Free Republic

**SNIP**"We are parents first and foremost, to two incredibly wonderful children, and we ask for their and our space and privacy to be respected at this difficult time," the message also said. "We have always conducted our relationship privately, and we hope that as we consciously uncouple and co-parent, we will be able to continue in the same manner."

Father, Forgive Them! Jesus shows us the way to forgive. When Peter asked Jesus how many times he had to forgive someone who sinned against him, Jesus told him, “seventy-seven times,” a Semitic way of saying something like “every time, every day, for the rest of your life” (Matthew 18:21). But sometimes the pain of what has happened to us is so deep that we wonder if we will ever be able to forgive.That’s where Linda was—bitter, broken, and unable to forgive her former husband. And she’s not alone. Think of the mother whose young daughter was sexually abused...

The new leader of Germany's Roman Catholic bishops is signaling support for allowing some divorced but remarried Catholics to receive Communion after a "penitential period." Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who also sits on a panel that helps advise Pope Francis on Vatican reform, was elected Wednesday to head the German Bishops' Conference. Church teaching holds that unless their first marriage is annulled, remarried Catholics can't receive Communion or other sacraments. The church is now discussing anew how to handle such cases. In an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper released Saturday, Marx cited a prominent theologian's proposal that "divorced people...

Interesting parallels are being suggested between, on the one hand, Paul VI’s dithering over contraception in the 1960s (which, though reversed by his reassertion of Church teaching in Humanae vitae, contributed to widespread repudiation of that teaching by Catholics), and Francis’ recent mixed signals (or what are widely perceived as mixed signals) over the future of Church teaching against divorce-and-remarriage and the reception of holy Communion. Notwithstanding some important differences between the two men and situations, I write to suggest that the stakes for all might actually be higher this time around. Consider two points: First, Church teaching against contraception...

"Third, we find that, to the extent that we can explain the rise in youth suicide over time, the most important aggregate variable explaining this change seems to be the increased share of youths living in homes with a divorced parent." Before liberals were for marriage and family, they were strongly against them. They have been undermining God's plan for human family relationship no doubt all along in one way or another, but since the 1950's they've especially made progress. The article linked to from the National Bureau of Economic Research discusses the little talked about link between divorce and...

Divorced Christians will be encouraged by Pope Francis's reminder that the church should be a place of healing after a failed marriage. Pope Francis is giving hope to another group historically marginalized by the church. During a recent morning Mass, he made news when he said the divorced should be "accompanied," not "condemned.” This message will be balm to many divorced Christians—Catholic or not—who have had fellow believers heap shame and judgment on top of the pain that accompanies the loss of a marriage. It’s also a reminder that while the church has caused plenty of pain, it is meant...

Dear Dr. Moynihan,       In your latest Letter from Rome, commenting on the new appointments to the College of Cardinals, you report rather nonchalantly that "[Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig] Müller is also known for having said that the Church's position on admitting to divorced and remarried Catholics to the sacrament of Communion is not something that can or will be changed. But other German Church leaders, including Cardinal Walter Kasper, have recently gone on record saying the teaching may and will be changed."      Your brief, matter-of-fact report on this controversy reminds me of the tip of an iceberg. It...

“Doctrine does not change, the novelty regards only pastoral praxis.” This is the slogan that has been repeated for a year now. On the one hand it pacifies those conservatives who measure everything in terms of doctrinal statements, and on the other hand it encourages those progressives who attribute little value to doctrine and confide everything in the primacy of praxis. A shocking example of a cultural revolution proposed in the name of praxis has been offered to us by the report dedicated to “The Gospel and the Family,”which Cardinal Walter Kasper opened the work of the extraordinary consistory for...

Several times since the Council, the enemies of truth and dogma have tried to force the issue of communion for "remarried" divorcees, a magnificent coup for, in the name of a false notion of "mercy", destroying the theology of two of the most fundamental Sacraments, Matrimony and Penance, and cheapen the highest Sacrament, the Most Holy Eucharist. They do not care that the matter has been firmly established throughout the History of the Church. They do not care that the Pope they now praise as "Santo, Santo" explained thoroughly why it could not happen, following a Synod, in Familiaris Consortio:

