion of spiritual problems outside of the confessional. You will note that the question is not whether all sisters should see the priest in this capacity, but whether they may see him if they wish. Our survey indicated that a majority of religious women favor the availability of a priva.te confer.ence, although a strong minority look askance at it. The study suggested also that religious communities themselves vary in their official views. Some allow the private interview; others do not. To my mind the opinion favoring the availability of the private conference is the better. But before I set down reasons, a word of caution. No religious should be in any way forced or persuaded to seek a conference. Some sisters find the help 17 THOMAS DUBAY Review for Religious available in the confessional adequate for their needs. Others would be embarrassed and at a loss to explain their problems in. a private interview. We must remember that most sisters, unlike both religious and diocesan seminarians, are not accustomed to speak of their spiritual life with a priest sitting face-to-face be-fore them. Perfect and complete freedom, therefore, should surround this whole matter. Some religious, however, not only desire a private interview, but clearly need one. Any experienced spiritual director knows well enough that there are problems involved in the fervent living of the religious life far too complicated to be solved in the time ordinarily available in the confessional. As one sister put it, "there are some matters one simply can't get straight in the confessional." General conferences do not help here pre-cisely because they are general. We are not trying to form "religious in general" but particular religious, and for that individualized attention is indispensable. Said one sister: "Some-times the conferences would never have cleared up my diffi-culties, but a private conference where I can ask questions did." Aside even from strictly spiritual problems of an ascetical nature, a religious may want to discuss a moral or vocational difficulty. Again, as any director knows, these problems are often such that they cannot be solved by a few paternal (and some-times trite) words in the confessional. They need a full hear-ing followed by mature thought and discussion. Then, too, few sisters during the course of the year enjoy the opportunity of receiving an adequate hearing on their spiritual needs and aspira-tions. Why not give that opportunity to them at retreat time? A denial-of it could have unfortunate consequences. One superior has observed that "if a religious doesn't feel she has that freedom [of a private conference at retreat time], she Will look for other means to solve her problems, or just drop them and give up . " Failures in the religious life are not always due wholly to the unfortunate religious. 18 January, 1958 RETREATS IN RETROSPECT The fact that many sisters do so well in their spiritual" lives without systematic and thorough spiritual direction is hardly an argument against its value. In all likelihood they would advance in God's love even more rapidly if they were given regular direction as the major seminarian, for example, is given it. The objections brought against the private interview do not seem entirely valid. They are, for to the danger of abuse. And among likely (judging from the sisters' opinic community and self-seekir~g on the part on the latter I think we should reser~ religious could be sure that such an at for me to see. Nor is. disloyalty so. Most priests, after all, are sensible en( case of criticism, even bitter criticism, th side of the story. They are not going mentally with the other side unheard. sister's criticism is valid, it is clear that sl Her needs should be cared for. Possible abuse is no argument ag~ Church herself allows (and prescribes great abuse is possible. The same obi are possible also in the confessional, b~ dreamed of discontinuing the sacramen them. She merely surrounds that sacr~ guards as are reasonable and then lear of God. Which may remind us that which abuse may be .present. will. .the most part, reducible ~ossible abuses the most is) are disloyalty to the of the sister. Judgment to God. How fellow ase is present is difficult ormidable an objection. agh to realize that in a .'y are receiving only ond condemn a community But whether or not the may really need advice. .nst a good thing. The many things in which ~ctions mentioned above .t the Church has never of penance because of ment with as many safe- ~s the rest in the hands 3od also allows much in Consider the prosaic fact of free The practical problem of little time anda large number of retreatants is genuine: "I can't see how a retreat master in one private conference could possibly help one--especially when two or three hundred people are making the retreat that usually 19 THOMAS DUBAY Review for Religious lasts five or eight days." Real though the difficulty is, its solution is not impossible. First of all, we must remember that most religious will probably not seek a private interview, at least not in every retreat. Secondly, superiors should exhaust their in-genuity in seeking ways and means of multiplying retreats and consequently reducing the number of participants in each one. Finally, retreat masters should imitate St. Paul in spending them-selves without stint for the benefit of the sisters. They should give generously of their time and l~e as available as possible. On their part local superiors "(in congregations that allow the private conference) should make it as easy as possible for the sisters to obtain direction. While religious discipline may not suffer, red tape ought to be reduced to the barest minimum. And we might observe in conclusion that the religious themselves ought carefully to abstain from making comments of any kind about those who choose to avail themselves of the opportunity to. obtain spiritual direction. Understanding of Retreatants' Needs We have already observed in our survey series that a some-what disturbing number of sisters feel that at times their retreat masters do not understand well enough the spiritual problems of religious women. If we may judge the views of these sisters on the basis of the typical comments they made, we must return the verdict that usually those views are objectively based. Perhaps an instance of what I mean will help. If a priest counsels a community to do something prohibited by its constitutions, the sisters' judgment that their spirit is not understood is objectively founded. It is not a mere subjective persuasion. When a priest does not understand the needs of a particular group of religious, that lack of understanding will usually occur in one or other of the following categories. 1. Failure to grasp the diverse needs of the different re-ligious communities. This particular type of misunderstanding comes in a number of varieties. One sister observes that the 20 January, 1958 RETREATS IN RETROSPECT retreat master does not seem to appreciate the needs of the teach-ing religious. Another remarks that the problems of the nursing sister are for the most part missed. A third objects that the priest does not understand the spirit of her order or that he confuses it with the spirit of some other congregation. This type of misunderstanding is itself readily understand-able. Many retreat masters are not teachers; none are nurses; and none belong to the identical community as that of the re-treatants. It isi therefore, encouraging that the sisters themselves show a sympathetic appreciation of the di~culties lying before the retreat master. Yet for all that, the obstacles can be at least partially removed. If a priest habitually gives retreats to teaching or nursing religious, it seems imperative that he keep abreast of current problems facing the sisters by reading publications in which those problems are discussed. Such would be, for example, the Catholic Educational Review, the Catholid School Journal, Hospital Progress, Review for Religious, Sponsa Regis, and Sister Formation Bulletin. A first-class biology teacher keeps himself au courant on the newest developments in his field. So does the first-class retieat master. An invaluable means of learning about the problems peculiar to sisters in diverse works (and we are thinking also of contem-plation, social service, missi(~ns, and others) is to give the sisters a chance to say something during retreat time. A daily discussion period wi~h the master serves a number of excellent purposes and . this is one of them. A discussion period can easily replace or be integrated with the daily conference (as distinguished" from the meditations). 'Misunderstandings bearing on the community's works and spirit can be eliminated to a large extent by a careful reading of sisters' constitutions together with exchanges with their su-periors. We have discussed both of these matters in the early part of this present article. 2. Lack of understanding of the psychology of women and of the religious life as lived by women. On this point I would 21 THOMAS DUBAY Review for Religfous almost prefer to say nothing at all, for there is little that I can offer with certainty. Of this, however, we can be sure: we do have a prob.lem here that is worth noticing. In our survey the sisters mentioned it more than once and that in diverse con-nections. Now, of course, men and women are not so psychologically different that the one group can never hope to know very much about the other. Yet there does seem to be a chasm in mutual understanding wide enough to create difficulty in obtaining optimum retreat results. This difficulty is sharp-ened when we reflect on the patent fact that retreats for religious women given by religious men are here for keeps. We want, therefore, to make them as successful as possible. What can be done to further a more complege understanding? Experience, obviously, will help any priest. And so will his study of feminine psychology (if he can find something reliable on the subject). But I think that the real solution, if there is one, lies with the sisters themselves. To a consid-erable extent the heart of a nun is unknown terrain. Her confessor surely has some access to it, but a decidedly incom-plete access. The depths of her heart, its love, its aspirations and yearnings, its happiness and its pain are for the most part a closed book. How precisely she views the trials and joys of her-consecrated life are her secret hardly to be shared fully by another. Her entire reactions to her friends and i~amily and sister religious and superiors are unknown quantities. In all this, of course, she is no different from the rest of us. The difference lies in the fact that a priest can more easily understand all these things as they occur in laymen and in priests because he has been both. And many priests engaged in seminary work have spent long hours in the spiritual direc-tion of seminarians. They know the masculine mind in its religious implications because they have experienced it both in themselves and in others. 22 January, 1958 RETREAT~ IN RETROSPEC~ ' Now if there is such a thing as a psychology of religious women--and many sisters insist there is--it is the religious women themselves who must give an account of it. Perhaps our sisters have been too reluctant to explore this particular aspect of their vocation or too taciturn about making known what they have found. In any event the initiative must stem from them. 3. Lack of understanding of the real problems in the religious, life of sisters. This problem, where it actually does occur, is probably connected with the preceding. In our opinionnaire an item on community ~ problems was included and to it many interesting answers were given. I have not as yet written up this particular question, but hope to do so in the reasonably near future. It may cast some light on this third source of misunderstanding. 