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| 75, CCBMJNISH AID CATHOLICISM appoint a permanent committee* In this connection, some note must be made of the priest who has all the virtues needed but one, prudence, It happens that some priests who are intensely interested in social questions may lack good judgment. They are carried away by zeal and forget that progress is made one step at a time. Such priests have proved very use- ful, when guided by a chairman who has prudence. Their energy can be put to invaluable uses. Under firm but kindly control, they are real assets to a social action program. On the other hand the "crank" normally hurts a program. Such a person usually develops a single, oversimplified approach to all questions. He may feel that the social question is ex- clusively a matter of monetary manipulation, or forbidding all women to work, or finding the grand secret conspiracy which is the master group behind Communism, Masonry, and all the other evils of the world* Such a person is best left out of any organized social action movement. Imprudent conduct can be controlled, but varped thinking is difficult to straighten out, National Social Action, Once diocesan programs are begun on a fairly extensive scale, there will arise a normal desire to consult and possibly to federate. It is hoped and expected that eventually social action will become as normal a pattern of specialized priestly activity as charities and education are today. Even today some dioceses have full- time directors. One of the most advanced is Hartford, Conn,, which" under the leadership of Fr. Donnelly has made great forward strides. It is likely that such a pattern will be found useful elsewhere. But the diocesan program will reach its most effective level when consultation and co-ordinated action becomes possible. As a first step, it is likely that the Department of Social Action will step in as the co-ordinating agency* The Department could call annual meetings and more frequent regional meetings which wi11 be purely professional gatherings, comparable to the meetings of diocesan superintendents of education and directors of char- ity. In contrast to the mass social action meetings held in Milwaukee and Cleveland, these gatherings will be private, limited to persons actually working in the field or planning to do so. There would be a minimum of prepared papers and a maximum of organized dicsussion meetings. After some years of this, one can visualize the formation of a formal association, now independent of the Department, organized by diocesan social action directors and other interested persons, A picture emerges of theoretical discussions similar to the famous Semaines Sociales, held by a Catholic Social Science Asso6iation (made up of the existing Catholic Sociological and Economic groups), and of practical discussions by the Catholic Social Action Society, and of interchanges between the two groups. But all this is at present dreaming draamsf ' Such organizations constitute a last step, not a beginning. First priests must be trained, then diocesan groups made active, and only then do national societies become practical. It will be noted that throughout it is urged that organization be from the bottom up rather than from the top down. This does not come easy to us Americans, who by temperament like intricate organizations, elaborate publicity, mass meetings, and the like. There is a definite place for such mass work, such as the Milwaukee and Cleveland Congresses, They have an educational and inspirational value. But decades of European experience, and the brilliant success of Jocisiri, indicate that sound programs are best organized from below, with federation coming later. This does -not mean |