The Woman 
In The Home 

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Reverend Hugh Calkins, D. S. M. 

Faith In Our Time 



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The Woman In The Home 



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The Woman 
In The Home 

Thirteen talks delivered in the Faith In Our Time program produced 
by the National Council of Catholic Men in cooperation with the Mutual 
Broadcasting System, from January 2, 1947, through March 27, 1947. 

BY 
REV. HUGH CALKINS, O. S.M. 

Second Edition 10,000 
December 12, 1949 

NATIONAL COUNCIL OP CATHOLIC MEN 
1312 Massachusetts Ave., N.W. 

Washington 5, D. Ci 

Printed and distributed by Our Sunday Visitor 
Huntington, Indiana 



Imprimatur: 
4" J O H N FRANCIS NOLL, 

Bishop of Fort Woyne 

Nihil Obstat: 
REV. T. E. DILLON 

Censor Librorum 

ftStt&Sfisd 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Page 

The Best Days Of Our Years 7 

Who's The Boss At Home? 10 

Woman's Most Important Job . 13 

The Influence Of Good Mothers 16 

The Greatest Educator I Ever Knew 19 

Getting Along In Marriage 22 

What Your Husband Really Thinks Of You 25 

Union Of Souls In Marriage .... 28 

Marriage Is A Challenging Vocation 31 

Meditation For Bachelor Girls 34 

How To Be Happy Though Single 37 

Why Some Women Don't Marry 40 

How To Help Bachelor Girls 43 





THE BEST DAYS 
Address given on 

There is an interesting and 
popular motion picture being 
heavily advertised these days. 
It's called "The Best Years Of 
Our Lives." When you see it or 
read about it, you begin to won-
der: What are the best years of 
my life? Or better still, what 
are the best days of all my 
years? I think the best days are 
today and tomorrow and the best 
year is the one that bowed into 
being this very week. 

I don't mean to sound like 
Pollyanna, but take a look at to-
day and tomorrow. Today is the 
only time-period we're really 
sure we have. And tomorrow is 
the only one we know we haven't 
yet spoiled even a little. The 
past, even the newly-born re-
grets of the year's end, are dead 
and gone. Today is right here. 
We can kneel down and ask God 
f r o m the bottom of contrite 
h e a r t s : "Forgive us our tres-
passes, as we forgive those who 
trespass against us." Then we 
can t u r n with confident hearts 
and say: "Give us this day our 
daily bread," just to remind our-
selves more forcibly t h a t God 
wants us concentrating upon 
each day as it comes. 

OF OUR YEARS 
January 2, 1947 

No matter how seriously we 
offended God through deliberate 
sins in the past, there's no point 
rooting among the dead bones of 
forgiven sins in the graveyard 
of yesterday. God loves us f o r 
what we can still become in the 
bright promise of tomorrow. We 
can face each tomorrow as the 
one day we shall really use well 
and profitably. And who can say 
we're wrong? Maybe tomorrow 
will be our biggest day, maybe 
even the day t h a t will crown our 
service of God with the eternal 
reward of Heaven. 

So today and tomorrow are 
the best days of our years. Let's 
talk about what we can do with 
them. Let's talk especially about 
things we shall correct and im-
prove in our home and family 
dealings. I don't want to sug-
gest your New Year resolutions 
f o r you, but maybe some con-
structive thoughts about you and 
your family will produce resolu-
tion and reform. 

Contrary to moldy wisecracks, 
good resolutions do some good. 
If they do nothing else, they wilt 
somewhat the starchy f r o n t built 
up by our conceit. Getting our-



8 THE WOMAN IN THE HOME 

selves to even admit our f a u l t s 
is a great good. With most of 
us, Humility is t h e virtue we 
need most and practice the least. 
Oh, we give lip service to t h i s 
charming virtue. But way down 
deep we're p r e t t y much in love 
with ourselves. So a f e w resolu-
tions which make us see t h e 
t r u t h about our faults, make us 
determined to t r y to improve, so 
life will be more pleasant f o r all 
those around us, such resolutions 
do some good. Bad as we are, 
how much worse we'd be, if we 
never made resolutions. Made 
properly and sincerely and a t the 
r i g h t time (and a hangover 
period is not t h e r i g h t t i m e ) , 
resolutions can change lives and 
eternities. Notice w h a t they did 
f o r Mary Magdalene, t h e Good 
Thief Dismas, St. Paul, St. Au-
gustine. 

How about s t a r t i n g off w i t h : 
This year I shall fulfill t h e basic 
purpose of my existence on 
earth. We all believe we were' 
created to know, to love, and to 
serve Almighty God and thus to 
win happiness on e a r t h and f o r -
ever in Heaven. Let's act like 
people who really believe t h a t ' s 
our main job on e a r t h . To know 
God I must keep in touch with 
Him and t h a t means I m u s t 
p r a y each day. If I haven't been 
praying, why not? Because God 

never gives me what I ask f o r ? 
Well, t h a t ' s not the only point in 
prayer. We p r a y in order to pay 
our debts to God, to maintain 
contact with Him, not merely to 
win f a v o r s f r o m Him. 

Take the next m a t t e r of our 
destiny—to love God. When you 
love anyone, you do the things 
t h a t please him. God has made 
known to t h e whole human race 
His divine laws through t h e Ten 
Commandments. Why not set 
them up f o r yourself and your 
family a s Rules f o r Successful 
Living you really intend to ob-
serve. Christ Himself reminded 
u s : "If you love me, keep my 
commandments." Do you think 
we'd have t h e t r a g i c moral chaos 
America lives in today, if the 
Ten Commandments were so 
recognized? 

To love God and to serve Him 
a r e two efforts t h a t a r e like one. 
If we were to condense the Ten 
Commandments, we could make 
them over into two—Love God 
and Love Your Neighbor f o r t h e 
sake of God. If we kept God's 
laws, or a t least kept on t r y i n g 
hard to observe them, and if we 
helped our neighbors' bodies and 
souls to please God, we'd fulfill 
our God-given destiny. N a t u -
rally, we'd see our most impor-
t a n t neighbors a r e the members 



THE BEST DAYS 

of our own family. We'd start 
making our homes God-like. 

That should be the second 
resolution: We shall make our 
homes truly God-like. Our model 
could be God's own family— 
Jesus, Mary, Joseph. How soon 
such a resolve would make us 
fulfill our jobs as parents, obedi-
ent children, married partners. 
The endless quarreling which 
wrecks the peace of so many 
homes would be cured by genu-
ine kindness and consideration. 
The cursing, swearing, foul lan-
guage which so often sets the 
pattern of children's bad habits 
could be cured by adults in the 
home. Sure, there might be fail-
ures, but the steady effort at 
trying teaches children. 

Instead of the corner tavern, 
the local movie house or the 
neighborhood drugstore being 
the center of activity for family 
members, suppose we make home 
the place where everything 
starts. That means taking time 
to stay home, plan with children, 
be patient with their noise and 
their friends, but can you think 
of a better way to cure the youth 
problems everybody cries about? 
The annual cost of crime to each 
American citizen is now one 
hundred and fifteen dollars a 
year. We spend entirely too 

OF OUR YEARS 9 

much to correct our delinquent 
citizens, over twenty per cent of 
whom are classified as youthful. 
Yet every expert on the subject 
admits the main cause of such 
crime is the broken home. And 
homes are broken because God 
and God's ways of thinking and 
acting have been cast out. Why 
not put God back in our homes 
and make families really chil-
dren of God? 

The third resolution, and this 
is the last since it's not wise to 
make too many, is: We shall re-
gard our children and their in-
terests as more important than 
anything except our duties to 
God. The major sins in families 
today could be cured if children 
would be had and seen. Our age 
not only refuses to let children 
be born, it tries to sidetrack 
their living off the main high-
ways of thoughtful adult atten-
tion. We adults get so interested 
in world problems and national 
affairs that we forget the really 
important people for whom we 
are trying to build a better 
world. So our three resolutions 
are: Give God first place in our 
love and service: make our 
homes God-like: give children 
our full attention. 

Let's check on these next 
week. Until then, God be with 
you. 



WHO'S THE BOSS AT HOME? 
Address given on 

They say the mark of a train-
ed mind is the ability to make 
distinctions properly. If we hope 
to understand a woman's proper 
role in the home we must keep in 
mind a few simple distinctions. 
The first one is: Husband and 
wife have separate roles to ful-
fill at home. The husband is the 
head of the home. The wife is 
the heart of the home. So while 
the husband may lawfully claim 
the chief place in ruling, the 
wife may and ought to claim for 
herself the chief place in love. 
Thus an "order of love" is built 
up in the family. Man's head-
ship is recognized and woman's 
dignity is clearly maintained. 

The next distinction to keep 
clearly in mind is: Husband and 
wife must blend the fulfillment 
of their separate roles into one 
happy combination. Since both 
are responsible to God as cooper-
ative partners in a lifelong 
contract, they must work to-
gether in harmony. There should 
be no arguing about "I'll show 
who's boss around here." Such 
quarreling can be headed off by 
recognizing definite limitations 
f o r the separate spheres of in-
fluence husband and wife gov-

January 9, 1947 
ern. A husband must not so 
bluntly assert his right to rule 
that he destroys the peaceful at-
mosphere of love built up in the 
home by his wife. A wife must 
not so softly pet and pamper 
children that she makes proper 
rule by the husband fail. 

And both must always remem-
ber this distinction: Fulfillment 
of a God-given role never justi-
fies excessive domination. If a 
husband seeks to make a wife 
obey his every whim and mood, 
regardless of common sense and 
reasonable fairness, he misuses 
his right to rule. His wife is not 
bound to be subject to silly ca-
price but only to lawful author-
ity. Yet if a wife uses her af-
fection and womanly charm to 
unfairly dominate her husband, 
she misuses her first place in 
love. If she selfishly builds up 
her own stock with her children, 
while tearing down the respect 
they owe their father, she is de-
frauding her husband of his 
rights. 

Both husband and wife can sin 
against God's laws that surround 
their contract by unfairly ex-
erting influence upon each other. 
Take a case like this. A hus-



WHO'S THE BOSS AT HOME? 11 

band blusteringly says: "You're 
my wife and you'll do what 
you're told." Then he proceeds 
to order her to sinfully break 
the laws of God. Perhaps, from 
selfish motives, he would demand 
from her so much attention that 
she would neglect her home and 
children. Isn't it obvious that 
wives must not and dare not 
obey such abuse of power? 

On the other hand, the wife 
may cause the husband to sin. 
Suppose a w i f e complains: 
"Well, if you really loved me, 
you wouldn't demand that I bear 
so many children." Isn't she 
using her power of love to en-
courage violations of the mar-
riage contract? And won't God 
hold her responsible for just 
that? If a wife by whining 
criticism and indulgent self-pity 
dodges her way out of wifely 
duties that God demands of her, 
isn't she misusing her su-
premacy of the heart? Isn't such 
abuse often as productive of sin, 
of unhappiness in the home, as 
the brutal tyranny of a husband 
who misuses his right to give 
orders as head of the house? 