4. Failure to realize th~it most sisters are not interested in mere mediocre holiness. While this particular type of mis-understanding is by no means universal, mention of it did occur frequently enough to warrant more than a passing notice. Since, however, it shall come up for consideration in our next section, we will pass it by for'the present. 5. Lack of patience with sisters' poblems. To run out of patience is like running out of gas. Neither necessarily sug-gests a lack of understanding of people or of gas tanks. Either may bespeak nothing more striking than some deficiency or other in human nature. But on the other hand, misunder-standing may be the culprit. And this takes us back to our psycholog)~ of the sexes. It is easy to visualize a priest brush-ing off a sister's problems as petty and of no consequence. He may be right (and he may not), but in either case charity indicates that he give her a kind hearing and a patient-answer. Attitudes Toward Sanctity In proposing to analyze so intricate and delicate a question as the present one, we are perhaps treading where angels fear; 23 THOMAS DUBAY Review fo~" Religious but the very moment of the matter beckons at least a try. If it is true, as the Salmanticences say it is, that to raise a good person to saintliness is a greater work than to convert a sinner to grace, the efforts of retreat masters to lead religious to the heights of holiness loom up as of no little account. There are two elements involved in the retreat master's approach to sanctity for his auditors. On the one hand there is the question as to whether he urges them sufficiently to the heights, and on the other whether he explains adequately just how those heights are to be scaled. The survey indicated that a majority of sisters (63.1%) felt that retreat masters usually do urge them sufficiently to supreme sanctity, while a notable minority (36.9%) were of a negative opinion. Regarding the second element the breakdown was closer: 53:8% thought that retreat masters usually explain adequately how complete holiness is to be achieved and "46.2% embraced an opposite view. These contradictory opinions on both questions are easily understood. They are probably due to three factors: (a) the sisters polled have differing standards as to what the heights of holiness really are; (b) they also differ in their judg-ments as to what a retreat master ought to say about complete sanctity in a heterogeneous group of religious; and (c) they are speaking of different retreat masters. Understandable though these differences of opinion are, they are nonetheless represented by percentages large enough to indicate that a considerable number of retreat masters are not satisfying a considerable number of religious in their ap-proach to the question of sanctity. If this conclusion be correct, we might dwell with profit on possible means of improving inadequacies where they do occur. 1. The confessional is a situation tailor-made for the pru-dent direction of a soul to holiness. A confessor can often spot the fully generous so.ul, the soul that is ripe for a greater love of God. The penitent's confession itself both in its content 24 Janua~'y, 1958 RETREATS IN RETROSPECT and in its mode will often suggest the, practical means to be used at each pa_rticular stage in the spiritual life. 2. In his conferences and meditations the master should present saintliness itself as the goal of the religious life. He ought not to suggest by word or attitude that some sort of mediocre goodness is sufficient, but rather that the very end of the state of perfection is perfection, a thorough doing. The word itself, perfection, indicates a completeness, an entireness that can be predicated of nothing less than the sanctity of the saints. And yet while he presents holiness in all its totality, the retreat master will be careful not to discourage the weak. Some religious do not feel that they are ready to scale the heights and that they must first get themselves established at the moun-tain's base. The priest will, therefore, counsel patience and p~udence in adapting means to an individual spiritual condition and state in life. While pointing out the sublime goal, he makes it clear that we do not reach it in a month or a year, but that with the cooperation of our unstinting generosity God brings us to it in His own good time. .Presented in this way the doctrine of saintliness for the religious fits the needs of all and hurts none. 3. The retreat master should next show that the heights of holiness are possible of achievement. One sister'ha~ ob-served that the manner of reaching sanctity "is often presented as being very difficult rather than as something to be. faced with joy and confidence." Working for real holiness is difficult-- there can be no doubt about that. But it is not a sombre and forbidding difficulty and certainly not an insuperable one. Christ could not have commanded the impossible, and yet He made it crystal clear on at least two occasions that all men are to strive for perfect sanctity. "You therefore are to be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). "Thou shall love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy Whole mind" (Matt. 22:37). The 25 THOMAS DUBAY Review ]or Religious comment of Pius XI on the first of these texts was emphatic: "Let no one think that these words apply only to a very few select souls and that all the others are permitted to remain in some inferior degree of virtue. It is evident that absolutely everybody without exception is bound by this law" (third cen-tenary of St. Francis de Sales). If saintliness is possible for all men, it is doubly possible for the religious who has chosen the most effective means to attain it, the state of perfection. 4. A step further. Saintliness for religious should b~ presented as eminently desirable, a thing at once splendid, satisfying, and sublime. There is nothing in the world so utterly charming as a saintly soul--and also nothing so pleasing to God. The beauty of a consecrated life lived to the hilt should be like a golden thread that the priest weaves through-out the retreat by his attitudes, words, and actions. 5. A practical explanation of the means to achieve sanctity is indispensable. We have already noted that a con-siderably greater number of the sisters participating in our study found fault with retreat masters on this score than on the score of theory. Such is not surprising for we humans naturally tend in our teaching to stress the general and avoid the specific. And in our spiritual conferences we tend to generalize all the more because we are subconsciously afraid that we will step on somebody's toes if we get too specific about what we mean. Yet if a retreat master is going to be clear he has got to be specific. Else he is likely doing' nothing but preaching pious platitudes: I suppose I might right now practice what I am' preaching and be specific. Instead of resting content with a glowing but merely general eulogy of detachment from created things, the retreat master ought to get down to brass tacks and spell out what this thing is really all about. He might tell his audience clearly what an attachment is: the clinging of the will to a created thing for its own sake; the loving of a creature for its own sake and not for the sake of God. Then January, 1958 RETREATS IN RETROSPECT he could specify as does St: John of the Cross what some of these creatures might be: a book, a piece of clothing, news and rumors, a love of ta/king. (See Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book I, Chapter 11.) He might be even more specific and explain the psychology of attachment and then use some of these examples to illustrate his point. When a speaker has spent twenty or thirty minutes in this fashion, he has said something . something that ~vi[l move to action because it is clear, practical, down to earth. 6. In our efforts to move souls to seek saintliness itself as their goal we might well draw more freely from the lives of the saints as a source t:or apt illustrations. If in a lecture on biology you want to explain the nature of plants, you draw your illustrations from plants. Why not the same in explain-ing saintliness? The unqualified idea that saints are to be admired but not imitated is, of course, the merest nonsense. Any good theology manual p.oints out that an essential reason for the pope's infallibility in a decree of canonization is pre-cisely that he is presenting to the faithful an example to be imitated and that, consequently, he cannot lead them astray. The retreat master, to be sure, ought not to dwell on the unusual doings of the saints for the twofold reason that these unusual activities are both comparatively rare and also not the chief basis for the saints' canonization. If the Church intends us to present the saints to the simple faithful as concretizations of perfect sanctity, all the more ought they to be presented to priests, brothers, and sisters both in retreat and out of it. 7. In order to further the work of all-outness in matters spiritual, the master could suggest to the retreatant community choice books eminently suited to the purpose. Our contem-porary spiritual reading market is not totally void of second-rate works, wo~'ks that sometimes clip the corners off perfection as it has been explained by the saints. If you wonder, perhaps, at exactly what I mean, I would suggest that you read side by side 27 THOMAS DUBA¥ Review ]or Religious St. Frzn¢is de Sales, St. John of the Cross, and St. Teresa of Avila on the one hand and some of our less noteworthy moderns on the other. 8. Our final suggestion: a self-analysis on the part of each retreat master. Some priests are undoubtedly doing a superb job in this whole matter; others seemingly are not. A self-examination may help to indicate who is where. I think that some such examination would be based on three funda-mental questions: (a) do I really~know the doctrine of the saints; (b) am I prudent in applying it; (c) am I practical in explaining it? Other questions would be mere derivatives of these three. Characteristics of the Retreat Master We will preface our comments on the traits of retreat mas-ters by refreshing our collective mind on the preferences and dislikes of the ret~eatants. It is the mark made on them, after all, that determines the success or failure of the retreat. As regards positive qualities our survey indicated that sis-ters, at least, overwhelmingly nominate genuine sanctity as thi~ trait most desirable in a retreat master. Practicality, a distant second-placer, was followed by experience, theological learning, kindness, and a sense of humor in that order. On the negative side the number of different defects noted by the sisters was decidedly large. Among the most frequently mentioned wero reading of meditations, lack of interest, conceit, verbosity, sar-casm, joking manner, impracticality, severity, harshness and speed in the confessional, bad delivery, superficiality, dramatic manner, lack of preparation, excessive intellectuality, critical spirit (and especially toward sisters), worldliness, condescension toward sisters, negative approach, scandalous stories, crude lan-guage, idiosyncrasies, and insincerity.~ For a complete treatment of these and other qualities and defects, see REY'IEW RELIGIOUS, September, 1956, pp. 253-62. 