Letters, Oct. 15, 1934

Guts

Sirs:

In its story on the new Presbyterian Tribune, and Ed Chaffee, its editor, TIME, Sept. 24, said: "With theological controversy and petty driblets of church news as his stock-in-trade, the religious editor must cut his thoughts to a consistent pattern." To which my answer is, nertz. My objection is to the "must." There are religious journals of that sniveling type; too many of them. They are edited by superannuated ecclesiastics and dominated by boards of pink-minded parsons, whose conception of journalism is a carefully selected and limited set of rubber stamps. But the better religious journals, instead of being the timid house organs you suggest, cover the whole field of human interest . . . with intelligence, alertness, vigor, insight—in fact, with more journalistic guts and vision than scores of so-called secular journals. Let TIME conserve its tears for the press which takes its orders from the counting room.

GUY EMERY SHIPLER

Editor

Churchman New York City

Catholics

Sirs:

. . . The Protestant and Jewish papers may speak for themselves. As Managing Editor of the Baltimore Catholic Review I resent that statement in so far as it applies to many Catholic papers.

The Catholic papers of the country have their own world-wide news agency, the N. C. W. C. News Service. . . . Many of the Catholic papers have their own special correspondents in all parts of the world. They have brilliant editorial writers, who by no means confine themselves to theological discussions. . . . Catholic papers have an international pictorial service. . . . Of course there are some Catholic papers which do not measure up to their opportunities. . . .

We have among our subscribers rabbis, Protestant clergymen as well as cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, diplomats, senators, governors, congressmen, baseball-players, prizefighters, etc. The Review is read in every State of the Union and on every continent. It is read by Esquimaux and Hindus—by red men, yellow men, white men, black men. Its circulation has increased 23% since July and its advertising 200% in the last year.

VINCENT DE PAUL FITZPATRICK

Managing Editor

Baltimore Catholic Review

Baltimore, Md.