CATHOLICS ON OATH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 3, 17 January 1901, Page 5

CATHOLICS ON OATH.

A PROTEST. Th« disgraceful efforts made to influence the jury in the Sydn ey divorce case by a shocking misrepresentation of the Catholic dootrine of absolution, elicited the following protest from the priests of the city and suburbs in meeting assembled :—: — 4 We, the priests of the city of Sydney and suburbs, in public meeting assembled, do hereby protest against the foul calumnies

and vile insinuations regarding Catholic doctrines end practices which have been reported in the public Press of the coluuy within the past few weekc. '1. We earnestly protest against the f alar and malicioun insinuation that Catholicp, who confess *,beir sma to » j,ne>-t in the t-acred tribunal of penance, and who receive ab-olution, may afterwards, in a court of justice, trnly swear they never committed these sins. This charge we declare to be utterly false and defamatory, and in flagrant opposition to the teachings of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church teaches that, though God in His great mercy, forgivc3 the sinner when he «i*ieer«»ly rpp«nt« «HU for all timo it will be true to say he had committed that sinful act ; and to swear he had not committed it, because God hid pnrdoTipd him, would be a disgraceful act of perjury and a heinous crime. 1 2. We, also, emphatically protest against the vile and slanderous insinuation that, whereas non-Chri.stiins are to be believed when testifying on oath, no such credence is to be given to the sworn testimony of Catholics when the reputation of their priests, or the interests of their Church, are in question. This dastardly insult we regard as a shameful libel on the honor and veracity of our Catholic people. ' While deeming it our duty to make this solemn protest, we willingly bear testimony to the kindly feeling manifested by the great majority of our non-Catholic fellow-colonists, in reference to the above insinuations. Signed on behalf of the clergy, ' J. J. Carroll, V.G.