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MARIST COLLEGE
Poughkeepsie, New York
'
Fall 1964







We'd like to say that. . .
. . . with this first Fall Edition of The Mosaic, we invite not that
indefinable, intangible non-entity, "the student body," but every stu-
dent member of that body, to read and consider what our fellow students
have
to say. The editorial staff has sufficiently confided in the artis-
tic, imaginative, and intellectual abilities of our students to raise a pre-
v.iously "annual" literary magazine to the level of "quarterly
.
"
It
is felt not only
that
this commitment will be met, but
that
the
literature which
appears
will have a true relevance and message for
those who take the trouble.
One final point
:
the
contributors
to this quarterly are writing pre-
e
minently not because it is fashionable to write (though this is a motive
factor), not because it
i
s
expected of English
majo
rs,
not because every
college
has a literary magazine,
but,
again preeminently,
because
they
have something to say.
Publication
of that something
offers them
a
two-
fold gratification
:
a
confrontation
with the chall
enge o
f
crystallization of
their own ideas and attitudes;
and the opportunity
to
convey to
othe
rs
what is personally most significant
.
It
is
with these sentiments that we recommend to you the following
.
Editor:
Brien O'Callaghan, fms
Assistant Editors:
Faculty Advisor:
David
Gentry, fms
James Co
dy
John
H
effe
rnan, fms
Peter
Maronge
Edward
Marti
n, fms
George J. Sommer, Ph.D.










CONTENTS
My Son
Honest to God!
Looking Ahead
The Great Masquerade
Beyond the Aperture ...
Commentary on a Culture
Death's Watch
Mary, che Kerygma, and Reunion
Look Back in Anguish
Conversation in Terms of the
Unknown Factor
Poems:
On First Reading Etienne Gilson
Watch, Therefore ...
Alone
In th
e
World
Joseph
McKenna, fms
Robert O'Handley, fms
James Cody
Joseph McKenna, fms
Brien 0' Callaghan, fms
William Townsend
John T. Sullivan,fms
Peter Maronge
Jerome Worell, fms
Peter Rooney, fms
Brien 0' Callaghan, fms
4
5
8
15
16
19
21
24
25
26
27
An Analysis of Holden Caulfield from
William Doherty, fms
29
J .
.
D. Salinger's The
·
Catcher in the Rye








My Son
Joseph McKenna, fms
He was young and fair, my son, and he brimmed with adventure;
was free as the wind. And he laughed and smiled with a zest none other
could have known.
He loved life; all life, not just his own life, as few have loved it ...
yet, I sometimes wonder if he knew that he loved it, so naive was his
manner.
If
naivete is the product of ignorance, it is also the daughter
of knowledge, of truth, of wisdom ... this was my son. He never spoke
of life and love, the way intelligent people speak of them, with impotent
words or flowery sentences. "What folly," he might have thought, "to
utter the unutterable ... " Perhaps, yet he was far too kind for such a
thought. Probably he never thought of anything like that himself, he was
himself much too busy with living and loving to consider how to live or
why he should love. I'm sure he knew the answers to those questions
though ... he must have. He wouldn't have given them to you, but you
could not have seen him without asking yourself some such question.
And you'd have gotten an answer by just seeing him.
I've often thought that this was his purpose in life, to provoke such
thoughts and to help so many people find the answers, and find them
themselves ... for of how much more value is such an answer
.
Strange ... not once from his mouth came a word of encouragement,
.
of friendship, of hope, of trust or faith or love ... not once in his life did
he travel to visit some neighbor, or friend ... or anyone at all; but he
lived his life as it ought to have been lived and he brightened so many
days for so many people by so living.
I wish you could have known my son. You would have marvelled at
his dancing eyes, his peaceful face ... and his smile, you'd never forget
that smile. And you'd have gone from there ... reluctantly, I promise
you ... with more peace in your heart than you've ever known before.
He wouldn't have spoken to you ... wouldn't even have gone to greet
you at the door. No. He never took a step
.
.. but he would have spoken
to you ..
.
oh, how he would have spoken to you, and with words more el-
oquent than you've ever heard before, and you'd have listened ...
a1i.d
car-
ried him away with you the rest of your life. And you'd be just one of
so many others. So what matter that he couldn't walk or talk.
Another thing - you'd have felt no pity for my son. He was more
fortunate than any who came to see him, and no one left with any other
impression. They left pitying themselves and envying my crippled,
4









speechless son.
* * *
Honest to God!
Robert O'Handley, fms
"Honest to God", a contemporary and controversial book by Bishop
John A. T. Robinson, calls forth so many personal sentiments
,
reaches
out to so many issues, and provokes such profound controversy, that to
be limited to a book-review format at this time would be intensely frus-
trating.
Robinson's objective is not a new one. Thinking men as far back
as Luther have been decrying the lost awareness to Christian symbo-
lism, the rigidity of moral standards and the irrelevance of out-dated
doctrinal concepts. Bishop Robinson has "engaged upon a probing op-
eration-trying to look at certain fundamental points of Faith and prac-
tice what they may mean ... to question one whole set of presuppositions
.
and feel towards another in its place."
A much more radical recasting, I would judge, is demanded,
in the process of which the most fundamental categories of
our theology--of God, of the supernatural and of religion it-
self - must go into the melting.
Dr. Robinson joins the chorus of existentialists in the cry that '' god
is
dead." In this "post-Christian era" (as it has been referred to),
Man has learned to cope with all questions of importance with-
out recourse to God as a working hypothesis. In questions con-
cerning science, art
,
and even ethics, this has become an
understood thing which one scarcely dares to tilt at any more
.
(Bonhoeffer)
Using Julian Huxley words,
The god hypothesis is no longer of any pragmatic value for the
interpretation or comprehension of nature, and indeed often
stands in the way of better and truer interpretation. Oper-
ationally, God is beginning to resemble not a ruler but the last
fading smile of a cosmic Cheshire Cat.
5










But this obviously refers to the
irrelevance
of the god
created
by
a
theology formulated
and adapted
to an
age that
is far different from
our own. The
;>resently expanding
breech in the relationship between
the
Divine and the human is not the fault of God but of man
who has
clung
to this alienating
theology.
Even today the failure
of theology
to
le
ad all men
to
God
is obvious
(and
indeed
it is the
aim of theology
t
o
lead
all men
- not just a few
professionals
- to
God
by means of
a
bet-
ter
knowledge of Him)
.
For an example,
merely recall
your contacts
with other college stud
ents
who have
been
confronted
wi
th theolog
y
courses. Surely, an
aversi
on
for
medieval terminology
and pointless
distinctions does not necessarily lead to
or
imply an estrangement from
the "depth
and ground
of all being
...
God."
Perhaps,
God
is asking mankind to "come-of-age," to alter its
out-
look on him, to
accept Him
not thru necessity but thru
love
.
The
God who
makes us live
in this
world without using him
as
a
working h
ypoth
·
esis is the God before whom we are
ever standing. Before
God
and with
him
we
live
without
God. God allows himself to
be
edged out of the world, aqd
that
is
exactly the way, the
only
way, in
which
he
can be
with
us
and help
us. (Tilli
ch,
The Courage to Be)
It
will
doubtless seem to som
e
that
I have by implication
abandoned the Christian faith
an
d pract
ice
altoget
her.
On
the
contrary, I believe that unless
we
are prepared for
the
kind of revolution of
which
I
have
spoken it will
c
ome
to be
abandoned. And
t
hat
will
be because it is
_
moulded, in the
form we know it, by
a
cast
of
thought that belongs to
.
a
past
age -
the cast of
thought
which, with their different em-
phases, Bultmann
descr
ibes
as 'mythological',
Tillich
as
'supranaturalist', and Bonhoeffer as 'religious'.
"All true awareness
of
God
is
an
experience at one and the same
time of
ultimacy and
intimacy".
But
ultima
cy
,
transcendence, is one
particular
attribute
of God'
s
th
a
t seems
to
be less
relevan
t
in
our
cor-
porate, in
vo
lved world
tod
ay.
B
a
rth
revels in having
destroy
ed
this
"totally
othe
r
"
pie
tism
or
m
ys
ti
ci
sm
that
was
prevalent
in
Protestant
theology
only 40
yea
rs
ago- (H
uma
nit
y
of God).
The
pendulum
has
swung the other way
now
and
in Honest
to God
we witness
the
present
trend to
stressing
the Divine
immanence.
- -
God is, in Bonhoeffer'
s words (Bonhoeffer is frequently referred to
by
Robinson)
"the
'beyond' in the midst of our life,
"
a depth of reality
reached "not on the borders of life but at its center," not
by
any flight
of the
alone
to the alone, but, in Kierkegaard's fine phrase, by
"a
deep-
6








