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At Long Last, Many Divorced And Remarried Catholics Say They No Longer Feel Like Outcasts
Washington Post ^ | April 10, 2016 | Julie Zauzmer and and Michelle Boorstein

Posted on 04/10/2016 11:19:46 AM PDT by Steelfish

At Long Last, Many Divorced And Remarried Catholics Say They No Longer Feel Like Outcasts

Maria Olsen of Fairhaven, Md., in the chapel at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart,, regrets that her divorced father, who left the Church over being denied Holy Communion, never received the kind of affirmation being offered by Pope Francis.

By Julie Zauzmer and and Michelle Boorstein April 9

Olsen recalled her divorced father dropping her and her brother, then ages 6 and 5, at the curb outside their Kensington, Md., parish on Sundays. Her father was so committed to the Catholic Church, she said, that he wanted his children to attend Mass despite the fact that he and his ex-wife were unable to receive the key rite of Communion and no longer felt welcome in the church.

“I felt like we were the only kids without parents,” said Olsen, a mother of two who lives in Fairhaven, Md.

As an adult, Olsen has been able to make peace with her faith, remaining heavily involved in her parish while confidently rejecting teachings she considers manmade flaws. But she regrets that her father, like so many other divorced Catholics who have left the church, never received the kind of affirmation offered by Francis in his dramatic call for tolerance toward families the church officially views as nontraditional.

Francis’s long-awaited document, “Amoris Laetitia” — Latin for “the Joy of Love” — didn’t lift the ban on Communion for Catholics who divorce and remarry without an annulment, but he seemingly has made room for priests and laypeople to make such decisions together on a case-by-case basis.

This measure of outreach, (snip) appears to have brought comfort to many among the millions affected by previous Catholic teachings on marriage that have drawn bright lines.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Theology
KEYWORDS: popefrancis
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1 posted on 04/10/2016 11:19:46 AM PDT by Steelfish
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To: Steelfish

“Catholics” should be in quotes.


2 posted on 04/10/2016 11:20:32 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it." --Samuel Clemens)
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To: Steelfish

“....didn’t lift the ban on Communion for Catholics who divorce and remarry without an annulment, but he seemingly has made room for priests and laypeople to make such decisions together on a case-by-case basis.”

Sooooooo....what is it?...how can priests and lay people “make decisions together on a case-by-case basis” if the ban hasn’t been lifted?


3 posted on 04/10/2016 11:23:59 AM PDT by Bishop_Malachi (Liberal Socialism - A philosophy which advocates spreading a low standard of living equally.)
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To: Bishop_Malachi

Francis is expanding the contours of annulment. The decision by the local Church constitutes the annulment.


4 posted on 04/10/2016 11:26:37 AM PDT by Steelfish
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To: Bishop_Malachi

depends on how much the meaning of the word “case” is worth.


5 posted on 04/10/2016 11:27:48 AM PDT by stylin19a
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To: Steelfish

So all divorces become annulments, if asked for?


6 posted on 04/10/2016 11:28:47 AM PDT by ConservativeMind ("Humane" = "Don't pen up pets or eat meat, but allow infanticide, abortion, and euthanasia.")
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To: ConservativeMind

No.


7 posted on 04/10/2016 11:31:28 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (Mater et Magistra.)
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To: Steelfish

So how much is an annulment now, the last one cost me about $800? It was back in the 70’s but it was well worth it.


8 posted on 04/10/2016 11:34:57 AM PDT by Bringbackthedraft (HILLARY 2016 - SERIOUSLY? What are they thinking?)
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To: Bringbackthedraft

LOL! Sounds like they’re now going to be handed out like Easter candy.


9 posted on 04/10/2016 11:37:54 AM PDT by miss marmelstein (Richard the Third: With my own people alone I should like to drive away the Turks (Muslims))
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To: Steelfish

Regardless of official church doctrine, my impression is anyone can attend a Catholic mass and receive communion. No one checks if the person is divorced.


10 posted on 04/10/2016 11:39:51 AM PDT by vekzen
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To: vekzen

Not so easy.

Q. 1. Does the Catholic Church teach anything about people receiving Communion while in a state of sin, such as those living common-law?

