Posted on 05/07/2017 5:58:31 PM PDT by ebb tide
A canon lawyer, employed by a U.S. diocese, taught her audience including priests, that because no directives from the bishop have been issued about Amoris Laetitia, the priests should follow Buenos Aires and Malta. In those territories, priests are free to give permission to adulterous partners to receive Holy Communion, even though the couple continues to have sex, and one (or both) of the parties is already married to someone else. This permission occurs after accompaniment and discernment by the priest.
Marys Advocates is sharing the audio recording, though the person that made the recording said the diocese must be kept anonymous. All identifying information has been removed from the recording publicized here, though the full recording has been shared with personnel in the diocese for whom the canonists works.
The mission of Marys Advocates is to reduce unilateral no-fault divorce and support those who are unjustly abandoned. The silence from the Catholic diocese tribunals about the injustice of no-fault divorce gives scandal. Granting so many annulments, with no involvement at the time of separation, has made matters worse.
For example, the canonist taught that a woman not telling her fiancée that she had an abortion when fifteen-years-old was a ground for annulment. This makes no sense considering the explanation of annulments published by Ignatius Presss book When is the Marriage Null. Furthermore, listeners would conclude that anyone who had an abortion would be required to tell their fiancée about it, or their marriage would be invalid. This is absurd.
Research publicized here shows that the dioceses which grant the most annulments cover half the population of the Unites States. They judged marriages are invalid, on average, in 98.7% of the cases decided (2011 data). The canonist in the audio is from one of those dioceses.
When telling priests to follow the directives from Buenos Aires, the canonist explained that Pope Francis complimented those directives, and both the Popes letter and the directives can be found on the website of CanonicalAid.org. This website is maintained by independent canonist Marc Balestrieri, and his comments, if provided, will be shared in coming days in this blog page.
During the presentation, the canonist never mentioned the possibility that a marriage of divorced parties might NOT be invalid. In other words, she never mentioned the possibility that both are still truly married to each other (while only civilly divorced). Throughout her presentation, she used the secular language of former spouse compared to the catholic language of separated spouses. She never mentioned that divorce itself, can be a serious sin and she omitted Pope Francis statement in Amoris Laetitia about divorce: Divorce is an evil and the increasing number of divorces is very troubling.
The canonist said that both parties in divorce are always free to receive Holy Communion and she implied that we should not teach children that a parents divorce action might be wrong (minute 17:50).
Marys Advocates asks for canon law on separation of spouses to be implemented at the time of separation and divorce, to ensure more just and fair outcomes for the spouse that is counting on the marriage promises to be fulfilled who never did anything grave justifying separation of spouses. Furthermore, if a legitimate basis for invalidity of a marriage exists, those grounds should be explored at the time of separation because they are relevant to determining a separation plan that is in accord with divine law. In no-fault divorce, the civil forum arranges plans that are contrary to divine law.
Below are my paraphrases of the speakers message, and comments about the audio recording.
Marys Advocates Comments about US Canonist
3:15 (minute:second) Speakers message: law is supposed to help you get to heaven
Bais comment: Whether or not someone gets to heaven is based on the persons behaviors, attitudes, and thinking. The law is supposed to assist the faithful to choose the right behaviors and attitudes.
4:02 Speakers message: There are things that can changed and those that cant be change Divine law is based on scripture and divine law and cant change. However, ecclesiastical laws, made by the Church, can change.
Bais comment: Listeners are set up, in the beginning, to be ready to learn which ecclesiastical man-made law has been changed by Amoris Leatitia. By the end of her presentation, listeners will believe that for a time (between the year 2000 and 2016), priests were restricted from telling those in second marriages that they can not receive Communion without abstaining from sex, if they dont have an annulment. Listeners will believe that Amoris Leatitia reversed and lifted that restrictive man-made law. So now priests can again tell parties to go to Communion after accompanyment and discernment.
5:56 Speakers message: Even scripture realizes teaches that who ever marries, except for the that the marriage is unlawful, cannot divorce. Citing [Jesus said], I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery (Matt 19:9).
Bais comment: Listeners will conclude that Jesus was saying those with unlawful marriages are not bound to them, which is true. But listeners will not know to what Jesus was referring by the word unlawful (i.e, sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman).
The word used in Matthew 19:9 has been translated various ways. The USCCBs website shows (The New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE): I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery ). The Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE) shows, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery.
