Pope calls Synod on the Family, Evangelization

[sw85]

Ok how should the church address this situation:

Mother if five
Catholic
Married a catholic in the Catholic Church

Husband abandons her and the kids

Wife remarries (Should she have to choose between being destitute or an adulterer?)

Is she really an adulterer?

Well, yes. When you are married to one person and you begin to sleep with someone else you are committing adultery.

Now in many cases one is not culpable for this – having been terribly and scandalously catechized, a person may well be unaware that marriage is indissoluble and that remarriage is impossible; or they may have fallen away from the Church earlier and come back only after a second or third marriage. In that case the person is in a legitimately difficult position for which they are at most minimally responsible.

But here again there is no difficulty in figuring out what to do even if there is great difficulty in doing it. That person cannot abandon their family, but neither can they continue to participate in an adulterous conjugal union. If they continue to sleep with their new “spouse” then they are no longer committing merely material adultery but formal adultery. At that point it becomes a mortal sin.

The pastoral challenge as such is explaining the situation to the person without them leaving the Church for greener pastures (i.e., a church that will give them greater sexual license).

 

[Jon_S_1]

The concept of annulment is logically sound. If a sacrament can happen, it can also not happen but look like it did.

Past that, how it is carried out in practice is a practical matter, I will admit. But I still cannot wrap my head around how you legitimately say it is okay for divorced and "re"married people to receive Communion any more than it is okay for people perpetually in any kind of sin to receive Communion. It just. does. not. work. in. my. brain.

I think it would only work retroactively, for example, there are many converts to the faith that remarriage was perfectly acceptable in their previous experience.

So in a situation like that, where they came and sought forgiveness, then it could be forgiven and move on. At the very least the culpability of such a case would be very low.

Another area I could see them making done changes would be abandonment. Sort of along the lines of Pauline Priviledge.

We will see, but I am excited to see what they come up with. This is an area that keeps many people from becoming Catholic, and if we can find an avenue for them to become Catholic that is ideal!

 

[McCall1981]

Well, yes. When you are married to one person and you begin to sleep with someone else you are committing adultery.

Now in many cases one is not culpable for this – having been terribly and scandalously catechized, a person may well be unaware that marriage is indissoluble and that remarriage is impossible; or they may have fallen away from the Church earlier and come back only after a second or third marriage. In that case the person is in a legitimately difficult position for which they are at most minimally responsible.

But here again there is no difficulty in figuring out what to do even if there is great difficulty in doing it. That person cannot abandon their family, but neither can they continue to participate in an adulterous conjugal union. If they continue to sleep with their new “spouse” then they are no longer committing merely material adultery but formal adultery. At that point it becomes a mortal sin.

The pastoral challenge as such is explaining the situation to the person without them leaving the Church for greener pastures (i.e., a church that will give them greater sexual license).

So then the “pastoral solutions” they are looking for are things like how to explain to people, how to support people in that situation? Not changing the teaching, but how to practically apply it in the best possible way?

 

[YoungTradCath]

I think it would only work retroactively, for example, there are many converts to the faith that remarriage was perfectly acceptable in their previous experience.

So in a situation like that, where they came and sought forgiveness, then it could be forgiven and move on. At the very least the culpability of such a case would be very low.

Another area I could see them making done changes would be abandonment. Sort of along the lines of Pauline Priviledge.

We will see, but I am excited to see what they come up with. This is an area that keeps many people from becoming Catholic, and if we can find an avenue for them to become Catholic that is ideal!

But by becoming Catholic and being catechized on the indissolubility of marriage, they thenceforth become guilty of their state in life. It doesn’t just “move on.” If someone partakes in a particular sinful act, doesn’t know it’s sinful, becomes Catholic, is catechized about it, but still does it, he thenceforth is sinning by partaking in it.

Pretending one is married to someone whom one is not married to is not just a one-time thing that can be forgiven and bam it’s over; it is an ongoing thing that, even if one is forgiven it, one is still living a lie as soon as one steps out of the confessional, essentially. The sin resumes because the person presumes himself to be married to someone he is not and cannot be married to.

