The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-04-22
DANGER IN MIXED MARRIAGES.

riages. The Bishop says that unless
| Catholics value their spiritual welfare
higher than apparent temporal pros
perity, their acquaintance and friend
ships with those outside of the Church,
are apt to develop into matrimonial
alliances. The very frequency of
mixed marriages diminishes the fear
of them and increases their number,
To check the growth of the evil. He
calls the attention of the young, and
of their parents to the unlawfulness
and sad effects of these unions.
peace and. harmony" writes Bish-
op Richter, depend on similar views,
especially in important matters. But
what is more important than religion?
| Catholics believe their religion to be
the only true one, instituted by Christ
to lead men to Heaven. How, then,
can Catholic help being anxious and
uneasy about the future of the non
Catholic husband or wife? Again,
what happiness and peace can there
be when the one despises as folly, or
even detests as idolatry that which
is dearest and most sacred to the
other? What wonder, then, if peace
and happiness be rare in families not
united in the bonds of the same re-
| ligion? What wonder that many fam
| lilies, in which this difference of re-
ligion exists, are wretched, and end in
| civil divorce? More than once have
we heard persons abandoned by non
| Catholic husbands or wives, or, who in
| their unhappy condition came to ask
advice, express their conviction that
dispensations for mixed marriages
should never be granted. They had
become wiser by sad experience, al
| though too late.
''In a contract, especially in one of
such importance as Matrimony. the OBJ
legation assumed by the contracting
parties should be equal In a mixed
marriage this is far from being the
case. The Catholic is bound for life,
but the non-Catholic, according to his
| principles, thinks otherwise If he
has a religion, his Church does not
/
much less is it doctrine of unbe-
levers. Since the rise of Protestant
ism and the inroads of infidelity, the
| frequency of divorce has steadily in
creased, and is still growing in alarm
ing proportions. During the year 1915,
two hundred and ninety divorces were
granted in Kent county; the total
| number of marriages was one thou
sand nine hundred and twenty-five;
that is, there was nearly one divorce
| to every seven marriages.
by contracting mixed marriage,
| the Catholic runs a great risk of per-
| version Difference of religion be-
tween husband and wife weakens the
faith and renders the discharge of re-
| ligious duties difficult. Husband and
wife ought to worship God in com
mon; for, as the individual is bound
| to worship God so also the family
But the Catholic may not unite in
worship with the non-Catholic. They
do not say the, same prayers. For
| instance, the ,non-CathOlic, if con
sistent, will not say the Hail Mary or
prayers for the souls in PurgatOry.
| They will not both attend the same
church on Sunday, nor keep the same
| holidays, and days of fast and absti'
nence. Thus the Catholic will be de-
| prived of one of the principal helps
to keep up daily prayers, attendance
at Mass on Sundays, and keeping holy
days of obligation and days of fast
and abstinence. Moreover, how often
| does it not happen that the non-Catho-
| lie holds views on the rights and OBJ
| legations of the married state, and
exacts compliance with these views,
utterly at variance with the teachings
of the Church The pledges required
by the Church are but too often VIC
lated We can call to mind several
who, having signed the agreement con-
tanning the required pledges, even
boosted that they had never made
them or who considered them not
! binding because made under compul-
sion. Years ago a venerable Arch
bishop in a pastoral letter penned the
| following words on the violation Of
the required pledges: This promise
is sometimes readily enough made, but
we have examples to show how shame
| fully it can be broken. There are here
and elsewhere melancholy instances
of the bitterest and most unrelenting
| persecution of the Catholic party, until
| the very soul of the too-confiding being
is a slave, and this, in violation of the
most solemn pledges, given to the in
| tended and her relatives, and to the
minister of God, that the rights OF
conscience should be held sacred and
inviolable. A Catholic priest would
not give absoution to Catholic
husband who would prosecute his
Protestant wife for her religions sake
| Why are not anti-Catholic husbands
rebuked into repentance and human
| ity? And why, at least, do Catholic
young men and women imperil their
peace in time and their salvation in
eternity by trusting to such delusive
promises
CHOSE who contract mixed marri-
ages, besides endangering their own
salvation, jeopardize the salvation OF
| the future children. Two elements
are indispensable for the proper edu-
| cation of children: good example Of
parents or guardians, and sound re-
| ligious instruction. Words move, ex-
amples draw. But what example is
| given To children whose parents differ