Church, State & Sugrue
Sir:
Thomas Sugrue has written a provocative article in the Protestant Christian Herald, as reported by TIME, Jan. 21. What or whom it will provoke is anybody's guess ... I think it conceivable that a storm of protest may descend on his head, with most of the protestants being Catholics. He may find himself castigated as a Roman Benedict Arnold or worse, a Blanshard-in-Pope's-clothing. And yet, his conclusion that men of good will on both sides of the fence should unite in tearing down the fence seems to me to make a lot of sense ... I wish Mr. Sugrue luck in his effort to promote bilateral cooperation.
ADRIAN L. KLEIN
St. Louis
Sir:
Who ever told Thomas Sugrue that he was a Roman Catholic? He sounds more like a watered-down version of Protestant Bishop Oxnam.
H. T. THURSTON
Chicago
Sir:
Thomas Sugrue deserves commendation. I did not know that there were any Roman Catholics with enough backbone to dare criticize their ecclesiastical masters . . .
JAMES H. DOUGLASS
Sewanee, Tenn.
Sir:
. . . I'll bet Mr. Sugrue a year's subscription to America (Catholic weekly) that he has never been told by any priest or informed Catholic that he must approve sending an ambassador to the Vatican. And what kind of "sex" is it that he feels American Catholics "condemn continuously?" If he feels there is prolonged concentration on that one sin, possibly it is the only one he is interested in reading or hearing about ... I suggest Mr. Sugrue enroll in a course of elementary catechism and get off Paul Blanshard's knee.
FRANK G. RIVERA
Los Angeles
Sir:
... I do believe it to be the most refreshing and frank outlook by a Catholic in my ten years of reading TIME'S Religion department.
ERIN H. HOY
Huntington Park, Calif.
Sir:
... I have . . . many Catholic laymen among my friends, but ... I have never heard one . . . even mention, much less advocate, union of church and state in this country. None [have] ever mentioned the subject except as one of the mythical ambitions attributed to them by non-Catholics . . .
HELEN R. MAKER
New York City
Sir:
We need more good American Catholics "who will speak out against the American hierarchy and their totalitarian, anti-democracy, anti-public schools, antifreedom of thought, anti-anything-they-don't-control attitude . . .
VIRGIL P. POWNALL
Monrovia, Calif.
Sir:
If Thomas Sugrue is a Catholic in anything but name, then I am a Hindu yogi . . .
JUSTIN C. BOLGER
Notre Dame, Ind.
Sir:
Thomas Sugrue complains that as an American Catholic, he is "now expected to approve the idea of sending an ambassador to the Vatican." Who expects him? His bishop? His parish priest? ... It seems to me that Roman Catholics in the U.S. have been very quiet on this whole matter, and they have shown great forbearance in the face of the abuse and suspicions which have been directed towards them ever since President Truman made known his desire to appoint an ambassador.
Surely, if it is high pressure and truculence on the part of religious groups which Mr. Sugrue is concerned with, and if clericalism annoys him to the point where he must write about it, all the evidence he needs is at hand in the spectacle of high pressure, truculence and clericalism re the Vatican appointment which Protestant ecclesiastics and organizations have been featuring as their main show for the last three months.
(MSGR.) THOMAS J. MCCARTHY
National Catholic Welfare Conference
Washington, D.C.
Sir:
... By "censorship" (by the clergy) I suppose Mr. Sugrue refers to the occasions when an R. C. cleric feels it necessary to warn the faithful of a particularly indecent movie, a dirty play such as Tobacco Road, a filthy novel or a pornographic magazine. This is not only proper, but a duty of bishop or priest as protector of faith and morals for his flock . . .
W. J. AYLWARD
Port Washington, N.Y.
Sir:
... To the enlightened Catholic, Sugrue writes like a simpleton. Instead of theorizing about papal summer residences in the U.S. (what a laugh), he might have used his talents to admonish Catholics and Protestants to follow the Scriptures' advice of loving one another . .
RICHARD M. HANISITS
Winona, Minn.
Sir:
Didn't Thomas Sugrue know . . . that the Catholic Church in America is committed to a far more insidious plot?
I have it from reliable sources (a granddaughter of Maria Monk*) that 1) Eisenhower will announce his conversion to Catholicism by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen after (and, of course, if) he is elected President; 2) Thomas Merton will become Secretary of State with special permission of the Abbot of the Trappists at Gethsemane, Ky., and 3) Francis Cardinal Spellman will be given $20 million of federal funds to build a new Vatican on the campus of Notre Dame University with the understanding that the varsity football team will replace the Swiss Papal Guards.
