Bishop Tobin on divorce: Changes needed in approach, not teaching

[_Abyssinia]

Providence, R.I., Sep 17, 2014 / 09:43 am (CNA).- The dilemma of divorced and remarried Catholics should prompt consideration of changes in the Church’s approach to annulments and the Eucharist, but without compromising Church teaching, said Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence, R.I.

“The challenge for the Church, of course, is how to maintain and proclaim the irrefutable teaching of our Lord Jesus that marriage entails a sacred and permanent bond between husband and wife, while also providing spiritual care for those Catholics who have fallen short of the ideal,” he said in a column written for the local diocesan paper, the Rhode Island Catholic.

“Although the teaching of Christ and His Church about the permanence of marriage is clear and undeniable, the lived reality is that many individuals, for a variety of reasons perhaps – personal, catechetical or cultural – are ill-equipped to fulfill the lofty demands of the law,” he said.

catholicnewsagency.com/news/bishop-tobin-on-divorce-changes-must-be-made-in-approach-not-teaching-34428/

 

[McCall1981]

Hm, not sure what to make of this. Given the headline, the column that Bishop Tobin wrote wasn’t what I was expecting at all

 

[Eternal_One]

I dont understand. People are ill equipped to fulfill the demands of marriage these days he asserts, so wouldn’t it logically follow that people should not be married at all as opposed to being lenient on second, third, fourth, marriages?