Roman Catholicism and Temperance
Roman Catholicism and Temperance.—The temperance principles of the Roman Catholic Church are stated in the following extract from an article in the North American Review, by one of her highest prelates and most ardent "temperance" advocates, Archbishop Ireland:— "The Catholic Church does not assert that the moderate and legitimate use of intoxicating drinks is a moral evil or sin. Neither does she assert that the manufacture and the sale of intoxicating liquors are of themselves moral evils or sins. All this is clear and undoubted. But there are other and important aspects of her teaching and practice which the Catholic Church will not, and cannot have us, overlook. In her eyes intemperance is a sin, heinous and soul-wrecking, whose victims shall not possess the kingdom of heaven. For intemperance she has a particular hatred, accounting it a capital sin, the prolific parent of innumerable sins." Rome's "temperance" is not abstinence but moderation; and where does moderation end? One man may with impunity, and preserving a remarkable degree of soberness, take a dozen drinks. Others are intoxicated by a single glass. Rome believes in setting fire to the great and inflammable pile, but it must burn only sufficiently to make one comfortably warm.