Is It

Wrong?
PRIEST v. PARSON ON GAMBLING
A Catholic priest, Fr. T. J. Fitzgerald, of the Church of Our Lady of Compassion, Willesden reen, defended gambling, last week, in an interesting debate in which his opponent was the Rev. Allen Job, secretary of the Christian Social Council Committee on Gambling.
Mr. Job's argument was that " gambling creates unnecessary risks." But, unlike a man who risks his life to save another, the risks of gambling were selfish, being taken Only to benefit the gambler. These risks were, therefore, ignoble.
A gambler, he added, was a parasite who tried to take more out of life than he put in. Gambling is getting something for nothing.
Fr. Fitzgerald did not agree that " getting something for nothing " was necessarily immoral.
" Gambling is mere relaxation. What is wrong is gambling with money that should be used for other purposes, such as the support of wife and children."
Gambling may be excessive, but, on the other hand, it may not. After all, "getting something for nothing" is what God did in creating the world.