Feast of the Nativity

CATHOLIC WORKER 6ub•cri ption 1 Vol. XV. No. 9 December, 1948 25c Per Year Price le Feast of the Nativity Stones ON DISTRIBUTISM By ROBERT LUDLOW ox and the ass and the whiteness and Answer to John Cort The white Host blends with an of the anow in Bethlehem of Judea. other Christmas and the redeemed It was but a small time that man By Dorothy Day knelt there in the snow and wor earth which received God on Bread First as to our disregarding the Annunciation day once more pays shipped, for he must quickly leave tere, it was right to heed the 'ln• Popes. Ow· pages in the Catholic wrong not to heed the other. homage to man and to God who to prepare the instruments where The most imposing structure · in by to crucify Him. And the way each city, town or village in this Worker are filled with excerpts Matth. 23: 23." Pius XII. meet in the Divine Person of Jesus from little-heeded addresses of the Here is another good one: Christ. Our Lady of the Snows! back from Bethlehem was long and country of ours is no.t a church cold as the night is cold and black but a bank. ln a way we have Holy Father. Here is one: "The Church wants some limit and she who in anticipation of "Life on the Land is a matter redemption was conceived immac as the deeds of men. It was only studded the nation with monu set to the dwarfing of man himself deserving special concern and con in these days through the emer ulate found refuge, not in the a moment we would have longed m nts not to the love of God, sideration, though too often our gence and dominance of the ma houses of man, but in the moun to remain under the star glow and but to the love Mammon. We sociologists and politicians tend to chine and the continued expansion t ainside and in nature and there worship-there was the security have erected testimonials to the turn their minds instead to the of- large scale industry. AmonJ as a virgin she brought forth the of the womb, the nostalgia for efficacy of thievery and not to holiness, a half perceived desire charity. Fo according to Cath problems raised by the concentra small craftsmen, personal work, till Christ who was to be a man of now at least, has kept its full value. sorrows and acquainted with grief. for redemption. And then we r ose olic doctrine what we possess in tion of large-scale industry. These The craf-tsman transforms bis raw The Cross was light then and the and went our way-from Bethle excess ·belongs to the poor; when latter problems have indeed an ur translucent joy of divine union hem to Golgotha where we would we give of our excess we are not gency and acuteness which we are material and carries through th• bore all prophecy in ease as ·she (Continued on page 3) performing an act of charity but far from questioning, but haec whole of a work; to that work he is closely linked, and in it there is showed forth her Son to the wind are rendering simple justice, and oportuit facere et llla non omit- and the snow and the brown earth. to refuse the poor aid and succor an ample field for his technical skill, his artistic capabilities, J1is Last of all did she exhibit Him to and help is to commit not a sin good taste, his deftness and deli man for there was an element of against charity but against jus Thoughts Oni reluctance in placing Him sooner Rural tice. To keep our ·money and cacy of ouch in making things than need be in the path of His wealth locked up in banks or that, from his point of view, are greatly superior to impersonal and crucifiers. And yet she was full Proleta:riat in the fictional wealth of stocks Property of grace and so she was full of and bonds is to be guilty of theft, standardized mass-produced things. charity and she thrilled to His "The bpurgeols get tbe cream it is to be guilty of stealing from I have been reading Henri de And therefore small craftsmen as for a thousand years. The time will the mouth of Christ. Truly with Lubac's "The Un-Marxian Social a class are, one may say, a picked I manifestation as the star-glow took leave to point out His hiding place come when there will be a the coming of Christ the poor be ist," a study of Proudhon, the so militia defending the dignity and and His manger dwelling and the change," spoke my Yugo Slav fel- came the new chosen people. cial reformer of the middle of the personalit:y of the workmen." divine mother and spouse and the low worker, quoting his grand- ' Jack London a turn of the cen last century. He was a contem And most familiar is that para father in Yugoslavia, as we hewed tury socialist, ·roustabout and ad porary of Marx, and had much in graph of Pius XI: "Bodily labor, the jungle of offshoots around the venture novelist described what is common and much in disagreement which was decreed by Providence date trees. to be the attitude the Chl'istian with him. It has brought to my for the good of man's body and mind some thoughts on property, soul, even after original sin, haa "And now Tito has given the should have in mind when he EASY and the fact that almost none of the (Continued on page 3) peasants the land " he continued. wrote that "a bone to the dog is people have the property to which " In my home to~ when the Nazis not charity-charity Is the bone they have a na~-1 right. ESSAY ~ 11> .kiB ~ ~ are In the first ]mice, lt is interesting TER MAURIN lage prle t pointed in the oppo- Just as hungry a e dog. to note that the vast majortty of site direction from wbirh they had Mindful of the Poor ON Reprinted from an earlief' issue. I people who will eagerly affirm that had gone, b~t the big priests stood The whole contemporary spirit democracy represents the principle (Contmued on page 4) (Continued on page 6) (Continued on page 7) PILGRIMAGE 1. Christianity has nothing to do This has been a tumultuous with either modern capitalism month what with a two-week visit or modern communism PROLETARIAN PROBLEM from Tamar, Rebecca, Susannah for Christianity The 1948 Social Justice Statement, issued their own property, society is more free and Eric. In spite of the fact that has a capitalism of its own l with the authority of the Hierarchy of the and dignified in as much as the citizens we are all convinced agrarians, and a commt•nism of its own. Catholi<i Church in Australia, is entitled develop according to their natures as men there are some things to be said 2. Modern capitalism "Socialization," and this most vital aspect and the stability of the family (and hence in favor of the city. One is that is based on property of a swiftly changing social scene is singled of the nation) is best assured where this some of your friends are held cap without responsibility, 1 tive there by jobs and poverty and while Christian capitalism out for lucid and thorough treatment. It system prevails. Even where enterprises is seen in its true perspective as a problem such like grim necessities. _John is based on property calling for larger capital or more expensive Cort unkindly refers to them in with responsibility. arising out of the proletarian society equipment cannot be undertaken by an last week's issue of the Common· I . Modern communism cre_ated and ~aintained by Industrial Capi individual or family, there is a vast amount weal, as though they were wedded is based on poverty talism. Now that there are so many indica- which could be accomplished by a co-op to the city. Marge and Joe Hughes through force, • tions that . private capitalism is being erative effort-which, on the productive are an example, with their three while Christian communism transmuted into State capitalism, "social side anyhow has scarcely been attempted children. Anyway, the six children, is based on poverty ization" assumes enormous proportions as in this country. racing about our few rooms, made through choice. the chief instrument in that substitution a general hullabaloo and holiday 4. For a Christian of tyrannies. While Catholic social teach- * "' * atmosphere around the place. On voluntary poverty ing does not oppose socialization as such Even in the m_ost ideal arrangement, one occasion· Barbara Bouret with is the ideal whe~ it de':olves aboui ~ome industry or however, there will always be a certain Jr~r two came over, and Harriet as exemplified service which cannot without national proportion of wage-earners, for not all are Sappe and hers, and Ann Freeman by Saint Francis of Assisi, and hers, and if the twins were pr ejudice be left in the hands of individ- a_bl~. C?r willing to undertake the respon only big enough to have joined in while private property uals or corporations, it hedges this theoret- sib1hties that go, with the ownership of is not an al!_solute right, ther.e would have been a riot in· ical approval about with many qualifica- even small productive property. The goal deed. Eric, aged nine months, en but a tru ~ which must be administered tions, so that it must be a measure of last is.

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