28 Janua~'y, 1958 RETREATS IN RETROSPECT Perhaps the brightest and most encouraging element in this whole matter is that every quality above mentioned, with the possible exception of a sense of humor (which came last in importance), can be acquired by a serious priest, while almost every defect can with due attention be eradicated. Any priest can, if he really wants to, set out after genuine sanctity; he can acquire practicality, experience, a competent knowledge of theology; and he can be kind merely by making up his mind to it. On the other hand he can tone down a clamorous delivery or clarify a muttering one; he can eradicate harshness, conceit, verbosity, and sarcasm; he can prepare his retreat well and refrain from reading conferences and meditations; it is within his power to avoid disinterestedness, criticism, condescension, and worldliness. Most priests (who, after all, have had enough talent to receive ordination) can with hard work develop them-selves into acceptable retreat masters. But--and this is a worthwhile but--we do not always know our defects and, for that- matter, sometimes our strong points. I would not be entirely unwilling to support the thesis that most of the failings we have noted are unrealized by the retreat masters possessing them . unrealized at least as defects. A man can easily be unaware that his manner is conceited, his delivery raucous, and his matter superficial. He may sincerely think that his emotionalism is desirable, his severity needed, or his critical spirit justified. He may not know that his read meditations grate on the nerves of many or that his manner in the confessional is at all hasty or severe. All of which suggests the need for a large package of charity in the mental and verbalized judgments of retreatants, but it also suggests that perhaps the priests among us ought not to take too much for granted. We may not be so free of deficiencies as we might imagine. How to find out? One way is honest self-examination. Some defects so stand out that they can be seen with half an eye. Sarcasm, 29 THOMAS DUBAY Review /or Religious insincerity, criticism of sisters, and lack of interest seem to fall into this class of obvious deficiencies, obvious at least on a mo-ment's reflection. I think that sisters' retreats would in many instances be greatly improved if each retreat-giving priest would examine himself periodically on the list of qualities and defects the sisters furnished us in the above referred.to study. Knowing a deficiency is half the battle; the other half is won by good will and God's grace. But there are other defects that even a serious examination will not reveal. To know these we must be told by another. Is it beyond the realm of feasibility to suggest that the retreat master distribute once or twice in his career a simple question-naire to the retreatants in order to obtain a frank expression of opinion? There is the danger, of course, that he may appear to be seeking a naive pat on the back; but that danger can be annihilated by a few sincere, well-chosen words. Most retreat-ants would be frank, and their comments couid prove invaluable for the future improvement of that priest's retreat work. Despite his best and most sincere efforts, however, it may happen, that a priest is just not fitted by nature to do retreat work. Well and good. He may be a fine man and capable of doing outstandingly well in some other field. And it would seem wise for his superiors to assign him to another field. But at minimum we submit as imperative that superiors send into retreat work only those priests who are interested in it and generously willing to do it. The sisters' complaints dealing with lack of interest on the part of retreat masters are, as we ha.ve noted, heavy. And in all probability it is often the root cause of other defects. Experience in the classroom indicates clearly that the best teacher is the enthusiastic, interested teacher. The very same may be said of retreat master~ for they too are teachers. It would be generally agreed, I believe, that the work of giving retreats to religious is highly specialized and quite unlike 30 Janua~'y, 1958 RETREATS IN RETROSFECT the Usual activities of most priests. Neither the ordinary course of seminary theology nor the typical Sunday sermon approach is equal to the sublime task of forming consecrated souls to a configuration with Christ. Ideally, therefore, men who do re-treat work should have specialized preparation for it. We prepare men and women for other les~ important specialized jobs. Why not for that of retreat master? .We need not necessarily think here of formal and especially tailored courses; they may be feasible--I do not know. But as a minimumwe must think of a private, orderly study on the part of priests who give retreats, a study bearing on ascetical and mystical theology, the New Testament, and the lives of the saints. The nature of the work demands, of course, that th~ retreat master be competent in dogmatic and moral theology--else his ascetical and mystical theology may be in a tottering condition. Real competence and facility in these fields take time. Years. A man cannot have a real grasp on ascetical and mystical theology by reading two or three books, no matter how good they be. Nor can he know the mind of the saints by reading two or three lives, even the best of them. An ideal retreat master can be that man only who is wholeheartedly interested in the glorious work of raising chosen souls to a lofty degree of holiness and who is willing to submit to the rigors involved in acquiring and maintaining a fitness for it. A final note for the retreatants themselves . . . and that note is one Word: forebearance. Despite the very best and sincerest efforts of all concerned with retreats, masters are not going to be perfect. Our first and last perfect retrea~ will be conducted in heaven. In the meantime we must be patient and do the best we can with what we have. Meditation Subjects I do not think there is need here to 'ana1~ze the question of subject matter for retreat meditations, since the major impli-cations of our retreat study on this point have already been 31 THOMAS DUBAY Review fo~" Religious discussed.° One observation only seems worthy of mention, and that is the avoidance of triteness. It is neither psycho-logically nor pedagogically wise to insist on the same set of meditation subjects year after yea~. Topic repetition is psy-chologically unwise because attention is blunted by sameness and impressions fade: assueta vi/e~cunt. Subject reiteration is pedagogically unwise for the obvious reason that you. are not teaching very much, if anything at all. By hitting the same truths in the same way, few new insights are given and, conse-quently, few new motives for action. If, on the contrary, the same subjects are tackled from .new points of view and if they furnish new insights, all our objections fall to the ground. In a true sense, you really have new subject~. You are no longer trite. Rest Before Retreat A noteworthynumber of sisters mentioned in our opinion-naire that plain weariness hindered them from getting full spiritual benefits from their retreats. And one need not tax his imagination to believe them. Ushered by ol~edience directly from the hospital floor or the classroom into conference hall and chapel, these religious simply do not have the energy to give themselves completely to the searching work of a vigorous self-renewal. But we must remember at the same time that scarcity of personnel may prevent a provincial superior from doing a whole lot about the situation. Yet when it is possible, a full day's rest would seem in order for all sisters about to go on retreat. Even bettek would be a week or two of vacation, a vacation during which only spiritual exercises and trifling daily duties are mandatory. Religious (as we well know but some-times tend to forget) do not acquire nerves of copper merely by donning a habit. Daily Retreat Schedule Closely linked to the immediately preceding problem is the tightly packed retreat horarium. A daily schedule that is closely °See gEvIsw FOg gELm~OUS, November, 1956, pp. 301-5. 32 January, 1958 RETREATS IN RETROSPECT crowded with a multitude of spiritual exercises is psychologically and spiritually unsound. It does not take cognizance of the fact that God works best in peace and quiet, that the sisters need serenity of mind and heart if they are going to love Him tremendously. It would seem wise, therefore, to reduce the number of exercises in a squeezed-together horarium, to sched-ule vocal prayers in moderation, and to allow an adequate amount of free time. Most sisters are in dead earnest about the business of sanctity; and it should be assumed, until the contrary is proved, that they will use free time to their greatest advantage. Physical Accommodations During the Retreat One of the sisters good-naturedly referred to the problem of spacial overcrowding during retreat time as "one of those August mob scenes." We may easily sympathize with her viewpoint and yet at the same time grant that the problems of the assigning superior are knotty. Especially in large communi-ties this latter has often to provide the benefits of an annual retreat to hundreds of religious and that within the narrow confines of a few weeks and drastically limited facilities. For some communities, perhaps, the "mob scenes" cannot be avoided, at least in the near future. For others, however, careful plan-ning and personnel adjustment together with fresh thinking could conceivably issue in an amelioration of the situation. The solution in most cases would probably be a greater number of distinct retreats, however they can be provided. Possibly the week after Christmas would for some communities lend itself to an additional retreat time; for others the Easter vacation might be used for the same purpose. In still other cases the solution might lie in a greater dispersion of retreat locations. Rather than have all retreats in a motherhouse or community college, smaller houses might with some adjustment be adaptgd to serve as supplementary retreat centers. Aside from the greater ad-vantage of more physical space, such dispers)on would enable the sisters to seek and receive more individualized attention from 33 ¯ FOR YOUR INFORMATION Review for Religioz~s the master whether in the confessional or in the private conference. Conclusion Before capping this disquisition with its amen, I would like to reject in anticipation a possible illusion, for if. it came to be, it would probably be my fault. That illusion is that this study contains the answers to almost all retreat prol~lems. The truth is, of course, that it may contain some answers to some problems. The truth is also that we need a lot more thinking, fresh think-ing, about these questions. Investigation, too. It seems to me that we ought to learn from our secular friends how to use the tools of research to further love for God. We ought to study ourselves and our doings more objectively--scientifically, if you want to call it that. In all likelihood both we and our doings would be much more effective. For Your Informal:ion In Future Numbers NOT INFREQUENTLY we receive articles that have to be returned because the subjects are treated in articles that we have already accepted, but not yet published. It has occurred to us that this problem might be avoided if we publish a list of articles that will appear in subsequent numbers of the REVIEW, with a brief indication of the content of each article. Besides being helpful to prospective contributors, this list should be of interest to all readers. We give here a list only of articles that have been accepted at the time we are preparing this material for the printer. That means, roughly speaking, articles accepted before November 1, 1957. 