So you see it's not easy to de-
cide who's boss at home. Both 
partners soon discover their 
spheres of influence closely in-
tertwine. Wouldn't they do bet-

ter to labor for unity rather 
than to seek domination over one 
another? Many a wife is un-
happy today in her home, pre-
cisely because she refuses to 
humbly accept the proper sub-
jection to her husband that God 
expects of her. It's one of life's 
startling but constant para-
doxes: women are most unhappy 
when they are not properly sub-
ject to men. The reason is: 
When woman is properly subject 
to man, she fulfills her true role 
of wifehood and motherhood and 
she finds contentment in loving 
and being loved. Aren't women 
the first people to admit they 
soon come to despise a man they 
can easily dominate? When a 
wife keeps her own liberty as an 
individual and yet dutifully 
obeys the reasonable commands 
given her through lawful au-
thority exercised by her hus-
band, she finds peace in her own 
heart and brings the blessings of 
God upon her home. 

If you study the Sacred Scrip-
ture, you'll find clearly revealed 
by God the proper relationship 
husband and wife should enjoy. 
Begin with the first book of the 
Bible, Genesis, and you see 
Woman was created by God as 
man's helpmate, not his slave. 
Man and woman constituted the 



12 THE WOMAN IN THE HOME 

initial partnership of the human 
race. Both had to act in the in-
terests of t h a t partnership. Dis-
associated f r o m the partnership 
of a life in coinmon, each stood 
equal before God. Whatever sub-
ordination was imposed upon 
woman by reason of her physical 
structure and her role of wife 
and mother, was purely f o r the 
benefit of the partnership as 
such, and not f o r the benefit of 
the man as an individual. 

Study carefully the Epistles of 
St. Paul and you'll discover in 
sharp detail how husband and 
wife must work together with 
God in family life. "Be subject 
to one another," he says, "in the 
f e a r of Christ. Let wives be 
subject to their husbands as to 
the Lord . . . Husbands, love 
your wives, j u s t as Christ also 
loved the Church . . . I would 
have you know t h a t the head of 
every man is Christ, and the 
head of the woman is the man, 
and the head of Christ is God" 
(Ephesians 5: 21-26; 1 Corin-
thians 11:3). Thus the ideal ex-
pressed by Saint Paul is an 
orderly subjection of wife to 
husband and husband to Christ. 

Such an ideal ennobles both hus-
band and wife. 

The greatest example f o r mar-
ried p a r t n e r s to study and imi-
tate is the Holy Family at Na-
zareth. Watch Jesus, Mary and 
Joseph live out their family life 
and you see how noble is obedi-
ent subjection accepted out of 
love f o r God. If Christ could 
obey two earthly creatures, if 
Mary could obey a husband vast-
ly her inferior in holiness and 
intelligence, if Joseph could 
humbly but firmly rule over t h e 
holiest persons earth has ever 
seen, cannot today's families live 
in peace by carrying out their 
roles assigned them by God? 
This month, all over the Catholic 
world, we honor in a special way 
The Holy Family. Will you pause 
with us and offer a prayer, per-
haps with your own family pray-
ing together, to Jesus, Mary, 
Joseph? Ask them to teach you 
and your family to fulfill the 
New Year resolution we spoke of 
last week—to make your homes 
more God-like. Next week we'll 
speak of Woman's place in public 
life. Until then—God be with 
you. 



WOMAN'S MOST 
Address given on 

A woman's work is never 
done. And her influence can 
never be limited just to her 
home. When women live truly 
womanly lives, they richly bene-
fit their families, their nations, 
all humanity. That is why 
women must always remember 
just what their most important 
work is. If women become con-
fused about the task facing 
them, all society becomes con-
fused. One of the main causes 
of our social unrest today is that 
women either don't know, or for-
get, or underestimate their 
greatest task. 

Here's an example to illus-
trate. A young mother wrote 
me recently: "You know, when 
I discovered I was expecting my 
third baby in the fourth year of 
my marriage, I was not dis-
pleased. Neither was my hus-
band. But, oh, my parents, in-
laws and friends—I knew they'd 
throw up their hands in exasper-
ation. I felt I couldn't bear their 
saying, 'What, another?' I had 
to do something to save face in 
their eyes. 

"In the months that followed 
I became inspired, and despite 

IMPORTANT JOB 
January 16, 1947 
my usual h e a v y household 
duties, found time to produce 
two magazine articles which 
were published, and won a big 
prize in a radio contest. All the 
family was delighted. I was no 
longer a drudge to be pitied, but 
a career woman. And when the 
baby finally came, they let me 
have him without a complaint." 

This young mother saw things 
clearly. Her family and friends 
did not. She saw that a married 
woman's greatest task is home-
building. Her friends, like so 
many modern people, looked 
down upon motherhood and gave 
careers outside home a phoney 
glamor they don't really have. 

Obviously, many women must 
and will find their lifework in 
careers outside the home. Of 
course, many women will suc-
ceed in blending the task of 
home-building with other car-
eers like writing, teaching, act-
ing. But it still remains t r u e 
that f o r most women, aside f r o m 
members of religious orders 
dedicated to God's service, num-
ber one career is and always 
should be home-making. I t is not 
so regarded today by many peo-



14 THE WOMAN IN THE HOME 

pie. And because it isn't, we 
have women confused about what 
they want to be and want to do. 
All too often, many years too 
late, you'll hear women, success-
f u l in varied careers complain: 
" I wish I had married and had 
several children. I'd have been 
much happier than in career 
life." 

Now I'm not saying all wo-
men must m a r r y and all women 
must have children. God's plans, 
and the working of n a t u r a l laws, 
not to speak of social influences 
by the the dozen, make m a r r i a g e 
and children j u s t "out" f o r 
many women. But I do emphat-
ically say: We must acknowledge 
and teach others to acknowledge 
that home-making should be con-
sidered woman's most important 
job. If you think it now enjoys 
such prestige among the wives 
of today and tomorrow, j u s t 
question young people about 
what they'd like to be. You'll be 
surprised a t the glamor they at-
tach to careers outside t h e home 
and the drudgery they associate 
with home-making. 

Yet, by contrast, notice the 
article carried this month by 
Ladies' Home Journal. I t ' s call-
ed "If I Were 21" and many dis-
tinguished career people give 
their answers. Notice t h a t both 

Irene Dunne and Clare Luce, 
eminently successful career wo-
men in stage, screen and poli-
tical lives, both admit they'd 
build their whole lives around 
home and children. And Irene 
Dunne even says: "I'd m a r r y 
young and have several children. 
I'd aim h i g h ; mere security is 
too poor a bargain to strike with 
life." 

Why look back upon life to 
say such things? Why aren't 
they said today to young wives, 
mothers, girls planning mar-
riage? Though women in their 
hearts know how t r u e it is t h a t 
home-making is first in impor-
tance, they often are led astray 
by silly men and sillier women 
telling them j u s t the opposite. 
Do you notice the constant effort 
to make home-making seem like 
a narrowing influence upon a 
woman? So many people t r y to 
show today's women home-mak-
ing is dull, obscure, unimpor-
tant. 

When I hear such talk, I al-
ways think of Gilbert K. Ches-
terton's famous comment. In his 
What's Wrong with the World, 
he says: "To be Queen Eliza-
beth within a definite area, de-
ciding sales, banquets, labors, 
and holidays; to be Whiteley 
within a certain area, providing 



WOMAN'S MOST IMPORTANT JOB 15 
toys, boots, sheets, cakes and 
books; to be Aristotle within a 
certain area, teaching morals, 
manners, theology and hygiene; 
I can understand how this might 
exhaust the mind, but I cannot 
imagine how it could narrow it. 
How can it be a large career to 
tell other people's children about 
the Rule of Three and a small 
career to tell one's own children 
about the universe? How can it 
be broad to be the same thing to 
everyone, and narrow to be 
everything to someone? No, a 
woman's function is laborious 
not because it is gigantic, not 
because it is minute." 

We don't hear enough of such 
talk today. There's an enduring 
quality to t r u t h that's exceed-
ingly irritating to fidgety minds. 
Many of today's women should 
calmly sit down and use their 
God-given intuition to work out 
mentally a t r u e picture of wo-
man's role in family and society. 
They wouldn't frighten them-
selves and their youngsters so 
much about the awful burdens 
of family life. They wouldn't 
surround childbearing with so 
many bugaboos and supersti-
tions. They would give mother-
hood and home-making their 
proper evaluation. Difficult, yes, 
but eternally important. 

As the witty Father Leonard 
Feeney says: "I sometimes think 
mothers get more pity than they 
require. There is so much talk 
lately about how difficult it is 
to bear a child, and too little 
talk about how nice it is to have 
one. If babies were not worth 
the confinements and pains they 
cause, there would not have been 
a billion of them born in the past 
hundred years. Motherhood is 
never honored by excessive talk 
about the heroics of pregnancy." 

The family is the foundation 
of all larger social foundations. 
A nation can flourish only to the 
extent that it is composed of 
healthy, flourishing families. 
But the family can endure only 
if the woman spends herself 
wholeheartedly to create a real 
home. "Not in the branches of a 
tree but in its roots do force and 
power reside." Woman is at the 
very roots of social life. If wo-
man looks down upon her great-
est job, neglects her task in the 
family, nothing can take her 
place. The family breaks down 
and with it the whole society. 
Next week we'll discuss the 
powerful influence of a good 
Mother. I knew her well: she 
was my own. Until then, God be 
with you. 



THE INFLUENCE OF GOOD MOTHERS 
Address given on 

Will you forgive me f o r being 
personal today? I'd like to tell 
you about good mothers and 
their influence. And the best 
way I can is to talk about my 
own mother. I know there have 
been many other good mothers 
like her, maybe your own. And 
I'm sure there will still be many 
more like her in days to come, 
maybe among your children. I'm 
not talking about her because I 
think she was the only one of 
her kind. I'm telling her story to 
encourage other women to bring 
forth more of her kind. Good 
mothers could cure most of to-
day's heartaches. 

Some people today would con-
sider our family too large. My 
Dad and Mother didn't figure 
things that way. To them, God 
was the Boss of the Universe. 
They felt that if God knew just 
how to guide the suns and stars 
in the heavens, He also knew 
bow to guide families. For my 
Mother, all her children were so 
many g i f t s f r o m God. To her, 
they were souls clothed in an en-
velope of flesh she had provided. 
They were souls with an eternal 
destiny which she must watch 

January 23, 1947 
over and guide. They were souls 
who would influence other souls. 

God was generous in sending 
children to my mother. As the 
last of twelve, as the one who 
most richly shared her generous 
passing on of new life, I am 
glad to pay her tribute today. So 
often, when I tell an audience of 
teen-agers my mother had twelve 
children, they groan; then laugh 
with a sad note of mocking pity. 
They've been taught to look 
down upon such childbearing. 
Still, they always feel hushed 
and a bit silly, when I remind 
them: "Don't laugh too hard. 
I'm the twelfth and it's awfully 
nice to be alive." 

Wasn't it a wonderful world 
f o r children a few decades ago? 
In our crowded Chicago neigh-
borhood, life was so exciting be-
cause there were always lots of 
kids to play with. And don't we 
have to admit that it was a 
wonderful world even for those 
parents who didn't feel it too 
much of a burden to bring up 
what may seem to some of us 
now as rather large families. 