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta residence in the Vatican this morning. In remarks following the readings of the day, the Holy Father focused on the beauty of marriage and warned that the Church must accompany – not condemn – those who experience failure in married life. He explained that Christ is the Bridegroom of the Church, and therefore you cannot understand one without the Other. The Holy Father also warned against giving in to the temptation to entertain “special pleading” in questions regarding marriage. The Pharisees, he noted, present Jesus with...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church needs to find a way to offer healing, strength and salvation to Catholics whose marriages have failed, who are committed to making a new union work and who long to do so within the church and with the grace of Communion, Cardinal Walter Kasper told the world's cardinals. Jesus' teaching on the indissolubility of sacramental marriage is clear, the retired German cardinal said, and it would harm individuals and the church to pretend otherwise. However, "after the shipwreck of sin, the shipwrecked person should not have a second boat at his or her...

After a week of wrangling over a Vatican decision to keep it secret, the German Catholic book publisher Herder announced today (Feb. 27) that on March 10 it would publish in book format Cardinal Walter Kasper’s two-hour keynote address at last week’s meeting of the College of Cardinals in Rome. Although Pope Francis had publicly praised Kasper’s speech on the theology of the family for its “profound theology” and “clear thinking,” the Vatican has so far only released a brief summary of the two-hour talk. Earlier this week, Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, a member of the “G-8” Council of...

The Pope’s homily for Friday, February 28, surely is a trial balloon that has been launched with the Synod on the Family in mind. The past weeks have seen a number of statements and conversations about the debated issue of whether a divorced and remarried person can receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

I canÂ’t tell you where I was or who was there or when it happened. I donÂ’t want to add to this guyÂ’s humiliation, so I am keeping this vague and generic. I can simply tell you that, some time ago, I found myself in the same vicinity as another married couple. I certainly canÂ’t read their minds, and I donÂ’t know what goes on behind the scenes, all I know is that the husband couldnÂ’t seem to utter a single phrase that wouldnÂ’t provoke exaggerated eye-rolling from his wife. She disagreed with everything he said. She contradicted nearly every...

Jesus once rebuked the people of his time for their stubborn and unrepentant hearts: This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here. At...

As the October meeting of the Synod of Bishops draws near, we’ll hear more and more about one question: Whether Catholics who are divorced and remarried should be allowed to receive the Eucharist. Clearly this is the question on the minds of reporters, the question being posed by liberal bishops, the question that agitates Catholics especially in the German-speaking countries. But this is not the question being asked by Pope Francis, or the question that was asked by Pope Benedict before him. Both Pontiffs spoke about the need to provide pastoral care for Catholics in these irregular unions. They both...

Full Ttitle: Pastor Ron Carpenter's Wife, Hope, Returns to SC Megachurch as He Rebukes Christian Leaders Who Supported His Desire for Divorce _______________________________________________________________ Hope Carpenter, co-founder of Redemption World Outreach Center in Greenville, S.C., was enthusiastically welcomed back by congregants on Sunday months after her marital infidelities were exposed at the pulpit by her husband, Pastor Ron Carpenter. Carpenter, this time around, took other Christian leaders to task for supporting him when he declared he would be seeking a divorce. With his wife and family sitting in the very first row of the sanctuary, Pastor Carpenter manned the pulpit not...

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis on Thursday (Feb. 20) opened a major two-day meeting on the church’s approach to the complexities of modern family life, telling the world’s Catholic cardinals that the church needs a “pastoral” approach that is “intelligent, courageous and full of love” and not focused on abstract arguments. In brief introductory remarks released by the Vatican, Francis pushed the closed-door summit of about 150 cardinals to “deepen the theology of the family and discern the pastoral practices which our present situation requires.” He asked that they do so “thoughtfully” and by keeping the focus on “the beauty...

(VIS/Vatican Radio) The director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., gave a briefing for journalists at midday Thursday on the progress of the extraordinary consistory for the family which opened this morning in the New Synod Hall and in which around 150 cardinals participated. “After the Pope's address, the cardinals sent an affectionate greeting to Archbishop Loris Capovilla, one of the new cardinals to be created by the Holy Father in next Saturday's consistory, who for reasons of age and health was not able to travel to Rome, but who is present in the spirit of...

Kasper frequently cited the Bible as a source of inspiration in a signal, almost Protestant in nature, that the answer to the problem lay in scripture. He told reporters that Francis had asked him to pose questions to the 150 cardinals to begin a debate on the issue.