The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-05-03
CATHOLICS OFFICIATING AT
PROTESTANT MARRIAGES.

AS to the question whether or not
Catholics may lawfully act as brides
maids or grooms at Protestant or civil
marriages, we should answer: l. a
| Catholic is at liberty TO act rs official
| witness to a lawful marriage contract,
| if the assistance does not imply assent
| to conditions otherwise forbidden IN
| conscience. Hence, if two persons. who
are not baptized, choose to marry be-
fore a magistrate. exercising their nat
ural right. which Il Catholic reasonably
respects, he is at liberty to attest such
a marriage by his presence as an official
witness, just as he might attest any
other lawful and solemn contract. Here
there is no denial of faith.
.. No Catholic is, however, at liberty
to act as official witness to a marriage
unlawful before God, such as the mar
riage ceremony of (a) q divorced party
already rightly married according to
Christian or the natural law; or OBJ
party that is Catholic and publicly de-
MES his or her faith by neglecting the
sacramento rite in favor of a purely
civil ceremony before the magistrate,
unless there be no priest to perform
the rites of the church; or Co a party
that is leading d scandaIous life which
would Justify the prospect of shame,
divorce, or neglect; for, though such
persons may not pretend to any re-
ligious convictions. and protest their
mere intention to make a natural mu-
tual contract. yet prudence and respect
for the moral order should forbid a
Catholic to assist at such marriage con-
tracts
s. A third principle, already explained
in the answer to a question whether a
double religious ceremonial is permits
c; orb fC oil 1rt
in any marriage ceremony which bears
the character of religious worship other
than that Of the Catholic church. Hence
Catholic may not lawfully assist at a
marriage in a Protestant church which
is intended to have religious aspect.
l say, if such marriage is intended to
have a religious aspect; for there are
some cases when a marriage performed
in d Protestant church or by a Protest
ant minister may be regarded as a
purely social or civil function intended
to ratify the marriage, which, outside
the church, is purely natural con-
tract. Thus in a town where there is
a public hall, used on Sundays for
Protestant worship, but also for other
or where the Protestant min
lister (holding Sunday service) is at the
same time the legal justice of the
peace; or where the assistance of
Catholic is plainly intended as a mark
of respect for lawful authority. due to
an intimate connection with the party
to be married, without any evidence of |
active participation in or approval of
religious worship contrary to the doc !
trine of the Catholic church, there the |
principle of an explicit denial of ones /
faith is not justly applicable. Of the |
varying causes which render such as
especially at public marriages,
lawful, judgment can be passed only |
by competent authority with knowledge !
of the facts in individual cases. 1t is |
unjust. therefore, to pass !
on any instances which may |
be reported in the newspapers and /
which rarely permit us to weigh the |
attendant circumstances prompting the |
presence of Catholic groom or brides
maid at non-Catholic marriage or
funeral. in which not the worship. but /
the rela tionship is the determining fac
tor, and where ceremonial is of a social.
rather than religious import in the
minds of all the attendant parties-The
Dolphin.