The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-08-31

Not a single text of Scripture can
be cited against the practice of the
Church in baptizing infants. 1t is
true that many texts speak of faith
and repentance as conditions neces-
sary for the reception of baptism but
they refer to adults and have no bear
ing on the question of infant bap-
tism. In receiving adults into her
communion the Church is mindful of
all that Holy Scripture demands; and
she refuses to admit any adult into her
fold except he processes belief in her
doctrines and is sincerely sorry for his
sins. 1t is true that the Bible does
not command the Church to baptize
infants. 1t is equally true that the
Church is not bound to have the direct
testimony of the Bible in support of
all her doctrines and practices. The
Bible is not her complete rule OF
faith. And yet right understanding
of it's teaching not only sanctions the
practice of infant baptism but re-
Quires it. Since we are all born "chil-
dren of wrath" the original sin with
which the soul of the infant is stained
at birth is barrier between 1t and
God. If we would be mindful of our
Saviour's injunction and Suffer the
little children to come unto Me-" We
ought to remove that barrier by the
application of that 'laver of regenera-
ton" which Christ provided for wash
ing away the defilement of sin. This
is what the Church does in baptism.
The clearest proof of the necessity Of
baptism for all, and therefore for in
fants, is found in the Gospel of ST..
John, chapter 3, verse 5, where our
Lord says: Unless a man be born
again of water and the Holy Ghost, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of
God" In this quotation our Lord has
in mind the whole human race-men,
women and children He says plainly
that no one can enter into the kingdom
of God unless he be born again of
water and the Holy Ghost, that is
unless he be baptized. If children who
die in infancy are not baptized they
cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
1t is the duty, therefore of the
Church, through her ministers, to
cleanse in the waters of baptism the
souls of infants in order that by being
made children of God as soon as pos
sible after birth they may inherit the
kingdom promised only to those whose
souls are without stain of sin. Hence
the Church has always followed the
practice of baptizing children as soon
after birth as possible in order to
provide for their eternal happiness in
case they should die before reaching
the age of reason.
What is the general teaching of the
Church in regard to dancing? Is it
lawful to indulge in such a pastime
Dancing may be a perfectly limo
cent amusement, and it may be a
dangerous occasion of sin. No gen.
eral rule, therefore, can be given as
to when dancing must be avoided.
Much depends, says Father Price in
TRUTH" upon the company who join
in the dance, upon the way of dancing
and upon the subjective disposition of
the dancers. If there be nothing OBJ
iectionable in any of these subjects,
there is no sin in dancing, unless there
be special statutes in diocese against
it, but it is a thing seldom if ever
to be counseled.
If there be ground for objection, and
especially if sin has already been fire.
quently committed in similar circum-
stances, there is an obligation to abb
stain, unless the occasion of sin is
necessary and can be made remote by
taking proper precautions. If the oc-
casion be remote, there will be no
strict obligation to abstain from dane
ing, provided due precautions be taken
in future.
From which our readers may de-
duce the following:
l. 1t is not sinful for Catholic to
give dances if he sees to it that every
thing is carried out according to what
has been said above.
2. Round dances, or any dances, if
they are immodest, are certainly sug-
gestive, or indecent, are in themselves
sinful. There is no general law
against round dancing, but there may
be statutes of particular dioceses
against it.
3. Whether a man who gives
dances may be absolved depends on
his confessor to whom I suppose he
makes known the state of his con-
science. And as you may see from
the introduction, the Church does not
absolutely condemn dancing, nor the
giving of dances, if due precautions
are taken as to the company, and the
way of dancing.
4. The question of dancing is not
one of doctrine, but of morality
Dancing is neither good nor bad &C.
ton in itself, but an Indifferent one
and as such is not condemned. Some
people may dance all the time and
never entertain one thought of any
thing wrong; to such, dancing is not