It still does not work logically.

 

[Jon_S_1]

Interesting article about Pope Francis speaking on this;

ncregister.com/daily-news/pope-francis-desires-to-draw-remarried-people-to-christ/

“Catholic doctrine reminds its divorced members who have remarried that they are not excommunicated — even though they live in a situation on the margin of what indissolubility of marriage and the sacrament of marriage require of them — and they are asked to integrate into the parish life,” he says in his newly translated book On Heaven and Earth.

Read more: ncregister.com/daily-news/pope-francis-desires-to-draw-remarried-people-to-christ/#ixzz2hBN464mR

 

[Jon_S_1]

But by becoming Catholic and being catechized on the indissolubility of marriage, they thenceforth become guilty of their state in life. It doesn’t just “move on.” If someone partakes in a particular sinful act, doesn’t know it’s sinful, becomes Catholic, is catechized about it, but still does it, he thenceforth is sinning by partaking in it.

Pretending one is married to someone whom one is not married to is not just a one-time thing that can be forgiven and bam it’s over; it is an ongoing thing that, even if one is forgiven it, one is still living a lie as soon as one steps out of the confessional, essentially. The sin resumes because the person presumes himself to be married to someone he is not and cannot be married to.

It still does not work logically.

I understand what your saying.

What about this;

A woman has her tubes tied. 5 years later she becomes Catholic, and repents of the sin, and yet the sin continues as every time the marriage act is performed there is no openness to life?

This person can be forgiven.

What about someone who mutilated their body. Maybe gender reassignment. Then 5 years later they convert and repent. The DESIRE TO CHANGE but it is impossible to do so. This person can receive communion too.

Could not some remarriage (not all) but some fall into a similar category?

You may be right on this, but these are the questions I personally have.

 

[janeway529]

So then the “pastoral solutions” they are looking for are things like how to explain to people, how to support people in that situation? Not changing the teaching, but how to practically apply it in the best possible way?

I think the related field is what is known as Pastoral Theology.

 

[sw85]

I think it would only work retroactively, for example, there are many converts to the faith that remarriage was perfectly acceptable in their previous experience.

So in a situation like that, where they came and sought forgiveness, then it could be forgiven and move on. At the very least the culpability of such a case would be very low.

Another area I could see them making done changes would be abandonment. Sort of along the lines of Pauline Priviledge.

We will see, but I am excited to see what they come up with. This is an area that keeps many people from becoming Catholic, and if we can find an avenue for them to become Catholic that is ideal!

The Church can forgive sins (where the sinner is repentant) but it cannot dissolve sacramental marriages. That is de fide. All that is necessary for sacramental marriage to take place is a baptized man and woman and the intention to marry. Pauline privilege concerns dissolution of natural marriages which of course the Church can dissolve (properly speaking any competent ecclesiastical authority – Moses could dissolve natural marriages for instance).

So then the “pastoral solutions” they are looking for are things like how to explain to people, how to support people in that situation? Not changing the teaching, but how to practically apply it in the best possible way?

As far as I can see, yes. Maybe the synod can come up with a different solution but I cannot imagine what it would look like.

Benedict said before that while remarried persons who are not living continently cannot be readmitted to communion, this does not mean they are shut completely out of the life of the Church, so the pastoral solution would seem to involve finding other ways to incorporate them into that life. The problem is that since such a solution is clearly not coming from the laity it would have to come from the clergy and we are currently governed by a Pope who publicly opposes clericalism. Another problem is whether such solutions will seduce remarried persons to a false sense of security about the state of their souls which would obviously remain imperiled. A third problem is that “prevention is the best medicine,” which means we would have to talk about marriage, often, and at Mass, which is the only place where we can reach most of these people, because clearly the Church has failed at catechizing people about marriage – the break began, like most evils of the modern age, in the 60s/70s/80s – yet we are again currently governed by a Pope who thinks we should be talking less about these kinds of things, not more, so it is not clear to me that there is a solution that (a) maintains the Pope’s pastoral initiatives, (b) is pleasing to the bishops, (c) does not offend against Eucharistic devotion, and (d) actually addresses the concrete situation of remarried persons.

