Bad Omens for the Future of Marriage: Is equivalent of no-fault divorce on the table for Catholics?

National Review ^ | 10/04/2014 | Nicholas Frankovich

[SeekAndFind]

Traditionally, social conservatism has enjoyed the support of Catholicism, whose body of teaching on morals is a mother lode of ideas and arguments that retain much of their force even apart from their theological context. Rumors that the Church is poised to relax its position on the indissolubility of marriage are therefore troubling or encouraging, depending on which side you stand in the culture war.

Tomorrow, a synod of bishops will convene in Rome to discuss the family. It’s a big topic, but what has developed as the headline item on the agenda is a question that on its face is technical and narrow: Should divorce and remarriage when the first spouse is still living continue to prevent a Catholic from receiving Communion? How the question is answered will directly affect only a sliver of the Catholic faithful, but its ramifications will eventually touch everyone, Catholics first and then, as the news sinks in, the culture at large.

The Church holds that husband and wife remain married to each other until death. In civil law, they may be divorced, but in the eyes of the Church they are not, so that for either spouse to enter into a new marriage would be adultery, a grave matter standing between that person’s soul and the Eucharist, the source and summit of Christian life.

A move to soften that impediment to the reception of Holy Communion is being led by Cardinal Walter Kasper, bishop emeritus of Rottenburg-Stuttgart. Pope Francis has warmly praised his approach to the issue. You can keep the rule on the books, Kasper argues. But mercy dictates that pastors should have freedom to stretch it at their discretion. The question is pastoral, we hear repeatedly.

[yldstrk]

It is God who created humans and marriage. Man can’t change that.

[Salvation]

Every child, he said, has the right to grow up in a family “with a father and a mother” capable of creating “a suitable environment for the child’s development and emotional maturity.”

~Pope Francis

[brooklyn dave]

Hey if the Church changes this rule, I welcome it. When a couple gets married in a RC ceremony and then split up because one of them is an idiot creep, why should the innocent party suffer? I think the Church would appear less hypocritical if it took action. Give me a break with this annulment crap. A cousin of mine was married 15 years to this woman, has 2 sons by her (they’re grown)and met this other woman—got an annulment. It looks as if one forks over $$$ to the diocese, you get the annulment.

[Petrosius]

When a couple gets married in a RC ceremony and then split up because one of them is an idiot creep, why should the innocent party suffer?

Perhaps it has something to do with what Jesus Christ said. But that should not stop those who want to be more merciful than God, right?

[cloudmountain]

There are still valid annulments, where marriage did NOT take place, even with children.
It all goes to INTENT of spouses as to what their commitment was.

[Mrs. Don-o]

You have not taken into account the plain-spoken, firm, and repeated teachings of the head of the Catholic Church:

Mark 10:11
So He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.

Mark 10:12
And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Luke 16:18 “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.

Mark 10:19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’

Written in stone, so to speak.

[G Larry]

Then you should study Canon Law to better understand the basis of an annulment and the process for it.

Humans can abuse any process, but that doesn’t mean the process is unfounded.

[cloudmountain]

Hey if the Church changes this rule, I welcome it. When a couple gets married in a RC ceremony and then split up because one of them is an idiot creep, why should the innocent party suffer? I think the Church would appear less hypocritical if it took action. Give me a break with this annulment crap. A cousin of mine was married 15 years to this woman, has 2 sons by her (they’re grown)and met this other woman—got an annulment. It looks as if one forks over $$$ to the diocese, you get the annulment.

When one of them is an "idiot creep" that HAD to have been obvious before marriage. If Mr. Jekyll turns into Mr. Hyde AFTER the wedding, that IS grounds for a valid annulment.
If a person somehow failed to NOTICE creep-dom, then that person's FAMILY and FRIENDS would surely have noticed it. They would have BLASTED the truth to the betrothed. THAT is what family and friends are for.
Also, one checks out who fiance/fiancee's FRIENDS are. THAT is usually a HUGE clue at to what the "beloved" is all about.

Some stupid foolish MEN just ignore the nasty stuff, glad to get sex.
Some stupid foolish WOMEN truly believe that "I'll change him."

I had a classmate in high school who married and found out AFTER the wedding that he was a wife beater and he always HAD the intention of beating the wife, FIRMLY believing that divorce was out of the question, especially with Catholics and especiallyn with five children.

Her MOTHER finally said: See a priest.
She got an annulment and remarried and is HAPPY.
THAT did happen and no money was exchanged.

