St Mary of the Assumption High School - Assumpta Yearbook (Brookline, MA)

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The price of liberty is eternal watchful- ness. There is no party or group who do not require constant vigilance. A great deal of the political mismanagement and civic corruption, which citizens are in- clined to bemoan when it is too late, can be laid to their inactivity, lack of public interest and to their willingness to leave the entire business of government to those who have gained control of the offices of power of the country, city, state and na- tion. Freedom of speech and of the press as co- adjutors of our educational system, can be used to clarify issues, tell the truth and in- spire to better living, or can become an in- strument of selfish propaganda, confusion, falsehood, intolerance and vicious social warfare largely as the people determine or allow. It is not the amount of freedom and education that determines their content and direction. This can lead to tyranny as well as to the guarantees of rights and can prove a curse as well as a blessing. Cultural freedom can be trusted to sus- tain Democracy only so long as the pillar rests upon the foundation of a spiritual concept of man and society. A pagan, atheistic Democracy is a contradiction in terms. Only where religion is allowed to flourish can there be taught the true basis of human liberty and moral checks be placed upon the development of State abso- lutism. Fortunately, this has been keenly recognized in the United States. Liberty is productive of good only inso- far as it follows and respects the due course of rights and duties. As the grant of a democratic society, it is a dutiful and faith- ful social servant, only insofar as it aban- dons whims and devotes itself to right order. Democracy, like the mystical body of Christ, to which it may well be compared, is composed of many interdependent mem- bers. Like any solid organic structure, it is supported and held together, not by a series of makeshift compromises, but by sound and well-planned foundations and interlocking parts. The whole cannot do without the parts, or the superstructure without the pillars. It is towards the maintenance of these pillars upon the sound rock foundations of human dignity and divine sanctions that Catholics must pledge themselves-that through the service of our fellow man, whom we must love as ourselves, we may attain the full stature of sons of God and heirs of heaven-that through the example of peace, compassion, and universal bounty this nation shall under God in the words of Lincoln, have a new birth of freedom. It is therefore, to a high sense of Chris- tian principle and responsibility to God that we must appeal increasingly, both to the general public and to the governing ofiicials. In this effective inspiration Chris- tianity and the Catholic Church will show themselves the strongest supports of right order, justice and functioning democracy. Only in the teachings of Catholicism do we find the lasting pillars of freedom. FAYE F. GALLIMORE

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Valedictory PILLARS OF FREEDOM What was the appeal made to Pope Pius XII after his Coronation? It was an appeal for spiritual leadership made by non- Catholics and Catholics alike. This must have come as a particularly encouraging evidence of good will to this holy man. There is urgent need for the closer spiritual brotherhood of all persons Who believe in democratic and Christian processes, whose motto, like that of the great Saint Augus- tine is In essentials unity, in non-essen- tials liberty, in all things, Charity. It is upon principles of good government and the development of moral considerations and ethical values in politics that Catholic action must direct its attention. Our polit- ical life and legal professions require men of the highest calibre, unselfish men, men of good principles and vision. They need also a citizenry willing to place the com- mon good before private gain, intent upon justice in social and civic life, interested in political issues, and vigilant of the men confided with positions of trust. Our na- tion mufr rest on the pillars of freedom. The pillars of freedom are religion, morality, unity, liberty and charity. The first of these, religion, has been ignored in many nations and a so-called cult of race and nation has superseded it. Within this cult we find a tendency toward individual expression or corporate and group life, in- dependent of State organisms. The balance between freedom and au- thority, rights and duties, justice and suf- ferance, realization and patience, lies in the hands of the people only so long as they show themselves capable of assuming re- sponsibility and acting with harmony and tolerance This calls not only for good Will, but also for democratic attitudes,education and deeply rooted habits which we call civil virtue 84 Repeated warning and agitation against Fascism and Communism are not enough to maintain the pillars of freedom and Dem- ocracy. Nor shall we maintain our institu- tions by making war upon alleged totali- tarian regimes abroad or blindly accepting the term Democracy wherever it is offered. Our task is rather that of rooting ourselves in fundamentals, and, upon this basis, of contributing actively and vigor- ously to the coordination of all classes of society in the band of Christian Brother- hood. The process of Americanization in con- formity with Christian principle should not mean the loss or abandonment of the human ties and cultural backgrounds of the Old World. Nor need it signify a brusque flattening of all social factors or a headlong letting-down of all barriers between the races. As a matter of fact, there is not much danger of this in any event. But it should mean a realization that Democracy is not promoted by sustaining the antag- onism of social, national, racial group dif- ferences or by regarding these groups as the foundation of American social life and political structure and constantly referring to them as minorities. It is true that Church and State are in two different spheres, so far as their origin, objectives and to a large extent their methods are concerned. Nevertheless, the Church as providing the body of religious belief, keeping alive in men's hearts and minds the conviction of God's existence and knowledge of the moral law, preach- ing the spiritual equality of men, and pro- viding the moral foundations of human rights and duties, is definitely the Pillar of Democracy. Wherever its freedom of ac- tivity has been curtailed, wherever it has been persecuted and placed under civil dis- abilities, the result has been a loss for civic society.

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86 Drama Making up the princi- pals of The Conn! and flve Co-ed Cast. Tzming np for the num- bers in the Belly of Beufzjolair. Cbevkiflg up the alunmi and friends of the Sen- ior Thespians.