On the right side of the home page is a link to email the White House and the Pa Delegation on federal matters (8/12/17 update), as well as a link to email Bucks County's Delegation in Harrisburg on state matters (8/12/17 update).
In the news...
- Labor Day Statement (Bishop Frank Dewane, 9/4/17)
- President Donald J. Trump Proclaims September 3, 2017, as a National Day of Prayer for the Victims of Hurricane Harvey and for our National Response and Recovery Efforts
- "The very idea that the pro-death LILITH FUND would raise money to kill babies during everyone's hour of need in Houston and elsewhere is beyond belief. How callous and disgusting can any pro-abortion charity (excuse the word) get? We should be doing all we can to help everyone suffering from this tragedy created by Hurricane Harvey, not adding to the death and destruction. God help us when the best response some can give is to suggest that killing babies is a charitable thing to do" (American Life League, 9/1/17)
- Philadelphia Archdiocese setting up special collection for Harvey victims (Delco Times, 8/30/17)
- California bill seeks to punish 'misgendering' with jail time (Catholic News Agency, 9/2/17)
- UNESCO Promotes Sex-Change and Abortion for Kids (C-Fam, 9/1/17)
- U.S. Kills 85% of Unborn Babies Diagnosed With Down Syndrome. Why? (LifeNews, 8/31/17)
- PA Pro-Life Legislative Alert (Pa Pro Life, 9/1/17)
- Argentinian Bishop Confirms Traditional Teaching on Divorce and Communion (One Peter Five, 9/1/17)
- "To love someone as Christ loves us means to love that person in the truth....The Catechism of the Catholic Church reflects this insistence on honesty, stating that the church’s message to the world must 'reveal in all clarity the joy and demands of the way of Christ'.... Father [James] Martin[, SJ] is correct to argue that there should not be any double standard with regard to the virtue of chastity....For the unmarried—no matter their attractions—faithful chastity requires abstention from sex....People who identify as members of the LGBT community are owed this truth in charity, especially from clergy who speak on behalf of the church about this complex and difficult topic" (Cardinal Robert Sarah, Wall Street Journal, 8/31/17)
- For an example of de facto "double standard," we need look no further than a Q/A with Father Kenneth Doyle, posted on CatholicPhilly.com on 8/7/17:
- Q. I have been divorced for three years and need to proceed
with getting an annulment. My ex-husband is getting remarried next
month, and I am getting married again next spring (eight months from
now).
I did not pursue this before because I had been led to believe that my ex-husband would have to sign something, and I knew that he would never give up that control. (Now, from a recent column of yours, I understand this is not so and that is such a relief.)
But I do have a few questions. I no longer live in the diocese where I got married: Can I just go to the priest in my current parish and get the application form, and where do I submit it?
And is it true that if I get an annulment, then my children will have been born out of wedlock? And how long does the annulment process take? (Richmond, Virginia)
A. You may file for an annulment either in the diocese where the marriage took place, or in the diocese in which you now reside or in the diocese in which your husband now resides.
You would be well-advised to consult your parish priest right away and ask him which of the dioceses he thinks might be able to process the case more quickly.
There is some variation on this, depending on the size of the marriage tribunal staff and the number of cases that are pending. In many dioceses, once the paperwork is submitted it could take upward of a year for the testimony to be evaluated (including that of the witnesses), any necessary follow-up questions to be asked and a decision to be rendered.
So your time frame already may be a bit ambitious if your hope is to get married in a Catholic ceremony. (And parishes are generally not permitted to schedule a wedding until an annulment has been granted.)
Ask your parish priest for the necessary forms. He will either have them or ask the diocese to send them to you.
Finally, as to the legitimacy of your children, not to worry — the church’s Code of Canon Law speaks to this: Canon 1137 says that “children conceived or born of a valid or putative marriage are legitimate,” and Canon 1061.3 explains that a “putative” marriage is one that had been entered into in good faith by at least one of the parties."
In his "how to file the right paperwork" approach, Father Doyle fails to remind this questioner that neither she nor her "ex" husband are free to pursue "marriage" with other partners! Father Doyle would benefit from the same seeming correction which Cardinal Sarah subtly offered to Father Martin: "To love someone as Christ loves us means to love that person in the truth....The Catechism of the Catholic Church reflects this insistence on honesty, stating that the church’s message to the world must 'reveal in all clarity the joy and demands of the way of Christ'" And as per an English translation of Bishop Pedro Daniel Martínez Perea of San Luis, Argentina:- "Before this judgement [of a marital tribunal], the faithful who cohabitate will be invited to
take path of separation. For they would be living contrary to the
teachings of the Gospel. And, therefore, if they continue in that state
of cohabitation (more uxorio) while the sacramental bond with
another person remains, they would be in an objective state of sin....The best service of charity to the faithful is concretized in making
known the Christian truth that leads them to God himself. In this sense,
it would be immoral for us to confuse the faithful about the nature of
Christian marriage and the mystery of the Eucharist. In addition, it
would be a cause of scandal, since it would move others towards evil or
it could be understood that marriage was not indissoluble. It would
especially cause scandal for the broken family, the community of the
faithful and the young".
- Understanding Michelangelo's great art (8/31/17)
- Free to Serve (USCCB, 8/29/17)
- Why hasn't the Trump administration dropped the HHS mandate? (CNA, 8/24/17)
- U.S. Bishops Establish New Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism (USCCB, 8/23/17)
- USCCB Migration Chairman Deeply Disappointed by Administration’s Decision to Terminate the Central American Minors Parole Program (USCCB, 8/21/17)
- STAND IN SUPPORT OF DREAMers (USCCB)
- Saint Peter's University Hospital "Advance Directive for Health Care" could foster the impression that Catholic medical ethics are merely a set of sectarian idiosyncrasies (8/20/17)
- "....I wish to reaffirm that 'our shared response may be articulated by four verbs: to welcome, to protect, to promote and to integrate'...." (Pope Francis, Message for the 1/4/18 104th World Day of Migrants and Refugees [1/14/2018], 8/15/17)
- Petition from Italy on mandated vaccines to protect religious rights (Children of God for Life, 8/14/17)
- What's happening with the English translation of the Vatican's Charter for Health Care Workers? (8/13/17)
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