Chapter IV: Mixed Marriages

Q. Are mixed marriages vocations?

A. Not from God. Mixed marriages are suggested by "the world, the flesh, and the devil," the three great enemies of man's salvation.

Who ever heard of a person entering mixed marriage because his conscience told him that God gave him a vocation to that state, or because he was convinced that God chose for him that state in order that he might sanctify himself therein and avoid damnation?

Read again the story of Tobias, and the seven husbands of Sara, who were strangled to death by the devil because of the unworthiness of their motives. Those who enter mixed marriages evidently "shut out God from themselves and from their mind;" they do not follow a vocation from God; they exclude the will of God. How, then, can they be excepted from the class of persons of whom the Holy Ghost says: "Over them the devil hath power"?

The Church speaks very plainly on this subject, and teaches that mixed marriages are forbidden; and Christ said of the Church: "He that heareth you heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me."

Q. Why, then, does the Church grant dispensations in this matter?

A. For the same reason that a prudent mother would prefer to see a wayward daughter do a bad thing than a worse thing. What parent would not prefer to see a child sick than dead? There is some hope for the life of a man hanging over a precipice and clinging even to a handful of grass, but there is no hope when his brains are dashed out on the rocks beneath.

When persons have fully made up their minds to enter mixed marriage, they are so blinded by their passions and preferences that, if the Church should not tolerate their step, many of them would marry out of the Church, and thus commit mortal sin, and in most cases incur excommunication.

The only difference, then, is this: There is at least a possible hope of salvation when mixed marriages are tolerated by the Church; whereas, if these persons should die in their rebellion against the Church, their damnation would be certain.

The Church, like a prudent mother, would prefer the less of these two evils.

Q. Are not conversions often brought about by mixed marriages?

A. Misplaced affections often make candidates for marriage think so, but this is not their chief reason for insisting on such marriages. Temptation, passion, and personal preference have more to do with them than the will of God. Conversions _from_ the faith are more frequent in mixed marriages than conversions _to_ the faith. God's will is not their foundation, and yet, "unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." God and the Church _desire_ and _teach_ Catholics to take no such risks.

Q. What do the Sacred Scriptures say of mixed marriages?

A. "Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath light with darkness, or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever?" "Neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son, nor take his daughter for thy son; for she will turn away thy son from following Me; and the wrath of the Lord will be kindled, and will quickly destroy thee."

Mixed marriages are the fruitful source of numberless evils: the loss of faith to countless generations, immorality, attachment to the things of earth, and godless lives; and "as a man lives, so shall he die."

Q. What is the best remedy for these evils?

A. To remove their cause. Parents, young folks, and even advanced school-children should be taught the evil of mixed marriages before their minds become warped by company-keeping, passion, and bad example.

Many pastors obtain excellent results by frequently instructing the children concerning mixed marriages, and by teaching them the doctrine of the Church on this subject. [*]

[*] See "Mollie's Mistake, or Mixed Marriages," by Rev. J. W. Book, Cannelton. Ind. We highly recommend it as a very readable and instructive book.