PRESS AND STAGE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1642, 8 January 1913, Page 10

PRESS AND STAGE.

'■'■:.'.'■■■ " —-* — V "• : SERMON BY THE DEAN 'o>'. ■ " -■•■■..*'',.'■ ';: NEWCASTLE. . ■,'■ " '■ - : • Preaching in Newcastle Cathedral, Now | South Wales; on December' 29,: tho Bean of Newcastle (Dr. Golding lidrd),. made, reference to the influence of. thc-'prear '•and stage. He said! "Two of tlio chiefest agencies for good '-..or.'-,- evil are without doubt the press'rind'the'stage. Ttie'press enters whero the Church' is not allowed to enter. The stage appeals to thousands who loot'with no love and "little respect' "upon; the Church, .rphe'responsibility- of" I these two most potent agencies is beyond the. power ;of exaggeration. It cannot be truthfully/said that/tho, influence of. 'tho press and stage-is universally good.' The- great daily papers certainly keep-, their pages clean, and use.their } influence; for : morarity, but this, cannot Tie. said of alVweekly.publications. There are papers published in Australia which are a disgrace to, a Christian country. The fact that :iu them clergy .aro held up to ridicule is a detail.', Perhaps we often deserve it, but'when tho most • sacred facts of Christianity are caricatured, when wen the crucifixion'of the Son'of God is'parodied, it is time'that a protest was made and those who still believe in tlio faith of their "fathers raised'thecr voices against the scandal. The stage is often a tremendous power for good arid often,is a real help to the Church in teaching moral truths. . But the stage: has its shame no, less than the press. There are plays, the very name of which, are an, offence against decency. Hideously suggestive, their very' titles aro meant to attract' audiences, ' who'like the unclean.' Yet on occasion such an'audience'is made the arbiter of ' decency.':-It is jio' : healthy sign of- the. times- when'such- things aro tolerated. It is a-grave mark'qf moral decadence, when papers' print hideous blasphemies and' the 'stage .'gives' tho "public ' erotic ; and.' nonmoral, melodrama."'/ ' .' ••<■'