Hooray for Bishop Olmsted

PHOENIX, AZ (Catholic Online) - We present the full statement of Bishop Thomas Olmsted declaring that St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix can no longer identify itself as a Catholic institution. It was released by the Diocese of Phoenix along with a formal decree revoking Episcopal Consent to Claim the "Catholic" name according to Canon #216.

We have covered this story at length as it has unfolded. It is tragic, but vitally important and historic. We affirm the clear and courageous action taken by the Bishop and ask our readers to pray for him. We also ask that you pray for those Catholics still in leadership of this institution. The Bishops statement sets forth with great specificity his pastoral concern, the necessity of his action, and the vital issues involved. It is followed by the formal Decree of Revocation.

*****

ST. JOSEPH'S HOSPITAL NO LONGER CATHOLIC
Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix

Jesus says (Cf. Mt 25:40), "Whatever you did for the least of my brothers and sisters, you did for me." Caring for the sick is an essential part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Throughout our history, the Church has provided great care and love to those in need. With the advent of Catholic hospitals, the faithful could also be confident that they were able to receive quality health care according to the teachings of the Church.

Authentic Catholic care in the institutions of Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) in the Diocese of Phoenix has been a topic of discussion between CHW and me from the time of our initial meeting nearly seven years ago. At that first meeting, I learned that CHW already did not comply with the ethical teachings of the Church at Chandler Regional Hospital. The moral guide for Hospitals and Healthcare Institutions is spelled out in what are called the Ethical and Religious Directives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Read the rest here: http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=39672

The Gift of Self

'The Gift of Self': a revolutionary book for summer reading


In Cincinnati OH, at the 2010 conference of Catholic family life ministers, a new book was introduced by the Diocese of Fort Wayne—South Bend. Byzantine-rite Catholic priest, Rev. Christopher Zugger, says it is revolutionary. "The Gift of Self" by Maria Pia Campenella, is a pastoral aid for married people who are separated and divorced and choose to remain faithful to their marriage. Originally published in Italian, the foreign language edition was previewed last year by Lisa Everett, who co-directs the diocesean Family and Pro-Life Office in Fort Wayne—South Bend. Lisa knew Italian from her time at the John Paul II institute in Rome. The diocese debuted the book at their exhibitor's table on June 24th. Everett says "This book contains a beautiful and profound spirituality for spouses who find themselves drawn into the mystery of Christ's passion and death because of separation or divorce. The author offers helpful direction to parishes and pastoral ministers in providing concrete material, emotional and spiritual support to those who have been abandoned by a spouse."

To continue reading click here:
http://www.speroforum.com/a/37865/The-Gift-of-Self-a-revolutionary-book-for-summer-reading

To get the book (Which I highly recommend) click here:
http://www.marysadvocates.org/shop/index.php?target=products&product_id=16

Awesome prayer!

Father,
You confirm the true faith
with the crown of martyrdom.
May the prayers of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More
give us the courage to proclaim our faith
by the witness of our lives.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. + Amen.

Gotta love Pope Benedict
The Pope recently addressed the Pontifical Council for the Family and had some pretty powerful stuff here is a little bit:

The greatest help that can be given to children is a family where mother and father love them and each other, Benedict XVI says.

"Certainly," he said, "it is precisely the family, founded on marriage between a man and a woman, which is the greatest help that can be given to children. They want to be loved by a mother and a father who love one another, and they need to dwell, grow and live together with both parents, because the maternal and paternal figure are complementary in the education of children and in the construction of their personality and their identity.

"Hence, it is important that everything possible is done to make them grow in a united and stable family."

"A family environment that is not serene, the division of the couple and, in particular, separation with divorce do not fail to have consequences for the children," the Bishop of Rome cautioned, "whereas supporting the family and promoting its good, its rights, its unity and stability, is the best way of protecting the rights and the genuine needs of minors."

