FROM THE ARCHIVES A series from 1953
THE DEVIL
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A series of articles by Bill Gerard, the pen name of the Redemptorist, Fr Liam Gerard O’Carroll, editor of The Redemptorist Record, on the evils of modern dancing was published in the magazine in the early 1950s. The articles were later published in pamphlet form by the Record. The title, allied to a rather lurid cover in black and red, made this one of the more memorable pamphlets of a period when religious pamphlets were sold in churches up and down the country. By today’s standards, the moral view of dancing as represented in the article is severe, and this in a period when the moral message of the Redemptorists was regarded as rigorist. It would be softened a decade later by the theological revolution of Vatican II which was to touch every aspect of Catholic life, including company-keeping and the preparation of marriage which were the real targets of Bill Gerard’s onslaught. If the Redemptorists have been singled out as the leading proponents of a severe moral message in Ireland during this period, it might be read as a back-handed compliment of the success of their parish missions through which the Redemptorist habit became familiar in virtually every pulpit in the country. Continued on the extreme right of page 23
REALITY JUNE 2017