The Irish standard., 1911-07-22
BLIGHT TO SOCIETY
Divorce Attaches Stigma to Offspring
as Well as to Parents.

as Well as to Parents.
Mr.. Okeefe, a prominent lawyer of
Chicago, gives some plain facts in the
following article to show why the
Catholic Church should be universally
respected for it's attitude against di-
vorce. He writes as follows:
From 1876 to 1886, in this country
the number of divorces granted or APP
plications filed was less than $4,000;
from 1896 to 1906, the number had
reached million. Taking the Amer
lean family on the ratio of four, we
have four million people directly af-
fected by divorce, and as a rule. since
some one sometimes both) of the par
we could even make the number af-
fected by the divorce law five million,
and now then: The two children of
the parents divorced are actually the
chief of those injured by the proceed
ings, and even though we grant that
they are good people, yet the stigma
OF the divorce is there and the at
mosphere present for life; and, should
these children marry, it is not unfair
to make the deduction that their mat
rimonial associates are in part also
within the cloudland of the separator
or broken marriage principle. But,
leaving it as it stands originally, we
have one in every twenty of our popu-
lation who is a party to the cause of,
or directly interested in. broken
home. Let us suppose that every man
and woman in America believed in di-
Vorce; and following the natural bent
OF our poor weak humanity, what
would we have? Well. in a few years
at most, we would. as rule, find our
selves with broken homes, broken fam
lilies and broken physically as we'll as
morally. Suppose, under such cir
cumstances, this great land of ours
We're attacked by foes from without?
Who would defend her? The divorced
man? Certainly not. Show me d-
vorced man and. as a rule. you will
find a broken down man physically:
he is surely a broken man morally.
And the woman who may unfortu-
nately fall within the realm of willing
activity to the divorce decree-well,
we will throw over her the veil of ST.
lence and charity; she has trouble
enough. And then, if we believe in
hot to-,
why should they not be free of all le-
gal restraint, as well as they are of
moral restraint and accountability?
Or why should there be marriage at
all for those so minded, for surely the
man or woman who breaks down the
barriers of marriage would be as we'll
off by having no marriage. Indeed, it
may we'll be imagined that they would
give less scandal.
1t is well. very we'll. that we have
here and there among our nom Cath
oic friends and brethren some who
stand out boldly against divorce, and
some who in the most sacred sense
observe the marriage vow. 1t must
be admitted also, and it is most cheer
fully admitted, that we have a large
percentage of our nom Catholic peo-
pie who in the most positive sense,
stand for the family unit and union,
and as bitterly denounce anything and
everything against the marriage prin-
ciple and the purity of the home. But
even though we do acknowledge such,
we do claim that, were it not for the
ineradicabe stand and fight of the
Roman Catholic Church against di-
vorce-a fight stretching back nigh
Il thousand years-We would have so
little left Of the marriage tie nova
\ days that, outside the Roman Cath
Ole Church herself, most probably
marriage, would have disappeared al
most entirely.
And the fight the Church made
against Henry VIII, against Luther,
against Napoleon, the Church is maxi
ing today in this country, and as she
y has stood so shall she ever stand. No
lst3 ulleTence III her principles; no d1mln-
+ ution of her demands as to marriage
with age ever more vigorous perhaps
does our Mother Church get-and, as
ss a consequence, we can claim, and
claim with truth, that the Roman
Catholic Church alone is the one in
dissoluble factor fighting for the I'M
s INV and life union of the marina oe
bond, and for the purity of the home.
Has the mother Church succeeded?
fkg Well, we claim she has. Why? How?
& Why? Because, in standing for the
indissolubility, save by the act of God,
IN the marriage tie she has followed
NJ Gods own teaching, and consequently
hlassinec IL. ---- -. 49,