er immersion in existence."
Paul Tillich is one of those authors who in past years "rung a bell"
for Dr. Robinson.
It
is mainly from Tillich's, The Shaking of the Foun-
dations, that Robinson drew his realization that the divine is nothing
else than the "depth of each man's being", "the ground and meaning of
all existence":
The name of this infinite and inexhaustible depth and ground
of all being is God. That depth is what the word God means.
And if that word has not much meaning for you, translate it,
and speak of the depths of your life, of the source of your
·
being, of your ultima'.te concern, of what you take seriously
without any reservation. Perhaps, in order to do so, you
must forget everything traditional that you have learned about
God, perhaps even that word itself.
Add to this the divine attribute of personality and you must then ad-
mit that "reality at its very deepest level is personal." "To predicate
personality of'God",
.
says Feuerbach,
"is
nothing
else
than to declare
personality as the absolute essence." (Chardin
certainly
grasped this
truth).
If
this is true, then theological statements are not
a
descrip-
tion of "the highest Being" but
an
analysis of the depths of
personal relationships - - or, rather, an
analysis
of the depths
of all experience interpreted by love. Theology, as Tillich in-
sists, is about 'that which concerns us ultimately'. A state-
ment is 'theological' not because it relates to a particular
Being called 'God', but because it asks ultimate questions
about the meaning of existence: it asks what, at the level of
theos, at the level of its deepest mystery, is the reality
and significance of our life.
Please don't be naive enough to think that one mere conceptual for-
mulation has truly captured the meaning of the divine. I don't think
Bishop Robinson was simple enough to claim so in spite of Thomas
Merton's suspicions to the contrary:
I for one am perfectly at home with the idea that mythical and
poetic statements about God are not adequate representations
of Him, but I
am
also used to thinking that no conceptual
knowledge of God is perfectly adequate,
and
therefore when I
see the Bishop busy with "framing new
concepts"
I would be in-
clined to say he still had not grasped the extent of the problem
(Commonweal, August 21, '64 p. 573).
7










I defend Robinson with his own words:
For the Christian gospel is in perpetual contact with the
images of God set up in the minds of men,
even
of Christian
men, as they seek in each generation to encompass his mean·
ing. These images fulfill an
essential
purpose, so that
ordinary men and women
can
get their minds round God and
have something to which to fix their imagination and prayers
.
But as soon as they become
a
substitute for God
as
soon as
they become God, so that wh:at is not
embodied
in the image
is
excluded
or denied, then we have
a
new idolatry.
A few may be
concerned
with doing some
"radical recasting"
on
their own, in the hope
of
maturing, updating
and
deepening
their
under
-
standing
of the "meaning of their existence." It is important to ques-
tion all, yet not be without some stable norm. Herbert Butterfield
verbalizes the guiding principle by which Dr. Robinson was
l
ed
thruout
.
There are times when iive
can
never meet the future with suffi-
cient
elasticity of
mind,
especially
if we are locked in the
con-
temporary systems of thought. We
can
do worse than remember
a principle which both gives us
a firm
Rock and leaves us the
maximum
elasticity
for our minds: the principle: Hold to Christ,
and for the rest be totally uncommittPrl
I
,ooking Ahead: A
Discussion
of
Vital
Interest to Students Cont
emp
lating
a
Business Career
James Cody
Th
e
topic
of
our discussion is "corporate harmony
"
,
a
term now
in
familiar
usag
e
among
personnel
directors
and industrial psychologists
in our l
arge
Am
e
rican
corporatio
ns
.
As they
define
it,
"corpora
t
e
har-
mony"
is
"
that
ultimat
e
ly
produ
c
tiv
e
stat
e
of
mind in which
eac
h
em-
ployee
spontaneously
subordin
at
e
s
his
personal
asp
ir
a
tions to the greater
need of
corporat
e
success."
1
Such an
individual is
highly
pri
ze
d by per-
1 Preston L. Chambers,
"Engendering
th
e
Company Man,"
Brighton's
Personnel Managep-1ent,
XIX
(March, 1
96
1).
r
e








sonnel recruiters; he is called a "company man" or a "corporate sate-
llite" by industrial psychologists. At present, however, while re-
cruiting competition remains fierce, personnel managers
are
becoming
increasingly interested in research projects designed to suppress
em-
ployee
_
self-interest, and promote "corporate harmony" on
a
compre-
hensive scale that will obviate the need for selective recruiting. In
other words, instead of relying upon psychological testing
and recruit-
ing procedures to locate "company men", personnel directors
.are
now
looking
for
ways to
"create"
them.
Our
following discussion
of "corporate
harmony
creation" is
de-
rived from two expert sourCJ;S. We offer
first an
excerpt
from
a re-
cent speech,
"The
Aspirational
Personality -- A Needless
Burden
to
American Enterprise."
This we
submit
with
the kind
permission of
Dr
.
Harmon E.
Fuerst, Director
of Personnel
Research Incorporated.
PRI is the independent
consulting
firm
credited
with the development
of
"packaged
orientation
programs" for the
assimilation of
new person-
nel into the
top-level
management
teams
of large
corporations.
Dr.
Fuerst
was
the
keynote
speaker at the American Management Coordi-
nation Clinic, which convened in
Chicago, Illinois, during February
of
this
year. At
these meetings, assembled management
representatives
heard
a
series of talks
on
the importance of
11
cooperate
·
harmony'' to
our
national
productivity.
The spirited response of these
gentlemen
to Dr
.
Fuerst'
s address has prompted us to
condense
his keynote text
for
our
current
publication. Our second
contributor
is Professor
Andre
Deyfacteau, Visiting Sociology
Fellow at
Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.
Professor Deyfacteau, in
a
letter to this
editor, discusses social con-
formity on the
American
scene and
evaluates
the
feasibility of
imposing
harmonious
conformity
upon the
American employee.
In
conclusion,
Professor
Deyfacteau offers several objective countermeasures
for·re-
sisting "corporate harmony" programs.
Dr. Fuerst' s Speech
... History provides us
with an apt
illustration
of ambition at
odds
with productive
society. If
we
recall our
elementary
history,
most
of
us
can probably
remember the plight
of
the
astronomer,
Galileo.
As
children,
we were sympathetic
as
we heard how
Galileo
was
condemned
by
his peers, just because he claimed
the earth
revolves around the sun.
Now
to later scientists,
Galileo seems a
martyr, but to his
contempo-
raries he was a heretic. In light of
modern
thought, however, he was
neither heretic nor
martyr -
- he was a downright fool.
He was
a fool
because
he
failed
to
establish a
working harmony with his fellow scien-
tists.
9











