Despite the concern voiced by some bishops about the document's pastoral tone and content, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a pastoral letter on marriage Nov. 17.More to come. Stay tuned.
Nearly 100 changes in two rounds of amendments preceded the 180-45 vote in favor of "Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan" during the bishops' fall general assembly in Baltimore.
Two-thirds of the USCCB membership, or 175 votes, was required for passage. There were three abstentions.
An effort by retired Archbishop Francis T. Hurley of Anchorage, Alaska, to remand the document to the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth for rewriting failed 56-169, with three abstentions.
Archbishop Hurley said he had "nothing to offer in terms of changing a line here and there" but wanted to see the pastoral letter expanded in some areas, switched around in sections and rewritten to incorporate parts of "Caritas in Veritate" ("Charity in Truth"), Pope Benedict XVI's recent encyclical.
But Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., chairman of the subcommittee that drafted the letter on marriage, strongly opposed the move, calling the document "worthy of giving us direction for the next three years."
A key change made in the letter during the amendment process was the rewriting of language describing cohabitation as "intrinsically evil."
UPDATE: The Baltimore Sun has more details. And the complete text can be read right here.
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Michele
I'm sorry to hear that you think you have no strong faithful young adults in your parish. I am 23, currently engaged, a virgin, and am not going to live with my fiancee until we are married. We also attend NFP sessions with the intention of actually using it. There are people out there who are doing this the right way, so please resist the urge to despair.
Just because so many are choosing to live in sin these days doesn't mean it is no longer a sin. "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?" How can living in sexual sin, or even living under the public appearance of sexual sin not be an evil? Indeed, even if people are cohabitating and not having sex, they portray the public appearance of sin, thus leading others to despair or to condone this sin. The real travesty is that parents aren't holding their children to a standard of holiness. Nor do our priests urge us enough to be counter-cultural. In fact, to be faithfully Catholic in the West is to be counter-cultural. If parents weren't so conceding to their young adult childrens' cohabitation, perhaps we would see less of it.
I find it interesting that what is stated in this document is easily found in the Cathecism as well. It is the non negotiable teaching of the Catholic Church. Why would cohabitation not be an intrinsic evil since it is a grave sin? Yes, no one is being murdered as with abortion, but it is as evil as the gay lifestyle. That is what many do not seem willing to understand who think the Church is bashing gay people. They are not. It is only when they enter a lifestyle that is intrinsically evil is the act condemned.
I also work in the parish with those who are coming for marriage. The priest first step is to interview each seperately to determine a number of things, one of which is if they are now living in the state of sin. If they are, they cannot receive the sacrament in this parish. they would first have to go to confession and to stop living in sin. their choice. To knowingly precide over a sacrament of marriage when the priest or deacon knows they are in the state of grave sin makes the sacrament invalid. In fact, it would be grounds for later disolving of the marriage through the annulment process. Not sure why Deacon would think this was OK in any way. He should be advising those who come to him in this state rather than finding it outrageous.
Greta...
You wrote: "To knowingly precide over a sacrament of marriage when the priest or deacon knows they are in the state of grave sin makes the sacrament invalid."
Help me out here. I can't find that anywhere in the Code of Canon Law.
The closest is this:
Canon 1065.2 So that the sacrament of marriage may be fruitfully received, spouses are earnestly recommended that they approach the sacraments of penance and the blessed Eucharist.
That's a recommendation, not a rule of law. And I've never heard of simply living together before marriage as being a valid grounds for annulment (unless there are other accompanying grounds, such as psychological or emotional immaturity.)
Dcn. G.
Maybe thew bishops should concentrate on basic catechesis and maybe a real grounding in philosophy should be offered in those schools we are closing.
Not every sin is intrinsically evil. Most aren't. Intrinsic has a meaning, and that meaning modifies evil. If cohabitation among sexual partners is intrinsically evil, then married men and women who live together are engaging in an intrinsic evil.
Fornication between a man and a woman, open to the formation of life, without benefit of marriage, is fornication. It is only fornication because they lack the benefit of marriage. The act IS NOT intrinsically evil. Just an incomplete good.
Basic theology, people. An dyou call yourselves educated catholics!
To equate a man and woman living together with other intrinsic evils -- abortion leaps to mind -- seems, frankly, outrageous.
And good luck trying to sell THAT to the people in the pews.
Some of us who are Pro-life DO think that unjust divorce is far worse than abortion.
One of the many reasons I am no longer a Catholic.
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