a friend, pastor, and Pope." The Pope described the Curia as an instrument which derives its authority and usefulness from its relationship to the Pope. Criticism, the Pope explained, is inevitable because of the very nature of the Curia in its efforts to perform a task that can never be perfectly carried out. Genuine criticism, however, can be constructive and should be received in humility; groundless accusations must be answered but without stubbornness. The Curia works for the cause of Christ and its faithful and devoted service merits gratitude from the Pope and the entire Church.

Toward the end of the address Pope Paul indicated in a few paragraphs some possible reforms in the Curia. They will be drawn up according to reasonable tradition and the current needs of the Church. "They will be formulated and propagated," the Pope said, "by the Curia itself.” “A wider supernatural vision" would benefit the Curia, as well as a "more accurate ecumenical preparation." The Curia will not be envious of "the temporal prerogatives of other times, nor of external forms no longer suitable for expressing and teaching truths of profound religious meaning." Nor will the Curia "be miserly with its powers, which today, without injuring universal ecclesiastical order, bishops themselves can exercise better locally." The Pope explained that if the Council should desire it, the Curia would not oppose assistance from certain members of the episcopacy who would help the Pope in the care of ecclesiastical government. Finally, the Pope said that "questions of economic advantage will never have weight in suggesting a certain reserve and a certain centralization of organs of the Holy See, unless necessary for the good of ecclesiastical order and the salvation. of souls."

Members of the much-criticized Roman Curia were enthusiastically grateful for the friendly words of encouragement and praise they received from the Pope. Cardinal Tisserant, Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals, wrote a letter of thanks in the name of the Curia to the Pope for his "words of appreciation and esteem." He assured the Pope that "devotion and loyalty to the Pope, filial obedience to his directions . . . have always been the ambition and boast of those who have had and who have now the high honor of serving more closely the Chair of Peter."

The Catholic University of America
Washington, D. C.

DOM PATRICK GRANFIELD

Book Reviews

IN DEFENSE OF THE PUBLIC ORDER: The Emerging Field of Sanction Law. By Richard Arens and Harold D. Lasswell. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961. Pp. viii + 314. $7.50.

Arens and Lasswell have written a provocative book on an important and pervasive subject, sanction law: "Every legal system employs sanctioning measures to protect the integrity of the system of public order whose fundamental values and institutions are to be maintained and fulfilled." Although treated here primarily as a problem of positive law, sanction has much broader implications. The authors, aware of the cosmic context of sanction, draw heavily upon related fields, such as history, sociology, psychology, and, in some way, philosophy, thereby setting up analyses and analogies which theologians and canonists cannot but find illuminating.

The first part of the book examines the general notion of sanction and works out, from a value-institution point of view, its relationships to basic societal goods: respect, enlightenment, skill, well-being, affection, rectitude, wealth, and power. Although the approach is empirical, it harmonizes with the natural law position, for sanction is based on authority rather than on force and the dignity of man is recognized as "the overriding goal of public order." The second part of the book deals with the possible scope and method of sanction law, its need in the American legal system and its basic operational principles.

The authors are eminently competent: Richard Arens, the leading authority on the defense of insanity, is a professor of law and an outstanding lawyer, as his victory before the U. S. Supreme Court in Lynch v. Overholser demonstrates; Harold Lasswell is a professor at the Yale Law School, the author of many books, and a leader in the field of political science. Together they have produced a scholarly, wellthought out, and well-written book. Though admittedly a prolegomenon, a proposal, a justification, it makes a pioneer contribution in a field which, though a late-comer academically, is as old as society itself. DOM DAVID GRANFIELD

PERSPECTIVES IN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM. By John Tracy Ellis. Benedictine Studies. Helicon Press, Baltimore, 1963. Pp. 313. $6.00.

The volumes of John Tracy Ellis have adorned the bookshelves of the nation's clergy for over twenty years. His latest publication, Perspectives in American Catholicism, is a collection of essays, addresses

and sermons crammed full of the scholarly informality, brute frankness, and genuine sincerity so characteristic of the "Dean of American Catholic Historians." As pinpointed by Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan in his Foreword, Monsignor Ellis "is by nature urbane and kindly, but he sees no point in being innocuous." Hence it will come as no surprise that certain of the author's personal opinions and grievances jump out at the reader with a certain suddenness for Ellis construes the true historian as an interpreter of facts more than a mere compiler. Perspectives is the first in a series of volumes which the author hopes to release within the next few years on various phases of American Catholicism. Ellis has long felt the need for re-doing Shea's monumental History of the Catholic Church in the United States but has resisted the temptation until the necessary ground work could be done. Realizing along with the late Bishop Shahan that "there is nothing that is needed so much as a general bibliography of our American Church History,” Ellis set out to solve this need and in 1947 issued A Select Bibliography of the History of the Catholic Church in the United States. This was revised in 1958 and appeared again as A Guide to American Catholic History. The second step of his program resulted in Documents of American Catholic History, a manual to be used in conjunction with existing American history texts both in Catholic and public colleges and high schools.

Greatest among the shortcomings of Shea's works was their failure to interpret Catholic growth in terms of social and cultural surroundings. Ellis' volumes have sought to meet this need by including such areas as education, charity, literature, and other allied factors so necessary for a proper picture of overall Catholic development in the United States. Happily, John Tracy Ellis is one of those rare individuals with the gift of making dull, dusty, and unappealing historical events live again. His combination of the tools of an expert historian with those of a flawless grammarian make the reading of his volumes a genuine treat. Those of us trained in the Ellis school never fail to marvel at the tireless ingenuity of the master and can only rejoice at this latest production from the pen of "J.T.E.”

FRANCIS J. WEBER

THE POPULATION DILEMMA. Edited by Philip Hauser. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1963. Pp. 188 + iv. $3.95.

These eleven papers on population growth were prepared by eminent scholars for the participants in the Twenty-third American Assembly at Arden House. They deal with the key facts of demography, the

problems being generated by growth rates, the basic policy issues that arise, and the action alternatives facing the nations of the world. While cultural and religious differences are recognized the authors see no real alternative to government programs helping to reduce birth rates while stimulating economic growth.

In a first essay Doctor Dorn traces growth trends to declining mortality rates. He concludes that the present trend cannot continue for long without serious problems arising. Doctors Taueber and Coale document the relationship between birth rates and standards of living, per capita income and productive employment. Doctor Bogue insists that the problem is not only concentrated in the underdeveloped countries of the world, but that a high birth rate will affect the American way of life also. Doctor Fisher and Mr. Potter review the land-man ratio and stress the political implications of overpopulation. Doctors Notestein, Kirk, and Segal declare flatly that only government help in fertility control is an adequate answer to present growth rates, while Doctor Lorrimer, reviewing the various ideologies on birth rates and control, stresses the fact that the problem must be solved by all countries cooperatively with due regard for individual rights.

This last essay is the only one in which a moral issue is raised directly, and yet by the very nature of the problem the morality of any policy or attempted solution becomes salient. It is regrettable that the planners of this Arden House Conference neglected this essential area, especially since the authors generally propose government action to help reduce fertility.

This solution itself does not receive the scrutiny it deserves. It is not the same thing to propose a government educational program on the consequences of population growth so that an individual may form his conscience and to propose a program which advocates the use of specific means, presupposing a government's right to decide moral issues for its citizens. The book suffers because of this serious omission. Nevertheless the collection is useful. It is loaded with facts which must be taken into account in any discussion of the population problem, facts which Catholic writers have neglected much too often.

RAYMOND H. POTVIN

Index for Volume CXLIX