Read more at: www.zenit.org/article-28291?l=english

Yearning for wholeness

What I desire most in my life right now is for my family to be made whole again. I want so much for my wife to love me and even more to learn to be a better husband. My heart aches so much for my children everyday because children suffer the most when families fall apart. I frequently thank God for such a precious gift, but yet lack the understanding of why they deserve such hurt. I feel like a great failure to my kids because as father I cannot protect them from the devastation of our broken family. I often wonder why God gave us free will when all we do is screw things up with it. He had to know all of the hurtful and sinful things we would do with free will and yet He gave it to us anyway. With my free will I choose to be strong for my kids. Raising them is my top priority right now. I gain strength through prayer, going to Mass, and by making use of the Sacraments such as Confession and Adoration.

From the mouth of Pope Benedict XVI!

Recently Pope Benedict XVI spoke about families saying "families are beleaguered and under siege". He noted that this was especially true in western countries that have embraced a culture of divorce. He spoke the hard truth and sometimes the truth is very hard. Here are some excerpts of what the Pope said:


"This is the principle that is being undermined and compromised by the practice of divorce, through the so-called extended and mobile family which increases the number of 'fathers' and 'mothers' and leads to a situation today in which the majority of those who feel orphaned are not children without parents but children with a surplus of parents. This situation, with its inevitable ... crisscross relationships cannot but generate internal conflict and confusion that contributes to giving children a distorted idea of the family".

"The firm conviction of the Church is that the true solution to the problems which married couples currently face and which weaken their union is a return to the solidity of the Christian family, a place of mutual trust, of reciprocal giving, of respect for freedom and of education to social life".

"With all the understanding the Church feels towards certain situations, couples in their second marriage are not like those in their first; theirs is an irregular and dangerous situation which must be resolved, in faithfulness to Christ, finding, with the help of the priest, a way possible to rehabilitate everyone involved", the Holy Father said.

The rest, and I strongly encourage it can be read here:
http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/vis/dinamiche/e0_en.htm

It' s a boy!

My sister-in-law Sarah, and brother-in-law Justin are having a boy! I just want to congratulate them again as they embark on parenthood and all of its joys!

Marriage under attack

Sadly yesterday a Judge granted my wife a divorce despite that he said he had trouble finding any grounds by which to grant it. This was one of the worst times of my life. My mother-in-law even testified against me on my wife's behalf. Family has turned into people testifying against each other. Worst of all there are two beautiful children that we are all supposed to love while we are turning on each other and tossing accusations. Before the hearing I prayed the St. Michael prayer and a Hail Mary. There were only a few grounds to choose from. Adultery, drug and alcohol abuse, convicted/in jail, abandoning the family home for at least a year, or physical/sexual/emotional abuse. Basically she had no grounds however she claimed emotional and sexual abuse. Though she and her mother both testified against me I was able through my testimony and my questioning of them to prove both completely false. The Judge said that he took marriage whether covenant or not very seriously. He also told us that regardless of whether he granted a divorce we were stuck with each other forever because family doesn't stop at divorce. He said he didn't believe for a second that I physically or sexually abused my wife. He then went on to say that this was a difficult case and was hard pressed to find any grounds to grant the divorce. Then he shockingly said that it was a very close call and that I "may" have emotionally abused her on one or two occasions and that was grounds enough to dissolve our marriage. He wasn't convinced that I actually had, but since it may have happened that was enough for him to end a marriage. It is hard to express the emotions that I felt. Hurt, betrayel, sadness, shock, disbelief. The ones that are going to suffer the most by all of this of course are our two beautiful children. She is of course still my wife as we were married in the Catholic Church and I will continue to live my vows. I hope that through the annulment process I can defend the validity of our marriage. It is important to me to show my sons that marriage is a lifelong commitment, a Sacrament, and indeed a Covenant no matter how difficult the circumstances. I love my family.

My brother-in-law Justin and Sister-in-law Sarah are expecting their first child! I am very excited for them! They are due next March! I find it very interesting watching them go through all the exciting and joyful times just like my wife and I did, not so long ago. In just January they entered into the Sacrament of Marriage! Now they are on their way to becoming parents and experiencing the joys of having children! I pray for them that they will be able to navigate through all of lifes difficulties that may come their way.

