CHURCH PICNICS ON SUNDAYS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22826, 10 March 1936, Page 4

CHURCH PICNICS ON SUNDAYS

TO THE EDITOR Sir, —What are the times coming to when the Catholic Church is holding a church picnic on a- Sunday ? This church, with the largest congregation of any of the churches in Dunedin, is holding what you would really a sports meeting on Sunday—a day which the bishop and priests are expected to teach the people to keep holy, a day of rest, a day on which every catholic is not only expected, hut is commanded to attend mass. And here the church is itself ottering a temptation to many catholics to absent themselves from attending the most important service of the church.on a day on which they are commanded to attend. It is true that the church has masses earlier than II a.m., but there are many Catholics who will not get up early enough to attend these masses, and who will he kept busy cutting lunches, etc., in order to catch the train at 10.15 a.m. Mass will be of little importance when such an outing is being held, and who is responsible for the sin which will be committed through missing mass? No one but the priests who have arranged this picnic, this day of sport, on the Herd’s Day,, a holy day, a day of rest. I asked a Catholic man if Bishop Whyte approved of the picnic being held on a Sunday, and was surprised when he told me it could not be held without his approval, as it is called the Catholic Church picnic, "of which Bishop Whyte is the head. Surely there are other days on which this church picnic could be held, without desecrating the Sabbath day. Could it not be held on a Saturday, with one train leaving, say, at 12.30, to enable those who have to work to go? There is absolutely no excuse for holding it on Sunday. I do hope some more abler pen than mine will assist me in this matter, and cause such a stir that the Catholics will abandon this.picnic on Sunday for some more suitable day, and thereby help to keep the Sunday holy.—l am, etc., A Lover of the Sabbath. Mornington, March 8,

[lnquiries show that this picnic has been held on Sunday for several years past. It is emphasised that the first duty of. a Roman Catholic is the religious observance associated with Sunday, and _as there are ample facilities for attending .mass it is urged that the holding of _ a picnic will not interfere with his duties in this respect.— Ed., O.D.T.]