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Page Two THE SKYSCRAPER Feb. 13,1963 Holy Father Speaks Catholic Press Problems Confront Readers For 'Weal' or 'Woe' CU** will not r gt; + -fodWj. Sister ,'s -froz*n 13. /Mayor S/iecfs Light On Traffic Situation Mundelein's unofficial, ever-chang ing 1,200-member track team has been racing rush-hour traffic on Sheridan Road for more than 30 years. But it took Richard J. Daley, mayor of Chi cago, only five months, one visit to the College and one traffic jam to re verse the students from hares to tortoises. There were may ways he could have solved the problem constructing a bridge across Sheridan Road, digging a tunnel under the pavement or pro viding helicopter service from the Scholasticate. The installation of a traffic light on the corner of Kenmore and Sheridan is, however, the most practical solution to the street-cross ing problem. Mundelein thanks Mayor Daley and Paul Wigoda, alderman of the 49th ward, for aiding the passage of an ordinance that was twice defeated in the City Council thus permitting the installation of the light. Eileen Schaefer Every paper published in the name of the Catholic press is nominally on a par with the Osservatore Romano. In 1956 Pope Pius XII reiterated this point. I do not say you make my voice heard, but that you are my voice. Consequently, the public has reason to look to the American Catholic journalist for positive, constructive thinking. His poli cies should strengthen the bond between the laity and their Pope and clarify the position of the Church in the eyes of those who look upon her as an irrelevant relic of the past. These are the considerations which confront the American Catholic during February, Catholic Press Month. Fall Short In actual practice, Catholic publications, which supply the mental and literary pab- lum of the general public, fall conspicuously short of the ideal. The failure is primarily an editorial one. Diocesan papers often em ploy a staff ill-equipped to assume journal istic responsibilities. In most cases antiquated technical prac tices in publication are partly responsible for a product of monotonous uniformity in format, which blazes the endorsement of a diocese or a religious order. With justifica tion, critics assert that Catholic editors must develop modern techniques to reach the bulk of their potential readership. The Catholic press fails to gain the support it warrants because even so noble a product as truth pos sesses little appeal with its wig on sideways. Fail in Support Young people graduating from Catholic universities, men and women who should generously support Catholic journalistic ef forts are failing to do so. And the discour aging mediocrity of many Catholic publica tions continues. The supposition that financial headaches alone lie at the root of Catholic journalistic difficulties is wishful thinking. If this were the case it would follow that papers of larg est circulation and longest traditions of sol vency would be best. The fact is, quite con sistently they are not. More failures spring from the tendency of those in managerial positions to overplay their role of watch dog for purposes of recti fication. Like the near-sighted cormorant they are proving themselves ill-equipped to judge how far they need go in supplement ing judgments found elsewhere in press re leases and on television. It would seem, as one critic said, that some have ... forgotten the sweet reasona bleness of the Gospel in our furious desire to be cracking somebody's skull. Regret tably, a number of well-meaning editors lash out after x of government programs or y of Protestant policies using any stick at all. Exhibit Poor Judgment Anemic journalism, poor judgment and poorer Catholicity is exhibited by those who direct their apostolic guns at Communism. Papers which consistently publish anti- Communist blasts from every source, with out discrimination, find themselves making strange, uncomfortable allies whom they may one day be forced to repudiate. Critics differ on solutions to these prob lems, but on certain points they do agree. Their first target is generally the man hold ing the essential position on every paper, the editor. The Holy Fathers have said that for weal or for woe the future of our press lies in the hands of these men. But it behooves all those in potentially in fluential positions, from reporter to pub lisher, to be liberally educated Catholics with journalistic skill and a strong convic tion that Catholic journalism can measure up to the ideals proposed by the Holy Fathers. The aim of Catholic journalism and the Humor, Insight Mark Last Faulkner Novel by Joy Another notable young man has been added to an already long list of famous lit erary youths in the person of Lucius Priest, William Faulkner's latest and last protago nist, in his novel The Reivers. It has been said that Faulkner was a critic's novelist, and The Reivers is no less an enigma than were his earlier works. Just to solve the geneology of the characters in a Faulkner novel is a monumental task and this last novel is no exception. The hero, (if we can use that word to describe an 11-year-old) Lucius, is the last imaginary descendant of a long line of McCaslins and Edmonds, residing in Jefferson, the county seat of Faulkner's mythical Yoknapatawpha County. Describe Characters Although Lucius Priest is telling the story in the first person, the book is just as much concerned with Boon Hogganbeck, a six-foot- four, muscle-bound giant of a man who is mentally less astute than 11-year-old Lucius when it comes to matters calling for common sense and quick decisions. Nor can the third member of an ill-sorted trio be ignored, Ned William McCaslin, a Negro connected with the family through a blood relationship as well as by his occupation as their coachman. These three compose the trio of reivers (a word meaning one who takes away by stealth or force). The reivers set out on a series of adven tures which are astounding, at times incom prehensible, but never dull. They begin with the theft of Lucius' grandfather's automobile (the first one in Jefferson), proceed at mad cap speed through complications arising from Ned's