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WA's only Catholic weekly newspaper
Ecumenism in the Third Millennium
To be burnt at the stake, but knifed to death
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On jubilee pilgrimage to Schcoenstatt
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Christians worship God, not themselves: Archbishop By Peter Rosengren A trend towards making personal freedom more important than God's law has wrealced aster in the personal, economic and political sphere over the last hundred yews, Archbishop Barry Hickey told Flame Ministries Jubilee 2000 conference participants last Sunday evening. Consequently, he said, nothing was more urgent than proclaiming that Jesus is Lord, and God His Father is the one to whom we owe worship. The Flame Ministries Jubilee 2000 conference was held from last Friday to litesday evening at John XXIII College, Mt Claremont.
The trend towards elevating individual choice above God's law for humanity had undermined Christian and Catholic teaching: the individual and his or her choice in all things has become the basic unit of society, not the family or the group as it should be, he said. Individual autonomy, reaching to the point of license, has almost succeeded, the Archbishop said. In the long term individualism could not win. "but it has done a lot of damage usurped the authority of God over human action." In the economic sphere greed and avarice were now paramount, he said. In medieval times Catholic
teaching had been that the urge to amass possessions had to be kept in check by society, so that all people worked for the common good. he said. "Individual autonomy has overthrovvn all that," he said. This could be seen in the growing exploitation of the poor and the rejection of Catholic teac.hing in areas such as contraception, people put S i having chilI. purely dren to amass personal wealth. In the political sphere, Archbishop Hickey said. Catholic teaching has always been that governments are subject to the laws of God. Continued on wtr 2
An:Mb/top Hickey speaks to the Flame Jubilee conference last Sunday.
niarriage defended
+OWMIIWO
VATICAN CITY - The bond of the Sacrament of Maffiage is so strong and sacred that not even the Pope has the power to dissolve it, Pope John Paul said. The Pope. addressing members of the Roman Rota, a Church tribunal that handles appeals of marriage annulment cases, said last Friday, 21 January, that he wanted to put an end to speculation that a pontiff had the power to dissolve valid marriages as part of his role as "vicar of Christ." "Faced with the doubts and confusion that could emerge, it is necessary to reaffirm that matrimony validly concluded and consummated can never be dissolved, not even by the power of the Roman pontiff," he said at the beginning of the Church's cal year. "The opposite argument would imply that no marriage is absolutely indissoluble, which would be contrary to what the Church has taught and still teaches about the indissolubility of the maffiage bond," he said. The Pope said he wanted to underline that this has been the constant teaching of the Church, as a "doctrine to be definitively held" by the faithful "even though it has not been solenuily declared in a defining act." Moreover, "this is a doctrine confirmed by centuries of practice in the Church, maintained with complete fidelity and heroism even in face of heavy pressures by the powerful of this world." While the Pope had the power to teac.h
the Gospel. administer the Sacraments and pastorally govern the Church in Christ's name and with Christ's authority. that "does not include any power over divine law. natural or positive." he said. Neither Scripture nor tradition recognised a papal faculty for the dissolving of valid marriages. he said. In his talk to the marriage law experts. the Pope said that when the Church declared a marriage annulled, it in no way weakened the principle that all valid marriages were permanent. Annulments must be granted for reasons established by Church law, the Pope said. He said some tribunals have tended to accept the general "divorce mentality" in modern society as justification for annulment But the Pope cautioned that this was not enough: tribunals, he said, mu.st determine that the divorce mentality profoundly influenced one or more of the spouses to the point that they were unable to enter into a valid malriage. Pope John Paul recalled the doctrine concerning the absolute and indissoluble nature of ratified and consummated matrimony. He contrasted this with the "mistaken theoretical and practical concept of the independence of the spouses in relation to each other" which has an effect on "the growing nuI S er of divorces." u went fij on: "The indissolubility of marHe riage finds its ultimate truth in the plan that God has manifested in His revelation: He wills and conuntmicates the indissolubility of marriage as a fruit, a sign and a
"The declarations of nullity for reasons laid down in canon law. especially due to defects or errors in matrimonial consent. cannot however conflict with the principle of indissolubility." Pope John Paul reminded the judges of the Church's final court of appeal on Church legal aspects of marriage that it was undeniable that the current mentality of the society in which men and women lived had difficulty in accepting the unbreakable nattwe of the matrimonial tie. "Nonetheless, this genuine difficulty is not equivalent 'sic et simpliciter' to a concrete refusal of Cluristian marriage and of its essential qualities. "Even less does it justify the supposition. unfortunately at times postulated by certain tribunals, that the prevalent intention of spouses - in a secularised society beset by strong currents in favour of divorce - is to seek a breakable marriage link. •to the point that (these tribunals) demand proof for the existence of true consent." The Pope went on to deal with the topic of the Supreme Pontiff's authority in relaHanby Is so sacred and atm* not own the tion to ratified and constmunated maffiage, Photo: CNSDave Hrbacek. Popo can dissolve ft underlining that even the power of the Caro& Spirit. Minneapolis liii Pope cannot dissolve the link: lb sustain requirement of the absolutely faithful love the opposite view," he explained, "would that God has for man and that the Lord imply the idea that absolute and indissolJesus has for the Church." Quoting The C.atechism of the Catholic uble marriage does not midst This would be contrary to the meaning of Church, the Holy Father said: "The Church maintains, through faith in the Word of what the Church has taught and still teachJesus Christ, that a new union cannot be es about the unbreakable bond of matrirecognised as valid. if the first marriage mony." was." Continued on Page 15
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