THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7,1911. NE TEMERE DECREE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10443, 7 October 1911, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7,1911. NE TEMERE DECREE.

Tlie Ne Temere Decree of the Roman Catholic Church, -which affects marriages as between Roman Catholics and Protestants, is being vigorously resented by the Nonconformist Churches of iNew Zealand. The Baptist Union, Which is now in conference in Napier, has passed the following resolution: —"That this conference calls tiie attention of our churches and of the people generally to the arrogant action of the Roman Catholic Church in declaring mixed marriages, in which one of the contracting parties is or has been, or

through (christening was declared to b3 a Roman Catholic, null and void in the sight of God, and no better than a "filthy concubinage" unless performed heil'ore a Roman Catholic priest; and to the additional circumstances that the same Pope in his Bull "Provida," has decreed that such marriages occurring in Ger- | imany between Germans are lawful and binding in the sight of God. The conference emphasises the menace made by tLis variable legislation to the peace and welfare of the homes of many of our fellow. citizens, and denounces the interference by the Papacy with marriages which arG ] binding in the sight of God (tlirough the absence of any impediment, nat- ! ura! or moral) and of the state (tnrough mutual consent being properly attested). The conference warns the Protestant women of the country that the marriage vows of a Roman Catholic man made before a Protestant minister are declared by the Pope, and by the bishops, and iby the popular catecliisnii of the church, %o be null and void in the sight of God and His church. No Protestant woman in such circumstances should trust the word of a Catnolic. The conference warns the men of the country that marriage with Roman' Catholic women involves a dishonourable baa-gain with priests as to the faith of the unborn."

This resolution may have been passed in good faith, and in the firm conviction.that it was founded on fact. It is> of such a violent and ambiguous character, however, that it is calculated to excite' sectarian strife and produce a religious feud, of a most harmful kind.. • When the 'Baptists- say that •• "no Protestant .woman; ; >:.■ should.trust the word of a" Catholic,''' r they are treading upon exceedingly dangerous ground. They are, indeed, ■ courting a demonstration of protest.' It'is a pity, for the sake of the harmony of _ the comimunity, that a question which might well be treated in a dispassionate manner, should be made a subject for violent display. The language employed in the resolution quoted above cannot be justified on the grounds of religious expediency or Christian tolerance.