MY MOTHER had a missal. It’s a good thing that this is a written medium and not a spoken one, otherwise Americans alighting on this article might be understandably concerned about the reason an elderly woman would want her own missile.
No – missal, not missile: the book that Catholics can take into a church to help them follow Mass. It gives the liturgy for Sunday worship and translations of prayers from Latin into English.
Traditionally, it has been the practice to insert cards between a missal’s pages, printed items at which the worshipper could glance during Mass and help him or her with private prayers or texts for reflection: perhaps, a card presented on the occasion of a First Communion; a photo of a family member who is far away from home; a picture of the Virgin Mary; a picture of a deceased loved one – that sort of thing.
My mother has been dead for many a long year, but I still keep her missal on a bookshelf. It does not often accompany anyone to Mass, as these days, when everything is in the English language and ‘missalettes’ are available on the pews, there is relatively little point in using one. I keep it for remembrance of her and of past times. Recently, not having opened it for a very long time, I took it from the bookcase and glanced through it, looking at her collection of missal cards.
When I found a folded newspaper article between its pages, I removed it and, quite intrigued, unfolded it so as to read the text. A missal seemed an unusual place to find a newspaper article.
It turned out to be from the ‘Letters to the Editor’ page of the Daily Telegraph, and although the cutting is undated, I imagine it was from the mid-1960s, since it mentions the then recently appointed Conservative Party leader and future Prime Minister, Edward Heath.
The letter is titled The Ideals of Conservatism by the newspaper, and the writer is a Mr Anthony R Salter from Meopham, Kent. I have no idea who he was – maybe an official of the local Conservative Association or a Conservative council?
The world always turns out to be smaller than one might expect. Although Mr Salter must be deceased, maybe a descendant or younger friend might happen to read this present article and, I hope, be pleasantly surprised that his name and the letter he wrote all those years ago made such a big impression and was inspirational to at least one woman, who took the trouble to cut it out and keep it in her missal.
The text follows below:
‘SIR – It must indeed seem churlish to voice any criticism of Mr Heath’s recent and widely acclaimed television performance, and yet in so many ways it was both disappointing and unsatisfying.
‘Without doubt Mr Heath has revealed himself as more than competent to deal with the problems of government and administration with which he is likely to be faced. But it is his very concern, even preoccupation, with these problems which so clearly demonstrates the intense narrowness of modern Conservative philosophy.
‘Conservatism should be so much more than just a plan for government, a programme for administration. By its very nature it must concern itself with man in his widest social context. To me, as to others, Conservatism is a philosophy of life or it is nothing. As Conservatives, therefore, we can no longer stand aside from the great social and moral issues of our day – if only because the men and women over whom any Government has to exercise its authority, must inevitably be the product of the social environment in which they live.
‘Traditional Conservatives have always advocated a limited role for government – not because, like the 19th-century Liberals, we saw man as capable of self-perfection but because we recognised that the influence of custom, tradition, religious faith and family life was more likely to produce well-being and contentment than were the impositions of the State.
‘Concern with the ethical and moral assumptions of society and with the well-being of the family unit is at the heart of all that Conservatism stands for and it must therefore be a false distinction to classify them as issues which are “non-political”. We are all familiar with calls for leadership but Conservatives, at all levels, must seek first of all not so much to become leaders of governments or of parties but to become leaders of society – holding fast to their convictions; seeking by persuasion and example to secure their wider acceptance.
‘Perhaps it is the particular affliction of youth to seek a philosophy of idealism where none exists. For me, however, Conservatism must always be more idealistic than pragmatic – committed to a society in which individual freedom and responsibility are tempered by an inner concern both for the happiness and contentment of other individuals and for the wellbeing of society as a whole.
‘Our problem as Conservatives, therefore, is not how to make society fit for man to live in but rather how we can make man fit to live in the society which is our ideal.’
The retention of this letter by my mother says just as much about her as it does about the letter’s author, with whom she evidently shared the same convictions. In today’s world, that shared worldview, with few notable exceptions, would make many party politicians of any hue recoil in horror.
Politics and idealism have always been awkward bedfellows and, doubtless in the decades up to Mr Salter’s time, the Conservative Party was able to represent itself as being more honourable and upright than was actually the case, thanks to no social media, less media scrutiny and greater social deference.
Poor Mr Anthony R Salter of Meopham, Kent, who complained in the 1960s about ‘the intense narrowness of modern Conservative philosophy’: that narrowness was never going to alter, widen, nor become more inspirational. Let us hope that his own political idealism never became embittered.
Both Mr Salter and my late mother would have found the modern Conservative Party an increasingly unrecognisable organisation compared with the one she knew during her lifetime, and for which she often volunteered at election time.
Many are those who hope that a more authentic conservatism will emerge from a different quarter, since the present Conservative Party seems so wan, tired and lacklustre. Let us again hope this renewal encompasses not only policy, but also the ‘ideals of Conservativism’.
This article first appeared in The New Conservative and is republished by kind permission.
