Show A A DELICATE QUESTION N. N In New ew Bedford Mass rass a Catholic priest the rc nev Father was told in iii confessional by bya a woman that she was married b by a civil ceremony S and not Dot by the church Whereupon the father tom tola her she was not married and should leave heave her husband husband hus lius- 0 band until ho lie consented to a church ceremony After being separated from her husband for some sometime time she became reconciled to him and charged the separation to the advice she had received from h her lir r confessor Action was brought against the priest and at the trial the testimony of the woman regarding regarding regarding re re- re- re garding the advice received from was sought to be bo excluded The rhe judge ruled that while the common law exempted a priest from testifying as ag to disclosures made to him by a penitent the penitent was not exempt from flom testifying regarding the conversation with the priest and the judge decided decided decided de de- de- de in favor o of the plaintiff An appeal has been taken and the final decision will wilt be he awaited with much interest by all aU classes of people It It- Itis is a delicate question because the laws of ofT T this country make malic marriage merely a a. civil contract contract contract con con- tract and the courts can take no other view of it Our thought would be that while priests might with perfect propriety impress upon parents and children the sacredness of marriage and that it ought to be always a marriage in the church still I while hile the laws of this country J do not make it a af f religious ous sacrament if people are arc once once involved and are guilty of no violation of law in their relations relations re re- re- re lations and inasmuch especially as marriage is s but bu a a. sacrament between two hearts p priests should b bo most cautious about advising married couples tt to separate because that cannot be done without awakening all the animo animosities in mens men's souls arid aiM the ultimate tendency y would be bc for bad rath rather r than good gOOl Going to the Bible for authority we fin find that the tho esp especial cial sacredness is not so much in the marr marrIage marriage mar mar- r age as in the he betrothal that when souls grow to lo lobe tobe be all in in all aU to each other and the they take legal t f means to be united for life it is dangerous precedent precedent prece prece- dent to advise either cither one to sever seYer or suspend the tie tic until it can be IC brought in harmony with It the he herule rule of a n. creed |