Fr. Chas. M. Carty - Marriage Quizzes: Quizzes to a Street Preacher

Marriage Quizzes
to a Street Preacher

Fr. Chas. M. Carty
&
Rev. Dr. L. Rumble, M.S.C.

IMPRIMATUR: Joannes Gregorius Murray
Archiepiscopus Sancti Pauli.

Written by

Fr. Chas. M. Carty
&
Rev. Dr. L. Rumble, M.S.C.

Copyright 1976 by TAN Books

Originally published by

Fathers Rumble and Carty
Radio Replies Press, Inc.
St. Paul, Minn., U.S.A.

Complete and Unabridged

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
www.TANBooks.com

1976

CONTENTS

MARRIAGE QUIZZES TO A STREET PREACHER

1. Is marriage a contract as well as a sacrament?

For baptized Christians it is both a contract and a sacrament.

2. Did God institute marriage or did it evolve from evolution?

The Book of Genesis tells us that God said: "it is not good for man to be alone. Let us make him a help like unto himself.... Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam. And when he was asleep He took one of his ribs and filled up flesh for it. And the Lord God built the rib which He took from Adam into a woman. And He brought her to Adam. And Adam said: 'This now is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh.' " (Gen. 2:18.) Out of this we see how God instituted marriage and that marriage did not just evolve from evolution.

3. What is the primary end of marriage, children or satisfaction of the sex instinct?

The primary purpose of marriage is the procreation of children for the purpose of continuing the human race; the secondary end of marriage is the remedy of concupiscence.

4. Didn't some Christians believe that marriage was sinful?

Yes. The Gnostic heretics condemned by St. Paul (Tim. 4.3) forbade marriage on the grounds that it was sinful. But marriage is good and holy when properly exercised: "Marriage honorable in all, and the bed unde filed." (Heb. 13:14.)

5. Are all bound to marry?

No. Otherwise Christ would have given the example by marrying Himself. Read Mt. 19:12 where Christ speaks about the eunuchs, the unmarried, the celibates who make themselves celibates for the kingdom of Heaven.

6. What do you mean when you say that marriage is a sacrament?

The Sacrament of Marriage is a sacred, sensible sign instituted by Christ to confer Divine grace on the husband and wife.

7. Who said marriage is a sacrament?

We know marriage is much more than a "contract of secular business" as Luther declared marriage to be, because the Catholic Church founded by Christ says so, especially through the teaching of the Fathers and early Church councils. St. Paul declares marriage to be a sacrament in Eph. 5:32. The Protestant Bible declares it to be a "Great Mystery," but Luther declares it to be no greater than secular business and has no place in the Church. As the union of Christ with His Church (a comparison of marriage by St. Paul) signifies the bestowal of grace on the Church, so the union of husband and wife signifies the bestowal of grace in Christian marriage. Hence among Christians the contract is not distinct from the sacrament , for the sacrament is nothing but the contract raised to the dignity of a sacrament; "Christ our Lord raised to the dignity of a sacrament the contract of marriage between baptized persons." Canon 1012 also says, "Wherefore between baptized persons there can be no valid contract of marriage without being a sacrament." Marriage therefore is a sacrament when validly entered into by two baptized persons, whether they are Catholic or Protestant.

8. Do Catholics and Protestants who marry in mortal sin receive the sacrament?

They receive the sacrament but not the grace. They commit sacrilege. The presence of mortal sin shuts out the bestowal of grace. If they make a good Confession and repent, later on the grace of the sacrament revives in the soul according to the common teaching of theologians.

9. Does the priest marry a couple or do couples marry themselves?

The couple marry themselves, for the parties to the marriage are the ministers of the sacrament and the priest is the necessary and authorized witness of the Church.

10. Can people marry who refuse to have children?

If by refusing to have children you mean a refusal to give and receive the perpetual and exclusive right to the marriage debt, then those who marry with this intention are not married, because they exclude the essential object of the marriage contract. But if by refusing to have children you mean a refusal to bear more than one or two the marriage of such a person is valid, on condition that the right of the other party to the marriage debt is not thereby excluded. In order that marriage be valid it is absolutely necessary to give and receive the exclusive and perpetual right to the marriage debt. (Canon 1081.) The perpetual and exclusive right to the marriage debt means that it cannot be given only for a period of time, but must last as long as the marriage, i. e. till death comes to one or the other party to the marriage. The exclusive right to the marriage debt means that it cannot be shared with other persons while the marriage endures.

11. Can a woman who is found to be sterile have her marriage annulled in order to allow her husband to marry someone else?

No. A marriage is not made null, void, or illicit because of sterility. She will always be his wife until he or she dies.

12. Your literature on marriage speaks frequently of unity and indissolubility.

Unity means that marriage can take place only between one man and one woman , whilst indissolubility means that this monogamous union must last till the bond is sundered by death.

13. Is unity and indissolubility demanded by a positive Law of God?

Yes. That positive law was revealed to mankind by Christ when He said: "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be in one flesh . Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together let no man put asunder." Mt. 19:6.

14. How then do you explain that the Patriarchs had many wives and the Jews were allowed to divorce and marry again?

After the deluge the unity of marriage was suspended by God for the benefit of the Patriarchs in order to increase the human race. Moses permitted the Jews to practice divorce "because of the hardness of their hearts." Marriage today has been thrown back by the Reformers to what it was before it had been corrected and reformed by Jesus Christ. The non-Catholic attitude today is no different than the Jewish attitude which was certainly rebuked by Christ. Christ pointed out that the Mosaic sanction was a concession which was contrary to the original institution of marriage, for He revoked both concessions when He said "from the beginning it was not so."

15. Does not Christ allow divorce for fornication as mentioned in Mt. 19:9?

No. Protestant scholars today deny the interpretation given to this text by the Reformers. Christ did not make fornication, or marital infidelity, a case for divorce, but only for separation . He specifically says here that a husband divorcing his wife for adultery and marrying another "commits adultery," and the second man who marries that divorced woman is not married to her at ail, for he too, is committing adultery by living with the wife of another man. Where would the sin of adultery come in if marriage is not indissoluble and were the separated parties not still man and wife?

16. But Protestant Churches teach today that this text allows absolute divorce.

How can this text be so interpreted when Christ was so clear about it that the Jews replied to Him: "if the case of a man with his wife be so, (i. e. no privilege of remarriage) it is not expedient to marry." In other words if a man cannot divorce an adulterous wife and marry anotherthen what's the use or sense of getting married if that's to be the law? St. Mk. 10:11, St. Lk. 16:18, and St. Paul 1 Cor. 7:10 make no exception to the new law. All three say that separated married couples must " remain unmarried ," otherwise they would be guilty of adultery. St. Jerome (340-420) should have known the true law of the Apostolic age. He writes: "As long as the husband is alive , even though he be an adulterer ... and is deserted by his wife for his crimes, (i. e. drunkenness, good-for-nothingness, etc.) he is still her husband, and she may not take another... Whether she puts her husband away, or is put away by her husband, whosoever shall take her is an adulterer." (Epis. 55.)

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