CATHOLIC MISSION

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 141, 19 May 1925, Page 7

CATHOLIC MISSION

. Fatluer McCarthy preached last evening at St. Patrick’s Church to. a crowded congregation on the subject of Christian marriage. Recalling tho creation of man, tho missioner pointed out that man was not merely flung into a mechanical existence as were other of God’s mighty works. God seemingly took counsel regarding man’s creation and decided on a plan and that plan—Himself. “Let us make man to our own image and likeness.” That likeness was evidenced in man as a single personality—by the spiritual side of his nature and his immortality. But more striking still was that likeness later to be when God in His Trinity was to find earthly expression in marriage—father, mother, child—God ordered that. He blessed man, authorised him to co-operate with God in the work of creation, and required him for such holy purpose to 'leave all other objects of natural affection and “cleave to his wife.” Marriage was a love union, even as was the Trinity of God. From next man’s heart God had chosen the foundation of the first woman’s being. Marriage was to be accepted then as a Divine institution, a Divine favour; as the ordinance of God it was protected by God’s penalty for its violation. “He that resisteth the ordinance of God purchasetli to himself damnation.” Unity, indissolubility and fertility were the divinely determined characteristics of marriage. Love was to be the dominating factor of this union, and strengthened by grace to be the assurance of its permanency. “Husbands, love your wives as Christ the Church,” was St. Paul’s doctrine. A permanent love, a persevering and a fruitful love was reciprocal between Christ and His Church. Father McCarthy vindicated the Church’s position in defending the Sacrament of matrimony. He said she stood lonely by a defenceless woman, who stood by her marriage vows when Henry VIII. demanded release. The missioner spoke regarding 11011-Catholics who regarded marriage in a different light from Catholics and were satisfied with a non-religious arrangement. He sympathised with their position in having- sometimes accepted a Catholic partner on such a basis. Blamo did not attach to them, but Catholics should never, dare never, forget the sacramental, the Divine character of marriage. The missioner emphasised the advantages of entering into the sacred relationship of marriage, and strongly encouraged early marriage. Parents, he said, should facilitate this, and young men and women secure it by thrift and by seeking for the right mate in the right way, the Christian way of chivalry and modesty. “Waiting for the prince,” after the manner of novelette heroines, left girls still waiting at 30. and left waiting at 40. Honour, even a modest wage if sufficient, plus ambition, would qualify for happy marriage. The sermon contained considerable doctrine and practical advice and was an education and inspiration to Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

This evening the second great solemnity of the mission will be held, in honour of tho Blessed Virgin, when a procession will take place and a sermon explanatory of the doctrine in her regard be delivered. The missioners, as members of the Society of Mary, naturally feature this devotion. In this connection it is interesting to note that this is the golden jubilee year of the entry of the first of the order, and its pioneer priest, into the Manawatu —the late Rev. Delphine Moreau, S.M. The Rev. Father first laboured in Dunedin and as evincing the Marist inissioners’ consistently broadminded policy, it is noteworthy that an address to Father Moreau from tho Protestants of Dunedin is still preserved in Wanganui.