The Irish standard., 1910-08-13
CARDINAL GIBBONS
ON DIVORCE
He Calls Divorce Canker Worm
Destroying the Vitals of
the State.
He Deplores the Sad Conditions of
the Children of Divorced
Parents.
Young Men of Virtuous Ideals Are
Urged to Enter Public
Service.

His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons, had
an important message for the world on
the occasion of his seventy-sixth birth
most important questions of the day
and his words, coming as they do, from
one whose hearts desire through q
long, useful and successful life has
been the betterment of his fellowmen,
should receive serious consideration by
those under whose notice they come
regardless OF. position or creed. His
Eminence first spoke of divorce. He
said:
Divorce is canker which is eating
into the very vitals of our life. So
ciety-our whole civilization-uprears
itself upon the sanctity of the home
and the unity of the family. When
you attack the family you attack gov
ernment itself. And government, to
protect and perpetuate itself, must ex-
1IOlll SlitulCS lllC u
divorce laws which the best of our
life abhors.
I pray for the time when men and
women may be persuaded to under
stand the seriousness Of marriage Re-
gardless Of religious convictions. they
| should understand when they marry
| tract which is not of day or a month,
but of a lifetime. They should know
that they must bear and forbear. The
husband cannot pull one way and the
wife another. They must pull in the
traces together.
Ponder on the helpless little children
| of these homes destroyed by divorces.
Instead Of love ruling their hearts and
lives, hatred is sown there. The father
goes one way and the mother the 9TH
| er, never to meet again. The children
are left without an anchorage. They
know not to whom to appeal for af-
fection. They turn to the father to
learn that he hates their mother. They
/ turn to their mother, and have it
scared into their minds and hearts that
/ blighted in the bud. How can we ex-
pect them to burgeon into true and
! tender men and women? How can we
expect them to do anything else with
| their lives than what their parents
have done?
All, these children Of divorced pa
i rents! They are the bitter sorrow of
my life. They are given no chance,
and I say. woe unto them who are re-
sponsible!
| The ease with which divorce may be
obtained in some of our states is Moth
| ing less than criminal.
When asked what he had to say to
the young men of the country the VEN
erabe prelate said:
| I would tell the young men Of these
United States to love their country and
cherish it's greatness. I bespeak this
with the same earnestness as I be-
speak love and fear of God.
| Let more young men Of education
and virtuous ideals give themselves to
the public service, and if they do so
with clean hearts and hands the preg-
nant ills of government must be elm
| tod In, NJ
are serving God. I have preached this
and written it again and again. The
better class Of our citizens so often
stand aloof from practical politics and
the conduct Of campaigns. One result
of universal suffrage is that elections
very frequently turn upon the votes Of
that large class made up by the rough
er and baser sort. AS I have written
in "Our Christian Heritage" to in
nuence and organize this vote is the
dirty work. of politics. Gentlemen
naturally shrink from it. Hence it has
gotten, for the most part, with the
general political machinery, into un-
reputable hands; and from these hands
issue the election frauds which thicken
in the great cities and gravely endan-
ger our institutions. The ballot is the
ready and potent instrument which
| registers the will of free people from