Joe Zammit, Paola
When divorce can be ‘tolerated’ by the Church
Some are getting mixed up on account of paragraph 2383 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Others even go so far, mistakenly, as to describe it as a case of divorce accepted by the Catholic Church. Par. 2383 states:
“…If civil divorce remains the only possible way of ensuring certain legal rights, the care of the children, or the protection of inheritance, it can be tolerated and does not constitute a moral offence.”
According to par. 2384 “Divorce is a grave offence against the natural law”. A “grave offence” means “a grave sin”. So, how is par. 2383 tolerating it?
This is a case where the validly married spouse is constrained by law of the country to accept divorce as the only possible way for certain legal rights, even to have an effective annulment by the Church. This provision of the Catechism is in no way favouring divorce or rendering it not sinful.
The Church is saying “tolerated”,that is, the action for divorce is made by the validly married spouses externally only, not internally, materially only and not formally, without the intention of having their marriage actually dissolved. So, after the divorce decree, the married spouses still continue to consider their marriage valid before God and the Catholic Church and do not enter into another relationship, let alone contract another marriage, unless, of course, they get a Church annulment.
That is why divorce is here said to be “tolerated” because the spouses (1) are constrained to take that step, (2) do not consider their marriage dissolved and (3) do not enter into another relationship.
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Emma Xerri
Oct 14th 2010, 23:39
"When divorce can be ‘tolerated’ by the Church"
Divorce is being 'tolerated' by the Church in all countries except for Malta and another country.
All we are saying is that the Church has to start 'tolerating' divorce here also, just as it does 60 miles north of Malta and in all Western Democracies.
To be sure, Divorce is a Secular issue, so the Church really has no business getting involved in Divorce legislation not more than it should get involved in the running of the Inland Revenue, the Health Department or any other Governmental entities and most certainly the Church has no business dictating to the Government what legislation it should or shouldn't have. Imagine if the situation was reversed, and the Government imposed its views and regulations on the Cannon Law of the Church!
Gerry Cowie
Oct 14th 2010, 23:24
@William P Flynn of Australia - the people of Malta are majority Catholic whether you like it or not! Leave them to make their own minds up, please! They are not interested on your relentless attacks on the Church from which you lapsed and seem to hate so much. Malta is not interested in your constant rants against the Church in what you call "Mickey Mouse Malta"! The fact that the Catechism of the Catholic Church does not have any meaning for you in Australia is meaningless! The fact is that the people of Malta, being fervent believers in God, are not going to be swayed by your athiest, secularist tendencies!
Only the voting public of Malta can have a say in what happens in their country - not us tourists!
In Catholic countries which Malta shall remain, secularism and atheism are tolerated but nobody cares what secularists or atheists have to say on issues affecting Catholics!
KEEP ARTICLE 2!
Charles Grixti
Oct 16th 2010, 05:45
That is easy for you to say Mr. Cowie, since you are writing from a country where divorce is available to you if you need it (unless of course you are a man of the cloth, then it really should be none of your business, in whichever country you live).
Nominally the Maltese are Catholic, but if I remember correctly, the previous Pope said that belonging to the Catholic Church is not an a la carte menu, and judging just by the way the Maltese practice the Catholic faith (including the copious use of birth control) then by the Church's own definition, and standards the majority of Maltese fall short and are in fact de facto NONE Catholics. So let us stop this farce and hypocrisy and bring it on - Divorce that is.
Pule' Carmel
Oct 14th 2010, 20:46
The responsibility of Divorce is very heavy to carry due to diverse unknown consequences, and it will not be shouldered by any formal organised institution. What will happen eventually is that the decision will be left entirely to the concience of the interested parties and whatever decision they should take , it will be respected or tolerated by other institutions. This I see as the only manner in which everybody will save face!
During my lifetime I found institutions very interesting as on occassions when examinations were involved I was asked to pass and prompote students when in fact they had failed. Whenever this happened, I told these institutions to let me fail the students and then as authority then they could overrule me. There was not a single occassion when the authorities took the responsiblity to overrule my decision to fail students. I believe there seems to ba a relation here to the divorce situation,as if " I cannot change my rules but I shall tolerate your decision if you care to make it yourself!"
M Vella
Oct 14th 2010, 17:43
Joe it is far more important to have loving parents than wedded parents.
patrick zammit
Oct 14th 2010, 17:24
A simple wiki search for marriage shows that:
“For most of European history, marriage was more or less a business agreement between two families who arranged the marriages of their children.
From the early Christian era (30 to 325 CE), marriage was thought of as primarily a private matter,[citation needed] with no uniform religious or other ceremony being required.”
So, limiting ourselves to the situation in Europe only, man started to mix marriage with religion less than 2,000 years ago despite his presence in Europe for the last 22,000 years or so.
Now, if god really exists and the religious aspect of marriage was so important, why did he leave it so late to show us the correct way it should be done?
victor pulis
Oct 14th 2010, 16:49
According to par. 2384 “Divorce is a grave offence against the natural law”.