Years a f t e r my birth, Mother 
would tell us about her early 



THE INFLUENCE OF GOOD MOTHERS 17 

trials and struggles. Only three 
of us were home then. The older 
ones had gone on to marriage 
and religious life. There were 
only two careers in our house. 
You either served God in relig-
ious life as a priest or a n u n : 
or you served God in the noble 
vocation of marriage. Never did 
my Mother let us forget mar-
riage was a noble vocation. We 
heard many a story about hus-
bands and wives who became 
saints by raising good families. 
And as we listened, we kept 
thinking what a saint she was, 
to raise us. 

Well, her struggles were long 
and tough. Many a day she had 
only God to trust for the things 
her children needed so badly. So 
often when I hear moderns com-
plain: " I t just isn't right to 
bring children into this world, 
unless you can properly care for 
them," I think of my Mother. I 
have never regretted a single 
sacrifice we had to make, a 
single need that was unsatisfied. 
But, what a tragic thing had she 
never let us be born. 

One of her frequent explana-
tions about raising children 
was: "It's not really so tough. 
You don't really raise twelve at 
a time. Look at you youngest 
ones now. You're growing up in 

a family of five. God is good. He 
always fits the burden to the 
back and gives the grace we 
need." You can see why, years 
later, we children always figured 
there was no job in the priest-
hood or religious life or mar-
riage that was too tough. My 
mother had taught us well by 
example. She had good techni-
que. 

Like the time I came home, 
announcing I would be a lawyer 
some day. "That's nice, law is a 
noble profession," she smiled. 
"But don't you think you'd like 
to be a priest like your brothers 
some day? A lawyer fights f o r 
human rights before a court of 
justice. But a priest fights for 
the good of human beings before 
God's own Court of Heaven." 
As a born teacher, my mother 
knew how to appeal to youthful 
idealism. 

And the appeal paid off in life-
long results. Four of us became 
priests, one daughter became a 
nun, the others went on to 
Heaven or on to raise large 
families of their own. Three 
children died during childhood 
years, and so nine of us went on 
living out the ideals Mary Ellen, 
as we called her, had so well 
and so patiently taught us. I've 
often thought of the influence 



18 THE WOMAN IN THE HOME 

women like her exert, long a f t e r 
they're dead. She's dead over 
fourteen years now: yet last 
month a college girl wrote me 
this sweet compliment f o r my 
Mother: "We'll be getting mar-
ried in Spring. We've decided 
we'll do j u s t as Mary Ellen did 
in her marriage—let God be the 
Boss always." Mother is still 
influencing people. 

J u s t a f t e r I became a priest, 
back in 1937, I wrote a letter 
about my Mother. It was ad-
dressed to her . memory and 
among other things said: 
"Thanks, Mom, f o r everything I 
am today. Thanks, f o r I'd never 
be a priest except f o r you. That 
long night years ago—the night 
of acute pain, the night you 
trod the precipice-edge of death 
t h a t I might live—for t h a t night, 
thanks. For t h a t vision of love-
liness you presented when I first 
saw your proud smile (smiling 
at me, a f t e r the pain I caused 
you)—for t h a t moment, thanks. 
Not till a f e w years ago did I 
realize how much I did cost you. 
Now I know I was the last of 
many, t h a t things were tough 

then, but sacrifices were made by 
Dad, you, all the children, f o r 
t h e youngster God was sending. 
Because I know t h a t now, and 
you knew it even better then, 
and didn't flinch, didn't act sel-
fish, but gave me the priceless 
g i f t of life—thanks. 

"There were quite a f e w hard 
days f o r you, as we grew up. 
We were laughing with carefree 
abandon, but you were skimping 
and budgeting. We were able to 
see shows, dance, play games, 
get fine schooling, because you 
stayed at home being a Mother. 
I t meant you gave up many a 
party, many a venture into the 
social whirl, many a good time. 
We enjoyed life, because you had 
shared life. Life was only an 
antechamber to Heaven in your 
eyes. We children to you were 
never unwanted but souls given 
to you by God. Thanks, Mother, 
f o r making good at your voca-
tion." 

Next week, we'll discuss a 
woman's role as a teacher in her 
own home. Be listening, please, 
Until then, God be with you. 



THE GREATEST EDUCATOR I EVER K N E W 
Address given on 

You have probably guessed it 
already. The greatest educator 
I ever knew was my own Moth-
er. Although she herself never 
got much beyond seventh grade, 
she was, like so many wives and 
mothers, a successful educator. 
Notice I'm not saying a great 
teacher. Good teachers are 
plentiful. Teachers are people 
who impart knowledge of facts, 
train others in acquiring mental 
and physical skills, or help 
others develop know-how meth-
ods of various arts and sciences. 
But an educator, ah, that is 
something or someone else again. 
That's a teacher who goes be-
yond teaching facts, skills, meth-
ods, and teaches you how to live. 
An educator brings out all the 
moral, mental, physical powers 
you have within you. 

Well, my Mother was a great 
educator. Like most priests, I 
have studied under many teach-
ers. When I was ordained a 
priest twelve years ago, I had 
spent most of my waking hours 
under teachers of all types. The 
average priest is ordained at 
twenty-five years of age. By 
that time he's been trained by 

January 30, 1947 
grammar-school teachers, high-
school instructors, college and 
seminary professors, maybe even 
a few post-graduate advisers. 
And of all the dazzling array of 
bright, mediocre, brilliant teach-
ers I knew those first twenty-
five years of my life, Mary 
Ellen, my Mother, was easily the 
most successful. Because she 
knew how to educate f o r keeps. 

First of all, she started out 
right. She surrounded us with 
a rich world of affectionate in-
terest. We didn't get this treat-
ment of: "You'll do what I say, 
because I'm the boss exercising 
authority." Oh, no, it was al-
ways: "I'm counting on you to 
make good. God expects certain 
things f r o m you. Don't offend 
Him by failing. And don't hurt 
me, because I believe in you." 
She didn't ever use such words, 
but that was the kind of atmos-
phere she created. We did things 
out of love as well as fear. Sure, 
we feared punishments that 
might fall, like the swift slap 
from my f a t h e r ' s huge hand. 
But we did things much more 
from love; you just couldn't h u r t 
Mother's feelings. There was 



20 THE WOMAN IN THE HOME 

very little corporal punishment 
given out a t our home. But 
there were other methods even 
more effective. 

Like the time I was caught 
smoking without any permis-
sion. I t h u r t badly enough t h a t 
Dad had seen me. The silence 
a t the evening meal was even 
worse. My feeling SICK and naus-
eated f r o m the pipe tobacco was 
agony. But what broke me down 
was my Mother's simple query: 
"How could you lie to me like 
t h a t ? " The disappointment in 
her voice was like a whip across 
my back. The resolve I made not 
to disobey or lie like t h a t again 
came r i g h t f r o m my inmost soul. 
See, a good educator brings out 
f r o m within you the powers f o r 
good living God put there. 

All of us as adults admit we'll 
always do more f o r people who 
love us. Why do so many parents 
today f o r g e t t h a t ? Why will 
they f a i l in the precious early 
years to give children t h e i r 
whole-hearted interest and a f -
fection, and then in teen-age 
trouble spots suddenly demand 
perfect obedience? Children to-
day constantly complain: " P a r -
ents are not interested in us and 
what we like and enjoy. They're 
interested only in forbidding us 
to do things." A good educator 

never merely forbids. By his 
affectionate interest he brings 
out of the child's own soul the 
realization t h a t certain thoughts, 
deeds, associations are not good 
f o r him. 

Take the matter of ideals. My 
ideas of womanhood, like almost 
any boy's, were all tied up with 
my Mother. All my life I'll keep 
a kindly attitude towards wom-
en, because my Mother was kind 
to them. Over and over I saw 
her leap to the defense of women 
whom cruel gossip attempted to 
crucify. She made you think 
t h a t all women had possibilities 
of greatness. So often I've ap-
plied to men like myself who 
had Mothers like her Alfred 
Tennyson's lines: "Happy he 
with such a Mother. F a i t h in 
womankind beats w i t h his 
blood." 

There was always a religious 
atmosphere in our home. I don't 
mean a stuffy kind t h a t poured 
gloom over our gay spirits. But 
I mean the happy kind t h a t made 
us understand God and ourselves. 
I guess everybody knows how 
important Sunday Mass is to 
Catholics. They are obliged un-
der pain of serious sin to offer 
this great sacrifice to God each 
Sunday. They are t a u g h t t h a t 
is the way to fulfill their wor-



THE GREATEST EDUCATOR I EVER KNEW 21 

ship obligations to God. Well, 
my Mother never gave us a long 
pep talk about going to Mass 
faithfully. She did something 
much better. Each day, for more 
than twenty years, she walked 
five blocks to daily Mass and re-
ceived daily Communion. It was 
the greatest sermon on the Mass 
I ever saw or heard. It wasn't 
so surprising that several of us 
children started the same prac-
tice along about fifth grade. 
Mary Ellen had no trouble about 
our going to Sunday Mass. Her 
example had educated us to ap-
preciate Mass. 

With the girls in our family, 
there were similar lessons by 
example. Mother never played 
the martyr role about how dif-
ficult it was to have babies. She 
would admit that labor pains 
had been pretty tough, but then 
go on to talk about how won-
derfully consoling children are. 
"Don't be afraid to t r u s t God 
all the way," she'd tell the girls. 
"He knows just how much your 
health can stand. He still must 
create a distinct soul for the 
body provided by parents in mar-
riage. He will watch over the 
soul He sends. God and your 
husband and you are triple part-
ners." 

As any teacher can tell you, 

the matter of allowing for in-
dividual differences in pupils is 
vitally important. Women have 
a keen sense for treating each 
person as a particular person. 
So women often are better edu-
cators than men : they bring out 
more effectively the personal 
g i f t s and talents of separate chil-
dren. Mother did that with each 
one of us. Though we all had 
chances to study music, she soon 
turned one boy to vocal train-
ing, another girl to dancing les-
sons, instead of the piano train-
ing I received. The knack of 
seeing what we were best equip-
ped to do was one of her keen-
est powers. As someone said 
about her later: "She was not 
a sculptor-mother, forming her 
children like statues according 
to a preconceived model in her 
mind. She was a gardener-moth-
er, constantly cultivating each 
individual plant with personal 
care and attention." 

May the example of mothers 
like mine encourage today's 
mothers to be educators, to 
transmit the best traditions of 
civilization, culture, religion to 
tomorrow's parents. 

Next week we'll discuss : "Why 
Husbands Fail to Understand 
Wives." 



GETTING ALONC 
Address given on 

Today's broadcast is based up-
on two family quarrels. I was 
called in as a priest to help set-
tle the difficulties. The basis of 
both quarrels was a failure to 
understand that men and women 
are different. Actually, it was 
as simple as that. The solution 
emerged when both husbands 
and wives determined that get-
ting along in marriage means 
being willing to cooperate. Sure, 
they knew that already, but it 
had to be reinforced in their 
consciousness as a rule to live 
by. 

