[FBD]

>"Your post is right on the money but will not prevent hostile attacks on you and your view. My experience with my wife's death was similiar to your's and in NO case would I try and put her through this horror one second longer than she had to tolerate. And I loved her more than life itself."

You two gentlemen have my sympathies. I am not attacking either one of you, and I believe you both when you both say you loved your wives very much.

So in that vein, I'm going to ask you a very personal question, which by no means do I want you to answer here on the Internet, unless you feel compelled to do so;

Did either of you ever feel like going out and fathering a couple kids with another woman, while still married to your wife? That's what this man did, and I've never seen anyone make marital vows that included that caveat. Regardless of her vegetative state not withstanding, that is NOT true love. I'm sorry, but it's not.

[Edward Watson]

Of course I will. Michael's wife DIED fifteen years ago. All that remains is the shell of her body. She is gone.

I find this objection absurd - what option does a young Catholic have in Michael's case? It's not as if he shacked up with another woman within days, weeks or months after his wife's collapse. IIRC, he waited for six or seven years before making that move.

Who among us can honestly critisize him for that?

I know many Catholics who didn't get a divorce and subsequently lived with another woman. Somehow, the sin of living together is not as great as the sin of divorce in their eyes. After all, according to Catholic dogma, divorce is an excommunicable offense (I know, surprised me too) whereas living together isn't.