The Curé d'Ars: Part II - Chapter 5 - The Campaign Against Dancing

- Like heathens who are unable to realize their wretched condition, the patrons of the dance were loud in asserting the innocence, and consequently the lawfulness, of this form of recreation. M. Vianney felt it incumbent on him to enlighten their consciences.
   A girl who loves dancing until it becomes a passion is unable to relish pure and simple pleasures; she
has no true Christian spirit. If her parents approve of her conduct, their household cannot be one in which the practice of a devout life are held in honor. Before they can become truly religious, such persons must begin by renouncing their worldly ideas and habits of life. They who wish to avoid sin must flee from the occasion of sin.
- He fought against the passions which dance fosters. Hence also his anathemas against the veilles (nighttime gatherings) as they were practiced at the time, and the rejoicings in which the young people indulged on the occasions of betrothals (Wedding Receptions)
- There, "under the eyes of parents who were either dumb or accomplices,  things were done reminiscent of pagan times."
- As regards dances, resistance was obstinate, and victory was slow in coming. Again and again, during ten long years, M. Vianney had to return to the charge. "There is not a commandment of God," he explained, "which dancing does not cause men to break...Mothers may indeed say: 'Oh, I keep an eye on my daughters.' You keep an eye on their dress; you cannot keep guard over their heart. Go, you wicked parents, go down into Hell where the wrath of God awaits you, because of your conduct when you gave free scope to your children; go! It will not be long before they join you, seeing that you have shown them the way so well....Then you will see whether your pastor was right in forbidding those hellish amusements."
- Above all, the life of the parish priests was the most persuasive of all sermons; in it men could see the Gospel in action...."Whatever our parish priest recommends, he first does himself. He practices what he teaches. We have never seen him take part in any amusement; his only pleasure is, apparently, to pray to the good God."
- M. Vianney adopted a line of conduct of exceeding severity. Starting from the principle that those who deliberately live in the occasion of sin may not be absolved unless they first give up that which is to them a cause of spiritual ruin.
- [One woman admitted she used to visit an annual vogue where] "I danced for a while. But this little escapade, which occurred just once in the course of the whole year, was the cause of my being refused absolution."
"Did you go to confession all the same?"
"Yes, before all the great feasts, but M. le Curé only gave me his blessing."
"And what did he tell you?"
"'If you do not amend and stay away from the dance, you will be DAMNED!' He did not mince words."
- Mlle. Claudine Trève also related how she onced danced on the occasion of a wedding which took place in about the month of February. M. Vianney put off giving her absolution until the Feast of the Ascension...He would not allow anyone to take part in society dances, even in the role of a spectator.
- [To parents he further said], "You must answer for their souls as you will answer for your own. I wonder whether you are doing all that lies in your power...but what I do know is that if your children lose their souls whilst they are as yet under your care, it is to be feared that your lack of watchfulness may be the cause of your own damnation."
- Scandalous dress goes with corrupting pleasures...at the time of M. Vianney's arrival at Ars, there were women who outraged the most elementary rules of modesty. Their conduct roused him to indignation. His anger included parents who idolized their children and fostered  their vanity. Let us listen to him castigating "that mother who can think of nothing but her daughter. She is far more concerned whether her bonnet is put on properly than whether the child has given her heart to God...Soon the girl's aim will be to attract. Her extravagant and indecent dress proclaims her to be a tool by means of which Hell seeks the ruin of souls. Low necks and bare arms, to be sure, would have never been tolerated in his church.