The People & the Pope

Sir:

That article in TIME on Pope John and the scope of his work is so outstanding that it deserves a place as the Article of the Year; not that I have read all the rest of them, but I can recognize a unique breadth of feeling for the needs and the drifts of the times. I would like to know and shake hands with the chap who did it, but I won't ask any indiscreet questions.

ERNEST HOCKING

Madison, N.H.

>Like all TIME stories, the Man of the Year cover was the work of many hands. Rome Correspondent Robert Piser did much of the reporting; the writer was Edward L. Jamieson, and the editor William Forbis.--ED.

Sir:

Your editors have achieved a masterly tour de force. The selection of the "Man" is dead right. As for the study on him, the most acute non-Catholic scrutiny cannot find anything to criticize or correct, but only to commend.

Of course, there are two dangers:

1. Exaggeration of the actual achieved results of Vatican II. A splendid beginning has been made, but, thus far, few definite decisions of fundamental character. The ultimate outcome probably depends upon John XXIII's continuing hand upon the helm and upon the abilities and determination of the progressive cardinals and bishops to continue a decisive role.

2. Thus far, there is little prospect of changes on the more intractable issues that divide Roman Catholics and their Protestant "separated brethren," e.g., papal infallibility, the traditional claim of apostolic succession, Mariolatry, increasing dependence of Catholic piety upon an increasing promulgation of miracles, saints, etc. Unless these issues are radically dealt with, the best hope is enlarging fellowship, conversation, and possibly limited cooperation between Catholics and non-Catholics; but no more than that.

(THE REV.) HENRY P. VAN DUSEN

President

Union Theological Seminary New York City

Sir:

Indeed you are right that the Pope is the Man of the Year. We are all grateful for the leadership that he is giving the world.

TED RICHARDSON District Superintendent The Methodist Church San Antonio

Sir:

The Vatican Council of 1962 may be the window that has been needed for Protestants and non-Christians to look into the Roman Catholic Church as it really is, as well as the means whereby the Roman Catholic Church can see the real world in which it finds itself.

TIME is to be commended for allowing the world to see a branch of the church on its best behavior. It is an example of what the church should constantly be doing in order that it really meet the needs of the world, which it is committed to serve.

(THE REV.) CARLTON BAUER

Evangelical United Brethren Church

Grey Eagle, Minn.

Sir:

I believe that you have rendered a service to all of us in seeking to objectively discuss Vatican II. I would like to be as charitable as you toward John XXIII. I find myself, however, obligated to reserve my judgment until the spiritual ruler of 527 million people tells 30 million of them (those in Spain) to restore to 30,000 of their non-Catholic countrymen their civil liberties. Until that time, any pretense at Christian charity can be only that: a pretense.

(THE REV.) DONALD DAUGHERTY

Church of Christ

Paris

Sir:

In this age of enlightenment, when we thought we had outgrown the ignorance and superstition of the medieval centuries, it is hard to believe that half a billion people still cling to the Church of Rome and its corrupt hierarchy. And in America, of all places, where freedom from tyranny has been our great heritage, it is incomprehensible that anyone should wish to return to the servile systems of church-dominated countries. Yet it seems that most people, including some deluded Protestants, are falling over one another in their haste to lose their freedom. Your choice of Pope John as the Man of the Year is in keeping with this great step backward.

(THE REV.) C. MARVIN ANDERSEN

Del Aire Baptist Church

Hawthorne, Calif.

Sir:

To most of the 64 million Protestants in the U.S., Pope John is not their Man of the Year. I strongly protest the use of TIME Magazine as a vehicle for the Roman Catholic Church.

JEAN C.LANE

Jersey City

Sir:

Congratulations on making our beloved Pope John the Man of the Year. Of course we are prejudiced, but we also think that objectively you have shown good judgment. Nor do we think he minds sharing the honor with a man of another ilk, Khrushchev, in whom he finds some good and for whose people he prays and hopes for better things.

The cover on Pope John and the other on the council surpassed anything I've read in our own religious press.

SISTER MARY LAWRENCE, V.H.M.

Academy of the Visitation

St. Louis

Sir:

While I am pleased to see that you have chosen Pope John XXIII Man of the Year, as an official of the Roman Curia I wish to point out that the statement that "the Curia clearly did not want it [the Vatican Council]" is not correct. In the first place, it cannot be said that the Roman Curia is for or against anything, because it does not think or act as a body: it is made up of twelve congregations or offices, six other offices and three tribunals, each of which is separate from the others. Furthermore, by canonical definition, the congregations, which make up the bulk of the Curia, are composed of cardinals, many of whom do not reside in Rome. The statement that the Curia did not favor the council is misleading.

The only way your reporter could have known how the Curia stood on the council would have been to poll each member, and I am sure he did not do that. I, for one, know that after the Pope announced the council, the Curia cooperated magnificently in doing spadework for its preparation.

(MsGR.) MARIO RIZZI

Sacred Congregation,

Oriental Church Rome

>Msgr. Rizzi's quarrel is not with TIME but with the dozens of priests, bishops, archbishops and cardinals who recognized the Curia's dilatory tactics.--ED.

