Summer 2002 Latin Mass Magazine

Divorced and Remarried Catholics: Diminished Imputability? by Father Brian W. Harrison, O.S. The Marriage of the Virgin by an anonymous artist of the Cusco School Editor’s note: This article is an abridged version of That is, a valid and consummated marriage between bap- a public lecture delivered in Saint Louis, Missouri, on tized persons is sacramental and indissoluble till the death March 22, 2015, at a dinner/forum hosted by Credo of the of one of the spouses, so that the attempted remarriage of Catholic Laity. either of them in any non-Catholic ceremony following di- vorce is not valid and falls under Christ’s explicit censure he topic for my talk tonight – the thesis that as being adulterous in nature. Therefore, absolution in the has become known in the last year or so as Sacrament of Penance and admission to the Eucharist is “the Kasper Proposal” – is, in my estimation, not possible for persons in such unions unless they make the gravest single moral and pastoral issue a firm commitment to practice continence, with care being T that has confronted the Catholic Church in taken in such cases to avoid possible scandal. the half-century that has now elapsed since the dispute Now, the proposal of Cardinal Kasper and others over contraception erupted with renewed force at the end (whom I will call “revisionists” for convenience) is to of Vatican Council II. As I am sure we are all aware, this mitigate this perennial doctrine and discipline in what they issue already promoted heated discussion at the 2014 say would be relatively few cases. They argue that Christ’s Extraordinary Synod of Bishops; and it will soon be “mercy” requires this change. My mode of argument will coming up again with even greater force and urgency at be to consider only the most plausible scenario that revi- the 2015 Ordinary session of the Synod. sionists are presenting in order to win over Catholic hearts and minds. For if it can be shown that even that situation Existing Catholic Teaching vs. the Revisionist Proposal will not justify the sacramental accommodation they are The perennial doctrine and discipline of the Catholic urging, then still less will other situations justify it. Church was reiterated by Pope Saint John Paul II in his We are asked to consider a Catholic woman whose 1981 Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, No. 84. husband, after some years of a satisfactory and valid 6 Summer 2015 Divorced and Remarried Catholics: Diminished Imputability? married life, has left her for another woman. There is no The Final Relatio of the 2014 Synod hope of reconciliation, since he is now civilly remarried Now we must ask: In what precise terms was this question with that woman. The Tribunal has turned down a petition formulated at last year’s preparatory Synod gathering? We for nullity, but the abandoned wife has also “remarried” see the answer to this question in Paragraph 52 of its final outside the Church and now has children by her new civil relatio, which reads in full as follows: husband. She is raising the children Catholic, taking them to Mass on Sundays, and longs to receive the spiritual 52. The synod Fathers also considered the possibility of sustenance of the Eucharist. However, while she would giving the divorced and remarried access to the Sacra- be willing to practice the sexual continence required by ments of Penance and the Eucharist. Some synod Fathers the Church up till now as a condition for her readmission insisted on maintaining the present discipline, because of to the Eucharist, this is unacceptable to the father of their the constitutive relationship between participation in the children. He has made it clear that if she were to start Eucharist and communion with the Church as well as her sleeping alone, he would leave her. Therefore, since the teaching on the indissoluble character of marriage. Others children need an intact home, with their father and mother proposed a more individualized approach, permitting together, the woman feels that the “lesser evil” is to con- access in certain situations and with certain well-defined tinue her intimate relationship with him. conditions, primarily in irreversible situations and those Now, according to the Church’s firm and perennial involving moral obligations towards children who would teaching, this woman’s continued have to endure unjust suffering. Access intimacy with her new partner for to the sacraments might take place the sake of the children is a clear in- if preceded by a penitential practice, stance of “doing evil that good may determined by the diocesan bishop. The come” which is forbidden in Sacred subject needs to be thoroughly exam- Scripture (cf. Rom. 3: 8) and by the ined, bearing in mind the distinction constant teaching of the Church. between an objective sinful situation Pope Saint John Paul II devoted five and