At the liberal US Catholic I saw a piece from the RNS, rarely anything but left-leaning, there is a completely irresponsible claim about the book on marriage about which I have written several times.
Here is the offending quote.
VATICAN CITY ( RNS) Pope Francis has appointed a special commission to look at ways to make it easier for Roman Catholics to dissolve their marriages in the eyes of the church.
The goal of the 11-member commission announced Saturday (Sept. 20), is to reform the process, “with the objective of simplifying its procedure, making it more streamlined.”
The weekend announcement came as a bitter clash emerged among cardinals over the church’s approach to marriage, divorce and remarriage. [“bitter clash”? BITTER? Does the writer know anything about this issue?]
According to church law, Catholics can obtain annulments if they can show their marriage was not valid. But if they opt out of the annulment process, divorce in civil court and then remarry, the church may refuse them Communion.
Five cardinals are publishing a new book reinforcing the sanctity of marriage next week, only days before the world’s bishops gather in Rome for a conference on the subject. The synod will consider issues including divorce, cohabitation, domestic violence and gay unions.
[…]
Just try to find anything in the “five cardinal” book that is bitter. Just try to find something in the issue of Communio that is bitter. Just try to find something bitter in the new book with the foreward by Card. Pell.
There is nothing “bitter” about the debate going on, unless it is in that bitter whining from the side that is having its proverbial lunch eaten by the side who are faithfully – and courteously – defending the indissolubility of marriage and present praxis.
Pope Francis asked for discussion, study, debate. He is getting exactly what he asked for. If people want to throw down, as Card. Kasper did in the consistory and has consistently done since then, they had better expect a proportional response.
“The synod will consider issues including divorce, cohabitation, domestic violence and gay unions.”
So the synod is considering the issue of gay unions? Did I miss something or is the author as confused about this as she is about “bitter clashes”?
When the survey questions came around to our diocese, there was stuff in there about how we should manage the children of gay unions (natural or adopted children) to ensure that they got a good chance of having a Catholic upbringing, even though they were living with parents who were in a morally fraught situation – this was not the children’s doing, so they shouldn’t have to suffer.
That’s all I remember about gay unions.
My favourite bit is here:
But if they opt out of the annulment process, divorce in civil court and then remarry, the church may refuse them Communion.
This inadvertently shows that it’s a multi-step process, and one where a person can actually step off the roundabout at any time and still be admitted to Holy Communion. You have to be really determined if you want to get yourself excommunicated.
According to church law, Catholics can obtain annulments if they can show their marriage was not valid.
This sentence betrays a certain lamentable mindset whereby people think that an annulment can be “obtained” following a divorce. If a marriage took place then it is valid and there is no way to “obtain” an annulment. The marriage remains no matter what. I can obtain a pair of snakeskin boots if I have the money. But I can never “obtain” an annulment. Perhaps I (Quintus) thought that I got married in New York but I really didn’t because the bride (Guendolina) lied to me and didn’t tell me that she was already married (to Gaius) in New Jersey. An annulment would merely confirm the error/deception. But Catholics cannot “obtain” annulments just because they want them by proving that their marriage was not valid. If there is a marriage, it is valid. Unless there was no marriage. But there is no such thing as a marriage that is not valid.
Love your last line Father. Right on!
A side note I have been in wisconsin from canada on business, precisely in the town of baraboo, so I have been praying for you and the extraordinary ordinary of Madison. I tried doing an online donation for your trip to Rome, but I cannot enter a Canadian province as part of my address even though I have noted the country of residence as Canada. Can you help?
Maybe the clash isn’t so bitter at all:
“Spanish Bishop: Pope Said He Won’t Change Communion Rule”
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/spanish-bishop-pope-said-he-wont-change-communion-rule/
VERY GOOD NEWS!
Bishop Demetrio Fernandez of Cordoba, Spain says that, during an ad limina visit earlier this year, Pope Francis said that there will no be change on communion for the divorced and remarried. He claims that the Holy Father said, “the Pope cannot change” what Jesus Christ has instituted. Check out the news story at Catholic World Report:
http://www.catholicworldreport.com/NewsBriefs/Default.aspx?rssGuid=spanish-bishop-pope-says-he-will-not-change-communion-rule-51174/
The author of the US Catholic article seems unfamiliar with the mechanics of the annulment process based on the article’s statement “But if they opt out of the annulment process, divorce in civil court and then remarry, the church may refuse them Communion.” While it’s true that remarriage without obtaining an annulment bars the couple from Communion, the annulment process itself (at least in the United States) cannot be initiated until a civil divorce has been obtained.
That’s the name of my new band, Bitter Clash! We just decided on the name last night in the garage.
Those Cardinals…. those bitter clingers.
The writer gets it wrong from the very first sentence: “Pope Francis has appointed a special commission to look at ways to make it easier for Roman Catholics to dissolve their marriages in the eyes of the church.”
Dissolve? Really?
Philippa Martyr says:
25 September 2014 at 1:25 am
“When the survey questions came around to our diocese, there was stuff in there about how we should manage the children of gay unions (natural or adopted children) to ensure that they got a good chance of having a Catholic upbringing, even though they were living with parents who were in a morally fraught situation – this was not the children’s doing, so they shouldn’t have to suffer.
That’s all I remember about gay unions.”
That is correct. In Argentina I recall Francis addressed this topic many times. He specifically said that the Church can not and will not abandon these children that do not grow up with a mother and a father ,
Kapotera ck:
Holy Father said, “the Pope cannot change” what Jesus Christ has instituted.
Clear as it gets right?
In an interview with the newspaper Diario Cordoba, Bishop Fernandez said, “We asked the Pope himself, and he responded that a person married in the Church who has divorced and entered into a new civil marriage cannot approach the sacraments.”??
“The Pope said that ‘this was established by Jesus Christ and the Pope cannot change it,’” he added.
And they talked in good old spanish. No translation or interpretation or any of that.
There’s an interesting article over at Rorate Caeli about a coup by German prelates at the Synod.
One statement by Cardinal Marx stands out and is self-revealing:
“Cardinal Marx’s words then, are rather pleasing to the movement, provided that they are not only on paper: “Only a rapid, captivating, human-centered reform can contribute to fill the abyss that separates the traditional doctrine of the Church from the reality of faithful Catholics regarding sexual morality.”
“Human-centered” reform? I guess God is left out of the picture, let human-centeredness reign and fill the abyss between God’s teachings (Traditional Doctrine of the Church) and “faithful?” Catholics.
Boy! Do we need to double/triple our prayers!