The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-02-16
BISHOP KFANE SAYS
CONFESSIONAL is
SLANDERED
40
Bishop of Cheyenne breaches
an Eloquent Sermon in Its
Defense at st. Luke's
Church-W Worst Enemy the
mort
Church Has Is all Apostate
n. an5C95-5 '
Priest. stir
r. II vv

Bishop j. J. Keane, of the diocese
Of Cheyenne, Neb., last evening in St
Luke's church, set before a small au-
d1ence an unusually lucid and simple
exposition of that much misunderstood
Roman Catholic institution, 1.-THE Con-
fessional." He said in part:
Upon the subject of auricuIar con-
fession there are two distinct views
| These are Catholic view and under
standing; the other is a nom Catholic
| view and misunderstanding
THE non-Catholic view is that the
| confessional is a human institution de-
signed by crafty priesthood to fur
n1sh those priests ample excuse and
scope by means of which to prey upon
a credulous pastorate. And it is too
bad that the nom Catholic idea, Or i'm
| preston, is the one that today has at
tanned to predominance in this coun-
| try The 'non-Catholic idea found orr
gin ages ago in obscurity and darkness
and hate; and in spite of all the light
that the Roman Catholic church has
endeavored to throw upon the sub
| ject, this perverted idea has steadily
grown.
Some years, ago, in the course Of a
temperance campaign carried on in the
South, myself and colleague reached a
small village and put UP for the night
| at the only hotel. In. the evening I
asked the landlady if there were any
Catholics in the village, to which she
replied in the negative very forcibly,
adding that none were desired. 1 ask
ed her, then, if she knew aught of the
Catholic church. She replied that she
knew all about it Probably said I,
exynIJ ho1 4
education?' No, indeed, that was not
necessary. I read all about 1t in
book written by Catholic priest,
Father Chiniquy!' From that poison
Gus, perverted, despicable piece of lit
| erature she had. attained her knowl7
edge Of the hottest institution on earth.
The word of a liar against all the
teachings Of the stanchest church Of
the world!
"And that book has been translated
! into all the languages of Europe, and
many of Asia. And over there it is
still at its work, poisoning the minds
OF humankind and combating our mis-
sionaries in their God given work to
an incalculable degree. .
But Chiniquy was not the first.
There was a Frenchman before him
engaged in the same work. And you
know that when the devil gets into a
Frenchman there. is none worse.
Cardinal Newman Exposed Lie.
when Cardinal Newman was new
Iy converted it Glanced that an Eng
Hshman, travelling in Switzerland, saw
outside the door of a grand old Cath
Ole cathedral a sign upon which were
words and figures. He, it seems, was
preparing a lecture which he inteded
6AIiWPTjnog hi 10
and in that lecture he stated that he
had seen sign upon which was a
| catalogue Of the different sins and the
price of absOlution for each. Cardinal
Newman was naturally very much in
censed over the matter, and he wrote,
asking that a clear. exposition of the
matter be sent him. This was done;
and it turned up that what really was
upon that sign was the location Of each
seat in the church and the rental of
each. The man who created the fur
| ore could not read French, but he could
| hate and peryert. But the old story is
still upon it's way.
In this America of ours we are not
so much given to investigation of
religious matters as they are in other
| countries. We are too apt to accept
without thought the ready prepared
thing as it is set before us. We are
too busy in the pursuit of material
!
this country I have very rarely found
school in which the minds of the
| children were not permitted to become
| poisoned in regard to religious matters.
You know the principle upon which
an enemy works. is not to saw mild
| things about you. Rather, he deluges
| you beneath overwhelming, damaging
| evidence; and in the event of the lack
| of truth, he throws lies at you. That
| is the manner in which the enemies of
| the church have served her.
SIander, the Confessional.
'"These enemies will tell you that
| beautiful girl goes to the confessional
| and is treated, in an inhuman manner
| by the priest who hears her. God for
| give them! In this world there are
about 250,000,0OO Catholics. How MANY
| of those are mothers who have been
| accustomed to the confessional all their
| lives? Have they not as much love
/ for their daughters as non Catholic
/ mothers? Why do they hail with iov
| the fact that their daughters are regu-
| lar attendants at the confessional? T
wonder if those mothers found the
! confessional means of support and a
| fountain of good? Or did it early
break down and shatter all their
| ideals?
But then it is a well known fact
that the worst enemy the church has
! Is an apoState priest, one who has
proved himself false to every trust
! reposed in him. He has fallen from a
! great height, and of course he falls
very low. But it seems that no apos-
| tate priest can be too low to be false
| witness against the holy Roman Cath
| Ollie church, the beacon Of the ages.
"Why do we have the confessional?
1 Do you not know from your childhood
experience that your father realized
that confession was a better corrective
than punishment? Has he not said
to you: Tell me all about and I'll not
whip your Man naturally Graves for
some one to whom to tell his troubles.
! Look at the fugitive from justice. He
keeps his secret locked within his
breast for years, maybe, but sooner or
later comes the time when he goes to
someone and says: I must tell you;
I cannot keep it to myself longer!'
| People from without the Catholic
| church come to us-cone to us to
! gain a sympathetic ear and good adj
vice.
Ordeal of Father confessor.
sSome blame the priesthood for this
| matter, saying that it is priestly in
| stitution. If the man who says that
| could go through the weekly ordeal of
| every father tconfesor he would say it
| no longer. Look at a confessor! Lock-
ed in a room for nine hours Of the day,
| with naught but foul air to breathe,
| with scarce room to stretch his arms,
| with attentive ear and tongue we'll
curbed. And then the troubles he
| must hear-the greatest trial of all.
| And this reminds me Of times when
have been asked by inquisitive but
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