In a speech to priests of the diocese, Pope Benedict XVI reiterated Catholic teaching that members of the flock who have been divorced and remarried are in an irregular situation regarding the sacraments and may not receive Communion.
The Catholic Church still holds that remarriage after divorce, though extremely common, is the moral equivalent of adultery, and so bars a person in such circumstances from receiving Communion.
“I would say that a particularly painful situation is that of those who were married in the church, but were not really believers and did so just for tradition, and then finding themselves in a new, nonvalid marriage, convert, find the faith and feel excluded from the sacrament,” he said.
Protecting the feelings of people in such situations, however, is not held as sufficient reason to admit them to Communion. Calling modern marriage a sacrament that is frequently “celebrated without faith,” the Pope reiterated that for a priest to give Communion under such circumstances would only serve to further undermine the integrity of marriage.
14 comments:
Here's a question on this: Do Catholics believe this has any bearing on salvation?
The reason I ask this is because I have a friend who is Catholic (well, I actually have MANY friends who are Catholic, but the story is about this one in particular). She wanted to marry a non-Catholic who was divorced. She was never married before. She was told by her bishop that her fiance had to get an annulment through the Catholic church for him and his ex-wife. Their marraige didn't end on good terms, and out of spite, she refused to do any of the paperwork, and they eventually completely lost contact with her (she moved). The bishop forbid her to marry in a Catholic church. He also said if she was married to him, the Catholic church would not recognize it. She ended up getting married in a Presbyterian church, and the Catholic church believes she is living in sin.
Thoughts on this? Is their marraige valid? What should they have done differently? Is she barred from taking communion in the Catholic church?
Let me clairify.
Friend: Never married.
Her fiance: Married before and divorced. Non-Catholic.
Fiance's ex-wife: Non-Catholic, refuses to do the paperwork for annulment.
Bishop says friend and fiance can't get married because fiance's marraige isn't annulled by the Catholic church.
Sorry, if I was a bit vague.
I'm no expert on this but I will tell you in the eyes of the church, if the marriage is not valid, it's adultry and that would have an impact on salvation.
People always toss their emotions in this and it becomes the big bad Catholic church aginst some poor couple in love.
I would say the Catholic firm and strong stance on marriage should be cheered by all christians.
If the person is not Catholic, then why should the Catholic church have the right to declare a marriage of another faith invalid?
What so hard to understand about "Till Death do us part"? A person says "I do" and then wants to change the rules.
I would say this wold be a true test of faith and love.
I don't understand where in Scripture the church administrators are given the right to with hold communion unless that person has been booted out of fellowship.
Mark-
If a church has the right to "boot one out of fellowship" then why would they not have the right to rebuke and disipline those outside church teaching?
We are called by scripture to teach rebuke our brothers and sister in sin. Any Christian who is commiting adultry is falsly presenting themself before the Lord and his Church even if they are giving the host.
You can not have communion if you are not in union.
If the person is not Catholic, then why should the Catholic church have the right to declare a marriage of another faith invalid?
The problem was that the church considered the marraige between the two non-Catholics as valid, but their divorce is invalid, hence my Catholic friend was trying to marry a man who was already married according to church rules.
I wasn't trying to paint the Catholic church as "The big bad mean Catholic church", I was just wondering if anyone had an opinion on it, plus what they should have done differently, or what could be done now.
"Any Christian who is commiting adultry is falsly presenting themself before the Lord and his Church"
True.
"You can not have communion if you are not in union."
Not to get off topic - but then how could one remain 'with' a chruch that 'overlooks' sin? Judgment BEGINS at the House of God.
I was speaking in general terms. It was nothing directed at you.
The Catholic church recognizes marriage and baptims of all Christian denominations.
I think you may be misunderstanding this a bit.
It's not the denomination that grants the divorce. It's a court of law. The Catholic church in fact IS recognizing this person as divorced. That is why they would require anulment proceedings.
If you are divorced, you can NOT re-marry in the CC. Only if that marriage is declared invalid for a good reason would this be allowed. That requires evidence and testimony from all parties.
I understand the inability for this man's to obtain an anulment but this is the exact reason why the CC takes such a stong stand on marriage. People are meant to marry once. Not multiple times.
Ah. Gotcha.
"People are meant to marry once. Not multiple times."
Then anullment doesn't make much sense, seeing as it is used to permit subsequent marriages. At least this is how I see it.
What is it's official purpose - if not what's above?
"If a church has the right to "boot one out of fellowship" then why would they not have the right to rebuke and disipline those outside church teaching?"
~Because of what Paul said about leaving judging those outside the church to God, and dealing only with those inside. Am I reading your response right? I might not be.
"We are called by scripture to teach rebuke our brothers and sister in sin. Any Christian who is commiting adultry is falsly presenting themself before the Lord and his Church even if they are giving the host.
You can not have communion if you are not in union."
As far as discipline goes, I was referring specifically and only to the communion meal. Christ said to do this in remembrance of Him, and it is an action for believers to take in showing that they believe His sacrifice and await His return. I cannot see any justification for exclusion from this for a Christian until and unless they have been removed from fellowship entirely.
What I'm saying is, if they are still in fellowship, then they are still in fellowship.
There are several points here.
The RC church does not overlook sin. Many folks leave the chuch in "protest" because of the strong stance. These two people could go to JP and be married. I admire their desire to submit to the teaching of the RC church.
Anullment declares the marriage never was valid. Therefore it allows only one valid marriage. It's purpose is to prevent multiple marriages and provide a fair forum to those who wish to plead thier case.
Marriage is a sacrament. Not all those in fellowship are admited to all sacraments. It really has nothing to do with fellowship.
The communion meal to a Roman Catholic is the physical body and blood of Jesus. We are to repent of all know sins before we partake. This is simply loving disipline by the church as a consequence of divorce.
I don't mean to beat a dead horse here, but I have another question. In the bible, Christ says that the only reason people can get divorced is because of marital unfaithfulness. In Matthew 19:9, Jesus states:
"I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."
Does the RCC give allowences for people who were divorced because their spouse committed adultery?
I am asking this for informational purposes only. ;)
Oh sure, open another can of worms!
The short answer is no.
I don't know if I can address all the points here but I'll try.
I've looked at the passage in Matthew and it does not seem as clear to me. The exceptive clauses do not appear in Mark and Luke. How could Mark and Luke omit the one glaring exception that allows remarriage after divorce?
My other concern is the only thing to do for a faithful Christian couple who wanted a divorce would be to commit adultery, after which a dissolution of the marriage would be allowed. This would be an abuse of scripture.
A baptized couple can "remarry" after divorce only if the Church finds that a valid sacramental marriage never existed in the first place. The "remarriage" is actually their first marriage. If, however, the parties were genuinely and sacramentally married, they may in some cases live apart and even to obtain a legal separation, but they are not free to remarry. Even if the cause of the separation is based on adultry.
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