The San Francisco call., 1896-03-27

u. =
pure; if they can keep themselves pure IN
mind and in body for one year or two or more
before marriage you draw the line arpltrarlIy
when you fix it at any determined age.
You, personally, may not have been pure even
in the years of childhood; but again | ask you.
why force your own vileness upon,u us as STAN
dard OF humanity? Applause. some unmar.
ried persons are at times false 10 the duties OF
personal virtue; some married persons are at
times faithless to their marriage vows; but in
neither case is unfaithfulness due to the guilty
one, but to unfortunate circumstances or weak
ness OF the will. You sneer at the priest as q
confidant of the other sex, but your sneer loses
its sting when we consider the style OF mani
fiesta ton used in the confessional. The word
confidant has an air of levity about it. 1t sug-
gests the spicipess of scandal the minuteness
of detail which no confessor could permit. The
confession OF the mere nature of criminal ex-
cesses and the number OF times made to ply
sieian would not, / think. constitute him q
confidant of his patient Something more IS
required to lower his profession 10 such level.
But the question recurs again and again, what
about the indelicacy of the confessional? And
again ask, what about the lndelicacy OF the
various professions? And allow me TO call
your attention to q great sophlsm, VIZ: that
the manifestatio of inoellcate matters is
necessarily indelicate- The language OF the
confessional is and must be delicate, for 1t is
the language of one who is heartily sorry for
sin, and such language is certainly not calcu-
lated to be indelicate or 10 lead others to 1ml-
tation. But what am saying? What am l
answering? Have you remarked the insulting
insinuation contained in the objection that
every man, every WON al. that goes to confession
has such secret in his or her heart? Let us
put the objection clearer and say, 81 object to
my wife, my mother, my sister, my daughter
going to confession, because she would confess
to the priest the low, base desires which She has
harbored, the mean, immoral actions % which sa
womanhood? This their idea OF those whom
they should cherish most? II they hold that
these are the pure creatures that as husbands
fathers, brothers and sons they ought to hold
them, they cannot object to confession, for
there is no indelieacy for them to confess. If
they object to confession, then leave TO your
Judgment what we should think of those
who in the semblance of humanity are worse
than brutes. Applause.
The third objection, that the priest invades
the saEctity of the home and separates hus-
band and wife, falls to the ground for the same
reason that the others fell. IL supposes that
every husband, every wife, that goes to con-
fession has some secret infidelity to confess.
The priest invades the sanctitys OF nome!
Where is the sanctity OF home according to the
objection? If unfaithfulness has taken posses
sion OF the heart OF one or OF the hearts OF both
then has the angel OF purity ana OF peace fed
from that hearthstone, and their criminal pas
sions and not the priest have divided them.
And II in penltence and in sorrow the guilty
party or parties should come TO the priest as to
a friend for light and consolation and en-
couragement to do better, what would you
have him do?
What would you, as friend, do If the guilty
one came to you in like circumstances?
Would you run to the other party and manifest
all? Or would you not rather bury the secret
in your breast and strive to bridge over the
chasm separating heart from heart? Could
any one in fairness say that you were separat-
ing husband aud wife because you concealed
what could bring about only discord and
stroye to- remove its cause, or would you
rather deserve the benedictions of your fellow
men that you haG held another family to-
gether? And if yon deserve benediction why
not priest, if he perform like kindly action?
But as l have said, the very foundation of the
objection is the universal moral corruption of
hearts, and bears, like its fellows, the stamp OF
a low, mean mind.
Oh, you who have lost faith in the chastity of
woman, go to the confessional to recover it:
admire, as the confessor so often adm:res, the
purity of souls; and know that if confidence
in womanly chastity, which, God forbid,
should abandon all else, there Will still be one
to raise his voice in defense OF womanhood, in
defense of the mothers and wives and sisters
ana daughters OF the very maligners OF the
confessional, and that one will De the "man of
the. con fessional." (Applause.l
Away back as far as 1913 test case of the
priest and the law was made in the State of
New York. A person who stole sum of
money went to confession, and of course could
not receive absolution without making resti-
tuition to the owner. He did so through his
confessor, Father Kohlman. The matter was
brought up in the criminal court and Father
Kohlman was put OH trial. for the reason that
he who knows the name of a thief and will not
divulge it is subject to the same penalty as the
thief himself. The trial took place and the
case was dismissed, the Judges deciding that
GAS the laws OF the United States permit the
free exercise of religion it is not lawful to
force Catholic priest to do what is forbidden
by his faith
The silence of the priest. therefore, is not
against the laws OF our country, but in accord
ance with them. Neither is his case solitary
one in law. No one is obliged to incriminate
himself, and he is excused from answering ques-
tions when, by answering, he would so oincrimi-
nate himself. The wife is not obliged to testify
against her husband nor the husband against
n fQ 10 q .I1rliA n hni
hearts and the secret of either, if secret there
be, is safe in the others keeping.
II the confessional were indeed a. defense of
evil, a shield for evil, an encouragement of
evil, its action would be anti-social, and as
such to be repressed bur when it has for its
direct and only object the Withdrawing of the
heart from evil, the stirring UP OF sorrow. 1.-The
amendmentsof life, the confessional becomes d
real boon. to society And is not the amendment
of the offender one of the chief aims of our
criminal law?
centiye OF virtue, the greatest impediment to
vice. How many there are who are kept from
the noble ways of virtue on accountof troubles
and anxieties OF SOUL They know tnat they
have sinned, but cannot satisfy themselves of
the sufficiency of their sorrow; and bending
beneath load that they consider above their
lay down their burden before their time and
pass away too often suicides. In the comfort
and encouragement of the confessional, hope
would have budded forth and blossomed, and
TO bring back and strengthen the erring soul.
That the manifestation of our sins to fellow
mortal is an imPediment to other sins goes
without saying. We easily lose sight or the
presence of our Maker and add sin to sin re-
gardless of that presence.
But confession is the means by which the
priests rule in politics [Laughter.l Again.
let us study facts. Examine the men who are
prominent in politics and tell me how many of
them enter the confessional. Enter into the
lives of these who do not go to confession and
you viii find that the faster they got into poll
tics the faster they got out of the Confessional
because political methods and the purity of
the gospel are oftentimes at variance. / do
not say that politician cannot be politician
and good Catholic, but do say that it takes
nerve and backbone to be both. ILaughterl
Politicians are too often guided by principles
of monetary expedlency, rather than by the
eternal principles OF justice: they are inclined
to look after the sack rather than the public
welfare; and knowing that reparation is due
from tnem and that restitution must be made
by them before receiving aDsolution, unwill-
ing to give up their sin they stay away from
confession. You make great mistake when
you imagine that the priest likes to see Catho-
lies mixed up too deeply in politics, for apos-
tasy from the faith is but too often to be