Religion: Christ-Bearers

In 1945 Father James Keller, a Roman Catholic priest of the Maryknoll Mission, founded an organization he called the Christophers (TIME, April 14, 1947). Without membership, meetings or dues, the Christopher movement (from the Greek for “Christ-bearer”) was designed to encourage men & women to combine the spreading of Christian values with their daily jobs. For this purpose, Christophers are encouraged to enter fields of wide public influence, such as education, government, journalism, entertainment, etc. Present “membership” (those who have indicated this intention and receive a monthly bulletin): 300,000.

Last week Father Keller announced the winners of the 1950 Christopher Awards —five prizes of $5,000 each, for books and movie scripts that are “at the same time entertaining, artistic, and inspirational.” The $15,000 first prize in 1949 went to an Episcopalian—Architect George Howe, for his novel, Call It Treason. Of the eight award winners this year only two were Catholic :

¶ Karl Stern, M.D., for his autobiography, Pillar of Fire (Harcourt Brace; $3.50). In this book, Jewish-born Dr. Stern tells of his struggles in Nazi Germany and his eventual conversion to Catholicism.

¶ Houston Harte & Guy Rowe, both Protestants, for their book, In Our Image (Oxford; $10), which combines Harte-edited text from the Bible with TIME Cover Artist Rowe’s imaginative portraits of Biblical figures.

¶ Betty Martin and Evelyn Wells, for their book, Miracle at Carville (Doubleday; $3), the true story of a young Catholie girl’s battle against leprosy and her eventual recovery.

¶ Lamar Trotti, for his script of the movie, Cheaper by the Dozen, the sentimental story (as in the bestselling book) of a Protestant family of twelve children.

¶ Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett for their cinema script of Father of the Bride, also a domestic comedy made from a bestseller.