Posted on 11/08/2013 5:57:07 PM PST by ebb tide
Dealing with divorced and remarried: Cardinal Marx lays into the Vatican
Cardinal Marx : " We are going to see that the issue is completely discussed"
Should the Catholic Church allow divorced and remarried to be re-admitted to communion? No, says Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican. The Munich Cardinal Marx does not want to accept this.
Freising - The Bavarian bishops want a broad debate on the way that divorced and remarried people are treated by the Catholic Church. They distance themselves thereby from the Prefect of the Vatican congregation, the former Bishop of Regensburg Gerhard Ludwig Müller .
The discussions on this topic should not be narrowed solely to the teaching of the Church, said Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich at the end of the autumn meeting of the Bavarian bishops in Freising, "The Prefect of the Congregation cannot end the discussion . "
People who get divorced after a church wedding and marry again are, up to the present time, not equal members of the Catholic Church. They are excluded from church offices, they may not receive the Sacraments. Such is the teaching, even if some priests already behave differently.
"Make the voices of the grassroots audible "
Archbishop Müller still does not want to admit to communion divorced Catholics who have remarried, as before, whereas Marx says, "We are going to see that the issue is completely discussed". The response to a questionnaire sent by Pope St. Francis on the situation of marriage and the family was "an ambitious task." The general aim was to make the voices of the grassroots audible " .
The background of Marx's statements is a global opinion survey by the Vatican. State of the Church wants to find out the views of Catholic communities on sensitive issues, such as dealing with divorce and homosexuality. The document is planned by Pope Francis Special Synod of Bishops on the Family prepare in October 2014.
The Archbishop of Freiburg and Head of the German Bishops' Conference, Robert Zollitsch had repeatedly shown himself open to a new path. "They belong to the Church," he said at the end of the Autumn Plenary Assembly of the Bishops' Conference on remarried Catholics. The general aim was " to examine the entire range of ecclesiastical solutions."
The Pastoral Office of the Archdiocese of Freiburg issued in October “Recommendations for the Pastoral Care to support people who are separated, divorced and after civil remarriage”. To support people who are separated, divorced and after civil remarriage. If the marriage should have failed, it is important, "to be close to those and to support them who (deliberately) have not entered into any new partnership," it states in the text. Thus remarried have the way opened to them which was previously barred to them.
Cathcon- the whole relevant passage In particular, it is necessary to respect and to support in a pastoral manner the spiritual decision to participate in varied ways in the life of the Church and consciously to refrain from receiving the sacraments.
As a result of a responsibly-taken conscientious decision, in the specific situation, the possibility can be given to receive the sacraments of Baptism, Holy Communion, Confirmation, of reconciliation and anointing of the sick, inasmuch as the required specific disposition of faith is existent. The parish and consequently the Church as a whole are lived as a community in which reconciliation with past life history is possible and put specifically into practice. This is experienced as positive and strengthening not only by those affected, but also helps the whole community, to experience the merciful action of Jesus Christ at first-hand.
Marx calls for restraint in the case Tebartz van Elst
The Munich Cardinal also spoke about the affair of the Limburg Bishop Franz -Peter Tebartz van Elst - and called for restraint. "I would hope that some now will just keep their mouth shut," Marx said . He left open whether he was referring to the Chairman of the Regional Committee of Catholics in Bavaria. Albert Schmid recently defended Tebartz van Elst and thus incurred the displeasure of lay organizations.
Marx argued for waiting for the resolution of allegations. Marx regretted the increased numbers leaving the church in connection with the affair. The Bishop of Limburg has come under criticism because of his leadership style and the dramatic increase in costs for the new bishop's residence. Currently Bishop Tebartz van Elst is taking a break in the Lower Bavarian Benedictine monastery of Metten.
Question 14: on divorced and remarried persons receiving the sacraments
Pope Francis: (snip): We are on the way for a somewhat profound matrimonial ministry.
And this is everyone’s problem, because there are so many, no? For instance, I’ll mention only one: Cardinal Quarracino, my predecessor, said that for him half of all marriages are null. Why did he say this? Because they get married without maturity, they marry without remembering that it’s for the whole of life, or they marry because socially they must marry.
And the matrimonial ministry also comes into this. And also the judicial problem of the nullity of marriages, this must be reviewed, because the Ecclesiastical Tribunals are not enough for this. The problem of the matrimonial ministry is complex. Thank you.
