The Newcastle and Maitland Catholic Sentinel : the official organ of the diocese of Maitland

Call Number
Internet
Created/Published
Canberra : National Library of Australia, 2016
Issue
Vol. XXVII No. 7 (1 April, 1959)
Images
16
View Catalogue

Text

The Neweastle and Maitland  

Catholic Sentinel  

(Registered at the General Post-Office, Sydney, for transmission by post as Newspaper]  

The Official Organ of the Diocese of Maitland  

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION .. .. 3/6  

Rev. G. P. Flatley, Editor  

Vol. XXVII. No. 7.  

MAITLAND, APRIL 1, 1959.  

Price, 3d.  

On Human Respect  

yHHAT queer unmanageable sort of term is  

HUMAN RESPECT! We see it so often in  

print and in practice that we now easily recognize  

it; but really, if we met it for the first time, most  

of us should not be able to make head or tail of it.  

Used in its ordinary sense it is moral cowardice  

keeping men from speaking or acting as they know  

they should, through fear of what others may think  

or say of them.  

On the other hand, we must be careful not to  

have wrong ideas about moral courage. Moral  

courage does not mean parading; flaunting our  

virtues, trumpeting our good deeds, sky-writing  

our excellences, as did that Pharisee in the temple  

who reminded God what fine fellow he was and  

how well he compared with the sinner whom he  

looked at from the corner of disdaining eye. It  

does not mean saying prayers and doing good and  

holy deeds ‘that we may be seen by men.’  

Human respect has enormous crimes to its ac-  

count. Here are two. Pilate sent Jesus Christ to  

His death through fear of being reported to his  

Roman masters. Herod had St. John the Baptist  

beheaded through fear of what his company would  

think of him if he broke stupid oath he made  

when well in his cups.  

Human respect can make men ashamed of doing  

the right thing and proud of doing the wrong.  

Writing of his sinful boyhood, Saint Augustine  

says: invented things had not done, lest  

might be held cowardly for being innocent, or  

contemptible for being chaste.’  

There is much moral cowardice amongst us.  

smutty story is told in company. What keeps  

people from treating the smutty raconteur as he or  

she deserves? Human respect. The good name of  

another is attacked. What keeps us from dissocia-  

ting ourselves from the attack, at least by our  

silence? Human respect. What makes many  

people, even passing for good Catholics, more  

afraid of being caught with holy book in their  

hands than with risky novel? Human respect.  

This statement once emanated from body of  

Protestant bishops: ‘People are more ashamed to-  

day to mention God’s name than to tell an obscene  

story.’ It is scarcely too much to say that in our  

daily speech the Creator is almost taboo in His own  

creation.  

Men seem to be the worst offenders in this  

matter. Men who would at once accept chal-  

lenge to fight, who would be heroes on the battle-  

field and the first over the top, who would risk life  

and limb to save life, will shrivel up before  

taunt or sneer. They would fear being caught  

with rosary in their hand, or carrying fair-sized  

prayerbook, or saluting church, or joining  

sodality, or going to Mass on week-day, or making  

the Way of the Cross. They would fear what the  

other fellows might say—the other fellows and  

their sisters and their cousins and their aunts.’  

And the folly of it! How often we fear that  

others are thinking queerly of us and they are not  

thinking of us at all! Anyhow, if they think little  

of us for following our conscience, they would  

probably think less of us for not following it  

through fear of them.  

How many bad Christians does not Human  

Respect keep from becoming good! How many  

good from becoming better!  

Cite

Citation options:
Work identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-308447706

APA citation

(2016). The Newcastle and Maitland Catholic Sentinel : the official organ of the diocese of Maitland Retrieved July 26, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-308447706

MLA citation

The Newcastle and Maitland Catholic Sentinel : the official organ of the diocese of Maitland Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2016. Web. 26 July 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-308447706>

Harvard/Australian citation

2016, The Newcastle and Maitland Catholic Sentinel : the official organ of the diocese of Maitland National Library of Australia, Canberra viewed 26 July 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-308447706

Wikipedia citation

{{Citation
  |
  | title=The Newcastle and Maitland Catholic Sentinel : the official organ of the diocese of Maitland.
  | year=2016
  | section=online resource : illlustrations
  | issn=2206-5466
  | issue=Vol. XXVII No. 7 (1 April, 1959)
  | location=Canberra
  | publisher=National Library of Australia
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-308447706
  | id=nla.obj-308447706
  | access-date=26 July 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

Citations are automatically generated and may require some modification to conform to exact standards.

Download

Select the images you want to download, or the whole document.

Available formats
TIF high resolution
Include
All
Current

Or select a range of images:

Selected: 1 - 16 (16 Images)

Order

You can order a copy of this work from Copies Direct.

Copies Direct supplies reproductions of collection material for a fee. This service is offered by the National Library of Australia

Include

Or select a range of images:

1 - 16 (16 Images)

Share

Share on Twitter

Share on Facebook

What can I do with this?

Copyright varies by issue and article

Reason for copyright status
Serials have an open range of dates.

Copyright varies with each issue and article. You may have full rights to copy, or may be able to copy only under some circumstances, for example a portion for research or study. Order a copy where circumstances allow or Contact us for further information.

Copyright status was determined using the following information:

Material type
Literary, dramatic or musical work

Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply.

For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Share Close

Copy and paste one of these options to share this book elsewhere.

NOTE: We've tested EMBED on blogspot.com blogs as well as self-hosted Wordpress blogs. This feature will NOT work on wordpress.com blogs.

About this book Close