Pope rejects easier divorce rules

[saylo]

His Holiness Pope benedict reminds Catholics especially to reflect on the dissoluble nature of Holy Matrimony

www.thestar.com/News/World/article/499266

 

[LMP]

Long ago, when we were first married, my husband’s brother asked that we fill out some forms which he then would submit to the church in requesting an annulment. My husband’s brother had been married almost 20 years and had sired three wonderful children. Sadly, the choice he and his then-wife made was to divorce.

My husband’s brother didn’t have any other love interests at the time of the divorce. The marriage was just not working out, I guess.

I remember, though, the struggle that I and my husband had with filling the witness papers out. We didn’t want to offend the brother, nor the then-wife. We decided to focus on the children and stressed in the papers that the children be educated as to what exactly annulment was and how annulment affected them.
We truthfully only wrote the facts and no personal comments. We then left the review up to the proper people at the church.

The annulment was granted.

To this day, I wonder, in God’s eyes, in God’s heart—really— how does HE see this act of annulment? If HE were the one reviewing the papers, what would HE have done. I, deep down, believe that the church made an error in this particular case. This twenty-year marriage DID happen and WAS valid, in my eyes. I made the error of feeling pressured into being a “fence sitter,” and not having the courage to say what I truly believed.

Yet, it is so-o-o-o difficult and humanly impossible to exactly-sure-know what God is thinking about the matter. We must just resort to absolute trust that God will handle these thorny issues with his overwhelming love when all is said and done. We must just try to do the best we humanly can in cases such as these, and hope that we are acting as God truly wants us to act.

 

[tee_eff_em]

His Holiness Pope benedict reminds Catholics especially to reflect on the

dissoluble

nature of Holy Matrimony

I think you mean: indissoluble.
LMP;4179600:

We truthfully only wrote the facts and no personal comments. We then left the review up to the proper people at the church.

The annulment was granted.

… This twenty-year marriage DID happen and WAS valid, in my eyes. I made the error of feeling pressured into being a “fence sitter,” and not having the courage to say what I truly believed.

I have never been party nor witness to an annulment, but my understanding is: They deal only in facts, not beliefs. You did the right thing, and I can only offer that, as a witness, you did not have *all *the facts at hand (only those known to you).

:twocents:
tee

 

[saylo]

I think you mean: indissoluble.

I have never been party nor witness to an annulment, but my understanding is: They deal only in facts, not beliefs. You did the right thing, and I can only offer that, as a witness, you did not have *all *the facts at hand (only those known to you).

:twocents:
tee

Thanks for correcting “dissoluble” and another thanks for putting it in red…a real eye-catcher.

 

[LMP]

You did the right thing, and I can only offer that, as a witness, you did not have *all *the facts at hand (only those known to you). :twocents:tee

Facts vs beliefs…interesting
So when can beliefs be facts? So when can facts be beliefs?
In this particular case above, my beliefs were NOT facts, evidently.
I didn’t have the courage to include my non-fact beliefs, because I thought that it would hurt the process and make the divorcing couple mad at ME.
I think there is a teaching point here somewhere.

 

[tee_eff_em]

Facts vs beliefs…interesting
So when can beliefs be facts? So when can facts be beliefs?
In this particular case above, my beliefs were NOT facts, evidently.
I didn’t have the courage to include my non-fact beliefs, because I thought that it would hurt the process and make the divorcing couple mad at ME.
I think there is a teaching point here somewhere.

I did not mean to disparage beliefs, only to note that one may be mistaken in his beliefs if he does not have the facts.

For instance, in one situation I have knowledge of, I am sure everyone in the church *believed *a marriage had been properly entered into. Everyone except the bridesmaids (including the groom’s sisters), who had been witness to the bride stating *“Well, if it doesn’t work out we can always get a divorce” *immediately prior to the ceremony. This *fact *(among others, I presume) was considered when the putative marriage was later declared to have been null.

tee

 

[LMP]

No, it was the dress that made the bridesmaid wonder. HA