PRESBYTERIAN ASSEMBLY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 158, 21 November 1912, Page 4

PRESBYTERIAN ASSEMBLY.

NE TEMERE DECREE. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington. Wednesday. The report of the committee on Romanism and Ritualism was read at the Presbyterian Assembly to-day. The chief topic in this was the operation of the ne temere decree. Reference was made to the newspaper controversy in Dunedin, when the Assembly's attitude as defined at the gathering last year was defended, according to the report, by sheeting borne the following five charges against the decree:—

(1) In certain oases it became an inciter or incitement to wife or husband desertion. (2) It is not a law prohibiting mixed marriage*, but it makes mixed marriage an engine of conversion by coercion. (3) It .pursues with its vengeance those who may leave the -Church of Home and join other churches. (4) It discloses the shifting and shuffling policy of the Vatican by making its promulgation a thing of geography and climate, (5) It is the last of a succession of papal meddlings with marriage that have resulted in grave family and social scandals. The report goes on to say: "Our New Zealand Marriage Act. we are informed, canbbye y used in the interest of the ne temere decree. A second certificate may be issued tn parties who are already registered as married persons to go through a second marriage ceremony, and through this seemingly legal sanction a Roman priest may declare the marriage ceremony of a Presbyterian minister to be null and void. The administration of our Marriage Act in such a way as to weaken the'sense of the bindiugnes-i of the first marriage covenant opens the door to the entrance of most dire evils." Amongst Ihe recommendations made by the committee was the following: '•'That the committee be authorised to get legit! opinion as to the legality of issuing certilientes to parties already married to «o through a second marriage ceremony." The report was adopted. The. Assembly carried a motion that the retiring moderator's address at the opening of the Assembly be dispensed with. The Rev. Enviu moved the appointment of a small committee to investigate the bearing of the present day social movements in relation to the Church. The motion was defeated. The proceedings closed with the usual complimentary vote of thanks.