Posted on 09/20/2014 5:54:47 PM PDT by narses
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — In advance of a global synod in Rome next month, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin said Thursday that the church should consider simplifying its annulment process and lifting the ban on Holy Communion for Catholics who are divorced and civilly remarried. Bishop Tobin addressed the issue in his column in the Rhode Island Catholic, the Diocese of Providence newspaper. He noted that bishops from around the world will examine the subject at the synod on “Pastoral Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelization,” with Pope Francis, next month and again next year.
Catholic Church uses five criteria in deciding to grant an annulment
Read Bishop Tobin's column in the Rhode Island Catholic In his column, Bishop Tobin advocates a more “pastoral approach” to the dilemma — without compromising church teachings. Any changes should be done at a global level, he said.
“Although the teaching of Christ and his Church about the permanence of marriage is clear and undeniable, the lived reality is that many individuals, for a variety of reasons perhaps — personal, catechetical or cultural — are ill-equipped to fulfill the demands of the law,” Bishop Tobin wrote.
Should divorced and civilly remarried Catholics be allowed to receive Communion? (4,005 votes) Yes: 67% (2,690) No: 33% (1,315)
While he doesn’t have all the answers, Bishop Tobin wrote, “Nevertheless, my forty-one years as a priest and nearly twenty-two as a bishop have convinced me that the status quo is unacceptable. For the spiritual well-being of the divorced and remarried members of our Catholic Family, for the salvation of their souls, we’ve got to do something!”
The answers should be determined “by the experts … including our Pope and bishops and theologians, who are a whole lot smarter and holier and a lot better versed in this than I am.”
The bishop’s column, “Divorced and Remarried Catholics — We’ve Got to Do Something!”, is his second since he took a hiatus from his biweekly “Without a Doubt” feature in June 2013. He said he took that hiatus “to relax a little bit, and refresh my perspective again. …”
Comments flooded the bishop’s Facebook page within hours of publication.
“Where did you get your Bishop’s license? Out of a Cracker Jack Box?” wrote one.
“Your Excellency. It saddens me to read your words. Jesus spoke very clearly about marriage. Your argument tries to pit Jesus against Himself.”
Bishop Tobin said, “Someone on the Facebook page demanded my resignation. Some of the comments on Facebook present me as a big left-wing heretic now.” A noted conservative whose comments have sparked controversy — most recently by publicly taking issue with some of Pope Francis’ more liberal views — Bishop Tobin chuckled at the irony of being branded as “left-leaning.”
In a phone interview, Bishop Tobin said the issue “is an enormous pastoral challenge for the church.”
“I think it’s something we have to look at,” Bishop Tobin said. “I was very clear about saying I don’t have the answers. But we’ve got a challenge here. We’ve got a problem. We have to at least look at it and talk about it. Otherwise, if we go through this long synod process for the next two years and end up where we are now, that will be a failure.”
Given plummeting numbers of practicing Catholics, Bishop Tobin said by allowing people who are divorced and civilly remarried to receive Holy Communion, “it seems to me it would encourage them to participate in the life of the church.”
Wrestling with this issue, Bishop Tobin wrote, “I often think about, and truly agonize over, the many divorced Catholics who have ‘dropped out’ of the Church completely, as well as those who attend Mass faithfully every Sunday, sometimes for years, without receiving the consolation and joy of the Holy Eucharist.
“And I know that I would much rather give Holy Communion to these long-suffering souls than to pseudo-Catholic politicians who parade up the aisle every Sunday for Holy Communion and then return to their legislative chambers to defy the teachings of the Church by championing same-sex marriage and abortion.”
Bishop Tobin made news in 2009 when he forbade then-U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy from receiving Communion because of his advocacy of abortion rights. He said in Thursday’s phone interview that he was not referencing Kennedy in his column, calling it “an old story.”
