The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-12-04
the unity and stability of the family. hu

the unity and stability Of the family, hui
man society has no secure foundation.
There can be no proper training and di-
rection of children, citizens of the state,
If family ties are easily broken. There
is no protection for unselfish human de-
votion and confiding affection If the
bonds that God has made, by which hus-
band and wife are to cleave to each
other and give united aid in the educa-
ton and care Of their offspring, be
easily severed.
"The church of Christ, true to its mis-
sion among men, has never faltered in
Its loyalty to the welfare of society, and
to the law of God, in protecting the
sacredness and inviolability of the mar
riage relation. No matter what the vary
ing passions of men may demand, or
what claims may be made by the votar-
les OF religious error, the church of the
living God, the pillar and the ground Of
truth will not and cannot change its
purpose Of defending the sacred char
acter of Christian marriage.
Because marriage is sacred and life
long union Of one man with one woman
the most important and intimate rela-
ton that can possibly exist between hui
man beings, 1t should not be entered
into without careful deliberations, hon
orable motives and prudent counsel. In
the bond Of marriage men and women,
OF their own free choice, bind them
selves by ties that cannot be broken,
to live together and love one another
until death may part them. Such a
union should not be entered into as If
1t might be severed by the mutual con-
sent of the parties. Those who presume
to contract the semblance of marriage,
resolving only to live together temper
arily or until a divorce court may per-
init them to separate and form new ties
equally as loose. are not in reality
married pair. Such relation has moth
Ing in common with the union, holy, in
innate, eternal, that exists between
Christ and his church. St. Paul, the
apostle, compares the marriage union to
the union Of Christ with his church.
There is no marriage, simply an unholy
relation, where there, is wanting the
fixed resolve on the part of man and
woman to live together and preserve In
violate the bond Of marriage until the
grave may part them. This hallowed
institution Of Christian marriage has
been the salvation and strength of hui
man society. 1t rescued humanity from
the degradation into which paganism
had permitted passion to sink corrupted
human nature. It has preserved human
society from the wholesale dissolution
which the revolution of the sixteenth
century would have been powerless to
avert had it gained an ascendency in
human affairs
The Catholic church, proclaiming the
commands Of God, and the elevating pre-
cepts of his etrnal son to an irreligious
and materialistic age, is the only hope Of
society in these closing days of the nine
teenth century. The almost universal
disregard for the sacred character Of
the marriage contract outside the Cath
Ole church is a source of alarm to all
earnest men. Constituencies men and
frivolous women make pretense of pledg-
Ing lasting mutual affection with the
implied understanding that their lightly
given pledges shall not be seriously I'm.
derstood and bind them only during the
pleasure of either or both. How rapidly
we are returning to the degraded state
OF paganism before Christianity ap-
peared, when women counted the time.
not by the lapse of years, but by the
number of their husbands"