4. Pastoral Care in Certain Difficult Marital Situations
a) Is cohabitation ad experimentum a pastoral reality in your particular Church? Can you approximate a percentage?
b) Do unions which are not recognized either religiously or civilly exist? Are reliable statistics available?
c) Are separated couples and those divorced and remarried a pastoral reality in your particular Church? Can you approximate a percentage? How do you deal with this situation in appropriate pastoral programmes?
d) In all the above cases, how do the baptized live in this irregular situation? Are they aware of it? Are they simply indifferent? Do they feel marginalized or suffer from the impossibility of receiving the sacraments?
e) What questions do divorced and remarried people pose to the Church concerning the Sacraments of the Eucharist and of Reconciliation? Among those persons who find themselves in these situations, how many ask for these sacraments?
f ) Could a simplification of canonical practice in recognizing a declaration of nullity of the marriage bond provide a positive contribution to solving the problems of the persons involved? If yes, what form would it take?
g) Does a ministry exist to attend to these cases? Describe this pastoral ministry? Do such programmes exist on the national and diocesan levels? How is God’s mercy proclaimed to separated couples and those divorced and remarried and how does the Church put into practice her support for them in their journey of faith?
The above is from the Vatican’s website. Please note Paragraph 4f.
That does not speak to streamlining the nullity process. It speaks to making sure that people are sufficiently mature before entering into the sacrament.
Nope. The question has nothing to about marriage prep; it’s all about streamlining annulments of current marriages.
I honestly don’t know what to make of this yet.
Prepare yourself to make the worst of it because Pope Francis also mentioned the schismatic Orthodox views on sacramental marriage:
“Pope Francis also mentioned the practice of the Orthodox churches that allow a second marriage — what he called “a second chance” — in some cases, giving the impression that the Catholic practice could undergo modification.”
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1303261.htm
This is a common problem: a couple believes themselves to be married. They are not married: for example, for one of them that is a remarriage. Then they want to become Catholic. Presumably they want to live the Way as the Church asks them to. So the options available to them are
(1) Separate their illicit sexual union and live chaste lives.
(2) Examine the prior marriage(s) impeding their licit marriage today. Perhaps — by far not a certain possibility, but a possibility nevertheless, — each impeding marriage is nullable.
(3) If annulments succeed, they can sanctify their present attempted marriage in the Church and reunite as a married couple.
(4) Possibly, one or more of the impeding marriages can’t be nullified, and at the same time they can’t commit to chastity in their attempted, now proven impossible, marriage. They still can become Catholics on the intellectual level; in fact, they, like everyone else, must become Catholics in order to be assuredly saved. They can’t however, receive the Holy Eucharist till their cohabitation persist. They are welcome to come to Mass and reflect on their hunger for the Eucharist, and then God will give them strength to commit to chastity .
(5) Finally, if (1-4) are not a viable proposition for the couple, then their desire to become Catholic cannot be fulfilled, for it is not accompanied with the right will.
I believe that you arte incorrect in your interpretation.
Well according to Pope Francis, we are each entitled to believe what we think “Good” is. Cool, isn’t it!
if they are divorced and remarried, they are living in an adultrous relationship....no go.
In regard to marriage....Let's not be ridiculous. You're making it all about sex....and it is not.
Keep believing the “filtered” LSM, let us know how that works our for you.
You keep believing that anything negative or “misinterpreted” about Francis is jut the LSM’s fault and see how that works out for you.
“Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is good. Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place.”
Let me know how the above works for you.
Verga, do you consider the the Vatican website to be “filtered LSM”?
And it appears according to his latest homily that “God gives eternal life to everyone”.
No, it really isn't.
I have a prediction: The FORM of decrees of nullity will be preserved, and in certain exceptional cases they will be refused. The PRACTICE of decrees of nullity will be simplified and accelerated.
Divorced and remarried Catholics who obtain a simplified decree will be invited to return to the Eucharist (if they have not been so invited already).
Bishops, and especially pastors, are uncomfortable with current practice because it involves money and dishonesty. Attempts will be made to reduce the $$ that change hands and eliminate lying by making "failure of a marriage" evidence of nullity, or lack of sacramental nature of the bond.
Currently, non-sacramental "natural" marriages are very difficult to annul since the couple never claimed sacramental intent, whereas couples married in a Catholic rite can and do say that the sacrament was (obviously) not completed, using their subsequent behaviors as evidence.
The not-quite-underground annulment facilitation industry (books, websites, counselors, ghost authors, etc) makes clergy who know of its existence uncomfortable, and they would, I think, just as soon be rid of it.
No just your reading of it. Feel free to have the last word.
Your Holiness, is there only one vision of the Good? And who determines what it is?
“Each one of us has his own vision of the Good and also of Evil. We have to urge it [the vision] to move towards what one perceives as the Good”.
Your Holiness, you wrote this in the letter you sent me. Conscience is autonomous, you said, and each person must obey his own conscience. I think that this is one of the most courageous statements a Pope has ever made.
“And now I repeat it. Everyone has his own idea of Good and Evil and he has to choose to follow the Good and to fight Evil as he understands it. This would be enough to improve the world”.
of course it is...that's what makes marriage an inviolable relationship...two become one, what God hath joined let no man put asunder....Marriage is a unique Sacrament which joins two people into a single unit which cannot be separated. A marriage which cannot be consumated, for example, is not a valid marriage and can be anulled...it has a lot to do with the sexual aspect of the relationship.
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