Catholic Views on Liquor and Tobacco
The Catholic Mirror, an official organ of the papacy in this country, expresses the mind of the Catholic Church in the matter of the use of liquor and cigars, as follows:— There is a bill before the Maryland Legislature to stop the sale of cigarettes. However beneficial such action might be to the health of the State, we can not see that the reasons in its favor are any stronger than those for preventing the sale of liquor. Both may be used in moderation and with few ill effects. It's the abuse that hurts, and all good things may be abused. And it is the moderate use of liquor and tobacco that leads directly to “abuse” or “immoderate use” of them. This is not true of a food, but only of a stimulant. Such articles can not be indulged in at all without making a draft on the nerve force which demands a constantly increasing amount of the stimulant to prevent nervous collapse. Such indulgence, however moderate, tends directly to the ruin both of body and of soul. The traffic in these things is something the Christian church can not countenance in the least. The temperance principles of the Roman Catholic Church encourage intemperance.