In Shively Newsweek (8-8-57) St. Paul's Catholic Church (located on Dixie Hwy. in Pleasure Ridge Park, Ky.) ran an ad of their picnic advertising the "Best Chicken Dinner in Jefferson Co." and "Amusements - games - refreshments," and "A 1957 4-door Ford Station Wagon - Complete" which was to be given away to the holder of the lucky gambling ticket.

I decided to attend in order to get first-hand knowledge of the kind of amusements, games and refreshments characteristic of Catholic Church picnics. So on Saturday night (Aug. 17) Dan Hogue and I spent about two hours at the picnic.

The name of the picnic was a misnomer. The apostle Paul would have been shocked to see such ungodly activities supposedly being done under the auspices of Christ's church. A carnival spirit was manifested noisily by the throng (about 3000). I suppose such a spirit was appropriate for it indeed was a carnival, complete with eats, rides, beer and many gambling activities. As we observed the beer-drinking, gambling, cigarette-smoking old women and the indecently dressed young women in tight shorts and low cut blouses, I was sick at heart and amazed at Satan's success in deceiving the people into believing this was Christianin.

We counted 28 booths where multitudes were gambling, from 5 cents on the wheel to $6 at the dice table. The nuns dressed in their flowing black religious robes were gambling. One young boy was gambling and winning a little on one of the wheels. The mother, beaming because of his winnings, proudly told me he was five years old. Young girls, old men and old women were gambling. A loud speaker in one of the buildings frequently urged the crowd to gamble at certain booths. Once it urged the people to gamble at a certain booth to "win a statue of the Blessed Virgin." The Bingo gambling was in full swing, requiring 5 attendants to run it. Gambling prizes included hams, foods, dolls, radios, cameras, money, wine and beer. "Twelve cans of beer for a dime" was the hawker's cry at one gambling wheel.

The coffers of the Catholics no doubt were filled with filthy lucre from the picnic. I saw the dice table rake in $15 in less than one minute! That would amount to $900 an hour! A six-hour picnic would net $5400 from the crap game alone!

There was a stand where one could buy cold beer and it was doing a thriving business with both men and women. One very young mother was pushing a baby in its carriage with one hand and drinking beer with the other. Several young boys were "policing" the grounds picking up empty beer cans in boxes and carrying them to a large dump truck parked to haul them away later. But they could not pick up as fast as the crowd emptied, and beer cans littered the grounds.

At the beer stand a sign read "NO MINORS." I wondered why! The minors were allowed to gamble! Why not drink beer? Was it because the Catholic Church believes beer drinking to be wrong? Perish the thought! Was it because the law forbids the sale of beer to minors? Probably so, but what does the Catholic Church care about the law? Does it not violate the law of God? Is it not a violation of the Kentucky state law to conduct gambling activities? And if the law is going to wink at gambling why not beer sales to minors? Incidently, I wonder if the law recognizes some evil in beer drinking by minors? And I wonder what evil is there for minors that is not there for adults? And while I'm wondering, I wonder if the law would allow the taverns to conduct the same kind of gambling activities as does the Catholic Church?

As I saw the priest in his official black robes giving sanction of the Holy ( ?) Roman Catholic Church to these ungodly activities by his presence, I wondered how people can become so blinded as to actually believe this church is Christ's church. And I thought about the little innocent children being reared in a religion to violate the law of God and man by drinking and gambling. Peter's statement "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers who claim among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denving the Lord that bought them, and bring upon thcmselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." (2 Pet. 2:1-3.) "They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate." (Tit. 1:16.) As I saw the long flowing black robes, supposedly a symbol of purity and holiness, I thought about the Bible description of such men. (See Matt. 7:15; 2 Cor. 11 :13-15; Matt. 23:27-28.)

While there are some good Catholic people who have been deceived, the system of Roman Catholicism itself is as rotten and corrupt as the depths of hell. It does not believe, preach or practice the Word of God, the Bible, but preaches and practices doctrines which appeal to the lust of the flesh. May God help the lost, blinded people therein to see the truth.

Truth Magazine II:2, pp. 6, 13
November 1957