Marriage has got nothing to do with natural law. You are mixing the reproductive act which is natural and marriage which is a man made institution to help a smooth running society. Marriage rules keep changing through the years that's why we find cases where a barren woman offers her handmaiden to her husband to produce sons (Abraham's wife Sara and Hagar) we find instances where a man could have two wives. (Deuteronomy 21:15) just to name two examples. In today's society unfortunately mrriages break up irrevocably and no amount of preparation will save all marriages. Ths is a fact.
victor caruana
Oct 14th 2010, 15:28
Joe zammit believes that marraige produces some chemical reaction between the spouses. I do not know if he is married, but believe, me the chemical reaction tends to get highly diluted in time. What i cannot stand is that only the church can determine when such chemical reaction (joe zammit's concept of marraige) had in fact not occurred.
The referendum is coming. battle cry of 'divorce never' sounds bizarre now.
JOSEPH ZAMMIT
Oct 14th 2010, 15:03
When will Joe Zammit try to understand--at least try--that laws in Malta are not influenced by what the Catechism says. The Church has no monopoly on our souls and minds--except for those who willingly submit to it.
I am starting to doubt that this issue of divorce is a business thing for the church, because when divorce becomes a law, the fees for church annulments will drastically diminish.
K J Vella
Oct 14th 2010, 14:07
Dear Mr Zammit, is this your interpretation or an official one? where is the official evidence supporting your claims?
Alex Caffari
Oct 14th 2010, 13:16
With all due respect Joe, you are NOT an ordained priest with authority to speak on behalf of the church.
Stop trying to mislead people. The church does not need you to discredit it. It does a good enough job on its own.
Joseph MELI
Oct 14th 2010, 17:11
Well then Peter Gould of the BBC on 28th January, 2008 reported that as from the day he became Pope, John Paul II has been an uncompromising defender of traditional church beliefs. His conservative views on such contentious issues such as divorce, contraception and abortion.
He took the unprecedented step of divorce and that of re-marriage. That is the point at which you can no longer receive communion. "So he said that when someone re-marries, they tend to take their whole family outurging Catholic lawyers have to refuse to act for couples, either Catholic or non-Catholic, who are in the process of splitting up?
He has noted the figures showing how the divorce rate has been steadily rising, particularly in Western societies. Some Vatican observers believe that he sees the Church as a kind of "counter culture", in which divine law takes precedence over civil laws passed by governments.
But his call was to..remind Catholic lawyers so..as..to boycott divorce cases on moral grounds has startled some...church members. Some said "I am astonished," said one British lay Catholic, who asked not to be named and was never...named. But then if he does would have to..suffer..the..consequencies..after..death..[Continued].
Joseph MELI
Oct 14th 2010, 17:16
[Continuation on what Peter Gould reported on BBC]:............ "As far as the church is concerned, the real problem has not been civil of the church with them, and it has led to a diminution of Catholic congregations. He said that "It is a huge pastoral problem, and this will only make it worse."
Being the spiritual leader [Late Pope..John..Paul..II] of one billion Catholics around the world. His pronouncements on social issues telling lawyers to refuse acting for such couples may have a direct bearing on the lives of the faithful.
His attitude towards family life is well documented. He has repeatedly spoken out in defence of marriage and explained that it was and remain as a life long unity, and is now warning about the "spreading plague" of divorce which is spreading all over the world against the wish and laws of God. Catholics are in no doubt to take note of what the late pope said and review again and again what this Pope (who is soon to be declared to be a saint) said on marriages, and we are facing this matter day and night with separations. What is then the solution for..better...families?
Karl Farrugia
Oct 14th 2010, 12:30
I would like to highlight 1 point in your argument: Catechism of the Catholic Church. In other words, the basic rules and explanations for the Catholic. If a person is a devout Catholic and his marriage is falling apart, then he should, by all means, refer to par. 2383.
For the rest of us, like Atheists, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Agnostics, Buddhists, Shintoists, Protestant Christians, and maybe non-devout Catholics, those rules are as meaningless as paragraph 5 in Chapter 3 of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Probably slightly less.
So Mr. Zammit, if you decide you need to separate from your wife, and are facing the dilemma "should I divorce or not?", I am glad to hear that you know what your religion teaches you.
P. Gatt
Oct 14th 2010, 11:24
U-Turn much?
William P Flynn
Oct 14th 2010, 10:54
When will Joe Zammit understand that people don't care about the Catechism when they are forced to separate or divorce? Isn’t there proof of this enough in Paola; even in his own street, perhaps?
Who cares about para this and para that of the Catechism? Except priests and people like him? It's all wasted on them anyhow as they've never been married and it's certainly wasted on mużewmini because they don't marry either.
The church doesn't tolerate divorce. In countries where there is divorce law, it insists on it before it even accepts an annulment application. This will be the case in Malta too soon after the proposed referendum.
In secular countries, the church is just another marriage celebrant as an agent for the state. It's in the same category as the marriage celebrant dressed as Elvis Presley or Darth Vader in Las Vegas.
In secular countries which hopefully soon Malta shall be, the church is tolerated and no one care what it tolerates or not except its members.