What People Are Commenting
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Scalia, Charity & Chaos in Marriage
Dog’s Funeral
The Bishop of Namur, in Belgium, the superior of the priest who celebrated a religious service for a Chihuahua dog, as you reported, issued a communiqué approving the initiative of the priest.
You may read it here.
M.M.
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Hierarchy of Charity
I appreciate the posting of moral questions related to family or friends living in sin / abnormal situations and also your assistance with a proper Catholic response. TIA is one of the only Catholic groups attempting to promote and disseminate this information, information critical for most Catholics today due to the widespread practice of sexual immorality and marital infidelity.
I read the entries at this link:
Could you please help me further by sharing where the following hierarchy of duty came from?
"However, the teachings of the Catholic Church, which is the source of all wisdom, places everything in a hierarchical order. According to her moral teaching, we should:
- First, be charitable to God and, for love of Him, have horror of sin;
- Second, be charitable to His Church and obey and apply her wise norms;
- Third, be charitable to the ensemble of society and take care that public scandals do not contaminate its common spiritual good;
- Fourth, be charitable to our family and strive to save the souls of its members who practice Catholic Morals, by preventing them from becoming complacent toward one who gives public scandal.
- Fifth, be charitable to ourselves and care for the salvation of our souls by avoiding any contact with sin.
- Only in sixth place comes the obligation of being charitable to those living in public sin, and this obligation applies according to the norms explained before.
I want to promote this information, but would like to be able to reference it in its original source.
Thank you in advance,
E.D.M.
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TIA responds:
Hello E.D.M.,
Thank you for your support and consideration.
We did not go to a book to find the hierarchy of charity that you mentioned. We just checked our Catholic sense made up of elementary truths – 10 Commandments, Commandments of the Church, principles of the common good in society, etc. – and wrote that answer.
We don’t have any doubt that the mentioned hierarchy can be found in good books, but it would take some time for us to search. At the moment we do not have any spare time. We are sorry that now we cannot assist you.
Cordially,
TIA correspondence desk
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A Close-up of Present Day Chaos in ‘Marriages’
Pax,
In TIA/Fr. Sretenovic's reply to the case of the fraudulent marriage of the women who was using marriage as a way to stay in the country, I say ‘kudos’ to the answer. Since when is getting a divorce and seeking a certificate of nullity become a Catholic duty to right wrongs?
I am involved in a similar situation with my son who married hastily before a Justice of the Peace while in the military in between deployments. I was opposed to both the live in situation and the method of seeking a legal marriage. After the deed was done, I treated the marriage as valid and pushed for having their vows said before a priest. This never materialized.
Then several years later, my son announced to me that they were having marital problems and he was thinking about divorce. They had no children. I had to think fast on my feet as how to respond. So, I went for discouraging divorce and to stay true to his vows to her.
He gave it one more shot, but still ended up seeking a divorce. Since it would be a no brainer to get the marriage nullity certificate, I then had to regroup. I told him that I would not accept any dating relationship without the certificate. This was done under an advisement of a Traditional priest. So, I passed this message on to my son, “No dating!”
Now, my son is now involved with a women he met online. He snuck her up to meet me at Thanksgiving weekend when we were having the celebration at his brother’s and sister in law’s house. I was cordial, but insisted they do not get the bedroom. So, she slept on a couch and he slept on a floor.
My son is suffering from PTSD and is staying temporarily with his new found ‘love’. He is now out of active duty. As a result of an episode with his PTSD, there was a lot of correspondence between the family and the new girlfriend over this issue. I sent a rather pointed email to all parties involved about my displeasure of having him in this live in situation and of the mere fact that he started dating in the first place.
She contacted me to say that she only has the best interests of my son in heart and invited me to visit them. This resulted in a series of emails to her in which I stated my views based on Catholic teaching. I told her the bottom line is that I cannot be seeing her socially with or without my son because I still consider my son married until it is declared otherwise by a Marriage Tribunal. She too is divorced with 2 children. According to her it was a marriage of convenience due to an out of wedlock pregnancy and it was an abusive relationship that she had to eventually flee from.
My son is distancing himself from me and is not in contact because of my stance. It hurts. However, I strongly believe that this is the only moral option I have. I have become outraged over these quick fixes of bad marriages where getting a divorce and seeking a certificate of nullity has become a license to start dating all over again especially when there are children from that marriage.
I know of several tragic circumstances when Catholic women had to separate and divorce their husbands due to physical abuse of themselves and their children. This was done under the guidance of a priest as a last resort. In no way are these suffering women seeking to have their marriage declared ‘null’. They accept their cross and are offering up their sufferings for their family under these tragic circumstances.
Because of our fallen nature and because of our free will, often things go terribly wrong in a marriage, but to be cavalier after a separation is finalized so that one can be a ‘born again’ single person by simply stating your case before a Marriage Tribunal, is adding to the demise of the Catholic family.
I know of one priest who, when he councils engaged couples, tells them that if in some future time he hears that they are seeking a declaration of nullity after going through his pre-marital session, he will hunt them down. Now, that is a message that every engaged couple should hear!
A.T.
Posted May 12, 2015
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The opinions expressed in this section - What People Are Commenting - do not necessarily express those of TIA
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I am sending you an interview of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on the tragic consequences for priests and faithful Catholics of having a “gay marriage” mandate by the Supreme Court. I believe it is worth reading it.
May Our Lady of Guadalupe, Queen of the three Americas, protect our country in this emergency.
A link to the interview is available here.
M.E.