Moral Decay and Sunday Observance
Cardinal Manning is of the opinion that this country is in a state of moral decay, which he attributes to freedom of divorce, Sunday newspapers, and lax Sunday observance. It is not to be denied that the moral condition of the people of this country is bad enough, but this condition is not caused by freedom of divorce; this freedom does not make the people immoral, it simply shows that they are immoral. Why the cardinal should find fault with the manner in which Sunday is observed in America is not apparent, since it is more generally regarded than in Catholic countries; and certainly the reading of a Sunday paper is not more objectionable than the way in which most Romanists, both European and American, spend the greater part of the day. But as the Sunday festival in its present form is a Catholic institution, it seems only fitting that the Romanists should say what constitutes a proper observance of the day; and certainly if they feel that they are not keeping it as they ought, they should reform.