acquisition of a race horse and end in an attempt to regain grandfather's lost car through a fantastic race. The skul duggery involved in that last maneuver in volves all the people associated with Miss Reba's disreputable house. The plot is fur ther complicated with the lives of these peo ple who make Lucius realize, Non-virtue ce Peifcr had met so puny a foeman in me as to be not even worthy of the name. Fate Rules Faulkner's characters are always black or white never grey. They are evil or good, without much room for in-betweens and they all seem to be driven by fate and submissive to it. In The Reivers, Lucius, submits to non-virtue and in the process loses his innocence. The answer to his re bellion against his new-found knowledge is given to him by his grandfather. A gentle man accepts the responsibility of his actions and bears the burden of their consequences, even when he did not himself instigate them, but only acquiesced to them, didn't say no though he knew he should ... A gentleman cries too, but he always washes his face. The Reivers contains most of the devices one comes to expect in Faulkner novels. At the top of the list is the seemingly endless, unpunctuated sentences, not to mention a plethora of parenthesized digressions. A diatribe on intelligence among animals, an equally humorous but quite pointed com mentary on the over-population and mecha nization of the world at present, plus sym bols a-plenty for those who care to dig them out (my own favorite is a whiskey bottle flung into a rose bush) are unnecessary but fascinating additions. Virtue Outweighs Flaws When one weighs the flaws against the virtues, The Reivers still comes out on the plus side of the ledger as one of the most readable and enjoyable of Faulkner's novels. It has the suspense of a good detective story, the warmth of tongue-in-cheek humor and great insights into human frailty. The young Faulkner wrote startling, enig matic prose filled with heinous crimes. The mature Faulkner wrote The Reivers on what seems to be the level of the common folk. If you'll excuse a cliche, You pays your money and you takes your choice. reading public should be to style and sup port a first-rate daily along the lines of the Christian Science Monitor. Proposals have been made for several of these, set up in different parts of the country. The more than 25 million Catholics in the country have initiated few movements in this direction and lent only feeble support to the efforts which have been made. Must Champion Cause Until the newsmen and people of the American Church champion the cause of Catholic journalism, the potential persua sive power of unadorned truth and irrefuta ble evidence, will lie dormant in the hands of a somnambulistic press. It would seem that the voice of the Pope must be sus tained only in the muffled, incoherent tones of a sleepwalker. Frost Donates Gift Of National Verse To America with love. Robert Frost's gift outright to his coun try might bear such a label. His donation, stripped of extraneous wrapping, was sim ply his poetry and talent. In an era that tends to'measure success in terms of complexity, novelty and assem- ly line efficiency, the poet gained distinction for his forthright expression of fundamental truths we keep coming back and back to. His books of verse captured the Pulitzer Prize four times New Hampshire, 1924, Collected Poems, 1931, A Further Range, 1937, and A Witness Tree, 1943. Columbia, Dartmouth, Yale and Harvard awarded the poet honorary degrees. Con gress formally applauded his work in 1950 as a reliable representation of ourselves and of all men. In accomplishing his ambition to lodge a few poems where they'll be hard to get rid of, like pebbles, Robert Frost instructed Americans in the magic of poetry. He il lustrated that it need not be an art for a few, but an experience for all; an experi ence that begins in delight and ends in wis dom. Because he was concerned with humanity, Mr. Frost cast his influence into all circles of men, including, and perhaps most espe cially, businessmen and politicians. He felt there was need for communication between the arts and the cult of making a living. In the communication he saw an opportunity to create a greater nation. And so, perhaps the honor he most prized was the invitation to read his poetry at the inauguration ceremony of President Ken nedy in 1961. And perhaps the words Mr. Frost would have treasured most were those spoken by the President at his death. He has be queathed his nation a body of imperishable verse from which Americans will forever gain joy and understanding. Jke S kudcraper Vol. XXXIII Feb. 13, 1963 No. 8 All-Catholic The Skyscraper is published semimonthly, October to May inclusive, except during vacations and semester examinations by the students of Mundelein College. 6363 Sheridan Rd.. Chicago 26. 111. Subscription rat* is 2 per year. Entered as second-class matter Nov. 30, 1932, at the U.S. Post Office. Chicago, III., under the act of March 3. 1897. The Skyscraper is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press and the Catholic School Press As sociation. Editor in Chief ... Managing Editor News Editor Assistant Barbara Brzezinski Mary Jo Murray ... Mary Etta Talarico Maureen Racine , Eileen Schaefer Janice Jearas Editorial Editor Feature Editor Layout Editors Pat Krochmal, Dianne Arturi Photographers Rae Paul, Elynore Deutsch Artist , Diane Mazza Staff Assistants Kathleen Sweeney. Pat Collins. Joanne Infantino, Louise Nunziato. Elaine Casello. Carol Jankowski. Tina DeRosa. Maxine Tyma, Molly Palcn. Mary Pat Schlffer, Rae Paul. Sister Mary Bernlta, B.V.M.. Sister Mary St. Eunice. B.V.M.. Barbara Kubicz .
title:
1963-02-13 (2)
publisher:
Women and Leadership Archives http://www.luc.edu/wla
creator:
Mundelein College
description:
Student newspaper for Mundelein College
subject:
Newspapers
subject:
Religious communities--Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
subject:
Students
subject:
Universities and colleges
subject:
Women's education
relation:
Mundelein College Records
type:
Text
language:
English
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coverage:
Chicago, Illinois
coverage:
Mundelein College