Anglican Church raises red flag on rise in broken marriages

From Rwanda-

Marriages are crumbling and the trend is growing, raising concern, not only for Rwanda but also for the entire world, Rev. Canon Dr Antoine Rutayisire, a Senior Pastor at St. Peter’s Remera Parish of the Anglican Church has warned.

“All over the world, families are falling apart. People are getting wealthier, people are getting more educated, but families are falling apart, and [getting] miserable,” Rutayisire said.

He used the platform of the Anglican Church’s annual celebration of Father’s Union on Sunday to deliver a warning against rushing into marriage because of the desire for material wealth.

Rutayisire’s warning comes at a time when Supreme Court figures show that cases of divorce have been rising gradually, from 21 cases in 2016, to 69 in 2017, and 1,311 in 2018.

More here-

https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/anglican-church-raises-red-flag-rise-broken-marriages

'No-brainer': Sydney Anglicans vote in support of allowing domestic violence survivors to remarry

From Australia-

In a historic moment for the Sydney Anglican Church, and the latest in a series of small victories for Christian survivors of domestic violence, the synod has for the first time voted in favour of allowing divorced survivors of abuse to remarry.


In a secret ballot held on Tuesday night the diocesan synod voted 325-161 in favour of a motion requesting that bishops consider "approving the remarriage of a divorced person, where that person has been abused physically or emotionally by their former spouse".

It was first put to a vote on voices but, because it was too close to call, a ballot was collected — the results of which revealing more support for the motion than synod members had been prepared to show in public.

It had taken 34 years of deliberation.

More here-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-24/sydney-anglicans-support-allowing-dv-survivors-divorce-remarry/10425230

Millennials Are Causing the U.S. Divorce Rate to Plummet

From Bloomberg-

Americans under the age of 45 have found a novel way to rebel against their elders: They’re staying married.

New data show younger couples are approaching relationships very differently from baby boomers, who married young, divorced, remarried and so on. Generation X and especially millennials are being pickier about who they marry, tying the knot at older ages when education, careers and finances are on track. The result is a U.S. divorce rate that dropped 18 percent from 2008 to 2016, according to an analysis by University of Maryland sociology professor Philip Cohen.

Demographers already knew the divorce rate was falling, even if the average American didn’t. Their question, however, was why? And what do current trends mean for the marital prospects of today’s newlyweds?

More here-

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2018-09-25/millennials-are-causing-the-u-s-divorce-rate-to-plummet

Understand marriage, avoid divorce, Anglican Primate admonishes Christians

From Nigeria-

The Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, Primate of All Nigeria (Anglican Communion), has admonished Christians to understand marriage before going into it, so as to avoid the high rate of divorce in the society.

Okoh said this in an interview with journalists on the sideline of the opening service of the Second Session of the Tenth Synod of the Diocese of Abuja, at Basilica of Grace, Gudu, Abuja, on Thursday.

The theme of the four-day event is: “The Christian Family’’ taken from the Book of 2 Timothy Chapter 1 Verse 5. Okoh, who is also the Archbishop and Bishop of the diocese, stressed that marriage is a lifetime commitment. He, therefore, advised would-be couples understand the dos and don’ts of marriage instead of making children to be produced from their unions to suffer what they know nothing about. “If you notice, there is an increase in divorce; people rush to marry but soon afterward, they are going to court to file for divorce.

Read more at:

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/05/understand-marriage-avoid-divorce-anglican-primate-admonishes-christians/

Prince Harry will marry a divorced American — and the church is fine with it

From USA Today-

A British royal marrying an American divorcee in 1936 threw the British monarchy and the Church of England into crisis, but that didn’t happen when Prince Harry decided to marry Meghan Markle.

The announcement in London on Monday that Prince Harry is engaged to the American actress ended fevered speculation about the couple and was accompanied by statements of delight from Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and his father, heir to the throne Prince Charles.

It was so very different from the last time a British royal wanted to marry an American divorcee. That 1936 engagement led to the abdication of the king, Edward VIII, who decided he would rather give up the throne than divorced Baltimore socialite Wallis Simpson.

The sticking point in 1936 was the rule on divorce and remarriage in the Church of England, of which the monarch of the United Kingdom is head. The church’s ban on remarriage for a divorced person whose previous spouse is alive applied to King Edward, and still held for Queen Elizabeth’s sister, Princess Margaret, in 1953. She was told she could not marry the man she loved, Capt. Peter Townsend, because the Church of England would not countenance it.