Right from the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I don't think it can be any clearer what the church teaches about marriage and divorce:

347. What sins are gravely opposed to the sacrament of Matrimony?
1645-1648
Adultery and polygamy are opposed to the sacrament of matrimony because they contradict the equal dignity of man and woman and the unity and exclusivity of married love. Other sins include the deliberate refusal of one’s procreative potential which deprives conjugal love of the gift of children and divorce which goes against the indissolubility of marriage.

Here is a link to the compendium:
http://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html

Choose Life license plates available in Arizona!!!!

This is pretty exciting. We may just be on our way to winning the fight for life in America despite our current adiministrations efforts otherwise such as trying to take away the freedom of conscience, spending tax dollars on abortions in other countries, and trying to pass the F.O.C.A(so called freedom of choice act) to name a few. More states however are now having these prolife license plates and a recent gallup poll showed that a majority of Americans 51% are indeed prolife, and only 42% prochoice. Check out the poll here: http://www.gallup.com/poll/118399/more-americans-pro-life-than-pro-choice-first-time.aspx . Another telling sign is that they are having a much harder time finding doctors that will perform abortions. That's undoubtedly one of the reasons they want to take away the freedom of conscience. To get a Choose Life license plate in AZ go to http://www.arizonalifecoalition.org/ and download the application. You will also find information on what the money from the license plates will be used for. If you are in a different state check for availability as many states have them available, and other states are working on it still! Lets keep up the good fight!

I came across an interesting article talking about how No Fault divorce is a plague on our society, and that it originated in the Soviet Union. More interesting is the fact that in 1970 when working on the first no fault divorce law in the U.S., the same group was also working on a law to legalize abortion which later led to roe v. wade. The two laws were the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act (UMDA) and the other was the Uniform Abortion Act. They were both structured very similar in that they used the term viability. If the child isn't "viable" go ahead and abort him/her. If the marriage isn't "viable" anymore terminate it. Well I am not suprised by this, as the Catholic Church most often says that abortion and divorce are both part of the culture of death in our society, and that they are both grave evils. In the comment section at the end of this article one reader put it this way: Abortion destroys the product of the one-flesh union while divorce destroys the one-flesh union itself. I would say that is satan's master plan in a nut shell. With such an attack on marriage and families in our society we desperately need to pray fervently.

Here is a link to the entire article: http://catholicexchange.com/2009/05/18/118701/

Prayer to the Shoulder Wound of Jesus

Recently while I was at praying at Adoration I noticed a stack of prayer cards. Most of the time the prayer cards have traditional Catholic Prayers on them. You know the ones everyone knows like the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, St. Michael Prayer, Prayer to the Immaculate Heart, Prayer to the Sacred Heart, and many others all of which are great prayers. This one however was much different and it really moved me when I read it. It was about St. Bernard of Clairvoux, and how Jesus revealed to him what his most greatest suffering was. Jesus told him it was the wound on his shoulder from bearing the Cross, and that it tore his flesh all the way to the bone. I was awstruck because it made so much sense, and yet it had never even occured to me. He bore the heavy Cross on his shoulder for a considerable amount of time, and he fell under the weight of it at least three times. So it makes perfect sense and I encourage everyone to read the story below and pray the "Prayer to the Shoulder Wound of Jesus"!

Prayer to the Shoulder Wound of Jesus

It is related in the annals of Clairvaux that St. Bernard asked Our Lord which was His greatest unrecorded suffering and Our Lord answered: "I had on My Shoulder, while I bore My Cross on the Way of Sorrows, a grievous Wound, which was more painful than the others and which is not recorded by men. Honor this Wound with thy devotion and I will grant thee whatsoever thou dost ask through Its virtue and merit. And in regard to all those who shall venerate this Wound, I will remit to them all their venial sins and will no longer remember their mortal sins."

This revelation and promise of Our Dear Savior is another proof of His unlimited mercy. You are urged to say these prayers daily and to promulgate this prayer on a continuous basis, so that others may share in this blessing.