Day by day I become more 
convinced that husbands need 
training in understanding why 
women act like females. Take 
the first of these two quarrels. 
Jane called me up, all excited, 
almost hysterical: "That ends it, 
Father. I'm getting a divorce. 
Jack struck me today, and hard, 
too. He's mean and moody, nev-
er praises me for anything I do, 
always finds fault. When I spoke 
back sharply, he hit me. I won't 
stand that." 

I calmed down the storm; we 
got Jack to agree all three of 
us would talk it over that night. 
Now watch how easily a man 

1 IN MARRIAGE 
February 6, 1947 
misunderstands a woman for be-
ing a woman. "Sure, I'm all 
wrong for striking her, Father," 
Jack admitted. "But she's too 
touchy, too sensitive. Just be-
cause I don't rave about her 
meals, the house, the way she 
minds the babies—and I'll admit 
she's wonderful about all this— 
she gets mad. Then she says 
mean things about me and my 
family. I blew my top and hit 
her." 

So then I spent two hours 
showing Jack what he really 
knows but so early forgets, like 
so many other self-centered 
males. "Can't you see, Jack, 
that telling the boys at work 
about what a great wife she is 
means nothing, if you don't tell 
her. Raving to me about how 
you love her and regret hitting 
her means nothing, unless you 
take her in your arms and really 
assure her how sorry you are." 
And so it went. I felt as if I 
were teaching ABC's, but the 
whole quarrel arose from Jack's 
really neglecting to properly 
praise a good wife's wonderful 
work. Why are husbands so ut-
terly forgetful of such a sim-
ple fact in human relations? 



GETTING ALONG IN MARRIAGE 23 

You'd think that Jack could 
see that his wife's saying mean 
things to him was a defense 
measure. She had no other 
means to fight his harsh bull-
dozing ways except with sharp 
remarks. Jack could understand 
her if she hit back at him phys-
ically: he seemed puzzled that 
she struck back with a mean 
tongue. Why can't men see men 
and women are different? 

It may seem that I'm being 
hard upon husbands today, but 
maybe it's necessary. Like many 
another marriage counsellor, I 
have been charged with being 
too hard upon the women. Per-
haps some of my talks on this 
program have seemed too favor-
able toward male superiority. 
Though many a husband won't 
hear all I say today, except when 
some wives repeat it, still I sup-
pose the wives love to hear about 
male mistakes. 

It's a constantly recurring 
wonder to see husbands and 
wives fail to see how each pro-
vokes the other. They'll argue 
endlessly about who's right or 
wrong and yet find no solution. 
It's not a question of who's logi-
cally right or wrong but a ques-
tion of "how can we cooperate." 
In the average conflict, both par-
ties are justified in their de-

mands. Logically each can prove 
nis own case. Men and women 
use different kinds of logic, and 
to each his own makes sense. For 
happiness, for people in love, 
who is right or wrong is not 
important. The attitude of be-
ing willing to bear with each 
other's faults and work out a 
cooperative agreement—that is 
what is really important. There 
is no one perfect technique to 
solve domestic problems, be they 
economic or social or sexual 
problems. But the spirit of co-
operation is the beginning of 
all solutions. 

You're probably wondering 
about the second family quarrel. 
Well, it was caused by jealousy. 
The kind Shakespeare wrote 
about in Othello. You remem-
ber how Othello was so wrought 
up to jealous hate of his good 
and virtuous wife that he killed 
her and himself? You recall 
how even her good deeds were 
interpreted as food for Othello's 
jealousy? Well, something al-
most as bad took place in this 
quarrel. This devoted couple 
with two children shared an 
apartment with another couple. 
Gradually, the husband misun-
derstood his wife's flattery of 
their landlord. He was convinc-
ed she was in love with the land 



24 THE WOMAN IN THE HOME 

lord and accused her of infidel-
ity. She was so deeply h u r t by 
these completely false charges 
t h a t she refused to be the least 
bit affectionate toward him. In 
his poisoned mind this f r i g i d i t y 
was final proof of her infidelity. 
Then the poison worked deeper. 
Each glance, word, action was 
circumstantial evidence proving 
his wife was u n f a i t h f u l to him. 
Yet since they had to remain, 
sharing the apartment with the 
landlord and his wife, life be-
came almost unbearable. 

They came to see me and we 
talked it out f o r f o u r hours. 
Careful checking of all the facts 
proved the husband's suspicions 
utterly groundless. His wife 
was attentive to the landlord 
only to flatter him, to help keep 
their place as tenants. Her 
heart was broken when her hus-
band had such vile suspicions 
about her. She couldn't bear 
being deeply affectionate with him 
while his mind was in t h a t state. 
To a woman t h a t makes sense: 
to him it seemed utter nonsense 
and proof of infidelity. So, again, 
we had to repeat ABC's and 
eventually work out a formula 
f o r cooperation. 

Such cases aren't unusual: 
any marriage counsellor deals 
with them daily. I t seems al-

most unbelievable that adult hus-
bands and wives can be so child-
ish. Men, skilled in public re-
lations, so clever about know-
ing how to treat women in busi-
ness, will utterly fail at home to 
see why wives act like women. 
They'll completely misinterpret 
a woman's desire f o r attention, 
flattery, tender consideration. 
They'll forget or ignore the kind 
word, the loving remembrance 
of an important date, the kindly 
and comforting caress—and then 
be amazed at the almost disas-
trous results brought on by f o r -
getting t h a t women are woman-
ly. 

Women generally understand 
men better than men understand 
women. Yet women too will mis-
judge. They'll worry over what 
he meant by some word or ac-
tion, give it a dream meaning 
of their own the poor man never 
intended. Many a bitter quar-
rel arises f r o m just such petty 
details. 

Often women accuse men of 
being inconsiderate, when really 
they are only exercising male 
prerogatives that make them re-
f u s e to be dominated. 

More about this next week 
when we discuss: "What Your 
Husband Thinks of You." We 
hope you'll be listening. 



W H A T YOUR HUSBAND 
Address given on 

Last Sunday I spent an inter-
esting day with fifteen married 
couples. It was quite an adven-
ture. I picked up quite a bit 
of information about what hus-
bands and wives really think of 
each other. The reason for my 
being with this group all day 
was I conducted a Cana Confer-
ence. You remember Our Lord's 
first miracle at Cana in Galilee? 
Well, these informal, round-table, 
give and take sessions are named 
a f t e r that event. I thought you 
might be interested in facts I 
discovered in my preparatory 
reading and in the discussions 
about husbands. 

Prepare now to examine your 
conscience. Maybe you're guilty 
of only a few or maybe even of 
all of the mistakes I'll mention 
today. Husbands have quite de-
finite and at times surprising 
ideas about what wives should 
be and do. Wives are sometimes 
so wrapped up in being good 
home managers and busy moth-
ers that they muff their first 
task of being good wives. 

Maybe you're not guilty, but 
many wives disturb husbands 
by being too emotional. Two out 
of three husbands, in national 

REALLY THINKS OF YOU 
February 13, 1947 
surveys, complain wives are hot-
headed, irritable, too easily hurt, 
nervous or otherwise emotion-
ally out of control. Maybe it's 
an aftermath of war; possibly 
it's the housing shortage with 
cramped living quarters forced 
upon couples; maybe it's the 
nerve-wracking job of making 
yesterday's budget pay the big 
bills of today—whatever the 
cause, husbands find too emo-
tional wives hard to work with 
as partners. Don't click off the 
radio now. I'm just reporting 
some attitudes you might like to 
know about. 

I guess we've all heard com-
plaints about nagging wives. But 
it surprised me to find husbands 
are much more bothered by "mis-
sionary wives." I mean wives 
who are ruggedly determined to 
improve their husbands. So 
many husbands are sad and up-
set because too many wives are 
knee-deep in projects to improve 
them. They like to be helped 
and inspired by wives, but they 
like to be allowed to live and be 
themselves too. May I suggest 
as a missionary priest, that wise 
wives do the improving gently 
and subtly, without making hus-



28 THE WOMAN IN THE HOME 

bands too aware of it. They lead 
their husbands into desired pat-
terns of behavior through a clev-
er use of praise. I t is only when 
husbands are made uncomfort-
ably aware of reform attempts 
t h a t their hair bristles. 

Women a r e so used to dealing 
with children, they f o r g e t t h a t 
men very strongly resent being 
treated like children. Wives so 
often scold about details t h a t 
mean little to men. They cor-
rect husbands about comparative 
trifles like ashes upon a carpet, 
towels hanging askew in a bath-
room, in much the same way 
they correct youngsters. That 
h u r t s a man's vanity. 

Which thought leads us na-
turally to housekeeping fanatics. 
Many wives, determined to show 
other women how neat and clean 
they are, drive their husbands 
to distraction—taking a long 
walk, or a long drink—because 
they are too f u s s y about house-
keeping. Homes are not sup-
posed to be neat as hospital 
wards. They are supposed to 
be r e s t f u l havens f o r families 
to enjoy in a relaxed mood. 
Wives ought to consider how 
livable their homes really are, 
not worry tod much about what 
women neighbors think. I t ' s 
really amazing how such f a n a t i c 

fussiness can upset domestic 
peace. 

One husband tossed a ques-
tion at me this w a y : " F a t h e r , 
you talked about m a r r i a g e be-
ing a union of soul as well as 
body. Doesn't t h a t imply t h a t 
a wife should t r y to share the 
mental interest of her husband? 
And shouldn't she keep herself 
intellectually keen so she can 
exchange ideas with her hus-
b a n d ? " Well, t h a t led us into 
much talk about how wives can 
get in mental ruts. Even though 
many of them are well educated, 
they get so all they talk about 
boils down to food, clothes, 
babies, neighbors. Obviously, 
God intended wives to be con-
cerned primarily with domestic 
a f f a i r s ; t h a t ' s their domain su-
preme. But they don't need to 
stagnate mentally. With proper 
schedule planning, they can find 
time to sharpen up the dull edges 
in their minds and in their con-
versations. 

Perhaps husbands will always 
think wives are extravagant in 
the way they handle money mat-
t e r s in the home. F a r be it f r o m 
me to takes sides in this eternal 
argument. But I would suggest 
to wives a very good method of 
proving you are not extravagant. 
I'd suggest you follow t h r e e prac-



WHAT YOUR HUSBAND REALLY THINKS OF YOU 27 

tices. First—build up a cus-
hion of savings of some sort so 
your little extravagances won't 
loom so large. Second—put your 
family on a budget. This will 
tend to curb his and your unes-
sential spending. Third—have a 
financial conference with your 
husband at least once a month. 
These conferences will give you 
a chance to teach him the facts 
of living costs today and may 
convince him you're doing your 
best under trying burdens. These 
three practices—a cushion of 
savings, a budget, regular con-
ferences—may change your hus-
band's mind about the extrava-
gance he suspects. 

Someone has said t h a t an ideal 
marriage binds two persons to-
gether like an elastic band. That 
means that they must be flexible 
in their attitude about personal 
habits. Even people deeply in 
love say and do many things 
which annoy each other. Wives 
so often complain that men for-
get to give compliments about 
their meals, appearance, home-
making. All too often it's true. 
Yet husbands, much more than 
most wives realize, are h u r t that 
wives are not more interested in 
their husbands' work. A hus-
band wants to be complimented 
about his triumphs, his decisions, 

his shrewdness in dealing with 
associates. When his wife does 
not show interest in his work, 
he begins to wonder if all the 
struggle is really worthwhile. 

