Card. Cocco & Ed Peters airbrush divine law, spread divorce heresy.
Cardinal Coccopalmerio and Ed Peters, responding to political pressure, are the first ever to publicly flip 180 degrees from centuries-old Church discipline and state that bishop's permission is not required for divorce due to the absence of government concordat. To hold such a position is heretical b/c it denies that the marriage contract (not just the bond) belongs to God. What they are both ignoring is the fact that divorce involves natural/divine law (CCC 2384). Pope Leo XIII and Fr. John Beal explain that the marriage contract is a matter of natural/divine law. Ed Peters and Card. Cocco are saying it is not. Can. 1692 establishes that the divorce sentence (split the baby) must not be "contrary to divine law." The civil sentence is usually evil which is why a trusted source (bishop or benign state) must ensure justice beforehand. Divorce and separation are canonical issues. Personal conscience is never adequate to adjudicate one's own case and ensure equity. The Catholic divorce do-it-yourself discipline has gotten so bad in the West that Peters and Cocco's politically correct explanation/solution is gladly accepted w/o question as gospel by most. After all, who wants to be the bearer of some truthful but radically bad news? Don't ask, don't tell.
From The Catholic Standard and Times, Volume 63, Number 41, 4 July 1958: Attorneys in Pittsburgh Told to Consult Bishop Prior to Divorce Cases
ReplyDeletePITTSBURGH, Pa. (NC).— A diocesan statute relating to Catholics and civil court action for a separation, divorce or annulment has attracted attention here following a meeting of lawyers and diocesan officials to clarify the regulation. Promulgated in 1960 when Bishop John F. Dearden succeeded to the Pittsburgh diocese, the statute provides that: —“Following a valid marriage, it is strictly forbidden for any Catholic, whether as plaintiff or as attorney to approach the civil courts to obtain a separation, divorce or annulment, without prior approval of the Bishop.”
Guild Examines Ruling
The statute drew attention in the secular press after a meeting requested by the local chapter of the St. Thomas More Guild of Catholic Lawyers to clarify the ruling. Three Pittsburgh diocesan officials spoke at the session. They are: Monsignor Jacob C. Shinar, secretary to Bishop Dearden ; Monsignor Coyle, head of the Diocesan Marriage Tribunal and Rev. Louis J. Nene, director of the Diocesan Family Life Program.
The three asserted that the statute covers not only cases involving Catholics, but Protestants and Jews who have contracted valid marriages. They said that Catholic lawyers have a duty to attempt a reconciliation of the parties and, in the event of failure, must submit the case to the diocesan chancery which will rule on the validity of the union and determine if civil divorce may be instituted by the Catholic lawyer.
Defined by God
The core of the regulation is the word “valid,” It was stated. Monsignor Shinar said: "The marriage contract involves terms defined not by the parties but by God, and therefore the Church as the official custodian of God’s interests on earth has not only the right but also the obligation to guard scrupulously the terms of the marriage contract.”
“No civil court has competence in this area,” he said.. “Neither can an attorney on his , own authority decide whether or not the marriage in question is valid or invalid. That judgment can only be made by a diocesan court established by the Bishop.”
When it becomes advisable for the parties to separate, Father Nene declared, “before an attorney may proceed to secure the release of civilities, he must first present the case to the Bishop’s office."
“Even in marriages between , non-Catholics the validity of these must be upheld,” Monsignor Coyle stated. “No Catholic attorney may proceed to participate in the breaking of this bond in civil manner. The same principles for separation , and civil divorce that apply to Catholic marriages must be used as guides in all valid marriages,” he said.