THE PRAYER


O Loving Jesus, meek Lamb of God, I a miserable sinner, salute and worship the most Sacred Wound of Thy Shoulder on which Thou didst bear Thy heavy Cross, which so tore Thy Flesh and laid bare Thy Bones as to inflict on Thee an anguish greater than any other Wound of Thy Most Blessed Body. I adore Thee, O Jesus most sorrowful; I praise and glorify Thee and give Thee thanks for this most sacred and painful Wound, beseeching Thee by that exceeding pain and by the crushing burden of Thy heavy Cross to be merciful to me, a sinner, to forgive me all my mortal and venial sins, and to lead me on towards Heaven along the Way of Thy Cross. Amen.

Imprimatur: Thomas D. Beven, Bishop of Springfield, Ma.


Pope Eugenius III, at the earnest request of St. Bernard, granted three thousand years Indulgence to all who with a contrite heart, recite the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary 3 times, in honor of the Wound on the Shoulder of Our Blessed Redeemer.

Should married people be NFL-like 'free agents'?

Now that the U.S. has seen same-sex marriages, it has now seen same-sex divorces. Therefore, marriage has not been strengthened by the widened definition.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
By James Thunder

It was not long after our country saw the first same-sex marriages that we saw our first same-sex divorces. Whatever the truth of the argument that same-sex marriage threatens traditional (heterosexual) marriage, the legalization of same-sex marriages, including the recent legalization by the Iowa Supreme Court and the Vermont legislature, certainly do nothing to strengthen marriage.
Because I am a lawyer, when I hear people argue that “we” need to “strengthen marriage,” I consider first how the law might provide such a tool. One type of law that could strengthen marriage has been the subject of state legislation, state court decisions, and law review articles over the past 70 years. Nonetheless, there has never been much public debate. To the extent that there was been public debate over this type of law, the law has been derided and I maintain wrongly so.
Under what is called “the common law,” spouses had two different causes of action available to them to protect their marriages. One was called “criminal conversation” which required an act of adultery but did not require knowledge by the defendant of the marital status of the married party or breakdown of the marriage. The other was called “alienation of affections” which did not require adultery but did require knowledge by the defendant of the marital status and breakdown of the marriage. These causes of action have been derided as “heart balm” torts, that is, they are brought by jilted parties to soothe their broken hearts.
During the past year, opponents of Proposition 8 in California claimed that rights once granted could not be abolished. That is plainly not so since state supreme courts and state legislatures in 40 of our states have abolished the right of spouses to call upon the law to protect their marriages. One example is the Supreme Court of Missouri’s action in the 2003 case of Helsel v. Noellsch, 107 S.W.3d 231.
The courts and the legislatures that have abolished these marital rights have done so on various grounds. As I repeat them, I will refute them, using arguments made by judges and law review authors. At the same time, I will describe some ways in which our legislatures, rather than scuttling these rights, could modernize them by establishing a cause of action labeled “interference with marital relations.”
1) These causes of action originated in previous centuries when a wife was regarded as a property interest of the husband and the husband utilized these causes of action to protect his property. This is true, but there has been no question that, in modern times, a woman has had as much right as a man to utilize these causes of action. Certainly, the legislature can modernize these rights to ensure that both husbands and wives could bring suit.
2) These causes of action are able to be used only against the rich because lawyers will not represent a plaintiff unless the prospective defendant has a deep pocket. This has also been true, but this argument could be used against a host of causes of action. Again, our legislatures could ensure that suits against defendants of modest means would be financially viable. For example, they could ensure that the loser pays the winner’s attorneys’ fees.
3) These causes of action are vindictive because they are brought only after the marriage has been destroyed and cannot be restored. Several responses. First, given the description above of the two types of causes of action, this argument would only be true for “alienation of affections” not “criminal conversation.”
Second, modern legislation providing for “interference with marital relations” could allow for suits prior to the breakdown of the marriage by providing for injunctive relief in the form of protective orders against interlopers -- just as our legislatures have provided for the issuance of protective orders against abusive spouses and stalkers.
Third, it is not generally thought that the vindication of one’s rights in a court of law is being vindictive. Fourth, this argument could be used against a host of causes of action in which money damages are sought. Lawsuits alleging breach of contract are brought after the contract has been breached and most likely cannot be restored. Fifth, this argument fails to consider the deterrent value of the right to sue. For example, the ability to sue for breach of contract is not successful in deterring all breaches of contract. Law is not a cure-all, but an aid.
4) The amount of money damages cannot be ascertained by a jury. What is a marriage worth? The courts and legislatures in the 40 states which have deprived spouses of a right to sue interlopers have set a value on marriage -- at zero. In fact, it would be an easy thing for legislatures to specify damages in various ways. For example, since the interloper is a home-wrecker, damages could be the price of a median existing home in the area. If we can determine a monetary value in the case of the wrongful death of a spouse, we should be able to determine the monetary value of the wrongful death of a marriage.
5) Only weak marriages are susceptible to interlopers and the weak marriages would have failed for some reason anyway. Should the law not be used to help weak marriages? In so many fields of law, our laws come to the aid of the vulnerable. Our society should encourage the strengthening of weak marriages – not deprive the weak marriages of the aid of the law and let predators exploit the situation. Besides, even strong marriages have their weak times and their lifelong weaknesses.
Since the arguments to abolish these rights have been and can be so easily be refuted, there must be a deeper, unstated, reason why 40 of our courts and legislatures have abolished them.

