MARRIAGE LAWS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 302, 15 September 1920, Page 7

MARRIAGE LAWS

PRESBYTERIAN ATTITUDE

INTERPRETATION OF NEW CLAUSE QUESTIONED

Mention of the Marriage Law Amendment Biil was made at tho meeting of i? Prosbytory last' night, <"i?i 116I 16 ? ev * Mackenzie moved: . A , n ' Whereas tho General' Assembly of this Church in 1911 passed a resolution as follows:—'That tho assembly, having tho J\'o Temere Decree, which has been promulgated in tha Dominion, in its historical setting and practical working, and while recognising tho right of every branch of the Christian Church to formulate its own terms of communion, and to exerciso ecclesiastical discipline upop its members in accordance thorcwith; and inasmuch as tho application of this decree in every caso of a mixed marriage affects a party who iij not under the jurisdiction of tho Church of Rome, and traverses the law ■]

of the land and the law of all nonRoman Catholic churches, by declaring invalid a marriage duly solemnised according' to those laws; and inasmuch as this deereo has been 60 applied as to disturb the peace of families and to break up homes and to seriously affect the social standing of members of homes —the assembly call upon the Government to devise means-for the protection of the i social interests and civil' rights of all parties affected by this decree, and Sn view of the grave risks to tho happiness and' religious well-beiny involved jn mixed marriages, they exhort their faithful people to avoid contracting marriages of that nature, and the assembly further directs that a copy of this deliverance bo sent by the clerk of the assembly to the Government through Sir Joseph Ward.' "And whereas a Bill to amend the Marriage Act is now before this Legislature and contains a clause giving tho protection to non-Catholics asked for by tha assembly; and whereas an attempt is being made' to alter thfct clause so as ■to annul its _ effect, and whereas _ the clause as .'it now stands "does not interfere with liberty of public teaching , according to conscience, but only protects from personal accusation. direct or indirect, those who are outside the Roman Catholic Church, and this presbytery resolves to put oil record its hearty approval of the clause as it now stands, and expresses tho hope that the House of Representatives will p&ss the clause without change or alteration. The presbytery also congratulates the Minister of .Internal Affairs on removing barriers to marriage by _ extending the hours in which a marriage may take place, and in abolishing the three days' residence. Copies of this resolution to be forwarded to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Internal Affairs."

Mr. Mackenzie said the Presbyterian Church recognised civil'marriage as real marriage,' but the Church of Rome alleged that slio was the only Church that could- celebrate a marriage. Her position necessitated that she could not recognise as a Teal marriage any ceremony that was not performed by one of her priests. The new-.clauso passed by tlio Legislative Council did not prohibit a minister from stating in his church what was the position.of his church in regard to the matter of marriage, but the Roman Catholic Church would not submit to the clause. As he read the clause, the Roman Catholic Church was still left, the liberty to teach its doctrines, but it was not at liberty to say to people that they were not properly martied. -A Driest could state a general principle, but ho could not make personal allegations. The Roman Catholic Church could discip'.ino her people in what wav she thought fit, but according to. the clause she was not left at liberty to interfere with the Protestant party to a mixed marriage, or to deny the validity of that marriage. He ask_ed the presbytery to support the clause as it stood.

. The Rev. B. Harris seconded tho motion.

The Rev. W. J. Comrie said he would like to be sure tlhat Mr. Mackenzie's interpretation of the clause was correct. As he, read it, the clause forbade a man to say in church, or anywhere else, that a marriage was not legal. _ Mr. Mackenzie: Here is the clause.

Mr. Comrie: "It is a clause abonb which lawyers are splitting hairs, lam not a bora lawyer and I confess that I cannot 6ee the force of these things. I would like to be a little better assured that we are going to allow the Roman Catholifcs the liberty to tench in their church their views aa to what they hold to "be the cacrament of marriage, I think it will be our turn next to stand for the. liberty of conscience and free speech. .There .is a tendency in some quarters to' curtail these things." He did'nut think that the Roman Catholic Churefi should.have the right! to impugn the validity of a marriage, but he wanted to bo suro that Mr. Mackenzie's interpretation was right before he voted for the motion.

