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- Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
- Path: sparky!uunet!paladin.american.edu!auvm!EVOLVING.COM!JWW
- Message-ID: <9212291649.AA74351@evolving.com>
- Newsgroups: bit.listserv.catholic
- Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 09:49:08 -0700
- Sender: Free Catholic Mailing List <CATHOLIC@AUVM.BITNET>
- From: "John W. Woolley" <jww@EVOLVING.COM>
- Subject: Forwarded mail, and comments
- Lines: 131
-
- I'm posting this for someone who can't (yet) post directly; she asked
- that I forward it to the group, and not include her address.
-
- ***********************************
-
- Hi. I'm new to the net, so forgive me if this topic has been covered
- before and tell me to (groan) shut up if it has. I really want some
- feedback, though.
-
- I've listened to Marty et al discuss the marriage laws and I've listened
- with interest to the problems of getting a single parent's child baptized.
- Why is the compassion shown for an infant "bastard" and her young parents
- not shown for divorcees? Forgive me if my anger/pain/bewilderment/sense of
- betrayal shows, but that's the point of this posting.
-
- I have frequently said over the last five years that I would have been
- better off killing my ex (not that he deserved it -- he's a good man). I
- then could have gone to confession, said a sincere Act of Contrition, and
- remained in the Catholic body of Christ. As it is, I survived four years
- of attending mass and not taking communion. The pain didn't diminish-- it
- built. I could take the self-righteous comments from the laity and
- occasional dolt of a priest ("Didn't you try to save your marriage?" has
- got to rank as one of the stupidest questions of all time), but the
- repeated pain of being denied communion became a conditioned response.
- After a couple years, I couldn't enter a Catholic church without feeling
- pain. Worshipping God is not supposed to hurt, guys. (I notice only one
- woman currently posting -- interesting.) Even though I reamined an active
- parishioner, helping to run the catechism office, raising my son Catholic,
- and participating in adult ed, I felt more and more like a pariah.
- Confession wasn't possible; I did not, do not, and never will regret
- divorcing my ex. What's more, after years of prayer and meditation prior
- to the act, I am convinced that God understood, forgave, and, I think, even
- condoned.
-
- Why is it that divorce is the one sin the Church has no forgiveness for?
-
- I know, I'm rambling. Sorry. I just passed my first Christmas since
- leaving the Church. With very great regret, I left New Year's Eve of last
- year. I simply couldn't take the pain any longer. The Anglican communion
- is the true sacrament and they don't mind ministering to sinners. But I
- still, and always will, miss the Church. For the record, some of the
- people who love the Church the most can be found kneeling next to me on
- Sundays.
-
- I guess what I'm asking is, DOES ANYBODY CARE??? The church that I was
- taught was supposed to minister to me in my time of need turned her back so
- fast, you would have thought I was an AIDs victim. I take that back -- the
- Church has been a leader in compassion towards the AIDs victims.
-
- Yes, I caused part of the problem myself. I refuse to go through the
- hypocracy of an annulment. That marriage lasted 18 years, produced two
- fine children, and was a real marriage in every sense. I won't pretent to
- a lie otherwise. I also won't spend the rest of my life paying for a sin
- God has forgiven even if man can't. I like men, I date, and I someday hope
- to remarry. I won't cut myself off from half the human race and feel
- myself shriveling inside as I become more and more isolated. Such self
- destruction is against my understanding of God's will for me. I know in my
- heart that God wants me to recover and rebuild my life. I also know that
- the majority of divorced Catholics do as my ex and his wife do -- "fake
- it". No one knows and no one (intentionally?) asks if they are married in
- the eyes of the Church. I don't judge them their solution to the problem,
- and it is a VERY common solution, but years of 12 Step programs have taught
- me that I can't avail myself of that kind of dishonesty.
-
- I found my spiritual solution in talking to a divorced Episcopalian priest.
- Maybe his warmth was one of empathy -- he certainly had to deal with the
- same theological questions I was struggling with. It's interesting to note
- that he, and indirectly I, owe the answer to a Luther minister/friend of
- his. The answer is simple: Christ came to forgive sins. IF the failure of
- one's marriage is a result of sin (another discussion, another time),
- Christ's forgiveness is there for the asking.
-
- Marty, your dissertation of the marriage laws was eloquent, but is there a
- possibility (sorry--I'm being facetious) that the law has grown to stand in
- the way of love?
-
- One last request: JJ, hold your comments for now, please? I heard from
- all the law-and-order people I wanted to hear from before deciding to
- leave. I know the law, I know the price I have to pay and I knew it before
- asking for the divorce. Just don't rub salt in the wounds, okay?
-
- Colleen
-
- ***********************************
-
- Colleen, you didn't exactly ask my opinions, but you did say you wanted
- feedback, and I thought there are a couple of things that ought to be
- clarified.
-
- First, divorce, per se, isn't a sin; and most emphatically isn't an
- unforgiveable sin. You're divorced -- but that fact can't and doesn't
- excommunicate you. Divorce certainly often involves various sins, but
- there are situations in which it is not only lawful, but a positive
- duty. To attempt remarriage while your husband is alive would be
- adulterous, and gravely sinful -- but you haven't done that!
-
- Secondly, you should know that your honesty, your refusal to lie in
- order to obtain a judicial "annulment" is absolutely praiseworthy. The
- whole Church would be far healthier if more people had your courage.
-
- I see only one possible reason for which a moral theologian might
- caution you against receiving Communion -- serious unrepented sin.
-
- For instance, it's conceivable that your divorce involved some
- serious sin on your part of which you have not repented (which might
- or might not have included an unwillingness to "work things out", but
- with your "ex" remarried you don't have any choices along those lines
- now, if you ever did). Or your intention to remarry someday might be
- construed as a fault of faith, a refusal to believe or to be bound
- by Catholic doctrine; but that would depend on just how firm an
- intention it is. (If you really and actually are planning to commit
- a grave sin, that planning is a sin now, today.) Or -- you know your
- heart far better than I can -- maybe there's another problem somewhere.
-
- What I'm saying is that you're exactly right when you say
- > The answer is simple: Christ came to forgive sins. IF the failure of
- > one's marriage is a result of sin (another discussion, another time),
- > Christ's forgiveness is there for the asking.
-
- In any case, your divorce is not considered by either the Roman or
- the Anglican church as an automatically excommunicating offense; and
- since events have made a reconciliation with your husband virtually
- impossible even if you wanted it, reconciliation is a moot point.
- Please, for your heart's peace and for all the Church's good, find a
- good priest and explain the situation. Confession shouldn't be the
- least bit impossible in your position, and you needn't feel shut away
- from Communion.
-
- Be assured, you're in my prayers.
-
- -- Fr. John
-