You can read the rest of this article at the following link:

http://www.speroforum.com/a/19183/Should-married-people-be-NFLlike-free-agents

I have been spending more time reading Familiaris Consortio. It has a lot of beautiful descriptions of what love, marriage, and family are. It also has a lot of insight into what the family in todays world is up against. There is a lot of information in Familiaris Consortio, and everyone who is married or considering marriage should read it. I am attaching some excerpts of things that particulary struck me as I read it. I also put a link on the side of my blog so that if you like you can read the entire thing on the vatican website. Please pray for families and marriages in this day and age, as they are under immense attack.


At the root of these negative phenomena there frequently lies a corruption of the idea and the experience of freedom, conceived not as a capacity for realizing the truth of God's plan for marriage and the family, but as an autonomous power of self-affirmation, often against others, for one's own selfish well-being.

This shows that history is not simply a fixed progression towards what is better, but rather an event of freedom, and even a struggle between freedoms that are in mutual conflict, that is, according to the well-known expression of St. Augustine, a conflict between two loves: the love of God to the point of disregarding self, and the love of self to the point of disregarding God.

In a deservedly famous page, Tertullian has well expressed the greatness of this conjugal life in Christ and its beauty: "How can I ever express the happiness of the marriage that is joined together by the Church strengthened by an offering, sealed by a blessing, announced by angels and ratified by the Father? ...How wonderful the bond between two believers with a single hope, a single desire, a single observance, a single service! They are both brethren and both fellow-servants; there is no separation between them in spirit or flesh; in fact they are truly two in one flesh and where the flesh is one, one is the spirit."

By virtue of the sacramentality of their marriage, spouses are bound to one another in the most profoundly indissoluble manner. Their belonging to each other is the real representation, by means of the sacramental sign, of the very relationship of Christ with the Church.

Spouses are therefore the permanent reminder to the Church of what happened on the Cross; they are for one another and for the children witnesses to the salvation in which the sacrament makes them sharers. Of this salvation event marriage, like every sacrament, is a memorial, actuation and prophecy: "As a memorial, the sacrament gives them the grace and duty of commemorating the great works of God and of bearing witness to them before their children. As actuation, it gives them the grace and duty of putting into practice in the present, towards each other and their children, the demands of a love which forgives and redeems. As prophecy, it gives them the grace and duty of living and bearing witness to the hope of the future encounter with Christ.

Accordingly, the family must go back to the "beginning" of God's creative act, if it is to attain self-knowledge and self-realization in accordance with the inner truth not only of what it is but also of what it does in history. And since in God's plan it has been established as an "intimate community of life and love,"(44) the family has the mission to become more and more what it is, that is to say, a community of life and love, in an effort that will find fulfillment, as will everything created and redeemed, in the Kingdom of God. Looking at it in such a way as to reach its very roots, we must say that the essence and role of the family are in the final analysis specified by love. Hence the family has the mission to guard, reveal and communicate love, and this is a living reflection of and a real sharing in God's love for humanity and the love of Christ the Lord for the Church His bride.