That was in California, brooklyn dave, but I understand your pessimism.

Some folks WILL insist on believing ONLY the negative about SOME things...espeically the Catholic Church. The LEFT and LIBERALS have ALWAYS and ALWAYS loathed, detested, hated, deplored and excoriated the Catholic Church.
THAT in itself ought to tell you that the Catholic Church is on the side of Christian values.
The LEFT and LIBERALS also detest Evangelicals. THEY also feel the brunt of the godless LEFT, LIBERALS and press, which is USUALLY peopled by liberals and lefties. (Usually.)

[cloudmountain]

Then you should study Canon Law to better understand the basis of an annulment and the process for it.
Humans can abuse any process, but that doesn’t mean the process is unfounded.

=============================================

Good advice to bd.

[cloudmountain]

Written in stone, so to speak.

ENGRAVED IN GRANITE. :o)

[cloudmountain]

Every child, he said, has the right to grow up in a family “with a father and a mother” capable of creating “a suitable environment for the child’s development and emotional maturity.”

What a concept. :o)

[MrEdd]

Straw man article.

Communion is allowed to those who will humble themselves a d go through the annulment process, is it not?

[Rashputin]

The agitators are aiming to get am-bi-gyoo-i-tee, not a change.

Just enough added “clarification” to let them do what they damn well please and pretend they're still standing on the traditional teaching as “properly” interpreted.

JMHo

[fwdude]

“Intent” can be manufactured out of thin air. Of course, a husband who wants to leave is going to say the “right” words to shoehorn his situation into the proper category for an annulment. Why wouldn’t he?

[piusv]

It’s what the Modernists have been doing ever since Vatican II. Hopefully more and more Catholics will wake up.

[Dan in Wichita]

What does it cost to get an annulment in your diocese, fer cryin' out loud? You make it sound as if the only thing necessary to get an annulment is a big $$$ payoff to the bishop.

In my diocese, I had to pay $40 to apply for an annulment. I also have to pay a $275 fee to defray the administrative cost of the multi-step process. That comes to $315 total, not even enough to pay one-third of a month's rent. Do you call this a lot of money? Am a buying an annulment for $315?

The biggest cost of the annulment process was the many hours I spent answering questions and visiting the diocesan staff to prepare all the proper documentation. It will take a few more months before I find out if the annulment is granted.

I don't expect any of the facts I have presented here to sway any of the Catholic haters who frequent this forum. They are going to hate no matter what.

[cloudmountain]

1. “Intent” can be manufactured out of thin air.
2. Of course, a husband who wants to leave is going to say the “right” words to shoehorn his situation into the proper category for an annulment.
3. Why wouldn’t he?

1. Yes, it can. Husband will have to eventually face his Maker and our good Lord reads our hearts.

2. Let him "shoehorn" his way to HELL if he wants. Lucifer (the erstwhile "light bearer") wants everyone to join him in HELL, that is, the place eternally WITHOUT God.
BTW, "Satan" means adversary in Hebrew.

3. Why wouldn't he?
Hah. SO SAD to think that he is FOOLING anyone, least of all God, his family, his friends, HER family and HER friends. He sure isn't fooling himself, no matter how much lying justification he might come up with.

ALSO, if he doesn't know the value of honesty and commitment by his adulthood, then he is either LOST forever, needs a devout mother (St. Augustine's mother) praying for him or must undergo a TRANSFORMATION.
The latter is always possible, with the grace of God.

[Rashputin]

If a former spouse says the opposite of what someone applying for an annulment says the norm is to ask both parties for witnesses which, unless there is strong evidence on one side or the other, more often than not leads to no anullment being granted.

I've heard this sad story a number of time by people who say their former spouse believe in marriage far more after it broke up than while it existed.

If a former spouse agrees to go along with the story someone seeking an anullment tells they're pretty much affirming they never believed in marriage as defined by Scripture to begin with.

People who ignore what Scripture says about divorce and remarrige naturally want to slander and lie about any process that is in place to determine whether or not there was a sacramental marriage to begin with.

Those outside of the Catholic Church naturally defame and lie about the anullment process within the Catholic Church because such liars have already decided they don't give a damn what Scripture says on the subject.

[Jeff Chandler]

I don't expect any of the facts I have presented here to sway any of the Catholic haters who frequent this forum.

They never do.
 
****************************************************

They are going to hate no matter what.

They always do.