34 January, 1958 FOR YOUR INFORMATION "The Holy See and Teaching Brothers." Under date of March 31, 1954, Pope Pius XII addressed-to Cardinal Valeri a letter on the special vocation and apostolate of religious institutes of teaching brothers. ,Several magazines have published English translations of this letter. The Commentarium pro religiosis published not o~nly the original Latin text of the Pope's letter, but also some background material and a commentary on the papal letter by Father A. Guti~rrez, C.M.F. We intend to pub-lish an English version of the papal letter, together with the background material and some o~ the more important observa-tions made by Father Guti~rrez. -"The Gifts of the Holy Spirit." This article gives a clear, simple, and attractive explanation of the more common theolo-gical teaching on the gifts and on their function in the ascetical life. "Religious and Psychotherapy." What are psychiatric treat-ments? What is their purpose? Should religious who suffer from a mental illness go to a pxsychiatrist and cooperate in psy-chotherapy? The article answers questions such as these. "A Sense of Balance." This is a study in contrasts: opti-mism and pessimism; with insistence that the true Christian view of life is an optimistic view that sees God as love, man as re-deemed, other creatures as means of sanctification, and the com-mandments as laws of love and life. "Saint Th~rhse of the H61y Face." The Little Flower's full name in religion is Sister Th~r~se of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face. This article brings out, by means of numerous quo-tations, how profound was her devotion to the Holy Face. "To extend the Reign of Jesus Christ." This is an account of the founding of the first non-cloistered institute of teaching sisters. "Unceasing Prayer." We all wonder at times how we can fulfill the words of St. Paul, "Pray without ceasing." One ex-planation, called virtual prayer, has been recommended by cer- 35 FOR YOUR INFORMATION tain prominent French Jesuit writers. Their explanation is presented briefly in this article. "Proficients Who Do Not Progress.'? One division of the stages of spiritual progress is: beginner, proficient, and perfect. This article pays particular attention to the difficulties of the second stage and to the ways of surmounting these difficulties. "Preliminary to Adaptation." The theme of the article is that, in order properly to carry out the recommendations of the Church concerning adaptation and renovation, there must be a careful study of the spirit of the institute. "Countering Serious Sin." Religious are not immune from the possibility of committing mortal sin, and they need to take precautions. Such precautions are outlined in this article, which, in the author's words, is "a blueprint . . . for constructing (or re-constructing) an interior citadel against the lethal foe, serious sin." "Keeping the Rules." In religious institutes there are two kinds of rules: disciplinary regulations that mainly concern exter-nal observance and community order, and spiritual directives that pertain to the interior spirit and the apostolate. The article shows that fidelity to the rules means one thing as regards the first kind of rules, and another as regards the second kind. "The Neurotic Religious." This is a sequel to the article on religious and psychotherapy. Most religious who might need and profit by psychotherapy suffer from an emotional illness known as neurosis. This article is an attempt to paint a verbal picture of the neurotic religious and his problems. Non-Jesuit Contributors We are often asked (apparently by those who have not been regular readers of the RE'Ci, EW) whether we accept articles by non-Jesuits. One answer to this question might be a simple reference to the articles published during the last three years, (continued on page 41) 36 Spiri!:ual Cancer I:r~ncis J. M~cEnt:ee, S.J. wE ARE HEARING a great deal these days about cancer. Millions of dollars are set aside every year to study it, to learn everj~thing possible about this mysterious killer. People are made constantly conscious of it because they see and hear about it on all sideg: campaigns for research funds and hospitalization; drives against this and that as possible causes; salves and various ray-treatments as possible cures. The obituary page in every newspaper is also a persistent reminder of its omni-presence. Yet, even though cancer is prominent in the public eye, the very mention of it still strikes terror into those confronted with it. Any unexpected need for hospital care or sudden surgery generally wrings the same agonized question from the anguished patient: "It. isn't cancer, is it, doctor?" as if anything else would be almost welcome as an alternative. There is good reason for this terror, because the most terrifying thing about cancer is its insidiousness. Cancer is really an abuse. It might even be called too much of a good thing. Many people have a vague notion that.cancer is something like leprosy in that it is a disease that eats away until the poor victim just distintegrates. Actually it is just the opposite. Cancer is a lively exuberant~ growth of body cells, which in itself is a good thing because it is the normal function of body cells to increase and grow. Only in this case the growth gets out of hand and keeps right on growing long after it should have stopped. The cells continue to divide madly without any apparent cause or method of being stopped. That is why cancer is an abuse; why it is too much of a good thing; why it is insidious, for it starts with something that is normal and natural and perverts it. Finally, since these wildly pro-lifer~ ting cells are living things, they must be nourished; con-sequently, they spread out like the crab from which the disease takes its name and pirate their nourishment from the surrounding 37 FP~-NCIS J. MAcENTEE Review for Religious healthy tissue which in time, as is quite obvious, will be starved dead by the greedy voracious intruders. I am sure the .medical profession would find much to criticize in this over-simplification of one of the most serious and complicated diseases of our time, but my purpose is a medical one only to the limited extent of setting up a parallel with what might be called spiritual cancer. Our growth in the spiritual life is measured by our close union with Christ, an ever-deepening awareness of His presence and a constant striving to have an unalloyed intention in all our endeavors in His service. One good sign of a sound spiritual growth is the balance and harmony with which it proceeds. Our performance of the many activities which make up our dedicated lives mirrors, to some degree, the progress of our spiritual growth. We of course realize that all our duties and obligations, even those which may seem to be of lesser moment, or even (to our practical minds) somewhat impractical, are nonetheless very important from God's viewpoint. Therefore we must be on the alert that we don't allow our more favored activities, like those that bring more immediate and concrete results, to divert the activity that should be going into all our activities. For any such activity in our lives which starts to grow out of all due proportion, siphoning off time and energy from some other duty, is an abuse; it is too much of a good thing; it is a spiritual cancer. We must bd constantly on our guard against the manifesta-tions of this disease because, like its physical counterpart, it will have begun long before we become aware of it. The insidious-ness here lies in the fact that we have within ourselves the germs of the disease because, for most of us, activity of some sort is our way of life, our prime means of doing .God's will. And it is so easy for one phase or other of this activity to get out of hand, to start growing out of all due proportion, thriving perhaps, but only to the detriment of our whole spiritual or- 38 Janua~'y, 1958 SPIRITUAL CAN(~ER ganism. Since activity, then, is the way by which we serve God, it is so easy ~or us to play the doctor in our own case and give a false diagnosis to our symptoms, admitting perhaps the begin-nings of an excited growth but misinterpreting the symptoms as a case of increased fervor in doing God's work. If God is pleased with this much activity, we say, then He will be twice as pleased with twice as much. Like the man who reads the prescription on the medicine bottle then doubles it, convinced that he will get well twice as fast. Such a dangerous spiritual bedside manner in dealing with our own ailments can lead to only one conclusion: an ever-spreading cancer which will soon sap our entire spiritual nourishment leaving us spiritually ema-ciated and all under the guise of giving God a service which He most assuredly does not want. The activities in our dedicated lives by which we serve God are numberless. As long as their growth is normal and in har-mony with the growth of our whole spiritual structure, our spiritual li~e will be sound and healthy. But let's look at a ~ew pertinent instances of activities that could, if we are not watchful, begin to grow malignantly. For those o~ us who teach school on any level whatsoever, there is little question of what to do with our superfluous time since that precious commodity is practically non-existent in-this glorious activity. But because there is no proportion at all be-tween the time spent in preparation for and actually spent in the classroom and the time formally spent in meditation, examen, and spiritual reading, we might come to the sad conclusion that the one which takes the more time is the more important. If that becomes the case, then it won't be long before there is a big-business merger and even the little time which was once spent in spiritual duties will be absorbed by the larger enterprise. Prognosis? Incipient malignant cancer. However, we might justify this course oi: action by saying that we have thereby be-come a better teacher. After all, we argue, if it's God's will that I teach others that I may bring more and more souls to 39 FRANCIS J. MACENTEE Review for Religious love Him an°d to save their souls, then anything I can do to make myself a better instrument will be furthering God's glory. The fallacy there is that we are judging only by externals. We forget that God can raise up. better instruments from the stones in the street. What if the time plundered from spiritual activi-ties did give us the appearance of a better teacher, how would we then differ from the good lay teacher on our faculty? Another phase of teaching that might blight this great activity with an unhealthy growth is the element of competition involved. We want our classes to do well, for their own sakes, of course, but also to some extent for our sakes too. For if they don't do as well as other similar classes, the reflection will be on us; and we will be in a bad light not only in the eyes of our fellow teachers but perhaps also in the eyes of superiors. Therefore, we start giving undue time to class preparation and class work in general in order to fill up what we label a defilzit; but in the process we lay the groundwork for a deficiency of a much higher magnitude. We are deluded into thinking that success depends entirely on ourselves so that, if we're not an apparent success, there is a fault involved and the fault c.'