CathInfo.com

'But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment.'

Matthew 12:36

'These are those who would not think of failing to hear Holy Mass every day, and, at the same time, will not deprive themselves of the satisfaction it affords them to attend the theatres, although the Church has always regarded these as pernicious, considering the ordinary sort of entertainment therein presented.

Again there are those who sometimes read books of piety, and afterwards pass the night in reading novels filled with the venom of bitterness of falsehood and immorality.

This caused Gerson, one of the most famous lights of the University of Paris, to say, of a novel writer, that if he knew him to have died without doing penance for his sin, he (Gerson) would think no more of praying to God for that man's soul, than he would think of praying for Judas.'

St. Jean Eudes

'There are amusements that will not be discussed at length here, because they are not at all permitted to Christians, either by the laws of religion or by the rules of decorum. Some of these are ordinarily available only to wealthy people, such as balls, dances, and the comedies of the theater. There are others that are more commonly available to artisans and the poor, such as watching charlatans, clowns, tightrope walkers, puppeteers, and so forth.'

St. Jean-Baptiste de la Salle