"HOMILIES for Sunday Liturgies and Feasts"

"[U]ntold numbers of those involved had the divorce forced upon them by their spouse"

A HPR homily by Fr. Joseph Koterski, S.J.

"14th Sunday of the Year -- July 4"

"C Readings: Isa 66:10 - 14c . Gal. 6:14 - 18 . Luke 10:1 -12, 17 - 20 or 10:1-9

"Title: The divorced Catholic.


"Purpose: (1) To describe the number of divorced in the United States and among U.S. Catholics; (2) to elicit understanding of them and encouragement of them.


Below are some disjointed vague and random snippets from his homily from the June / July 2010 issue of the Homiletic & Pastoral Review.


"The Fourth of July -- Independence Day in the United States -- is a civil holiday, not a religious one.

"But we do well to offer prayers for our nation this day.

"It needs them badly

"One of the aspects of contemporary American life that gets considerably less notice, perhaps because it has become so utterly common and carefree to obtain is divorce.

"[A] little more than a million divorces were granted in 2008, while somewhat more than 2.2 million marriages were contracted.

""Even though getting an accurate statistic for just how many Catholics have experienced a divorce is extremely difficult, a number of reputable sources estimate that some 20 percent of the more than 67 million American Catholics living today have been divorced.

"But even if the true figures are half that, the numbers are still staggering, and those involved need our care and compassion.

"Admittedly, every case is unique, but untold numbers of those involved had the divorce forced upon them by their spouse and never sought a divorce, or were forced to seek it in self - protection and have no interest in remarriage.

"Now they are on their own, and perhaps raising children alone, or they simply find themselves forced to spend the foreseeable future without the spouse they hoped to have -- these individuals have heavy crosses to carry.

"[T]he remarriage of divorced Catholics is at odds with the loving union of Christ and the Church that is to be the model by which to understand Christian marriage.

"Because the union between Christ and the Church is signified and made present in the Eucharist, those remarried after divorce cannot receive Communion.

"Pope Benedict has a strong sense that the divorced still do belong to the Church and very much need our practical charity.

"[Thus] the Pope constantly champions the goal of better marriage preparation.

"He makes this point when he writes ... Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to society itself...

"In this entire domain of the Church's life, there is need for great compassion and understanding from all of us, even as we try to stay true to the Church's teachings on this important topic.

"Suggested readings from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: CCC 2382 - 2400."