The Future of The Commonweal

...But what the Catholic press needs first of all is to be read, not merely to be bought and paid for by indifferent readers...

...Francis P. Donnelly 347 All Sides of a Question...George N. Shuster 349 A Poet of Soul and Sex...

...We have said that to us by far the most im-portant thing in this issue of The Commonweal is the announcement of our change of policy...

...Where the opinions of its editors, contributors, and readers should differ on subjects as yet unsettled by competent authority, The Commonweal was to be an open forum for the discussion of such ditterences in a spirit of good temper...

...R. Dana Skinner, Grenville Vernon 356 Poems...

...Sufficient support was obtained to begin the work...

...many others are residents of Canada, South America, various European countries, Australia, India, South Africa...

...Elizabeth Case, Raymond Kresensky, Theodore Maynard, Louise Crenshaw Ray, Charles L. O'Donnell, Mary Carolyn Davies 357 Books...

...Similar movements had been launched before...

...We apply one page of our advertising space to setting forth the particulars of this announcement...

...Perhaps only the egotism of its editors could justify, or, at any rate, explain their sense of the importance of their own editorial and business crisis...

...So profound was the effect of these three factors-- namely, scepticism, disbelief, and indifference--that it was soon recognized by the ~roup bent upon making the experiment despite these three factors, that it would be quite impossible to launch such a paper as they had in mind in the ordinary business way...

...We use another page elsewhere to quote some of the favorable things said about us, by other papers and by persons...

...364 THE FUTURE OF THE COMMONWEAL HE of The Commonweal feel very keenly T that editors by far the most important words which this issue contains appear in our advertising pages---the announcement that the price of this journal will now be $5.oo a year, except in the case of those members of the Calvert Associates who choose to continue the pay- ment of $Io.oo a year, or more, in order to support its work...

...It is a happy and hopeful circum- stance that we are able to use the words of others in this connection, more freely, and perhaps more force- fully, than our Own words...

...353 The Play...

...In our first number, we said that The Commonweal was not and would not be the organ of any political party, or of any single school of economic or social theory...

...Nevertheless, there is a time for all things under the sun, and the application of this piece of the wisdom of Solomon, just at present, is that there are excellent reasons why the editors of The Commonweal should now speak out dearly, frankly and simply to their readers concerning the work in which they have been engaged...

...Bagley and the "Moronic I. Q...

...Here and there men and women, touched by such appeals, will open their pocket-books and subscribe to this, that, or the other Catholic periodical...

...It particularly needs vehicles to reach the non-Catholic world in which Catholics after all are such a minority in numbers and almost negligible in their intellectual influence...

...For once at least, we are speaking fair words about ourselves...

...But it was to be in no sense--nor could it possibly assert itself to be--an authoritative or officially authorized spokesman of the Catholic Church...

...All that was left to do was to ask for support in the same spirit as a school asks for sup- port, or an art museum, or a symphony or chamber music organization, or a scientific work--simply be- cause, in their own opinion at least, the work they had in mind to attempt would be beneficial, and there was a real need for the benefits that would flow from it...

...Gladys Graham, Ernest Sutherland Bates, Mary Kolars, Paul Crowley, Agnes Repplier, Thomas Walsh, Frederick H. Martens, T. C. 358 The Quiet Corner...

...Michael Williams 344 Candles (verse)...Henry Morton Robinson 346 Dr...

...In this place we are only referring to the Mexican situation because it is one more proof of another point fundamental to the thesis of The Commonweal, namely, that the duty of enlight- ening those around us concerning the Catholic Church --its principles, its philosophy, its problems--devolves upon Catholics themselves...

...Furthermore, they believed that there should be an organ designed for general circulation that would be definitely Catholic in the presentation of its subject- matter, and that definitely Catholic principles should be applied to the subjects that fell within its editorial purview...

...moreover, if they cease to carry on the apostolic work of Catholicism--which surely is the task of bringing to those not of the Faith at least the social benefits of that Faith, if not the gift of the Faith itself, which God alone has within His keeping--then only Catholics themselves are to blame...

