The Catholic bulletin., 1918-11-30
s's Continued from page IL
Letter OF Bishop Wehrle

olics, you can easily see the mind of
| Holy Mother, the Church. regarding
marriages between Catholics and non
| Catholics. / find it necessary to eX-
plain more fully the purpose and the
duties of Christian matrimony and
how to act that mixed marriages be
avoided as far as possible, and how to
counteract the dangers of mixed mar
riages entered. 81
/. Matrimony has been instituted
| by God Himself for the purpose of
giving to man helpmate and of prop
agating the human race. It is that in
stitution, begun in paradise, which
alone received from God such a bless.
ing that neither original sin nor the
deluge could take away.
Jesus Christ Who by His incarna-
tion has raised us to the supernatural
dignity Of the children of God, has
raised matrimony to the dignity of Il,
sacrament and has enriched it with
sacramental graceS for the purpose
of making the union between husband
and wife an Imitation of that union
which exists between Himself and His.
Church. He has also given to Chris
tian marriage the very same pur-
pose for which He instituted His
Church, namely to bring to human
souls the kingdom of God here on
earth and the glory OF God inSthe next
wo"ld. The very first purpose of Chris.
tian matrimony is that husband and
wife help each other to practice solid
secure for themselves eternal happi-.
ness in heaven: then to bring forth
children who in baptism become Gods
children and to educate them: in such
& way as to SECURE their eternal saliva
ton. Thus the spreading of Gods.
truest sense the. principal purpose of
Christian marriage, just as the spread
ing Of Gods kingdom over the whole
world is the one purpose for which
Jesus Christ has instituted His
Church. -a
2. 1t is self-evident that the first
purpose of Christian marriage can
never be carried out to perfection un-
less husband and wife are in posses
sion OF the undefiled Christian truth
and are deeply religious and in the
truest sense seeking God. For this
reason Catholic parents who truly seek
the spiritual welfare of their children
will do all that is in their power to
induce their growing up sons and
daughters who find themselves called
to the marriage state to become united
with practical Catholics; and young
Catholic people who seriously think of
getting married must know, their first
duty is to find such companions for
life that will make it easy for both
to work out their own eternal saliva
ton and the spiritual welfare of the
children which God may entrust to
them. True Catholics who enter on
an acquaintance for the purpose of
| getting married will always, during the
time of friendship preceding the prom
| ise of marriage try to find out not
only whether the other party has
those natural qualities and dispositions
! which give reasonable hope of hap
| py married life, but also whether he
or she has such religious. training,
| principles and convictions as to make
| it reasonably easy to serve God to-
getbcr in peace and fidelity and to
| work for the spiritual welfare of the
whole future family.
| 3. In this country, where we daily
| associate with many non-Catholics, it
| cannot be avoided that some young
! people feel themselves drawn towards
non-Cathcljc friends of the other sex
and that a true love springs up be-
! tween them. But they should never
! forget that they cannot have true
| love for one another unless they love
| their immortal souls more than their
mortal bodies and unless they seek
their eternal salvation more. than
|. their temporal welfare. For this rea-
son it. is the strictest duty of every
! Catholic who enters friendship with
a non-Catholic with the prospect of
! marriage to speak in an open and
| frank manner on the subject of re.
| ligion and to find out whether the nom
/ Catholic party be earnestly seeking
God and His truth or be without any
| knowledge OF, God, or, what is still
| worse has such prejudiced ideas
against our holy Catholic religion and
! such stubborn mind as to make it al
most impossible, to come to the knuwlt
! edge of the true religion. One VINO
chooses as partner for life a shiftlsss,
lazy and disorderly, person. is actmg
most foo1ishly regarding his temporal
welfare; how much more blind and
| foolish does a Catholic act who mar
/ ries a person outspokenly hostile to
! the true Church of Christ or SO indif-
| ferent regarding ones duty towards
God as not to care at all how to serve
.Go9 Such a persongean meyer be- "a
! true helpmate in worlsihg out the spir.
Gtual welfareaof the family:
~Our Mother, the Holy Catholic
Church, would be lnfaithful, to the
sacred duty of working for our saliva
ton if she would not severely forbid
marriages between Catholic and a
hereto or schisrnatic or an unbap-
tized person or if she would grant
dispensation for such marriages with
| out good and. serious reasons.