Monday, August 30, 2004
First, an analysis from lovely Marcia
We have such a divorce mentality today that we THINK that the Church must
change Her teachings in order to allow those of us divorced our 'rights'.
But where else does the Church 'have' to do this? In Her teachings on
contraception? In Her teachings on Euthanasia? In Her teachings on
Homosexuality? We put our 'compassion' many times in the wrong places and
often make things worse. "Current practice" in the US is not always in
line with the Church teachings in MANY areas, as dissent is so very
prevalent, even among our Tribunals, some of our hierarchy, etc.
I realize we have Canon lawyers here who may disagree with me. But even
among Canon Lawyers, there are many who do. Simply because it happens here
in the USA does not mean we are correct in some of our interpretations and
practices. There is a huge disparity in the number of null verdicts here
when looked at world-wide. I can't debate, but can point to
http://www.defendingholymatrimony.org/html/contents.html for the Holy
Father's words, and to Fr Hettinger and others who agree with him.
Many times, the justification for the drastic increase of null verdicts is
the dramatic rise in divorces, in failed marriage. So, rather than looking
honestly at why this has happened, and understanding that no fault or
forced divorce has made it unilaterally easy for one party to get a
divorce for a myriad of reasons that have nothing to do with valid
grounds, today it is almost universally assumed that if a divorce has
taken place, it was not 'valid'.
No fault divorce became legal in the same year that abortion became legal,
1973, and is driven by the same spirit. We have raised an entire
generation with this same mentality. Abortion is legal. Divorce is easy
and legal. But it is one sided, most times. Very few are 'mutually'
wanted. It is another way to destroy what God created, and we have bought
the lie.
Marcia
change Her teachings in order to allow those of us divorced our 'rights'.
But where else does the Church 'have' to do this? In Her teachings on
contraception? In Her teachings on Euthanasia? In Her teachings on
Homosexuality? We put our 'compassion' many times in the wrong places and
often make things worse. "Current practice" in the US is not always in
line with the Church teachings in MANY areas, as dissent is so very
prevalent, even among our Tribunals, some of our hierarchy, etc.
I realize we have Canon lawyers here who may disagree with me. But even
among Canon Lawyers, there are many who do. Simply because it happens here
in the USA does not mean we are correct in some of our interpretations and
practices. There is a huge disparity in the number of null verdicts here
when looked at world-wide. I can't debate, but can point to
http://www.defendingholymatrimony.org/html/contents.html for the Holy
Father's words, and to Fr Hettinger and others who agree with him.
Many times, the justification for the drastic increase of null verdicts is
the dramatic rise in divorces, in failed marriage. So, rather than looking
honestly at why this has happened, and understanding that no fault or
forced divorce has made it unilaterally easy for one party to get a
divorce for a myriad of reasons that have nothing to do with valid
grounds, today it is almost universally assumed that if a divorce has
taken place, it was not 'valid'.
No fault divorce became legal in the same year that abortion became legal,
1973, and is driven by the same spirit. We have raised an entire
generation with this same mentality. Abortion is legal. Divorce is easy
and legal. But it is one sided, most times. Very few are 'mutually'
wanted. It is another way to destroy what God created, and we have bought
the lie.
Marcia
