"Society should be able to count on some promises as irrevocable."

To a very large and tragic extent, Catholics in the United States long ago - in practice - succumbed to

• treating marriage as though it were NOT indissoluble,
• separating the unitive and procreative dimensions of the marital act, and
• looking the other way from couples living in sin.

Sad to say, such de facto acceptance has sometimes been abetted by Church leaders who should know much, much better!  There is an incredible contrast in a recent statement from Catholic Bishops of the Phillipines:

"Society should be able to count on some promises as irrevocable.  The promise of a physician to serve life and not to destroy it, the promise of a public official to serve and defend the Constitution, the promise of spouses to be faithful to each other, the promise of a priest to mirror to the world the care of the Good Shepherd, - all these are promises that society has a right to rely on and that those who so promise have no right to renege on.  If you cannot keep the promise, do not make it at all!  Do not claim its privileges while refusing to own up to its demands" (CBCP Position Against the Divorce Law and Against the Decriminalization of Adultery and Concubinage, 3/25/15).

 
In case we have forgotten, Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church reminds us that "the New Testament presents Christ as unambiguously prohibiting divorce and remarriage on the basis of God's original plan for marriage set out at Genesis 1:27 and 2:24....God's mercy does not dispense us from following His commandments."