The family, which is founded and given life by love, is a community of persons: of husband and wife, of parents and children, of relatives. Its first task is to live with fidelity the reality of communion in a constant effort to develop an authentic community of persons.

As the Second Vatican Council writes: "Firmly established by the Lord, the unity of marriage will radiate from the equal personal dignity of husband and wife, a dignity acknowledged by mutual and total love."

Conjugal communion is characterized not only by its unity but also by its indissolubility: "As a mutual gift of two persons, this intimate union, as well as the good of children, imposes total fidelity on the spouses and argues for an unbreakable oneness between them."

Being rooted in the personal and total self-giving of the couple, and being required by the good of the children, the indissolubility of marriage finds its ultimate truth in the plan that God has manifested in His revelation: He wills and He communicates the indissolubility of marriage as a fruit, a sign and a requirement of the absolutely faithful love that God has for man and that the Lord Jesus has for the Church.

The gift of the sacrament is at the same time a vocation and commandment for the Christian spouses, that they may remain faithful to each other forever, beyond every trial and difficulty, in generous obedience to the holy will of the Lord: "What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."

Various reasons can unfortunately lead to the often irreparable breakdown of valid marriages. These include mutual lack of understanding and the inability to enter into interpersonal relationships. Obviously, separation must be considered as a last resort, after all other reasonable attempts at reconciliation have proved vain.

Pastors must know that, for the sake of truth, they are obliged to exercise careful discernment of situations. There is in fact a difference between those who have sincerely tried to save their first marriage and have been unjustly abandoned, and those who through their own grave fault have destroyed a canonically valid marriage.

I am in the midst of some of the legal goings on involved with divorce. I've learned more about the process than I ever cared to know. I never believed in it, and I still don't. I want to write about some of the unfairness of divorce so maybe if you are someone thinking about inflicting this kind of pain and suffering on your family you might understand. I try in my head to make sense of certain things and I just can't. A family consists of at least 2 persons, being a husband and wife, and then quite often there are kids. How is it that one person has the right to make such a decision so as to strip away the rights of the other spouse and the children to live as a family? How do they have the right to force their spouse and children into a situation where they will only be able to see each other, and spend time with each other a couple days a week? There should be accountability, but with no fault/unilateral divorce there isn't. It should be that the spouse who makes a decision to divorce and leave the family should by that very choice lose the right to be a full time parent and bestow that onto the other spouse who made no such choice. That spouse should have to live with the consequences of that decision, not their spouse and children. They should be given no more than visitation. What I say is not to be harsh, or out of hatred. On the contrary I love my wife more than words can say and would willing work as hard as I could toward reconiling, and I obviously love my children every bit as much. I pray for my wife and family daily. I struggle with these things because my children and I made no choice in this matter, but we have no choice. Only one person in a divorce has a choice. One person can decide the fate of the whole family. It brings to mind a great quote "With great power comes great responsibility". I don't believe what I write is a perfect solution, but there is no perfect solution to divorce except not doing it. It bears remembering that even in the event that a divorce happens in the eyes of God andt the Church the marriage still exists. Jesus himself said "Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate".

Bishop Olmstead, one of the first Bishop's to speak out against the University of Notre Dame!

