Posted on 10/24/2013 7:26:48 AM PDT by Morgana
VATICAN CITY, October 22, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a lengthy essay strongly reaffirming the Catholic Church’s teaching on the impermissibility of divorced and remarried Catholics receiving Communion, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith also linked the validity of Catholic marriages to the couple’s openness to children – a requirement that, he said, is often sadly lacking in marriages today.
“Today’s mentality is largely opposed to the Christian understanding of marriage, with regard to its indissolubility and its openness to children,” said Archbishop Gerhard Müller, writing in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. “Because many Christians are influenced by this, marriages nowadays are probably invalid more often than they were previously, because there is a lack of desire for marriage in accordance with Catholic teaching, and there is too little socialization within an environment of faith.”
This statement was welcomed by pro-life activist Anthony Ozimic, communications manager of UK-based pro-life and pro-family lobbyists, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC).
“We are particularly grateful to read the archbishop's clear statement linking openness to children to the validity of marriage,” Ozimic told LifeSiteNews.com. “As Pope Francis made clear in his first encyclical Lumen Fidei, the life-bearing potential of heterosexuality is a prerequisite of marriage. Abortion, contraception, sterilization and same-sex relationships are all therefore incompatible with marriage.”
“This message must be made clear to legislators and policy-makers who claim to support marriage but at the same time support practices which are closed to the gift of life," said Ozimic.
The statement from Archbishop Müller also reflects the thoughts of Pope Francis as explained in his interview returning from World Youth Day in Rio, where he said:
Cardinal Quarracino, my predecessor, used to say that as far as he was concerned, half of all marriages are null. But why did he say this? Because people get married lacking maturity, they get married without realizing that it is a life-long commitment, they get married because society tells them they have to get married.
And this is where the pastoral care of marriage also comes in. And then there is the legal problem of matrimonial nullity, this has to be reviewed, because ecclesiastical tribunals are not sufficient for this. It is complex, the problem of the pastoral care of marriage.
During the same in-flight interview Pope Francis had revealed that the upcoming synod of bishops on the family set for next October will address the issue.
The Code of Canon law of the Catholic Church clearly recognizes openness to children as a pre-requisite for a valid sacramental marriage.
The Code states in Canon 1069: “For matrimonial consent to exist, the contracting parties must be at least not ignorant that marriage is a permanent partnership between a man and a woman ordered to the procreation of offspring by means of some sexual cooperation. “
Certain dioceses in the United States have spelled out that not being open to children from the beginning of a marriage, invalidates the marriage. The process for considering a marriage “annulled” - meaning it never validly existed and thus the partners are free to marry others - asks, “whether or not the two people entering into that union were both knowledgeable and capable, and whether they intended to live out the essential obligations of the vocation.”
Sr. Kathleen Bierne, PBVM, the Director of the Tribunal for the Diocese of New Ulm in Minnesota explains in a paper on the diocesan website: “If this study finds that something was missing in their consent, or the union did not, from the beginning, possess the essential qualities of permanence, fidelity, openness to children and openness to the spouse, then the Church, through the office of the diocesan tribunal, may grant a declaration that from the beginning this was not a valid/sacramental bond.”
See the full article from the Vatican newspaper here. http://www.osservatoreromano.va/portal/dt
Okay, that is fine. I take it that SSM is right out, then?
So if I may...A man that married a woman with no intention of procreating, assuming it was possible, would not be entering into a valid marriage and, in fact, it would be invalid from the beginning?
The reason why I ask is because I have a Catholic prayer book which has a section on the sacraments and it includes a section for a marriage ceremony and it does carry the question although it says it can be omitted if the couple is advance in years.
I was very fortunate to have two awesome priests walk me through the marriage prep. One of them is a former fighter pilot and as a vet myself we click on a few levels. He was married for many years and only became a priest after his wife passed on. He told me, “As you get older, you have to stay in shape for your wife because physical attraction is an important component of a healthy marriage. If you can’t see your d-—, there’s a problem.”
I’m also fortunate to be friends with some very devout catholic families and one thing that strikes me is how happy they are. Prayer and participation in the sacraments as husband and wife is like a waterfall of grace that helps in dealing with life’s problems.
Yes.
Yes, of course. The fact that this is “controversial” puts the decline of Western civilization firmly in perspective.
By contraception or abortion? Which is your poison? Or both?
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Natural family planning never enter your lexicon?
As markomalley said, any couple can be willing to receive the children God gives them. I and all my “old mother” friends share some hysterical laughter over people’s idea that women in their 40s or 50s can’t have children, btw. The oldest verified natural conception and delivery was to a 56-year-old mother. (It came up on FR once.)
But even a couple in their 80s can be morally open to children.
Did you miss the article also on natural family planning today or yesterday on this very forum?
Not everything is binary. There is, in this instance, a third way.
I have nothing but admiration for your family values. The only toddlers I want running in around my house at my age (55) are grandkids (of which I now have 2).
And I’m quite happy they go home with their parents (my kids) most all the time. The occasional weekend, fine, full time, not so much. Been there, done that. Loved every (nearly every) minute of it. But the baton has been passed to the next generation.
I thank both that priest who has served in the armed forces and you both for your service to the USA.
Everyone makes his own decisions. My husband is 50 and I’m 47. We would prefer not to have a baby at this point in our lives, for health reasons and to support the needs of our other children. We’re trying to get two extremely intelligent slacker youth into college in the next 9 months!
However, we are open to life in the sense that we are neither contracepting artificially nor sterilized. If we conceive a child, either today or five years from now, we will accept that as what God wants for us, with the proviso that He knows best.
Medical issues made our future choices moot. Wife no longer has the internal organs necessary for conception.
But 3 kids was our choice.
That happens. If circumstances outside your control aligned with what you would have chosen anyway, that’s great.
“Most Catholics don’t seek annulments. A murder trial would be less stressful.”
Ask OJ Simpson.
“Wife no longer has the internal organs necessary for conception.
But 3 kids was our choice.”
Well you did get three gifts from God.
Wouldn’t that describe the Catholic view of the marriage of Joseph and Mary? An unconsummated and invalid marriage?
I’m actually unclear on this. I am now reading that one would be valid, but I think there is more to that. Maybe someone else knows more about this.
that's why they are called Protestants.....you do realize, of course, that the protestant church banned birth control up until the 20th century????
that would be an invalid marriage.....keep her as a girlfriend, don't have sex, and live happily everafter persueing whatever goals that you have!!!!
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