The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1905-01-21
RUNAWAY MARRIAGES.
CATHOLIC TRANSCRIPT SCORES
WATERBURY, EPIDEMIC.

Priests Are Becoming Cautious
In the Waterbury column of The
Catholic Transcript. the official organ
article claiming that many of the al
of tho Roman Catholic diocese of
Hartford, there appears this week an
legged runaway marriages from this
city have taken place at home, and at
| lacking the marriages between Roman
| Catholics that have i'll reality been
| celebrated out of town. The article
| says:
There is an apparent epidemic of
runaway marriages on the part of the
young people of this city, if highly col
| oTed, sensational articles appearing i'll
some of the local papers are correct.
According to these journals there are
| seemingly more out of town than home
marriages on the part of Waterbury
people. Recent investigation on the
| part Of several persons interested, how
| ever, show that it isn't runaway mar
| riages that have become epidemic. 1t
| is the lying reports that participants
| in these affairs give to the newspapers
that have become SO popular, while in
the majority of cases the parties to the
| marriage tie have been married at
| home.
For the past two months or there
| abouts hardly two days in succession
passed without an announcement be-
| ing made that a certain couple sur
prised their friends and were taken in
by the dart. of that little rascal, Dam
lei Cupid, Esquire and similar lot
of lying rot According to the Cath
Ollie priests of the city, these reports
III 8 cases out of 10 are false. The peo-
pie who give them out said one we'll
known priest, ARE simply trying to-
hide their own shame and in doing it
they are giving a bad example to 9TH
| er young people, who will be tempted
1 into the same course as these others
by finding out how easy it is to get
an article into the papers stating that
| they We're married here, there, and
| elsewhere, when as a matter of fact
1 they were really married in their own
church or rectory. lsa
Nearly every pastor in the city has
referred to the runaway marriage scan
dial in one form or another within recent
\ Sundays and in every case the speaker
4 has vigorously reminded his people
I, that the church will not sanction any
/ thing of the kind. Several reported
runaway marriages have in point of
| fact been such. In these instances,
however, there has been an even great
er deception than in the falsely report
| ed marriages. The couple deceive the
out of town priest to whom they 60,
1 if they go to a priest. for no priest is
/ allowed to marry those outside of his
own parish, except in Gaze of absolute
1 necessity, or when he is delegated by
the pastor of the church TO which the
bride belongs. The statutes of every
diocese in the country are practically
agreed on this. and the clergyman who
does perform a marriage under condi-
tions that are set down as improper,
renders himself liable to suspension.
i There have been instances of persons
| from Waterbury going to New York
city, where often a priest does not
know his people so well, as those in
! smaller places, and where he is hood
winked into believing the lies the pro-
spective groom and bride tell him.
Such marriage said a priest other
than the one quoted above, lis begun in
sim and how any sensible person can
think that happiness will come of it is
more than can imagine"
I "As a result of two or three such
marriages, on the part of several smart
young people Of this city, who have
e1oped TO New York. certain clergy
men of that archdiocese have been no
titled by their archbishop to exercise
/ unusual care in accepting the state
ments of persons unknown to them.
This will make the lot Of those who
want to surprise their friends little
harder in the future.
The recent emphatic statements made
in sermons by the priests of the city,
will. it is believed. cause something of
check to be called ON real runaway
! marriages, while those married at
home who have told stories other thar,
the truth will probably find themselves
copied after to but a slight extent. Al
ready there are signs that the fashion
isn't so popular as it was, and indica-
tions point to a still further improve
ment.
While a runaway marriage, even
when performed by q priest who is de-
ceived by the lying statements Of those
he mafiies, is regarded as valid by the
church insomuch that the church does
not dissolve it, nevertheless the church
looks on such a union as unlawful and
contrary to the principles OF the Cath
Ollie religion. Such a marriage shows
contempt for the laws of the church
that the church does not overlook
y Matrimony is one of the sacraments
raised to the dignity by Christ him.
self, and those who receive it worthily
should first receive the sacraments OF
penance and the Holy Eucharist. Those
who runaway and are married receive
neither for their condition is the very
reverse. of what it should be on theil
reception of the sacrament of the mar
riage tie.''
TONIGHT.