Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-23
Sacrament of MatrImony.
on the second subIect he says In part:

l beg to call your attention to the great
Importance of observing all the laws which
laws have for their immediate purpose the
safeguarding the sanctity of Christian
the Christian family. The family is the
foundation of civil society and they who
ignore the sanetity Of the marriage rela-
ton, or deny the stability of the marriage
bond, strike at the very foundation of
society itself. We live at a time when
very lax views prevail regarding the ma
ture of the marriage contract and the OBJ
legations which 1t creates, while the prac-
tice Of many persons is still worse even
The laws of the church in the matter of
marriage were made both for the good Of
society and for the good Of the individual,
and they should be faithfully observed. 1t
is true that the church can, like any other
l~awmaking authority, dispense from her
own laws; but her children should not ask
Ceptional cases and for the very gravest
reasons. Marriages between Catholics and
non-Catholics, marriages between relatives
whether they be related by blood or by
a former m~arriage-and other marriages
which 1t Is not necessary, to mention here;
are forbidden by the church. All good
Catholics will, as a general rule, avoid
such marriages; they will not even dis
such a marriage in their own case. I need
not remind you that, while the church can
dispense from her own laws, she cannot
therefore, break the bond of a perfect
Christian marriage, which the divine law
declares to be indtssoluble.
On Intellectual Culture.
On the subject Of socialism and social
conditions he says. In part:
It has always been the professed aim of
statesmen, philanthrCpists and educators to
make men good, so that they may be law
1t is much to be regretted. however, that
so many persons are now relying alto
gether on Intellectual culture for this pur-
nose Thew advocate intellectual Cultnra aS
an infallible means, and the only means,
of making people good and happy. In
has assumed In our day the character of a
craze, and, therefore,, we need not be sur
prised to find that 1t is doing more harm
than good to a good cause.
The morality of the poor is usually of a
higher order than that of the rich. In
tellectual culture, leading to religious seep-
and TO. an impatience of moral restraint,
makes difficult for men and women to be
ssiE9hnte of GOD scepticism and unbeiIef al.
ways take their rise among the cultured
classes and gradually find their way down
among the people who are prone to initiate
those above them. And as the people care
nothing for that conventional decorum,
which constitutes the responsibility of the
cultured classes, they follow ont their
! principles to their logical conclusions. They
! are now doing this in many countries, where
socialistic, movements menace the estab-
nihcant fact that these movements have for
one of their chief aims the destruction OF
those very upper classes whose teaching
and example have been mainly instrumental
in producing the movements in question.
Mission of the Church.
The church has been condemned by some
because II does not consider II its primary
duty to point out tc men the way tina
leads to afiuence and worldly success. II
is not the mission of the church to form
business men, but to form good men, anc
that a good man is of more value In the
Cd NAa-- khA ENnh man Ahal
have ever lived, who were not good. AND
a second answer to the charge is that mod
ern progress is not all progress for II 4
and the legislatures of many of the state,
would not now be seeking to destroy by
legislation some of its most salient features
on the ground that they are injurious to tn,
best interest OF mankind. After all. res
assured that no one will ever be abe Il
find a better way of making men contentet
and happy than by teaching them to "seel
first the kingdom of God and His Justice"