Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-09-15
NEW MARRIAGE
 DEGREE Is STRICT Pine Bluff Catholics Inter ested in Recent Decree From Rome-None But Church Authority. THE PARISH PASTOR Is Defined-Willingness of Spiritual Advisor Necessary to Make Con- tract Legal and Valid-Ruling on ~Surprise Marriages
THE PARISH PASTOR

inc Graphic relative to the recognl- tion by the Catholic church of mar riages performed without the assist ance o1 a priest, said to be condoned in the modified Council of Trent de- cree. just issued by Plus X, are proved erroneous by copy of that decree. which has arrived in Pine Bluff
 The new decree, far from abro- gating the ban on nonecclesiastlcal marriages, takes a firmer stand than ever, and will make universal, with notifications, the Tametsi, or Council of Trent law, which here tofore has obtained only in Catholic countries and in certain portions of the United States, notably St. Louis and New Orleans.
 By this law, two Catholics may be validly married only before the
  Diocese or priest delegated by either of these. and at least two witnesses.
 Archbishop Glennon of St. Louis, in a recent interview, said that the reform measures were considered more binding in some respects. He has not received formal notice of the decree. Several copies, how ever, have reached his city in Cath ollie journals from Rome.
 In contradiction of the publish ed assertion that persons other than ecclesiastics can have the power to perform marriage. the decree says:
 Those who otherwise than in the presence of the parish priest him. self, or another priest acting with the license of the parish priest, or of the ordinary ,and in the presence of at least two witnesses. shall at tempt to contract matrimony. the Holy Synod renders them altogether incapable of contracting the mar rlage thus, and decrees that con- tracts of this kind are null and void.
 But, as the same sacred council prescribed that said decree should be published in all the parishes, and was not to have force except in those places in which it has been promulgated, it has happened that many places in which the publica- tiOn has not been made have been deprived of the benefit of the trl dentine law and are still without it.
 Influenced by these circum stances, Plus x has endeavored to so modify the law as to make it's universal enforcement feasible
 The reform measures in the dc cree do not relate to any change re- garding the attitude toward civil marriages, but refer largely to the definition of a parish priest it be- ing he'd formerly that only he was recognized as parish priest who had been economically appointed and installed to preside over given district, specified by his Bishop.
 According to the new law, any priest having the care of souls. who performs parish duties is consider ed a parish priest, and his preesnce is valid for the marriage not only of persons living in his district. but of those from other places.
 Another important change is the doing away with the surprise mar riage," so called, which was con sidered marriage if performed in the presence of the parish priest of the parties, whether the pastor wa: willing or unwilling. The new de- cree makes the willingness of thy priest necessary to the legality and validity of the marriage.
 The new decree nowhere binds those outside of the church-excep. apOStates and the communicated and it binds all those within the church.
 The laws are binding on Catho ics who contract marriage with non-Catholics. baptized or unbao- tized, even after a dispensation has been obtained from the impeachment mixta religionis, or disparitas cul- tus; unless the Holy See decree oth- erwise for some particular place or