Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-11-27
PASTORAL AGAINST DIVORCE
Bishop ScAnnell Warns Catholics Of the
Position Of be Ihuroh,
EAcOSnUNICATION NAY BE PENALTY
Members OF the church Not at Liberty
To Assist at RemRrriREc of
Divorced Person 10 other
Party IL Living.

IN pastoral letter to the clergy and
IaI'y OF the Omaha diocese. read at all
the masses in all the Catholic churches
sunday morning, Bishop Scanneu again
| called special attention to the position of
the church on the divorce question. A.
CoIdlhg TO the pastoral, as will bc seen,
NOT only must dissatisfied couples first sub
ni' th'lr troubles to the church author
/ lues before applying for divorce. but thos,,
M"o IN any way assist at marriages OF
| ulNorced persons will put themselves i'm
position where eNconImunication pp,. mo
visited upon them. Following is the letter
Of the bishop:
10 the Clergy and Laity of the Diocesc
OF omaha: MY Dear Brethrpu-T have, ,n
stteIst,o eIa occasions in the past called your
ot t,'v.iititoE 70 the nature OF the sacrRmCn:
OF matrimony. to the duties which ID i'm
IUS OF th2 married couple, 10 the unity
anI lhdlssolubtlity of the marriage bond
huu 20 the laws Of the church which ar,
Iultnued 10 protect and secure The sacred
character of that bond.
II Is, however, becoming daily more and
ny nsoiF ~ EVIDENT that some Of the children
OF me church are not as well Informed
and as consequence they give expires.
SION TO views and perform acts which
mOuu u never commend themselves to any
| holy church ''' ''''
Canon Law of the Church
Ana as It is of the utmost Importance to
! tne church itself as well as to civil So
cetN, that all divine and ecclesiastical
ordinances regarding marriage should be
accepted In a spirit Of obedience and with
great reverence by all the faithful, | re.
earu II as incumbent on me Just now to
! can your attention to some provisions of
t.6o vnE canon law Of the church regarding
! what IS called divorce, which provisions
/ are binding on all Catholics and cannot be
/ disregarded without sin.
I FIRST, all Catholics are strictly forbidden
TO apply to the. civil court for a legal
! separation or divorce, as it is usually
called. without having first obtained per
mission from the bishop of the diocese
. TO do So The purpose of this law Is to
prevent hastv separations or separations
that are not based on sufficient cause.
! Secondly, any Catholic who. having oh
tanned a divorce from the civil court at
tempts, during the lifetime OF the III
/ riage, Is by the very fact communicated,
and moreover, both parties to this second
OF contracting valid marriage with each
other. even after the death of the divorced
| husband or wife
In the third place. It is permitted to no
Catholic. even q divorced one. To decide
that a former marriage was invalid. This
asticaI authority and after the institution
Of a canoniCal process. and any Catholic
who attempts a second marriage on the
plea that I'm his or her private Judgment
the former marriage was invalid inCurs
tho penalties mentioned above in the case
Of divorced person who attempts second
Must Not Assist NoncathoIics.
| Finally while "a tholics are not re-
sponsible for the peculiar religious or social
Views Of our nonCatholiC ncighhors, or for
any actions Of theirs that may be based
on views or opinions that know TO bc
unsound. are not at liberty neverthe-
less. tn have q free and wilfui part in
any act of theirs which VIC know TO he q
violation Of the moral law. We can asso-
Ciate ourselves with them In the ordinary
affairs of life, because in these affairs we
7 and they can stand on the same platform
and be guided ny substantially the same
principles OF conduct But we cannot CO.
operate with them in any act that we know
to he unlawful, for free and wtllful CO.
operation in such an act is sin. And the
fact that they themselves may be In good
faith and may not be conscious OF any
wrong-doing will not excuse us. since We
know better our cooperation becomes
unIaw wful when We help another directly &c
do wrong, when we counsel him to do n
when we praise him for having done H.
or when we honor him because he has done
II or is about to do It. All this is so oh.
! viously true that II cannot be honestly
denied by any intelligent person. And I
any persons should attempt to question u
. on the ground that the times have changed
and that our modern social system de
/ nauds a broader toleration than what
! would have been considered lawful in Other
| times let such persons remember tha
tho moral law never becomes antiquated
that the words Of Christ never pass away
|, and that the divine prohibition to pu
asunder those whom God has Joined TO
gether is as binding today as II wa'
twenty centuries ago.
Penalty of DisObedience.
! with a view then. to prevent IA