Moral truth does not change with the times…
No Amoris Laetitia Here: A Priest Explains What Catholics in an Invalid Marriage Ought to Do (1957)
The following is a brief article penned by Fr. Donald F. Miller, C.SS.R. (1903-1969) in 1957. Entitled “For Wives and Husbands Only: Moral Obligations of the Invalidly Married”, it concerns the moral obligations of adulterous couples, that is, of couples who live as if they were married to each other before God but are not and cannot be because at least one of the two is already married to someone else. In other words, we are talking about the ‘divorced-and-remarried’.
We are making the article available here for two main reasons:
- to demonstrate the traditional and true Roman Catholic position with regard to this moral issue, thereby showing also the great contrast that exists between real Catholic morality and the morally reprehensible position taken by Jorge Bergoglio (‘Pope’ Francis) in his infernal exhortation Amoris Laetitia; and
- to assist those in our day who may find themselves in such a situation and are unsure as to what to do, but who are nevertheless ready to do God’s will
In our day, such situations of second (or even third) ‘marriages’ are extremely common, even among those who consider themselves Catholics. On account of the great deception perpetrated by the Vatican II Sect in Rome, which has been handing out marriage annulments like candy (and ‘Pope’ Francis himself has turbo-charged the process) under the guise of being the lawful Roman Catholic authority, no doubt a large number of Novus Ordo adherents have entered into second marriages in good faith, having been assured by means of a (worthless) declaration of nullity that their prior union was invalid and therefore no marriage at all. For such people the situation must be particularly difficult and painful.
Now, of course there exist cases in which the first union truly was invalid, and in such a case a ‘second’ marriage is really the first. However, the purpose of the present post is not to discuss the requirements for valid marriage. Rather, we only wish to present Fr. Miller’s article, which explains what must be done by those who are in fact in an invalid marriage and who cannot have that ‘marriage’ validated on account of an already-existing marital bond on the part of at least one of the two partners.
Fr. Miller’s monograph was originally published in the Mar. 17, 1957 edition of The Liguorian, an issue which also contained a related article by the same author, entitled “How to Act Toward Invalidly Married Catholics”. The full text of that article can be found included in the following post:
The Liguorian was a Catholic journal of applied Catholic moral theology put out by the Redemptorists, an order founded by the great St. Alphonsus Liguori, the Church’s Doctor of Moral Theology, in 1732. A magazine by the same name still exists today under Novus Ordo occupation.
FOR WIVES AND HUSBANDS ONLY:
Moral Obligations of the Invalidly Married
by Fr. Donald F. Miller, C.SS.R.
PROBLEM: Very often in THE LIGUORIAN you have spoken about the sad state of Catholics while living in an invalid marriage. You have mentioned how they are deprived of the privilege of receiving the sacraments, and cannot be granted Christian burial unless there is some sign of repentance for and a renunciation of their bad marriage before death. What I should like to know is this: What do such persons have to do to be readmitted to the sacraments of the Church? I am thinking of those who have been living in their invalid marriage for many years, have several children toward whom they have an obligation, and can hardly be expected at a moment’s notice to abandon each other. What can they do to return to the grace of God?
SOLUTION: Difficult though this problem is, the solution must begin with the proposition that God’s grace is sufficient for every emergency in human life, and there is never a situation in which a soul cannot find its way out of sin and back to the friendship of God. To deny that would be to deny God’s desire for the salvation and eternal happiness of every human being whom He has created.
Of course the first thing that has to be suggested to invalidly married Catholics (whose marriage cannot be validated) is that they separate. The great evil they committed was that of putting human love above divine love; of entering a so-called marriage contrary to the express command of God. As soon as they realize how completely they have cut themselves off from all the spiritual goods and even the hope of heaven that God holds out to His loyal children, they should reverse the action by which they publicly entered a state of sin. That means renouncing both the appearance of being married and the privilege of living together as if they were truly married.
When the invalid marriage has gone on for some years, and there are children involved, it is not always necessary that the couple separate completely. In certain circumstances they may be permitted to live under the same roof, and to continue to work together for the proper upbringing of their children. In this case, however, they have some very serious obligations.
The first obligation is to give up once and for all the use of the marriage privilege and indulgence in any kind of conduct that would too easily lead to such use. This is something that every invalidly married couple, who have come to realize the evil of their state, can and should do of their own accord, even before they can be readmitted to the sacraments. Every use of the marriage right for one invalidly married is another mortal sin. The first step they must take is that of giving up mortal sin. Coupled with that must be greatly increased habits of prayer, both for the grace to avoid any new sin, and for that of getting back to the sacraments.
After they have made this decision, and tested themselves in carrying it out for some time, they should speak to their pastor about the question of whether theirs is a case in which a brother-sister arrangement may be allowed. The need that growing children have for the care of both parents is one of the most cogent reasons on which such an arrangement can be based. But no matter how cogent the reason, this can never be permitted unless the couple can present trustworthy evidence that they are willing and able, with the grace of God, to give up forever the use of the privileges that can be granted only to the validly married.
If it is decided by the authorities of the Church that they may continue to live in the same house, but as brother and sister, then definite steps must be taken to eliminate all scandal. (There would be great scandal to the faithful if a couple were permitted to receive the sacraments while they still seemed to be living as man and wife in an invalid marriage.) Therefore they must either make public the fact that they are no longer living as man and wife; or, if that is not practical, receive the sacraments in some church where they are not known by anyone. It is only under these circumstances that the brother-sister arrangement becomes the way back to the sacraments for invalidly married Catholics.
This brief article was originally published in The Liguorian, vol. 45, issue 3 (March, 1957), pp. 40-41.
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