CTA Michigan hosts divorced/remarried Catholics

A “Day of Reconciliation for Divorced-Remarried Catholics” March 10 in Grand Rapids, Mich., went so well that CTA Michigan President Rosemary Moon has described it in a detailed report to other regional CTA units in hopes they will replicate it. Presenter and workshop leader was Charlie Davis of Catholics Speak Out. Besides divorced persons, the program attracted counselors, teachers and married priests, all of whom deal with families fractured by divorce.

Davis surveyed the tradition of divorce and remarriage in the first 1100 years of church history, and the factors that led the church to abandon it. These include St. Augustine’s misinterpretation of a Pauline text on indissolubility of marriage, and, most serious, the imposition of mandatory celibacy, which cut clergy off from personal experience of failed marriages. He also covered recent history, the difficult annulment process (only 10 to 20 percent of divorced Catholics even apply), Vatican resistance to communion for the remarried, and the importance of conscience. The day included small group discussions, table fellowship, and a reconciling closing Eucharist in the parish church.

For more information, contact Charlie Davis: 843 838-1108 or cndppm@aol.com; or Rosemary Moon: 517 781-0921 or randrose@concentric.net