The Irish standard., 1905-04-22
THE cHlLpLEss WIFE.
Father PheIan Writes Timely Article
on That Subject.

Father PheIan Writes Timely Article
on That Subject.
This Is the title Of an article in last
weeks Independent, which proved al
most too much for the elastic oesopha-
gus of our liberal contemporary, and
which the religious press generally has
\ considered quite the boldest, if not the
most brazen, proclamation the New
Woman has launched upon the world,
says Father Phelan in the Western
Watchman. The writer says she is
happily married to congenial young
man; both being fond of children, but
both prevented by various conditions
from indulging in the luxury of of
spring. She has personal reasons. She
loves her independence, which would
be seriously jeopardized by child-bear-
ing. She loves life, and women often
die in their accouchement. She is
wrapped up with philanthropic
schemes, which take up much of her
time, and nearly all her money, and
| charity and laudable ambition forbid
her entering the nursery. He is of
similar mental and moral bent. His
chosen career would be interrupted,
it not ruined, by the cares of a family.
This "childless wife" is somewhat
of casuist. To her mother.in-law,
who says that wives must of necessity
minister to their husbands lusts of
these will turn elsewhere for gratifica-
tion, she replies that divorce court
would soon rid her of an unchaste
spouse. To her domestic and mother
ly neighbor, who pleads the rights of
the unborn, she says that children are
very unknown and very precarious
acquisition to society, and that quality
is not assured by quantity. To the
moralist who pleads for the rights of
the flesh, she replies that before mar
riage it was mutually agreed that
purely platonic live should subsist be-
tween herself and her husband, until
both agreed to beget children.
We have no objection to this form of
total-abstinence wedlock, except it's
difficulty. What our national humorist
says of mental reservations may be
applied to this kind of childless mar
riages; they were invented by saints,
and can be safely used only by saints
Many of the greatest saints lived in
this restricted use of wedlock-this
matrimonial company limited" st.
Paul encourages it. The Blessed Vir-
gin and st. Joseph lived in it. It is
counseled to all married people at cer-
tain times to abstain from marital in
tercourse. The "childless wife" has
not chosen for herself an impossible
condition, but a perfect one. We are
glad to see American men and women
come forward and proclaim, in sharp
contradistinction of the sensual
French school, that it is possible for
men and women to love each other
with love that is all spiritual; that
pure love is free from passion, is in
compatible with passion, is destructive
of passion. A pure woman spurns
passionate kiss or embrace as defile-
ment. 1t is a slap in the face to the
whole Protestant world, and the
preachers in particular, who, when a
Catholic asserts in their presence that
the Mother of God lived and died
virgin, and that she remained virgin
after the birth of the "First-born Son."
as before, smile and pityingly say "im-
possible"
No, no; we have no objection to
such childless marriages, beyond the
danger lurking to those who attempt
so high a sacrifice without the grace
to fulfill it. The sort of childless mar
riages the Church condemns is that
which permits all the previous provo
cations without any possibility of sub.
sequent realization; which gluts a
hungry brute passion, only to make
him vomit his meal; marriage which
human beings can indulge in only on
condition that they forget that they
are men and veil their shame from the
innocent gaze of brutes; marriage
between a childless murderess and a
wifeless accomplice.
Some have pointed out the danger
of these platonic marriages, claiming
that the danger of intercourse is in
creased by too close and intimate as
scciation. What danger? The agree
ment mutually made may be mutually
broken. Danger arises only when the
|anti-nuptial agreement specifies thaS
either party may plead the agreement
against the other; the only lawful
covenant being one which permits
either at any time to terminate the
compact. A marriage which provided
for total abstention from marital in
tercourse, save by mutual agreement
to indulge, would not be prudent
marriage in the eyes of the Church.
But it must be borne in mind, too,
that platonic marriages are not indis-
soluble. Such marriages have been
dissolved from time to time Three
things are required to constitute an
indissoluble marriage: A real con-
tract, Christianity in both contracting