IN CL 8/2/04, the Pope defended the Catholic Church’s practice of presuming a marriage valid unless serious proof is offered for its annulment.
His critics, he said, say this presumption is tied to ‘social and cultural situations from the past’, and a ‘relic of a time when those who requested a Church wedding understood and accepted that the sacrament included a lifelong pledge of fidelity and openness to having children and educating them in the faith’.
Why should this be a relic of the past?
Nowadays, sadly, priests routinely marry in the Catholic Church couples who are not churchgoers, are using contraception and do not plan to change their ways.
Why do we place on them the burden of an expected lifelong commitment when their choice of a church is often made for the wrong motives.
We need to explain the real meaning of all Catholic sacraments, using a gentle pastoral discernment of the religious position of those concerned and asking for a deferment until they appreciate something of the real meaning and responsibility involved in their request.
In the last story in Welcome Home (Ignatius Press), Terese Norris tells how her return to the Catholic Church was triggered by an air force chaplain who would not baptise her son until she went to confession and tried to believe in God again, as he said, ‘It would be like handing a child an ice-cream cone and not allowing him to taste it’.
She finishes her story by saying how eternally grateful she will always be to the chaplain who was brave enough to say ‘no, wait, there’s more’.
We need to stop apologising for the ‘hard’ Catholic teachings and start explaining why we need them and why Jesus taught them. Trust him.
PATRICIA BYRNES
Toowoomba, Qld
