BISHOP REDWOOD ON MIXED MARRIAGES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 281, 17 March 1877, Page 4

BISHOP REDWOOD ON MIXED MARRIAGES.

In Ms Lenten pastoral the Roman Catholic Bishop of Wellington thus alludes to the subject of mixed matmgws ::- ""We now come to the tatter great petit —noised marria.ges; that is* the wmrriagcs of Catholics with Protestants or nori-Oa-thelies. Had we to notice only n smn.ll' number of such marriages in ow diocese* we ghould refrain from speak in '2 t<> you about them ; but alas!' tfu ir number is great* and is ever t>n the increase—they are. fcecomtng a veritable pest. Sv> tarn en tafely prevalent am they—especially in certain ptaces—that; many of yon, wfm in Catholic Irelnnd would have been horrified at the thought of them, now took upon such unions as a matter of course >*nfl tinobjectionable. Oftentimes nothing can exceed the levity with which the Cathotur jparty rashes frit'* such an fnsrasement ; the they is fixed, the- preparations fontpteted* and then dispensation is asked for as a more form« It ty, Ko grave cause is pteaded why the solemn taws of the Church should ho pet aside. Sometimes your pastors are afraid that a refusal would drive you into rebellion anil open defianrn of tilt? Church* ami he new they allege this danger as a reason for obtaining the dispensation. This motive may have weight in some cases, bnfc in ordinary we cannot conscientiously deem it suilieient. W# have to©- high an opinion of the virtito of ©or ttocte, and ton great an esteem for the solemn taw of the Church, to accept such a plea.. The Holy See informs us that dispensations for mixed marriages are granted on a true avid real necessity, white it insists with particular emphasis on the evils which such unions involve. The stringency of the Church's laws and restrictions witness forcibly to the gravity of the evils and dangers. Christian marriage, being a sacrament, represents the ineffable union of Jesus Christ with His Church r and, therefore, it ought to be founded on the common enjoyment of the true faith and love of Christ, fn theao ill-assorted unions there is no such basts, but only the fleeting and earthly ground of merely natural passion and affection. There is n*» sympathy, no com muni->rt, between husband and wife iri 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 to a life-long occasion of deadly sin. to the loss* or at least, the decline of faith to the gradual cooling and extinction of f. rvor and piety, and to tho neglect of tinmost essential duties of religion. Would to' Ctod the truth of this were not. Wong',t. home to us t verv day f And. t.'e nmrestimable and amiable are the otin!ities of the Protestant. party, the more insinuating and the greater is the danger, " Again, marriage is ordained that cMf<sren may hava two who are responsible to rear them for heaven, in C! fa;;'i and piety, who may help them in different ways* who may complete each other';: authority and inHtnnce, or supply for each other's deficiencies. A nh> !' here we have a party who is the child's fop, rather than its friend, on the most important concern of its existence, and who is life. ty tO' hate and sneer at what the child *»r>ght to fee taught to revere and love, f-ovv often the parental home thus becomes t' e school of religious indifference, if not *»!; open unbelief ! "With reason, then, does the Church abhor and fori"id such marriages, tee origin of families so mdiko the £t<»ly Fainity of Kazan-f 11. Indeed, for especial and grave reasons, she does sometime* relax her laws ; she tolerates what s T; e cannot altogether premit. but she invnrably requires that this daue.er be r.'tuowrt as far as possil>le, by solemn prtnuh-tt-s a :, . r! stringent conditions ; and' a!s<» fc' at urgent motive, some real necessity shovhl , exist to excuse the incurring of dangi r» \wit evils which must, in any case, [>rt- vj-,st jte> ft certain e sten t."