England's Need

Extract

There are plenty of reformers and prophets for England’s material needs. The Beveridge Report is only one of several hundreds of printed works showing what the men of this country lack and how their needs are to be filled. We are shown the wretched lives of those to whom our system has been harsh : the uncertainty of employment, the great number living below subsistence level, the hovels in which many workers live, the long hours and the slender leisure; these things can be painted in vivid colours and provide the mainstay for the enthusiasts for the plans and reports.

There are few who recognise that those material needs are of secondary importance compared with the spiritual ones, and that the needs of Englishmen will never be met so long as we confine our efforts to relieving their physical wants. Pius XII, in his impressive Christmas allocution, has pointed out that the troubles from which we suffer cannot be cured if we leave out religion. This truth is set aside by the majority of social thinkers and planners, and they scoff at the Pope as reactionary and out of touch with reality. But in this country the need is greater than elsewhere.