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Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Preface
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A modern writer defined Catholic Action as "a kind of popular university in which one learns to love and promote love of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Pope, and the Church." The definition is both suggestive and successful, because it focuses, in a few words, on the main point of Catholic Action. If on one hand we esteem and love Catholic Action because of the good it has already accomplished, we esteem and love it much more because it has come from the Pope's heart and because it continues to belong entirely to him. To those who wish to know why Catholic Action, like the mustard seed of the Gospel parable, has spread its leafy branches over every field of the Church in a few years, causing a marvelous blossoming of hearts and souls, we can give this clear and precise answer: The secret of Catholic Action is an "ardent love for the Holy Pontiff and a union with him through the hierarchy." It is proper then, and even necessary, that everyone remember that the kingdom of Christ cannot be separated from the Pope and the hierarchy. By ourselves we are nothing and nothing can we achieve, but in union with the Pope we are everything and can achieve everything, for then we have Jesus Christ. We reach out with the indispensable means of prayer, action, and sacrifice, and Christ saves the souls. We rejoice, therefore, when we see that interest in Catholic Action increases daily in Brazil, as can be ascertained by the growing number of books, magazines, and studies dedicated to this subject. It is a reality that fills our heart with burgeoning hopes, and most especially so when these writings heedfully expound, inculcate, and deepen the genuine and traditional principles of Catholic Action contained in the precious mine of the papal documents, precisely as Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, the esteemed President of the Archdiocesan Board of Catholic Action of São Paulo, set out to do in the work titled In Defense of Catholic Action. As it is always useful and profitable to study and meditate on such truths, we are certain that this book—written by a man who has always lived in Catholic Action and whose pen is entirely at the service of Holy Church—will do much good to souls and promote the cause of Catholic Action in this blessed land of the Holy Cross. Rio de Janeiro, March 25, 1943—Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lady. + Benedict, Archbishop of Cesarea, Apostolic Nuncio
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