Since Eve first invited Adam 
to eat the forbidden f r u i t , hus-
bands have accused wives of talk-
ing too much. We all know t h a t 
the gabbiness of wives often 
arises from the fact of being 
alone so much during the day, 
or at least being away from fel-
low-adults. But even then, what 
husbands object to in this talka-
tiveness is talking that distracts 
them from something they wish 
to do more than listen, or when 
the talk is an uninteresting 
monologue. Too many wives even 
make their talk monopologues. 
Sure, tell what happened all day 
to you and the children, but don't 
spend so much time on what the 
dressmaker, milkman, grocer had 
to say. 

Long ago, Joseph Conrad, the 
novelist, remarked that women 
have a very difficult life, since 
most of it is spent trying to 
please men. Be that as it may, 
if wives wish to have happy 
homes they should work hard to 
be understanding and adult com-
panions to their husbands. Treat-
ing them as important individ-
uals pays rich dividends. 



UNION OF SOUl 
Address given on 

Most women enjoy weddings. 
Either as spectators or partici-
pants, women find dozens of 
sights and sounds at weddings 
to win their interest. But I've 
often thought that the real thing 
that makes a wedding so impor-
tant is invisible. The things you 
don't see are f a r more important 
than those your senses do see. 
You do see the gowns, you do 
hear the music and the words of 
the bride and groom, you do 
smell the flowers, you do see the 
ring, but you don't see the main 
thing. You don't see the self-
surrender that makes the wed-
ding a union of two human lives. 
That self-surrender is spiritual, 
invisible, but intensely real. That 
self-surrender is a pledge of un-
ity. It promises a union of 
souls. 

That's why, at all Catholic 
weddings, the priest reads a pre-
liminary instruction which re-
minds the bride and groom of 
this union of souls. He begins 
with: "You are about to enter 
into a union which is most sacr-
ed and most serious. It is most 
sacred, because established by 
God Himself; most serious, be-
cause it will bind you together 

.S IN MARRIAGE 
February 20, 1947 
for life in a relationship so close 
and so intimate, that it will pro-
foundly influence your whole 
future. . . And so not knowing 
what is before you, you take 
each other f o r better or f o r 
worse, for richer or f o r poorer, 
in sickness and in health, until 
death . . . " 

"Truly, then these words are 
most serious. And because these 
words involve such solemn ob-
ligations, it is most fitting that 
you rest the security of your 
wedded life upon the great prin-
ciple of self-sacrifice. And so 
you begin your married life by 
the voluntary and complete sur-
renter of your individual lives 
in the interest of that deeper 
and wider life which you are to 
have in common. Henceforth 
you belong entirely to each oth-
er; you will be one in mind, one 
in heart, and one in affections." 

The priest concludes w i t h : 
"May, then, this love with which 
you join your hands and hearts 
today never fail, but grow deep-
er and stronger as the years go 
on. And if t r u e love and the 
unselfish spirit of perfect sacri-
fice guide your every action, you 
can expect the greatest measure 



UNION OF SOUL 
of earthly happiness that may 
be alloted to man in this vale 
of tears. 

It would be a wise practice 
f o r married partners to occa-
sionally renew the vows they 
made in the sight of God on 
their wedding day. They would 
do well to kneel down together 
for prayer some evening and say 
aloud: "As a renewal of our 
vows, we take each other f o r 
lawful wife, for lawful husband, 
to have and to hold, from this 
day forward, f o r better, f o r 
worse, f o r richer, for poorer, in 
sickness and in health, until 
death do us part." This remin-
der of their soul-union would 
help them conquer the doubts, 
fears, discouragements t h a t 
tempt them to break up their 
homes. 

It's a tragic reality all over 
America that married couples 
put too much stress upon the 
physical union they fulfill in 
marriage and too little stress 
upon the soul-union, the spiri-
tual union they owe each other. 
Man's nature has a strong ten-
dency to make him overstress 
the physical side of marriage. 
Too easily he will subordinate 
what a woman so early puts for-
ward as primary—the spiritual 
side of marriage. Women will 
tend to regard as repugnant, al-

IN MARRIAGE 29 
most animalistic, the intimate 
realities of the physical side of 
marriage. Both of them might 
easily forget, especially if they 
don't keep God in the picture, 
that proper spiritual attitudes 
always affect physical relation-
ships. The best way to cure 
physical maladjustments that 
damage marriage harmony is to 
practice proper spiritual at-
titudes. 

The principal attitude to ob-
serve is one of cooperation with 
God's plans f o r married couples. 
God intended Marriage should 
really work as a way of life. 
With proper human obedience, 
God's plan does work out. No-
tice that God planned Marriage 
for two fundamental purposes: 
First, to continue the existence 
of the human race. Second, to 
afford companionship for man 
and w o m a n , companionship 
which would bring mutual hap-
piness, of an imperfect type on 
earth, and perfect and everlast-
ing type hereafter in Heaven. 

To accomplish this double pur-
pose, God made man and woman 
adaptable to each other, comple-
mentary to each other in body 
and soul. The bodily adaptation 
is obviously well suited to bring 
about the physical union which 
perpetuates the human race. But 
there is spiritual adaptation 



30 THE WOMAN 
equally well suited to accomplish 
soul-union and companionship. 

You notice this spiritual adap-
tation even in the characteristic 
virtues and f a u l t s of men and 
women. A good husband's prin-
cipal virtue will be consideration. 
This serves to help his wife over-
come her main weakness, lone-
liness. A good wife's principal 
virtue will be humility, her will-
ingness to sacrifice herself to 
make her husband happy. This 
virtue will help him cure his 
greatest problem, discourage-
ment. I don't mean t h a t consid-
eration and humility are always 
the greatest of virtues; but f o r 
the soul-union of husband and 
wife, they are best suited to 
cure the principal failings t h a t 
couples succumb to, loneliness 
and discouragement. 

A husband almost daily needs 
consolation, encouragement- un-
derstanding f r o m his wife. H e r 
willingness to listen, t o put him 
on a pedestal where he can be 
the big shot, the overseer of the 
home, her humility t h a t lets him 
realize he's the head of his own 
home—all this helps him cure 
his blue feelings t h a t he's fail-
ing. Yet at the same time, it 
overcomes her loneliness, be-
cause it makes h e r be needed and 
wanted as a companion. 

In his t u r n , the husband must 

IN THE HOME 
practice enough self-control to 
conquer his dejection, his grum-
piness, come out of himself and 
t u r n to his wife. Actually, she 
will then prove to be the remedy 
of his ailments. If he will re-
gard his hours a t home as the 
most important of his day, they 
will soon be the happiest of his 
day. They will more than make 
up f o r the harsh, grinding 
drudgery t h a t makes him rub 
shoulders with the tough - busi-
ness world all day. His sacri-
fice of self t h a t makes him con-
siderate of his wife's desire f o r 
companionship will cure his dis-
couragement. 

Instead of both of them be-
ing buried in reading papers, 
digging into outside interests, 
what they need is interest in 
each other. He needs t h e feel-
ing—at least I'm king in my 
own home—and she needs the 
feeling—I've got the greatest 
husband in the world f o r my 
companion in life. The secur-
ity they thus bring each other is 
the priceless f r u i t of soul-union. 

But thus to fulfill this way of 
life, destined by God "to give 
the greatest measure of earthly 
happiness," both husbands and 
wives of today and tomorrow 
must regard Marriage as a No-
ble Vocation. We'll discuss t h a t 
next week. 



MARRIAGE IS A CHALLENGING VOCATION 
Address given on February 27, 1947 

There are three mighty words 
in that title you just heard. All 
three words, marriage, challeng-
ing, vocation, need to be well 
understood. Marriage, first of 
all, means the stable permanent 
union of body and soul that a 
husband and wife pledge them-
selves to fulfill in the sight of 
God and with the help of God. 
To all husbands and wives truly 
in love, it means "one man and 
one woman until death do us 
part." 

I'm not using the word mar-
riage to describe these tempo-
rary convenient alliances that 
masquerade as examples of 
matrimony. Such convenient de-
signs for selfish living usually 
end in divorce and another sad 
attempt at temporary union. 
Never must we forget that 
Christ said about such conduct: 
"Whoever puts away his wife, 
except for immorality, and mar-
ries another, commits adultery; 
and he who marries a woman 
who has been put away commits 
adultery" (Matthew 19:9). 

No, I'm talking today about 
marriage, a lifelong contract 
made with God's approval and 
binding force, a contract that 

for baptized persons frequently 
is also a great Sacrament. Such 
a marriage is challenging. 

There's the second word. 
Challenging needs to be restored 
to our romantic vocabulary. 
Maybe we'd better use it instead 
of romantic when we talk of 
marriage. The ordinary movie 
or stage or magazine version of 
marriage puts all the stress upon 
the stardust, unreal phases:, of 
this job of a husband and wife 
living together until death. Our 
movie-minded and magazine-
educated youngsters and oldsters 
fail to see and appreciate the 
challenge in marriage. They fail 
to see the invitation to fight a 
heroic battle in the cause of God 
that marriage presents. Doesn't 
that have a lot to do with our 
scandalous rate of marriage fail-
ure through divorce? 

Now comes the career that is 
a challenge. The career that is a 
vocation. That's the third word. 
Vocation must be restored to our 
minds as a meaningful word. 
The dictionary tells us a vo-
cation is "any occupation for 
which one qualifies himself or to 
which one devotes one's time." 
God wants some men and women 



32 THE WOMAN IN THE HOME 

devoting their time and effort to 
building families and homes 
just as truly as He wants others 
to be priests and religious work-
ers to save souls. God wishes all 
men to achieve sanctity—which 
simply means getting to Heaven 
—through loving and serving 
Him, and our neighbor f o r His 
sake. Most men and women ac-
complish t h a t best through mar-
riage. The loving companionship 
and mutual self-sacrifice t h a t 
binds couples in marriage are 
oftentimes the strongest natural 
helps possible to win Heaven. 
We can see then why God in-
tends most men and women to 
follow this challenging vocation 
of marriage. 

Yet, in today's world, which so 
madly worships success, is there 
any other vocation t h a t so easily 
tolerates failure? Only in mar-
riage are we success-conscious 
Americans so willing to excuse 
medicore results. Never in busi-
ness do we praise the mediocre: 
we have glory only f o r the cou-
rageous conqueror of obstacles. 
Certainly not in sport do we ex-
toll the mediocre. Americans 
are the most competitive athletes 
on earth. To the victor alone 
belong the spoils of adulation. 
In the world of entertainment 
we daily pay t r i b u t e to the tal-

ented artists t h a t starved f o r 
long years, to win success. We're 
not interested in how tough it 
all was. Are they up t h e r e : did 
they climb t h a t ladder? Okay, 
sing t h e i r praises. 

