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PAGE 6—The Georgia Bulletin, November 20,1980
Broken Marriages - Failed Dreams
TORONTO (NO) - If a
broken marriage is a dream
that failed, then failed
dreams are becoming a
North American way of
life.
In 1978 there were
approximately 69,000
divorces in Canada,
according to Msgr. Peter
Kinlin, director of the
regional marriage tribunal
of the Toronto
Archdiocese.
“That means 138,000
persons were directly
involved, as well as an
untold number of
children. And there are a
lot of separations that
don’t get into the courts at
all, so we have no way of
knowing those numbers,”
he said.
“Neither is there any
reason to think that the
proportion of marriage
breakdowns among
Catholics is lower than it is
for society at large.
Catholics make up 45
percent of the population
so they probably make up
4 5 percent of the
divorces,” added Msgr.
Kinlin. “It’s the number
one social problem in the
community for the whole
country, and therefore for
the church too.”
This situation leaves
many clerical and lay
members of the church
confused as they struggle
to reconcile official
teaching on the
permanency of marriage
with the needs of their
relatives and friends who
have suffered the trauma
of separation or divorce.
In Canada there are two
main lines of response to
the dilemma of marriage
breakdown in the Catholic
community.
One is exemplified by
the New Beginnings
program run by St. Joseph
Sister Jean DeLuca in
Toronto. It aims to show
compassion to individuals
by helping the separated,
divorced and widowed to
adjust to the loss of a
spouse and, in some cases,
bring people back into the
church.
The other approach is
exemplified by the
Canadian Association for
Separated and Divorced
Catholics (CASDC), which
pushes for basic changes in
church law to allow for
Catholic recognition of
divorce and remarriage.
CASDC also conducts
programs similar to New
Beginnings.
Those who have gone
through a marriage
breakdown are the “twice
wounded,” says Sister
DeLuca, because they
were wounded once by the
breakdown and they were
wounded again when they
were ostracized in their
parish community.
“The church is made up
of all the people. Some
people, uncharitably and
unki.ndly, reject the
divorced and separated,
even in their own families.
Among the laity and the
clergy, they reject them on
an emotional basis,” said
Msgr. Kinlin.
“Even if a divorced
person goes against the law
of God and attempts
another marriage, the
attitude of the teaching
church should be one of
charity and support
without condoning the evil
of the second marriage,”
he added.
The New Beginnings
program is an effort to put
the charity and support
into practice. More than
500 separated, divorced
and widowed Catholic
men and women have
made the New Beginnings
weekend retreat since the
program began in January
1977.
“Marriage breakdown is
almost always
accompanied by grief, a
sense of guilt and a low
sense of self-esteem,” said
Sister DeLuca.
New Beginnings follows
a format similar to that of
Marriage Encounter, but
with sharing of
experiences done in small
groups rather than
between spouses.
The ultimate aim is
‘‘forgiveness and
acceptance of the self, of
others (the missing
partner) and of God,” she
said.
The weekend retreats
are followed up by group
meetings every week.
Sister DeLuca’s idea
began in Toronto and is
now spreading to other
parts of Canada.
To help reach more
people and to aid their
reconciliation with the
church, Sister DeLuca
would like to see “a
heightened awareness of
the integral place of the
single parent in the parish
community, some type of
Christian family center
organized at the diocesan
level to particularly deal
with the children affected
by marriage breakdown;
and a greater compassion
and sensitivity from the
hierarchy of the church.”
CASDC attempts to
raise the awareness of the
Catholic community to
the divorced and
separated. It was founded
in 1976 by Mary Ann
Farquharson as a lay-run
resource group to initiate
and support local self-help
groups of separated and
divorced Catholics.
Currently more than 1,100
groups and individuals
receive its newsletter.
Ms. Farquharson
applauds the Canadian
bishops for supporting
much of the work of
CASDC, but she would
like to see the church
make some basic changes.
“We have to have a way
for the church to dissolve
a marriage without having
to say that it never
existed,” she said.
An annulment makes
the children of that
marriage, in a sense,
illegitimate, said Ms.
Farquharson.
“Many people can’t
bring themselves to say
that theirs was not a valid
union when they know in
their hearts that it was,”
she added.
Social and economic
realities of today put
much pressure on
marriages, she said.
Inflation has given us
“worried, tired parents,
where both have to work
even though it’s against
their better judgment.”
‘ ‘Unreal expectations”
are another factor, said
Ms. Farquharson. “It
creates dissatisfaction.
People think they are
missing something because
their marriages are not like
t hose they see on
television.”
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John Paul: Apology...
COLOGNE, West
Germany (NC) -- Pope
John Paul II has
apologized for the
Catholic Church’s past
interference in valid
scientific investigation.
During a meeting Nov.