Moreover, Galileo is not unique. We have in our midst, today,
thousands
of
Galileos disrupting
the harmony of
our
productive
society.
Unlike the original Galileo, however, today's dissenters
are confronted
with a
fast-paced technology, so
complex,
that it cannot be
revolution-
ize
d
by
the most brilliant individual. Indeed, technological
break-
t
ho
ugh is not
our main problem. The
development
of modern techniques
of group
research
and cooperative
teamwork in design,
production, and
promotion
has
eliminated
the importance of the individual
contribu
tor.
The real problem
facing
the
modern corporation
is the
establishment
of
group
harmony
among its
personnel.
Why
does
an
important
project
fail
to develop
by its target
date? Why wasn't produce
11
X"
released
in
time
to
meet
co
ntract requirements
?
The answer to these
recurrent
questions
can
often be found,
only
by analyzing the characters
or' the
perso
nn
e
l involved
in the
operations
.
How often
have we
found a
vital
p
roject bogged
down, simply because of
a
personality conflict between
two
of
the
men assigned to its development?
.
..
These men, who place their personal aspirations ahead
of
their con-
tributive obligations to their company, are
the
most
inexcusable
causes
for
production failure.
Th
e s
ip.gularly
ambitious man can
perve
rt
the
cooperative
spirit of his entire
worki
ng
group. Here, teamwork is un-
dermined every
time
a
selfish
individua
l
attempts to promote his own
ambitions
,
contrary
to
the
progressive harmony of his fellow workers.
In
my
estimation
,
the repression
of
individual
ambition
is the
es
s
entia
l
ingredient for corporate
s
u
ccess
..
.
.
My own firm, Personn
e
l Research Incorporated, is
vitally
inter-
es
t
ed
in corporate harmo
ny.
Two years ago,
we concluded
a
series of
expe
rim
ents
in
personne
l
t
e
sting
which
par
ti
cularly
applies
to
the sub-
jec
t
of group harmony. At
a Midwest
e
rn
bottling
company,
we subjected
the
eng
in
eers
in the design department to
a
battery of psychological
tests.
In
one
group,
t
h
e
questions
were
keyed to
d
e
t
ect
hyper-ambitious
individuals.
In
a second
group, we tested
to single out those
enginee
rs
with the highest degree of
cooperative
spirit. From
the r
esu
lts,
we
formed two separate design
teams composed
of three
engineers
each.
Team
II
A
11
contained the
m
e
n
who
tested
high
es
t in
selfish ambition;
team
11
C
11
was made
up
of
thr
ee
e
xtreme
ly
cooperative engineers.
Next,
we
ass
i
gned
te
am
II
A
11
th
e ta
sk
of
designing an
in
ex
pensive
utility stop-
per to
se
a
l
the heavy glass jugs, produced
to
contain commercial clean-
ing fluid.
The men of team
"A" held very few consultations, and each
one
proceeded almost
independently towards
a
solution.
Because
of the
low
cost of cork,
one
engineer
suggested
a cork stopper. The
next man
proposed a
hard rubber stopper,
saying
that it
could
be re-used with the
returnable bottle.
The third
engineer
maintained that only
a
glass stop-
per could
be processed to insure the
purity
of the cleaning fluid. Each
of them
adamantly
claimed that his proposal was in some
way superior
10





to the others. At this point, we took: the project away from Team "A"
and presented it, as it stood, to team "C". Because of their coopera-
tive and less volatile natures, the engineers on team "C" quickly agreed
on an ultimate solution - - a laminated stopper containing a layer each
of cork, rubber, and glass. Such
an
answer seems obvious, of course,
to anyone not biased by the petty personality conflicts in team "A". An
interesting footnote points up the failure of the three ambitious
engineers
to be
effective
contributors to their company's productivity. When they
were informed about the approv~d design submitted by team "C",
each
of them furiously objected that
a
three layer utility stopper was im-
practical. Of course, this rude display of perverse obstinacy only
served to compound their
guilt.
We summarily recommended that all
three of them be transferred to the production line, whereupon two of
them, with smaller families, confirmed our low opinion by quitting the
company.
At PRI we believe the establishment of complete corporate harmony
depends upon extended cooperation between management
_and
the person-
nel research team. At present we are engaged in various exploratory
projects designed to increase our understanding of the harmony prob-
lem. In one area, we are investigating new methods of subordinating
personal aspirations to the harmony of the corporate community ... 2 But
along with new research, we are also modifying current principles of
personnel handling.
Sometimes, only a minor revision of
existing
procedures is neces-
sary to produce tangible results. We refer to our most recent experi-
ment as the "Paternal-Confessor" technique. Many
corporations
sub-
ject their
employees
to regular progress interviews. Twice each ye.ar,
perhaps, the individual
employee
has a progress discussion scheduled
with a superior. These interviews were originally designed to
give
each employee the satisfactory impression that he was under promotiornl
C(:)nsideration by upper management. It was our purpose to extend the
function of this interview and create a narmony inducing relationship be-
tween the corporation and the individual employees. To this end, we dis-
tributed a special interview questionnaire to the
employees
of a large
electrical
firm. Our questionnaire included
a
subtle invitation to dis-
cuss
personal and domestic problems with the manager during the meet-
ing. It was hoped that we could establish the corporation
as
a symbol
2 Omitted here is Dr. Fuerst's description
of
several hormone
experi-
ments currently being conducted by
a
number of
companies
in partici-
pation with PRI. No conclusive results from these
experiments
were
available at the time of the speech in Chicago.
11









for paternal
benevolence,
providing a
familiar atmosphere
for
the con-
fession of domestic and marital
problems. Once the
corporation
was
symbolically represented as
the
"father", it
was
assumed
that
each
emp
loyee
would strive to avoid
the
family anxiety
incurred by
a clash
wit
h
any of the other "children".
In this
case,
undesirable drives
for
advancement
and
independence
would
be compensated for by
the
abreact
iv
e
gratification of confessing personal and domestic problems
to
a
benevolent paternal image.
In
other words, by
using
humble con-
fession as a catalyst,
we expec
ted
to channel
the
energy
from
frus-
trated ambition into
a more
acceptable desire for harmonious depen-
dence upon the
stab
l
e
corporation ....
The
records
of
employees
who responded to our
invitation to
dis-
cuss
intimate problems with their managers were studied over
the next
four
months. The results indicate that these people
are
miraculously
docile
contributors
to corporate
harmony.
Unfortunately,
it
was also found that a majority
of
employees re-
fused to discuss their personal problems
and
had to be
c
l
ass
ified
as
brooding, protective, or malignantly withdrawn types. And in particu-
lar, the management
of
this
corporation
was reluctant
to
use more di-
rect and
effective
methods of
getting
their
emp
lo
yees
to divulge
their
domestic
and
marital
prob
l
ems.
E
ven
thoug
h
these problems surely
impinged upon the working behavior of numberous
employees,
the
in-
decisive
management
group
of
this
firm
proved
itself incapable of co-
operating with
the personn
e
l r
esea
rch team.
In my
opinion,
howev
er
,
a progressive
management must
recog-
niz
e
its r
es
ponsibility
to
pro
vi
de corr
ec
tive therapy for the disruptive
units
of
our
productive
soci
ety.
Indeed, it has b
ee
n
variously
proven
that
the
employee
who
expends
his
energy contributing
to
corporate
harmony is by
far
the happi
er
individual. He is found to be
cons
istently
oblivious to virtually all
th
e env
ironmental stimuli
which often
irritate
his
ambitious co
-work
e
r.
With this fact
in mind, I urge
every
consci-
entious manager to
paus
e
and
take
a cr
iti
ca
l
look
at
his p
e
rsonnel pol-
icy. I b
eli
e
ve
I have outlin
e
d s
e
veral
research
examples
which make it
perfectly clear
that
a great nee
d
for
improvement
exists
in the
vita
l
ar
ea
of
personnel
manag
ement
.
.
.
.
Let
us direct our determination and
energy
towards stamping out disruptive
ambitio
n
on
every
level of our
corporate
structure.
12








