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No. 2941
1?ecot
(Registered at the G.P.O., Perth, for transmission by post as s Newspaper)
602 HAY STREET
Perth, Thursday, Sept. 1, 1960
The Town Hall is opposite.
Bishops Call For War On Want To Solve Alleged Population Explosion Issued annually over a period of two decades, this year's "Social
Justice Statement" of the Australian hierarchy takes the form of a Pastoral Letter on the world population problem. Yet even government, cal and agricultural schools The Bishops state that the solution called for is whose opponents would de- is considered preferable to the obvious, positive one scribe as socialist demur at sending trainees abroad. of "helping needy nations to develop their economies to such an extent that they will be able to grow or buy enough food for all their needs."
Without minimising the magnitude of the population problem, the statement emphatically rejects the disguised and now widely popularised inference that "this growth in population is an evil in itself-something cancerous or explosive -and that the economic problems of the impoverished peoples can only be solved by publicly promoted contraception and abortion." Such a diagnosis and remedy commend themselves to otherwise fair-minded people only because of the undeveloped state of our international social conscience.
The statement draws the contrast between men conscientious in their duties as individuals who are "blissfully unaware that they have duties to human society as well." "Man," state the Bishops, "must have a social conscience as -well as an individual conscience, and a global social conscience at
that," The statement points to "growing consciousness of the claims of social justice." But it sees, also, a tendency to limit social horizons to national boundaries. Our expanding consciousness of human solidarity must be expanded still to take in a neighbourliness which has no geographical or racial limits. Pointing to examples of international charity, the statement says that the demands of international justice have not been as readily recognised. We owe some contribution to the world community in discharge of our social responsibilities. This notion, however, can be carried to extremes, as when a State professes to provide "free" everything for everybody.
Human Solidarity
Today we are neighbours as never before in world history. The duty of.neighbourliness requires at least a general knowledge of the distribution of the human race and its social conditions. As citizens of a still developing but already wealthy nation we cannot overlook these international implications. Citing Popes Pius XII and John XXIII, the statement claims that nothing less than a war on want is called for, as a grand gesture of human solidarity. Catholics are called upon to realise the economic inequality and the growing lack of equilibrium that exists in the world. "It is abhorrent to the Christian conscience that sordid poverty should be the lot of the majority of men."
suggestions that a small percentage of their income each year be assigned to helping poorer countries. The hard fact is that the majority of mankind is undernourished. Two out of three subsist on diets inadequate for full health and happiness. While world population increases, the great advances in science and technology are being made in countries which have the least need of them in terms of population expansion. So the gap widens between the privileged and the under -privileged n at i o n s. Out of this dilemma arises panic propaganda about the population "bomb." What is really menaced, the Bishops state, is not the welfare of the human race, but the international economic structure which allows such miseries in the midst of plenty. "What is really needed is the abandonment of traditional methods of exploitation by the more powerful nations in world trade and by the powerful classes within each nation-with a concerted effort at the same time to improve the economic, hygienic and social living conditions of mankind by a more orderly circulation of peoples, of capital and of material goods."
Not Insuperable
Warning that statistics freely quoted are at best approximations, the statement makes some clear distinctions about the term " overpopulation," showing that its use is relative in many instances. The Bishops-ask: "Is it not rather one (a problem) of underproduction and maldistribution?" On the threshold of the era of automation, there are no insuperable physical barriers to the goal of the abolition of poverty and want throughout the world. "It Is not the niggardliness of nature that holds down production. It is the dead weight of outmoded social and economic institutions which do not fit modern needs. but which are very difficult to change." The Bishops suggest that the economic powers of the world should be just as prepared to mobilise their resources to wage war on want as the military powers are to wage war on aggression. Large - scale development projects of this kind are best handled by an international agency, on which both contributors a n d recipients would be represented. This would .protect the sovereignty of recipient nations while assuring the donors that aid would not be used for undesirable social or political purposes. The statement then turns to the need of educational programmes aimed at combating popular illiteracy. The establishment in the country concerned of techni-
A more orderly distribution of people is a factor in raising living standards. This should commence with internal migratiim within nations whose population is badly distributed. The main function of immigration in a country such as Australia should be the development of natural resources to the full so that the bounty of the earth may be made available to all by fair trading.
Sapping Confidence
The statement considers that commendable steps have been taken in this direction. But it urges that reductions in funds allotted to arms production could be diverted to give dramatic aid to the less developed nations. The Bishops see no single or simple panacea for the economic and social ills of the world nor do they believe in the automatic working of Divine Providence. God works through human
agencies. They reject the propaganda which blames human fertility for the fact that half mankind is underfed. They brand much of the panic over population as a "nationalistic conception of economics and a hedonistic conception of marriage." "It will be nothing less
that criminal," says the statement, "if such neo-Malthusian beliefs sap man's confidence in his ability to master his environment at the very time when it is in his power to subdue the earth as never before." It quotes one expert opinion that the earth could support ten times its present population with present means of producion and available resources; and another that the arable area in the world could be increased by approxithately 40 per cent. The adverse effects of the neo-Malthusian spirit on social and economic- policy are outlined. Christian ideas and attitudes are needed to develop a real social consciousness without resorting to authoritarian collectivism.