15 in Cologne with
scholars and students,
the pope offered the
church’s help in
preserving scientific
freedom, but said
scientists must work to
solve problems such as
world hunger and
ecological damage caused
by technological
advances.
He said modern-day
efforts toward the
cooperation of the
church and the natural
sciences are hindered by
memories of “those
famous conflicts that
arose from the
nw
intervention of church
authorities in the process
of the advancement of
scientific knowledge.”
The pope did not
name any of the
conflicts. One such case
involved Galileo Galilee,
whose condemnation by
the church in the 17th
century is now being
restudied by the Vatican.
Galileo was condemned
by a church inquisition
on charges stemming
from his belief that the
earth revolves around the
sun.
The church recalls the
conflicts with regret and
“today we acknowledge
the errors and
deficiencies involved,”
Pope John Paul said.
In today’s world, it is
the church which must
come to the defense of
science, he added.
“The battle fronts
have changed today, in
view of the crisis of
direction which science is
facing, the multiple
threats to its freedom
and doubts about its
progress,” he said.
“Today, it is the church
that is the portal.”
Pope John Paul said
that although scientific
progress had led to
improvements in the
human condition, there
have also been
‘‘involuntary and
unforeseen conse
quences” such as
ecological damage.
Despite these
drawbacks, he
encouraged the
furthering of scientific
knowledge as a element
in improving human life.
COLOGNE MASS - Pope John his side is Cardinal Joseph Hoffner
Paul II kneels in prayer during a of Cologne, nc
Mass at the Cologne Cathedral. At
...Communion In Hand
MAINZ, West
Germany (NC) - In a
break from his usual
practice, Pope John Paul
II gave Communion in
the hand to several West
German Catholics during
a Mass Nov. 16 at the
Mainz-Frankfurt airport.
The pope, who did
not give Communion in
the hand during his tour
of the United States last
year, made the break
when one small boy held
out his hands for the
Eucharist.
After a moment of
hesitation, Pope John
Paul placed the host in
the boy’s hand. But he
did not remove his own
hand until the boy had
the host firmly in the
grasp of his other hand.
At least 20 other
people who followed the
boy received Comm
union in the hand from
the pope. The practice
has been permitted in
West Germany for about
10 years.
It was believed to be
the first time that Pope
John Paul has given
Communion in the hand
at a public ceremony.
The practice is not
allowed in Italy nor in
the pope’s native Poland.
It can be allowed in a
country only following
Vatican approval of a
request by the local
bishops’ conference. The
United States is one of
the countries allowed to
distribute Communion in
the hand.
When Pope John Paul
visited the United States
last year, he did not
distribute Communion in
the hand even though
several communicants at
various Masses held out
their hands to receive the
host.
A U.S. bishops’
spokesman said at the
time that the pope
declined to distribute
Communion that way
because of personal
preference.
New Archbishop For Mobile
MOBILE Ala. (NC) -
Archbishop Oscar H.
Lipscomb of Mobile was
ordained a bishop and
became head of the new
church province of Mobile
Nov. 16 in ceremonies
emphasizing the
importance of the city for
Catholicism on the Gulf
Coast.
Presiding at the
ceremonies attended by
about 6,500 people in
Mobile’s Municipal
Auditorium, Archbishop
Philip M. Hannan of New
Orleans said he had been
working for four years to
have the Vatican
acknowledge the
importance of Mobile by
establishing the new
province.
In his homily, the
49-year-old Archbishop
Lipscomb, a native of
Mobile, said: “The Lord
has taken someone from
among our midst, just as
he took the apostles, and
he challenges us to faith
that he will be present
despite our human
imperfections, despite all
of our faults. And it is in
his promises that we rest.”
The ring used in the
ordination ceremony was
the one worn by Bishop
Michael Portier, first
bishop of Mobile, who
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held the office from 1829
to 1859, and the crosier,
or bishop’s staff, was one
that had been used by
Archbishop Thomas J.
Toolen, who was bishop of
Mobile from 1927 to 1969
and whose title of
archbishop was honorary.
The Mobile
Archdiocese, with a
Catholic population of
55,830, is the second
smallest of the 33 U.S.
archdioceses. Catholics
make up less than four
percent of the total
population of the area
covered by the
archdiocese. The smallest
archdiocese is Anchorage,
Alaska.
The four dioceses of
Alabama and Mississippi
which make up the new
province of Mobile were
part of the province of
New Orleans from 1850
until now. The other
dioceses are Birmingham,
Ala.; Jackson, Miss.; and
Biloxi, Miss.
GERMANY
Intercommunion Opposed
MAINZ, West Germany (NC) - Despite criticisms from
Lutheran officials in West Germany, Pope John Paul ruled
out Catholic-Lutheran intercommunion until “full unity”
is achieved.
