The Pope and the Married Couples

Those of you who read my blog may be aware of the "controversial" news headline about the pope marrying twenty couples this past Sunday, some of whom were "living in sin."  And so, the barrage of distortions and misinformation by the secular media continues.  Because of this headline, I received the following email.

I have four children two in college recently, one in high school, and my youngest at [a local Catholic school].  You'll find as your children grow up, they have some amazing questions/discussions, especially with social media.  I think we did a good job, our college children attend Mass, follow the Pope on twitter, and are great kids.  We are truly blessed.  What I find difficult is when the Pope is in the news purportedly supporting gay marriage, or as in yesterday's headlines marrying couples "living in sin."  I spent a long while trying to look into yesterday's news and found in the United Kingdom's news, that one couple--with child, was actually a divorced man who had his marriage annulled, marrying a woman with a child from a previous "relationship."  That's as much as I could gather.  So as far as I can tell they were not living in sin.  I imagine the liberal media saw the baby and took a lot of liberty in reporting.

Today I looked on the Vatican website and EWTN, to see if there was any type of response, but did not find one.  I wish the Catholic community was as immediate in responding as anti-Catholic groups are in posting.  Our youth need to know the real story or at least how to respond.  Maybe you or one of the priests can respond on the website.

Additionally, with gay marriage, I know the Pope said to be compassionate(do not judge), but he did not say it was ok, and all of the couples were man and woman yesterday.

Thanks for any guidance you can give me.

I responded thusly.

You have a great point and a great series of questions here.  The main thing that I would like to convey, before I answer more fully, is that your response to this situation was excellent as far as I could tell. I, too, noticed the headline on Yahoo News on Monday morning about the Pope breaking with tradition and marrying couples who are “living in sin.”  I shook my head, chuckled a bit, and moved on because I have learned to count on the secular media for distortions in their presentation of the Church and her practices and teachings, constantly.  This is probably the most significant point in response to your question about why the Catholic community doesn’t respond quickly or often enough.  If we spent time addressing all the misinformation, we would never do anything else.  I know as I’ve spent large portions of days just trying to sift through the errors in various news stories and comments.  That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t address these things at all, but it means that we should consider where our energies and efforts will be most fruitful. 

Now, to your point about the couples who received the sacrament in the ceremony.  You did good research, and you came to right conclusion.  The pope knows well enough as a teacher of the Faith, and as a pastor, when he can validly perform a marriage and when he can’t.  There didn’t seem to be impediments to marriage in these cases.  Another point should be made about this: if sinners were precluded from marriage, none of us would get married.  In some sense, everyone who presents him/herself for marriage is “living in sin.”  Perhaps he/she is not cohabitating or contracepting, etc., but every person sins.  The sacraments are precisely the antidote for sin and people who aren’t gravely offending God’s law need access to the sacraments. 

I have deliberately omitted a specific answer to the question of homosexual unions as it requires much more detail.  If you would like that answer, I’m happy to provide it, too.  Suffice it to say that your point is correct.  The pope hasn’t approved of gay marriage at the same time that he has reminded Catholics that we are to be compassionate and non-judgmental.  Please pass that along to anyone you talk to. 

I appreciate your point about trying to parent children in this modern, digital age.  I know that it is difficult to bring up our children according to the Catholic Faith.  The barrage of media smut and misinformation doesn’t make it any easier.  That’s why your response was the right one.  You took it upon yourself to research and teach your children without waiting for a comment by me or the pastor or the bishop.  That is exactly what the Church teaches that we should do. 

For your reference, I looked up the pope’s homily from that Mass on Sunday.  It is available here: http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2014/documents/papa-francesco_20140914_omelia-rito-matrimonio.html.  Additionally, you might find the article from Catholic News Agency helpful.  It is available here: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-to-couples-cross-illuminates-purpose-of-marriage-91485/.  Marriage as an act of self-giving love, just like Christ on the Cross: there’s an idea that Yahoo News and the rest of the world doesn’t understand. 

Blessings!

 Let us all attempt to be more diligent and alert as the roaring lion lurks nearby (see 1 Pt. 5:8).  Let us all study the truths of our faith so that we can be ready to give a reason for our hope (see 1 Pt. 3:15), whether that is to our children, our co-workers, our students, or our fellow parishioners.