 

[McCall1981]

Interesting article about Pope Francis speaking on this;

ncregister.com/daily-news/pope-francis-desires-to-draw-remarried-people-to-christ/

“Catholic doctrine reminds its divorced members who have remarried that they are not excommunicated — even though they live in a situation on the margin of what indissolubility of marriage and the sacrament of marriage require of them — and they are asked to integrate into the parish life,” he says in his newly translated book On Heaven and Earth.

Read more: ncregister.com/daily-news/pope-francis-desires-to-draw-remarried-people-to-christ/#ixzz2hBN464mR

This is the kind of thing I hope theyre talking about, I can totally support something like this.

Being integrated into Parish life, not feeling excluded, then yes, absolutely, lets think of great ways to do that. Just dont try to break or sneak around the teaching.

 

[YoungTradCath]

I understand what your saying.

What about this;

A woman has her tubes tied. 5 years later she becomes Catholic, and repents of the sin, and yet the sin continues as every time the marriage act is performed there is no openness to life?

This person can be forgiven.

What about someone who mutilated their body. Maybe gender reassignment. Then 5 years later they convert and repent. The DESIRE TO CHANGE but it is impossible to do so. This person can receive communion too.

Could not some remarriage (not all) but some fall into a similar category?

You may be right on this, but these are the questions I personally have.

Yes, but a tubal ligation is a one-time thing. It is not comparable to a human relationship. A relationship is ongoing. A tubal ligation is a one-time procedure. Both can be forgiven, but because of their natures, they are very different. The sin does not continue in the case of a tubal ligation.

 

[McCall1981]

For reference, this is what the Catechism says about this issue:

1650 Today there are numerous Catholics in many countries who have recourse to civil divorce and contract new civil unions. In fidelity to the words of Jesus Christ - “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery"160 the Church maintains that a new union cannot be recognized as valid, if the first marriage was. If the divorced are remarried civilly, they find themselves in a situation that objectively contravenes God’s law. Consequently, they cannot receive Eucharistic communion as long as this situation persists. For the same reason, they cannot exercise certain ecclesial responsibilities. Reconciliation through the sacrament of Penance can be granted only to those who have repented for having violated the sign of the covenant and of fidelity to Christ, and who are committed to living in complete continence.
1651 Toward Christians who live in this situation, and who often keep the faith and desire to bring up their children in a Christian manner, priests and the whole community must manifest an attentive solicitude, so that they do not consider themselves separated from the Church, in whose life they can and must participate as baptized persons:
They should be encouraged to listen to the Word of God, to attend the Sacrifice of the Mass, to persevere in prayer, to contribute to works of charity and to community efforts for justice, to bring up their children in the Christian faith, to cultivate the spirit and practice of penance and thus implore, day by day, God’s grace.161"

Seems pretty clear. I hope these are the kinds of things they will discuss, not the teaching itself. Francis seems to reference the Catechism a lot, so maybe this is what he’s thinking about.

 

[McCall1981]

And this is how the remarried people receiving communion was explained to me (by Br. Jay):

The doctrine is that one cannot be married, if one is already married, regardless of what divorce courts say. That second marriage is invalid. That’s doctrine.

The doctrine never said that they cannot receive Holy Communion. The whole issue around Holy Communion is more complicated than a simple doctrine.

One cannot receive Holy Communion if one is in a state of grave sin. You have to go to confession.

But when you go to confession, you must be sorry for your sin and you must promise to TRY to behave.

One who is in an invalid marriage and has no plans to get out of an invalid marriage, can’t promise to try to be good. The priest cannot give him absolution. If the priest cannot give him absolution, how can he go to Holy Communion.

The whole issue of Holy Communion is an issue of logic, not doctrine.