Dear Sir:
A Reply to Dr. Fuerst
by
Andre Deyf acteau, Ph. D.
Doctor Fuerst' s thesis should be obvious co your readers. For the
sake of increased harmony among employees in large corporations, the
Doctor proposes, through various means, to suppress the naturally
_
sel-
fish ambitions and material aspirations of these employees. This, he
believes, will establish a harmonious corporate environment, an atmos -
phere conducive to productive cooperation between employees.
The question that will most probably be asked by your readers is
this: "Can psychologists like Dr. Fuerst, by applying psychological
principles to personnel management, successfully impose upon our
minds, bend us to their will, and eventually conform us to their pro-
jected behavioral designs?" There are, I think two answers to this
question.
In
the first place, without the use of special drugs, subliminal
motivations, or other means to overcome the free will
·
of the American
employee, I do not believe that a comprehensive "corporate harmony"
program is feasible. Volitional conformity to the image of the dedicated
"company man" would seem to be conditioned by the same factors whi.ch
determine the limits of social conformity in our present age. I submit
·
the following paragraph from a recent lecture to illustrate this point.
In this day and age, life for many is a seeming struggle for
identity, and the threat of becoming a mere part number in
the awesome mechanization of society is a source of common
concern.
It
is often noticed that we are apt to judge our fel-
lows by the selfsame standards of conformity that we would
resist. Or again, like a panel of polarized quality testers,
we are prompt to reject individuals who deviate from the
master blueprint for this year's mental or broadcloth fashion.
This is not to say, however, that we are damned to universal
regimentation. Indeed, a tendency towards social conformity
has existed in all human societies, but in each it is seen
never to go to completion in any one manifestation, and there
always arises an assortment of religions, social creeds,
and fashions which pull like opposing tides on the masses of
humanity. Human nature, it seems, is complex enough to
permit participation in a thousand modes of conformity. Some
burgeon so large as to threaten our individual identities and
eventually repel us, while others remain small and exclusive
13










sanctuaries which
guarantee
individual identities through
their
multiplicity.
In other words, there are innumerable
descriptive
tags placed on parts of men; but whether we
are
labelled
as communists,
farmers, sexually motivated
con-
sumers, or one of
the
intellectually liberal One Hundred
of
New York's
East Side,
we are still distinct individuals --
no one
drummer can
impose
a simple
cadence on
a complex
life.
And
because life
and
human nature
are
complex,
it
is impossible
that man, either
individually or
collectively,
can ever
be red
uced
to
a
base pigment upon
a
one-dimen-
sional plane.
This,
perhaps, explains
why I was
not
undµly
alarmed
upon reading
the
text
of
Dr.
Fuerst' s Chicago
speech. I
rather doubt
that any pro-
jection
of
the dedicated "company
man"
image
will
be
attractive enough
to effect
willful
suppression
of natural
avarice
by the
majority of
Ameri-
ca
n
employees. Human nature, as
we have noted, runs
contrary
to such
conformity
- -
especially,
as in
th
is
case,
where
pe
rsonal
sacrifice
is
involved.
But
ruling
out voluntary
conformity does not
necessarily
mean that
"co
rporate harmony"
cannot
be created. As we hint
e
d
earlier,
through
the use of drugs, subliminal stimulus, or other special means it might
be
entirely possible
for Dr.
Fuerst and
his research associates to over-
come natural resistance and
alter
the personality
Qf
an employee
to pro-
duce a
"company man"
character
profile. Indeed, from his
awn
text we
note that the Doctor has realized moderate success on
an experimental
level through the use of
the
su
bliminal process which he calls the "Pa-
ternal-Confessor" technique.
Beyond
this limited
experimental
lev.el,
however, I do not believe that
present
psychological technology or
cur-
rent public sentiment make the
execution
of the Doctor's plan feasible. I
cannot foresee general success on a national scale, or
even
upon a large
corporate
level, under present circumstances. Yet I would
advise
any
employees,
who suspect that they are the objects of
experimentation,
to
resist
any
effort
on th~ part
of
their
employer
to suppress their
personal
aspirations. I conclude with
the
following objective suggestions for re-
sisting "corporate harmony"
experi
mentation.
1.
Exude a cooperative
spirit
at all times. This will diminish the
need for "corporate harmony"
and
frustrate personnel research teams.
2. Refrain from discussing your problems or sins
at your
place of
business.
If
need
be, seek out a clergyman or psychiatrist
in
private
practice for this purpose. Guilt or problem-ridden
employees
are a
favorite target for industrial psychologists.
14









3. Resist any attempt by your
·
employer to administer unknown
drugs or chemicals to you. Protest suspicious mass innoculation pro-
grams. Always ask to see the label of a registered pharmacist and con-
sult your family doctor before swallowing chemical preparations.
If
you suspect that food additives are being used in the company cafeteria,
it would be wise policy to follow an employee of the personnel depart-
ment through the lunch-line.
4. Give
.
all your business literature a careful reading.
Clever
psychologists like Dr. Fuerst often write
with
cross-purposes.
The Great Masquerade
Joseph McKenna, fms
If
ever you search the beauty of day
Not lightly or slightly, with
-
eyes turned away,
There's little you'll find that is what it is,
And much disguised as happy and gay.
A captured gem escaped for the night,
So sprightly and brightly it shares its light,
But no, it's a sphere much greater than earth,
Such is a thought which gives me fright.
And what is this table upon which I write?
This table that's able to bear all my gripes?
It's thousands of atoms compactly arranged,
A quite contrary insult to my sight.
15








And why, may I ask, must this be the case?
Must atom, or Adam, be a table to save face?
Let the table be a table,
Put the atom in its place.
Beyond the
Aperture ...
Commentary
on
a Culture
Brien 0' Callaghan, fms
The crowd hustles, the silent, sullen crowd bustles, and I move
with it.
A
coin-slot in
a
turnstile
in an
underground cavity induces con-
formity in
millions of individuals.
Through the
turnstile, down
the
steps, and magnetically,
automatically, to
a
spontaneously
assigned
po-
sition
on
a platform
- like
a
line-up before
a
bomb squad.
Everyone
in-
tent,
waiting,
anxious,
eyes right
toward an
opening in t
·
he
tunnel,
an
aperture, beyond
which lays
a kaleidoscopic
dream of sun, opportunity,
relief, fresh
air,
freedom.
A salt-shaker
it
was
- packed full
and
emptied
periodically
by the
shaking of a
departing train.
You
pay fifteen
cents
to
be a grain
of salt
that is
poured
into
a cylind
e
r and eventually
released. The
"salt
of the
earth" you
are. Freedom is being
poured out of
a salt-shaker,
and men
are
used
to delight
the palates
of
other
men.
Somebody,
somewhere, needs
you,
needs
you enough
to pay you for
a
function
you can perform; and
that
someone
you need because he will
give you
what will
enable you to subsist. "Interpersonal
relationship?"
No! Inter-functional relationship.
Life
is
a
fated bull in
a ring;
life is
a fatted c
a
lf -
ephemeral. Lif
e
is death.
To be able
to
call "Taxi," to
charge
it
up,
to do
something
you
don't
have to do, to order
a
meal in-
stead of serving
one.
So
you
sub
mit
to
a
system, one which has ruled
the actions,
and
generally, the
m
inds of men for
centuries.
You follow,
you are corralled and stampeded - through a turnstile, onto a freight
car with a thousand wide-, but leaden-eyed sceptres
moving
with or
against
you, slower or faster, toward the Chicago of life - slaughtered,
packed, and used by those who have
"made
it."
Yes, we are cattle, rounded up daily, hog-tied by our
environment,
the "vicissitudes" of life, by our personal limitations and our bad de-
16