extenuating circumstances, given articles of his Encyclical Veritatis that “imputability and responsibility Splendor (nos. 79-83) to a firm for an action can be diminished or even rebuttal and censure of this propor- nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, tionalist approach to moral ques- duress, fear, habit, inordinate attach- tions. The woman’s difficult duty in ments, and other psychological or so- Christ and the Samaritan Woman by Bloemaert this unhappy situation is to end her cial factors” (Catechism of the Catholic intimate relationship with the father Church, 1735). of their children and then, if he does Now, according to the Church’s in fact walk out on her, do her best to firm and perennial teaching, Now, it is relevant that just 57% work out whatever custody arrange- of the Fathers voted in favor of this ments seem most likely to minimize this woman’s continued paragraph – significantly less than the the negative effects on the children intimacy with her new partner two-thirds majority required to make of their parents’ separation. However, it a recommendation of the Synod as the revisionists are now asking, “Can- for the sake of the children is such. Also, it needs to be noted that not the Church show greater mercy a clear instance of “doing evil a misleading spin was given to this here? Could She not mitigate Her that good may come” which is Paragraph 52 in media reports that stern discipline by authorizing the said it actually proposes sacramental diocesan bishop to prescribe an itin- forbidden in Sacred Scripture Communion for some divorced and erary of prayer, fasting, and penance and by the constant teaching of remarried Catholics. This led to need- for this woman and then to appoint a the Church. less anguish and scandal; countless priest confessor to give her absolu- members of the faithful were thus led tion for her objectively adulterous to believe that more than half of these relationship so that she would then have renewed access representatives of the world’s Catholic bishops, in voting to the Eucharist while continuing in that relationship?” for Paragraph 52, thereby abandoned the firm teaching That, in a nutshell, is the great question confronting the and discipline of the Church. But the text of this para- Fathers of the upcoming Synod of Bishops in October graph does not propose any such revolutionary change. this year. Rather, it reports the fact that the Synod Fathers expressed Summer 2015 7 Divorced and Remarried Catholics: Diminished Imputability? conflicting views on this question, and then itrecommends mitigate their guilt sufficiently to open up a possible path nothing more than that the issue needs to be “studied to Holy Communion. Now, this issue seems not to have re- more deeply” (Italian approfondita). So, quite a few ceived much attention from Catholic scholars, so I want to Synod Fathers who voted for that paragraph were prob- consider it here, in accordance with the recommendation ably undecided about the matter. Furthermore, the fact that of Paragraph 52, and also with the corresponding Q. 38 40% of the Fathers voted against this paragraph indicates of the questionnaire sent out by the Synod Secretariat in widespread and deep opposition to the revisionist pro- preparation for this year’s October session. In regard to posal. They evidently considered the matter to be already divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, it asks, “What closed by Pope Saint John Paul II, so that re-opening it for are the prospects in such a case? What is possible?” “further examination” or “deeper study” of the question Article 1735 of the Catechism, cited in Paragraph 52 would be wrong. of the 2014 finalrelatio , states: “The imputability and In this context, revisionists often like to distinguish responsibility for an action can be diminished or even Church discipline sharply from Church doctrine, with nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, the implication that the former can inordinate attachments, and other psy- change while the latter cannot. But chological or social factors.” At this things are not as clear-cut as that. point we need to recall the three well- Merely human disciplinary laws can known conditions for mortal sin, as indeed change in accord with the confirmed by Saint John Paul II in the prudential judgment of the Church’s 1985 Apostolic Exhortation Reconcil- hierarchy. But some disciplinary mea- iatio et Paenitentia, and cited in CCC sures are inseparably linked to divine No. 1857: “Mortal sin is sin whose law – revealed truth – and thus can- object is grave matter and which is not change. And one of these is that Saint Paul by Jan Lievens also committed with full knowledge those in mortal sin may not approach and deliberate consent.” Now, we the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

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