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Show IMPORTANT COURT DECISION. Interesting to Members of Catholic Insurance Societies. Under the ruling of Judge Tarrant, members of the Catholic Knights of Wisconsin must conform to the rules and canons of the Catholic church determining de-termining what is a practical Catholic or else they must forfeit their membership member-ship and benefits in the order. Because the late James Henry Barry, formerly a werrtfh'own lawyer of Madison, later of Chicago, married a divorced woman before a Protestant minister. Judge Tarrant held he violated one of the canons of the church and ceased to be ing his right under a policy issued by the Catholic Knights. Judgment for the defendant, the Catholic Knights, is ordered, said Judge Tarrant, on ihe ground that the marriage of the deceased de-ceased to the plaintiff, by a Protestant minister is condition prohibited under the rules and canons of the Roman Catholic church, the result of which, ipso facto, is excommunication, and for that reason the party offending ceases to be a practical Catholic. I hold that provision in the policy is self executory. ex-ecutory. The suit has been watched with great interest.. Under the constitution of the C. K. of vv. no one is eligible to membership mem-bership or can share in its insurance benefits if he is not a practical Catholic. Cath-olic. Mr. Barry was notified that because be-cause he married a divorced woman before be-fore a Protestant minister the Madison Madi-son branch of which he was a member expelled him. He claimed the expulsion expul-sion was illegal as not following the forms provided in the by-laws and tendered ten-dered payment of his assessments, which was" refused. At his death the order refused to aj ne insurance to his widow and she brought suit. The decision has the same bearing 'on all other Catholic societies as that of the Knights of Wisconsin. |