The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1911-04-03
Is Explained at the Mission
. for Men Here This
Week.

SAANA ~ SOSh' R4SHSS az d " Sb0Sh JGS7l
terday afternoon. The church waai
crowded to the door. Father Swim,
preached a sermon OF the Means OF
Perseverance, He spoke OF the
many graees and the deep spiritual
Joy which had come to the hearts OF
those who had made the mission s.
faithfully. But" he said, .'You
are not yet in heaven. You are
tstitl upon this cold, sinful earth.
And the great question now. at the
end of the mission, is, how are we
going to preserve those graces, that
Joy and that happiness Which the
mission has drought us?" Among
1.-THE means pointed out were watch
}fuIness, prayer, fidelity to the Sum
day mass, frequent reception OF the
sacrament and confession and holy
communion, and a strong determi-
nation to remain faithful.
On high pedestal in the sacta-
airy had oeen placed statue of the
the blessed Virgin MARY. sur
rounded by candles and flowers. AL
the end of the sermon the mission
airy kneltbefore this statue and read
o solemn dedication OF those who
had made the mission to the Mother
of the Redeemer. After that was
impaired the papaI blessing. The
entire ceremony was most beautiful
and impressive, and will not soon
fade from the minds OF those who
witnessed IT.
! AT 1880 o'clock in the evening was
opened the mission for men. At
| the appointed hour the body of the
church was completely filled. 1t
was grand sight. Had anyone who
was of the opinion that religion has
lost its hold on the men. peeped into
the Catholic church last evening, he
would have seen at a glance that the
statement is not true OF Catholic
men. This morning again at .
O'Clock there were nearly 300 men
present.
Only one question was answered
last evening. AFTER making the an
Inducements of the missions,
Father swint stated that several
questions had been placed in the
box, asking why priests did not
marry. The question had been an
swered in sort of curt, of-handed
way, and someone had accused the
missionaries OF avoiding the ques-
ton 'Ior a purpose. Father swint
said that the excuse for the curt an
swer was that in ever mission given,
this question comes up again and
again, and when a person has receiy-
ed it seven or eight times in every
one OF eighteen or twenty missions
annually, for five or six years, he
might be excused for almost grow
lag sick when he sees it come again.
But 10 show that there was no
Sinking OF the question with a
purpose" he said that he would an
swer ii once more.
priests do not marry" he said,
because the church foribids it, an |
priests, as we'll as the laity, in the
Catholic church, believe that the
ruling of the church is Gods rule in
their regard. But the real ques-
tion is, why does the church forbid
her priests to marry?
Let it be we'll understood, first OF
all, that 1t is merely matter OF
tchurch discipline. Christ never said
that His priests must not marry.
And being natter of mere church
discipline, it Nay cnange to suit
particular times and conditions.
4 The time was when priests were al
lowed TO marry, and even at the
!present the priests OF the Greek
rite, under certain restrictions, are
allowed to marry. but the reasons
why the church has always discour-
aged the marriage of her priests,
and has positively forbidden it un-
der the Roman rite to which we be-
long, is, firstly, because in the esti-
nation Of Christ the unmarried
state taken upon oneself in order
to serve God more faithfully and ex-
clusively is superior to the married
state, Az proof of this we have the
fact thai He worked a wonderful
miracle to have virgin to be His
mother, that he chose st. John, the
virgin disciple, to be His bosom
friend, and that He Himself re-
manned unmarried. 1t would CRATE
upon The religious sensfbtlities OF
any Of us to even think OF Christ as
married man: which goes to show
that far down in our heart we. too,
consider the unmarried state under
nor4o;O oo.,1gt;o,,.. .,,rnNio, ~ +bn