These words of the zealous bishop prove that those who have the care or direction of souls ought to be most active in preventing scandalous dances, which give occasion to so many sins. Certainly those who indulge in such amusements are not worthy to be united to the Immaculate Lamb of God by receiving the sacrament of the Blessed Eucharist, until they determine to abandon their bad habits.
Many who take part in modern dances, and who spend their nights in the excitement of the polka and the waltz, say that they are not conscious of having committed sin, and that they have a right to approach the sacraments. Our author would not believe their assertions or admit their claims. They appear to forget that there is such a sin as the waste of time, such a sin as scandal. Though imagining themselves free from guilt, they may have been the occasion of the spiritual ruin of others by their example, or by their improper dresses, and have a grievous responsibility on their souls. Anyhow, it is not edifying that persons who during the week continually indulged in vanity or impropriety of dress, and in dangerous amusements, should be freely allowed to approach the holy altar on Sundays. Spiritual directors must take care not to render themselves, by their laxity, responsible for the sins of others. Though their penitents say they committed no sins themselves, yet that is not sufficient. It must be seen whether they have not made others commit sin, or at least put them in danger of doing so.
A translation of the work of Father Dechamps into English would serve to give accurate ideas on modern fashions, and to correct prevalent abuses. Indeed, everything ought to be encouraged that tends to check the growth of an effeminate spirit and the extravagant love of costly and corrupting fashions, which cannot fail to bring great scourges on the world.
II.
Obnoxious Oaths and Catholic Disabilities: A Speech of Sir J. Gray, etc. Fowler, 3 Crow Street, Dublin, 1865.
Sir J. Gray deserves great credit for the force and learning with which he has brought the question of obnoxious oaths before the public. Every one is aware that for nearly three centuries the Catholics of Ireland were reduced to a state of thraldom by the operation of such oaths; for unless they consented to renounce upon oath some of the most sacred doctrines of religion, they were excluded from all the rights of citizens. This was the system adopted to propagate and uphold Protestantism, which still pretended to leave to every individual the right of judging for himself. The anti-Catholic oaths have latterly been set aside; but Catholics are still required to take useless oaths, apparently introduced for the purposes of annoyance and insult, before they can occupy any public office. Such useless and offensive swearing ought to be put an end to.
The oaths still taken by Protestants are most insulting to Catholics, and must be the occasion of great remorse to every delicate conscience. The Lord Lieutenant, on arriving in Ireland, is obliged to perform the disagreeable task of insulting those whom he is come to govern, by swearing what he cannot know—that some Catholic doctrines are idolatrous and superstitious, and, moreover, swearing what everybody knows to be false—that the Pope has not any authority in Ireland, where every day he exercises a most extensive spiritual jurisdiction. Other officials of the state and of the establishment take similar oaths, insulting to the Catholics of the whole world, and certainly hurtful to the consciences of those who take them. Every Protestant, when swearing that the Pope has no power in Ireland, must feel that he swears to what is in opposition to the known truth. It is time that such a system of perjury should be done away with. Sir J. Gray deserves well of the country for having placed this question in its true light.