More here-

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/11/27/prince-harry-marry-divorced-american-and-church-fine/899944001/

Pope’s Teaching on Divorce Divides Bishops

From The Wall Street Journal-

Conservative and liberal prelates in the Catholic Church have put forth sharply different readings of Pope Francis’ teaching on divorce—a situation complicated by the pontiff’s own ambiguity.

In April, Pope Francis published “Amoris Laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”), which responded to a turbulent meeting of bishops on family issues by urging a more lenient approach to divorced Catholics, in effect encouraging priests to grant some of those who remarry Holy Communion.

Instead of settling the issue, the pope has opened the door to divergent interpretations as local bishops implement the document. Conservatives argue that nothing has changed while liberals see more flexibility—with broader implications for teachings on sexual morality.

More here-

http://www.wsj.com/articles/popes-teaching-on-divorce-divides-bishops-1468166653

The battle of Pope Francis’s footnote

From The Spectator UK-

Last week we reached the beginning of the end of the pontificate of Jorge Bergoglio — the ‘great reformer’ of the Catholic church who, it appears, has been unable to deliver the reforms that he himself favours. This despite being Pope.

On Friday, he published a 200-page ‘exhortation’ entitled Amoris Laetitia, ‘The Joy of Love’ (or ‘The Joy of Sex’, as English-speaking Catholics of a certain vintage immediately christened it). This was Francis’s long-awaited response to two Vatican synods on the family, in 2014 and last year, which descended into Anglican-style bickering between liberals and conservatives.

At the heart of the disputes lay the question of whether divorced-and-remarried Catholics could receive Holy Communion. Until now they have been banned from doing so because the Church teaches that their first marriages are still valid and therefore their current union is (though the word is diplomatically avoided) adulterous. Also, though this is one bit of the New Testament that Protestants seem to have forgotten, if there was one thing Jesus couldn’t stand it was divorce.
More here-

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/04/the-battle-of-pope-franciss-footnote/

The Historical Hypocrisy of the Anglican-Episcopal Split

From Huffington-

On January 14, 2016, the Anglican Communion suspended its American branch, the Episcopal Church, from voting and decision making in the global Anglican Church for the next three years. This was a direct reaction to the Episcopal Church officiating marriages of same-sex couples in church. As quoted from Primates2016.com, this act violated church doctrine:

"The traditional doctrine of the church in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds marriage as between a man and a woman in faithful, lifelong union. The majority of those gathered reaffirm this teaching."

Such a statement would not have raised an eye if it had been made by the Catholic Church, whose stance on marriage has been clear since it assimilated Peter Lombard's list of seven sacraments in 1439. The sacrament of marriage espouses one man, one woman, one flesh, for life.

More here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kyle-jarrett/anglican-punishment-of-ep_3_b_9001442.html

Francis announces changes to annulment process

From Pittsburgh-

When Rae O’Hair sought an annulment of her first marriage from the Catholic Church more than a decade ago, it took her more than a year to complete the accompanying questionnaire.

The questions were personal and emotionally fraught. “I gave them a lot of thought,” said Ms. O’Hair of Edgewood. “I felt I could only do a few at a time.”

She eventually did receive the annulment. But her second husband, who has since died, applied twice for an annulment of his previous marriage and was denied twice. So they married in an Episcopal church.

Ms. O’Hair still attends a Catholic church, but she applauded the news Tuesday that Pope Francis has streamlined the annulment process.

More here-

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/world/2015/09/08/Pope-radically-simplifies-Catholic-marriage-annulment-procedures/stories/201509080108

Remember when divorce was immoral?

From Maine (via Los Angeles)

Amid all of the overheated rhetoric surrounding the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriages across the nation, evangelicals have alternated between defiance and a kind of martyrdom.

“It’s time to be a light in these dark times,” Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, said. Franklin Graham declared that the court was “endorsing sin” and that God’s “decisions are not subject to review or revision by any man-made court.”

Evangelicals like to present their position as biblical and therefore immutable. They want us to believe that they have never before adjusted to shifting public sentiments on sexuality and marriage. That is not so.

Divorce — and especially divorce and remarriage — was once such an issue, an issue about which evangelicals would brook no compromise. But evangelicals eventually reconfigured their preaching and adapted just fine to changing historical circumstances.

More here-

https://www.centralmaine.com/2015/09/08/remember-when-divorce-was-immoral/

Divorce was once considered immoral

From Arkansas-

Amid all of the overheated rhetoric surrounding the Supreme Court's decision legalizing same-sex marriages across the nation, evangelicals have alternated between defiance and a kind of martyrdom.

"It's time to be a light in these dark times," Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, said. Franklin Graham declared that the court was "endorsing sin" and that God's "decisions are not subject to review or revision by any man-made court."

