The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1909-03-06
WORDS OF BURNING TRUTH.

,.
Ii tfcreis one evil that afflicts the Church Of
God today more than another it is neglect OF hear
ing Mas on Sundays and holidays. Cathol;.,
becoming more and more neglectfu i'll this respect.
Ii there Is sin which calls for an effeotual
remedy III our day it is the sin of Mass missing
Catholics gradually getting out of the habit OF
gong to Mass on Sundays. The custom OF their
forefathers is not observed. They begin by ex-
cusing themselves trivial grounds; but excuses
talllng. they finally drop the habit entirely; and
1t Is no eXaggeraon to say that in this city of St
Louis, which is Catholic city and compares IA
yorably perhaps with any other city in America.
not one-half of the Catholics attend Mass any
Sunday. 1t is a terrible state of affairs. because
when they cease going to Mass they start the
down grade that ends in perdition. The bad Cath
Ole begins by neglecting Mass; then he neglects
his prayers and then he ceases to be a Catholic
at all. We asked to explain the great detection
from the church. 1t has been told time and
again that if we had held our own people we would
today be 25.000,000 instead of 100000 in this
country What has become of those other 10000
600 Catholics! Ten millions of Catholics lost
Ten millions of children of Catholic parents Ten
millions of descendants of noble, heroic Catholic
forefathers What has become of them? They are
lost and never will be recovered, And how did
they to be lost Was there any great prov
ocation to apostasy! Was there any time when
Catholics renowned the faith in large bodies! The
Catholics have always held their own in this coun-
try, and the church has always gone in the
tenor of her way; but there was much leakage
Catholics have been dropping out imperceptibly
We do not know just how when, but they have
been dropping OUT and the result has been this ter
ribe detection.
Now how does this detection begin By staying
away from Mass. Catholics begin by giving them
selves excuses on Sunday morning from going to
Mass; and the habit of excusing themselves brings
about the sense of indifference; and soon, when
they have to offer at all they stay away.
The parents stay away and of course the children
stay away and they have only to stay away a few
years when both parents and children are lost.
Catholics do not come to Mass. Catholic moth
ers do not come to Mass Catholic fathers do not
come to Mass and how we expect the children
to to Mass 1t is the saddest tale | can tell
from the pulpit the story of how Catholic mothers
neglect Mass Not half the Catholic mothers of this
parish come to Mass and this is infinitely discour-
aging. And this parish will stand comparison with
any parish in the city for religious observance
The mothers of this parish don't come to Mass.
They begin by forming flimsy excuses; they must
get the breakfast; they must get the children
ready; or they not exactly well; the baby
is not we'll; they in five six months to be-
come mothers. And these thoughtless Catholic
ing Mass entirely The most negligent of the
Catholics of the parish today are the Catholic moth
ers. They the that give the first bad ex-
ample, and the most persistent bad example of
Mass-mssing. And oh, what misfortune to the
of the family! The Catholic mother who misses
Mass Sunday does not stop to think that she
has done for hell and done greater service
to the Devil than hundred wicked people could
do. Who minds these wicked people? But here
is a Catholic mother, a mother married in the :
church; mother whose children are baptized; a
Catholic mother who does not go to Mass on Sun
day morning. Of course, her husband does not so
to Mass. l never yet knew a Catholic husband to
go to Mass regularly whose wife neglected Mass.
When the Catholic wife ceases to go to Mass the
Catholic husband viii soon cease also. And as for
the poor children, when the mother ceases going
to Mass they come to look upon going to Mass as
joke And are brought into the Joke These
mothers send their children to us to be prepared
for their First Communion. We tell these chill
dren it is mortal sin to stay away from Mass on
Sunday. They see their mother staying away; and
their father staying away and what do they Think
have often had trouble to keep children from eat
ing meat on Friday for months before their First
Communion; simply because their mothers insist
ed on putting meat on the table on every Friday
It's terrible; and true it is terrible. am scan
dalizing you know; but if you were to know half
the priest knows. you would be mortified to learn
how some Catholics bring up their children. And
you would wonder why Catholics are not lost
The horrible practice Of staying away from Mass
on Sunday carries with it the neglect Of every 9th
er Catholic duty. Some thoughtful men outside
the church are giving ate lt;|n to tEs awful con-
dition of our youth Some go so far as to advo-
cate the introduction of religious instruction in our
public schools. Others despairing of that. call for
ethical culture and character building Idle talk
The nature of the child is what it always was
Character is the bent of nature and the attitude
of the mind to its surroundings. What we want is
the formation of good habits; and these form the
second and stronger nature of the child. These
habits formed by the repetition OF good deeds
AMI we must teach the children to do good to do
good always and everywhere. As our Blessed Lord
did. "Go about doing good" For this the child
needs the motives supplied by religion and the love
of God.