Both are are translations of the Greek phrase μὴ ἐπὶ πορνείᾳ (me epi porneia). Msgr. Charles Pope, prolific writer in the Archdiocese of Washington, says Greek lexicons (e.g., Strongs and Thayer & Smith) define porneia broadly as illicit sexual intercourse and then go on to define porneia to include fornication, homosexual activity, lesbian activity, sexual intercourse with animals, sexual intercourse with close relatives (as spelled out in Leviticus 18), or sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman.
The reason that Catholics do think that committing adultery while married makes ones marriage invalid, is because there is another Greek word specifically for adultery: μοιχᾶται (moichatai). Read more in Msgr Popes article here . This was also discussed in Cardinal Iijks chapter Can Divorced and Civilly Remarried Persons Receive Communion? in Eleven Cardinals Speak (page 46).
8:33 Speakers message: Marriage preparation doesnt start after an engagment when priest meets with couple. It starts with kids that are in high school, dating with the eye for marriage. We have to teach them how to choose a marriage partner.
Bais comment: With todays divorces culture, teaching young people about marraige must include correcting the scandal given to the young people by all the adults in the culture. Many in the culture are abandoning marriage and separating when there is no morally legitimate reason for separation. While it is fine to teach young people about the characteristics to look for in a spouse, it is important to teach them that when ones high expectations arent fulfilled, there is still often no reason to separate.
9:11 Speakers message: Those who grew up in dysfunctional families choose the same sort of disfunction in their own marriage partner. They they dont know how to choose a true marriage partner, which is why their marriages are invalid and they did not enter a true marriage.
Bais comment: Listeners will think that one who grew up in a divorced or dysfunctional home is doomed to be incapable of entering a valid marraige. Cardinal Raymond Burke says that during his experience as a pastor conducting premarital investigations, the party who grew up in a divorce home is more likely to understand and want true marriage because the party does not want to repeat for his own children what the party experienced growing up. For more information see, here
11:59 Speakers message: Amoris Leatitia emphasizes the role of priests in accompanying and discerning.
Bais comment: If accompanying and discerning does not point someone away from sin, it is poor accompaniment. The reason to avoid sin is because sin hurts oneself and hurts the whole culture. God, our creator, made and knows what will make us most fulfilled and makes our culture most full of peace and joy.
12:58 Speakers message: Amoris Leatitia is not saying that a person can just talk to a priest and get permission to receive Communion. Amoris Leatitia describes the process in which someone would talk to priest, and thereafter may, or may not, receive Communion.
Bais comment: Many scholarly articles have been published about how this is unfair to a priest to expect him to judge whether or not someone can receive Holy Communion when there are no objective criterion. The faithful are also confused by this. We need to remember that every time two parties are in an adulterous union, there are pervious marriages that have broken-up. If there are children in the previous broken-up marriage, those children are given scandal when a priest tells the adultering parent that you are doing nothing wrong and can receive Communion.
14:57 Speakers message: Some people phone the tribunal and are angry. They are frustrated and include parties who have civilly remarried and havent bothered to get the annulment yet. They want it and want it now.
Bais comment: Listeners hear nothing about the possibility that grounds for annulment might not exist.
16:06 Speakers message: Those who are divorced and not remarried can all receive communion. Just because you are divorced, does not mean there are any restrictions.
Bais comment: Saying every divorced person can go too Communion is as absurd as saying every person who kills someone can go to Communion. Killing might be morally justified, or it might be a grave sin. The person who is divorced, that filed for divorce when there was no morally legitimate basis for separation of spouses is a marital abandoner. Abandoning a marriage is gravely wrong.
Ever since civil no-fault divorce was enacted in the civil forum, most divorces have been sought for soft reasons, where there is no adultery, grave abuse, or addiction. In truth, Catholics are only supposed to separate from a spouse if the other has done something very grave. However, with no-fault divorce, a number or Catholics file for divorce when there is no basis for separation of spouses. The Catechism teaches that divorce is a grave offense against nature and immoral and only tolerable in certain situations. With no-fault divorce, most Catholics that file for divorce do not have a situation that justifies separation of spouses. Consequently, filing for divorce, would be a gravely immortal act. Those who do gravely immoral acts are not supposed to receive Communion, unless they intend to stop the act.
