The Catholic bulletin., 1920-05-08
THE CHURCH AND THE STAGE.


Through her history the Catholic
Church has denounced and waged
war against all that is low, vicious
and corrupting in theatrical enter
tainment; and ever since those far
off times when st. Gregory NazianZen
lifted up his mighty voice from the
pulpit in denunciation of theater
which competed in obscenity with the
circus and the amphitheater, the
Church has been the patroness of all
that is pure, noble and lofty in the
drama, says a writer in Truth.
The Catholic Church is not and never
has been, intolerant. She condemns
no form of amusement merely as
amusement, and she has never taught
sternness and gloom, even as mat
ters of discipline. The hands-clasped
and eyes-turned-heave priests
and nuns of the stage and movie, with
their last rose of summer visages"
are jokes-when they are not libels.
With few exceptions, all the stage and
movie priests, with their sanctimOni-
Gus, 'holier than thou manner, are
anything but true to life. Now, as a
matter of fact, we know that truly
religious people are the most cheerful
in the world, and the nun with the
woe-begOne viSage is as rare as the
priest who cannot enjoy an innocent
joke. Gloom, unreasonable rigidity
and hypOCritiCal repression We're pre-
Of 81 :
who for many years waged an un-
Telenting war on art and literature
and who did all in their power to con-
sign our dear old friend Shakes
peare's plays to the flames.
Long before the sO-called RefOrma-
ton, centuries before the age Of the
myriad-minded Shakespeare, the
drama in the years of its struggling
infancy was being nurtured in
churches, converts and mOnaSteries
and was fostered by priests, nuns and
those live wires of the Middle Ages
the so-called lazy" monks. Is it
any wonder, then, that we, upon
whose altar steps the cradle of the
modern drama once rested, protest
when we see it being despatched with
dirt?
Is it any wonder that we protest
when the drama of beauty, poetry
and nobility is pushed aside to make
room for obscene spectacles and
tainted plays in which virtue and vice
are made to exchange parts? Up to
date, the present theatrical season
has been unusually prolific in plays
which are suggestive in their mean
ings, indecent in their expression and
dependent for their interest upon their
ObScenity. 1t seems like a satire
upon our boasted culture and preten-
siOns when we are told that what
promises to be the biggest financial
success in New York's theatrical sea-
son is drama in which the carnal
limit is reached. t~-- --@N-z~s~
Too many Of our first class the
aters are given up almost entirely
to plays which seem to have no other
object than to arouse the low instincts
of the depraved or foolish. Conditions
are now such in the mimic world that
the young man or woman who would
walk miles to avoid coming in contact
with certain phases of life, visits a
first class theater, and in one even
ing learns how conjugal infdelity can
be plausibly justifed: or, perhaps,
may be edited by Witnessing a faith
full representation Of life in a disor-
derly house.
Of, course the greedy theatrical
managers have an excuse. They
claim that they are merely servants
of the public, providing what the pub
lie demands. Ever since Dryden
wrote:
"The dramas law the dramas pat
rons give,
And those who live to please must
please to live
playwrights and managers have
quoted the couplet and generally
msinterpreted it for their own sell
fish purpose. Every time they fur
nish us with a new bit of dramatic
dirt, and when protest is made, VIC
get the old excuse, The public wants
it," If this is true. then it certainly
looks as if the public is afflicted with
gangrene that is eating away its
moral and aesthetic vitaIs. But we
doubt the truth Of the greedy dollar
chasing managers statement We be-
lieve that there are many men and
women in this country, not exactly
saints and angels, but ordinary decent
men and women, who go to the the
ater for enjoyment. Such men and
women believe that certain kinds of
realism can be seen to better advan-
tage outside the theater. If inter
ested in psychopathology, we know
where to so TO study it; if we wish
to see the victims of loathsOme dis
ease, a medical friend will show us
through one of the large daily hospi-
tails, and the daily papers, filled with
reports Of divorce cases, tell us the
story of love that has gone astray.