Posted on 09/09/2014 8:52:34 AM PDT by NKP_Vet
Vatican City, Sep 9, 2014 / 03:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Five members of the College of Cardinals have joint-authored a book defending Church doctrine regarding divorced and remarried Catholics, affirming that it is the most merciful approach.
Set to be published in English this October, the book is entitled “Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church.” It offers a response to Cardinal Walter Kasper's call for the Church to open its doors to allow divorced and remarried Catholics to receive the Eucharist.
According to publisher Ignatius Press, the book will outline both biblical arguments in support of current Church doctrine as well as the teachings and practices of the early Church.
In their online summary, Ignatius Press explains that the book “traces the centuries-long history of Catholic resistance” to the reception of communion by divorced and re-married Catholics, and reveals “serious theological and canonical difficulties inherent in past and current Orthodox Church practice.”
“In neither of these cases, biblical or patristic, do these scholars find support for the kind of ‘toleration’ of civil marriages following divorce advocated by Cardinal Kasper,” they observed.
During a two-hour address to a consistory on the family in February, Cardinal Kasper, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, discussed marriage and family life, devoting the last section of his speech to “the problem of the divorced and remarried.”
In that portion he asked, “is it not perhaps an exploitation of the person” when a person who has been divorced and remarried is excluded from receiving Communion, and suggests that for “the smaller segment of the divorced and remarried,” perhaps they could be admitted to “the sacrament of penance, and then of Communion.”
He echoed the same sentiments in a May interview with Commonweal, during which he discussed his proposal that divorced and remarried persons might receive Communion, suggesting that Christians aren't called to be heroic when he said that living together as brother and sister is “a heroic act, and heroism is not for the average Christian.”
Referring to the conclusion drawn by the cardinals, Ignatius Press explained that the various studies examined in the book “lead to the conclusion that the Church's longstanding fidelity to the truth of marriage constitutes the irrevocable foundation of its merciful and loving response to the individual who is civilly divorced and remarried.”
“The book therefore challenges the premise that traditional Catholic doctrine and contemporary pastoral practice are in contradiction.”
The five cardinals authoring the book are Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith; Raymond Leo Burke, prefect of the Apostolic Signatura; Walter Brandmüller, president emeritus of the Pontifical Committee of Historical Sciences; Carlo Caffarra, archbishop of Bologna and one of the closest theologians to St. John Paul II in questions of morality and the family; and Velasio De Paolis, president emeritus of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See.
In addition to the cardinals, four expert theologians and professors have also made contributions to the book. They are Robert Dodaro, O.S.A., the editor, John Rist and Jesuits Paul Mankowski and Archbishop Cyril Vasil.
How about if you have a living spouse, get annulled and then receive communion
They seem to be more excepting of gay priests than
“divorced and re-married Catholics”.
If you’re divorced but not remarried, that’s not a problem for the Catholic church.
The church always paid attention to people like
The Kennedy’s and Kerry’s . They make a donation.
My sister in law did it. She remarried as did many
Others that know how it works.
The way you put it is a little confusing.
"Annulment" means there has been an investigaiton and a finding by a tribunal that you were not, sacramentally, spouses to begin with. If the first marriage was "null" (meaning it was not a sacramental marriage) then the "ex" was not and is not your spouse in a sacramental sense. There was someting defective from the git-go.
Therefore--- assuming you're in a state of grace --- there is no impediemnt to Holy Communion.
Yep. I know a guy. His wife wigged-out, flipped out, went mental. Ran off and left him to raise 2 little kids alone.
He is now middle-aged and living in sin with a girlfriend because he does not have the money to buy an annulment, the way so many others have.
Not married gay priests...
bookmark
Annulments allow for communion, because annulment declares that no licit marriage took place to begin with.
If you are really poor, it costs nothing. If you have limited means, you pay as much of the fee as you can. If you have means, you pay the full tribunal fee which ranges from $500 to $1,000 depending on the complexity of the case. E.g. if they have to collect documents or depositions from people in another country.
I read that Catholic marriage tribunals in the U.S. ended up $14,000,000 in the red last year. It is not now and never was a money-making proposition. Tribunal fees are minimal compared to civil divorce fees.
Celibate priests, both heterosexual and those priests with “gay” inclinations, are equally recieved in good standing on the condition of celibacy, and their priestly promise for remaining celibate.
Betrayal to the priestly promise occasionally occurs in both cases, among heterosexual and gay priests. The punishment is intently equal to both types.
The friend is pulling your leg, poorly catechized, or misinformed.
Or,... he may even know that his reasons for the divorce do not meet the narrow criteria to obtain an annulment. In this case, some marginal Catholics will pull the “buy out” cannard for justifying their condition.
Annulments obtained in the Church require legal examination, hearings, research, dedicated staff etc., as secular legal efforts would with an law professional outside the Church.
Just sayin’.
The Church already forgives divorce.
All you have to do is be a Kennedy a la dead Ted.
One of the prime reasons I left...if they bent over for that slimeball, they have no morals.
“he does not have the money to buy an annulment, the way so many others have”
My wife’s annulment cost $400. If he does not have the money he could go to Catholic Charities or the Knights of Columbus and they would give it to him.
Are they then living in adultery? Or causing someone else (their former spouse) to live in adultery?
So you let someone run you away from the Eucharist? No one alive could make me abandon the precious blood and body of Jesus Christ. Let those people worry about their own souls. I have my own to worry about.
If a Catholic wants a divorce, just claim you are an illegal alien Hispanic or a Kennedy.
The bishops and cardinals will waive any restrictions if you fit in these categories.
I mean this "I demand to have Eucharist" in the first place is not Catholic.
If a person is that spiritually immature, I would be inclined to agree any marriage was not licit. When people complain about this issue and I know it can be hurtful especially for the person who did not want the divorce, I ask them have you prayed about this? Have you really prayed about it? Do you know that spiritual communion can be satisfying? Do you know that there are people all over the world who can not receive for various reasons. Some only see a priest once a month etc.
BFL
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