The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1906-11-24
Ratte#ino at Confession.

Ihcse Who'll have been watching the
course OF thy great battle now proceed
ing petweerh the forces of Antichrist
ana the Catholic church have noted
tilat the greatest energy of the attack
Is directed Aagainst the confessional.
rms is regarded as the center of the
Cathollc position. 1t is the outwork
projecting theb sacramental ark. The
confessional isE the second gate of the
church: AfterF baptism has been passed
there is no Other portal. These gates
agltate the gates of hell, and all the
Jury OF It's foHces now concentrate about
lne center off resistance. In France the
masonic preS;s is doing much the same
CLASS OF work as the anti-Catholic
press here IFS doing in such works as
Inc Devil IN the Church. Its efforts
are being Supported by the still more
eIIectiVe AGENCY of the moving-picture
machine. Thousands of these devices
are now In operation in the most popu-
ious trencH cities, poisoning tie
streams of TRUTH and infaming the fuel
OF passion. Here too, the thin end of
the wedge h$ls been tried. In Buffalo
recently the confessional pictures were
advertised bH means of d placard out
sloe monograph entertainment booth,
with the attractive notification How
Mons. lie Cure Hears the Ladies' Con-
Lesslons. Very, very funnyw priest
from Canada' was among those who
went 10 see thfe show. The confessor,
Dloateu, leeritg parsonage that might
nave served for drunken satyr, was
SHOWN entering the box and then a
female coming in at the side-a figure
that looked lilk street drab awaken
ing from dfbauch. The priest was
norrlned to behold these figures make
the slgn OF the cross as preliminary
to their blasphemous mirnicrv. Their.
hugger- mugger grew scandalous, until
at last 1t eliminated in the confessor
putting MS arm around the ''penitent''
just as the light was being turned off
Appalled, and amazed at the frightful
profanity, the priest called for the pro-
prletor of the show and demanded the
withdrawal of this abomination. He
demurred at first. pleading that similar
pictures were being exhibited all over
the world. But on finding that the law
might De set IN motion against such a
snow. he backed down and got the at
traction removed from his list.
Nor is the propaganda of viIeness
confined to the biograph. In hundred
other ways the office of the priest and
the profession of the monk are being
held up to odium. The artistic wall
plaque and the handsome oil painting
INTO millions of homes. Monks carous-
ing III company or stealthily caressing
bottle or holding a sparkling glass of
flch vintage up to a shaft of light in a
cellar or monks slyly embracing bux-
ON Wenches, as though every monk
were a true follower of the recreant
Luther, decorate the walls of many of
THESE millions, the walls of offices and
the walls of hotels, cafes and saloons.
The brown-robed Franciscan might be
taken for the especial saint of places of
conVlviality. SO frequently is he seen
therein, on the painters canvass. The
cigar DON, the cigarette wrapper the
sunday pictorial supplement abomina-
ton, all contribute a formidable quota
TO the army of defamation What can
be done 10 stem the torrent of deviltrv? |
wen, something can be done. The |
individual Catholic can do much if he |
would only shake off his Indifference. |
the organized forces of Catholic action |
can do a great deal Catholic societies |
can raise an agitation. They can make |
shoWlnen and publishers and store
Keepers feel that while the Jew and the
Freemason have rights, the right to
outrage Catholic feeling is not amongst
them. The protest of priest sub
scrlber has been effective in the case of
the North American" and Gertrude
Atherton's offensive story, in which the
franciscan friars in California. We're
held up to scorn in way that ought to
make the blood boil in the veins of anv
man.-Catholic STANDARD and Times