FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE

Missionary Families of Christ

Statement Against Divorce

FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE

1. As Missionary Families of Christ, we are called to protect and defend marriage and family life.
   1. We believe that married couples commit to a sacramental vow, where husband and wife promise to:
      1. Be faithful to one another and to God, our Creator – the Author of Life, the Source of Love;
      2. Be hopeful, that we have the strength to make a daily decision to overcome all obstacles to love;
      3. Be patient, merciful, loving, self-sacrificial and life-giving as God’s gift to one another.
   2. We believe that the original intention of the Creator is for marriage to be indissoluble. Between the baptized, “a ratified and consummated marriage cannot be dissolved by any human power or for any reason other than death.” (CCC, 2382)
   3. We believe that the social and economic well-being of a society is founded on a strong family and a solid marriage.
2. As Missionary Families of Christ, we believe that divorce destroys the sanctity of marriage. 
   1. Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. It claims to break the contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each other until death. (CCC, 2384)
   2. Divorce does injury to the covenant of salvation, of which sacramental marriage is the sign. It goes against moral law, therefore, even if couples are civilly divorced, the Roman Catholic Church continues to recognize their sacramental marriage.  Therefore, if one of the spouses remarries, he or she becomes subjected to a situation of public and permanent adultery. (CCC, 2384)
   3. Divorce is immoral because it breaks the sacred bond between two individuals, but also introduces a disorder into the entire family matrix and into society. This disorder brings grave harm to the deserted spouse (usually the woman), to children traumatized by the separation of their parents and often torn between them, and to society because of its contagious effect which makes it truly a plague on society. (CCC, 2385) “…significant numbers of children suffer for many years from psychological and social difficulties associated with continuing and/or new stresses within the post-divorce family and experience heightened anxiety in forming enduring attachments at later developmental stages…” – Judith S. Wallerstein, PhD
   4. Divorce makes each marriage a temporary and consensual relationship, only valid until further notice. Legalizing divorce, and making the process more affordable, shorter and less tedious also makes it more convenient for married couples to separate, thus leading them to even less prayer and discernment before marriage because the sacred bond becomes easily dissoluble.
3. As Missionary Families of Christ and an integral part of the Roman Catholic Church, we support our Church’s stand in upholding the sacredness of the marital union and in promoting measures that will enrich rather than destroy marriage, the family and society in general.
   1. Instead of creating ways for the conjugal promise in marriage to be abandoned,  the State should support undertakings that give the necessary preparation to strengthen marriages and to enrich family life. The Church, in her capacity, shall provide programs and resources in counselling couples to stay together through marital trials and difficulties.
   2. According totheApostolic Letter Motu Propioentitled Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus, (Pope Francis, 2015), the Church shall speed up and simplify the process for declaring marital nullity.  This considers the rights of couples undergoing marital strife or those whose marital unions are “irremediably broken [or] damaged,” while simultaneously not compromising marriage as an institution. On grounds such as infidelity or abuse as described in the Canon Law, the Church permits couples to separate from each other, while the marriage bond remains (cf. Can.  1152 §3; Can. 1153 Code of Canon Law).  If this temporary separation would lead to a permanent one, the only way to do it is through the process of declaring the nullity of marriage through the Church’s matrimonial tribunal.
   3. The Church does not always oppose all legislation pertaining to marital difficulties [as it supports] House Bill 6779, “An Act Recognizing the Civil Effects of Church Annulment Decrees.”  If finally made into law, couples who obtained the nullity of their marriages from the church’s matrimonial tribunal will no longer be required to go through the civil annulment process making the process of marital separation, through annulment, less costly, and presumably less tedious.

In truth, society did not create the family, it is the family that created society. If society destroys the family, society risks destroying itself. Remember, therefore, “each divorce is the death of a small civilization.”– Pat Conroy

• As Missionary Families of Christ, we believe that marriage, although regulated by civil and church laws, originates from God. Neither church nor state can alter the intrinsic definition of marriage, with its indissolubility.  Therefore, a couple called to a vocation of marriage and family life should exercise proper discernment and prayer in order to prepare themselves to commit to the promise that they will be making to one another and to God and decide to work together to uphold that promise, for better or for worse.

References:

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Divorce is Anti-Family, it is the “Scourge of Society” by Fr. Jerome R. Secillano, MPA

Statement on the Sanctity of Marriage by CFC-FFL, July 2017