A. 1. In the Holy Bible, we read,

“Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.” [1 Cor. 11:27]

Regarding this Bible verse, the Catholic Church teaches that Catholics must receive the Holy Eucharist in a state of grace. Catholics must go to Confession prior to receiving Holy Communion if they are in a state of mortal sin. For it is serious to consume the Holy Eucharist without believing that it is truly the Body (the Real Presence) of Jesus. To do so is a desecration.

In 1 Corinthian 11:27, Paul says that eating or drinking in an unworthy manner is equivalent to profaning (literally, murdering) the Body and Blood of the Lord. If the Eucharist was but a symbol, as the Protestant believe, one could not be guilty of actually profaning (murdering) Jesus in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. We cannot murder a symbol. But here, in this verse, Saint Paul, the divinely inspired apostle of God, makes it clear that when you receive Communion in an unworthy manner, you are profaning the Body and Blood of Christ. Such a behaviour is total disrespect for the Sacred Person of Christ.

In the same Chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul continues by saying, “”For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against tehmselves. For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.” [1 Cor. 11:29-30] In other words, those who receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist in an unworthy manner, in a state of mortal sin, they can expect to be punished by God by illness or death.


11 posted on 04/10/2016 11:44:31 AM PDT by Steelfish
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To: Steelfish
... “Amoris Laetitia” — Latin for “the Joy of Love”...

Not exactly.

Confirmed: Amoris Laetitia Means, “The Joy of Sodomy”

12 posted on 04/10/2016 11:47:23 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: Steelfish

Frannie high five’s Satan


13 posted on 04/10/2016 11:56:01 AM PDT by knarf
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To: Steelfish
. . .confidently rejecting teachings she considers manmade flaws

Like this one, no doubt: "I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery."

14 posted on 04/10/2016 11:57:29 AM PDT by madprof98
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To: Steelfish

This Pope!/ face palm. Our Carmelite priests said, “When the 60s generation passes, the Catholic Church will come back to normal.” May it be, Lord.


15 posted on 04/10/2016 12:03:16 PM PDT by bboop (does not suffer fools gladly)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Catholic-lite.


16 posted on 04/10/2016 12:09:18 PM PDT by Tallguy
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To: bboop

[[When the 60s generation passes, the Catholic Church will come back to normal.]]

Nope. Once you let sin-free divorce out of the barn, you’ll never get it back.

Worst Pope since Borgia.


17 posted on 04/10/2016 12:09:26 PM PDT by heye2monn
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To: Steelfish

Francis is expanding the contours of annulment. The decision by the local Church constitutes the annulment.
= = = = = = = = = = =
I was raised Catholic in the 40s/50s/ and got away from it when I went in the Navy.
I compounded my ‘leaving’ by marrying out of the Faith in 1962 and got a divorce in 2004.
Shortly after the Divorce I was talking to a Priest and inquired as to coming back into the fold and what it would entail.
He suggested bringing the ex and he would counsel us - I told him that wasn’t going to happen.

He took my confession (I basically said give me ‘one of everything’ - for brevity sake).

He ‘absolved’ me and served Communion the following Sunday - he nodded to me so the fact I was recognized at the altar and had awaited HIM to serve me - (Old standards are hard to forget) led me to believe everything was ‘ok’.

I was surprised when I heard the Pope’s remarks the other day, I though that had been resolved.

The Priest in question died about a year later. He had a ‘social’ disease and possibly taking me back in the ‘fold’ was an act of defiance on his part????

FWIW, I did NOT like the ‘New’ church - any part of it, so I went back to ‘self administering’ and in essence am probably a ‘better’ Catholic than the pols that claim it and continue to back EVERYTHING that we were taught was against the religion back in the 50s.


18 posted on 04/10/2016 12:18:29 PM PDT by xrmusn ((6/98)"Pols headstone- Please bury me not so deep so I can continue to fleece the sheep")
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To: Steelfish
Her father was so committed to the Catholic Church

Bwahahahaha, ROTFLMAO, hehehehe, snort.

.

he and his ex-wife were unable to receive the key rite of Communion

Because they got a divorce? If he were truly committed to the Catholic Church, he would have spent the ten minutes it would have taken to clear up his ignorance.

19 posted on 04/10/2016 12:24:49 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (The Democrats are going into full Alinsky mode against Trump.)
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To: Steelfish
As far as the public knows, the Catholic Church approves of adultery, and there are no mortal sins.

Wow. Just wow.

20 posted on 04/10/2016 12:26:43 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (The Democrats are going into full Alinsky mode against Trump.)
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