Pope Francis has asked the International Synod of Bishops to meet in Rome next year to examine, among other things, the Catholic Church’s policy towards divorced Catholics who remarry. In a recent pastoral letter, Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth said of the situation of those Catholics: “Is there some way of affording them mercy, help and reconciliation?” He went on to say he hoped “some help will also be given to those non-Catholics who wish to be received into the Church but find themselves prevented by an irregularity in their own or their partner’s marital status”. Such cases are not unusual.
It is well known that Catholics’ marriages break down, and the figures appear to be no better than in the population at large. The Church’s prese
26 October 2013, The Tablet
‘The reality of marriage breakdown is rarely as easy to explain as John Paul seemed to think’
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User Comments (3)
The mainstream media, including to some but lesser extent The Tablet, gives us a very limited view of life in occupied Palestine. Reading the blog of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) [a programme coordinated by the World Council of Churches] gives information through personal stories that you rarely if ever read in the Western press. Often the stories are about demolishing homes, cutting down olive trees, land theft, checkpoint harassment and general violence.__
One story, posted on 12 April 2015, tells of the removal of solar panels from a Bedouin community. The story also tells how some brave members of the Jewish community actively oppose the actions of the Israeli government.__
The win in the wall case is to be celebrated. But it's really a drop in the ocean. When berating Palestinians, the world should know what Israel, supported by the majority of its people, is “really” like.__
Westerners need to read the Arab press - readily accessible online. It's a very different story. Yes, it's biased. But no more so than what we get on a regular basis in the West, from the West.
Thank you for this entry. Living in Japan, where the newspapers are not very much interested in palestinian Christians, I knew of the problem, but had not learned that this matter had been addressed by the Israeli supreme court.
I had spent a lot of time in the Holy Land and recognize that this is indeed great, great news.
Thank you.
This is a wonderful victory for justice.
My wife and I saw the site for ourselves when we visited the area with fellow Catenians and Friends of the Holy Land and were so upset by what we had seen that we have written many times to Israeli authorities and campaigned in respect of human rights through The Benenson Society.
While in the area we saw the great work of other members of the Salesians family with young apprentices especially in Bethlehem and it's internationally renowned Nativity museum, which until a year earlier was under the leadership of Fr Preston, an English Salesian of Don Bosco.
We visited Bethlehem University and saw the great work of American De La Salle Brothers and we were particularly struck by the way Christian and Muslim students, especially girls, studied together. We were especially concerned at the lack of job prospects of young Palestinians, many of whom saw no future other than emigration.
Praise God that some justice has been done and please God peace will prosper in this Holy Land.