cisions, and
,
finally, branded with a company stamp': "prime beef" - a
product just like the rest of our nation's products; "grade A" eggs be-
cause we look and taste just like what is expected of grade
A
eggs.
We've fulfilled a function, a role. So,
,
you should get a "good housekeep-
ing seal'.' because you work well. You're a good wife and mother if you
keep dust off the mahogany setee. But, beyond the aperture •••
To turn back up the stairs - to go home - to forget about a job to-
day - like salt defying the law of gravity. The forms and faces of the
descending crowd all say - "the way is down, not up;" signs say it:
"One way - do not enter
;
'' "Down only
;
" "No exit." This is the way it is
done
.
It has always been this way. Why change now, they say. Who's
"they" - the proverbial "
t
hey?" The same they that decide who gets
jobs and who doesn't, and for how long. Life's work is to become one
o
f "them"
-
to enter the power structure. Might is right. All men are
eq
ual, but some are more equal than others. So, beyond the aperture ..
.
"
No spitting, no riisposing of garbage, .
. ,,.
"
,
the painter inscribes
,
an
d pauses momentarily to dislodge a wad. His actions glare so bright
-
ly
w
e
cannot
,
see what he is writing. Typic
al
. Recall the emcee of the
ki
d
d
y show that is no longer emc
e
e since the time he
a
ddressed one of
hi
s dainty kiddies by a nasty title.
A
pretty red, whi
t
e, and blue birth-
d
a
y present, ribbon-wrapped, is carri
e
d
,
almost unconsciously by a
be
a
r
ded sot
,
Wouldn't his wife prefer a red, white
,
and blue ribboned
m
an, and shouldn't the saleslady have seen he needed something more
than c
olors and paper? But he had his money
.
He was
f
unctional. The
machi
n
e
co
n
tinues to work. Why be a "last angry man
?
" Look what
ha
p
pe
d to Samuel Abelman
.
You are what you're worth in this life, tha1!s
all
.
Y
ou're stunning in that pistachio d
r
ess
,
they
s
ay
;
that is, if you ca
n
pa
y for it
.
But the train will be com
i
ng and beyond the aperture a new
de
al, a square deal. ..
A journey to joviality. A rumbling, crashing
sou
nd
,
w
i
thout which time and events and
t
he train could r
e
adily ha
ve
pa
ss
e
d unnoticed or ignored. For who really wants to go be
y
ond the
apert
ure
?
What does anyone really expe
c
t?
·
But the train pulls in so
m
aj
e
sti
c
ally, so confidently, so promisingly - and everyone enters s
o
qui
c
kly upon this ride that ... well ... beyond
.
.. a ride to freedom - the
l
as
t
l
e
g on th
e
underground railroad, a jump
"
over the wall, " a penetration
of "the curtain," rescue from this distillery of depression.
If
these people would just stop pushing. Going nowhere fast
-
racing
for a goal which, upon attainment - ceases to satisfy.
A
song
:
"I know
where I'm goin', and I know who's goin' with me
."
0 yeah! The race
alone entrances. And who's kidding anyone - we're all in it. We have
so matured and advanced that we can now content ourselves with what
once couldn't have contented a cow - but we are cows, are we not? We
nourish our young on evaporated mjlk and a notion of life which is as
17












sturdy as a carnation in December.
Here I stand, rubbing elbows with a Chiclet' s
.
machine - barriers
even here - our relationship based on my financial situation. It cannot
reciprocate except by my initial financial overture, and its response of
affection
is limited to the mechanical regurgitation of one of
f
i
ve
colors
,
of boxed cardboard containing a corresponding piece of taste.
I grow
uneasy when I realize that at my other elbow is another machine .: far
less efficient - not iron but flesh; not confined, but free; not
inanimate
and impotent, but able not only to respond, but to initiate,
not
only to
please my palate, but to gratify my whole person.
But he's not here to support me. He has a job. To survive is to
be happy, and all he has to do is to deliver that package in a
respectable
amount
of time.
If
he fails, he gets fired and dies; if he succeeds, he
lives. Failure or success - that's life and happiness. So he
must con-
centrate
,
on that package. When concentration isn't required,
he thinks
about himself - about how he will enjoy the fruit of his labor
.
He has
fought the good fight, fought against an
enemy,
an enemy somehow
associated with people.· I am a person, so I am an enemy
and
am
shunned. And so is he, you can bet, by me, for he is al
.
so the enemy.
And, beyond the aperture ...
Seventh Avenue is ripe for
jobs today.
Boredom, sickness, dea:th
have washed a layer of fleshy seaweed from the shore of employment
into the abyss of "welfarism." I may be able to ride the next
wave in -
a new status - fresh seaweed. And the tide comes and goes.
Some
here
are old - they've matured
in a
freight elevator. Life to them
.
i
s going
from the second to fifth floors,
making
as few trips as possible
a d1J.iY,
and, for some, catching an occasional glimpse of a young leg
as
it
pa-
rades to the ladies' room. Steadies they' re called - I call 'em
barna-
cles. They can count on you, so they count
you
- a statistic,
and you're
out of their minds and hearts and into their files - a solid, insensible
brick in the structure of security they are trying to build.
A cross-
identity - a brick - in a building supporting people you don't even
know -
or do and despise.
Across the platform, mor
e
faces
- like an Auchswitz or Birkenau
gas-shower-chamber combo.
I
f
they ever could see this on Ding-Dong
school. This isn't papier-mache.
Onto the car - into the cab - into a seat - jostled, jumbled, rumbled·
no reaction. They' re all stone. I think they' re all stone. How can you
talk - he might stab you. Problems enough 'o my own - he'd laught at
me. Signs: "See your Peace Corps recruiters;" "Come to Maryknoll,
and as missionaries, bring the world to Christ. " What's a mission?
18








Who is Christ? Certainly this is a mission. And Christ? Oh, he's the
invisible,
powerful one up there who punishes you when you do something
wrong and whose face you see on pretty little holy cards. How can you
bring Christ to a world of that?
But the United States is a
"have
nation." We' re philanthropic; in-
volved;
committed; the bastion of freedom. We give foreign aid which
buys
air conditioners for our foreign ambassadors. "The land of the
free
and the home of the brave" we have here, and freedom fighters lie
co
ld and stiff in a Southern forest,
and
James Powell becomes a person
who never would have existed, in a situation which never would have
a
risen if I didn't have to tu:i;-n to a Chiclet' s machine instead of to the
h
ulk of human being to my right for a smile of
recognition.
But wait; it's time for a coffee break
:
a tea break, a powder break,
a
break break! How about a break? So it's out with the mirrors (Do we
look
the way we should? Are we still there?) and pocket books -
a
clic
king of heels and a shuffling of skirts; a dabbing of perfumes: a
d
ialogous monologue - chatter and clatter it goes on while the teeth of
Sa
igon Americans chatter and their bayonets clatter, and my friend with
the
package rests content that life is complete. We're an army - the
a
rmy of the underground - and we' re fighting for freedom. And, beyond
the
aperture ... some aperture, maybe an immaterial one, maybe an
opening
in the heart or in the attitudes, but we are going to have that
freedom.
Death's Watch
Silent walks the night -
More silent still, death,
Whose dark hands close tight
About any free path;
As fleeing kill
Flees hill
0
1
er hill.
The living love life,
Seeking those clear ponds
Free from burdened strife,
To drown life's dark seconds;
But a white pond's light
Can hide life slight.
19
William Townsend






All seems much too short,
This life we treasure,
So full of quick sport
And passing pleasure;
Death becomes the lure
For rich and poor.
As the moon marks the night -
In silent shadow
.
Many of death's plight
Are led through crooked boughs;
And on, on pass deathis kill
0' er pond and hill.
Once these too had lived,
So good too, it seems,
But now they have died,
And their pond empty of gleams;
Death devoid of ill,
So silent, so still.
Flowers once stood around -
A body lay straight,
Cross glancing right down
This pitiless scene;
Here lies death's kill,
So silent, so still.
Then, to peace's kind rest -
'Neath mounds of dark earth
Descends the calm breast,
Free of life, of dearth;
Sensing nil,
And so, s
o
still.
Silent walks the night -
More sil
ent
still, death,
0' er grave
s c
losed so tight,
And no free path
Has fleeing kill,
On
hill or hill.
* * *
20






