I Write this article as a very ordinary Catholic layman. A schoolmaster whose work very definitely does not finish at four o'clock, father of four children not yet in their teens, an active member of various professional and Catholic organizations, the only handyman, painter and decorator about the house, I am pretty busy. But I feel very strongly that once family and professional obligations have been fulfilled, the performance of works of Christian charity is my most important duty.

It was as an undergraduate at Oxford after the war that I was persuaded by Catholic friends to join in works of charity. Like many others, we made a special effort to heal some of the wounds of war. We tried to become the genuine friends and tactful helpers of Polish students and German prisoners of war. We collected and despatched food and clothing to refugees and to Germany. Then a Dominican introduced us to the normal charitable work which can—and should—be performed in the ordinary Catholic parish.