The Catholic bulletin., 1920-05-22
IN MARRIED LIFE.

Two splendid white horses were de-
liVered to the Fire Department and at
tached to the same truck. They were
as pretty pair as ever stepped from
the fre-houSe. What is more, they
were friends. They were seen rubbing
their soft pink noses together wher-
ever they stood. But one was bred
single-footer and the other could run.
The more they pulled together the
more it became evident that they were
not pulling together. Lookers-on
didn't see this; they saw only the gor-
geous flying hair and the streaming
noses pointed down the street. But
the driver could feel that the impa-
tient gallOp of the one was unsuited to
the tripping march of the other. When
the gallOper gave his great leaps the
other was just an unnoticeable little
bit behind, so that the wagon went
Zig-Zag, though ever so little, on the
straight street, and whenever a cor
ner must be turned, there was verit-
able bedlam. Again and again the
firemen felt the confusion, and the in
creasing strain of it all weakened the
hearts and shivered the nerves of the
men who must face fire.
Christ wants Catholic man to be
married to a Catholic woman because
two cannot pull together if one of the
pair is a 'single-footer." They may
look well on the street and they may
be the most charming hosts in their
home. But they and their children
are jolted by the unsteady pull, and
when the crises of life come, there is
only confusion
The impediment against mixed
marriages arose from the very start
Of the Church. Custom soon made it
diriment impediment, forbidding
and invalidating the marriage of
Catholic with a pagan. The Church
has never abrogated the impediment
nor willingly tolerated the dispensing
from it. She has not forgotten her
self even in America; though people
have come to think merely of an
nouncing themselves and letting the
pastor do the rest. "The Church
most severely forbids marriage be-
tween two baptized persons one of
whom is Catholic and the other of
whom belongs to an heretical or schis-
matte sect. The marriage of a Cath
olic with an unbaptized person is,
moreover, void" (Code of Canon Law,
Canon, 1860 and 107O.
The Church is not going to grant
dispensations most easily to permit
that which she forbids most severely.
AS soon as peace and quiet are again
established the privilege of the Amer
lean Bishops to dispense for mixed
marriages may be withdrawn and dis
pensations of the kind will have to
come from Rome. The Apostolic
Delegate at Washington will have the
faculty from Rome to dispense from
the impediment of disparity of cult for
a certain limited number of cases. Is.
c. Consist, 10 mai. 1919. The bish-
ops may not have it at all for ordinary
circumstances.
Mixed marriages are not going to
be hurried up any more and our Cath
ollc young people may just as we'll
learn that it is going to be an incon-
venient matter to marry a non-Cath-
olic.
But they should also learn to have
a deeper respect for the mind of the
Church in this matter. They have
surely, grave duty of avoiding the
occasion Of those things which ''the
Church most severely forbids." They
have real duty of curbing them
selves before their affections have
been settled on non-Catholics. 1t is
useless to say that Catholic parents
have duty of directing their chill
dren in this matter In many a Cath
olic home. earnest parental advice