The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1909-12-03
CATHOLICISM Vs. PRJTtSlAII-
ISM.
BOTH SYSTESS OF RELIGION CAyNOT
BE RIGHT.
The Question is 20 decide Between
lhem-hnOy toe truth and II
Shall taAs i.q ,,rae.

I'D "rt~i'' 't Ar bHuoAr iaitn, the
speakers being two priests Of that
Church 'Fe one coming TO us from
p Danyil.e and ihe other from Richmond
where they are recognzsdby MEMBERS
OF their faith as Fathers Tbe,,
are gentlemen oI intelligence. d,gni-
, ned 10 their bearing. courteous IN
= those who differ with them and fair in
, their treatment of the subjects they
deal with. The Herald, through one
OF It's representatives, has been giving
them earnest careful AID dispassion-
ate hearing, VIII do 20 To the end.
and approaching as we do that either
they are right or we OF the Protestant
persuasion are right purpose from
week to week to give our readers
their contentious on this all important
matter ana as far as we may be able
to make reply to them And we
promise in advance that the 'Fathers'
shall not excel in courtesy and fair
dealing in this discussion. The first
. question asked and answered by them
was, Why Catholic Priests do not
marry ?" The lecturer began bN-
frankly stating there IS no Bible COM
mand on the sgbject Of celibacy no
thus saith the Lord, " but St. Paul
in Corinthians 7:7-9 says: For |
would that all men were such as my
self. But every man hath his proper
gift Of God, one after this manner and
another after that. say therefore to
the unmarried and widows, it is good
for them if they abide even as /. But
if they cannot contain let them marry;
for it is better to marry than to burn"
And further, only one Of the Apos-
ties was a married man and Christ
never married. " Paul, tnen, only
made suggestion, the one Apostle
who was married has been recognized
through the ages by all Catholics as
the first pope of the Church and 50
was accorded the highest honor and first
place, and for the priest not TO
marry because Christ never married,
means also that no priest should OWE
poperty, have where to lay his head
and to submit to the rites of crcum-
cision. These last mentioned things
they have not been observing, nor
are they Of this age observing. Again
the priest should not marry for the
reason that if as single man he is
called to a pest house TO minister to the
dying, he will be quick to respond to
the call, whereas as married man he
would consult the good Of his family
rather than the glory Of God And
from this we are led to believe that
only unmarried physicians and un-
married soldiers are ready to 90 into
places of danger An appeal to his
tory stamps this contention as untrue.
Again, men and women ainted with
sin are more wi ling to tell all Of the
sad secrets of the.r lives to single rath-
er than married men, when the
truth is that the married family ply
sician is taken into the secrets Of
hearts and Of homes as the unmarried
practitioner is never done
Again, the world has been evan
gelzed by celibaes and not by men
with the cares Of fami-
lies. True so far as the Catholic
Church is concerned, but in no wise
true Of other Christian denominations
Call the roll Of the worthless who today
fight the devil and his forces on the
frontier, and it viii be found that
those who are on the forefront Of the
battle for Righteousness, are heads Of
families, and in many cases consecra-
ted wives stand shoulder to shoulder
and heart to heart with consecrated
husbands who have devoted their
lives TO the nobest work known
among the children Of men.
The lecturer further said that in
Eastern countries Catholic priests are
allowed to marry with the result that
the confessional is neglected. OF
this we know nothing except what
was said on the subject by the speak
er, but viii add if it is right that
priests of the venerable Church are
permitted to marry under Eastern
skies, the same priyil, &c should be
allowed under Western, and if that
would mean a confession Of sins TO
the Christ who alone can do help ess
sinners good, rather than 70 man the
world would be that much better off.
If we have failed to notice a posi-
ton taken by the lecturer, we fail to
recall the omission, and if in our
modest reply we have done hun any
injustice it has been error Of the head
and not of the heart.
And in closing this first defense