Roman Catholic Bishop Tobin on changes for divorced people

September 16, 2014
Episcopal Cafe

Roman Catholic Bishop Tobin of the Diocese of Providence RI says “we’ve got to do something about those who have divorced and remarried.”

In October a number of bishops from around the world will meet with Pope Francis in Rome to discuss the “Pastoral Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelization.” A similar meeting in October of 2015 will follow-up on the same topic.

Although the discussion of the pastoral care of the family will be very comprehensive, and probably won’t produce any immediate change in Church law, a lot of the speculation is fixed on whether or not the Church will alter its approach to Catholics who are divorced and civilly remarried and thus not permitted to receive Holy Communion.

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The challenge for the Church, of course, is how to maintain and proclaim the irrefutable teaching of our Lord Jesus that marriage entails a sacred and permanent bond between husband and wife, while also providing spiritual care for those Catholics who have fallen short of the ideal. The numbers of such Catholics are staggering; most Catholic families, I suspect, have experienced these situations.

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