The menace., 1919-01-04

and Marriage
the reading Of the Bible in the pub
lie schools and does all that it can
to prevent its circulation throughout
the world.
We have been fighting to make
the world safe for democracy. 1t is
not entirely impossible that we shall
have to engage in another fight TO
save the instrument that created the
democracy; namely, the Bible.
We have in this country, which
was founded upon the Bible, and its
safety has ever been in the princi-
pies taught in the Bible, fifteen mil
lion people who, if they dared, would
create bonfires by the millions to de-
stroy' our precious heritage. Over
against this we have eighty million
people who would defend their her
itage with their blood, and nobody
knows this better than Rome her
self.
Imagine, If you can, what dark,
dismal continent this would be with
no Bibles in circulation. No, you
cannot imagine it. In order to view
the awful blight and darkness pro-
duced by the Catholic policy, you
have to visit some South American
countries, Mexico, and the Central
American states and then If you
came back to tell the story, 1t would
hardly be believed, so awful is the
dense darkness and ignorance.
In addition to this expression Of
autocracy,. let me point to another
act of the hierarchy that carries with
it inputations sufficient to make ev-
cry decent man and woman shudder,
| speak Of the Ne Temere decree.
The Ne Temere decree was issued
and went into effect April 18, 1908.
BY this decree all marriages every
where in the Latin church between
Catholics and non-Catholics are in
valid unless they take place in the
presence Of an accredited priest and
two witnesses.
This decree raised such storm of
protest in Germany that the kaiser
told the pope If he did not withdraw
the decree and abrogate it in so far
as it pertained to women of his coun-
try, he would without further notice
expel and drive from his realm every
Catholic priest and prelate within
the realms of his country. This
caused the pope to issue another de-
cree entitled "Provida," which ex-
empted Germans from this new leg
islation.
Marriages contracted between Cath
olics and infdels, which means un-
baptized persons, were and are re
garded as mere concunbinages unless
a dispensation from the pope of
Rome is given. Marriages between
Catholics and heretics are regarded
as valid, but illicit unless an eccles-
iastical dispensation has been granted.
One Of the conditions of granting
this dispensation is that the heretical
party lProtestant) agrees in writ
ing to have all the children baptized
and confirmed in the Catholic reli-
gion.
The Council Of Truillo held in the
seventh century declared marriages
between Catholics and Protestants
null and void, hence their union was
officially branded concubinage.
The Council Of Trent, 1545 and
1868, declared all matrimonial un-
ions null and void unless entered into
before the ecclesiastical authority.
"Civil marriage is only licensed
cohabitation. There should be nc
such legal abomination and the
church (Catholic) should be the SUI,
preme judge of the marriage rela.
tion."' Priest Phelan in Western
Watchman, March %, 1912.
"A woman who was brought ur
in the Catholic faith and trained in
a parochial school. but who marries
a Protestant, left the church, Joined
a Protestant church, and is raising
her family Protestants, is undoubted
| ly in bad faith and leading most
sinful life. The harlot or drunken
woman is a model of virtue. compared
to her" The Pittsburgh Observer
papist, January 8, 1918.
/ "Would it not be sacrilege to ap
ply the grand words: The husband
is the head Of the wife as Christ i!
the head of the church, to a Protes
tant marriage marked by as littl'
reverence as a deal in cattle? Boil
are civil contracts and the brutes il
one case are not much better in on,
case than the brutes in the other, fol
brute passion and nothing else is a
j the bottom of such marriage" Par
of sermon delivered bv an IrisI
priest, Minehan, in st, Peter
/ church, Toronto, copied from tn
J, Toronto Star, 1914.
4 "What right has a Protestant wifi
/ to object to her husband having
. mistress, and what reason has
Protestant husband to object to hi
| wife having a lover? There is alb
: solutely nothing in Protestant Chris
} tianity to prevent it."-Priest Phe
Ian, of st. Louis. Western Watch
I, man. November 26, 1914.
} "This country Is ceasing to be Van
J kee and Protestant because tn
3 Yankee and Protestant woman vii
: neither be virgins nor mothers.n-
: Western Waterman, st. Louis, Jan
uary 80. 1913.
In Rinaldas catechism, publishe
Z at Barcelona, Spain, November II
1910, and bearing the imprimatur Q
3 the vicar general, we find the fol
D lowing:
Question:. What is the matrimon
E which is called civil?
81 Answer: That which is celebrate
: by a civil authority without anv et