Getting the Church Off the Sidelines when Spouse Files for No-Fault Divorce

Press Release: Feb. 22, 2012

Petition has been simplified since the 2012. Find HERE .
(publicized at Catholic Online.org, RenewAmerica.com)

Catholics who want to curb divorce are providing a way for faithful spouses to invoke the authority of the Church to intervene. Pope Benedict XVI recently reminded the Church of her responsibility to practice fraternal correction. Mary’s Advocates (a non-profit organization) is offering a “Vindicate Rights Petition” so that any spouse can ask the Church to exercise pastoral discipline in their particular marriage. The petitioner can entreat the local diocesan tribunal and appeal to Rome if rejected.

Twenty-three percent of adult Catholics have experienced divorce, according to a 2007 survey commissioned by the USCCB. “We need to start calling divorce by its proper name which in most cases is simply marital abandonment,” says Bai Macfarlane, founder of Mary’s Advocates that distributes the “Vindicate Rights Petition.”

In Pope Benedict’s 2012 Lenten message, he teaches, “‘Being concerned for each other also entails being concerned for their spiritual well-being. Here I would like to mention an aspect of the Christian life, which I believe has been quite forgotten: fraternal correction in view of eternal salvation.”

Macfarlane says, “We see too many pastors undermining fraternal correction in cases of marital abandonment. With these official petitions, we hope to help bring an end to the scandal caused locally by the response of priests and diocesan staff personnel in the face of no-fault divorce. Many faithful spouses may need to appeal to the Vatican to effect change.”

Two canon lawyers reviewed the “Vindicate Rights Petition.”Philip Gray, J.C.L, says “in the vast majority of cases today, divorce has become an ‘easy out’ to avoid responsibility, pass blame, obtain revenge, or somehow justify problems in the marital relationship or between parents and children.”

Canon lawyer Fr. Chuck Zmudzinski, C.P.M., J.C.L. explained, “I worked in a marriage tribunal for about five years and one of the reasons I eventually quit was because I did not agree with how strongly biased the tribunal officials seemed to be against the bond of matrimony.”

“I think marriage difficulties are handled, for the most part, with too little regard for the objective importance of marriage for human society and for the Church,” Fr. Zmudzinski said, “and with too much of an emphasis on the subjective happiness of the person who is asking for an annulment so that he or she can remarry.”

“Now that almost every marriage that appears before the Church’s tribunals in the U.S. ends up being declared invalid,” Fr. Zmudzinski continued, “I fear that many pastors take the side of the spouse who wants to divorce and remarry and actually encourage divorce and annulment, leaving the abandoned spouse with little or no recourse, and the children of the broken home are the greatest victims of this injustice. I would not want to be a pastor or tribunal judge who will have to answer to God for all the pain and suffering the children of divorced parents experience because of the divorces that could have been prevented with strong, pastoral leadership.”

The “Vindicate Rights Petition” helps an abandoned spouse to officially solicit such pastoral leadership. It includes line-by-line instructions for petitions to the diocesan tribunal and bishop, cover letters, and template letters to appeal to Vatican tribunals. The Petition’s instructions describe the attitude of a typical petitioner, “The cover letter expresses your hope that, after being authoritatively instructed by the Church of his or her obligation, your abandoning spouse will choose to reconcile your marriage and even seek counsel from a good spiritual director, marriage coach, or marriage counselor.”

Canon lawyer Philip Gray says, “The legal and doctrinal foundations for these petitions are well established. In my opinion, unless a petition in a particular case suffers from a defect identified in law, these cases should be accepted and heard. Not doing so would express a departure from the expectations of the Natural Law and the Ordinary Magisterium of the Church.”

Fr. Zmudzinski cautions, “I am concerned that all too often the primary pastoral response to a troubled marriage is to encourage divorce and subsequent annulment, even in cases when such a course of action would result in a grave injustice against the abandoned spouse and the innocent children whose families and lives are broken by the divorce. In such cases, there should be a serious effort by the pastors to bring the offending spouse to repentance and save the marriage.”

Mary’s Advocates explains in the Petition’s introduction, “Unless admonished by the Church, your abandoning spouse gives the impression to everyone that it is not wrong for someone with a Catholic marriage to abandon marriage or force a divorce upon the family, or coerce the faithful spouse into divorce against his or her will.”

A Zenit news story about this year’s Papal Lenten message quoted Cardinal Robert Sarah, who introduced it:

Cardinal Sarah recommended seeing the Church’s activity in the world in light of Ôfraternal correction in truth and charity.’ […] ‘The Church is moved by a sincere concern for mankind and for the world. Her activities are not moved by a desire to condemn or recriminate, but by a justice and mercy that must also have the courage to call things by their name. Only in this way can we expose the roots of evil, which continue to intrigue the mind of modern man.’

Bai Macfarlane is the founder of Mary’s Advocates. It’s mission is to strengthen marriage and eliminate no-fault divorce. The Petition is being released on Ash Wednesday.