-n be only our own. We ignore the palpable fact that God can make greater use of the not-so-successful teacher who depends totally on Him than on the obviously successful one who is just as obviously self-pleased with the whole thing. When we begin to realize that God doesn't look solely at results (which unfortun-ately are almost our sole criterion of judgment), that He looks first at the motive and effort involved, then we will see that our opinion about any teacher or anything else, for that matter, might be quite different from God's. The same thing would apply to the student. When the nourishment for our spiritual life begins to feed the abnormal appetite which studying can easily become, then it is high time for a spiritual check-up to see that the instrument which is being honed for Christ's service does not slice us too thin. Studying 4O Janua~'y, 1958 SPIRITUAL CANCER is just another activity which we undertake for Christ's greater glory. Success is welcome, but it is certainly not the be-all and end-all of the undertaking. God demands first our pure inten-tion, great effort, and continual complete dedication. From there on in, it's His affair. If He wants others to reap the academic fruits, what is that to us? Again, the fallacy of judging success only by the results produced. Despite all "the changes in our way of life, despite loud mass production and speedy efficiency, growth in the spiritual~ life is a delicate thing that needs a sustained climate of quiet, inward ¯ peace, and recollection. Nervous effusions to exterior things and a one-sided dedication to activity which results in making ar~ end. out of what should be only a means are so many strangling weeds that make spiritual growth impossible. The only growth they foster is an abnormal one, a growth that drains off spiritual vitality, a growth that is cancerous. For Your In[ormal~ion (continued from page 36) 1955-1957. During these years we published 67 articles. This does not include translations of papal addresses, compilations of papal statements, and the surveys of Roman documents made by Father Smith. Of these 67 articles, 35 were by Jesuits, 32 by non-Jesuits. We might add that anyone who contributes an article should confer our "Notes for Contributors," which were published in the REVIEW, March, 1955, pp. 104-112, and July, 1955, pp. 194-196. 41 Survey oJ: Roman Document:s R. F. Smil:h, S.J. IN THE PRESENT survey there will be given a summary, of the documents which appeared in Acta Apostolicae Sedis (AAS) from August 24, 1957, to September 25, 1957, in-clusive. Page references throughout the article will be to the 1957 AAS (v. 49). Our Lady On July 2, 1957 (AAS, pp. 605-19), the Holy Father published a new encyclical, Le P~lerinage de Lourdes (The Pilgrima~/e o/ Lourdes). The document was directly ad-dressed to the Church in France on the occasion of the coming centenary of our Lady's appearances at Lourdes, but granted the international extent of devotion to our Lady of Lourdes the encyclical is of great interest to the entire Church. The en-cyclical is divided into two parts, the first of which begins by sketching what may be termed the Marian history of France. So notable has been France's devotion to our Lady, remarks. the Pontiff, that today the entire country lies under the protec-tive shadows of Marian sanctuaries--humble chapels or splendid basilicas as the case may be. There is good reason to say that this Marian history of France culminated in the nineteenth cen-tury. It was then, for instance, that our Lady gave the miracu-lous medal to a humble daughter of St. Vincent de Paul; and a few years later in 1858 she appeared to St. Bernadette at Lourdes which from then on became a pilgrimage center for the sick, the afflicted, and the truth-seekers of the entire world. The Pope then notes that the hundred years that have passed since Our Lady's appearances at Lourdes have seen an ever stronger relationship between the See of Peter and the grotto of the appearances. Indeed, the relationship was present 42 ROMAN DOCUMENTS from the beginning, for it would seem that what the Holy Father had infallibly defined a few years previously the Blessed Virgin wished to confirm by her own words, since she appeared to Bernadette with the message: "I am the Immaculate Conception." Since then each of the Romari Pontiffs has eagerly shown his favor toward the sanctuary of Lourdes. Pius IX showered bene-fits on the shrine erected there and ordered the coronation of its statue of our Lady; Leo XIII granted a proper office and Mass for the feast 6f the Appearance of Our Lady Immaculate. St. Plus X introduced the cause of Bernadette; and above all the sainted Pontiff emphasized the remarkable manner in which Marian piety at Lourdes led to an equally remarkable worship of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Benedict XV permitted the bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes to wear the pallium at the place of the appearances, while Pius XI beatified Bernadette and chose to close the jubilee year of the Redemption at the shrine of Lourdes. Plus XII then concludes this first part of the encyclical by recalling his own endeavor to continue the relationship between the Roman See and Lourdes, an endeavor which was manifested most recently by the closing at Lourdes of the centenary year of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The second part of the encyclical is devoted to a considera-tion of the spiritual lessons of Lourdes; these lessons, notes the Vicar o~Christ, are but echoes of the gospel message, for, like John theB, aptist and like Christ .Himself at the beginning of His public life, our Lady called at Lourdes for l~enance and con-version. At the same time she brought a message of pardon and hope for those who do repent; indeed just as the miraculous cures of Christ were but signs of the power and readiness of Christ to forgive sins, so also the physical cures at Lourdes are invitations to hope for pardon. The centenary jubilee at Lourdes, continues the Holy Father, will possess grandeur only in so far as men respond to these messages of our Lady. Each pilgrim to Lourdes and each Catholic throughout the world who is united in spirit to the 43 Review for Religious centenary celebrations at the shrine should realize in himself a true spiritual conversion. The conversion of the individual, however, is not enough; rather the faithful must be aroused to a collective effort directed towards the Christian re;aewal of society. This will be shown by a reaction to that materialism which manifests itself not only in the philosophy that presides over the political and economic affairs of a large segment of humanity but also externalizes itself in a greed for money, a cult of the body, a flight from all austerity, and an unrestrained pursuit of pleasure. The Holy Father then urges priests to preach to their people the narrow path that leads to life, reminding them that they, like Mary, must live only to give Christ to the world. So too religious must seek the same end by their weapons of prayer, penance, and charity. Families, too, should do their part by considering the irreplaceable mission they have in society; they should consecrate themselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, asking her to remove from their lives all false judgments and egoistic actions. In a moving conclusion to the encyclical the Holy Father addresses the poor and those in bodily or spiritual afflic.tion, urging them to journey to Lourdes where they.will be received with special predilection by our Lady who knows the value of their sufferings when these are united with those of Christ. There can be no doubt, declares the Pope, that the prayers and sufferings of such will play a great part in the Christian renewal of the human race. As his final message the Holy Father makes his own the words of St. Bernard: "In.dangers, in diffichlties, in doubts, think of Mary, call on Mary." Social Matters On June 7, 1957 (AAS, pp. 621-29), the Holy Father addressed a group of Italian workers on the problems attendant on automation. While, as the Pontiff points out, the existence of automation should arouse in the Christian a grateful admira- 44 Janua~'y, 1958 ROMAN DOCUMENTS tion for the Creator and His works, still one should not think that automation of and by itself can radically change the life of man and society--such an admission belongs to Marxism with its false emphasis on the technical side of human life. For social reality and its stable ordering cannot be based only on statistics and mathematics; social life demands besides and prin-cipally other knowledges: theology, philosophy, and the sciences of the spiritual life of man and of his history. Moreover, the Vicar of Christ continues, it should be re-membered that automation, even when considered merely as a new method of production, will give rise to delicate problems. The first is that technical productivity may be confused with economic productivity. Automation offers a continuous, unin-terrupted process of production and hence a fantastic increase of productive capacity. But this does not necessarily constitute a true increase in the productivity of the national economy. This is why even the European countries who possess the best eco-nomic qualifications for automation approach automation with caution and content themselves with only a partial form of it. In any case a country that is not rich and is faced with urgent problems of communication systems, of land reforms, and of adequate housing must not live above its conditions--as it would if it were dominated solely by the fascination of technical progress. Moreover, adds the Pope, the introduction of automation may cause serious unemployment. Even if this problem can eventually be o,~ercome, it still must be remembered that even a temporary increase of unemployment can be a serious matter for certain countries. Added to this is the consideration that under automation the entire question of salaries wiil have to be com-pletely reconsidered. Prior to automation human labor is part of the very process of production and the value of labor can be determined by what it contributes to the production; under automation, however, the worker will be above and outside the 45 Review for Religious actual process of production; hence there will be need for new criteria of estimating the value of labor. So great and so many are the problems connected with a~tomation, the Holy Father warns, that some think that these problems cannot be resolved except by some form of socialism, involving a greater or lesser abolition of private property. It is true, he says, that in an era of automation a greater degree of planning will be needed, but this should not lead to a more or less absolute control, for the independence of the family and the liberty of the citizen are naturally bound up with the sane existence of private property as a social institution. Automation will also give rise to problems connected with the training of the worker; under automation technical training of the highest type will be required; moreover, the worker will not be able to be highly .specialized but "will require a training sufficiently versatile to embrace the functioning and coordinating of greatly differing machines. Such training, however, cannot be given rapidly, but will necessarily entail a long apprenticeship both in the place of production as well as in specialized schools. Moreover, the education given to the worker must also provide for his general culture; only in this way will the worker be able to solve the problem of leisure time which automation will bring to him. In this connection, the Holy Father