Taxes

Sir:

As a native Arkansan (Fort Smith), I knew Wilbur Mills's father as an astute customer [Jan. ii]. If heritage means anything, Congressman Mills will exercise good business judgment. Will cutting taxes stimulate the economy? Any new business demands risk before profit. And isn't all of life, economy included, a matter of trial and error? Wilbur Mills will minimize error. That is, if he takes after his dad.

LEWIS T. APPLE

Clayton, Mo.

Cuban Deal

Sir:

The story on the Cuban prisoners, "How It Was Done" [Jan. 4], was most interesting. In the interest of accuracy I would like to point out that the performance bond on the Red Cross that constituted the final guarantee was issued by The Continental Insurance Co. of New York rather than our good competitor, Chicago's Continental Casualty.

N. DEKKER

Vice Chairman of the Board The Continental Insurance Co

New York City

Actor's Abode

Sir:

I was surprised to find myself listed as a Swiss resident [Jan. 11] enjoying, if that is the word, U.S. tax exemption by living abroad. While I believe that movie people, like other Americans, are perfectly within their rights to live and work anywhere they please, the fact is I have never had Swiss residence or any other foreign residence. Only two of my last 12 pictures have had foreign locations, with U.S. taxes duly paid.

GREG PECK

Universal City, Calif.

Tight Situation

Sir:

I do wish you wouldn't be so sloppy. A leotard [Jan. 4] covers the wearer from shoulder to crotch--exactly like a bathing suit, but with greater variety of neckline and sleeve length. Tights go under the leotard, stretch from waist to midcalf, ankle, or all the way to the toe.

The leotard was invented by a French Victorian-era trapeze artist who was proud of his manly figure and anxious to display it--his name was Jules Leotard. It was popularized as a garment for dancers by Doris Humphrey and other modern (as opposed to ballet) dancers, and only later adopted by ballet people as the ideal practice costume.

( MRS. ) PATRICIA MORROW MCKNIGHT

Chicago

Sir:

Having discovered tights at a deplorably advanced age and girth, I know that every word you say is true. But it is not the whole truth: a woman in tights feels that somebody loves her! I am ready to graduate from mouse-colored tights to Kelly green.

MRS. ROBERT B. GIFFEN

Savannah

Kudos

Sir:

As U.S. distributors of Agence Europe, newsletter on the Common Market, this office received your article "Parochial Spy" [Dec. 7], dealing with this publication, with mixed feelings. While the report strongly emphasized the complete information contained in the publication, we thought that the methods described to obtain this information might raise eyebrows.

Our apprehension proved completely wrong. An avalanche of inquiries and orders from very large firms and individual researchers reached our office as well as the publication's headquarters in Luxembourg, which, of course, is highly gratifying.

KENNETH E. BEER President

Manhattan Publishing Co. New York City

Sir:

We were most pleased to find Reed College the subject of a major piece in your Education section [Dec. 28].

Reed is just over a half-century old, young as colleges go. Since we cannot avoid some pride in the contributions the college has made to higher education and in the performance of its alumni during its first 52 years, we especially appreciated the recognition by TIME of the college's achievements.

RICHARD H. SULLIVAN

President Reed College Portland, Ore.

Horoscopes

Sir:

I certainly was quoted correctly in ''Profundities, not Facts" [Dec. 28], but my newspaper affiliation was not correct. I have been feature editor of Chicago's American, not of a rival afternoon publication, for 14 years. Please let me remain in my present status with a resurgent, progressive medium.

JOHN G. CAREY Chicago's American Chicago

Boston's Press

Sir:

I was awfully pleased at the piece you did on my column in the Boston Herald [Jan. 4]. At the risk of seeming captious, however, I must say that I think you did the Herald an injustice when you described it as dreary. Not that there isn't a dreary paper in this town, but it is the Christian Science Monitor, which is dull, dull, dull--and such a sacred cow, such a status symbol, that though people cannot stand it, they nevertheless call it a great newspaper. It's a terrible bore, really. The same cannot be said of the Herald.

GEORGE FRAZIER

Boston

Sir:

How can TIME say: "Boston papers . . . rank among the dreariest in the land, a reputation enriched every year." Every year Boston's Christian Science Monitor is ranked among the top newspapers in the U.S.

ANN HIMMELBERGER Wellesley Hills, Mass.

Sir:

George Frazier is everything you say he is (and so, I might add, is the "dreary" Boston newspaper situation). However, unless St. George is also a schizophrenic, how could he call Mickey Mantle an "unfrocked fink"? In one of his July columns, Mr. Frazier wrote: "Mantle has such grit and gallantry as to suffuse the summery sarabands of baseball with so singular a splendor." The column ends with: "I would that my sons grow up to have the frankincense and myrrh of such magic." Please explain.

MOSES M. BERLIN

Sierra Vista, Ariz.

>Frazier explains, "A fink unfrocked is a fink no more. Mickey Mantle acquired class after he came up to the majors. He was surly when he started, but he has grown in stature to where he's a gracious man--and he plays a graceful game."--ED.

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