Weekly Mass In City Chapel Every Thursday morning Mass is celebrated in the Legion
Lack Of Savings Is Girls' Problem The National Council of the Girls' Section of the Young Christian Workers' Movement held last week in Brisbane revealed many social pressures harmful to the lives of Australian girls. The preparation of girls for marriage was seen to be affected by girls going steady too early in life and failing to save. from Representatives nearly every Australian diocese accepted a report which deplored the pressure of advertising on girls, leading them to spend excessively in their years before marriage. The problem of working wives was seen to be connected with the failure of girls to save for the future. The council particularly condemned p e r ma nen t budget accounts for which exorbitant interest rates are usually charged, and "deposit advertising" which does not reveal the cost of the articles. Saving schemes conducted by many firms were reviewed, but found to be ineffectual in many cases where girls drew out money immediately after it had been banked by the firm. It was
of Mary rooms, Bank of N.S.W. Chambers, St.
George's Terrace (opp. Sherwood Court). The Mass begins at 8 a.m. and is followed by Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Exposition then continues throughout the day till 5.15 when Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is given.
Dublin,-The Irish Bishops have stat-
that continuing large-scale emigration from Ireland is their "most obvious cause of anxiety" and a source of many social and economic evils. The Bishops spoke in a joint pastoral letter issued in connection with the promulgation of the decrees of their 1956 national synod. The decrees of the synod, which have been approved by the Holy See, are now being communicated to the clergy. They will go into effect on November 15. The Bishops said that through the development emigration continues we are bound to use every means to safeguard the religious life of those who leave our country and to secure that they shall not merely preserve the Faith in themselves but shall become, 'by God's grace, the means of communicating it to others. "Special measures have been taken to this end in recent years and the prayers and active assistance of all the faithful are asked in this most important field of the lay apostolate." The Bishops said that through the development of modern means of communication Irishmen at home as well as abroad are today in more direct and frequent contact with influences hostile to the Faith than they have been in former times. They added that "our defence must largely be found in a sound Christian education. Important progress has been made in the essential matter of religious instruction of the young." The Bishops' pastoral, similar to the one they issued at the time of the national synod in 1956, also declared that the traditional aspects of Catholicism in Ireland "are as manifest now as they have ever been." These, they said, include high standards of morality and fidelity to religious duties, cordial relations between the clergy and laity and the sanctity of family life.
the Church reaching out to the youth of Australia." National president Miss Patricia Mason said that the 1960 council was one of the most important ever held in Australia because it had reviewed and revised the doctrinal basis and fundamentals of the Y.C.W. Movement and had tried to grasp and solve the problems of Australian girls in their preparation for marriage. At the close of the council, the National Chaplain, Rev, B. Burke, expressed special thanks to His Lordship Most Rev. L. J. Goody for his presence and help as the official representative of the Australian Hierarch;'. Father Burke, in an eloquent address, went on to stress the importance of the Y.C.W. vocation. "Christ," he said, "is calling each and every young worker in Australia to be God's son and to live and work as God's son, so that God may be glorified in the life of each young- worker. The whole Y.C.W. should be
Concern Expressed By Irish Bishops ed
Rev. B. BURKE National Chaplain
Most Rev. L. J. GOODY Episcopal Chairman thought that girls must first he convinced of the need to save and that banks should be approached to visit large firms when the employees are paid. Speaking to council delegates on the matter of "going steady," Rev. C. Mayne, S.J., Rector of Glen Waver ley Seminary, said that books, films and social customs so influenced girls even while still at school that they felt that they were not normal unless they had a regular boy friend. An unhealthy state of mind was often developed from this anxiety about having someone they could rely on to go out with. Parents were often unaware of the effects of social pressures on girls and took no steps to prevent this going steady craze. If more parents took a firm stand, the pressure on girls would be relieved. Coadjutor Arch bishop O'Donnell of Brisbane emphasised the need for members of the Y.C.W. to remember that their work was primarily apostolic. T h e organisation of social and sporting activities should never divert them from their primary purpose. They were, he said, "the right arm of
directed towards helping all young workers to answer the call of Christ in their daily lives."
Rev. J. O'BRIEN Diocesan Chaplain Among the important visitors at the council meeting
were His Grace Archbishop Duhig of Brisbane and M. Rene Delecluse, a former member of the International Executive of the Y.C.W., who was recently in Perth. SCOUTS MEETING All Troop and Pack Scouters are reminded of the meeting of the Catholic Scouters Council at the Catholic Centre this Sunday, September 4, at 8 p.m.