 

[livingwordunity]

There is nothing on earth that is more important than the family. This is very much needed with all the confusion going on in the secular world about how to define marriage and family.

 

[McCall1981]

Some interesting quotes from Card. Pell on the upcoming Synod:

"In an Oct. 9 interview with EWTN News, Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia – also among the eight council members – spoke on the theme of the upcoming synod, “The pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization.”

“The family is a fundamental element in society, we speak of the family as the domestic church, its fundamental to the church, its fundamental to the life of society,” he stressed, “The family weakens, society weakens.”

“We believe the Christian teaching on marriage is beautiful and life-giving, and it’s worked for two thousand years and we want to be able to put together new strategies to give people hope.”

The plan for the synod at this time, he noted is to “bring together the Christian teaching and the analyses of the situation, and these go out in different parts of the world…there will be different strategies to confront that.”

ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=8596

 

[McCall1981]

Here are some good comments on the Synod from Bishop Egan of England:

Next year’s synod on the family and evangelization is a chance to renew family life and the Catholic vision of marriage, Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth, England has said.
“How might we educate, form and support Catholics to embrace with joy the Church’s vision and to put it into practice?” the bishop asked.
The extraordinary synod will be held at the Vatican in October 2014 to discuss the pastoral care of the family and pastoral challenges in the context of evangelization. About 150 leading bishops are expected to attend.
Bishop Egan, in an Oct. 15 letter to the clergy and laity of his diocese, said the synod is an opportunity to reflect on marriage preparation, the valid celebration of marriage, and pastoral care and support for married couples and family life.
The bishop hopes the synod will help foster “a renewed appreciation of the demanding yet beautiful vision of marriage and family life that the Church presents us with.”
He said this renewal is “so evidently necessary” given the decline of committed lifelong marriage and the rise of cohabitation.
Catholic marriages in the Plymouth diocese numbered 1,319 in the year 1962, but there were only 566 marriages in 2012 despite a 25 percent rise in the diocese’s Catholic population.
Bishop Egan said the synod is an opportunity for Catholics in the diocese “to articulate once again the teaching of Jesus and his Church on marriage and family life, and to explore new ways of showing mercy to those in difficulty.”
He said he hopes Pope Francis’ call for the extraordinary synod will help the diocese develop new resources, including a comprehensive “spiritual, theological and practical” marriage preparation program.
The bishop also voiced hope that the synod will help “find new ways of celebrating and supporting parents, married couples and Christian family life.” He suggested the development of new ways to celebrate engagements, marriages, and significant anniversaries in family life.
Among his suggestions was the creation of a “family manual” for the diocese that contains Scripture passages, Church teaching, a proposed life plan and simple prayers for meals, for sick family members, for departed loved ones and for cemetery visits.
“We need to share wisdom and good practice in parenting skills, in bringing up children, in creating a happy home, in honoring grandparents and our relations, and in living as a family the routines of being ‘the domestic church,’ such as attending Sunday Mass,” Bishop Egan said.
He suggested that families be encouraged to keep fast days and feast days, to develop family activities for the liturgical seasons, to say the family rosary, the Divine Office and mealtime prayers, and to set up a small altar or sacred space in the home.
Bishop Egan’s final hope for the synod is that it will renew attention to the situation of Catholics who are in “irregular unions” or who are divorced and remarried.
“Is there some way of affording them mercy, help and reconciliation?” he asked.
He is hopeful that the synod will offer some help for non-Catholics who wish to enter the Church but are prevented because of irregularities in their marital status or their partner’s marital status.
In focusing on family issues, he said, Catholics must not forget to “love, care and support all people, including those who are single.”
“Let us ask the Lord Jesus to pour out the many gifts of the Holy Spirit upon us all, above all on our families,” Bishop Egan concluded.

ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/World.php?id=8641

 

[McCall1981]

This is a pretty informative article on the upcoming Synod from Jimmy Akin:

ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/will-there-be-an-earthquake-at-the-extraordinary-synod-12-things-to-know-an