The pope’s meeting Nov. 17 with seven members of the
Council of the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church of Germany
came in Mainz on the third day of his visit to West
Germany. It was followed by a meeting with 28
representatives of other Christian churches.
The two speeches delivered by Pope John Paul
contained no departures from standard church policy on
Christian unity and did not address the issue of mixed
marriages.
About 47 percent of West Germany’s 61 million people
are Protestants, predominantly Lutherans. About 45
percent of the people are Catholics.
“We are called together to strive for the full unity in
faith through the dialogue of truth and love,” he told the
Lutheran leaders.
“It is only the full unity which gives us the possibility
to gather around the one table of the Lord with one mind
and one faith,” the pope added.
Bishop Edward Lohse, head of the Evangelical Church
of Germany, said his church hoped for a different
approach from Catholics.
“We welcome everybody to our services and do not
turn away from the table of the Lord Christians of other
confessions,” the bishop said.
“We await with patient hope the expression of open
invitation on the part of your church that we are welcome
as guests and friends at the celebration of the Eucharist
without relinquishing one’s own church membership for
it,” he added.
Regarding mixed marriages, which affects a large
percentage of couples in West Germany, Bishop Lohse
said the Lutheran Church “suffers with many Christians
that marriages which Protestant and Catholic partners seal
and conduct in common responsibility before God often
do not meet with the church recognition and
accompanying spiritual guidance we owe to them.”
He asked that Catholics “consider with us in all
seriousness how we can overcome the annoyance of
division and allow the common membership of the body
of Christ to become reality.”
Pope John Paul did not raise the issue of mixed
marriages in either of his speeches.
At his meeting later with members of the Working
Group of Christian Churches, the pope discussed the
common responsibility of all Christians for the divisions
and said that a “common service and witness” is needed
to heal the breach.
The pope’s morning in Mainz also included a meeting
with 42 representatives of the Jewish community in West
Germany. The meeting had been rescheduled from the
day before after Orthodox Jews complained that the
previous schedule would have forced them to travel on the
sabbath in violation of Orthodox Jewish law.
Pope John Paul said the meeting had a special
significance because of “the persecution and attempted
elimination of Judaism in this country.”
Germany Visit—
(Continued from page 1)
he had addressed a series
of major issues: global
hunger, the quest for
peace, Christian unity,
scientific freedom, the
“painful division” between
East and West Germany,
abortion and family rights.
Despite almost
continuous television
coverage of his travels,
about a million people
braved the rain to attend
papal events during his
whirlwind tour through
Cologne, Bonn, Osnabruck
and Mainz. The welcome
was warm, but some
groups complained about
scheduling problems.
Orthodox Jews said a
meeting with the pope
scheduled for Sunday,
Nov. 16, in Osnabruck was
unacceptable because it
would mean that many
Jewish participants would
have to travel on Saturday,
the sabbath, to attend and
traveling on the sabbath is
in violation of Orthodox
Jewish law. The meeting
was changed to Nov. 17.
Members of the foreign
community, many of
whom had emigrated to
West Germany to find
jobs, said a morning
meeting set for Nov. 17
would force them to miss
work. However, this
meeting was not
rescheduled.
Father Romeo
Paniciroli, Vatican press
spokesman, reported on
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Nov. 16 that Pope John
Paul was “happy with the
trip” despite the rain in
the first four cities.
The rain did not stop
until the pope was in
Mainz. By the time he
reached Mainz, the pope
looked tired from the
rigors of his busy schedule.
The visit to West
Germany - covered by
about 4,000 journalists
from around the world -
gave the pope an
opportunity to reiterate
his stands on the world
situation.
“We are reaching more
and more the limits of
economic growth,” he told
workers and their families
at the Mainz-Frankfurt
airport Nov. 16.
“Even if we do not
want to, developments will
force us to be less
demanding and to manage
without some of the
material things of life in
order to share the limited
goods of the earth
peacefully with as many
people as possible,” he
said.
At a reception in the
Augustusburg Palace near
Bonn the pope told West
German President Karl
Carstens and other
politicians that his
meetings with government
leaders in different
countries “are not merely
gestures of politeness and
esteem.”
Instead, they are “an
expression of the
solidarity and
coresponsibility” shared
by church and state to
look “after the welfare of
citizens,” he added.
In Cologne Pope John
Paul issued a stern warning
to governments which
threaten the rights of
families.
“State and society
bring about their own
downfall if they no longer
really foster and shelter
marriage and the family
and set other,
dishonorable ways of
living together on the same
level with them,” he told
more than 300,000 people
at an outdoor Mass outside
Cologne.
In his homily the pope
also condemned abortion
and extramarital sex.
The problem of world
hunger was discussed in
speeches to workers,
representatives of West
German Catholic aid
societies and scientists and
students.
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* i