But when it comes to mar-
riage, the noblest, most challeng-
ing, most important and most 
lasting vocation—ah, how lax we 
are in not only tolerating but 
actually glorifying the mediocre. 
What a debasing mockery our 
divorce courts make o'f the noble 
vocation of marriage. Excuses 
t h a t would not excuse people f o r 
being late f o r a business ap-
pointment are accepted as rea-
sons f o r breaking the bond of a 
lifelong contract. 

Would we tolerate such abject 
failure, if we t a u g h t and real-
ized the challenge of this vo-
cation? Men and women are 
called by God in m a r r i a g e to 
share in the very creative 
powers of God. They f o r m the 
bodies into which God, as their 
co-partner, pours immortal souls. 
We might even say God depends 
upon them to provide new life 
f o r new citizens of God's heaven-
ly kingdom. Even more is asked 
of them. Their task is to sus-
tain and preserve the bodily life 
of their children. And f o r the 
souls of their children—they are 



MARRIAGE IS A CHALLENGING VOCATION 33 

called to direct, teach, sanctify 
these deathless spirits created in 
God's own image. How can we 
ever regard as mere avocation a 
career which fashions master-
pieces f o r eternity? 

We Americans who glorify as 
heroes military leaders who lead 
men into victory qver forces of 
evil like Nazism—why don't we 
glorify as heroes the parents 
who lead children to eternal vic-
tory over Satan's hordes? We 
so eagerly praise men and 
women who cooperate to produce 
great books, plays, works of art. 
Why don't we eagerly praise 
husbands and wives, who by ful-
filling their vocation in mar-
riage, help each other to win a 
crown of everlasting glory? For 
it's t r u e t h a t married partners 
are called to sanctify each other, 
bring each other to Heaven, 
through prayer, acts of loving 
service to each other, good ex-
ample of high moral living. 

Let's say it all at once. 
Through the vocation of mar-
riage, men and women are called 
to the task of bringing earthly 
and heavenly happiness into 
their own lives and into the lives 
of their children. What more 
noble work could engross your 
time and efforts? But do we 
train married partners, young 

people preparing for marriage, 
to see such nobility? 

If we did, we would declare a 
moratorium of one to five years 
upon all favorable divorce pub-
licity. We'd cancel from our 
papers all glamorous write-ups 
about marriage failures — the 
sexy photographs, the lurid de-
tailed accounts of illicit ro-
mance, the maudlin sentiment 
that gushes in pardon over 
cowardly abandonment of a chal-
lenging vocation—we'd cancel all 
this and start glamorizing good 
parents. We'd publicize f a i t h f u l 
wives and courageous husbands 
who fight to maintain America's 
most important bulwark, a good 
home. We'd give successful mar-
riages the lavish praise they de-
serve. And married partners 
would be stirred to new efforts 
to persevere. Pride alone would 
discourage failure. 

In this glorious vocation, hus-
bands and wives are never alone. 
God provides the helps we all 
need to carry our burdens. "My 
grace is sufficient for you" is 
God's consoling word to all who 
work for Him. Marriage is a 
triple partnership. God, the 
third partner, never fails. 

Next week, "The Single 
Woman." Please listen. Until 
then, God be with you. 



MEDITATION FOR 
Address given ( 

Today we're going to talk 
about the single woman. We 
shall use the modern term "bach-
elor girl" to describe these un-
married women. Cynical people 
might think of this talk as a 
broadcast to cheer up spinsters 
or old maids. But cynics never 
value things properly. As some-
one remarked recently: "Cynics 
know the price of everything 
and the value of nothing." The 
true value of the bachelor girl is 
too often ignored. Too easily do 
wiseacres make mean remarks 
about frustration, referring to 
unmarried women. They might 
do well to learn the full meaning 
of another word t h a t better de-
scribes bachelor girls. The word 
is sublimation. I t fits women 
who find happiness through 
service. 

The word sublimation is used 
by psychologists to mean "the 
turning away of an obstructed 
impulse f r o m its primitive pur-
pose into activities of a higher 
order." Many a bachelor girl 
has turned her natural desire 
for marriage into self-sacrifi-
cing activities f o r the happiness 
of others. Such sublimation, 
often done for high spiritual 

BACHELOR GIRLS 
: March 6, 1947 
motives, explains the life story 
of many a great canonized saint. 
Like Saint Zita, the model 
housekeeper I'll tell you about in 
a moment. And such sublimation 
also explains the heroic day-by-
day office and home work of 
many a saintly bachelor- girl. 
Hundreds of priests and nuns 
in God's service owe their suc-
cess to bachelor girls at home 
who worked and sacrificed f o r 
them. Many a gifted musician 
traces his story of cultivated 
skill back to a patient unmarried 
teacher. Whole families often 
come through emotional and 
moral crises only because bach-
elor girls carry the burdens. 

Who but God can properly 
evaluate the inspiring power for 
good that lies in a teacher's in-
fluence? Wise cracks may rise 
and fall about "schoolteacherish 
cranks," but God knows the lone-
ly hours and back-breaking, leg-
wearying, eye-straining labors 
that produce a well-trained mind 
and rounded character. The 
pupils so trained may soon for-
get the spinster teacher, but 
Judgment Day will tell the whole 
story. How amazed many a mar-
ried failure will be, to see the 



MEDITATION FOR BACHELOR GIRLS 35 

too easily pitied spinsters pos-
sessing the Kingdom of Heaven. 
They'll begin too' late to under-
stand St. Paul's remark: "But 
I say to the unmarried, and to 
the widows: it is good f o r them 
if they so continue, even as I " 
(1 Corinthians 7:8). 

Obviously, St. Paul didn't 
think the worst evil women must 
fear is No Man. He would sharp-
ly condemn some" of today's un-
married women who verge upon 
moral chaos with their wild 
ideas of avoiding single life. 
Ideas like giving into sinful af-
fairs, pickling themselves and 
their troubles in alcohol, grab-
bing any man (even another 
girl's husband), deserting God 
for not sending them a husband. 
To many a feminine mind, the 
bleakness of a manless f u t u r e is 
worse than losing both the war 
and the peace. And then all 
these woeful prophecies by 
learned statistics, you know that 
one out of seven or eight or nine 
girls will be left spinsters, these 
prophecies have triple- alarmed 
normal fears of not getting mar-
ried into terror proportions. 
Many unmarried women need 
new teaching about marriage. 

Either a woman believes life's 
first purpose is to give honor and 
glory to God, or she doesn't. If 

she does, she soon sees God can 
be well and loyally served in the 
single state. She soon decides 
better not to marry than slip 
from God through a bad mar-
riage. She recalls that St. Paul 
also said: "For I would that 
you all were as I am myself; but 
each one has his own g i f t from 
God, one in this way, and an-
other in t h a t " (1 Corinthians 
7:7). So a thinking woman sees 
marriage is the vocation f o r the 
majority of Women, religious life 
is for a chosen few, but single 
life is also the Go'd-appointed 
vocation f o r many a woman. 
Granted that one out of nine 
women will remain unmarried. 
So what? They can still fulfill 
their basic task as women. They 
can still find earthly and heaven-
ly happiness. 

You k n o w , t h e Catholic 
Church has quite an honor roll 
of bachelor girls. There are 
these famous heroines, just to 
name a f e w : Saints Agatha, 
Margaret, Thecla, Catherine of 
Alexandria, Ursula, Joan of Arc, 
Gertrude; and let's not forget 
Zita, definitely past f o r t y when 
she did her /hest work f o r God 
and m a n k i n c r ^ i t a was a house-
maid who lived all her life with 
one family. They regarded her 
as a mere drudge, but when she 



36 THE WOMAN IN THE HOME 

died in 1272, in her late forties, 
she left behind her a magnificent 
record of loving service. She 
had succeeded in converting both 
her master and mistress, as well 
as several fellow servants, f r o m 
seriously sinful lives. By sheer 
kindness and generous self-
sacrifice, Zita had taught price-
less lessons in Christ-like living 
to people all around her. I sup-
pose t h a t many a time people 
had glanced at her and murmur-
ed: "I wonder why she never 
got married." So often thought-
less people make such remarks. 
Is it because they forget t h a t 
God has work f o r each of us to 
do which can be done best in the 
state of life God chooses? So 
I'd like to suggest to bachelor 
g i r l s : St. Zita is a good patron-
ess to invoke and imitate. 

Too quickly and harshly do 
observers decide why bachelor 
girls are still unmarried. " I t ' s 
j u s t because they're too selfish," 
people say, "or else they're j u s t 
too f u s s y to put themselves out 
enough to win a man." Such' 
people should pause and consid-
er. Is it selfish to remain a t 
home, watching over orphaned 
brothers and sisters? Isn't it 
Christian charity to care f o r in-
valided relatives at home r a t h e r 
than put them away? How do 

any of us know b u t t h a t some 
bachelor girls have dedicated 
their virginity to God, living out 
like Zita a supernatural dedi-
cation? 

I've often thought t h a t Heav-
en shall have special rewards 
f o r the "Office W i f e " type of 
bachelor girl. You know, these 
efficient secretaries t h a t stand 
alongside of so many successful 
career men. So-called Big Boss-
es couldn't function five minutes 
without these smoothly effective 
girls who give so much more in-
terest and effort than their pay-
check could ever reward. I'm 
not interested in malicious gos-
sipy remarks about such girls. 
T h a t ' s possibly t r u e only of a 
tiny minority. So many of the 
others are working each day f o r 
God, family, happiness of others, 
as well as f o r a paycheck. More 
often than families remember, 
such girls need kindly consider-
ation and appreciation. We all 
spend so much time talking 
about solving m a r r i a g e and chil-
dren problems. Maybe we should 
spend more time on the subject 
I shall discuss next week: "The 
Life, The Work, The Problems 
of the Bachelor Girl." Maybe 
you'll not only listen, but get a 
few others to join you. 

Until then, God be with you. 



WHY SOME WOMEN DON'T MARRY 41 

who sacrificed so generously to 
put her through school. The 
vicious circle completes itself. 
Daughter can't marry f o r years 
because she's going to college: 
daughter can't marry f o r many 
more years because she has com-
pleted going to college. She ends 
up disgusted at being a spinster 
and almost wishes she never 
went to college. 

There's no need of such girls 
being spinsters. They and their 
parents could sensibly work the 
thing out before deciding upon 
long, costly schooling. If the 
girl really prefers marriage, 
why shouldn't her whole train-
ing be directed toward t h a t sub-
lime vocation and career? 

Parents have often complained 
to me: "But, Father, now she 
won't have to marry the first 
man who asks h e r : she can pick 
and choose." Such parents were 
not a t all disconcerted a t the 
possibility that daughter might 
not marry at all. They seemed 
totally unaware of the moral 
strain involved f o r such a girl 
t r y i n g to remain chaste in her 
social life, while conscious of 
marriage being f o r her a years-
and-years away possibility. In 
fact, parents are often so anx-
ious to' spare daughter the 
monotonous household drudgery 

they endured t h a t they feel cer-
tain a college education will offer 
a means of escape. What they 
ignore in such thinking is t h a t 
it's normal f o r daughter to want 
to marry, not when the parents 
want it, but when she wants it, 
and in spite of possible drud-
gery. 

