The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-02-23
STRICT RULES ON
MIXED MARRIAGES

lheiehgth and breadth Of the land il
being decried by prelgtes of the Catb.
on church. Bishop n. c. Matz issued :
pastoral letter on the subject which
Was read in every church i'm the dio.
'es. OF Denver last Sunday.
NlOIe stringent rules than were evel
@tUeiapted by the church are laid down
pH lhe bishop of Denver He orders
INC IN future no Catholic man may
marry Protestant woman i'm this dio-
me priests are forbidden Ia
suieInIllza such marriage. Absolutely
If- ulspensatio1 is provided for and If
Nuch marriages are to take place they
must be performed outside the state of
o'oItup, If priest of the church is
" oIlclate. The Lenten pastoral coy
efs hfteen pages. and was not written
linpulsively nor without due thought of
- sweeping terms employed in il.
iNSIlOp MatZ has been considering stems
u check the alarming number of mixed
marriages for some months In fact
INC ldea came TO him through the rad
ifal views Of Bishop ScanneH of Ona-
ne' whom ne greatly admires. 1t was
fslSnop Scannell who eXCommunicatei
Hle Catholic participants in the Ar
lp9ur wedding at Omaha. out of which
some scandal grew.
The records of the cathedral parish
at Denver show that the number of
marriages I'm which only one party was
catholic Outnumbered the thorn1lehlv
CathoIc unions by a wide margin last
wear. Although the church shows her
ulspleasuTe Of such marriages by for
bluding them TO be splemnized i'm the
Ghurch and will not allow the use Of
the sacred vestments nor the bestowal
Of the nuptial blessing. the continue in
1aVor with the young people
The orders of the bishop in this re-
will r4l11 /
radical changes in the plans adopted |
by great many young people The |
salient feature Of the pastoral letter |
IS the absolute rule that no Catholic |
man may marry a Protestant woman |
and remain i'm the church No priest
may oftieiate. The idea of this order
is that the children of such union
are invariably lost TO the faith as
shown by statistics in possession of the
church. The Protestant mother has
the raising of the children. argues
Bishop Matz and the father seldom in
sists on their being brought up in the
faith
Although promise is exacted of the
non-Catholic party to mixed mar
riage that the children shall be brought
Hp in ti1r-Eatlolfe faith. ff is generally
ignored, according to Bishop Matz.
In the case of a Catholic woman
marrying a Protestant man. the man
lions before the priest viii be permit '
ted t0 unite them in matrimony. The
idea of this is that the father may un- !
derstand what is expected of him and
comprehend the tenets Of the church {
in which his children are TO be raised. [
This instruction must cover ten days I
or two weeks prior TO the marriage '
From all parts of the country Bishop '
Matz has been showered with congra- q
on the solid position he has t
taken with regard TO mixed marriages. G
appalling popularity Of the divorce
court is due. claim churchmen. TO the t
lax rules governing marriages between
Catholics and non-Catholics. When I
W0 Catholics marry they understand 1
that it is for better OF for worse" Vat n
where one Of the contracting parties is T
not Of that faith the indisSoluibility Of 7
he tie is not thoroughly comprehend l.
sd. T
Statistics show an astounding in \
reasC IN the number of divorces r
~ranted IN this country. In part the A
ext Of the pastoral follows: 7
''The baneful effects arising from Il
llis proclamation Of matrimony could o
,ot be more powerfully Illustrated than
w what we see going on in our imme-
liaee surroundings. In 1856 there were
ranted in the United States 25.535 di-
'orees. twenty years later. in 1906. this
iulNDeI reached the enormous nEure OF -
{, ,0o0 divorces granted last year I'm this -.
oantry alone. This means 10V00 fam h,
lies wrecked. Now if we multiply by -
We. the average number of individuals -
llcwed per family. we have the enor- n
louB sum total of 100000 individuals -
hose existence lis ruined by our sys- ~
ematfc proclamation of this most sa- VI
red and fundamental institution Of "a "a
latrimony. ~ n
My God. what frightful abysses we Z, %
re drifting into, At the rate we are NJ
Ding with an ever-increasing momen- :,
Im. We shall in a few years have ~
cached the frightful figure of 100000 W,
ivorces granted annually i'm these cI
nited States: meaning 100000 families, IN
70 600 individuals. sacrificed every nc
ear to this internal Moloch of lust IN
pe what is going ON in Wyoming. no
ION Jan. 2S 1903 a bill called the SIP
inney bill was introduced i'm the 10
euse proposing a trial marriage sys- 10
IN of five wears. at The expiration Of Nj
IFS term the parties may have five an
ore 10 decide whether they viii con- tn
nue. 10 live together or part forever tn
is claimed for the proposed law that
would prove a great attra ction for
acple from all parts Of the country to
to Wyoming. If this is not H.,
.e quintessence of cynicism and the Dl
,ragon of blaspbemy, then we don't -, -
low what TO call H. rri,
NO nation could long withstand IL
ch an onslaught upon its most sacred De
I'd fundamental institution; and If 1t eIl'
ere not Tor the tide of immigration ~ ~
to this country and its consequent Oe
fusion Of new blood into our arteries. INii
q population Of these United States M
1uld now be on tie verge Of eXtinc- al, !
,n.
Mixed marriages marriages. name Ie.
or Catholics with persons not bap- cvv'
.ed or baptized ProteStants. consti- cH
2 one of the worst drains upon the Ger
Grch i'm the United States. oar nu- del
7rical strength in this country would Gel
much greater only for these unfor- tar
nate mixed marriages. The United sec
ates census reports are authority for er.
e statement that So Der cent Cf these Ca
aria geg are lost 10 The church. We cat
ow that so per cent is nearer the Mu
ith The reason for these losses VIII els
found in the want Of Catholic edu- SIN
ton in mixed families 7
But when a Protestant father or by
1ther do all nv their power on
nisrepresent Catholic teach wei
rs and prejudice their Re-
ildren against the church. yea. when par
ey go so far as to forbid them going
church threatening and Furnishing A
EN- if they do: what then? Cases of Sat
IS hlnd are not as rare az people aie the
{ to think, and our priests come in inn