Were the hatred and extreme stances worth the damage that had been caused? The debate about divorce had become too extreme. As stated many a time, as a Christian I must be against divorce, but I also admit that no one can live in a time warp, ignoring the harsh facts of life.
Some decades ago Malta had faced a morality problem with the introduction of the two-piece bathing costumes. Nowadays very few have any idea about those supposedly avant-garde feminine costumes. The wearing of such a costume was illegal and a few tourists had been warned and some even fined. Within a few years each piece started getting smaller, reaching bikini proportions until now some are hardly bigger that micro strips. When the debate was ongoing I had stated that given a few years no one would bother anymore. This does not mean that some females are not sexually suggestive if not outright immoral. But time is the best healer, and like it or not, hardly any bathers would be seen without exposing as much flesh as possible.
The same will soon happen about divorce. I would venture to state that within a few years the divorce debacle will be forgotten. The problem thus has been shifted but the damage currently done will not be possible to erase. We all know what had happened 50 years ago with the result that thousands had been alienated from the Church, and even worse, from Christ. Marriage is one of the most complex affairs faced by any couple throughout civilisation. Present marriages can only be compared to those of the past by cross-relation between different cultures. The main problem(s) is not divorce and separations. Divorce is like the smoke that indicates a fire. Divorce is the final stage of an accumulation of problems. Has the ecclesiastical authorities and the civil government ever studied what brings a complete breakdown between two persons who would have been so much in love as to promise each other a never-ending commitment?
The damage done could be irreparable. Each side had built high walls and got entrenched in its arguments. But what will be the end result? Will fewer couples risk tying up the knot? Will more people be alienated from the Church? I hope that I am wrong. To me it seemed that no side was ready to appreciate the arguments of the other. No side seemed ready to reach a suitable compromise. Both give the impression of being intransigent.
I hope this will serve as a lesson against radical and extreme religious fanaticism. Some give the impression of being puritanical or adherents to SSPX and Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre and against Vatican II. Christianity is all about unity and brotherly love. Definitely Christianity is not about imposition.
The age of the Inquisitor has long been over. Those that want to believe should be free to do so, but at the same time no one should be forced by the use of terroristic stances. Please stop causing any more damage and let us all find a way how we could seek national reconciliation.