A Jesuit Reports

What the returning soldiers think or fail to think about religion will determine to a large extent the human and social climate of the postwar world. That is why many people snatch so eagerly at the notion that "there are no atheists in the foxholes." But recently two authoritative realists, Dr. Daniel A. Poling, World's Christian Endeavor Union president, and Dr. Bernard Iddings Bell, stated flatly (TIME, Jan. 3; Jan. 31) that soldiers are scarcely thinking about religion at all. Last week a Jesuit chaplain (whose name was with held) corroborated their report.

Wrote the chaplain: "If you read the Catholic press nowadays you get the impression that there is a great religious revival going on in the armed forces.

Personally I think that is a lot of tripe.

So do the few Catholic chaplains I have talked with. One or two glamorous incidents on a life raft or in an airplane might make the headlines. The picture of a crucifix and a scapular medal gives the impression that every soldier says an Act of Contrition every night. But I have found instances of Catholics who don't even know, the Hail Mary and as far as the Act of Contrition is concerned, don't make me laugh! I have had soldier after soldier repeat after me word for word the Act of Contrition so that I could give him absolution. And for penance, all I could give them was, 'My Jesus mercy!' to be said ten times a day for the next ten days.

It was something they could remember." Plugs & Plow Horses. "There are a great many good Catholic chaplains in the Army, men who are zealous, hard working, sacrificing. But I suppose it is no secret that the best priests aren't in uniform. The bishops and the religious superiors are not parting with their race horses. They release the plugs and plow horses -- even a few problem children.

"I have about 900 Catholics to take care of. If I get 300 to Mass on Sundays I think I'm doing great. The Protestant ministers look at my service with envy. . . .

"My experience has taught me that you have to haunt these boys in the Army.

You have to come back again & again after they have refused to go to Confession.

You have to win them, pester them, and change your attack with every visit. You have to kid and joke. You have got to put serious truths in their own language. You have got to be at their beck and call 24 hours a day and at last one day they may ask you to hear their Confessions. There's no easy job in this chaplain's work. One of my classmates . . . once said that the job of saving souls is like trying to catch snowflakes in a tin cup. It's still tougher in the Army. ..." And the Leg Work? "I get the impression from [you] that just because we Jesuits are going to be identified with the Reconstruction of the Social Order that the job is half finished. We are five thousand strong, aren't we? I get the impression that we are going to do all tour work on paper and in conventions. I wonder who's going to do the leg work. I wonder who is going to break down the philosophy and the scheme and the propaganda into one-syllable words. I wonder who is going to supply the blood of martyrdom.

"Don't misunderstand me, I am not holding myself up as a martyr. But I think a certain amount of martyrdom is necessary if any good work is to succeed. I think the place for good, virile, intelligent specialized Catholic priests is with the soldiers, sailors and marines. If these priests have some personality to go along with their other talents, God be praised! They will have an entrance where the rest of us slow-witted, well-meaning plugs are denied.

"The boys in the Army are thinking serious thoughts about the reconstruction period. They are being fed propaganda. They are thinking about their homes, their families, the girl who is waiting for them, and the job that isn't waiting. If we had priests in the Army . . . men who were listened to, who were respected for their clear ideas and their long view, the opportunity for missionary work would be incalculable. . . ."

Tut! Tut! "These soldiers are fed a diet of: Live or die! Kill or be killed! Exterminate the bastards! Are we going to wait until the war is over and then say 'Tut! Tut!?' They will want to know where the priests were when they wanted to go to Mass, to Confession and to Holy Communion. They admire now the priest who will crawl 100 yd. under live ammunition--and the Protestant minister who does it too. They are hard, uncompromising realists who learn best by experience. "They don't care very much about words, least of all about abstract words. Campaign ribbons are going to count an awful lot with them after the war, and the man or the priest who has 'been there' with them is going to have their ears."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.