Another set o'f personal rea-
sons f o r not marrying is all tied 
up with excessive devotion to 
family and a misconception of 
duty toward parents. One sel-
fish mother I know has five un-
married daughters, all well over 
t h i r t y now. When their f a t h e r 
died years ago, the mother ral-
lied her five girls around her to 
comfort and support her. All 
social life not regarded as 
strictly necessary f o r their edu-
cation and maintenance was f o r -
bidden by the mother. Any show 
of interest by the girls in social 
life was considered disloyalty to 
the f a t h e r ' s memory and punish-
ed accordingly. Out of exces-
sive deference to mother's grief 
and insistence, the girls con-
formed f o r years and ended up 
disgruntled spinsters. 

Only in heaven will spinsters 
who" support other members of 
the family get their proper re-
ward. But I often wish t h a t on 
earth they would get a f a i r 



42 THE WOMAN IN THE HOME 

chance to choose m a r r i a g e or 
else a decent repayment of g r a t i -
tude f o r t h e i r sacrifices. We all 
know cases like these—an only 
child who worked so hard sup-
porting h e r mother and two 
maiden aunts t h a t she never had 
time f o r social life and possible 
marriage. Or single women who 
support an assortment of depen-
dent relatives f o r v a r y i n g per-
iods of time d u r i n g unemploy-
ment, illness, or old age, and 
then find these duties prevented 
them f r o m seeking normal male 
companionship. 

If a single woman wants to 
assume such a burden willingly, 
f o r h e r own spiritual motives, 
well and good. But it's rank in-
justice to demand t h a t a single 
daughter support h e r parents 
and relatives at the cost of sacri-
ficing her own chances at m a r -
riage. A family is responsible 
f o r t h e care of an aged p a r e n t 
o r a dependent; t h e family 
should cooperate to help the en-

feebled o r helpless relative. But 
why should the burden fall upon 
j u s t one girl? If p a r e n t s and 
relatives would sit down and 
work out a share t h e burden 
plan, so all could assume some 
p a r t of supporting the needy 
members, then many a splendid 
single woman would be f r e e t o 
enter a happy marriage. Only 
God knows how much good is 
prevented f r o m being done f o r 
God's cause, because selfish rela-
tives put all the support burdens 
upoin one o r two of the daugh-
ters. And scarcely anywhere 
else in t h e life of families is 
masculine selfishness so obvious 
as it is in this. 

Next week we'll continue our 
discussion of personal reasons 
f o r some women not m a r r y i n g . 
Please be listening. Next week's 
talk will be t h e last in our cur-
rent series. A new speaker will 
begin in April. Will you join u s 
next week? Until then, God be 
with you. 



HOW TO HELP BACHELOR GIRLS 
Address given on March 27, 1947 

There are two kinds of help 
we can give to bachelor girls. We 
can help some of them to accom-
plish their ambition to enter a 
good marriage. We can help the 
rest of them to properly adjust 
themselves to unmarried life. 
Today I'd like to remind our 
listeners how they can give the 
first type of help without any 
offense. 

As we explained last week, 
many single women are reluc-
tant bachelor girls. Their per-
sonal reasons f o r not marrying 
are all mixed up with the mis-
takes of family members who 
unfairly interfered with these 
girls. One of the principal 
causes t h a t produce unwilling 
bachelor girls is false informa-
tion. From early childhood, atti-
tudes and ideals and impres-
sions about marriage are form-
ing in a girl's mind. If she is 
handed a series of lies masquer-
ading as information, she may 
easily decide: "No marrying f o r 
me." Later, when she sees things 
correctly, it may be much too 
late to work out a good mar-
riage. Take an example like this 
one. 

A bachelor girl wrote me tlie 
other day: "Father, I never 
married because I thought of 
myself as a one-man girl. I had 
been brought up to think a 
woman could love only once. 
Well, I lost the one man I loved, 
and so I gave up. I wish now I 
had been more sensible and mar-
ried some one else." A f t e r I 
read t h a t letter, I thought; I 
wonder how much the selfishness 
of family members had to do 
with that faulty training? I t 
may have been quite convenient 
f o r the family to pass out that 
"you only love once" bunk. It 
helped keep that breadwinning 
girl at home. 

Even more common, even in 
our sophisticated day, is the 
mistake of passing out false sex 
information t h a t f r i g h t e n s some 
girls away f r o m marriage. 
Again, by the time they are a 
little smarter, it's too late to 
make the right marriage con-
tacts. The physical facts about 
marriage, the social significance 
of bearing children, the duties 
and responsibilities of the mar-
ried state—these can be present-
ed as beautiful or ghastly. How 



44 THE WOMAN IN THE HOME 

they a r e presented may help or 
h u r t m a r r i a g e choices f o r bach-
elor girls. People can throw so 
much hush-hush awe and puri-
tanical reticence around f a c t s of 
married life t h a t they only con-
f u s e and bewilder t h e girls they 
pretend to instruct. And isn't it 
t r u e t h a t family members o f t e n 
do this, j u s t to prevent girls 
leaving home and taking with 
them the financial security the 
family has come to expect as a 
right? 

So t h e principal t h i n g I pro-
pose t h a t we all do to help bach-
elor girls (meaning unmarried 
but marriageable girls) is : Help 
them cultivate wholesome and 
accurate ideas and attitudes 
about married life. And t h e 
earlier in life we s t a r t the bet-
t e r . Helping them cultivate 
right ideas will mean always 
giving them correct information 
about events t h a t could affect 
t h e i r lives. I'm convinced t h a t 
most families t h a t pass out false 
information do so with t h e hope 
of discouraging m a r r i a g e f o r 
t h e i r girls. 

The extremes t h a t such 
scheming leads to a r e sometimes 
f u n n y . The other day I actu-
ally had to reassure a nineteen 
year old girl t h a t she had noth-
ing to f e a r f r o m m a r r y i n g a 

short man. She was engaged to 
a man several inches shorter 
than herself. H e r family actu-
ally had h e r f r i g h t e n e d into be-
lieving t h a t if she married him, 
t h e i r children would be midgets. 
Of course, i t also happened t h a t 
t h i s girl was holding down a 
nice job t h a t brought in plenty 
of help to some lazy family mem-
bers. 

And it's only a f e w months 
ago t h a t I spent several hours 
consoling a girl who thought she 
must call off h e r m a r r i a g e at the 
last minute. Her family had op-
posed h e r m a r r y i n g and finally 
discovered something t h e y 
thought would stop her. Her 
husband to be had once been 
an infantile paralysis victim. 
Though he was completely cured, 
they were t r y i n g to scare h e r 
out of m a r r y i n g lest she raise 
several crippled children. 

If we could make family mem-
bers, especially selfish parents, 
see t h a t accurate information 
about m a r r i a g e helps bachelor 
girls to accomplish good m a r -
riages, we could easily cut down 
the number of unhappy spin-
sters. B u t we won't make f a m i -
lies see t h a t until they are gen-
erous enough to let daughters 
make up their own minds about 
married life o r single life. 



HOW TO HELP : 
We don't need an elaborate set 

of rules on "How To Win A 
Husband." Most girls who really 
want to marry will marry, if 
only their families will t r y to 
help on their prospects instead 
of trying to ruin them. Of 
course we all know that many a 
promising suitor has been 
frightened off by a too eager 
family, but a wise bachelor girl 
usually knows how to beat that 
problem. What most bachelor 
girls hold against their families 
is the f a c t t h a t they threw 
blocks across their path to 
matrimony when they so easily 
could have helped by all sharing 
family burdens. 

If we honestly wish to help a 
bachelor girl's marriage chances, 
we must let her use time-honor-
ed weapons f o r snaring a hus-
band. Yet how many families 
stop a girl from throwing a little 
party, {to which she can easily 
invite some eligible males, mere-
ly because they don't want to be 
bothered. How very convenient-
ly some mothers develop a head-
ache or a spell t h a t demands 
daughter's attention, just when 
mother thinks daughter may be 
having an interesting date with 
a potential husband. 

Then comes the matter of 
parents giving orders about 
dates and hours. You'd think 

A.CHELOR GIRLS 45 
they were talking to teen-agers 
instead of efficient bachelor girls 
who often a r e the mainstay of 
both home and office. How can 
girls meet the right kind of men, 
unless they're f r e e to attend 
conventions, dances, meetings of 
social and professional groups, 
where men are plentiful? And 
why can't parents see that girls 
over twenty-one are not bound 
to obey parents as little children 
might, but rather to honor and 
respect parents? I suppose we 
can never cure mothers of 
worrying about daughters being 
out too late at night, but couldn't 
more understanding be given to 
older girls? And couldn't par-
ents be more sincere? I mean 
stop pretending t h a t the late 
hour worries them, when they 
know it's the possible falling in 
love and getting married and 
leaving them alone t h a t worries? 

Today marks the close of my 
current series of talks. Next 
week you shall hear a new speak-
er, one of the best known priests 
in America. He is Father Urban 
Nagle, of the Dominican Order. 
Father Nagle is an unusually 
fine radio speaker. Be sure to 
hear him on this program each 
week. And today may I publicly 
thank God f o r letting me talk 
to you these past few months. 
And thank you f o r listening. 



133 STATIONS IN 36 STATES CARRYING "FAITH 
IN OUR T I M E " 

Alabama.. ..Anniston.. -WOOB 

Arkansas-

Colorado 
Connecticut _. 
Delaware 
District of Columbia. 
Florida 

Georgia.. 

Idaho.. 
Indiana 

Iowa I 

Kansas 
Kentucky-

Louisiana ~ 
Maine 

I i rm i ngham .... < ..dJ..WT N B 
Gnrl-«»n • •• •• _ WGAD 
J asper —u. _ _—1®. WWWB _ 
Montgomery ¡fj . # om, WJJJ 
Opelika 1 _ . . W J HO 
Selma „ i WHBB 
Sylacauga St.* WFEB 
Tuscaloosa K ;•."....., —.¿„..WTBC 

.Arkadeiphia ¡ S 3 w.KVRC 
Fort Smith ... KFPW 
Hot Springs... -rXS,:. , KWFC 
Magnolia KVMA 
Russel I vi I le KX RJ 
Stuttgart ..KWAK .. 

