This Date in History: Movies are a Menace to Faith and Morals

June 07, 1934: Cardinal Dennis Dougherty of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia declared in a letter read from every pulpit in the archdiocese that movies pose "the greatest menace to faith and morals in America today," and that Catholics must "stay away from them." This was "not merely a counsel but a positive command, binding all in conscience under pain of sin." The order was never lifted and, technically, still applies. Dougherty himself would later install a screening room in his residence where he and guests would watch movies, though.