The Wanganui Chronicle FRIDAY, JULY 19, 1935. DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 167, 19 July 1935, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle FRIDAY, JULY 19, 1935. DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE

"pilL tremendous increase In the number 0.1. divorces during recent years should give anyone who has a sense of social responsibility cause for deep thought. The problem oi divorce is a very difficult one and it cannot be lightly dealt with. Divorce is but the registering of a breakdown of a marriage. Tlie problem oj divorce then is really the problem of marriage. The institution of marriage lias been evolved over a long period of history. It is neither a inan-made ordinance enforced on women, nor is it an evolution of the idea of private ownership by the male. Man may feel when he is married that he possesses a wile, but he more often feels that he is possessed by a wife, and he usually finds one enough; '‘in all respects, as lhe mathematicians arc fond of remarking. The. whole basis of a marriage is mutuality of interest, not possession. The mutuality extends to the personal wellbeing o[ lhe two parties of the marriage and also of the children born of the marriage. A union which does not contemplate children, whatever it is, is certainly no marriage; because it fails to satisfy the emotional instincts of the parties concerned. This being the end of the institution of marriage, clearly enough no temporary arrangement will be adequate, leaving aside altogether the outraging of Jijtinian feelings which any temporary arrangement involves. Therefore the Church is right when it contemplates marriage as an indissoluble tie irt' the life of the respective parties. No other arrangement can be contemplated when the obligations are held in mind. Now it is natural for human conduct to follow thought. It. then, people contemplate a life-long partnership, they will be inclined to act in accordance with that contemplation. On the other hand, if the prospect of a break-up of the union is ever present in the mind, then it is but natural that there should be a searching for grounds for the making of a breach. The first essential of marriage then, is to think of it as a life-long union. Anything which goes counter to the preservation of the matrimonial bond should be discouraged, for on the security ol ihe home is the nation founded. So far it is easy to dogmatise, but at this point lhe problem is only half met. The problem which has to be considered in the next stage is what is to be done when the marriage does actually fail to fulfil its purpose? That is to say, when the wellbeing of the two parties is no longer the concern of one or both of them. The marriage then is actually dissolved, irrespective, of legal or canonical pronouncements. The home eeases to be a. home, and the children, while they remain there, are often brought under influences which are harmful, and from which they would be sheltered were the parents to part company and the children placed in the custody of the more desirable one of ihe two. The problem is not one of an institution, but of a shipwreck. Ecclesiastical opinion tends to support the maintenance of the marriage, irrespective of the results. There is both strength and weakness in such an attitude. It avoids the pitfalls of a wrong mental, attitude during the continuance of a marriage; but. it is of little aid in a matrimonial shipwreck; and further, it puts the Church out of action when it comes to lhe ri'iiiacringe of divorcees.