England: No Fault Divorce Legalised But – Gimme a Break – Why Not Strengthen Marriage Instead?
From Divorce Online…
No-Fault Divorce Starts on 6 April 2022 In England – How To Get Started Today For Just £199
Editor writes…
There is widespread promiscuity, drug and alcohol addiction among the many societal ills today. “Relationships” are ten a penny, few lasting for any length of time. People are deeply unhappy, with too many seeing no purpose in life, at all. So, wouldn’t it make more sense to work to change the entire moral ethos in England/UK, with the aim of trying to encourage good marriages and strong family life, rather than enabling people to walk up the aisle confident that they can walk out of the front door when they’ve had enough of self-sacrifice and learning to live with the awful wallpaper? Your thoughts…
Comments (17)
It is incredible to think, but I had a friend years ago, she’s now gone, but she told me when her marriage broke down that she knew it would as she had lived with her partner before marriage and he was violent, but she went ahead anyway, knowing that she could divorce him, and that was before no fault divorce. So some people are obviously in sham marriages to start with, their vows mean nothing to them, and now it’s going to get even easier to get out of their sham marriage.
It would definitely be wiser of the government to create policies to strengthen marriage and try to put people off divorcing, but there’s nothing wise about the government as we are seeing with the unravelling of Covid and the rising cost of living.
Laura, there are far too many stories like that of your friend and they are truly heartbreaking. The social changes of the 60s convinced even Catholics who knew better to live with each other before committing to marriage, as if one is test driving a car at the local automobile dealership. This was never something openly discussed before the mid-60s, as it was not of epidemic proportions (as it is now) and the social strictures were such that I never, ever, remember anyone prior to, say, 1969, admitting to cohabitation before marriage.
The only saving aspect of a “marriage” with vows that are exchanged between two people who do not truly believe in the indissolubility of matrimony is that it is, in many cases, not a marriage at all. If someone really enters into the marriage contract feeling assured that one can “always get a divorce,” it is actually one of the several diriment impediments that an annulment tribunal would consider as making the marriage null and void. I am not writing this to prompt readers to question the validity of their marriages, as I am certainly not a canon lawyer. But I have heard many traditional priests speak on this, and one in particular — well versed in Canon Law — told me over dinner that he was convinced that most marriages in today’s world are null from the start. In which case (if a tribunal agrees), there was in fact no marriage at all.
The problem in such situations now comes down to: which dioceses really conduct thorough investigations into the details of a marriage being considered for nullity? For decades, many marriage tribunals in America have set the bar quite low. And here is an interesting point of contention I would like to throw out: do those of us who consider ourselves “traditional” Catholics believe it is proper for the SSPX (or any non-diocesan order) to conduct their own annulment tribunals? Here in America, there is one young SSPX priest (I think at the U.S. District Headquarters) who is responsible for and reviews cases and grants annulments to faithful from SSPX chapels who wish to marry again after a tumultuous (and perhaps invalid) marriage. Many of my friends consider me too scrupulous about this, but I have always wondered about this since learning of the SSPX marriage tribunal in the 90s.
I will pray at Mass this morning for all those people in violent and/or abusive marriages; it must certainly be an incredibly heavy cross to bear.
Marinaio,
I know that the annulment process has been abused in the USA but here in Scotland I know of two people who applied for annulments and both were rigorously processed. I was honesty impressed.
No, the SSPX should not be setting up its own tribunals – one of the key arguments we use against those who claim the Society is schismatic is that they are NOT running a parallel church. Where the diocese has responsibility for something, especially something as serious as this, then the SSPX bows to that authority. Indeed, in the two cases I mention above, it was SSPX priests who explained that those SSPX Mass-goers would have to apply through the diocese for an annulment. In both cases, it was crystal clear that there had been no true marriage – not the fault of the applicants – and so there was relief when the process was satisfactorily completed.
In one of the cases, the parishioner did not even know there is such a thing as an annulment process until I explained about it, on learning of the “marriage breakdown”. Interestingly, in describing it I told this person that there had been such abuse of the process in the USA that it had become known as “Catholic divorce” over there. I was heartened to hear the response to this: “If I’m not genuinely entitled to it, I don’t want an annulment.”
I think your “scruples” about the SSPX tribunals are evidence of your sound Catholic sense, Marinaio. Be assured.
