The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-02-19
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE
NO NEED OF CATHOLIC PRoHIRI-
TIoN PARTY.

TloN PARTY.
There is no call for Catholic pro-
hibition party or league. Those Cath
olics who are in favor of the state
doing away with the making or sale
of intoxicating liquors can vote with
the present Prohibition party. Neither
is there any call for aTraigning those
Catholics who favor such prohibition.
AS Sir Roger would affirm: A great
deal can be said on both sides of the
lquestion. The following extract, from
an article by Catholic prohibitionist
in the "Vindicator," called forth by
one in the American Ecclesiastical
Review" suggests food for thought.
His quotations are from the Review"
Prohibition is hopelessly sectarian.
The very essence of Catholicity is to
turn everything into good, not to
destroy or prohibit anything"
We would not destroy alcohol, which
will be used for heating houses instead
of heating brain cells, for lighting
Istreets instead of painting towns red,
and for filling gasoline tanks instead
Iof filling chauffeurs. Prohibition would
turn alcohol into good channels and,
therefore, is in harmony with the very
lessence of Catholicity.
"You will look in vain in the his
tory of the Church for Prohibition of
anything"
i For the first five hundred years of
the existence of monasticism, every
| rnnn1y fhrnnoh011f hTiC
prohibited from drinking alcoholic
beverages. In the first centuries the
Church prohibited the use of meat
and of intoxicating drink during Lent,
during Advent and on all other fasting
days. Throughout history the Church
has prohibited her clergy from fire.
lquenting taverns. In recent years the
Church has approved the nationwide
prohibition of opium in China. (Acta
S. Sedis, 1917 In The ages of her
greatest Prohibitions the Church con-
verified nations; now she converts but
individuals.
"Catholicity is essentially temperate,
regulates but never destroys, and
smiles indulgently at the little foibles
of men,
The trouble with the Catholic
Church in the last four centuries is
that she has too often smiled indul-
| gently at the little foibles of men. Her
inherent power to convert not only
individuals but nations, will assert
itself just as soon as her leaders,
teachers and patterns in the spiritual
life will be generous enough to re-
nounce those precious, palatal and per-
sonal foibles SO comfortably nestled
and entWined i'll the alluring meshes
of the alcoholic prediction.
"Why should we priests mix too
freely in the saloon brawl?"
You seem to admit that the saloon
braWl is in our midst. But the aver
age saloon in America is worse than
a place of brawl. 1T is an abomina-
tion,'' as the Redemptorist Father
Urben sees it. 1T is the recruiting
Office of the devil" as the late Father
G. f. Burns called it. 1T is a gate
of hell" as Father Gheldof describes
lit.
Is not the sfckenfng and incessant
crop of saloon murders sufficient rea-
son why priests can not mix too free
ly in the saloon brawl? Any priest
interested in the salvation of souls
ought to help or at least not oppose
the only remedy now known for clos
ing those gates of hell through which
tens of thousands of Catholics every
year go to perdition. "The chief bar
to the working of the Holy Spirit of
God IN ho Of
is Intoxicating drink. Cardinal Man
ming.
prohibition as an idea is merely
Professionalism gone rotten emotional
lily. The amorphous platitudi-
narianism of Mr.. Bryan is a symptom
of the diseased imagination of modern
Professionalism"
Your vicious slur comes too late in
the day to excite prejudice in Cath
olics against Prohibition and it's ad.
vocates. Love for and indulgence in
alcoholic drink, needless of st. Pauls
Injunction that it is not good to drink
wine or anything whereby our brother
is made weak, comes much nearer
rotted emotionalism than the virile
personality of the Prohibition priest
whose love for his flock impels him
to protect it from the grasp of the
liquor monster and who, on election
day, uses the mighty weapon of the
ballot to give the grog beast a death
thrust.
Priests who are giving aid to Pro-
hibition may find some day that they
have been playing with boomerang"
Today, when Catholics are insulted
with the taunt of Rum and Roman
ism" they gladly point to Prohibition
priests who are saving the honor OF
Mother Church. The priests who are
giving aid to the liquor traffic, will
find some day that they have been
playing with the worst kind of
boomerang.
j, A TEMPERANCE CRANK.