Divorce is ugly. Divorce is evil. Divorce hurts. I have recieved court documents regarding my impending divorce. Sadly, even being married with a Covenant license doesn't prevent divorce. Anyway on some of the court documents at the top is written something that made me stop and think. It says the petitioning spouses name vs. the respondant spouses name. It's the same as when two boxers, wrestlers, cage fighters, or any kind of fighters get ready to fight. They introduce them saying name of fighter vs. name of fighter. The term “vs.” stands for Latin versus (meaning “against”). When I saw this on the court document I thought, I don't want to be in a situation where it's me versus my wife like boxers or cage fighters. I suppose the term "vs." or "versus" goes along with the whole theme of divorce though. It is just the opposite of what marriage stands for. In marriage we are supposed to be unified, together, "one flesh". It is supposed to be "us" together on one side of the versus and whatever of lifes situations that comes our way that we need to tackle together on the other side. It hurts when you see in writing that you and your spouse are "against" each other. How does someone who loves their spouse, and doesn't believe in divorce not be "against" their spouse when divorce is being forced on them? I ask for prayers that I can be as un-"against" my wife as I can while also not giving in to divorce, and that I may keep from pointing out her faults if mine should come up. With God's hellp I will reject and refuse to get caught up in the "versus" mentality of divorce.

"Clearly the person who accepts the Church as an infallible guide will believe whatever the Church teaches." — Saint Thomas Aquinas.

I think this is a great and yet simple and to the point. This is what a true Catholic needs to live by. People who call themselves Catholic but don't beilieve what the Church teaches are cafeteria Catholics. They pick and choose what they want to believe because they think they know better than the Church. Not everything the Church teaches is easy, but we are called to abide and live in accordance to what it teaches.

If you accept the Church as and infallible guide then you have to accept that abortion, euthanasia, and divorce are all grave sins, and that they are all a part of the culture of death. Far to many people call themselves Catholic and yet believe those things are ok, politicians not excluded.

Divorced Saints?

Fairly recently a family member of mine and my wifes tried to convince me to just let a divorce and annulment happen by saying that there were many good Catholic Saints who themselves had been through divorce. Rather than simply taking that at face value I asked a few questions. I asked if these saints were the divorcer or divorcee, did they seek annulments or choose to live out their vows in the midst of being seperated, and did any of them remarry. I was skeptical to say the least, since Catholic and divorce don't go together I didn't believe that any of them could be the divorcer and become a saint. I was wrong. Of the three divorced Saints I found(I didn't get an answer to those questions so I did my own research) two of them were the divorcer. As you will see there was serious reparation needed on their behalf. None of them sought annulment, and one remarried despite that. The three Saints are Saints Helen, Guntramnus, and Fabiola. their stories are as follows:


St. Fabiola belonged to the patrician Roman family of the Fabia. She had been married to a man who led so vicious a life that to live with him was impossible. She obtained a divorce from him according to Roman law, and, contrary to the ordinances of the Church, she entered upon a second union before the death of her first husband. On the day before Easter, following the death of her second consort, she appeared before the gates of the Lateran basilica, dressed in penitential garb, and did penance in public for her sin, an act which made a great impression upon the Christian population of Rome. The pope received her formally again into full communion with the Church.


St. Guntramnus grew up without the faith.. Son of King Clotaire, and Saint Clothildis, Brother of King Charibert, and King Sigebert. King of Orleans, and Burgundy in 561. Married to Mercatrude, Peacemaker. He divorced Mercatrude; some time later she became seriously ill, and when her physician could not cure her, he had the doctor murdered. Upon his conversion to Christianity he was so overcome with remorse for the acts of his prior life, he devoted his energy and fortune to building up the Church. Protector of the oppressed, care-giver to the sick, tender parent to his subjects, open with alms, especially during plague and famine. He strictly and justly enforced the law without respect to person, yet forgave offenses against himself, including two attempted assassins.



St. Helen was a native of Bithynia, and a daughter of an inn-keeper. In spite of her humble birth, she married a Roman soldier, the then Roman general Constantius I Chlorus about 270. Constantine, her son - who became Constantine the Great, was born in Nish, Serbia soon after, in 272. In 293, when Constantius was made Caesar, or junior emperor, he was persuaded to divorce Helen to marry Theodora the stepdaughter of Emperor Maximian. He lived for fourteen years after the divorce of St. Helen, and when he died at York in 306 his troops at York proclaimed their son Constantine caesar.


Perhaps St. Fabiola's story is the best illustration of the seriousness of divorce and remarriage while your first spouse is still living, as she had to penance before being returned to full communion with the church. We can pray and ask these Saints to intercede for us, as they are all three patron saints of divorce and difficult marriages.