Mary, The Kerygma, and Reunion
John T. Sullivan, fms
"Men of Israel hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth was a man
approv.ed by God ... Him you have
.
crucified ... But God has raised him up
having loosed the sorrows of hell. Repent and be baptized every one of
.,
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you
will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2: 22-24; 38)
This is the Kerygma, the good news, the proclamation. This basic
statement brings home to us in concrete terms God's infinite love for us,
his people. He has spoken to us through his son. This is where God's
plan
·
of salvation has culminated- -in Christ.
When we hear all the present-day talk about the kerygmatic
approach, then we must not view it as a mere novelty. The catechetical
and liturgical renewal is a desire to return to a primitive state, a state
in which the kerygma was truly a joyous proclamation. This community
was one in which the tremendous truth of our salvation in Christ was
understood and lived by all. Everyone was pre-occupied with the
kerygma, or more accurately, with Christ himself.
This brings us to a second observation: the good news was received
and held "in common," i.e. by all the faithful. St. Paul
'
s epistles re-
veal an amazing grasp of the truth of Christian unity. We are
all
one
body in Christ. We were not united to God by Christ as individuals, but
collectlvely. We are his chosen people. This is the basis of Christian
unity.
In this light, we can see that Ecumenism is not merely a "good-
neighbor policy" among Christian sects. It is a desire to bring into
sharp focus the truth we have just discussed: our membership in a sing
l
e
body, which is Christ. The diversity of these Christian sects in our day
tends to obscure this truth, particularly when there is little or no co-
mmunication between them. Charity is an essential consequence of ou
r
oneness in Christ, and it must be evident. We must love one another as
Christ has loved us, and nowhere was this more visible than in the early
Church, to which state we wish to return.
Thus Ecumenism is not divorced from the other movements in the
Church today. It is all part of this return of which we have been speak-
ing: a return to a Christian community whose members lived and wor-
shipped as one body, being so pre~occupied with Christ that all differ-
ences were overlooked. We also must be taken up with Christ above all
else: teach him in our religion classes, worship him in our churches,
live our lives together with him and in him, for every Christian should
21










be able to say with Saint Paul, "For me, to live is Chirist."
So far, so good. But the inevitable question arises: What about
Mary? Does she fit into all of this? Let us hope so.
Mary is an integral part of the plan of salvation; She has a very
special place in the Church, the assembly of God's people. She was the
instrument God chose through which his son would enter the world. She
also cooperated most closely with Christ in the redemption of mankind.
In a very real way, she is the mother of Christ, the mother of God. But
if she is the mother of Christ, she must also be the mother of his mem-
bers. This is a natural consequence of om· identification with him. We,
a single body, are Christ. Mary, Christ's mother, is our mother also.
Now this may seem like just so much speculation,
.
but there is a
·
very important point to be seen. Why did God choose to give a mother
to the members of his son? Was his own love incomplete? Was his
son's redemption insufficient? We must see the meaning of Mary's
motherhood, rather than merely prove the fact of it. Speculation of
itself would be meaningless.
Man needs maternal love as well as paternal. Neither is sufficient
by itself- -at least not as we conceive of the situation. God's love, how-
ever, is in itself complete and must, therefore, include elements of both
of these.
Of
course, we don't often think of this. From our modern
point of view, God is our father, and his love is strictly paternal. Mary
should serve to remind us of this motherly side of God's love.
She is, in a sense, the personification of this love. But we must re-
member that she received everything from God; of herself she was
nothing. As she said in her Magnificat: He looks on his servant in her
nothingness. Thus, even her maternal love is not her own; it is God's.
She is then a channel, although a conscious channel, through which this
love reaches us.
When we consider her as our mother, and we should, we can never
lose sight of this fact. For the affection we have for her
.
should inspire
in us a greater conviction of God's
·
care for us and bring us closer to him
always.
Besides being the mother of the Church, she is also a figure of this
Church- -its prime model. She is what each of the members of Christ's
body ought to be. We need not dwell at length on various Christian vir-
tues to prove our point. Let us reduce the entire matter to the single
element which we considered necessary for Christian unity based on love,
viz. pre-occupation with Christ; with the kerygma, the good news of sal-
22







vation. This sums up everything the Christian could hope to be. It also
sums up what Mary was, for if anyone was pre-occupied with Christ, it
was she. She is the personification of the Christian community's re-
sponse to God's love: Behold the slave of the Lord; be it done to me ac-
cording to your word. In this role, Mary should be the guide and en-
couragement of every Christian. Thus St. Bernard's exclamation: Look
to the star; call upon Mary. She is the goal at which we must aim in o
u_
r
effort to be fully involved with Christ.
In conclusion, let us just say that Mary is the mother of Christ, of
his body extended in time, as well as of the historical person, for these
two are really one. Like him, she is a proof of God's love for us, par
-
ticularly his maternal love. She is, from the opposite pole, the mod
e
l
of every Christian who responds to God
'
s love, who attempts to be en
-
tirely taken up with God as she was.
To deny or conveniently overlook these
fa
cts would mean a Catholi
c
's
b
eing untrue to himself
.
To soft-pedal Mary
,
so as to
a
ccommodate
o
ur
P
rotestant brethren, we would hav
e
to be som
e
thing w
e
ar
e
not. Th
is i
s
h
ardly true Ecumenism, for if w
e
do no
t
hol
d
to ou
r
b
e
liefs
,
no true
c
ommuni
c
ation is possible. W
e
cannot exp
ec
t our
b
r
e
thren t
o
join
i
n
dialog with us
if
we
a
re not ours
e
lves. To w
h
om wou
l
d they th
e
n b
e
spe
aking? This form of insincerity would b
e
unforgi
v
e
a
ble. We w
o
u
ld
b
e establishing for ours
e
lves a false identity
.
And Ecu
m
enism is not
a
imed at destroying our Christian identity, but rather
a
t establishing it,
and this more firmly than ever.
The Christian is a member of the body of Christ
.
H
e
has, throu
g
h
Baptism, has died with Christ t
o
sin, and ris
e
n with him to a new lif
e
in
gra
c
e
.
And he is not in this alone--h
e
is in a commun
i
ty,
a
body--th
e
body of Christ. Outside of this body, it is impossible for him to liv
e
this life of grace. All this is contained in the kerygma; th
e
latter plays
a great part in establishing the Christian's identity.
Mary is not mentioned in the kerygma, but sh
e
is nevertheless
closely tied up with it
.
She is the mother and model of this sam
e
body,
and as such, she cannot be ignored. She must occupy the plac
e
we h
av
e
established here. She also plays an important role in the establishi
n
g o
f
our identity. When we fipally determine just who and what we are,
ecumenical dialog will be possible.
How to do this? On paper it is fairly simple; the actual working out
of it is somewhat more complex, at least it will require more effort
.
Each Christian must discover for himself his own identity. Mary must
fit into this in a unique way for him. She must be seen to have a place
in the overall life of the Church, and then too, in his own personal life.
23










His devotion to her should lead him to
a greater
pre-occupation
.
with
Christ, a pre-occupation whose effects will be seen as he witnesses to
Christ in his daily life. This pre-occupation will hopefully be the bond
which will unite him to those
with
whom he is holding said dialog. May
Our Blessed Mother be our guide and model in this as in all our other
activities.
Look
Back in
Anguish
Look
back
in
anguish
0
ye
of little lif
e
who
die
In
the crib
and live
Dead
for
sixty years
after.
Remember thou
art
made to live
In the largest,
widest vat
In
existence
- we have
named
it
Peter
Maronge
The
World Vat
-
containing misery and
sweat
.
Live
for
the
greater
honor and
glory
Of God, the
A
ll-Good Barrel Maker.
He
is the Salvation from all
mis
e
ry,
All hate,
all
dishonor,
for
you
the Dead.
As
the
Creato
r, the
Love,
the Ideal
For live men, He
is the Dead'
s only Saviour.
He is
be, bees
exis
tence,
ex
ists
essence.
I
am who am, is, was, will be
all
e
luia.
Ask
His blessings
for yourself and others.
Thank Him
for your
hereness, isness.
Promis
e
amendment and punish thyself.
Yo
u
will
live the Good Vat life
.
Look
bac
k
in
a
nguish
0
ye
of
less
life
who lie
In
the coffin
wishing reincarnation
To readjust the
mistake you
hav
e
made
Look
back through
flames and
Weep sinners
.
You failed
.
You
Initiated
your present
misery by
The full lif
e
led swimming in the Vat.
24