Marinaio,
Funny you should mention the priest who said that “he was convinced that most marriages in today’s world are null from the start.” Pope Francis said the same thing, I believe, several years ago, or a variation of it, one of his many statements that caused confusion and puzzlement among the faithful.
But perhaps he was on to something…!
RCA Victor,
I actually heard one of the priests in my former parish saying that years ago – that most people would be entitled to an annulment, because so many of them did not fit the criteria for a Catholic marriage. That’s sobering.
RCA Victor,
No names, no pack drill, but there are male spouse(s) who display zero comprehension of what it means to live a Catholic life; thus, I just cannot believe that such men (and I use the term loosely) treat their wives well, never mind cherish them as a genuinely Catholic husband should and would. Not remotely.
This is a very bad move. I can imagine women being left with children because the husband can get a divorce, no questions asked. I agree the government should try to strengthen marriage, e.g. through the tax system, in order to make family stable again.
Catherine,
That’s a very good point. I can well imagine that happening. It’s like the old saying “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” although maybe it’s not too accurate since the people who would drop out of a marriage because it was easy to do so, are not my idea of “touch” characters.
Our Lady warned us of the diabolical attacks to come against the family. It started some time ago with the drip drip of governments policies. Here in Scotland, we already have the “no fault divorce”. In recent times,the SNP tried to introduce the Named Person Scheme ( a spy in every home) but thank God it failed. Now the attack is trying to sexualise very young children with a dreadful, and made in hell, curriculum which hopefully will be opposed. One really does wonder at the end game of these SNP politicians! Parents, especially Catholic ones, should be very vocal in their opposition both at school level and, if the school claims to be Catholic, at parish and diocesan level too. If that fails, remove the children from school and teach them at home!
Crofterlady
A great summing up of the dire state of Scottish politics regarding policy on family life. Well said.
Crofterlady,
I’ve heard it said that the Named Person Scheme is still in the pipeline. Sturgeon won’t give that up without a fight.
Dear Editor, that is precisely my concern: Since 1988 the SSPX has been careful not to give any impression of wishing to establish a parallel hierarchy. Archbishop Lefebvre dismissed the idea over and over. But the marriage tribunals are problematic and could be seen as having a “schismatic” bent. I am glad that the SSPX doesn’t do them in Scotland, using instead the mainstream Church structure. Perhaps it is the fact that annulments were so easily procured in the U.S. that caused the SSPX USA District to establish the tribunals, decades ago.
Yes, it most certainly would make sense to “change the entire moral ethos in England/UK, with the aim of trying to encourage good marriages and strong family life,” but that assumes that the UK government has that aim to begin with.
It does not.
This E-Z divorce mechanism serves the opposite aim, the aim of those who are trying their best to destroy the moral ethos of the UK – not to mention everywhere else in the West – in other words, the Luciferian globalists working through their compromised stooges and useful idiots.
Destroying the moral ethos of the West is, in fact, the primary goal of the Frankfurt School and their disciples, who have worked tirelessly (the Devil never sleeps) to accomplish their goal. Sr. Lucia warned us about this.
On the subject of compromised politicians, you folks may have come across the recent statement (shocking to some, but no surprise to those who read real news) by a freshman Congressman in the USA, who tweeted that he had been invited to an orgy by a fellow Congressman, but had refused (thank God). This is the primary method by which elected officials and others in positions of power are compromised and rendered useful to the globalists (and useless to the people): blackmail them with pictures of them engaged in certain behaviors.
(This Congressman was immediately rebuked by the Minority Whip in the House of Representatives – i.e. the leader of the Republican minority – from which we might infer certain things about the Minority Whip….)
How about from “no fault divorce” to “no fault sin”? Not really such a giant step, is it?
RCA Victor,
I hate to tell you, but I think we’re already there with “no fault sin” – if you can even find a priest who thinks anything is a sin, LOL!
It’s so obvious that it can only harm society to make divorce easier. I’m afraid we’re not governed by bright people but by shallow, unintelligent people.
Today, no-fault divorce becomes legal in England & Wales. This report contains quotes which show how little some people, perhaps most, understand the true nature of marriage – unlike some of the commentators.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/no-fault-divorce-law-introduced-in-england-and-wales/ar-AAVTUiF?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=558196d2b81d4696975bf67b648c28f7