Further discussion of the matter was adjourned until Monday night next, and a sub-commilttee, consisting of the Revs. J. H. Mackenzie; W. .T. Comrie, the Moderator (Rev. W'. Day), was sefi up to obtain .further information regarding the interpretation of the clause. '

A STATEMENT BY REV. HOWARD ELLIOTT

The Rev. Howard Elliott made the following statement) yesterday:— "The pronouncements which have been Wade by Archbishop O'Shea, - Bi.shlops Cleary and Brodie respecting the amendments to the Marriage Act, introduced' by the Legislative Council, and now before the House of Representatives, are remarkable in their ingenuity in avoiding the Teal point at issuo in the proposed legislation. The prelates named would make it appear that the aim, of the clause referred to is to interfere with the religious liberty of Roman Catholics, and to make it an offence for members of that denomination to hold or proclaim marriage as- a sacrament; whereas the clause, wtiilst permitting the fullest legitimate liberty, proposed to make it an offence to allege, either 1 expressly or by implication, that any persons lawfully married are not truly and sufficiently married, or that the issuo of any lawful marriage is illegitimate or born out of true wedlock. The Roman Catholic Church 'has eo alleged in tho pink Catechism. and in approved publications; e.g., Dr. Cleary in his book 'Catholic Marriages,' p. 137, describes certain lawful marriages as 'legalised concubinage,' and by implication the issue of such marriages'as illegitimate and 'bastard. "No church or person can claim the right to make such allegation; to do so is an insufferable infringement of the civil right? and religious liberty of others. The claim that it is the doctrine of the Pope of Rome does not make it permissible, since the laws of the Pone of Rome cannot be allowed to override the laws of New Zealand, or to destroy the rights and liberties of tlio people of this country. The proposed legislation will vindicate tl'fe supremacy of British law, protect the rights of citizens and guard the children against the stigma of being branded' illegitimate, and in so doing will have the hearty support of every liberty-loving Britisher. "Tbie threats of the divines to defy and to break tho law. if enacted, recall the events of the passage of the Military Service Bill through Parliament. Then Dr. O'Shea went to prenf. lengths in his threats, and Dr. Brodio threatened to call out his army of 140,000 if the Government dared to treat priests and Marist Brothers as men and citizens by including them in the Bill. The threat of the willing martyr creates no excitement:'' whilst fte British Government is firm in its treatment of M'Swiney. "DrA Cl'et-'Ts f' ■>r that Hip, Bible may yet come within the prohibition of New Zealand's law cc-uld only have made by one lacking in a ?en£c of humour, and' cannot do more than Taise a smile. "There lire Te'nl injustices and great wrongs, which will lie corrected 'by tho passing of this legislation, and the of the. bir-hops are not likely to affect the minds of the legislators, now that the evidence has convinced one of the strongest and most representative committees in Parliament of the necessity for such Tegis'iaubn. Neither is it likely that tho purpose of the legislation will be defeated by the introduction of words which would destroy tho working of the measure."

HIBERNIAN SOCIETY RESOLUTION. At a meeting of St. PftWok*! Branch

No. 95 of the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society the following motion wa6 carried unanimously"That we wish to place on record our appreck ntion of the firm and unequivocal stand taken by His Grace Archbishop O'Shea in 'the matter of the action of Hie At. tornev-Gcneral in scuttling through th» Legislative Council a proposed amendment to the Marriage" Bill, .which if brought into force, -will be 0110 of the worst penal laws placed on the statute books of any part of the British Empire since the days of Catholic Emancipation, and we wish to a*suro His Graco that collectively and Individually ho has our whole-hearted support in any comus he may deem necessary to ac'opt to defeat this attempt at religions porsesation."