Conversation in Terms
of the
Unknown Factor
He sat down.
He thought:
Jerome Worell, fms
This place could be nice. It gives a person confidence, like a clean
well lighted place. So's this place clean and well lighted. And if it
weren't for those two over there talking in another language, it
.
would be
0. K. But those two, in that language, it unnerves a guy. The only two
talking and they don't speak English. Did you ever get on a bus and two
Spanish ladies were talking? They'd chatter away and you'd really want
to know what they' re saying
.
Every so often they nod to you and you nod
back making believe you understood when both you and they know god-
dam well you don't. But that's what you're supposed to do, just nod and
look like you understand.
How many times does a friend say "They could be talking about us" ?
So could the two over there. I wonder if they are. Could be.
Outside a bus growled.
"Man my knee hurts'.'
The conversation got quieter.
Must be Italian they' re talking, or something like it because look at
them gesticulate. They talk with their hands like Italians and dumb
people. Maybe we are the dumb ones
.
because their hands are the only
clue we have about what they' re saying. Maybe I could buy a book and
learn the language so that next time I could talk with them. I wonder if
they'd mind?
They, they' re here, in my country, so why don't they speak my
language. That's why we all speak one language, so we can understand
each other. I couldn't understand those Spanish Ladies and don't under-
stand those two in the corner mumbling.
Good. A chance to walk around a little.
Jesus I'm hungry, what I had to eat wasn't enough.
He remained there thinking until the two started talking again. One
\
25








said, "Ite, missa est" but the dumb ones waited until everyone else left
because they didn't understand.
* * *
On First Reading Etienne Gilson
All men, Christian and pagan alike-
Know yourself!
You can; You must.
For greatness is therein,
To be free and to know so.
But know you also
That your being and your freedom,
And your knowledge thereof,
Are not of your own making.
Pete
-
r
Rooney,
fms
All men, therefore, Christian
anct
pagan alike-
Love God!
You can; You must.
With every fibre of your soul
And with your heart entirely,
Above all other
things.
And Christ for this need not be known;
You have only, 0 man, to
Know yourself.
Watch, Therefore
...
Kingdoms come
And kingdoms go.
Birds sing
And rivers flow.
Wars Rage
And wars cease.
Now there's strife;
Now there's peace.
Old men die,
Babes are born.
Love is made
And love is torn.
Time goes on ignoring all.
Today the clock ticks;
Tomorrow is eternity.
* * *
26
Alone
Life lived lovelessly,
Is there
.
anything as sad?
Love lived lifelessly
Is surely just as
bad.
So live with love
And you'll never cry;
But love with life
And you'll never die.















In the World
Brien 0
1
,Callaahan, fms
"The world has not known thee
..•
(Jn
.
17:25)"
This is the thought
uppermost in the mind of the Messiah - this is the motivation behind the
Incarnation. But
St. John also says, "I pray for them (his followers);
not foz- the world do I pray, but for those whom thouhast given me, be-
cause they are thine (Jn. 17
:
9).
11
Is there a contradiction here, or is
St. John saying the same thing in different ways? I think, in view of the
rest of his treatment of the "world,'
·
' we may conclude that the latter of
these two possibilities is the right one.
The problem of "The world," the Christian's connection with'it, the
.
extent to which it may be approached, is a completely baffling one,
enough so to merit the attention of Pope Paul in his first encyclical,
"His Church. " He defines the world:
·
... humanity opposed both to the light of faith and to tne gift
of grace, humanity which exalts itself in a
naive
optimism
which
believes that its own energies suffice to give man com-
plete, lasting, and beneficent self-expression. Or, finally,
humanity which plunges itself into crude forms of pessimism
which declares its own vices, weaknesses, and moral ailments
to be fatal, incurable, and perhaps even desirable as mani-
festations of freedom and of authenticity.
Certainly this "world" is not
,a
good thing - it has not yet
assumed
its
proper redemptive image. This world is foreign to Christ, unaware
of the need for and place of Christ in its life. This is the world for
which Christ came: "The world has not known thee."
Christ, Pope Paul, and all of us realize
that
we live in the world
,
that despite our dignity as members of Christ, 1
·
eborn heirs of heaven
,
temples
of the Holy Spirit, we are still capable of formulating and basing
our lives upon a fragmentary, incomplete
notion
of the world - the wo
rld
unpermeated by Christ - this is the world of which John sometimes
speaks: "And when he has come, he will convict the world of sin, and
of
justice, and of judgment (Jn.
16:
8)."
But,
.
our Lord "came forth from the Father and came into the world
(Jn.
16:
28)." Christ envisioned the total picture of the world, Christ
impregnated. He chose some out of the world that they might know him
better, love him, and then spread the message of their joy and knowledge.
Christ prayed "that the world may believe that thou hast sent me,·-
that they may b
_
e perfected in unity.
11
This is our hope and the direction
21'




post for our activity. He has sent those who have come to k
n
ow and
love him into the world that knows and loves itself, in order
t
o trans-
form that world into a "new world," as St. Paul's "old man"
b
ecame
"new."
But is this world worth saving or capable of being saved -
t
his world
in which advertisements for new electric portable steam bat
h
s occupy
more space and even att
r
act more attention than reports on the slaying
of three civil rights workers, or the indigencies of thousands of people
in unknown Appalac
hi
a, U
.
S. A. Is that world worth saving or capable
of salvation that allows and even applauds the man who would rather
close his store down than sell to a colored man? Is it worth saving?
There are lobbies in Washington for the legalization of homosexuality.
We in America have the third largest number of alcoholics in the world.
Our billboards, our magazines, our literature all seem to presume and
to attempt to create a spirit of moral indifferentism, maximum enjoy-
ment. Friendship has become a "pleasure pact." Books like "The
Lonely Crown" and "The Art of Loving" make it evident that man is suf-
fering from alienation, from the inability to love. This is the world
Christ bids us
·
evangelize. This is what Pope Paul calls the apostolate,
the missionary mandate. This is the task in which differences between
races and between religions will pale in the communal enthusiasm needed
to complete it. Furthermore, the task of evangelization is not merely
an antiseptic ac;tivity. We are the world, and it is our neighbor, our own
people, and God's people that we are commissioned to help
.
But, the objection may be raised, how about occasions of sin? To
this I can only recall the
inci
dents of Christ•_s contacts with Mary Magda-
len and the woman taken in adultery. Prudence, emotional equilibrium,
Christian motivation must be maintained in the fulfilling of our apostolic
mandate, but the mandate must be fulfilled
.
It
is no longer the time for
scorn, indifference,
c
ondescension, religious exclusivism, or the "one
true Church" bit
. Po
pe Pau
l
in Ecc
l
esiam Suam: "Even before convert-
ing the world, nay in order
t
o convert it, we must meet the world and
talk with
it
. " This
is
the
e
ss
e
nce of the third part of his encyclical -
that whic
h h
as come
t
o be
kn
o
w
n a
s the section on "dialogue," an origi-
nal
l
y ver
y
meaningful term
.
We live in a world today that
i
s higher and more universally edu-
cated, a world which is democratic and which, therefore, judges a man
no longer on his titles, but on his objective merits, a world which stres-
ses Baptism over Holy Orders, Christianity over priesthood within
Christianity, the fundamental equality of the lay and religious vocation,
the communal nature of the task of salvation, the universal priesthood
of the faithful. Pope Paul, in confirmation of the salutariness of this
spirit, calls for an emphasis on those things which unite
,
rather than,







as in the past, on those things which divide.
Athenagoras I and Pope Paul have met in peace. Charles Barker,
a Catholic, and Susan Ekberg, an Episcopalian, have been co-married
by Episcopal and Catholic priests. Negro and white have intermarried
in South Bend, Indiana, and though forced to move, have eventually
overcome opposition. The first Negro family ever to move into Kensing-
ton, an exclusive village of Great Neck, N. Y., has done so successful-
ly; their son, Milo, is the co-mascot of the village's swimming team
with a white boy named Jimmy. Negro rights leaders have united behind
a government request to cease demonstrations until after the elections.
Jesuit seminarians from Woodstock, Maryland have been freed for the
summer to teach school to underpriviledged children at Regis High School,
N. Y. C. Fr. Beiting struggles and gradually succeeds in Appalachia.
Yes, this is the time for confrontation, with that world which Christ
commissioned us to save, time for patience and understanding: for more
than peaceful co-existence with our neighbor. It is time to eliminate
situations like the one presented in the novel Rabbit Run by John Updike
in which one neighbor cut only his six-inch strip of grass between his and
his neighbor's houses when his fifteen inch blade span could have done
the whole job just as easily. It is a time when the world, disillusioned
and anxious, may come palpitatingly and hesitantly to meet its apostles
halfway: a time when the Jansenist and Puritan conception of man, nature,
and the world must be sifted and in which only the good wheat produced
be allowe to
"
nourish our Christian philosophy and activity.
"Even as thou hast sent me into the world, so I also have
sent them into the world. And for them· I sanctify myself,
that they also may be sanctified in truth." (Jn. 1 7: 19)
* * *
An
Analysis of Holden Caulfield from
William Dougherty, fms
J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye
Holden Caulfield-sex-fiend, virgin; Holden Caulfield-tough-guy,
yellow. I'm one of those very yellow guys. Old Jane, my friend-terrific
to hold hand with. Some people are clammy, but not old jane. D. B., my
brother, movie writer. One thing I hate is the movies. Don't mention
them to me-phonies, movie people: laughing. Depressed the hell out of
me. Lonely too. Allie my brother-he's dead now. Allie's baseball
mitt. All adults are phonies. I'm surrounded by jerks. Glad to meet
you--that kills me--glad. Makes we wanna puke. People are always
29








