Divorce is a moral issue too (2)

Unfortunately it is not only lay people who use the media to confuse the issues in the divorce debate under the guise of intelligent debate.

Fr Joe Borg (The Sunday Times, October 26) believes that having two priests disagree on such a fundamental issue as the reneging of marriage vows, should not elicit feelings of scandal or astonishment.

I find it very strange that Fr Borg, among others, also thinks that one's conscience can be divorced from one's religious convictions.

If in your conscience, fortified by your beliefs, you believe certain legislation is not in the interest of the common good, how can you act otherwise?

It is taken as granted that people in responsible and powerful positions are dutybound to be coherent with their beliefs and make judgments conscientiously and not capriciously.

Divorce is not the only issue this affects.

I would expect politicians who profess to be Catholics not only to oppose divorce, but also to work towards promoting family integrity by curbing gambling and pornography, fighting for a healthier environment and to help support small family enterprises in their struggle to compete with the ever-increasing predominance of powerful business interests.

Fr Anton Gouder just stated the obvious. No one is forcing anyone to be a Catholic. However, if they choose to be so, there should be no dichotomy between their beliefs and their public life. It is disheartening, to put it mildly, to see a priest of Fr Borg's calibre trying to bring such fundamental facts into question.