"MIXED MARRIAGES."

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 53, 2 March 1877, Page 4

"MIXED MARRIAGES."

The folio wing is an extract from Bishop Redwood's Lenten Pastoral:— We now come to the other great peril—mixed marriages; that is, the marriages of Catholics with Protestaots^ or non-C*tho!ics. Had we to notice only a small number of such marriages in our Diocese, we ahouM refrain frora speaking to you about them; but, alps! their number is great and it ia ever on the increase; they are becoming a veritable pest. So lamentably prevalent are they — es- ' peciallyjin certain pi ■sees — that many of you, who in Catholic Ireland would have been horrified at the thought of them, now look upon such unions as a matter of course and unobjectionable. Oftentimes nothing can tx.etd the levity with which the Catholic party rushes into such an engagement; the day ia fixed, the preparations completed, and then diapeusation is asked for aa a mere formality. No grave cauee iB pleaded why the solemn laws of the Church BhuulU be set aside Sometimes your pastors are afraid that a refusal would drive you into rebellion and open defiance of the Church, and ■ hence they allege this danger as a , reason for obtaining the dispensation. We have too high an opioioa of the virtue of our flock, and too great an esteem for a solemn law of theChurcli, to accept such a plea. The Hl/ See informs as that dispensations for mixed marriages are granted only on a true and real necessity, while it insists, with particular emphasis, on the evils which sucu unions involve. The , stringency of the Ctiurcti's laws and Stricnons witness forcibly to tbe gravity oi the evils and dangers. Christian marriage being a sacrament, represents tne iueiiaote union ot Jesus Christ with his Church; and therefore it ought to bo founded ou the common :, eiijoycatiut of the true faith and love ;...;■ ot Christ Ia taeao ll -assorted unions ££ >tiiere I is no such basis, but only the f fldelio^ »adi eftfikly ground of merely

uatural passion and affection. There is no sympathy, no communion, betweeo husband and wife in the deepest, highest, and holiest interests and aspirations. One purpose of matrimony is, that the two parties should help each other in the path to heaven; but in mixed marriages, the Catholic party knowingly and deliberately exposes himself or herself toa lifelong occasion of deadly sin, to the loss, at least, the decline of faith ; 60 the gradual cooling and extinction of fervor and piety, and to tbe neglect of the most essential duties of religion. Would to God the truth of this were not brought home to . us every day ! And the more estimable and amiable are the qualities of the Protestant party, the more insinuating and the greater is the danger. Again, marriage is ordained that the children may have two who are responsible to rear them for heaven in Christian faith and piety, who may help them in different ways, who may compete eaoh other's authority and influence, or supply for each other's deficiencies. And lo ! here we have a party which is the child's foe, rather than its friend, on the most important concern of its existence, and who is likely to hate and sneer at what the child ought to be taught to revere and love. How often the parental home thus becomes the school of .religious indifference, if not of open unbelief I With reason then, dots the Church abhor and forbid such marriages, the origin of families so unlike the Holy Family of Nazareth. Indeed, lor especial and grave reasons, she does somewhat relax her laws; she tolerates what she cannot altogether prevent; but she invariably requires that the danger be removed as far as possible, by solemn promistg and stringent conditions; and also, that some urgent motive, come real necessity should exist to excuse the incurring of dangers and evils which must, in any oaee, to a certain extant remain. We exhort you, therefore, dear Rev. Brethren, not only to read this Pastoral to your flock, but also to impress upon them with due discretion again and again, both in private and in public, these two points : first, that as a rule, mixed marriages are abhorred and forbidden by the Church; and secondly, tbat leave cannot be obtained for them unless some grave motive be alleged in addition to the fulfilment of the conditions prescribed, which conditions p.H must be clearly tau ;ht. We trust that this, our solemn admonition, will produce good results, and preveut many, if not all, buch deplorable unions for the future.