Article July 15, 1950 Issue

Opening Remarks

By Erwin D. Canham, Chairman

The opportunity which faces Christian Science, through the Christian Science literature, is today transcendent. I have just come from a few weeks' visit in a part of the world where—in some areas—a single copy of a Christian Science periodical is a rare and treasured possession. There are places in the world where circulation of our literature is once more restricted. To all of us, every copy of a Christian Science publication ought to be as precious as every copy is to persons under these circumstances of seeming denial. For every copy has the message of awakening and of healing in its wings. Every copy is armed with the might of the imperative Word.

Repeatedly, everywhere in our time, we witness the evidences of spiritual hunger. It is in this mood that mankind enters the second half of the twentieth century. That is a far cry from the confident materialism with which the century opened. Then, the Christian Science periodicals were young indeed, and several of them had not yet appeared. When, in 1908, The Christian Science Monitor was first published, it was greeted with cynical and patronizing scorn. What a contrast to the position of our daily newspaper today, and of all the other Christian Science publications!

I wish I could convey adequately to you the respect and confidence with which representatives of the Monitor are greeted in the foreign offices or counting houses or universities of the world. Mary Baker Eddy's demonstration in daily journalism has already manifested in the world no small part of the authority and prestige which she envisioned for it. But this is only a beginning. The task now is for Christian Scientists themselves to use the Christian Science periodicals so as to respond to the period of world awakening which is before us. And as Christian Scientists themselves make full use of their own precious messengers, they will be able to meet the world's need, and the world will respond.

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