The Curia’s Pro-Vicar Mgr Anton Gouder is reported to have said during an interview on Church radio RTK that a convinced Catholic who voted in favour of divorce would be going against Christ’s teachings, and this was a sin. I am not in a position to know whether the distinguished monsignor considers voting in favour of divorce a mortal or a venial sin, or no sin at all if the person proceeded to vote this way with an informed conscience or in the knowledge that divorce was the lesser of two evils in his/her circumstances.
As a committed Catholic layman I invite Mgr Gouder to comment on the following conclusions I have painstakingly reached over the years and to correct me if I am acting with an erroneous conscience.
1. Even though Jesus seems to have spoken in absolute and exclusive terms about marriage, one should not rush to the conclusion that no exception is possible. To understand Jesus’ sayings, we must compare them with other sayings of his in which he shows his attitude to the law. If we do this, we see that his words are no more absolute law that knows of no exception than his condemnation of a person calling his brother “renegade” (Matthew 5:23) or of oath-taking (Matthew 5:33, 34a, 37) or of committing adultery in one‘s own heart (Matthew 5:27). How many good Catholics, members of the clergy and of the laity, would tear out their right eye and throw it away because it causes them to sin lustfully? Why then, should Jesus’ teaching on divorce admit of no exception?
2. Having received all authority from him, the Catholic Church can give a definitive interpretation which correctly expresses the mind and words of Jesus.
3. The delicate and complex nature of morality and marital law, as well as the new situations that continually arise in connection with missionary activity and changing customs, has caused the Catholic Church to reflect long and carefully to extend the vicarious power of the Pope in line with the Apostolic tradition.
4. Any so-called “deviations” from Jesus’ norm, have been made either on the principle of the lesser evil or in the interest of faith.
5. These “deviations” have, at times, included the severance of the marital bond even in cases of sacramental marriages.
6. There is no record of the Catholic Church having ever rescinded ratified and consummated sacramental marriages.
7. Annulments and separations, very much like divorce, are in some instances, a necessary evil. They could offer those who have been through them to think more seriously about who they are, where they have come from, and where they are going. Besides, it may help them to get on with their lives more wisely. They might feel even more peaceful and secure in the knowledge that they have done the right thing and have stopped living a lie for the rest of their lives.
After all, lying is sinful too!