NE TEMERE DECREE.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 December 1922, Page 5

NE TEMERE DECREE.

A REPLY TO MR. MASTERS’ RATAPIKO SPEECH. (Published by Arrangement.) This speech is another attejnpt to camouflage the issue by referring? to thfc matter as “Sectariantem.”

This is not a religious question. It is a matter of (Rome’s law versus 1 New Zealand laws, and an insult to th® citizens of this Dominion. On Easter Sunday, 1908, there wan* read in the Roman Catholic Churches bi this Dominion a papal decree which! from that date, pronounced the ban of the Church on ‘Catholic’ marriages and on ‘mixed’ marriages if performed be* fore the Registrar or a Protestant minister, and Roman Catholic children are now taught that such manages “are not valid.” •Such declaration moans that parties who believe themselves io be married because they have conformed to the law of the land upon the subject, are told by. a submissive hierarchy, in obedience to. the decree of a Popp, whose canon law is ignored by the government of his own country, and who possesses no civic in* terests and rights in this Dominion, that “They Are Not Married At Alt” This statement, strange as it may seem, h proved by the following:— , The ‘Catechism of Christian Doctrine No. 11.,’ Approved by the Archbishops and Bishope of New Zealand, and dir* ected to be used in all their contains the following questions and anew ere :

312. If two Catholics presume to ga through a form of marriage before a non-Catholic ipinister, or the civil Registrar, do they con* tract a valid marriage? Two Catholics who preßUine tq go through a form of marriage be-/ fore a non-Catholic minister, or before the civil Registrar, da not contract a valid marriage; that 'is to sav THEY ARE NOT? MARRIED AT ALL. 313. If a Catholic and a uon-Catholin' pesume to go through a form marriage before a non-Oatholia minister, or before a civil Regis - : trar, do they contract a valid > marriage ?

A Catholic and non-Catholw who pesume to go through a iornx of marriage before a non-Catholic minister, or before tha civil Registrar, do not contract a valid marriage; that is to say, THEY' ARE NOT MARRIED AT ALL. Observe the words we have emphasized. e (the capitate are ours). They are notG qualified in any way. The child is f taught definitely by this catechism issued by the authority of the hierarchy, and under the imprimatur of ths Archbishop of "Wellington, that the ,parties “are not married at all.” Thus (Rome’s Canon Law is here made to deny New • Zealand’s Civil Law. Protestants of Stratford and Taranaki Electorates— Remember Messrs. Masters and Smith voted to allow Rome to impudently as-' sert its supremacy over New Zealand, Law. Don t be gulled. If these two members were not able to interpret the above as an insult to citizens of the Dominion, • why trust them with other vital matters. What are you going to do about it? Lot the Ballot Box speak on Deekm-’ her 7.