This is a dangerous business.
I am not alone in being concerned that the Pope's new instant annulment process is just a part of the stage-management that has been going on by the movers and shakers of the upcoming Synod. It seems clear enough - especially by the timing - that this is a maneuver to both win some hearts and minds - uncritical hearts and minds, that is - while at the same time greasing the skids for the more radical moves that are intended for October.
Even Cardinal Burke, who is more than a little familiar with the annulment process and was active in that arena in its liberalized state, is uneasy about this, calling the easing of the annulment process "sentimentalism and false compassion." What His Eminence did not say is that it was already far too easy to get one, and even on the flimsiest of pretexts.
Let us face some cold, hard facts. The annulment process in recent decades has been an absolute farce. In America especially. It is so farcical that critics of the Church have rightly called it "Catholic divorce". A good example: a man and a woman (known to this writer) married seventeen years and the parents of seven children were granted an annulment. No wife-beating was involved. The husband was far from perfect but the wife had had enough of him. So their marriage was declared to have "never existed in the first place".
Whether the husband was a bounder or not, they were still sacramentally married.
That is one story among thousands. The number of annulments granted in recent decades is by any standard ridiculous; in the past 2,000 years there were probably 82 annulments given by the Church. Now they give out 82 per day. It is as if the Marx Brothers were put in charge of marriage tribunals.
The cheers from Catholics anxious to dump their spouses is deafening. The cheers from supine clergymen supporting this new Francis edict are also deafening. Fence-sitting Catholics, always willing to give the benefit of the doubt, are cautiously optimistic by this. But all of these souls are falling into a booby-trap which will explode next month. By their cheers of support they are providing a faux consesus for a Pope who it seems wants to show a false mercy towards divorced and remarried people and, far worse, homosexual cohabitation. If the Modernists can gain Catholic support for this new "merciful" annulment process the laid trap will be snapped in a few weeks.
The earmarks of Hollywood-style PR do seem to be all over this. It reeks of contrivance. Once again our emotions are being manipulated by clever men. As far as the "merciful" aspect of this latest Francis move we remain sceptical. Our common sense tells us that even more chaos is ahead, courtesy of the strange man who now occupies the Petrine Office.
Since 2013 we have learned at least one thing: Pope Francis seems to enjoy throwing gasoline on roaring fires.
UPDATE 10 September 2015:
The great Robert de Mattei weighs in: http://eponymousflower.blogspot.com/2015/09/roberto-de-mattei-christian-matrimony.html
Aged Parent, there is no way that your eyes and ears would know all things about the marriage of that couple you mentioned. I am certainly not defending the devilish Pope Francis and I am sure that the annulment process has been abused by many these past few decades. I am only speaking up because the suspicions of others, and the unsolicited comments of others can be very hurtful and cause the parties involved to doubt the validity of their annulments. Not all who seek annulments do so for frivilous reasons like heretic Protestants that spit in God's face with their divorcing.
ReplyDeleteAs one involved in an annulment granted fourteen years ago, from a marriage that by all outward indications was valid, I can assure you that at least in my case the wisdom of Holy Mother Church was present (in a most amazing way) and prevailed over the Devil who sought to destroy two innocent souls. I cannot give details of course. I can only say that the judgment of an outsider's eyes is not always accurate and that caution should be taken and words carefully chosen so as not to condemn us all.
God bless you for fighting for the Truths of the Catholic Church.
I can't remember my google password. My name is Patricia A. Gallagher.
DeleteThis is very true. No one but the tribunal judge, the defender of the bond, and the advocates for petitioner and respondent are privy to every fact in any case for nullity.
While I agree the the current process can be and is abused by colluding spouses, lying wwitnesses, and "liberal" tribunals, I know that is not always the case.
I obtained a legitimate decree of nullity and have helped others with their cases. I would never suggest or tolerate dishonesty or encourage fraud.
All that said, the state of catechesis has been scandalously poor to non-existant and many in the hierarchy, down to the parish level, are the perpetrators.
The Church will suffer much before she recovers.
I am your friend:
ReplyDeleteYour comment is deeply appreciated. Thank you.
Thank you for your comment, Patrick.
ReplyDeleteI, for one, would like to stand up and state that MY annulment was one of convenience.
ReplyDeleteI deserved a life more to my liking, and I properly followed my mal-formed and twisted conscience, informed by my lust, infidelities, sloth, passions, and a myopic focus on my needs to the exclusion of my vows, spouse, children, and any and all other considerations, to seek out such priests, tribunals, bishops, and supporters who would facilitate my desires, and who would refrain from either judging or discouraging me in the self-centered pursuit of what I want.
I got my annulment. The Church says I can remarry.
Don't you dare make any comment that may seem to cast aspersions on my actions. You weren't there, you aren't me, and you certainly are not God.
I don't need to prove anything to anyone.
The only point I am trying to make is that we will NEVER see testimony like this from someone who's marriage has been annulled in one of the many diocesan tribunals that, for years on end, have found zero percent of their cases as contrary to nullity.
This is a painful subject, I know, but marriage is indissoluble. Even bad marriages are. Christ, Himself, said so.
God Bless.
Dear Anon:
ReplyDeleteYour comment took my breath away for a time, which is why it has taken me all day to respond.
To be brutally honest with one's self is the very definition of being a Catholic, and I thank you for writing what you did.
ap
Aged Parent,
ReplyDeleteI am sorry for writing what I did, but I felt I had to. I don't want to judge others, but based on my own experience, I know how weak we can be. Many of my gravest sins in my life, I committed because no one would tell me no, no one would judge me to be a bad person. Often I was encouraged. Sins like contraception, fornication, co-habitation, abortion. These are MY sins, for which I am responsible, and for which I will answer. But I often wonder, if I had been in a different environment, would I have committed them? All of those sins would have made you a pariah 60 years ago. Much like divorce.
I'm not married, and never have been. But what will marriage be tomorrow, when I think I have found that special person? And what can anyone do to ensure that it is valid? Roll the dice??? Wait twenty years to find out? Decide its not valid, pay off the wife, courts, and church, then try again? Just not even bother?
We are in deep, and I don't know how this will end.
I hope I can continue to trust in the Lord.
Thanks for your blog.