ent000899-016

TO BE READ AT ALL MASSES ON SITTDAY, AUGUST 10, 1958 (THIS LETTER MAY BE USED III PLACE OF YOUR SERMON.) My dear Catholic People of Nevada: From various reports and newspaper accounts it is apparent that a serious moral situation is being created here in Nevada,, I refer, of course, to the type of entertainment which is being introduced in certain of the hotels and places of public recreation. Without going into unnecessary details it seems to be unhappily true that new lows are being reached and that the agents responsible are throwing all scruples aside in appealing to the very worst in man's animal appetites. Your Bishop is not a public law enforcement officer. It is not his business to determine whether certain entertainment features trans- gress the state, county, or municipal ordinances governing these matters. He is, however, the guardian of the morals of the flock entrusted to his care. It is very much his business to alert the faithful of the Diocese to the gravity of the situation and to warn them of the dangers involved. Let it be clearly stated that all Catholics are strictly forbidden by the Divine Law itself to have any part in entertainment which is of its nature indecent, suggestive, or calculated to excite thoughts or actions contrary to the 6th Commandment. This means that no Catholic is permitted, under pain of grave sin, to participate in the management, direction, production, or even the advertising of such entertainment. And it most positively means that no Catholic is permitted to be a spectator at such a pro- duction. Let those who are visitors or strangers in Nevada take note of this. They are bound by the same law, and there is no vacation from the Ten Commandments. It is truly a great shame that your Bishop should find it needful to write this letter. It is a shocking thing to contemplate that Nevada should acquire the reputation of being a State which tolerates lewd and indecent entertainment, and attracts visitors on the strength of such an appeal. It is even more horrible to think that our young people should be exposed to such influences, if not as spectators, then by way of advertising and common talk. It seems a little futile for us to build our schools and teach our Christian ethics if all standards of decency can be flouted with impunity by the purveyors of suggestive entertainment. There is, we think, an urgent demand for public action by way of protest against this lowering of entertainment standards. TOie entertainment world lives by public approval; it is particularly sensitive to the barometer of patronage. If, as has been stated, there is an absence of appropriate legislation to deal with the matter, there is still the force of public opinion. Here, certain- ly, is an issue upon which all right-thinking people, Catholics, Protestant8, and Jews, should join in instant and emphatic protest.