The speaker omitted Pope Francis comment about divorce in Amoris Laetitia, paragraph number 246: Divorce is an evil and the increasing number of divorces is very troubling. Hence, our most important pastoral task with regard to families is to strengthen their love, helping to heal wounds and working to prevent the spread of this drama of our times
16:52 16 Speakers message: There is no requirement to request permission of bishop before filing for divorce. There is a process for requesting the permission. There is no penalty for not having the bishops permission.
Bais comment: Ever since the founding or Marys Advocates in 2004, I have been publicizing the canon law on separation and divorce. My many research findings show that a party is supposed to have the bishops permission before filing for civil divorce. The speaker is repeating what was written in November 2015, in an inauthentic interpretation of canon law, by Cardinal Coccopalmerio, the president of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts. Marys Advocates is bringing a canonical challenge, making recourse against Cardinal Coccoalmerios interpretation. In order for his interpretation to have been an authentic interpretation of canon law, it would have to have been signed by the Pope. More on this after May 13, 2017, when I can issue a press release about our recourse.
17:50 17 Speakers message: The church needs to teach about marriage from the pulpit and in PSR (parish school of religion). There are kids with divorced parents, so we cant teach that people who get divorced are evil. We would never want kids to think their own parents are bad people.
Bais comment: The speaker has it upside down. She doesnt want anyone to tell children that there are circumstances in which a childs parent did something evil or bad. If a childs parent was a bank robber, that is not a reason for teachers to stop teaching that robbing banks is wrong. If a parent was regularly violently beating the spouse and children, that would be no reason for teachers to stop teaching that child battery is wrong. The speaker is either saying that no parent choosing divorce is ever doing anything bad or evil, or she is saying the fact that a child is the victim of a parents bad or evil choices, is THE reason you would never teach about that kind of choice being bad or evil.
Umpteen studies have concluded that divorce hurts children. If teachers remain silent about the fact that many marriage breakups are caused by a spouses bad decisions, sinful actions, and selfish choices, the teachers silence tacitly condones marital abandonment. From a childs perspective, silence is consent. See more from Bishop Olmsted here.
19:49 Speakers message: Children are the victims if two divorced parents fight and put children in the middle. This is the saddest thing. How can we help these parents work out their difference with the former spouses and still be attentive to the needs of the children.
Bais comment: The speaker, again, has it upside down. If the parents relationship is so cordial that they can work out decisions as a divorced couple, then they likely have no legitimate basis for separation of spouse in the first place. Unless there is unrepentant adultery, dangerous abuse or addiction, the parents should receive from the church instruction about their obligation to reconcile and restore their intact family home. For more see my blog post Please Stop saying Those who Experience Divorce
21:10 19 Speakers message: We have to separate the person from the action. Good people are divorced. It is not always their fault. We have to avoid any language or action that makes them feel like second class citizens.
Bais comment: Other than acknowledging that it is not always their fault, the speaker never mentions that there is an obligation to keep the family together, and an obligation to not divorce in the first place.
22:46 Speakers message: Even if a person is divorced and remarried without the benefit of an annulment, there are a lot of things they can do in the parish.
Bais comment: The speaker never mentions the possibility that parties might not have grounds for annulment, and never mentions the possibility that they might be misusing their sexual capacity.
31:06 Speakers message: In the 1970, we had a process called the internal forum, and if you couldnt get an annulment you could go to the priest to get permission to receive Communion. We had priests the diocese that were appointed to assist other priests in how do we make this determination. This kind of went away because in the 1983 Code of Canon law, we got canon 915, those in obstinate perseverance of grave manifest sin were not to receive Communion. Being divorce and remarried outside the Church was considered to be an obstinate perseverance of manifest grave sin.
31:54 Speakers message: There was a lot of discussion about this in the late 90s. The Pontifical Council of Legislative Text is the council in Rome that gives advisement about canon law. They gave conditions for receiving Communion: not able to separate for serious reasons such as children, live as brother and sister (no sex); and go to another parish to prevent scandal.
32:45 Speakers message: This is the instruction thats been in place since the year 2000. Whats the problem with that particular thing: First of all, the requirement to live in full continence. If youre telling someone that you cant have sex, you are taking away one of the basic aspects of marraige and that is really not a good thing. Amoris Laetitia supports this. Number 4 shows that the sexual relationship is a path of grown in the path of grace. Sexual relationship is an integral part of marriage, and we are going to tell people not do it. So clearly, telling people not to have sex (which is one of the basic goods of marraige) is essential for the marriage. So telling people to not have sex is not a good thing. So now what do we do?
