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Show MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY l j Sad State of Society Sacredness of j Marriage Essential for Religion Lax I Views Regarding Its Nature One of j the Trinity of Evils Bible Proclaims i Its Indissolubility State Assumes Jurisdiction Causes for Divorce Decadence of the Family. I I ('Written for The Intcrmountain Catholic.) ? In directing: attention to the evils resulting from ! the modern disregard for the sacredness of marriage' find h'uv seriously it is injuring the welfare of so-I so-I ciety. by aiming a deadly blow at the family, its foundation. Ave take for granted that all imbued vith Christian principles and ethics cannot be sat- iiScd with the present sad state of society. All 1 moral and social well-being has its foundation in I religion, and religion cannot coexist with a total crcpard of the sacred and sacramental character ! k matrimony. Marriage divorced from religion loses its sanctity and is treated not only with levity, I but sometimes with contempt. We are reminded of this every day. Men who call themselves pro-5 pro-5 p:e?sive and abreast of the times advocate not only I divorce, with privilege of remarrying, but main-I main-I tain tli.it it should be subject to the will of the I married couple. Here is free love. Still others, I like Robert Owen and advanced sociologists, define 1 marriace as one of the trinity of evils. " Men of (science, like Sir John Lubbock, draw their conclusions conclu-sions frnm the rites observed by barbarous 'customs of uncivilized people that marriage originally meant a crude or beastly alliance and that "civilized mar- riage' was the result of the progress of the human 1 race. There is nothing to warrant this conception Icf primitive marriages. On the contrary, according to tradition and the oldest records extant on the subject, namely, the Book of Genesis, marriage iu 1 the beginning was as it was ordained bv Christ, vim. replying to the Pharisees' question, "Is it kv.ful for a man to put away his wife for every ran??:" answered: 4Have ye not read that he, who mace man from the beginning, made them male zvA female? And he said: For this-cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to j bis wife, aTid they two shall be in one flesh." Matt. xx. 4-.1. Here our Lord simply quotes from Gene- i ii.. 25. It shows that marriage was from the bf'rmr.iiig a divine institution, and intimately de-'ifrncd de-'ifrncd by Providence in the original plan of crea-inri. crea-inri. Over it. too. He assumed jurisdiction. "What Hodhath joined together let no man put assunder." But the state, which rejects the supremacy of the ".'iritucl authority, declares marriage to be a civil f"r;traet and under the jurisdiction of the civil law. us each state determines the conditions under i ikh the- marriage contract may be legally made: I othe rights and duties of the contracting "pa r-I r-I 'i s. The power to do includes the power to undo. H'nop the same legislature which prescribes the . conditions and obligations of the married couple, ermin'-s the conditions upon which the union Tpybe niolved. Each state makes its own condi-Tn condi-Tn Utah there are eight grounds for obtain-'t? obtain-'t? a divorce. "It is possible in Utah to file an f'tif-n f. r divorce, secure a decree and remarry, all i'bin thirty minutes." For example, a woman "'e; cn aerir.ii, charging her husband with, failure to su;Pr'rt. The husband signs a document, in which be v.-oive time in which to answer. His default is 1 immer;2?fv f.ntPred and the wife may then go into or,urt nii 1 sr-oure her decree. If she desires, she can J'n arry before the ink is dry upon her decree of !;vr.r.-r. Con.rvf.ijt is not necessary. Is not this under-ii.i:- !,r. basis 0f the Christian family, and 'Wforr- r,f society, upon which the perpetuity of fll M;i,f government rests? A nation that discard? i'l'p T iiriiy and sanctity, sacredness and inviolability 'f family instead of nrotrressinir is degenerating. degenerat-ing. Lot mily in the light of Christian civilization, 1 ''liT in tliat of the natural law. "When children are I YJrr,r,'',-d as a curse rather than a blessing, family f.-ndpRf-p necessarily follows, and with the cor-iiti-n r,f ilf! family comes the ruin of society. Jb history of heathen and all renowned nations f sr:i!qMiv demonstrate this fact, namely, with the iy of 5,o family came their downfall and detcrior-;,'i'n. detcrior-;,'i'n. iw inverse reasoning it is also clear that -f;er introduction of Christianity and its rigid winter, Mice and enforcement of the sanctity, unity rA indissolubility of marriage, thereby restoring 1fre family to its proper place, that modern nations afquire.! ihoir prowess and advanced civilization. Afr.r the downfall of the Roman empire, the r'Kry Christians, merging from the; catacombs, labored hard to have the laws and regulation laid I 'I'nvn bv Christ and his Apostles regarding Chris-S Chris-S 1;an marriage- observed. On this observation the family depended. The Church, down through the in battling with princes and rulers, always si'i'.iinr, the sacramental character, unity and i!id;n.;hility of marriage. Is she right or is f-hc v'rr,ri TIip words of the sacred writers seem very a'"i r.tid susceptible of only one interpretation. ,!- Paul to the Romans, vii..' 2. 3, says: "For the "oifian that hath an husband, whilst her husband 'lrr ? bound to the law. But if her husband be -ho is looked from the law of her husband, j hrrr-forr. whilst, he liveth, she shall be called an s-luh rr-s-c: if F1P ve with another man." St. Luke Cor'firms this Christian ordinance. "Plvery one that timtMh away his wife, and marrieth another, com-mitcth com-mitcth adultery. And he that marrieth her that is ! " . ' ' - put away from her husband, commiteth adultery." xvi., 18. St. Mark, x., 11-12, makes no exception to this' Christian ruling: "And he saith to them: Whosoever Who-soever shall put away his wife and marry another, commiteth adultery against her. And if the wife shall put away her husband and be married to another, she commiteth adultery." All this was changed by the ref ormers who denied de-nied the sacramental character of the marriage contract, con-tract, making it simplv a civil contract, dissoluble on conditions prescribed by the civil law, therebv denying its sanctity and unity. Martin Luther and the leading Protestant ministers of his time sanctioned sanc-tioned all this in the case of Fhilip, the Landgrave of Hesse. At first the reformers allowed divorce only in case of adultery, and the privilege of remarrying re-marrying was conceded only to the innocent party. But as time went by other causes were added, until, ns we now have it, a divorce may be obtained ad libitum at pleasure. The reformers in taking issue with Catholic teaching, that for no cause can the privilege of remarrying follow from a justifying cause to separate from bed and board, appeal to St. Matthew, xix., 9: "And I say to you, that whosoever shall put'away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, commiteth adultery; and he that marrieth her that is put away, committeth "Thcgrounds of this objection to the indissolubility indissolu-bility of marriage shall form the subject of our next communication. F. D. j |