ruining things for you. Phonies-glad, depressed, lone'.ly. I started talk-
ing out loud to Allie. I do that when I get depressed. Sometimes, I feel
like praying when I get into bed, but I can't. Ministers-holy Joe's voices-
I don't see why they don't talk in their regular voices. What I really felt
like was committing suicide. Call old Sally-Sally the queen of the pho-
nies-grand-if
there's one word I hate it's grand. Nuns: I enjoyed talk-
ing to them: straw basket collecting money. I could just see my mother
doing that or Sally's mother. You'd have to kiss her foot first before you
put something in the basket.
If
a body catch a body coming through the
rye. Kids-always have to meet their friends: that kills me. Museum--it
never changes. The only difference is you. Hey sally, did you ever get
fed up. I mean did you ever get scared that everything was going to go
lousy unless
you
did
something.
I mean, do you like school and all that
rot. I swear to God I'm a mad man. Did you ever see the show at Radio
City during Christmas. Bunch of phony actors singing
·and
coming out of
nowhere. I told old Sally that old Jesus probably would've puked if He
could see it- -old Sally said I was a sacrilegeous Athiest. Don't see it if
you don't want to puke all over yourself. The Wicker Bar - very sophis-
ticated place. All the phonies were crawling in through the windows
when I'm drunk: I'm a madman. I thought that I had Pneumonia, and I
had died. I started picturing millions of jerks coming to my funeral and
,11
my dopey aunts and lousy cousins. I have this one stupid aunt that has
.
falitosis that would say how peaceful I would look lying there. The only
good part would be that old Phoebe,
my
sister, wouldn't be allowed to go.
All I could picture was me, in the grave, surrounded by all those dead
guys. The night was really
cold
and dark and lonesome, and nobody was
around anywhere: nobody,
nobody.
Oh hell, I'm so lonesome. Good old
Phoebe-gotta see Phoebe
m
y
sister.
Then she said "Name one thing that
you like." Something that I really like.
"Yeah,"
the trouble was I could
not concentrate too hot. Sometimes,
it's- hard to concentrate. About all
I could think of were those two Nuns
that
went around collecting money in
that old beat-up basket made of straw. I like Allie.
"He's
dead." Phoebe,
I got thrown out of school again. That school only had jerks in it, and the
teachers were the phoniest
creeps
I
ever
met. I'm gonna stay with Mr.
and Mrs. Antolini tonight. Now there was a good teacher and what a
3well guy
except
that he was
a
booze-hound. He was a nice guy except
that I think he was a flit; in
fact
, I'
m positive that he was flitty. He once
patted me on the
head
when I
was
in bed. He said that he was just "ad-
miring." I know more damn perverts at school, and all that, than any-
body else and they are always being perverty when I'm around. Phoebe,
I'm going out west and get me a cabin and live in the woods away from
all the phonies and jerks. Can't take you with me? Can't? Then I be-
gan to cry. Go for a ride on the Carousel. First she walked around the
Carousel. That killed me. And it went around and around and around,
just like life. Don't fall off; catch the gold ring; free-ride around and
around. Then I began to cry again. That's all I'm going to tell about.
3lf







I don't feel like it. I really don't. I could tell you what happened when
I got home, and what school I'm supposed to go to next fall, after I get
out of here, and about this damn psychiatrist and all, but I don't feel like
it. It's funny; don't tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing
everyb
.
ody.
I still want to be the catcher in the rye.
At first glance, it seems that the author, J. D. Salinger, is appeal-
ing to his reader by stating that Holden is going through a very tough
period
and is
caught
in the web of transitional anxiety. After all,
according
to the
author,
Holden is
a
reflection of the hollow and shallow
adults
that make up the society of which Holden is a part, and how
can he "sate1lize" with such hollow
adults.
This notion that the author
connotes
can, in my opinion, be dismissed by Ausubel' s definition of
transitional anxiety
wherein he
states:
"The relevent factors
entering
into
the
threat are
new social
expectations
regarding the abandonment
of
old
and
th
e
gaining of a
new bio-social status; the need to accomplish
new
developmental tasks ...
"
This was totally lacking in Holden; he re-
fused any
tasks that made demands of him and responded by blaming
others,
and
all others
are
the phonies. An interesting parallel can be
drawn,
I think, between Holden's "Phonies" and Jean
Paul
Satres
"L'
enfern C'
est
Les Autres", both unhappy and insecure individuals.
What, then, is the basis for Holden's insecurity and Mxiety? The
basis,
I think, is that Holden is a Non-Satellizer. He found it impos-
sible
to relate to his parents. His mother he
considered
a phony, and
his
father
was a
very busy lawyer, who did not have time for his son;
he
also
found it
impossible to relate to the
"jerks"
and phonies around
him;
this would have been
self-immolation.
Ausubel states that "A
c
hallenge
to the individual's sense of
adequacy
raises the question of
whether he
is
siffuciently competent
to manipulate his environment for
purpo
s
e
s of satisfactory adjustment and
maintenance of biosocial po-
sit
ion.
'
'
Holden was ill-equipped and felt incompetent to cope with
ad
justive problems and was overwhelmed in the
end
by his
environment
of
·'phonies'.'
Holden always looked to the future with fear and fore-
boding, as
related earlier when he asked Sally "Did you ever get fed
up or fear that something was going to happen unless you did something."
As
related earlier, Holden, in playing his role, underwent many ex-
periences which were threats to his self-esteem, and his self-esteem
was impaired; to a non-satellizer such as Holden, these threats were
overwhelming.
He therefore felt insecure, as a result of these ex-
periences, because the threats were aimed at his self-esteem.
31









I would, also, place Holden in the category of those who suffer
from neurotic anxiety. Ausubel defines neurotic anxiety as "A form of
a Developmental anxiety (occurring in an individual with a history of
ego devaluation) in which the essential source of the threat to self-es-
teem arises from a catastrophi<;:ally impaired sense of adequacy
.
"
Ausubel further states that "It manifests itself as a tendency to over-
r
eact with fear to any stimulus which threatens to impair self- esteem
further
;
' .
.
. "consists of a limited group of adjustive situations having
special reference to prestige areas in which there is a selected ego-
involvement or painf
ul m
emories of an especially dismal or humili-
ating nature." It
is o
bvious from the foregoing that Holden had a cata-
strophically impaired ego due to .his relationships with others and to
the many humiliating experiences that he went through at the hands of
others.
If
he had be
e
n a satellizer the experiences would not have been
so catastrophic beca
u
se he already would have had feelings of accept-
ance and security, but since he was a non-satellizer the experiences
intensified his feelings of insecurity and anxiety.
Holden's problems, in my opinion, stem from his failure to acquire
intrinsic security and adequacy and worth, because of his relationship
or lack of relationship with his parents
.
Holden thought his mother a
"phony" and his father too "busy." In the area of the
·
d~velopment of a
self-critical faculty, I would say t
h
at since he had an impaired self-
esteem and had acute lack of feeli
n
gs of intrinsic security, he developed
a harsh attitude towards his actions and himself, which in turn made
him give up and not try anything for fear of failure, and. also because
nothing is worthwhile, and society is made up of hollow adults who are
"phonies" and "jerks."
* * *
32






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