The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-11-27
SPECULATIVE AND PRACTI-
CAL THEOLOGY.

Apart from the legal precedent
established by the ruling of Judge
Qvale i'll the case Of the State VS..
Jordan, to which reference is
made elsewhere OIL this page,
there is another phase Of the case
which demands attention. The
quotations contained in the book
let distributed by Jordan in Ben
son and vicinity are taken from
the theological works Of st. AL
phonsus Ligouri and, according to
the statement made in the pam
phlet, constitute the questions
which a priest is obliged to ask
female penitents i'll the confession
al. OF course. it is very easy to
take sentences out OF their con
text and so mutilate them as to
convey an altogether false idea Of
what the author really says; but
even if it be granted that these
quotations are substantially cor
rect, it may be asked whether or
not they constitute an indictment
of the moral teaching Of the Cath
Ollie Church.
Before discussing this question
it may be stated that, in the par
ticular case under consideration
and what is said in this instance
holds true in all similar cases
the animus of the individual who
prepared the pamphlet is shown
by the manner III which he
changes the Latin words of the
original in order to distort their
meaning. Thus, for example, the
word "quaeres, meaning you
will ask, 3" is substituted for the
word "quaeritur, = it is asked
"a query or question-in an
attempt to show that the con
fessor is obliged to put these
questions; and, furthermore, the
words of the English translation
are SO chosen as to render the
sense of the original Latin i'll as
disgusting and obscene manner
as possible. 1t is easily under
stood that, if this were not done,
the pamphlet would lose at least
half it's value as a means of dis
Seminating false notions in re-
gard to the teaching of the
Church.
Now, as to the quotations from
Catholic theology regarding the
Sixth Commandment: every in
telligent person knows that they
are to be considered from the
speculative, no less than from the
practical, point of view. Specu-
latively considered, they relate
i'll cold-blooded Latin what con
stitutes a sin of inpurity and lay
down the principles for determi-
mating its gravity, tn other
words, the teaching is entirely
didactic. Just as medical books
give the pathology of physical
diseases for the information of
physicians who should know these
things, so also the moral theology
of the Church gives the pathology
of spiritual maladies in order that
the confessor may be able to
diagnose the penitent $ state OF
soul and apply the proper remedy.
And as no doctor or surgeon takes
it for granted that the patient
who consults him is the victim of
the loathsome diseases which medi-
cal books describe as possible. so
neither does the cOnfessor pre-
suppose that his penitent is guilty
| of the shameful sins to which
fallen human nature sometimes
yields
With this speculative knowl-
edge as a basis, the confessol
forms his judgment as to the
guilt or innocence of the penitent
THE knowledge acquired from .
study of text books on moral
theology serves as practlcal
guide to him in particular eases
enabling him to determine how
far the penitent who accuses her
self of certain sins is guilty. In
all eases, he presumes that the
Ipenitent who does not accuse her
self of any transgression of tht
moral law in matters of impurlts
is not guilty of any of these sins
And even when sins OF impurity
are confessed, the confeSsor is SC
hedgcd about by the injunetion'
of moral theology, that he mus