The Precepts of the Catholic Faith, Part 6

Aug 18

Written By Father Thomas Nathe

The Sixth of a Seven Part Series

August 20, 2023

You can read part one here, part two here, part three here, part four here and part five here.

Jesus Christ yesterday, today, and forever.

This week we continue our series on the Precepts of the Catholic Church: “pre” meaning “before”, and “cept” meaning “life” – before there can be full life in God, these seven laws must be observed. Failure to live them out would constitute a mortal sin: when one has knowledge of them, and acts without undue coercion to disregard them. “The obligatory character of these positive laws decreed by pastoral authorities is meant to guarantee to the faithful the very necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor”. Catechism #2041. This week we continue working our way through them by exploring the sixth precept. They are listed here again as a reminder.

The Precepts of the Catholic Church

To attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation and resting from servile works.
To observe the days of abstinence and fasting.
To confess our sins to a priest, at least once a year.
To receive Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist at least once a year during Easter Season.
To contribute to the support of the Church (tithing & volunteering).
To obey the laws of the Church concerning Matrimony.
To participate in the Church's mission of Evangelization of Souls.

Lets’ define our term because a great number of people today don’t know what a marriage is, many people think it is whatever you want it to be: man and man, open to affairs, no children, temporary, until happiness do us part, etc. This is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines as a marriage:

“The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament.” CCC 1601

God is the creator of marriage, not man, and it is God who defines what our obligations in marriage are. I quote here the nuptial blessing prayed over a couple at a Catholic wedding:

“O God, who by your mighty power created all things out of nothing, and, when you had set in place the beginnings of the universe, formed man and woman in your own image, making the woman an inseparable helpmate to the man, that they might no longer be two, but one flesh, and taught that what you were pleased to make one must never be divided; O God, who consecrated the bond of Marriage by so great a mystery that in the wedding covenant you foreshadowed the Sacrament of Christ and his Church; O God, by whom woman is joined to man and the companionship they had in the beginning is endowed with the one blessing not forfeited by original sin nor washed away by the flood . . .”

If you only remember one thing from this pastor’s column, let it be this:

Catholics who marry are obligated to wed in the Catholic Church. Failure to do so would constitute grave evil and the union would not be a valid marriage in God’s eyes.

I never heard this fact growing up Catholic, so it was news to me when I discovered it in my early 30’s, and it may well be news to you too.

So what happens to a Catholic who weds outside of the Catholic Church? Although the union is recognized by civil society as marriage, it is not recognized by God as such: thus the couple are sleeping together outside of marriage. The couple would be in an objective state of grave evil (potentially the cause of scandal), and when coupled with knowledge and freedom, it would constitute being in a state of formal mortal sin. A Catholic who is civilly married but not in the Catholic Church, cannot receive Communion at Mass unless they were to stop sharing a bed with their spouse and live as brother and sister, although they should continue to attend Mass and practice the faith. Praise God, because this situation can be fixed!

Spouses love each other when they get married, or at least one would hope. God knows that, and He knows all the ins and outs of each of us, as well as the ins and outs of our relationships. God and his Church are interested in sanctifying and saving, not condemning. So if you or someone you know is Catholic and civilly married but not in the Catholic Church, then have them call their parish office and simply explain that they got married outside of the Church and need to get married in the Catholic Church. Priests love to wed couples, especially those who have been living together outside of true marriage.

Divorce

I’ve heard Catholics say that they got a divorce and therefore they can’t be a practicing Catholic anymore – this is false. Spouses separate for many reasons, some bad (I didn’t love my spouse anymore, I wanted to be with someone else, I didn’t want the responsibility anymore, etc.) however there are times when it is justified, even necessary for a spouse to separate from the other. The ins and outs of each failed marriage is something that God alone fully understands. Hopefully, those seeking a divorce are doing so as a last resort after trying their best to work with their spouse to save the marriage. Sometimes one or both spouses won’t make the necessary changes to make the marriage work, and sometimes there is abuse. Then of course there is the question as to whether or not a valid marriage existed in the first place. Read a Jane Austin novel from the first quarter of the 19th Century and see how far we have come from the days of chastity, chivalry, and courtship. There are many more factors that couples face in this generation that undermine a marriage, before it starts, than in any other generation in the history of Christianity, beginning with what a marriage actually is.

For these reasons it could be a mortal sin to get a divorce if the reasons are selfish, yet because of the other reasons I have just mentioned, the Church does not assume that a person who got a divorce is therefore in a state of mortal sin. If you’ve had a divorce and don’t know the difference, then go to confession and the priest will help you out. What a divorced Catholic can do and should do, is to continue to practice their faith and possibly pursue an annulment.

What’s an Annulment?

When a Catholic marries in the Catholic Church, we presume it is a valid marriage, and therefore unbreakable; the same holds true for non-Catholics who marry. Thus the Church maintains that a new union cannot be recognized as valid, if the first marriage is still valid. An annulment is an appeal that a divorced person makes to the Church asking the Church to consider whether or not a valid marriage existed in the first place, or if a spouse’s beliefs or actions have invalidated the current bond. A great number of factors must be present at the time a marriage was contracted for a marriage to be truly valid, most of them are common sense. If any one of these things is compromised, then the marriage may not be valid. When a divorcee is pursuing an annulment, a marriage tribunal established by the diocese that the person lives in, studies the marriage to determine its validity. If the tribunal decrees that a valid marriage never existed in the first place, then the divorcee is free to re-marry. If the tribunal decrees that a valid marriage still exists, then the divorcee is not free to marry again because in God’s eyes, they are still married.

If you or someone you know is Catholic, has gotten a divorce, and might re-marry one day, please have them call their parish to arrange for a discussion about obtaining an annulment. We’re here to help.

Children, artificial birth control, and marriage

Remember the Church’s definition of marriage from page one: “marriage has as its ends the good of the spouses and the procreation of children.” Hopefully everyone accepts the first principle about the good of the spouses, but a great number of spouses don’t accept the second one about the procreation of children. Spouses must be open to having children if they can. Of course serious reasons may exist that limit that number or preclude them all together, yet those must be very good reasons; and not wanting children, or another one, because they would interfere with maintaining a current or desired lifestyle, is not a very good reason. Spouses can legitimately divorce and seek an annulment if their spouse is not open to having children, or more of them when they can. A future pastor’s column on this subject will be forthcoming.

May Our Lord and His Blessed Mother Bless You,