Letters, Feb. 15, 1960

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Comments in your magazine regarding the outbreak of anti-Semitism abroad and in this country [Jan. 25] have been very critical (and rightly so, of course). A point you make is that the present outbreak of anti-Semitism is at least partly due to the fact that the present-day German youth is not taught the facts of history; that such embarrassing things as former concentration camps, genocide, etc. are glossed over or ignored by teachers and textbooks.

Isn't some of our own apathy in regard to civil rights due to this same sort of ignorance? Are our young people given the true facts of some ugly aspects of our own history? The chapter in my son's senior high American history book dealing with the Civil War has a pretty picture of smiling, well-dressed colored people standing near a lovely Southern mansion; there is nothing in the text to imply this is anything but typical. MRS. JOHN HECKATHORN Silver Spring, Md.

Last Word

Sir:

I cannot agree more with the comment of my friend Dr. Henry Van Dusen to the effect that all orders are partially invalid in a divided Christendom and that the orders exercised by-the minister of any one group are "invalid" and "incomplete," and have expressed the same thought in an article in the Christian Century in the same week as his letter appeared in TIME [Jan. 18].

He asks why, in connection with my extension of episcopal orders to the Methodist chaplain of Mills College, I did not at the same time apply for a similar procedure at the hands of the Methodist Church. The answer is simple: the Episcopal Church, through Canon 36, has provided for such an authentication while leaving the candidate in his original church; the discipline of the Methodist Church has no provision. We can onlv make ecumenical progress by way of local "breakthroughs," by using avenues provided by the canon law of our respective churches. But Dr. Van Dusen and I are in complete agreement as to the value of using available avenues to the fullest.

(THE Rx. REV.) JAMES A. PIKE Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California San Francisco

A Bit of Gratitude

Sir:

In reference to the ingratitude of the hierarchy for the Ronald Knox translation of the Bible [Jan. 25], TIME should not have missed the letter of Knox Biographer Evelyn Waugh to the Tablet, an English Catholic weekly:

"In January 1945, when royalties from the New Testament began to be paid in considerable amounts, Cardinal Griffin wrote to Ronald Knox asking whether he was 'willing to accept a fair share.' Knox gratefully declined. Any impression that Knox may have been held to a hard bargain against his will is false.

"After the Low Week meeting of 1945, the cardinal wrote to tell Knox that the £200 stipend, which had been discontinued in 1942, would be resumed. He then said: T am delighted to be able to convey this resolution to you, first of all because it does show how much the bishops have appreciated the work you did on the New Testament, and also what you are doing for the Old Testament, and I am sure you will be glad to know how we all support you. Secondly, we feel that we are very much in your debt.'