There remains the weltering problem of mixed marriages and the _Ne
Temere_ decree. It is perhaps worth observing that marriages get mixed
in other countries as well as in Ireland. It grieves one that men should
differ as to the true religious interpretation of life. But they do in
fact differ, and wherever two human beings, holding strongly to
different faiths, fall in love there is tragic material. But they do in
fact fall in love. The theme recurs, with a thousand reverberations, in
the novel literature of England, France, and Germany. The situation
occurs also in Ireland. But I am bewildered to know in what way it is an
argument for or against Home Rule. Let us appeal once more to colonial
experience and practice. There is a Catholic majority in Canada and an
overwhelming Catholic majority in Quebec. The policy of the Catholic
Church towards mixed marriages is precisely the same there as in
Ireland. Does Protestantism demand that the constitutions of the
Dominion and the Province respectively shall be withdrawn? Since no such
claim is made we must conclude that the outcry on Orange platforms is
designed not to enforce a principle but to awaken all the slumbering
fires of prejudice.
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