The meetings and conferences of May 1st and the coming anniversary of the encyclical Rerum Novarum make this subject one of actual up-to-date interest, because of what has been said of the Church as allied to capitalism and of the contrary statement issued in that well-known document which set all Catholic thought and action in motion against this social malady.

We refer to that economic organism, independent of and superior to business and businessmen, which arises out of the accumulation of fortune and an ever-increasing concentration of wealth, stretching over four centuries, and which has resulted in modern capitalist enterprise as distinct from that enterprise which united capital and labour. Here—according to the most authoritative scientific definition—we have ‘the reign of capital represented by money and securities, which can be quickly concentrated anywhere’; in almost every country the predominance of this phenomenon as a basic rational form of economic life’; here we see a distinct cleavage between those who provide capital and those who contribute to production solely by their work—a double-faced thing, one side of which shows a system of economic relations in which the upper classes who possess the means of production are predominant; while the other side shows an illicit function of capital, evil in its origin, disproportionate in its realisation, harmful in its effects—a veritable social cancer: the formation of a non-specific cellular proliferation, its continuous and progressive growth governed by laws of its own, differing from those of normal tissues, independent of the organism in which it grows and develops, and on account of this independence and expansiveness, parasitic and deadly.

The teaching and attitude of the Catholic Church concerning this fearsome phenomenon, as in respect of peace and against war, may be seen throughout history.

The Royal Commission on Population was appointed in 1944 to investigate the significance of demographic trends in Great Britain which during the 1930 s had caused widespread anxiety. Although the population figures had continued to grow between the two world wars at the rate of about 180,000 per year it was suspected that the birth-rate had fallen below replacement level even to the extent of ‘a substantial margin’ (p. 60).

The main factors influencing the natural increase (excess of births over deaths) of a population are the death-rate and birth-rate. The vast majority of births are to married women and therefore this factor is dependent almost entirely upon the number of marriages and the size of the family. The causes of the changes in the demographic trends in this country over the past seventy years may therefore be sought in four main contributory factors: migration, mortality, marriage and the size of the family.

The most important recommendation in the recently published report of the Royal Commission on the Press is the establishment of a General Council of the Press with the object, among other things, of encouraging ‘the sense of responsibility and public service among all engaged in the profession of journalism’. Apparently it is to do this by ‘censuring undesirable types of journalistic conduct and by all other possible means to build up a code in accordance with the highest professional standards’.

A considerable part of the report was devoted to censuring undesirable types of journalistic conduct, but by itself this is not, perhaps, likely to have very much effect upon the press. Those papers which find they can build up the largest weekly and daily circulations in the world by methods which may not, in the opinion of some, be in accord with the highest professional standards are likely to do so in spite of any General Council which may or may not be set up. If they find they can make good profits by ‘giving the public what it wants’ they are likely to do so in spite of the criticisms of the Commission and the doubts that are expressed from time to time by individuals.

In this connection it is interesting to note that three of the more responsible national newspapers, the Observer, the Manchester Guardian and the News Chronicle, are owned by trusts. These three more or less Liberal newspapers are not run by ordinary commercial companies for the profit of stockholders. They are run on a non-profit basis; that is to say they are run in the interests of their readers.

One of the most frightening happenings in the last few years, and one from which we should take the greatest warning, is the complete subjection of Albania to Communism. Communism is alien to all the spiritual and social traditions of this small mountain people, which in 1939 was one of the most honest and hospitable, if backward, of Europe.

Although Albania is almost 80 per cent Mohammedan, there exist in the wild mountain valleys of the north two tribes of Christians, the Miridits, who somehow had managed to survive the centuries of Turkish rule when the country was part of the Ottoman Empire, This they doubtless owed to their rugged mountain barriers, and we must hope that these same barriers will enable them to preserve their simple faith against the new onslaught. During the War they fought to the bitter end with our Commandos against the Communist partisans, who, although they accepted the arms and supplies, which we dropped to them in the belief that they were a democratic force solely desirous of expelling the Germans, lost no opportunity to insult and humiliate our men. In fact, towards the end, when the Germans were already in full retreat, they openly turned against us. That the few men we had left there escaped was due to the heroic efforts of the Christian tribes under their feudal chieftains; many of these paid for their faith and honour with their lives, while some managed to escape and follow their king into exile in Egypt.

Our Lord thought fit to send Christians into the world without a detailed code of moral theology. He had told them to love God and their neighbour, and left them under the guidance of his Holy Spirit to apply these principles to the very complicated details of the Jewish and pagan world around them. It was obvious they could not admit sorcerers and astrologers and the like, unless they renounced their manner of living. It was universally accepted at the beginning that the Roman stage was no life for a Christian. But what about Roman civil and military service? They did not have to decide at once since the members of this service were not thought likely to become Christians immediately. They were merely officers whom Christians were pledged to respect as holding their authority from God. It was to be for long almost unknown for Christians to have any part in an insurrection. Before any decision had been made about these professions soldiers were asking for baptism. At the beginning the only worry of the Church appears to have been as to whether or how long Christians could avoid taking part in the pagan religious rites or other questionable duties associated with the army and civil service. If Christians could avoid compromising themselves in such matters, it seemed that it would be good enough merely to demand of them a pledge to follow the warnings of St John the Baptist: ‘Do not use men roughly, do not lay false information against them; be .content with your pay’. (Lk. 3, 14.) Jesus Christ had praised the centurion without asking him to change his life.

In a previous article (Our Catholic Heritage, February 1949) the present writer made reference to the generally poor standard of Catholic art in this country and pointed out how very unrubrieal are the majority of our churches. It is not a question of lack of means—many of our churches suffer from over decoration in fabric and fittings—but rather an ignorance of, or at any rate an indifference to, the mind of the Church as expressed in her clearly defined rubrics. Before the advent of the Gothic Revival in the nineteenth century our churches, though usually unpretentious and often poverty-stricken, emphasised the essential purpose of a Christian place of worship to a degree to which too often their more imposing successors have failed to attain. It should always be remembered that the primary purpose of a church is to provide a shelter for the altar upon which is offered the sacrifice of the Mass. A church should be built for the altar, not the altar for the church. The failure of so many churches of the past century to create the right atmosphere is due largely to a confusion of ideas. The mediaeval Gothic church with its screens and spacious chancel belonged to an age when virtually everyone was of the household of the Faith and all were content to accept the Church’s teaching as a matter of course.

The atmosphere, though rich and beautiful, was usually restrained. With the rise of Protestantism in the sixteenth century the authority of the Church was no longer unquestioned and she was compelled to adopt a more aggressive attitude, seeking to impress the senses by emphasising the dramatic side of divine worship.