THE GOLDEN MEAN

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVIII, Issue 1053, 12 May 1910, Page 22

THE GOLDEN MEAN

THE CHURCH TEACHES MODERATION. In a Sunday morning sermon, recently preached at St. Charles Catholic Church, Parkesviile, Md. (U.S.A.), Cardinal Gibbons exhorted a class of eighty boys whom he had confirmed to take the pledge of total abstinence until they were twenty-one years of age. He incidentally referred to the position of the Catholic Church on the use of drink. In an interview later, he had the following to say: “The Church is not fanatical on the subject of liquor, but teaches moderation. Her path is not one of rigor, nor yet of laxity, but the middle course—the golden mean. The use of liquor in moderation is not to be condemned, but if there is danger of abuse, then it should not be used at all. “Our Lord was present at banquets where wine was used, and changed water into wine, and by His presence sanctioned the use in moderate quantities. I cannot too strongly applaud those who denounce the vice of intemperance. It blasts the flower of youth, undermines the constitution, and renders its votaries, degraded members of society. “My experience of more than fifty years in the ministry has been a daily witness of the baneful effects, and has left sad impressions. The abuse of the use is written on the records of society, and of the individual. But,” he said, “we must take men as they are, and a moderate use has never been condemned by the Church.”— Cardinal Gibbons (U.S.A.).