Communications
COMMUNICATIONS THE DESERT AND THE SOWN Bourbonnais, 111. TO the Editor:-The objection taken to the article of Mr. Day, The Desert and the Sown, in The Commonweal of October 2, by the Reverend T....
...John F. McCormick, S.J., Professor of Philosophy, Marquette University...
...C. Roach Murphy...
...The parallel of fundamental causes, moreover, is necessary if the rank injustice that has been done the Arabs by the British government is not to be hidden and veiled behind what otherwise would seem but a petty outburst of racial hatred or religious intolerance between the Jews and Arabs...
...And in the rush it is readily understandable that in the instance of Dr...
...Day between the actual cause and the occasion...
...But, be that as it may, I cannot be sorry that Dr...
...Surely their thankful prayers will make your own Christmas brighter...
...Bruni's communication to The Commonweal of December 4, the statement made by this reviewer concerning the Thomistic system as "closely interwoven with the expression of the formularies of the [Catholic] faith," should find itself translated into "closely interwoven with the Catholic faith," and so provide the theme for a somewhat indignant and hasty protestation against the attempt to muzzle philosophy...
...At the most, it was merely an occasion, as was the inept handling of the complaints of Jebel Druse by the French commissioner, of the Syrian trouble in 1925...
...I believe I can say this unhesitatingly, considering Father Mathew's fervent wish for the destruction of intemperance-"the fruitful source of so much crime...
...Bruni took the time to make for The Commonweal a clear and strong statement of the relations of the Faith to systems of philosophy...
...The actual cause was the same in both instances...
...And it is high time that the attention of the world be called to the perfidious double-crossing that has been heaped by Great Britain on a defenseless people, whose dire poverty made them necessarily long-suffering...
...BRUNI Milwaukee, Wis...
...FOR THE LEPERS' CHRISTMAS New York, N. Y. TO the Editor:-Christmas for most of our fellow-Americans means a day of joys in abundance...
...The importation, then, by Great Britain, of over a hundred thousand Jews into a land which for centuries has been effectively in the hands of another people was but the kindling of a spark to set aflame the heap of combustibles that had accumulated in the Arab heart for years, and that had been prevented from flaring up long before only by the stifling hand of British intervention...
...So likewise, the Jebel Druse affair was but the incendiary agent in Damascus...
...The trend of his entire article shows that the real cause was the violation of a pledge of freedom to the Arabs and the imposition, instead, of an autocratic form of government by France in Syria and Lebanon and by the British in Palestine and Mesopotamia...
...It has demonstrated to the world, from the violent protests of Jews against the Arabs in most European nations, and more especially in our own country, how tremendous an influence united Jewry exerts, and in face of it, how slender are the chances of justice being meted to the Arabs, unless they are aided by a universal public sentiment, to which they have a righteous claim...
...Coming from a man of Dr...
...If I interpret his article correctly, Mr...
...Incidentally, I might add that the Zionist movement, whether it was the actual cause of all the trouble or not, has had its own peculiar effect...
...FATHER MATHEW ON PROHIBITION Newark, N. J. TO the Editor:-A communication appearing in your issue of November 13 quotes a letter by the Reverend Theobald Mathew anent the noble cause of temperance...
...To what extent, may I ask, has the enactment of the Eighteenth Amendment contributed toward the achievement of this greatly-desired end...
...But to the thousands of stricken ones in far-off leper colonies the only ray of happiness is that which their consoling faith furnishes...
...William Quijktn, National Director, Society for the Propagation of the Faith...
...Your donation, however small, will be gratefully received, and forwarded by us in the Lepers' Christmas Fund to those who need it most...
...Bruni's eminence, such a statement cannot fail to be of very considerable value to your readers...
...Day, The Desert and the Sown, in The Commonweal of October 2, by the Reverend T. L. Sullivan, C.S.V., on the ground that no comparison can be drawn between the recent condition of unrest in Palestine and the Syro-French clash at Damascus in 1925, does not seem to me well founded...
...He has evidently failed to notice the distinction made by Mr...
...Elsie A. Galik...
...A more unhurried reading would have discovered the rather obvious distinction here...
...TO the Editor:-A busy man cannot be expected to devote more than a cursory glance to what reviewers may chance to say about his writings...
...Day in no way intimates that the Zionist movement in Palestine is the actual cause of the present disturbance, as Father Sullivan seems to believe he does...
...A parallel, then, between the two uprisings not only can be drawn, but, in view of this distinction between cause and occasion, is strikingly obvious...
...Personally, from these current Jewish protests, I am led to conclude that the celebrated German philosopher, Herder, although he may have been prone to exaggeration, was far more than an idle dreamer when he predicted that the time would come when the Christian world would discover itself to have been made the slave of the despotism of Jewish finance...
...The Commonweal invites its readers to send in communications on all topics of public interest, regardless of whether or not such topics have been previously discussed in its columns...
...The saintly priest and holy nun-successors of Father Damien-who are giving their lives for these "remnants of humanity" crave from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith an alms to make Christmas brighter for their stricken and impoverished lepers...
...FATHER McCORMICK ANSWERS DR...
...However, the date-line of this letter reads, "Cork, January 14, 1854," and I venture the opinion that had it been written in this year of grace, no approval would have been expressed of the principle of prohibition as carried out here in its present form...
...Day explicitly states: "Back of both is a twofold cause: repudiated promises made to the Arabs when they took up arms against the Turkish overlords, and the age-old European policy of secret treaties...
Vol. 11 • December 1929 • No. 7