Canon Lawyer’ Answers to Questions

Comments by canon lawyer who previewed the Vindicate Rights Petition
Petition has been revised and updated since the 2012 version.

Philip Gray, J.C.L.
Education:
1987: Bachelor of Arts (Summa cum laude), University of Steubenville
1994: Licentiate in Canon Law (J.C.L.), Masters in Canon Law (M.C.L.) University of St. Paul, Ottawa, Ontario

Question: What do you see happening to married Catholics when one wants divorce?

Answer. I see the practical effects within three areas that are interrelated. But, a common element within all three areas is a false perception that things will be better for everyone involved. In very limited instances, this may be true. Canon Law and the Church recognize that. But in the vast majority of cases today, divorce has become an “easy out” to avoid responsibility, pass blame, obtain revenge, or somehow justify problems in the marital relationship or between parents and children. That being said, the three areas I see this false perception have such negative affect are:

a.   The lives of the couple:

The rampant epidemic of divorce and the ease that civil laws allow even one person to obtain a divorce against the wishes of another, encourage avoidance of responsibility to each other. Much can be said on this point and much has already been said by those much more learned than me. I focus on one thing at this time. Marriage is a Natural Law institute that symbolizes the union of God and Man. The obligations of man and wife in marriage should be considered as labors of love mutually exchanged with the same compassion that God gives and that we expect from Him. Divorce, especially no fault divorce, is nothing less than infidelity to the covenant between the man and wife–an abandonment of that love. Considered in the context of what marriage really is, this has huge, negative consequences to the spiritual and moral lives of both the man and woman. If one of them has divorce thrust upon them unwillingly, that person usually suffers tremendous spiritual, emotional, moral, and social harms. But, if the offended party remains faithful, their fidelity could be the salvation for the spouses who abandon them. If both are willing participants in abandoning the responsibilities they hold, the harm is much worse at a moral level simply because the moral evil remains unchallenged in that situation.

b.   The lives of children born of the marriage:

Civil society and those in the Church recognize the harm that divorce has on children. But, rather than see the harm and try to correct the problem (e.g. take proactive and strong steps to keep couples together, pass laws to make divorce limited to necessary circumstances that must be proven, etc.) both civil society and many Church authorities simply treat the symptom by encouraging children to get counseling. Worse, that counseling often perpetrates the lie that the everything will be better, just be patient. The children in a divorce situation are the most vulnerable, the least likely to be considered in terms of harm, and the real harm caused to them is often ignored by society and by pastors in the Church.

c.   Society in general (this includes effects on family and friends):

Simply put, the epidemic of divorce has scandalized our society in the true sense of what scandal is–an occasion of sin for others. Our society has lost its sense of what marriage really is and what responsibility to others and to God is all about. The family is the building block of society, and the loss of what it means to be married has deeply eroded responsibility to society and to God. This, of course, encourages a mentality that divorce is always an option.

Question: Do you believe it would be reasonable for a bishop to instruct a particular abandoning spouse that he our she should be denied Holy Communion? Why or why not?

That possibility should not be excluded from interventions taken by a bishop or his subordinates to assist a couple in being faithful to their vows. One is referring here to the norm of Canon 915. I believe that the public nature of marriage and the horrible effects divorce has on the couple, their children, and society does raise abandonment of a spouse to the level of a manifest grave sin. But, it must also be noted that the application of this norm can only be made legitimately within the context of due process. In my opinion, pursuing possible sanctions within the context of legitimate due process is not so much a problem as the negligence of pastors to do anything at all.

Question:  If dioceses completed the steps of contentious causes based on the attached libellus, what do you think would be the short and long-term impact?

Answer:   That would all depend on how widespread the practice of adjudicating these cases became and how publicized they became. I have met many divorced Catholics who admitted that if their pastor or bishop had intervened to explain the obligations of marriage or encourage the couple to remain married, they would not have been divorced. At a basic level, the application of the proposed libellus is not enough. It is a start that the average Catholic can initiate and pursue, even to appeals in Rome. But, to make a real difference in our Culture of Death supported by a divorce mentality will require proactive work by pastors of souls to keep divorce from happening.

Question: In your opinion, if the attached template was personalized, and submitted by an abandoned spouse, should it be accepted and adjudicated by the local tribunal? Why or why not?

Answer:   The legal and doctrinal foundations for these petitions are well established. In my opinion, unless a petition in a particular case suffers from a defect identified in law, these cases should be accepted and heard. Not doing so would express a departure from the expectations of the Natural Law and the Ordinary Magisterium of the Church. If US tribunals apply the same expectations for meeting the minimum requirements of law in these cases as they do in marriage nullity cases, I would expect the vast majority of these cases to be accepted and succeed. If they apply a more rigorous standard motivated by a bias against these types of cases, few or none will be accepted.