Echoing many other conservatives, Graham went on to say that churches and others who oppose same-sex marriage would be subject to discrimination and persecution. A Fox commentator declared that gay rights now trump religious liberty. And R. Albert Mohler of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary warned that "the majority in this decision has placed every religious institution in legal jeopardy if that institution intends to uphold its theological convictions limiting marriage to the union of a man and a woman."

Evangelicals like to present their position as biblical and therefore immutable. They want us to believe that they have never before adjusted to shifting public sentiments on sexuality and marriage. That is not so.

More here-

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2015/jul/19/divorce-was-once-considered-immoral-201/?opinion

Vatican asks for wide input on 2015 synod, not based on doctrine

From National Catholic Reporter-

For the second time in two years, the Vatican has asked national bishops' conferences around the world to seek input from Catholics at "all levels" about how the church should respond to sometimes difficult questions of modern family life, such as divorce and remarriage.

Issuing a document in preparation for a second worldwide meeting of Catholic bishops on family life next year, the Vatican has also stressed the need for mercy in responding to such difficult situations -- even asking the bishops to avoid basing their pastoral care solely on current Catholic doctrine.

The call for input came Tuesday in a document released by the Vatican's Office for the Synod of Bishops, which in October 2015 will to host the second of two global bishops' meetings called by Pope Francis for 2014 and 2015.

More here-

http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-asks-wide-input-2015-synod-not-based-doctrine

Vatican proposes 'stunning' shift on gays, lesbians

From CNN- (with video)


Using strikingly open language, a new Vatican report says the church should welcome and appreciate gays, and offers a solution for divorced and remarried Catholics who want to receive Communion.

At a press conference on Monday to present the report, Cardinal Louis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines said Catholic clergy meeting here have largely focused on the impact of poverty, war and immigration on families.

But the newly proposed language on gays and civil marriages represents a  “pastoral earthquake,” said one veteran Vatican journalist.

“Regarding homosexuals, it went so far as to pose the question whether the church could accept and value their sexual orientation without compromising Catholic doctrine,” said John Thavis, a former Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Service.

More here-

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2014/10/13/vatican-proposes-stunning-shift-on-gays-lesbians/

Synod Talk on Making Annulments Easier

From Aleteia-

The current Extraordinary Synod on the Family is looking at proposals to make annulments easier to obtain. One proposal – floated by Cardinal Walter Kasper in his February 2014 presentation to the Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals – suggested a novel alternative path to streamline the process, whereby a bishop would entrust the nullity process to a priest with spiritual and pastoral experience as a penitentiary or episcopal vicar.

Other Cardinals and experts among clergy, however, have raised serious concerns over this and other proposals to streamline the annulment process, as well as over Cardinal Kasper’s view that divorced and remarried Catholics should be allowed to receive the Eucharist, perhaps after some undefined period of penance. “Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion” is one such critique.

More here-

http://www.aleteia.org/en/religion/article/synod-talk-on-making-annulments-easier-5908344019615744

Catholic synod to address questions of marriage, sexuality

From Pittsburgh-

In Mass homilies and conference speeches, in literature racks and glossy posters at the backs of sanctuaries, Roman Catholic leaders confidently proclaim the answers to questions of sex, marriage and family.

They honor marriage as a divinely ordained sacrament, family as the core cell of civilization and as a church in miniature, raising new generations of faithful.

Sexual revolution? They respond with the "theology of the body" by the late pope, St. John Paul II, affirming marital sex as an icon of God’s love.

Birth control? Natural family planning, a combination of abstinence and timing sex according to the fertility cycle.

Divorce and remarriage? A tribunal that can sometimes annul previous marriages, opening sacraments to remarried persons otherwise barred from them.

Homosexuality? An “objectively disordered” inclination, according to Vatican teaching, but one able to be managed in celibacy.

But many aren’t listening.

More here-

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/world/2014/10/05/Catholic-synod-to-address-questions-of-marriage-sexuality/stories/201410050062

Episcopalians, Catholics reach out to divorced

From Louisiana-

Baton Rouge’s St. Aloysius Catholic and St. James Episcopal churches are collaborating throughout the Lenten season in a healing program for people divorced or separated from their spouses.

The program, “Return to Life,” a six-part series, will meet from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays beginning Feb. 17 at St. Aloysius.

The venue will alternate between the two churches for the following five Sundays, culminating in a “Day of Healing,” administered by the program’s creator, Maryanne Skrobiak, of Hales Corner, Wis., from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 23 at St. Aloysius.

“It’s for people who are divorced or divorcing and who are looking for a way to heal through this grieving process,” said Angela Falgoust, the Catholic co-director of the program.