CHARLES P. O'CONNELL
Albany, N.Y.
Sir:
Let the letters of righteous indignation from my fellow Catholics bear witness to the validity of Thomas Sugrue's diagnosis.
MARK ADAMS
San Francisco
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Sir:
The Jan. 14 article [on one of General Ridgway's Honor Guards, who helped himself to some candy from a box in Ridgway's office] is a good example of what causes the public to say they "don't want a military man in the White House." We all realize that discipline is a highly important factor in military training, but when . . . Matt Ridgway makes a cause celebre out of five pieces of candy, then indeed we must question the basic intelligence of the military brass . . .
(MRS.) MARGARETE K. BURLIN
Chicago
Sir:
TIME reports on the reduction of Linwood C. Smith from corporal to private first class for helping himself to "five pieces of candy" from a box of chocolates in General Ridgway's headquarters . . . Omitted from this report, however, was the essential fact that Smith was reduced for leaving his duty post and for negligence in observing guard orders. As a member of a military guard, trust is placed in a soldier for unfailing execution of orders . . . Dereliction of duty on the part of a member of any guard is considered serious ... A lower standard for the guard of the Commander in Chief, Far East Command, or for any similar headquarters, would be unrealistic. The pilfering of candy ... is incidental except for the principles involved.
F. L. PARKS
Major General Chief of Information
Department of the Army
Washington
Schuss!
Sir:
. . . Your Jan. 21 cover story on Andrea Mead Lawrence should bring you well deserved compliments. I enjoyed it very much myself, as did others in our organization . .
GEORGE L. GARDNER
U.S. Olympic Committee
Chicago
Sir:
Congratulations on your article . . . Please note that Chile has equally good skiing fields to offer at Farellones and Portillo . . .
CARLOS BRUNSON
Santiago, Chile
Sir:
Why confine to Europeans the understatement, "Skiing ... is almost a way of life?" All that's good in your own country is typified by the genuine young Americans to whom skiing is a way of life. If the U.S. survives to become more respected, it will be due as much to the healthy attitude these considerate, sporting types spread abroad as to the pronouncements and resolutions of your city-bound Martini-swiggers and ivy-strangled scholars.
The U.S., which in the 20th century has replaced the great outdoors with the great indoors, can well look to self-reliant youngsters like Andy Mead to strip off the "decadent" label. They are the best ambassadors you have ever had.
HUGH QUETTON
Toronto
Real Fire Power
Sir:
TIME, Jan. 7 mentioned my participation in the Aberdeen (Md.) Proving Ground demonstration of the two new lightweight rifles being considered for adoption by our armed forces. In your excellent report you said: "When the demonstration was over, even such hard-to-please riflemen as [Major General Julian] Hatcher and [retired Marine Major General Merritt] Edson agreed that the U.S. had developed a first-rate new infantry weapon." ... If this sentence were to portray my full appraisal of the rifle, it should have continued with the phrase: ". . . except for its ability to fire full-automatic."
It is my personal opinion, based upon my observations on the battlefield as well as on the training range, that no shoulder weapon should be equipped with an automatic firing feature. Such a weapon is another example of the common mistake of confusing "volume of fire" with "fire power." A shoulder weapon when fired fully automatic is inherently inaccurate. If aimed at all, only the first shot will strike with certainty near the target . . .
MERRITT A. EDSON
Executive Director
National Rifle Assoc.
Washington, B.C.
Land of the Future
Sir:
Permit me to congratulate you on the excellent [Jan. 21] article about Brazil. The illustrations in color are splendid, and the text will help your readers to a greater knowledge and better understanding of the rapidly growing city of Sao Paulo . . .
J. B. DE BERENGUER CESAR Consul
General of Brazil
New York City
Sir:
. . . Maybe when the Brazilians south of Rio have made their million dollars in sufficiency they will look to the needs of their very much poorer countrymen who live in those filthy shacks so scientifically camouflaged by the magnificent buildings in and around Copacabana . . . From what I could see, Brazil, north of Rio, is as appalling as India, but maybe it doesn't smell quite so bad.
R. B. MARSH
Hull, Yorkshire, England
*Anti-Catholic literature of the mid-19th century had no greater scandal-success than Maria Monk's Awful Disclosures of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery of Montreal, a massive volume of bogus reminiscences. Maria's mother later testified that her daughter had never been in any convent, but, because of a childhood brain injury, had been confined in a Montreal asylum.
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