_ Denver - KF EL-FM .. 
.Hartford J . —. .,...,....WONS 

W i l m i n g t o n V V ' v y W I L M 
Wnshington WQI 

...Fort Pierce-,-.- __ WIRA 
Gainesville — ••• •' •• ' WRUF 
Ocala f-,.s..WTMC _ St. Petersburg-Tampa WTSP 

-Albany...". ......WALB 
Columbus .... WSAC 
Eiberton t....WSGC 
La Grange j.li]J. ,' '' WbAG 
Rome I WRGA 
Thomaston.——. 1 /.¿¿¡iff iff. WSFT 
Valdosta t_.ii,..WGOV Waycross -—L— *"• WAYX 

_Pocatello j KEYY 
-Fort Wayne WKJG 

Richmond ... .V 2. WKBV 
_ Fort Dodge , KVFD 

Ottumwa I....Ii..„. KB IZ 
Mason City - , r KICM 

..Garden City— ... - ' " ' . . KlUL. 1240 kc 
-Bowling Green ! | WLBJ 1340 kc 

Hqrlan I ^ _.. I ....WHLN 1230 kc 
Lexington-Versailles WVLK 590 kc 
Somerset • . ^ i j „..WSFC y J L . 1240 kc 
Paducah...—y fftV&gi amj:La....LU'-'... WKVB 800 kc 

—Alexandria ^ KVOB . 1490 kc 
Baton Rouge liiSBL 32.WAFB 1460 kc 

-Augusta , • ,,. ,,,„ .L...WFAU „.1340 kc 
Portland WMTW 1490 

1490 kc 
1490 kc 
1350 kc 
1240 kc 
1170 kc 
1400 kc 
1490 kc 
1340 kc 
1230 kc 
1240 kc 
1400 kc 
1340 kc 
630 kc 

1490 kc 
1240 kc 
950 kc 

1410 kc 
1450 kc 
1260 kc 
1400 kc 
850 kc 

1290 kc 
1380 kc 
1590 kc 

E-.1460 kc 
1400 kc 

11.-1240 kc 
1470 kc 
1220 kc 
950 kc 

1230 kc 
1240 kc 
1380 kc 
1490 kc 
1400 kc 
1240 kc 
1490 kc 

Massachusetts-
Michigan  

-Lowell-Lawrence_ 
..Alpena — 
Battle Creek 
Detroit...    
Iron Mountain.. 

—WLLH 
...WATZ 
—.WBCK 
—CKLW 
. WIKB 

Minnesota  
Mississippi— 

Mlssouri.. 

Ironwood : WJMS 
Marquette ... L Ì ± E J ? S - WDMJ 
Petoskey ,.„,•., -..WMB'N 
Traverse City—_;.dì_L "•>•'•'• i?JÌL.WTCM 

-Moorhead ~ ;•• ..-.¡pft ;— KVOX 
-Clarksdale , " WROX 
Laurel WLAU 
Vicksburg WQBC 
West Point— H MB • . . , • WROB 

N e b r a s k a . . 

-Jefferson City.. 
Sedalia  

-Hastings—.1 -'rf Kearney... 
Lincoln  

. KWOS 
IKDRO 
. KHAS 
KGFW 

-KÖLN' 

kc 
1400 kc 
1450 kc 

I -.:..' 930 kc 
800 kc 

'?Sa?iL..1230 kc 
630 kc 

1340 kc 
1340 kc 

—1400 kc 
(ijiii-f!,!.--! 340 kc 

1450 kc 
l i — 1 4 9 0 kc 

1420 kc 
1450 kc: 
1240 kc 

lL—1490 kc 
1230 kc 
1340 kc 

.... 1400 kc 



133 STATIONS IN 36 STATES CARRYING "FAITH 
IN OUR T I M E " 

New Vork_ 

Ohio-

Oklahoma— 

-Oneonta , WDOS 
Rome-Utica WKAL 
Syracuse ... .WN DR 

North Carolina Durham...... _:_ WHRT 
Elizabeth City ___ WCNC 
Fayetteville.. _WFNC 
Morganton WMNC 
Newton .'.„_.__ .*.. _.WNINC 
Sal isbury i ..... WSTP 
Shelby ..——_- _WOHS 

-Lima ¿.'••¿•V'».* I - WI MA 
Marietta..1Ci„,.„,,.._;,..._r_ , ; WMOA Warren-Youngstown - WRR'N 

_Altus i^ZjlML KWBW 
Chickasha -JjL&ii. KWCO 
Duncan ^..Uw*^... .Jm._KRHD 
Elk City ... KASA 
Muskonee'-i f̂ .,.;, KMUS 
Seminole KSMI 
Woodward................—..:.̂  :__....—:_.... KSIW 

_Albany_ : ...KWIL (I 
..Bradford —I W W B l.,...WESB 
Erie WLEU 

-Chester .... : ........ WQCD 
Conway. -....WLAT 
Newberry . WKDK 
Orangeburg . WRNO 
Rock Hill....,,..: ...... —. WRHI 

-Aberdeen . . ; KABR 
Huron. „• • ; -...¿¡I KIJV 
Mitchell ..„..¿..KMHK 

_Clarksville WJZM 
Cleveland WBAC 
Dyersburg .. ..v$.,..WDSG 
Maryville _„_. .....WGAP 
Memphis. WHBQ 
Murf reesboro WGNS 
Pulaski i..., WKSR 

.Amarillo ! — KVAI 
Bollinger. • ;••; -t.-iV* •••.•••• -.¡̂ ji, „ KRUN 
Fredericksburg KNAF 
Huntsville ,..,,... ; KSAM 
Laredo :..;,„: : ¿7 ,,:.;•,'•:/.,;„, KPAB 
Lufkln ... KRBA 
Marshall KMRT 
McAllen ¿kli:...- KRIO 

Oregon 
Pennsylvania— 
South Carolina-

South Dakota-

Tennessee 

Texas-

Utah 
Vermont 
Virginia 

<ian Angelo 
San Antonio 
Sulnhur Springs . 
Temple-
Vernon 

.Salt Lake City... 
,. Rutland 
-Blackstone Front Royal.. 

KTXL 
KMAC 

-KSST 
KTEM 
KVWC 

.. KALL 
-WSYB 
...WKLV 
-WFTR 

Lexington WREL 
Norfolk-Portsmouth—.iS—- WSAP 

West Virginia Bluefield .........WKOY 
Elkins ..WDNE 
Montgomery WMON 
Morgantown WAJ R 
Weston ' " • « B r WHAW 

Wisconsin Ashland «4A4* WATW 
Eau Claire. .....WHIZ 
Rhinelander WOBT 
Rice Lake iBBfe WJMC 

Wyoming Rock Springs... _KVRS 

1400 kc 
1450 kc 
1260 kc 

D 1590 kc 
H3HK1 1400 kc 

1450 kc 
1490 kc 
1230 kc 

_1490 kc 
730 kc 

1150 kc 
1490 kc 
1400 kc 
1450 kc 
1560 kc 
1350 kc 
1240 kc 
1380 kc 
1260 kc 
1450 kc 

:00 p.m.)_1240 kc 
1490 kc 

_.: .—1450 kc 
1490 kc 
1490 kc 
1240 kc 
1450 kc 
1340 kc 
1420 kc 
1340 kc 
1490 kc 
1400 kc 
1340 kc 
1450 kc 
1400 kc 
1400 kc 
1450 kc 
730 kc 

• 940 kc 
1400 kc-
1340kc 

1490 kc 
—_ 1490 kc 

1340 kc 
1450 kc 
910 kc 

K M ...1340 kc 
1240 kc 

| 1200 kc 
1400 kc 
1490 kc 
910 kc 

1380 kc 
___..1490 kc 

1450 kc 
— 1450 kc 

1490 kc 
1240 kc 

• 1240 kc 
.—1340 kc 

1230 kc 
1450 kc 
1400 kc 
1400 kc 
1240 kc 

.1240 kc 
1360 kc 

(Revised March. 1949J 



FAITH IN OUR TIME RADIO ADDRESSES IN 
PAMPHLET FORM 

" T h e Woman I n Vhe H o m e , " by t h e Rev. H a s h Calkins, O.S.M. 48 pages a n d cover. 
Single copy, 20c p o s t p a i d ; 6 o r more, 15c each. I n quantities, $8.60 p e r 100. 

"Religion And Your H i n d , " by t h e Rev. U r b a n Nagle, O.P. 56 pages a n d cover. 
Single copy, 20c p o s t p a i d ; 5 o r more, 15o each. I n quantities, $8.76 p e r 100. 

" T r o t h s F o r Today," by t h e Rev. L . F . Cervantes, S . J . 48 pages a n d cover. Single 
espy. 20c p o s t p a i d ; 5 or more. 15c each. I n quantities, $9.50 p e r 100. 

" F r o m Here To T h e r e , " by t h e Rev. Vincent J . Mc Cauley, C.S.C. 24 pages a n d 
cover. Single copy, 20c p o s t p a i d ; 5 o r more, 16c each. I n quantities, $8.00 p e r 100. 

"Some Problems of Y o u t h , " by t h e Rev. Joseph E. Schieder, Ph.O. 32 pages and 
cover. Single copy, 20c p o s t p a i d ; 5 o r more, 15c each. I n quantities. $8.00 p e r 100. 

" T h e Characteristics Of A Christian Home," by t h e Rev. Roland Maher, C.P. 
86 pages a n d cover. Single copy, 26c p o s t p a i d ; 5 or more, 20c each. I n quantities, 
$10.00 p e r hundred. 

"You a n d Your F a m i l y , " by Rev. H u g h Calkins, O.S.M. 56 pages a n d cover. Single 
copy 20c p o s t p a i d ; 5 or more 16c each. I n quantities, $9.00 p e r 100. 

"The Spirit of M a r r i a g e , " by t h e Rev. Fred Mann, C.SS.R. 40 pages a n d cover. 
Single copy, 20c p o s t p a i d ; 5 o r more, 16c eadh. I n quantities, $8.00 p e r 100. 

"God's P l a n For Men," by Rev. Richard Ginder. 56 pages a n d cover. Single copy, 
20c p o s t p a i d ; 6 o r more, 15c each. I n quantities, $8.75 p e r 100. 

" O u r Lady Of F a t i m a ' s Message To The W o r l d , " by Rev. Howard Rafferty, O. Carm., 
56 pages, arnd cover. Single copy, 20c p o s t p a i d ; 5 or more, 15c each. I n quantities, 
$8.75 p e r 100. 

" T h e School, Your Child* Other Home," by Rev. F r a n c i s R. Shea. 48 pages and 
cover. Single copy, 20c p o s t p a i d ; 5 or more, 16c each. I n quantities, $10.75 p e r 100. 

" H u m a n N a t u r e in M a r r i a g e , " by t h e Rev. Fred J . Mann, C.SS.R. 40 pages and 
cover. Single copy, 25c p o s t p a i d ; 5 or more, 20c each. I n quantities, $10.75 p e r 100. x 

"Solving Life's Problems," by t h e Rev. Richard Ginder. 40 pages a n d cover. 
Single copy, 25c p o s t p a i d ; 6 or more, 20c each. I n quantities, $$1.50 p e r 100. 

" F o r g e Chains Of Freedom," by t h e Rev. Vincent J . McCauley, C.S.C. 32 pages and 
cover. Single copy, 20c p o s t p a i d ; 5 or more, 16c each. I n quantities, $8.00 p e r 100. 

"Your Wedding R i n g , " by t h e Rev. Dr. E d g a r Schmiedeler, O.S.B. 32 pages a n d 
cover. Single copy, 20c p o s t p a i d ; 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. 

" L e t Christ Reign I n Your F a m i l y , " by t h e Rev. Daniel J . Higgins, S.J., a n d t h e Rev. 
Philip J . Kenney. 32 pages a n d cover. Single copy, 20c p o s t p a i d ; 5 or more, 16c each. 
I n quantities, $8.00 p e r 100. 

" S e c u r i t y , " by t h e Rev. F r a n k Gartland, C.S.C. 24 pages a n d cover. Single copy, 
20c p o s t p a i d ; 6 or more, 16c each. I n quantities, $8.00 p e r 100.