adds, it must be noted that automation can easily produce a grave danger to personal morality and hence to the sane structure of production and consumption in the national economy. It is for this reason that under automation professional formation must include the general education of the worker. On July .23, 1957 (AAS, pp. 730-37), the Holy Father addressed a group of bishops and priests from all the dioceses of Italy who constituted the first meeting of the Italian Catholic Congress for Emigration. The Pontiff urged his audience to apply to themselves and their work the parable of the Good Shepherd and told them that the basis of their work for emi- 46 Janua~'y, 1958 ROMAN DOCUMENTS grants must'be a supernatural charity that is at once intensive, universal, and disinterested. It is this and not a mere humani-tarian sympathy that will make of them good shepherds of the people they work with. This charity, he continues, must be reduced to effective action by which they become all things to all men. Hence the Vicar of Christ urges them to devote themselves to the careful preparation of the emigrants for the new country to which they are going. They should give the emigrants instructions in the language and customs of the country to which they are going and above all impress on the emigrants by their zealot's work a remembrance of the maternal solicitude of the Church. Finally, the Holy Father takes up the case of the priest who himself emigrates with a group to another country. Such a priest will have special need .of a right intention which wi!l remove from him the danger of a merely nationalistic motive and which will prevent his group from seeing in him, not a missionary, but a mercenary. As a pastor of the group of emi-grants the priest must be alert to the needs of his flock, take care that they gradually adapt themselves to their new country, and at all times treat them with the highest degree of patience. On June 13, 1957 ('AAS, pp. 629-32), the Pontiff addressed the Congress of Europe, a group dedicated to the unification of Europe. The Holy Father recalled his own interest in the idea of European unity, noted the progress made towards this goal since the conclusion of World War II, and encouraged his listeners to ~ontinue their efforts for a political unification of the countries of Europe. He also urged them to advocate a large and comprehensive aid on the part of Europe to Africa, so that it can be clearly seen that the desire for a European community is not merely a selfish reflex of defense against a common encroaching enemy but proceeds rather from constructive and disinterested motives. Finally, the Pope recalled to them the nature of Christianity which offers 47 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious to all men an unshakable assurance of a fatherland which is not of this world and where alone perfect union will be known, because it proceeds from the power and light of God Himself. On June 27, 1957 (AAS, pp. 632-33), Pius XII addressed the third convention of the Atlantic Treaty Association, encour-aging them in their work to enlist the cooperation of schools in the task of spreading knowledge of the union that exists between all men. Miscellaneous Matters By a declaration of August 20, 1957 (AAS, p. 762), the Sacred Congregation of Rites took up the question of the use of vestments made according to .their ancient form. The use of such vestments is now left to the discretion of the local ordinary. The Sacred Congregation of the Council issued a decree dated July 25, 1957 (AAS, p. 638), transferring the obligation of fast and abstinence from the vigil of the feast of the Assumption to the vigil of the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Two documents published during August-September, 1957, deal with causes of beatification and canonization. In the first, which is. dated March 3, 1957 (AAS, pp. 756-59), the Sacred Congregation of Rites approved the introduction of the cause of the young layman, Zephyrinus Numuncur~ (1886-1905). In the second, dated April 9, 1957 (AAS, pp. 759-62), the same congregation approved the introduction of the cause of the Servant of God Frances de Sales Aviat (1844-1914), found-ress of the Congregation of the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales. Four documents of the same period pertain to priests and religious. On July 16, 1957 (AAS, p. 637), the Sacred Congre-gation of the Council forbade priests, whether secular or religi-ous, to engage actively in Hungarian politics. They are forbidden to seek or accept any position in the Hungarian Parliament; and if they presently hold such a position, they must resign it within a 48 Janua~'y, 1958 ROMAN .DOCUMENTS month; they are moreover forbidden to attend s~ssions of the parliament and to give help to any activities connected With the position they have resigned. A priest disobeying an); of the above prescription~ incurs by that very fact an excommunication specially served to the Holy See. ¯ " On July 12, 1957 (AAS, p. 640), the Sacred Congrega-tion of Seminaries and Universities issued a decree bidding bishops not to admit to their seminaries students who have left any diocesan seminary or who have been dismissed from any such .seminary. If in a given case such a person should be thought worthy of admission, th'e bishop, besides fulfilling the requirements of Canon 13.63, §3, should' apply to the Sacred. Congregation of Seminaries and Universities for further direc-tions. On July 1, 1957 (AAS, p. 751)., the Sacred Congrega-tion of Religious inaugurated the Pontifical Institute "Iesus Magis~er" " ("Jesus the Teacher"). The new institute is in-tended f0~ members of n0n-clerical congregations of religious men and other similar groups; the institute will provide training to einable ~uch religious to be. better fitted to promote the sanc-tification of themselve~ and of others and to imbue their students with Christian truth and virtue. The same congregation in a decree of March 15, i957o (AAS, pp. 749-50), promulgated, the canonical erdctionof a school to be called "Mater Divinae Gr.atiae" ("Mother of Divine Grace") des~tlned foi the training of mistresses of postulants, of novices, and Of younger religious women. The school offers a three-year course which¯ is open to members of a.ny state of per-fection for women. The school is tinder the jurisdiction of the Sacred Congregation of Religious and has its own statutes ap-proved by th~ same qongregation. Under date of July 1, 19.57(AAS, pp. 737-39), the 'Holy Father sent a written message tothe Catholic BoyScouts attending the .international jamboree, held in England on the 49 R. F. SMITH occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the. founding of the movement. The Pope expressed his satisfaction at the vitality and expansion of the scout movement among Catholic youth and urged them to prepare themselves for their future place in the world by developiag the compreher~sive friendship that translates itself into, the disinterested service characteristic of the scout movement. He also encouraged them to be proud of their purity, their courage, and their nobility; he concluded by suggesting to them that. at Mass they raise their ideal of Catholic scouthood to the heights of the divine Master who came among us to serve and to give Himself. Two documents of the Sacred Congregation of Sem-inaries and Universities deal with general educational matters. In the first of these, dated April 25, 1957 (AAS, pp. 638-40), the congregation canonically established the Catholic Uni-versity of Leopoldville in the Belgian Congo. The new uni-. versity will include a faculty of sacred theology. In the second document, dated May 4, 1957 (AAS, pp. 753:55), the Catholic University of St. Thomas of Villanova in Havana was officially established. Finally/ it should be noted that AAS on pp. 663-89 lists the 261 matrimonial cases which were decided by the Rota during the year 1956. OUR CONTRIBUTORS THOMAS DUBAY teaches philosophy and ascetical theology at Notre Dame Seminary, 2901 S. Carrollton Avenue, New Orleans 18, Louisiana. R. F. SMITH is a member of .the faculty of St. Mary's College, St. Marys, K~nsas. FRANCIS J. MacENTEE is studying for his doctorate in bacteriology at Catholic Uaiversity, Carroll House, 1225 Otis Street .Northeast, Washington 17, D. C. 50 Book Reviews [Material for this department should be sent to Book Review' Editor, REVIEW FOR.RELIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana.] SON OF THE CHURCH. By Louis Lochet. Translated from the French by Albert J. LaMothe, Jr. Pp. 255. Fides Pub-lishers Association, Chicago 19. 1956. $4.50. Son of the Church is a penetrating analysis of ~he spirituality of the. apostolate, 'written as a series of personal insights and not as a formal treatise. Its purpose is to give the reader the benefit of years of reflection on the character of apostolic action by a former professor of theology who is now parish priest in the diocese of Reims. His thesis is that work in the apostolate, for cleric, religious, and layman, must be done with and through the Church in order to be truly effective. "Lacking that, it founders in absurdity and despair." In tracing this theme, the author shows a solid grasp of human psychology which he integrates with the basic principles of ecclesi-ology, especially of the Mystical Body. Among the temptations that face the apostle, the greatest is "the latent rationalization of all our difficulties [which sees] only what we are doing and not what God is doing. What we do hides from us what God does. It is a short and narrow view of our activity and that of the Church, on the level of what we know of it through history and experience alone." True to the mission of her Founder, the Church is described as a manifestation of divine love, and not only of love but of mercy. Accordingly, the apostle is not to be surprised at running into obstacles of sin, as Christ did. "The love he bears the world is a redeeming love. This is what he has to understand if he does not wish to be disconcerted by the difficulty of the mission. It is not by some strange accident that he meets with coldness, disdain or hatred. It is as the law of his development." Perhaps the outstanding chapter in the book deals with the proper dispositions of anyone engaged in the apostolic life. First must be the conviction that the heart of the apostolate consists in subordinating oneself to the hierarchical authority of the Church. Correlative to this dependence is the realization that the principal object of apostolic labor is to bring the world into the Church's sacramental order--b~ receiving the sacraments in greater numbers, with greater frequency, 51 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious increased fervor, find consequently greater efficacy. As an expression of this zeal, the. apostle desires to bring all men into the Mystical Body of Christ, at least to the extent that the Church is every.where implanted with her life-giving channels of grace. However the per-spective must be. kept very clear. A person "who would want to reduce his activity to promoting a better social orgariization or to spreading a temporal beneficence without referring it all to the restoration of the Church by faith in Christ and the sacramental life would no'longer be doing apostolic work." Since the task of bringing souls to God is supernatural, it does not finally rest on the resources of human power~ to succeed--not even those of the apostle. If he .employs all his native ingenuity, "it is not so much in the mahner of a wealth which God needs as of a poverty which God is willing to use for a tran-scendent goal." Corollary to this reliance on grace is the value to be set on self-renunciation. "One will not avoid the mystery of the Cross . Far from fleeing it, we will welcome it as the means par .excellence of realizing the greatest ambitions." In many ways, LocKet has written an excellent book. If on occasion the diction is a bit verbose, this is more than compensated for by the wealth of ideas covering the whole range of apostolic asceticism. It differs considerably from P~i:e Chautard'.s classic on tl~e same subject. Lochet is more cor~cerned with theological integra-tion than with direct motivation. There is also less coherent logic hmong the various parts; something in the style of the Imitation of Christ. For that reason almost any page can be quoted out of con-text withodt losing its inherent meaning. Son of the Church is highly recommended to priests and religious as a doctrinal synthesis of Catholic evangelism.