Words & Works

¶"Religion," preached Methodist Pastor Ralph W. Sockman to his Christ Church congregation on Manhattan's Park Avenue, "seems to have become the vogue in America. Church attendance is up. Church membership is growing faster than our population. Church finances are nourishing." But, he warned, this can lead to the exploitation of religion by politics, business and other interests. "Even the pulpit could be used to exploit religion rather than to explore it and expound it. We must be on guard against the tendency to use godly labels for products that are not really God's."

¶ The Sisters of the Divine Spirit, a newly established U.S. Roman Catholic order for teaching and social work, with relatively relaxed rules (including a yearly vacation for members), showed off a radically modernized habit (see cut) that looked more like a chic town suit than nuns' garb. Designed in accordance with Pope Pius XII's plea for more rational, comfortable dress among nuns, the new habit features an oxford grey skirt (slightly flared and coming just below the knee), a loose box jacket, a white Peter Pan-collared blouse, a black pillbox hat, black leather pumps with medium heels, and nylons. Said Postulant Marian Mraz, 25, modeling the new outfit: "We'll be right up to date."

¶ Chicago's Bishop Bernard J. Sheil, who resigned last month without explanation as head of the Catholic Youth Organization (rumors linked the resignation with the bishop's repeated attacks on Joe McCarthy), announced his plans for the future : "I intend to devote all of my available time and resources to the fight . . . against tyranny as represented by international Communism ... to show the destructiveness of Communism to individual morality and to the political morality of the world."