Posted on 04/10/2016 11:19:46 AM PDT by Steelfish
At Long Last, Many Divorced And Remarried Catholics Say They No Longer Feel Like Outcasts
Maria Olsen of Fairhaven, Md., in the chapel at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart,, regrets that her divorced father, who left the Church over being denied Holy Communion, never received the kind of affirmation being offered by Pope Francis.
By Julie Zauzmer and and Michelle Boorstein April 9
Olsen recalled her divorced father dropping her and her brother, then ages 6 and 5, at the curb outside their Kensington, Md., parish on Sundays. Her father was so committed to the Catholic Church, she said, that he wanted his children to attend Mass despite the fact that he and his ex-wife were unable to receive the key rite of Communion and no longer felt welcome in the church.
“I felt like we were the only kids without parents,” said Olsen, a mother of two who lives in Fairhaven, Md.
As an adult, Olsen has been able to make peace with her faith, remaining heavily involved in her parish while confidently rejecting teachings she considers manmade flaws. But she regrets that her father, like so many other divorced Catholics who have left the church, never received the kind of affirmation offered by Francis in his dramatic call for tolerance toward families the church officially views as nontraditional.
Francis’s long-awaited document, “Amoris Laetitia” — Latin for “the Joy of Love” — didn’t lift the ban on Communion for Catholics who divorce and remarry without an annulment, but he seemingly has made room for priests and laypeople to make such decisions together on a case-by-case basis.
This measure of outreach, (snip) appears to have brought comfort to many among the millions affected by previous Catholic teachings on marriage that have drawn bright lines.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
“...anyone can attend a Catholic mass and receive communion. No one checks if the person is divorced.”
Yes. All this “We feel like outcasts” stuff is nonsense. No one is paying any attention to these people. They are flattering themselves. Whiners who are too lazy to apply for annulments that are now easier to get than every. They’d rather be martyrs...which now really won’t make sense.
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. (CCC 2386)
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. (CCC 1650)
There's nothing in the document even remotely supportive of sodomy.
Since you didn't mind citing the cost of your annulment, then --- not to pry, and a ballpark figure would suffice--- just for comparison's sake, how much did your divorce cost?
I haven't heard reports from the field bout how this is working out. My impression is that it hasn't led to a flood of annulments.
Anybody out there know how US annulments have been trending since Sept 2015?
How so? Specifically.
The cost of the uncontested divorce was under $500. (back in 73, which would mean in today’s money about 1500-2500?) It would have been a deal at any price, I would have paid even more.
No different than a parent that sticks up for a child the school reprimanded when the child deserved it.
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
bump for later
But we had Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI since Borgia — it comes and goes.
If your marriage dissolves for whatever reason, just don’t get remarried and all is well.
No he didn't, nor can he....Divorced an remarried Catholics CANNOT receive the Eucharist because they are living in an adulterous relationship....a no-no.
That is very true, however, to receive the Eucharist and not commit a mortal sin, one must be in the state of sanctifying grace.....some aren't.
Divorce, in and of itself is not a sin...the Catholic could be the innocent partner. Divorce and remarriage, however, constitutes an adulterous relationship and is sinful.
You were divorced but not remarried....no real problem there.
Every single sentence in this story contains a term that is misused, or a term that is never used in Catholicism, or something that is utterly indecipherable. The reporter has no clue what facts might be relevant or not.
Total intellectual chaos. Just the way Bergoglio likes it.
Your marriage was invalid due to lack of form. After your divorce, you were free to resume the practice of the Faith, with confession. No annulment necessary. The priest was mistaken to request you involve your “ex.”
Actually, divorce may be a mortal sin, or no sin.
A Catholic is required to consult with his pastor about divorce—a requirement of which virtually all Catholics are ignorant. I think this is the reason one hears of priests telling people WHO HAVE NOT REMARRIED that they must not receive Communion.
Amoris laetitia, btw, contains heresy. The next good Pope will repudiate it.
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