ABANDONING ADULTERERS WILL GO TO HELL

By Tim Rohr

Okay, so the title and the pic is a bit of clickbait. But it ties in if you read on, or care. 

The National Catholic Register has posted a "nice" piece titled: 

"How to Save a Troubled Marriage: Advice From Couples Who Have Been Beyond the Brink."

Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, the article is another example of one of those things local (Guam) talk show host, Bob Klitzkie, terms "systemic rice-ism," a metaphor for the penchant of the establishment to propagate its narrative of choice in the face of facts which are usually the absolute opposite.

The Catholic Church, particularly in the U.S., otherwise known as the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops, has spent all sorts of money in trying to prop up marriage as the rate of divorce among Catholic couples is competing with the national average. 

The bishops (of course not all) seem to think that if they can just throw enough money and touchy-feely platitudes at the problem that the problem will go away. 

But it hasn't and it won't. 

And it won't because the real problem with Catholic marriages isn't "the world," the "seductions of modern society," or America's "divorce culture, nor any of the other grasping excuses the bishops offer up. 

The real problem is the bishops, their polices - or lack of them, and specifically the marriage tribunals they govern.

There are many problems, some of which are rooted in the 1983 reformulation of canon law, a reformulation which created a new purpose for marriage out of thin air, something called the "good of the spouses." I wrote more about that here. 

However, on a more immediate and practical level, and something each and every bishop has the authority to immediately fix, is the nearly unilateral requirement - by church authorities - that Catholics seeking a Decree of Nullity ("annulment") first procure a civil divorce. 

This is insane.

First, there is nothing in Canon Law that requires this.

Second, the Catholic Church officially does NOT recognize the dissolution of marriage, civil or otherwise. and it never will - because it cannot.

Third, requiring a civil divorce before initiating annulment proceedings functionally forces Jesus to bow to Herod, or, to be less metaphoric, said requirement functionally acknowledges the premier power of the state over the secondary power of the church.

And then we Catholics wonder why "the state" mocks us when it comes to our speaking up on social-moral issues? 

By requiring a civl divorce prior to the initiation of an annulment proceeding, our bishops continue to relinquish church moral authority to the state. Thus, it, the state, has every right to tell the church to "shut up and sit down." And it does, and we do. 

Note: Notice how we closed our churches without question upon order of the state as soon as the government forbid "sacramental services" but it was fine to go to Home Depot, Kmart, and your grocery store of choice - where you could buy all the booze you wanted but couldn't buy birthday cards or magazines.

Sumay Payless (during pandemic). 

Birthday cards and magazines off limits. 

But booze - all you want. 

Governor's orders. LOL.

At this point I shall yield to a true expert on the matter. The expert's name is Bai Macfarlane. Mrs. Macfarlane sets out the whole problem with great clarity in this 2015 address titled: 

“The Current Marriage Crisis in the Light of the Original Creation and the Code of Canon Law.”

A full PDF of Mrs. Macfarlane's presentation is here. A video recording of her presentation is here. And Mrs. Macfarlane's website, with many other scholarly presentations on this same matter, is here. 

BTW, the Patrick Madrid thing which gave rise to the title of the post can be listened to here. 

TOUGH STUFF ON DIVORCE FROM POPE BENEDICT

By Tim Rohr

Once in awhile I come across stuff that is not the usual JungleWatch stuff, but choose to share it nevertheless. So here's one titled: 

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI TO PARTICIPANTS IN AN INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ORGANIZED BY THE JOHN PAUL II INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES ON MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Clementine Hall, Saturday, 5 April 2008

A shorter title would be "Pope Benedict reaffirms that divorce and abortion are grave (mortal) sins." Here's what he says:

The Church's ethical opinion with regard to divorce and procured abortion is unambivalent and known to all: these are grave sins which, to a different extent and taking into account the evaluation of subjective responsibility, harm the dignity of the human person, involve a profound injustice in human and social relations and offend God himself, Guarantor of the conjugal covenant and the Author of life.

Benedict had a deep theological mind, so his choosing to place both divorce and abortion, issues which are almost always addressed separately, at the same ethical level is worth pondering.

It doesn't take a deep theological mind like Benedict's to understand that divorce IS abortion: that which is indissoluble pursuant to God's Law is dissolved pursuant to man's, and results, as Benedict says, in an offense to "God himself." 

