NY Post: Pope Francis finally opens door to reconciliation for women after abortions? (Media Mangle)

GetReligion ^ | May 11, 2015 | Terry Mattingly

[redgolum]

For us, it would have been a five minute talk and a piece of paper. But I have felt (and still do) that the Bride is to be married in her home church, so we went to my LCMS pastor, and got him to sign off on me getting married in a Catholic church.

This was in the Lincoln, Nebraska diocese, a rather conservative one.

We did know couples who had a much harder road. They had married outside the Catholic Church, not sure what the specifics were, and had to abstain while getting the marriage regularized. They did, but the counseling sessions must have been rather interesting.

[Mrs. Don-o]

In an absolute sense, it's true that only God can forgive sin. In another sense, God has made our being forgiven , contingent upon our practice of forgiveness:

"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."

In yet another sense, there is a role of the Church in forgiving, since Christ told His disciples on the evening of His resurrection, "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; whose sins you shall retain, they are retained."

Whose sins YOU shall forgive; whose sins YOU shall retain.

That's what He said to His disciples after He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." In other words, He was talking to His gathered church.

[Tax-chick]

But enough of that irrelevant Bible stuff ...