The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-11-07
The Business Side of ReIialon.

The business side of religion is a
subject which has been shfrked alto
gether too long" writes a Wisconsin
priest. When we get a business con-
science formed in the laity, the money
sermons and the scoIding and coax
ing that wear out the life of a priest
will be eliminated. Business principles
carried out will not make the church
more worldly, but will allow the pas
tor to attend better to the spiritual.
Business conscience" is a good
term. 1t means simply that strict
sense of duty should prompt our peo-
pie to give the church debt the place
of honor among the financial obliga-
lions. Judged from every standpoint.
1T ought to be the most sacred of all
debts Too frequently it happens that
it is the last debt to receive atten-
ton. The business conscience" of
some of our people certainly needs an
awakening.
Il am poor pay" writes an
anonymous correspondent, and the
shoe pinches. / sit in a rear pew. be-
cause many of the respectable peo-
pie, who sit up in front, will mot
pay what they owe me. have re-
NAMED away from church. ] am sorry
to say. rather than be seen and not
payi1/' of just debts to the people who
have the name of being generous dom
ors, but at the expense of -grocers and
butchers and bakers and business
men who are often at their wits ends
TO obtain the means whereWith to
meet their bills"
| believe that my anonymous friend
is mistaken when he assumes that
respectable people" who do not pay
their bills are generous donors. AS 1
asserted once before. poor pays in
the business world are generally poor
givers They are generous only when
1t is question of their own comfort
or pleasure. No priest wants the
money which ought TO go to the pay
ment of just debts. He has been
taught to repudiate the generosity
which comes before justice. Time and
again it has happened that gifts and
bequests have been refused because
the acceptance of the same would seem
to be in violation of the principles
of justice and charity. These people
of. whom he writes may sit in front
pews, but L believe that little in
vestigation will show that their pew
rents, like the rest Of their bills, is
long since overdue. When business
men cannot collect it is a foregOne con-
clusion that the priest has failed
I believes" writes another. that
priests. as a class. are lacking in
sympathy for the men and women
who supply the funds. They do not
and cannot understand the character
of the problems with which the con-
tributor is frequently face to face"
l believe that nothing can be far
Their from the truth than such an as
sertion. Priests as class know well
the value of a dollar. Few of them
are the sons Of wealthy parents Be-
fore entering the sacred ministry many
of these have worked hard for a liv-
ing. Thev understand we'll the fire.
ouency of the calls which are made
upon the wages of the laborine man.
The only tainted money in their eyes
is that of the poor who can i'll afford
to give. 1t is a case in which every
true priest would rather give than re-
ceive. The real truth of the matter is
that their excessive sympa thy leaves
them easily imposed upon. Those who
have shown a disposition to meet them
half way have never found them
wanting in that spirit of sympathy
and self-sacrifice which have been
of the priesthood in
every ga. e-ReV J. T Roche