The Dunne - Pickup Discussion
We are happy to announce that Professor George Dunne is working on his rebuttal to Brother Pickup's article, and just as quickly as he can get it to us, his material will be published. As Brother Pickup explains in the following statement, there will likely be some delay; but if the censors release Professor Dunne's material, we will publish it.
In fairness to Professor Dunne we want to emphasize that the long, long delays were not entirely his fault. Part was due to his censors, and several months delay was due to the uncertainty of Son-Light's publication possibilities. There has been an evident fairness and gentlemanly understanding on both sides. We would not want to leave any other impression.
Readers of the Gospel Guardian will want to be sure of receiving the rebuttal to the Pickup arguments. Professor Dunne is able and sincere. He will do as good work as any Catholic anywhere could do. When he writes, our readers will know that they are receiving the very best that can be offered on that side of the question. We will be looking forward with keen anticipation to the forthcoming article from him.
— F.Y.T.
An Explanation
I have just received word from Mr. Dunne, the Jesuit priest, that he definitely intends to write a rebuttal to the negative arguments thus far presented. This debate has been carried in three late issues of the Gospel Guardian. His rebuttal will be delayed because of pressing previous commitments and because he did not clearly understand that his rebuttals would be needed so quickly. Furthermore, in his own words: "I shall have to send it (the rebuttal, H.P.,Jr.) to California to be read by two censors. I shall ask them to expedite this but I cannot guarantee that they will. I hope that it will be only a matter of a few weeks before my manuscript is in your hands."
As I understand it, everything that Mr. Dunne writes for publication must be passed on by the censors of his diocese. It is the business of these men to check his writings for erroneous Roman Catholic teaching.
The editors of Son-Light have not in any way tried to imply that the debate's delay was entirely Mr. Dunne's fault. We have never seriously doubted his willingness to carry through his agreement to defend, in affirmative arguments and a rebuttal — both to include at least 4,500 words — the proposition: "That the Holy Roman Catholic Church of today is the church established by Jesus Christ."
Mr. Dunne is an extremely busy man. He is a professor, chaplain, priest, lecturer, and author. His rigid schedule has contributed to his part of the delay. His Catholic censors were slow in their work, which further delayed matters.
Son-Light was slow in being able to print the material after it was prepared. Several months before the debate was scheduled to be printed in Son-Light, the editors knew it would be forced to suspend publication soon due to circumstances beyond our control. So they delayed publication until arrangements could be made with another paper to print the debate. These arrangements were made with the Gospel Guardian. Mr. Dunne knew that Son-Light's space was limited and that the debate would therefore cover several months. When he realized our delay in publication he assumed there would be no need for the rebuttals to be ready as quickly as was first suggested.
We are happy to know that the debate will be carried to its agreed conclusion. We sincerely regret that the rebuttals will not immediately follow the affirmative and negative comments. The editors of Son-Light and of the Gospel Guardian are now conferring on a plan that will partially rectify this inconvenience.
We trust that this explanation will serve its intended purpose.
— Harry Pickup, Jr.