Bishop Tobin said there is “common misperception” that people who are divorced cannot receive Communion. Divorce, in and of itself, “is not a hindrance to Holy Communion,” he said.
“It becomes a problem if someone is divorced and remarried without the blessing of the church. Of course, as I’ve said, now we have many, many people who are in that situation,” the bishop said.
“The only way that divorced people who remarry can be readmitted to Holy Communion, is to have their first marriage annulled and their second marriage blessed by the church.”
In his column, Bishop Tobin asks, “For starters, can we at least think about simplifying the annulment process so that it’s more akin to the current practice of receiving various dispensations for marriage, handled completely at the local level with the oversight of the Diocesan Bishop?”
“Can we eliminate the necessity of having detailed personal interviews, hefty fees, testimony from witnesses, psychological exams and automatic appeals to other tribunals?”
He wrote: instead, “Can we rely more on the conscientious personal judgment of spouses about the history of their marriage … and their worthiness to receive Holy Communion.”
Whatever the outcome of the deliberations in Rome, “it should be adopted by the Universal Church,” he wrote. “To impose local solutions to this widespread problem would be completely dishonest and misleading, causing only confusion and division.”
The initial version of this story was published at 8:55 a.m. Thursday and updated at 12:01 a.m. Friday.
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Wow, I even think annulment is abused.
I realize how difficult it must be for people in this situation, but let’s face it, nobody said life dosn’t have difficulties.
You're right you've got a problem, dude. There are too many people in your flock who stand before God and vow to remain married until death do them part, then decide some time later that a vow before God isn't all that important after all.
Making it easier and more acceptable for them to break those vows ain't gonna help any of them. It ain't gonna help you when you stand before God, either.
Thank God that his Church is not run by a democracy. That said, this poll is useless ... if one is living in mortal sin, one should not present themselves for communion. That will never change.
Pardon my language, but what the f#&% does that mean?
They’re just going to give up and go with the flow, like a dead fish going downstream.
Freep those polls!
I’m not Catholic and I’m genuinely curious. How would the following situation be managed by the Catholic Church?
A man and a woman marry. They produce a child. Two years later, when the child is 3 months old, the man comes home from work and tells the woman, “I made a mistake. I don’t want this. I’m divorcing you.”
He walks out. She goes home to her parents. He files for a civil divorce two weeks later.
According to the Catholic Church, what happens to the young woman? When can she remarry?
Assuming that the marriage is valid, when the man dies.
The wife can receive the Sacraments as long as she doesn’t remarry.
In the situation you describe, an annulment would like be quite easy, since the marriage may not have been valid from the beginning.
Should divorced and civilly remarried Catholics be allowed to receive Communion? (4,040 votes)
Yes: 67% (2,699)
No: 33% (1,341)
from what i was taught
WHAT GOD HAS JOINED TOGETHER LET NO MAN PUT ASUNDER.
She can have it annulled and remarry.That is if they were married in the church.If it was a civil ceremony it goes much faster.I think the Bishop brings out some good points to be resolved.
Suppose a person does not receive the sacraments. Can they still be saved?
Why wouldn’t a Catholic want to receive the Sacraments?
They are a source of grace.
Pardon me, but what in our doctrine, in our canon law or on God's earth would lead you or anyone else to believe that a years-long Catholic marriage that produces a child should get an "easy" annulment and was not "valid from the beginning?"
To put it another way, what church is it that you belong to that would so easily make innocent children bastards?
Those are rhetorical questions BTW. I know my catechism well enough to not be interested in your answer.
Yes you can go to confession and be in a state of grace.The crazy thing about this is one partner does not want to divorce.They are force to through our courts.My sister received the last Rites and she was married to a divorced man for 40 years.His wife divorced him and he didn’t want it.He was also a non-catholic and felt with an annulment it would label his kids.He would not annul-she died in a state of grace.
Suppose a person does not receive the sacraments. Can they still be saved, yes or no?
What about him?
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