--JoHN A. HARDO,XT, THE CROSS OF JESUS. Voi. I. By Louis Chardon, O.P. Trans-lated from the French by Richard T. Murphy, O.P~ Pp. 304. B. Herder Book ComPany, St. Louis 2. 1957. $4.25. The Dominican Father~ have presented us with another spiritual masterpiece in the "Cross and Crown Series of Spirituality." Written by Father Louis Chardon, O.P., Tl~e Cross of Jesus was published in France in 1647. Thanks to the fine work of the translator, the first volume is now available in English. The Cross of Jesus is not the type of book one rushes through. if given the attention any good spiritual I~ook requires, it will cer-tainly prove profitable. The content is solid; the theme.is simple: 52 January, 1958 BOOK REVIEWS Growth in holiness is achieved through the cross. Although the ideals are lofty ones, they are not set forth merely for mystics. Heeding Jesus' command to take up the cross daily, all holy souls will find guidance and consolation in this book. Father Charddn makes no compromises. He leaves nb doubt as to the necessity of p~arification through the.cross before a s0ul can be united with Jesus. This austere message, however, seems less sdvere when we read the chapters on thesuffe.rings of Jesus and His Mother. It strikes us as quite logical after we read of our place in the Mystical Body of Christ. Most important of all, we are assured that purification is effected by our cooperating with grace and the indwelling Trinity--a doctrine that is beautifully treated by the authoL In all, there are forty-eight chapters. The.relative brevity of most of them seems to be a marked advantage. In each chapter a distinct message is conveyed and understood withbut the necessity of reading dozens of pages. ¯ This book could also be used for meditation material. As indi-cated above, a number of doctrines of the. spiritual life are discussed --/~11 with reference to the cross.' Father Chardon cites Scripture for added effectiveness. Moreover, his exclamations ~nd invocations give The Cross of Jesus a warmth and unction that is often either lacking or overdone in spiritual, writings.' Finally, this re~ciewer wants to congratulate Father. Ri~:hard T. Murphy, O.P., for his very readable translation. Seventeenth-century French does present difficulties which often show up in. English' trans-lations. This cannot be said of the English edition of The Cross of Jesus.--DoNALD O. NASTOLD~ .S.J. CHINA AND THE CROSS; A SURVEY OF MISSIONARY HIS-TORY. By Dom Columba Cary-Elwes, O.S.B. Pp. 323. P.J. Kenedy and Sons, New York 8. 1957. $3.95. Shakespearean Sonnet 116 con~(eys, poetically the spirit of Dom Cary-Elwes's latest work. With an insight which is the fruit of twenty-five years of resea.rch, this artist dep~ct.s vividly the scenes of Cath-olic victories as Christ's mind marries China's amid "tempests, and is never shaken." This is the first Catholic work of this type since Abbe Huc's Christianityin China, Tartary, and Thibet in 1858. As thd author asserts, the eastward expansibr~ iof the Ch~arch is an inspira-tional story, not something freakish and unique. His labor, which is based on the latest evidence, proves his statement. 53 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious The book is divided into five chapters: "The Legend of St. Thomas the Apostle," "The Nestorians," "The Franciscans in Cathay," "The Jesuit Age," and "Modern Times." Some summary of the contents of these chaptegs will amply support this reviewer's opinion that Dom Cary-Elwes has penned an exposition which covers the essential points of the history of Chinese Christianity and which contains facts and colorful incidents which appeal to the scholarly, as well as the casual, reader. Latest evidence indicates that St. Thomas the Apostle never set foot on China. Earliest Christians were the Nestorians who landed at Cathay in the seventh century. Tamberlaine was the death-knell of the Nestorian Church. New hope for conversion comes with the Franciscans. Friar John o~ Pian di Carpina, intrepid explorer, arrives at the command of Innocent IV. William of Rubruck, "John of Montecorvino, and others follow with tenacity of purpose. Clement V at Avignon orders that seven Franciscans be raised to the episcopate, and they in turn would consecrate Friar John archbishop ~nd patriarch oi: the whole East. When the Ming dynasty won its way: to the imperial throne, the immense labors of the Franciscans terminated in the wake of violent persecution. Then came the Jesuits. Saint Francis Xavier, "for whom nothing was impossible with God," died off the coast of China in 1552, In that very year was born his greatest successor, Father Matteo Ricci, S.J., whose discreet guidance of missionary activity in China wins the highest praise from the author. F~llowing the Pauline "Go in their door . . ," Ricci builds a r~/¢rocl~elnent between himself and the tradition of China. The Jesuit showed the similarity between the moral teaching of Confucius and that of Christianity. In general, Dom Cary-Elwes judges that the Jesuits met with success as long as they followed the Riccian teaching of not exciting the Chinese by imprudent acts of proselytism. The author's explanation of the famous Rites Controversy is clear, accurate, and prudent. The possibility .that the Jesuits are condoning certain pagan rituals in observance of the memory of Confucius prompts the Holy See to pronounce in 1704 against the Jesuit position. The fact that this decision was reversed in 1939 leads the writer to state: "It is not for us to sit 'in judgment on that decision [1704]. There were cogent reasons in favor of that judgment then. Today those reasons no longer hold, and the Holy See has thought fit to 54 January, 1958 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS reverse that decision in the year 1939" (p. 160). The Jesuits fade from the picture with Clement XIV's Dominus et Redemptor. They will return, Dom Cary-Elwes predicts, "if love is stronger than death." The remainder of the book cites modern conditions: the rapid rise of Communist control, uncanny persecution of the faithful, the work of the Maryknolls, the .Catholic school system in China, the elevation of Cardinal Tien, and the fundamental reason why merely philanthropic Christians become Communists. For the informed reader of Chinese history, Dom Cary-Elwes synthesizes centuries of Christian activity in a scholarly, carefully annotated volume. For the uninformed, he presents a colorful and factual account of the history of the Church in China. For both, he instills with his information the desire to see one yet unwritten chapter: "The Conversion of China to Catholicism." --JAMES J. CREIGHTON, S.J. SARDAR PANNIKAR AND CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. By Jerome D'Souza, S.J. pp. 146. St. Joseph's Industrial School Press, Trichinopoly, India. 1957. One rupee. A grand old pagan of the Roman Empire confronts his Augustine in this book--with differences. St. Augustine heard the accusation that Christianity was destroying Roman civilization, and he wrote the great De Civitate Dei. The Catholic Church, which has been growing up in India gince the days of St. Thomas the Apostle, hears the accusation that Christianity is destroying the civilizations of India and Asia. Here is an answer worthy of a smaller brother of the great Augustine himself. The.author, a member of the India dele-gation to the General Assembly of the United Nations, finds the latest and greatest exponent of this accusation, the former India am-bassador to Red China, "biassed" in his approach to the missions and possessed of "insufficient" knowledge and of "harsh" judgment. Any-one interested in the missions and missio[ogy wil| profit by this frank and friendly and fearless volume.--PauL DE,X,T, S.J. BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS THE BRUCE PUBLISHING COMPANY, .400 N. Broadway, Mil-waukee 1, Wisconsin. Common Sense. By Joseph McSorley, C.S.P. We read essays on spiritual or religious topics to acquire new knowledge or new or 55 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Review for Religious renewed motivation. We do not expect to find, and all too often do not find, gems of the essayist's craft. In .Common Sense each of the thirty-one essays might well be .taken ~s a model of what essays on the spiritual life can and should be. Reading the book is almost as inspiring and refreshing as a personal visit with. the author would be. Pp. 136. $2.75. CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS, 620 Michigan Avenue, N.E., Washington, D. C. The Supreme Moderator of. Clerical Exempt Religious Institutes. A Historical Conspectus and Canonical Commentary. By Maurice J'. Grajew~ki, O.F.M. This is a dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Catholic University ofAmerica in partial fulfillment of the requirement~ for the degree of Doctor of. Canon Law. Pp. 180. Paper $2.00. FIDES PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION, .744 E. 79th Street,Chi-cago 19, Illinois. Marriage Is Holy~ Edited by H. Caffarel. Translatdd by Ber-nard G. Murchli~nd, C.S.C. A group 0f Christian families meeting with their chaplains to discuss their common problems are responsible for .the various essays whicl~ are the chapters of this book. .There is a tKirty-six page appe~di~ which contains synopses and discussion questions. It is one of the volumes of the "Fidds Family Readers." Pp. 219. $3.75. GRAIL PUBLICATIONS; St. Meinrad, Indiana. .Queen of the Universe. An Anthology on the Assumption and Queenship of Ma~y. Edited by Brother Stanley G. Mathews, S.M. This i~ thd secohd volume of the "Marian .Library Series of An-thologies." The first was The Promised Woman (Grail, 1954). In the present volume .you will find all the. most recent pronouncements'of the Holy See as well as the most recent theological researcl~ .on two ~rerogativ.es of our Lady, her Assumpti6n and her Queenship. Here .is a volume well c~lculated to increase our love for her who is both" the Mother of God and our Mother." Pp. 258. $4.00. P. J. KENEDY & SONSI .12 Barclay Street, New York 8, New The Hermit of Cat Island. The Life of Fra Jerom~ Hawes. By Peter F. Anson. Monsignor ~'ohr~ C. Hawks, the future hermit.of Cat. Island, led a ver~ full and c6lorful lifd. He was born ~n September 7, 1876, of Anglican parents, became an architect who sp~cial!zi:d in 56 J~nua~'y, 1958 ~BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS ecclesiastical 'architecture, then became an Anglican Clergyman and went as a missionary to the Bahamas in 1908. He designed and built Anglican churches while acting as pastor on Long Island. He became a Catholic in 1911, was ordainedin Rome in 1915, and