Words & Works

P: U.S. schoolchildren are much more religious than their parents, said Sociologist Carson McGuire of the University of Texas to the Southern Regional Conference on Human Relations Education at the University of Oklahoma. Eighty-five percent of them "have some sort of religious affiliation, a proportion significantly greater than the 59.5% of adults in the U.S. claimed as church members."

P: The use of modern architecture in churches is just a fad, said Church Architect Benjamin F. Olsen of Chicago, president of the Illinois Society of Architects. "It reminds me of a naughty child, standing on his head to attract attention when company comes," he said. And, he asked, what will the modern ones look like in 25 years, after the "newness has worn off?"

P: The Evangelical Lutheran Church (membership 1,000,000) voted at its convention in Minneapolis to join the World Council of Churches, thus removing the last barrier to merger with two other Lutheran bodies, the American Lutheran Church (862,000 members) and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church (57,000 members). The resulting new denomination, to be called the American Lutheran Church, will probably be organized in 1960, and its nearly 2,000,000 membership will make it the third largest branch of Lutheranism in the U.S.--after the United Lutheran Church in America anc the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod both slightly over 2,000,000 each.

P: The Pilot, official publication of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Boston, issued a stern warning to the girls about their summer dress. Slacks are not yet being worn to Mass, "but already young ladies and some not quite so young," said The Pilot, "are coming to the sacraments especially Saturday afternoon confession attired in this most unbecoming manner . . . Let those more competent to judge say whether or not there is ever a time when young ladies should wear trousers--the fact is that many are wearing them. Whatever they may lack in dignity anc comeliness, they are modest. It is the style, however, and we cannot bring ourselves to condemn it, although it is often comic, unladylike, and even sad . . . let fashion reign where she can, but let reverence be the test in church."

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