The San Francisco call., 1896-03-27

az; az a moment attributed confession TO the
home,' for through all the long centuries of
SEPARATION they have clung to confession and
SUI pi chng to 1t just as we.do. [AppIause.]
nut what is confession? Is it the going TO
priest and giving SO much money to be re-
.eeseo from so 10 uch sin, kind OF protective
tarlH on crime, according to which by paying
scheduled prices Won can be freed from
calnmny and slander and murder and sinful
Indulgence? Isthls Catholic confession? No.
Emphat tically no. And again we ask. Can
people IN our. own age and in our country be
found gullible enough to believe such stories?
here is your vaunted education and enlight-
eminent? Why not investigate for yourselves?
C0nfess1onais are not SO rare in our City;
words or sentinels; choose your time, choose
your opportunity, find out the truth for your
serves and do not allow knaves or idiots to I'M
pose upon you. To offer money for the forgive
ness Of sin would be a crime-to receive it
saertlege. Though forgiveness comes through
the hands OF the priest, 1t comes dl-
no worldly emolument can compensate him
Tor the injury offered him by SIN. But
what is Catholic confession? Is it the mere
manifestation of wrongdoing? No; 1t is this
but something more. 1t the manifestation
OF wrongdoing accompanied by sincere sorrow
Tor what We have done; a resolution to sin
ne more; the absolution of the priest and the
acceptance of the penance imposed upon u.s.
with the intention of performingit.
In this description allow me to call yours at
tention 10 al important matter, and 1t is that
all that any other church demands and much
more. II we question the candid, upright
Protestant as to how he obtains forgiveness OF
his sins, he tells us, az confess my sins to God;
l am sincerely sorry; resolve to lead new
life; my sins are pardoned." All that he re
quires, the church requires. The Catholic
penitent confesses to God; he must have
sincere, deep, universal sorrow for everything
that has been seriously wrong. This heartfelt
sorrow is the pivot of the confessional; moth
ing can replace it, nothing can atone for Its
al n Eic al f1r 1S n
highest Importance in the discussion OF the
confessional. But over and above what Pro-
testants require for the remission of sin, the
church req Gires the manifes tatlon to the con-
fessor of faults If grievous.
But Immediately there rises up before us a
hideous specter. "The priest is man, like
other men, and has, moreover, enough sins OF
his own to confess This we hear urged as
il it were triumphant refutation of the con-
fessonal. Why go to priest If over his own
head hangs the sword OF divine JuStlce?. That
the priests are men like other men does not
initiate against confession; for were not the
apostles men like other men? Were they OF
diYiner nature, or rather. were they not
chiefly rude, coarse fishermen, earning their
bread on the waves OF Gaiilee? Yet to them
is the promise given, Whose sins We shall
forgive they are forgiven them; whose sins
you shall retain they are retained" Neither
would the fact If proved, that the priest has
on his conscience a many or even more sins
than the penftent weaken our position. The
objection mixes the personal qualities of the
eonfessor with his official ones, and there is no
natural connection between the two Let us
explain our meaning. Take an analogous
case which may happen in our courts. A per-
son guilty OF some offense is brought before
the Judge. What would you say of the offender
II he would refuse to plead for pardon or to ac-
eept mercy because the Judge on the bench is
himself guilty of mfsdemeanors or crimes
against the law, perhaps greater than the cul-
prits'? The personal offenses OF the Judge do
not inyalidate his official acts; and the pun
ishment inflicted and the mercy granted are
ratified by the law, no matter how unworthy
It's minister may be, provided only that legal
forms be observed and the decision be just
The Judge can free others from the penalty of
the law. He cannot pass judgment on HIM
self and free himself; ana SO with the Catholic
priest. The absolution which he dispenses TO
others will not save himself, will not lessen
the rigors OF the judgment when, ike all
other mortals, he too must stand before bar
which knows no favorites.
The confession is IN the first place an institu-
tion than which none is more democratic, for
it is the great leveler of mankind. 1t is the
soul and its Creator in the presence of his min
lister; wealth counts for nothing, social posi-
ton counts for nothing; we have only the
offending creature pleading with his offended
Maker. 1t teaches the sweetest of social vir-
tues, pity, charity and torbearance, for the
soul itself has need OF all these virtues in its
confessor Confession is great social purifier,
for hundreds of thousands OF hearts weekly in
our glorious country go over the record OF their
past lives in shame and sorrow it there be
fault and arise in the strong purpose OF their
wills to do right for the future.
Let US now take up the objections against
the con nfeSsional, and in doing SO shall give
them in the words of the American Patriot, as
they are 8 fair sample of the Opinions OF such
people on the confess ional:
The first Is that it is in the experience of
every man and OF every woman that If hes or
she by any means comes to know the sin OF
another, he or she hold that other as slave,
to be used for any purpose, however vile. Fear
and suspicion of betrayal are the sources OF
such slavery. This objection is said to be un.
answerable.
hat
after all flesh and blood, and hence, owing to
the indeifcacy of the communications made
in the confessional, they cannot avoid i'm
morality, especially as the priest is the un-
married -confidant OF the other sex.
The third is that the priest invades the
sanctity of the home and separates husband
and wife by being the recipient of secrets
which neither has manifested to the other. He
is the serpent of Eden, by suggestions and in
situations working the ruin of woman.
And first of all let us ask: "Who is he that
and for every woman?' We concede him in
deed the right to speak for himself and for
others whom he represents, but we object, and
object justly, to his lowering our common hui
manity 10 the standard of his own beastliness.
[Applause.l He may say: elf by any means
come to know the secret things of woman's
heart she becomes my slave, and can use her
for the basest purposes;. and SO can all who are
vile, or as weak, or as beastly as myself;
but he has no right to plunge every man and
woman into the mire in which he wallows.
[App1ause.] is 1t the experience OF every ordi-
nary moral man devoted 10 his wife and fam
ily that if, in passing along our streets. he
notices the common women of the town max
ing no secret of the yileness OF their hearts, is
it his experience that he Has no control over
his baser nature, but immediately becomes a
slave TO them, as they in turn become slaves
to him?
Is such, say, the experience of every ordi-
nary moral man, or does the writer hold that
there are moral men? And if it be as you
say the same between man and man then with
equal justice l say it is the same between
woman and woman; and the earnest, noble,
self-cacrifcing Protestant matron who seeks to
lift up the fallen and the outeast, whose heart
has been pierced by those tales of suffering and
sorrow, stands, If your argument be unan-
swerable, accused and convicted of the most
heinous crimes; she by some means has be- |
come possessed of the secrets OF another's
heart. Perish the mind that could conceive
base thought. (Applause.] And are not
the secret scandals OF life daily made known
to the whole City? And does every faithless
wife or guilty husband soon as known be- |
come the slave of all of his or her
scquaintances2 And again, are there |
no upright, moral men OF mature |
years who. remarking the waywardness of
youth and lamenting the sad consequences in |
future years, admonish, reproye, encourage? |
Or must they, according to thissuDanswerab |
argument, give way to: unlawful desires and |
complete the ruin already begun? Is it the |
experience of every professional man, OF every |