...all had failed...

...The Mexican persecution of the Catholic Church, capital instance of the vitality of the Faith, and of the problems which the clash of that Faith with other forces is producing in the world, has underlined our thesis with the red of blood...

...While, of course, there was a small group who believed that a journal controlled and 138 THE COMMONWEAL February2, I9z 7 .9 .dited by laymen of the Catholic Church could, and ander proper auspices would, do a work of high value in the service both of religion and of the public wel- fare, outside the ranks of this small group there was a wide-spread scepticism, also a deeply rooted disbelief, also an even wider area of blank indifference...

...Yet at the risk of seem- ing to emphasize their egotism, they cannot help but feel that there is more than a personal, more even than an official, or business, reason for believing that the announcement referred to, and the response which it is to receive, is of real public as well as private importance...

...342 Great Hearts and Thoughts...

...When The Commonweal began publication a little more than two years ago, it had a body of between three and four thousand readers...

...Charles Phillips 35I Communications...

...343 The Calvert Series...

...It needs readers to appreciate its merits, to corperate in its work, yes, and to reveal its many shortcomings...

...And yet this issue of The Commonweal deals with many exceed- ingly important things--the unprecedented persecution of the Church in Mexico, the exceedingly grave crisis of attairs in China, and many other matters which are of such consequence that compared with them the fate of a weekly journal might seem trivial indeed...

...These members reside in every state in the country...

...It can even more positively assert that it has exerted an influence nationally out of all proportion to the number of its readers...

...TH E COMMONWEAL A W~kly Rm~,w d Litwalure, The Arts, and Public Agair~ Volume V New York, Wednesday, February 2, 1927 Number I3 CONTENTS The Future of The Commonweal...

...Up to this time we have printed, in our cor- respondence columns, far more unfavorable comments and criticisms than those reflecting favorably upon our work...

...The bishops and the pastors are appealing to their people to in-crease their support of Catholic newspapers, reviews, and magazines...

...The Commonweal can justly daim an international influence...

...They could not ask for subscriptions to a stock or bond issue, because even their own faith and optimism did not--at that time anyhow--go so far as to believe that the publica- tion of their journal could produce any financial profits for anybody...

...337 Week by Week...

...339 What About "The Nation...

...If they do not do any-thing to minimize and overcome the evil effects of public apathy to the just claims of the Catholic Church...

...Far too often, we suspect, the result of such appeals is ephemeral...

...This body of read- ers had been built up by hard work covering a period of nearly two years prior to the publication of the first number of this journal...

...It was, and it was to remain, the independent, personal product of its editors and contributors, lay- men for the most part...

...The three or four thousand readers to whom The Commonweal went with its first message have increased steadily with each issue...

...And while the Calvert Associates, the organ- ization founded to support The Commonweal, are for the most part members of the Catholic Church, they welcomed members of other forms of religious faith, simply uniting in a common belief that religion is at once the foundation and the only sure guarantee of the most desirable forms of civilization and culture...

...February is Catholic Press Month...

...Its pages were open to writers holding different forms of Christian or non-Christian belief...

...As part of its own duty in this movement, The Common- weal goes directly with its case to the present members of the Calvert Associates, and to its other readers, asking the members to remain with us as members, and to co6perate with us in every possible manner in calling the attention of other Catholics, and of intelligent, fair-minded non-Catholics to the fact that now The Commonweal is able to place its subscription price on the same level as other journals of its own kind...

...This is principally due to the fact that the point fundamental to the whole policy of The Com-monweal, namely, the point that the Catholic faith is resurgent throughout the world today with a potency and a multiplicity of manifestations such as has not been witnessed for centuries, has become even more apparent during the two years of The Commonweal's existence than it was when this magazine began publication...

...therefore, they were justified in trying to obtain funds to carry it on for its own sake and not for the sake of profits...