'CATHOLIC MARRIAGES'

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 22, 4 June 1908, Page 23

'CATHOLIC MARRIAGES'

SOME PRESS OPINIONS The Sydney ' Freeman's Journal ' of May 21 has the following notice of ' Catholic Mariiages ' :— 'In his usual luminous fashion the Rev. H W Cleary (editor of the "New Zealand Tablet") has produced a work on Catholic marriages which we heartily commend to laymen, who so far have had to depend for information upon the recent Papal Decree upon pastoral letters interpreting the decree chiefly as an instruction to the clergy, or upon occasional utterances from the pulpit. Father Cleary's book—' Catholic Marriages (price Is)— presents every essential princiule of doctrine and discipline in a useful, popular form 'to be understood by any but" the meanest intelligence The text of the decree is followed by a popular explanation. Such explanation is strengthened by the text of a controversy waged in the Christchurch " Press " of March and April between the author and an Angli- - can clergyman, the latter of whom must have come out of the struggle either considerably more enlightened on the matrimonial attitude of the Church of England as by law established, or invincible to facts and logic alike. The later moiety of the book is -occupied by a simple, forceful, and useful exposition of the Catholic position., in regard to impediments invalidating marriage. As much ignorance prevails regarding the Catholic view of marriage, lay Catholic book collections' will be immensely benefited by the inclusion of Father Cleary's treatise, whether as a handbook for contro- - versy or as a medium of popular study.' The Melbourne ' Advocate ' of May 23 writes as fol.lows :— . / The Rev. Henry W. Cleary, editor of the «* New Zealand Tablet." has compiled a useful pamphlet of • 148 pages., in which the bearing of the recent decree on Catholic marriages issued by his Holiness, Pius X., on August 2, 1907, and promulgated throughout the Christian world on Easter Sunday, 1908-, is stated in a

luminous and exhaustive manner. The text, of a con*'^P?p?/.. ou .* he decree- published in the -Christchurch nf It 'n „ „ n^ es ; a^ d c °niments, and an .exposition oi the Catholic teaching in regard to impediments invalidating ■ marriages, 'complete the pamphlet, which m? i C / n thC hands Of both clel W laity: IV may be at once stated that, the keynote of the workis its conclusive proof vof the .magisterium ' of the Church and her consequent authority to legislate -on Catholic marriages, brie" 'of the Seven " Sacraments (or channels of Grace) originally committed to her by.' Our Divine Lord. The world would make believe that marriage;is merely a civil contract, but the Church- says, in eftect hands off; Matrimony is , a Divine institution, and human legislation has merely to regulate itsexternal aspects as regards maintenance, property, etc Father Cleary has excelled himself in the task df ■giving to the Church a most- valuable and .exhaustive treatise, which is further enriched with the -popular exposition of the decree of last August, issued by the Archbishop and Bishops of the Province of Melbourne m Provincial Counci .i assembled. Both the Latin and the English texts of the -decree are ghyn. With keen logic and a massive array of authorities, Father bleary cuts away the ground from the specious presentation of the anti-Catholic case, wherein the Papal authority to legislate -in the matter is questioned We think that Rev. 'C, W. Carrington, his opponent at Christchurch, must lu\e, secretly regretted his temerity in tackling Father Cleary; uho is a veteran in controversy, more especially in jh 0 field of polemics. From platform and pulpit, and in the current literature of the day, the rev. gentleman has more than once entered the field in defence of the Church, and has exposed the hidden springs of anti-Catholic prejudice, covering its votaries with confusion. In part IV. ,of the work, Father Cleary lays clown in clear" and striking language— (a) the Catholic position in regard to impediments invalidating marriage ; (b) some fallacies examined ; (c) the mission and authority of the Church(d) the relations of' the Church to the marriage contract ; (c) invalidating legislation of the Jewish and the Christian Church. Under each of these heads, facts are marshalled, Scriptural proofs, the writings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and even nonCatholic writers in prose and verse are brought up in battalions, completing an array of conclusive argument in support of the Catholic position as regards marriage, which should convince even the most prejudiced against the claims of the Church to legislate for her children— we say for her children, for she makes it abundantly clear in Ihe Augi-st Dooree that Protestants as such are outside her imisdiction. The pamphlet will be mailed for one shilling.'