Catholic Newspaper Praises Pusey for Divinity Address

The Boston Pilot, official publication of the archdiocese of Boston, praised President Nathan M. Pusey '28 yesterday for his address at the Divinity School. In an editorial titled "Faith and Dr. Pusey," the paper, which recently had been critical of ex-President conant, said of President Pusey: "We can rejoice that a choice of such prominence saw fit at the beginning of a great task to call unashamedly for a revival of spiritual interests as the first hope of the future."

The editorial lauded the President for "turning his back on the 'wisdom' of President Eliot" who had in 1909 called for a rational faith without metaphysical rites. Pusey's statement Wednesday had been that "He (Eliot) was wrong . . . in urging his generation to get rid of what he called 'paganized Christianity' by eschewing metaphysics and by escaping into a formless empyrean of good will." Pusey recommended instead a firm grasp and fresh understanding of what he called "first things."

Today's editorial was The Pilot's first comment on President Pusey. Former President James B. Conant did not fare so well with this publication in April, 1952, when he charged independent schools with contributing to the threat to democratic unity. At that time, conant's policies were attacked by The Pilot and Archbishop Richard J. Crushing, who labelled such views "fascistic."

In approving Pusey's statement, The Pilot made it clear that this was no blanket endorsement: "Not every one to be sure will understand Dr. Pusey's words in the same sense; we ourselves doubtless will not share his views in the details of its programming or its total implementation at the Divinity School."

But the editors did see Pusey's address as "courageous in an environment so long foreign to their expression. "His stand. The Pilot continued, "can open minds long closed to thoughtful consideration of spiritual values."