Communications
I3 2 THE COMMONWEAL December 8, I926 COMMUNICATIONS T THE CATHOLIC MARRIAGE LAW Washington, D. C. O the Editor :--The recent decree of an ecclesiastical court that a marriage between two...
...It would seem that if they are competent witnesses their adverse evidence should be offered to the court, rather than to the newspapers...
...Its application depends upon evidence...
...But in your issue of Wednesday, November 24, I926, there appears on page 62 an article concerning President Masaryk's attitude toward the Pittsburgh Agreement, and Monsignor Hlinka's parting words to his American friends, which are, I assume, not correctly reproduced and interpreted...
...One is tempted to guess, how- ever, that the dissatisfaction with this decree lies really in what is assumed to be a review by one church of the act of another...
...If I have not reacted earlier to them my reason has been that I hoped that the progressive consolidation would be the best argument to contradict the statements appearing in your review...
...That would not be quite worthy of those who are expressing dissent with the finding...
...The marriage law is clear...
...I hope that you will not mind my critical attitude toward an article published in your review and I shall certainly appre- ciate it if in the future, you will verify the truth of articles about Czecho-Slovakia before publishing them...
...The interests of your magazine are quite comprehensible to me as I have been for a long time in touch with the Catholic party in my country...
...WILLIAM FRANKLIN SANDS...
...The Slovaks in the Czecho-Slovaklan republic are not a racial minority in any sense that this word implies, but a component part of the predominant element...
...I shall be glad to be at your service at any time and furnish you with any authentic material concerning the present political and religious conditions in Czecho-Slovakia...
...by judges and courts...
...It is notable that every time that term is used it causes confusion, not only among Protestants, but among a disconcertingly large number of Catholics as well...
...A decree or declaration by a competent court that condi-tions essential to valid marriage have not been fulfilled--that such marriage is in fact null and void, is called a decree of annulment...
...As to Monsignor Hlinka's words, it is a real pleasure for me to inform you that the Slovakian Popular party, the head and leader of which Mon-signor Hlinka is, has just entered into the Czecho-Slovakian government and is represented there by two ministers...
...Dissatisfaction with this sentence or decree is expressed by various persons who could not enter into the case except, per- haps, as witnesses...
...In this body of law, regulations governing marriage between Catholics, and between Catholics and others find place...
...There are rules known to all business men governing the validity of contracts...
...This sign of active co6peration seems to me the best contradiction of Monsignor Hlinka's alleged words...
...is null and void...
...The statement attributed to Monsignor Hlinka--"While we are unable to either refute or affirm it"mis so contrary to the statements made before large assemblies of American Slovaks that I am not running any great risk in doubting its cor-rectnes~ The only Slovaks who claim separation from the mother body and either incorporation into another, alien formation or "splendid isolation," belong to that type which before the war had been the underlings of Hungary's decadent aristocracy...
...The article in question is full of so many misinterpretations and incorrect statements that I cannot restrain myself from contradicting them plainly, bringing at the same time to your knowledge the following facts: The President's attitude toward the Pittsburgh Agreement is given by the Constitution of the Czecho-Slovakian republic adopted unanimously by all legal representatives of the Czecho- Slovakian nation in Parliament...
...I3 2 THE COMMONWEAL December 8, I926 COMMUNICATIONS T THE CATHOLIC MARRIAGE LAW Washington, D. C. O the Editor :--The recent decree of an ecclesiastical court that a marriage between two well-known people was never valid raises again the extraordinary difficulty of getting people to understand either quite definite regulations or even a customary use of words...
...Permit me to correct what I consider a few misconceptions of facts...
...One may judge that in this particular case the sup- porting evidence was also clear since a competent court passed upon it and a reviewing court confirmed the sentence...
...It is not at all necessary to assume as cause 'of dissatisfac- tion with the decree, some latent resentment that the Catholic Church should have a body of law...
...It is subject, in its applica- tion, to the same rules of evidence as govern civil courts...
...J. J. KONU...
...the Catholic marriage law is no more abstruse than these...
...O the Editor :--On page 62 of The Commonweal of November 24, a paragraph is published dealing with the problem of racial minorities in southeastern Europe...
...PEREOmN FI~A...
...It: is definitely laid down, as it is in other bodies of law, what constitutes impediment to marriage, including certain legal defects by reason of which a marriage ceremony is with- out effect...
...Secretary of the Gzecho-Slovakian Legation...
...It would be well to get quite clearly the fact that this is a matter, not of religion, not of one church claiming superiority over another, or even greater vigilance, but simply of law, and of evidence presumably not available when the reviewed act was performed...
...That body of law is administered, as is all law, by experts...
...If experiment it be, it shows won-derful signs of self-sustaining ability and as such is fully en- titled to be looked upon as a permanent creation...
...Both Czechs and Slovaks were instrumental in the establishment of the Czecho-Slovakian republic which only either poorly informed people or those maliciously inclined toward this new state formation would consider an experiment...
...While there is at the present time a serious misunderstand- ing as to the recognition by the Czecho-Slovakian gnvemment over the validity of the Pittsburgh compact, nothing is fur- ther from the minds of even the most resolute autonomists than separation from the mother republic for which both Czechs and Slovaks have made great sacrifices...
...T CONDITIONS IN CZECHO-SLOVAKIA Washington, D. C. O the Editor :--As a regular reader of your review, I have often been impressed by the rather unfriendly tend- ency of news and articles you are publishing about Czecho-Slovakia...
...T SLOVAKS A RACIAL MINORITY...
...The Catholic Church has a body of law for its own mem-bers...
...Pittsburgh, Pa...
Vol. 5 • December 1926 • No. 5