Falgoust divorced seven years ago and has led three divorce healing programs at St. Aloysius.

More here-

http://theadvocate.com/features/people/5115526-123/episcopalians-catholics-reach-out-to

Westboro a no-show at Betty Ford funeral

From The International Business Times-

Controversial Westboro Baptist Church was a no-show at the Betty Ford funeral on Tuesday, throwing the group's creditably further into question.

Westboro phones ran unanswered into the afternoon, while picketers were nowhere to be found at Saint Margaret Episcopal Church in Palm Desert, Calif., where the service was held.

The group had publicly announced on Monday that it would oppose the memorial saying that because Ford was divorced and espoused pre-marital sex, she is now currently "in hell."

"She loved to sit with tawdry muckraking reporters & blather about sex," the group said on its website. "She couldn't wait to have an audience with a reporter to titter about premarital sex, and how much she loved to teach it to her daughters."

The group, run by disbarred lawyer Fred Phelps, and denounced by other Christian churches, said it would picket Tuesday at services at Saint Margaret Episcopal Church in Palm Desert, Calif, and Thursday at Grace Episcopal Church in East Grand Rapids .

More here-

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/178898/20110712/westboro-a-no-show-at-betty-ford-funeral.htm

Betty Ford Death: Westboro Baptist Church Threatens Service Protest

International Business Times-

The notorious Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan. announced Monday that its members will protest two public services held for former First Lady Betty Ford, who died last Friday at the age of 93.

The church has a history of protesting high-profile burials, often calling deaths a punishment from God. The group has been denounced as radical by many Christian organizations.

"Betty Ford is in Hell!" the Church said in a released statement.

Westboro faulted Ford for having divorced her first husband William Warren and then marrying former President Gerald Ford.

"She divorced him & 'married' Gerald Ford & Betty Ford lived in adultery for 58 years," Westboro wrote.

After her days in the White House, Ford was best known for helping found the Betty Ford Center, a substance abuse and alcohol treatment center often used by celebrities.

More here-

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/178146/20110711/betty-ford-death-westboro-baptist-church-threatens-service-protest-memorial.htm

From the archive, 22 April 1971: Anglicans may revise law on divorcees

From The London Guardian-

The report of the Commission on the Christian Doctrine of Marriage unanimously recommends that the Church should find out if there is enough support – "a moral consensus" – for such a major change in its discipline. If so, Church law should be changed.

The report will be one of the most controversial produced for years. It now goes to the General Synod, the Church's parliament, where opinions are deeply divided on remarriage. Any revision of ecclesiastical law could take several years. Altogether the Church has been debating its attitude to marriage "casualties" for 100 years. The commission denies that the Church is being asked to bow to secular pressures, or to drag along, lamely and complacently, at the heels of the State.

If the General Synod, after consultation, decides to permit the remarriage, "it would be an acknowledgment of human weakness and a declaration of faith in God's forgiveness and re-creative power." It would strengthen marriage generally.

The report adds: "We believe the grace which God may bestow in a first marriage He may also bestow in a second marriage. Certainly, such a second marriage could not be a witness to the permanent nature of marriage in the same way as an unbroken first marriage can be, but it could become a permanent union, and it could bear eloquent witness to the true nature of marriage in other ways." Again, it asserts: "It is possible that those who say that to remarry in church would cause offence to the Christian conscience may find failure to do so causes greater offence."

More here-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/apr/22/archive-church-of-england-revises-divorce-law-1971

Bishops married to divorcees 'pose serious challenge to traditionalist Anglicans'

From The London Telegraph-

The announcement from Downing Street that the Revd Nicholas Holtam, currently vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, has been nominated as the next Bishop of Salisbury poses great challenges for traditionalist Anglicans here and abroad, but it also raises serious questions about the functioning of the Crown Nominations Commission, responsible for choosing Anglican bishops.

There have been rumours about Mr Holtam’s appointment for some time, principally because he is married to a divorcee. Oddly enough, although the Church of England imposes certain restrictions on clerical ordination for those in that situation, there was no clarity about the consecration of bishops. At the last General Synod, however, such clarification was urgently sought and the suspicions of many people as to why seem now to have been confirmed.

What is perhaps not realized is that the Church’s historical opposition to divorce goes back to the remarkably hard line taken by Jesus himself. Asked whether divorce was possible for any reason, he answered, “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery” (Matthew 19:9, NIV).

Hence even Henry VIII, in his run-in with the Pope, could only seek an annulment — a declaration that his first marriage was invalid — not, strictly, a divorce.

More here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8446405/Bishops-married-to-divorcees-pose-serious-challenge-to-traditionalist-Anglicans.html