Bais comment: The speaker treats adulterous sexual acts as if they bring the same graces as sexual acts in marriage. She attributes to sexual acts outside of marriage, the same graces gained by the participants, as sexual acts inside of marriage. If the Church should never tell adulterers not to have sex, then (using the same logic) the Church should not tell two high school kids to not have sex; or tell the man cheating on his wife that he should stop having sex with is new young girlfriend.
34:25 Speakers message: The discernment that Amoris Laetitia talks about is not the equivalent to the internal forum. There is not one mention of the phrase internal forum in chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia. The document, Amoris Laetitia, talks about accompanying and discernment. The external forum is what goes on in the tribunal. The internal forum is what is done privately with the priest in counseling and confession.
Bais comment: The speaker goes in a circle that makes no sense. She says Amoris Laetitia is not talking about internal forum. But then she give the definition of internal forum. What the priests are asked to do in Amoris Laetitia is the same as her definition of the internal forum.
37:16 Speakers message: So, what does chapter 8 tell us, what is Pope Francis saying? Priests have the duty to accompany the divorced and remarried in helping them to understand their situation according to the teaching of the Church and the guidelines of the bishop.
37:30 Speakers message: Now, we dont have any guidelines [-]. However, if priests want a little bit of insight into things that can be done, there are other areas that have put forth guidelines. Most notably, the Buenos Aries pastoral region has put out guidelines for their priests. This is important because this is the area that Pope Francis comes from. It is also important because Pope Francis actually wrote a letter approving their guidelines. Their guidelines can be found at that particular website if you would like to read them. CanonicalAid.org is a website that is maintained by a lay canonist and he puts all kinds of things into the library of his website. The document from Buenos Aries as well as Pope Francis letter of approving (I dont want to say approving but, but saying that they are good guidelines) are on that.
Annulment may not be possible, but should be pursued. Each case should be treated separately. All wouldnt to be given access to Communion, but is decided on a case by case basis.
40:01 Speakers message: As another resource for priests to know what they can now do after Amores Laetitia, priests can look at the directives from the bishop of Malta.
Bais comment: Listeners will think that in a diocese, where there is no particular directive about implementing the exhortations in Amoris Laetitia, those priests should get their directives from Buenos Aries and Malta.
41:20 Speakers message: To answer what are the grounds for annulment, there are many reasons. The people might not know each other very well. There could fraud. I had a case in which a woman was forced by her parents to have an abortion when she was fifteen. She told her husband many years into the marriage. After that, the marraige was over. That was fraud on her part because she wasnt being honest.
Bais comment: No one is obligated to tell another person ever last detail of ones private life, even ones fiancee or spouse. Listeners would conclude that if one did not tell ones fiancé every last secret, a marriage would be invalid because of fraud. The word fraud is nowhere in the canon law as a ground for annulment. If the speaker was referring to simulation of consent as in canon 1101, having an an abortion years before marriage is not relevant, because only simulation about the essential elements or properties of marraige would matter. Whether, or not, one had an abortion years before marriage is NOT an essential property or element of marriage. If the speaker was referring to error concerning the person or quality of the person or decided by malice as in canon 1097, 1098, the issue is not relevant to annulment unless the issue disturbs the conjugal life. An abortion years before marraige would not disturb the conjugal life.
In the book published by Ignatious Press When is the Marriage Null, the examples given about an annulment due to deceit (canon 1098, page 60-61) included deceitfully concealed sterility, or concealed drug addiction. These are problem that obviously would affect married life. A one-time occurrence from ones teen years do not qualify as grounds for annulment if kept secret.
42:45 Speakers message: What percentage of applicants are granted an annulment or denied? It is hard to give an actual percentage. All cases do not receive an affirmative decisions. And it is difficult to give a percentage because some cases are withdrawn. Some cases are put in the inactive file because people lose interest and stop participating.
Bais comment: The speaker could have just provided the percentage that is tallied in the annual report of the tribunal that is required to be sent to the Vaticans tribunal of the Signatura. Most dioceses reports are also provided to the Canon Law Society of America and published annually. The speakers tribunals report show that they decided marriages were invalid for 97% (and more) of their decisions in the years 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Might as well just say there are 9 commandments.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.