Dear Chefboy,
I’m not trying to cast stones I’m just trying to make some things clearer for you. there was some debate in the Church about so called internal forum solutions during the 90’s they were cleared up by the intervention of the pope himself.
In his speeches to the Roman Rota he several times clearly condemned these practices as opposd to the truth. You can do a research on these in just some minutes if you don’t believe me.
I will pray for you because you need strenght in the situation that you are in.
Peace and all good.
In 1995, the pope addressed the Tribunal of the Roman Rota. The Rota acts, among other things, as the highest appeals court in marriage/nullity cases. Here are some excerpts from the pope’s directives:
"4. … it is helpful … to call the attention of ecclesiastical tribunals to the unacceptable consequences resulting from erroneous doctrinal approaches, which have negative repercussions on the administration of justice and, in a particular and even more serious way, on the handling of cases of marital nullity. …
"8. … An action deviating from the objective norm or law is thus morally reprehensible and must be considered as such: while it is true that humans must act in conformity with the judgment of their own conscience, it is equally true that the judgment of conscience cannot claim to establish the law. It can only recognize it and make it its own.
"9. While maintaining the distinction between the magisterial and jurisdictional functions, certainly in ecclesial society the judicial power also emanates from the more general ‘potestas regiminis,’ which in fact belongs to the Church by divine institution (c. 129, ?1), and is divided into three, namely, the ‘legislative, executive and judicial’ (c. 135, ?1). Therefore, whenever doubts arise as to the conformity of an act ?- for example, in the specific case of a marriage ?- with the objective norm, and consequently, the lawfulness or even the validity itself of such an act is called into question, reference must be made to the judgment correctly emanating from legitimate authority (cf. c. 135, ?3), and not to an alleged private judgment, and still less to the individual?s arbitrary conviction. This principle, also formally safeguarded by canon law, establishes:
"‘Even though the previous marriage is invalid or for any reason dissolved, it is not thereby lawful to contract another marriage before the nullity or the dissolution of the previous one has been established lawfully and with certainty’ (c. 1085, ?2).
"Whoever would presume to transgress the legislative provisions concerning the declaration of marital nullity would thus put himself outside, and indeed in a position antithetical to the Church?s authentic magisterium and to canonical legislation itself ?- a unifying and in some ways irreplaceable element for the unity of the Church. This principle applies to whatever involves not only substantive law, but also procedural legislation. This fact must be kept in mind in concrete cases and care should be taken to avoid answers and solutions ‘in foro interno,’[in the internal forum] as it were, to situations that are perhaps difficult but which can be dealt with and resolved only by respecting the canonical norms in force. This must be kept in mind particularly by pastors who may be tempted to distance themselves in substance from the established and approved procedures of the Code.
“Everyone should be reminded of the principle that, although the diocesan bishop has been granted the faculty to dispense, under specific conditions, from disciplinary laws, he is not permitted however to dispense ‘from procedural laws’ (c. 87, ?1).”
[The full text is at
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1995/february
What a sweet inspiration in your precious son. He is a gift from God, no matter what anyone tries to say.
I think Henry is having Selective Memory.
I have my own relationship with God as I hope you do.