then took up missionary life, until 1939, in Australia where he designed and built many churches, monasteries, and convents. He was made a domestic prelate in 1937. He led the life of a hermit for seventeen yearg on Cat Island, one ofthe Bahamas. He died on June 26, 1956, and is buried near his hermitage as he requested. The author has given us an interesting and profitable, book. Pp. 286. $4.75. THE NEWMAN PRESS, Westminster, Maryland. Communal Life. Edited by Albert PIE, O.P. Translated by a Religious of the Sacred Heart. This is Volume VIII in the justly '. popular "Religious Life Series." It deals with that essential element of the religious life, common life, from many points of view, historic-ally, canonically, ascetically; it does not neglect the contributions of modern psychology; and it points out adaptations that must be made in view of the background that modern youth bring to religious life. Pp. 320. $4.50. The Insight of the Cur~ D'Ars. Selected Stories by Msgr. Francis Trochu. Translated by V. F. Martel. The fifty stories of this volume, all illustrative of the mystical insight of the Cur~ D'Ars into the secrets of souls, make very interesting reading and furnish "much material for reflection. Pp. 103. $1.75. THE PRIORY PRESS, Asbury Road, Dubuque, Iowa. Toward Marriage in Christ. By Thomas C. Donlon, Francis L. B~ Cunningham, and Augustine Rock, all of the Order of St. Dominic. The book is the first of a new series entitled "College Texts in The-ology." Unlike most books on marriage, this one was written to be ¯ used as a textbook; hence with the requirements of college students and college class procedures in mind. It contains a nine-page bib-liography. Pp. 199. Paper $1.50. SHEED & WARD, 840 Broadway, New York 3, New York. Theology for "Beginners. By F. J. Sheed. Perhaps the greatest single need of the average Catholic layman today is a better knowledge of the faith that is the norm he lives by; a knowledge that will enable him to give a satisfactory answer to the non-Catholic who may agk him the reasons for his faith and conduct; a knowledge too that will BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Review for Religious lead him to a more intelligent practice of hig faith. An excellent introduction to that knowledge is Theology for Beginners, writte~ by a layman who has received the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology l~onoris causa. The book could also serve as an excellent text for study clubs. Pp. 241. $3.00. M~re Marie of the Ursulines. By Agnes Repplier. This gripping biography of M~re Marie who founded the first convent school in North America in 1639 was first published in 1931. If you have not al-ready read the book, now is the time to read it. Pp. 314. $3.15. The Beginning of the English Reformation. By Hugh Ross Wil-liamson. The author, a former Anglican clergyman and a recent convert (1955) to Catholicism, gives us an excellent analysis of the complexities of the English Reformation, a period of English history widely misunderstood even today. The book is very well written as. one would expect from the author of eleven plays and a former editor of The Bookman and The Strand. Pp. 113. $2.50. In We Sing While There's Voice Left by Dom Hubert van Zeller, O.S.B., we have another interesting book on the spiritual life for the layman. It measures up fully to the high level of excellence which the author has established in his other books. Like them it is matter-of-fact, down-to-earth, and faces reality squarely. Pp. 198. $2.50. The Restless Christian. By Kilian McDonnell, O.S.B. The number of spiritual books written explicitly for the layman is gratifying. It testifies to the growing realization that the lay Catholic is called to holiness, and it supplies the necessary information and inspiration. You may recommend The Restless Christian to lay Catholics with the certain knowledge that you are giving them an effective means of progress. You may also, though you are a religious, read the book yourself with profit for your own soul. An unusual feature of the book is an eight-page list of suggested readings on the spiritual life. Pp. 183. $3.00. SISTERS OF MERCY, 8200 West Outer Drive,' Detroit 19, Michigan. Into Thy Hands. By Sister Mary E. O'Connor, R.S.M. This book of reflections intended for refectory reading for the Sundays of Recollection first appeared in mimeographed form. So many requests for copies were received that it is now available in printed form. Pp. 105. Cloth $1.75. 58 January, 1958 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS SYRIAN CARMELITE CONGREGATION, Monastery Road, Erna-kulam 1, South India. Souvenir of the First All-Kerala Religious Week, Dec. 27-30, 1955. The closing days of 1955 witnessed what was probably a unique and certainly a most profitable centenary celebration at Sacred Heart College, Thevara, in the state of Kerala in Southwest India, to mark the completion of the first century of activity of the Syrian Car-melite Congregation since its canonical erection in 1855. All the numerous orders and congregations of Kerala were invited to send delegates to a convention, not to recall the history of the congregation or to extend their felicitations, but to discuss their common religious problems and those of the South of India. Souvenir prints in full the addresses made before the convention together with a resum~ of the discussions that followed. We congratulate the Syrian Carmelite Congregation not only on the occasion of their centenary but also on the wise and profitable way that it was commemorated. It was a good preparation for the persecution the large and ancient and fervent Kerala Catholic community suffers in its schools from the Communists recently elected in the predominantly non-Christian state of Kerala. SOME BOOKS RECEIVED [Only books sent directly to the Book Review Editor, West Baden College, Wes~ Baden Springs, Indiana, are included in our Reviews and Announcements. The following books were sent to St. Mass.] Love and Marriage. By James Kelly. Clonmore and Reynolds Limited, 29 Kildare Street, Dublin. 3/-(paper cover). God's Infinite Love and Ours. By Robert Mageen, C.SS.R. Clonmore and Reynolds Limited, 29 Kildare Street, Dublin. 12,/6. Come, O Holy Ghost! By Adrian Lyons, O.F.M. Clonmore and Reynolds Limited, 29 Kildare Street, Dublin. 12/6. A Dangerous Little Friar. The Life of Father Titus Brandsma, O.Carm. By Josse Alzin. Clonmore and Reynolds Limited, 29 Kildare Street, Dublin. 9/6. 59 ( ues ons and Answers ['The following answers are given by Father Joseph F. Gallen, S.J., professor of canon law at Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland.] DuringLent should a priest celebrate the Mass of the ferial day or of an occurring feast? On a dm. or d. feast that falls between Ash Wednesday and the Saturday before Palm Sunday, an ember day except tl~ose of Pente-cost, Rogation Monday (Monday before Ascension), or a common vigil, the Mass may be either of the feast in the festal, not votive, manner or of the ferial day or vigil. However, since liturgically the Temporale is preferred to the Sanctorale and the full celebration of a vigil is desirable, the preferred Mass liturgically is that of the ferial day or vigil. If the feast, is ~ d. 1 or 2 cl., it must be celebrated. If the feast is only of s. rite or a mere commemoration, the Mass of the ferial day or .vigil must be said. On din. and d. feasts during the same period of Lent and Passion-tide only, the private recitation oi: the office may be of the feast or of the ferial day. Cf. J. O'Connell, Tl~e Celebration o[ Mass, 54; Mueller- Ellis, l-Iandbook of Ceremonies, 42; Wuest-Mullaney-Barry, )l~fatters Liturgical, n. 280. Our constitutions permit a renewal of temporary vows to be an-ticipated by a month. When does such an anticipated renewal or new profession begin to run? Your constitutions are. merely stating the law of the code. The following three important ~oints are to be kept in mind in an antici-pated renewal. (a) .Length of anticipation. Canon 577, § 2, permits an anticipated renewal of tempo.rary vows but not by more than a month. Therefore, if the profession is to expire on August 15, 1957, the anticipated renewal may not be made before July 15, 1957. Berutti, De Religiosis, 2i0; Jone, Commentarium in Codicem luris Canonici, I, 506; Cervia, De Pro/essione Religiosa, 114. 60 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (b) Competent superior. In the law of the code, the anticipation as such may be permitted by any superior, whether higher or minor local (c. 577, § 2). However, the right here is only to permit an anticipation. Since the renewal is a juridical profession, all the requisites of suoh a profession must be observed; and therefore ~he admission to this anticipated profession must be made by the competent higher superior with the vote of the council or chapter according to the constitutions (cc. 543; "575, § 2). In constitutions an anticipa-tion is usually reserved to higher superiors or to a partictilar higher superior. (c) .When does the anticipated renewal begin to run? In the example given above of a profession that expires on August 15, 1957, and is anticipated on July 15, 1957, does the new l~rofession begin to run from August 15 or July 15? This depends on the intention of the one making the profession, which is presumed to be according to the way the matter is understood in the particular institute. Ordi-narily the understanding is that the anticipated renewal begins to run from the time when the former profession is completed, i. e., August 15. If such an understanding does not exist in the institute, the presumption is that the intention was for the new profession to begin to run from July 15. Explicit instruction should be given to the ren-ovants on this matter, since it is possible that the subject would be without vows for a month of the triennium; and consequently the perpetual profession would be invalid. The better method is to intend that the new profession begin to run from August 15. Cf. Goyeneche, Quaestiones C.anonicae, I, 442143; De Carlo, Jus Religiosorum, n. 300; Creusen, Revue des Cotnntunautes Religieuse's, 18-1946-184-85; Choupin, Nature et Obligations de l'Etat Religieux; 301-2; Jombart, Trait[ de Droit Canonique, I, 626. m3-- My family~ or close relatives give me five or ten dollars or more because I am their relative. The money therefore constitutes, a personal gift. When the money is turned in, is it contrary to poverty to ask to use it for a definite purpose? The norm for asking and giving permission in the matter of poverty is the need of the religious according to the limit in quantity and quality of material things prescribed by the law or legitimate traditions of the particular institute (c. 594, § 3). Therefore, the fa~t that yoia received a gift 'is completely indifferent in relation to 61 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religious this norm. If you had not received a gift, you would have the same right of asking for your necessities. The fact that you did receive a gift is no motive for asking and no motive for the superior to give the permission. Religious profess poverty according to their constitutions, i. e., according to the norm described above; they do not profess poverty according to their income: The gift is in some sense a positive-reason for not giving the permission, simply because it leads to the practice of poverty according to one's income. This practice eventually causes a distinction of classes in the institute, the well to do and the poor, and is contrary to canon 594, § I, which t prescribes a moral un