Despite the Church's very clear, unwavering, and perennial teaching, as Benedict demonstrates here, divorce, especially in the present so-called "age of mercy" (a la "Francis")  has become one of the most misunderstood and confused things in Catholicism.

At the end of this post, I will include references to both the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Canon Law relative to divorce. However, for the purposes of this post, I will share the following in my own layman's terms:

1. There is no such thing as divorce if you are a Catholic (or a non-Catholic Christian for that matter - but that's another post). 
2. The sacramentally married are married "until death do we part," regardless of the civil effects of legal papers.
3. A spouse who has been abandoned or who had just cause to separate (e.g. self-defense) is the "innocent" spouse and has not committed a mortal sin by civilly divorcing or separating.
4. An "innocent spouse" may continue to receive Holy Communion as he or she has committed no sin - provided that he or she is otherwise in a state of grace.
5. The spouse who abandons the marriage, assuming he/she willfully abandoned the marriage without what the catechism terms "just cause," is guilty of grave (mortal sin) and cannot avail him or herself of the sacraments without committing sacrilege even if he or she does not remarry.
6. A civilly divorced spouse, regardless of who is the innocent spouse is living in grave (mortal) sin if he or she is engaging in sexual relations with a person or persons other than with whom he or she is sacramentally married. 

I know. All tough stuff. And in my experience. This "tough stuff" is the NUMBER ONE reason so many Catholics flee The Church for other churches which appear to be much "kinder" to divorce, remarriage, or other stuff that properly belongs to the sacramentally married. 

Here's what The Catholic Church officially teaches.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church (LINK):

1650 Today there are numerous Catholics in many countries who have recourse to civil divorce and contract new civil unions. In fidelity to the words of Jesus Christ - "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery" the Church maintains that a new union cannot be recognized as valid, if the first marriage was. If the divorced are remarried civilly, they find themselves in a situation that objectively contravenes God's law. Consequently, they cannot receive Eucharistic communion as long as this situation persists. For the same reason, they cannot exercise certain ecclesial responsibilities. Reconciliation through the sacrament of Penance can be granted only to those who have repented for having violated the sign of the covenant and of fidelity to Christ, and who are committed to living in complete continence.

2384 Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. It claims to break the contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each other till death. Divorce does injury to the covenant of salvation, of which sacramental marriage is the sign. Contracting a new union, even if it is recognized by civil law, adds to the gravity of the rupture: the remarried spouse is then in a situation of public and permanent adultery: If a husband, separated from his wife, approaches another woman, he is an adulterer because he makes that woman commit adultery, and the woman who lives with him is an adulteress, because she has drawn another's husband to herself.

1665 The remarriage of persons divorced from a living, lawful spouse contravenes the plan and law of God as taught by Christ. They are not separated from the Church, but they cannot receive Eucharistic communion. They will lead Christian lives especially by educating their children in the faith.

2385 Divorce is immoral also because it introduces disorder into the family and into society. This disorder brings grave harm to the deserted spouse, to children traumatized by the separation of their parents and often torn between them, and because of its contagious effect which makes it truly a plague on society.

2400 Adultery, divorce, polygamy, and free union are grave offenses against the dignity of marriage.

2386 It can happen that one of the spouses is the innocent victim of a divorce decreed by civil law; this spouse therefore has not contravened the moral law. There is a considerable difference between a spouse who has sincerely tried to be faithful to the sacrament of marriage and is unjustly abandoned, and one who through his own grave fault destroys a canonically valid marriage.

1614 In his preaching Jesus unequivocally taught the original meaning of the union of man and woman as the Creator willed it from the beginning: permission given by Moses to divorce one's wife was a concession to the hardness of hearts. The matrimonial union of man and woman is indissoluble: God himself has determined it "what therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder."

1664 Unity, indissolubility, and openness to fertility are essential to marriage. Polygamy is incompatible with the unity of marriage; divorce separates what God has joined together; the refusal of fertility turns married life away from its "supreme gift," the child (GS 50 § 1).

2383 The separation of spouses while maintaining the marriage bond can be legitimate in certain cases provided for by canon law. If civil divorce remains the only possible way of ensuring certain legal rights, the care of the children, or the protection of inheritance, it can be tolerated and does not constitute a moral offense.

Canon Law's ultimatum is here:

Can. 1141 A marriage that is ratum et consummatum can be dissolved by no human power and by no cause, except death.

However, the Church recognizes legitimate grounds for separation, and in the case of marriage involving unbaptized persons, dissolution. The canons addressing these matters are here beginning at Can. 1141.