Ed Peters has a new piece up about the canonical implications of the marriage of Terri Schiavo’s husband Michael to his live-in girlfriend after he bumped off Terri.
For those who may not be familiar with the issue, canon law provides an impediment known as crimen (Latin, "crime") that provides that "Anyone who, with a view to entering marriage with a certain person, has brought about the death of that person’s spouse or of one’s own spouse invalidly attempts this marriage."
How, then, could the Diocese of St. Petersburgh allow Michael Schiavo (a Lutheran) to marry his mistress (a Catholic) in a Catholic ceremony after Schiavo brought about Terri’s death?
Good question. Let’s hope it gets answered.
In the meantime,
It seems often in our Church that the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. I know these are different issues but I can’t help but think how upset those people who have sought annulments and have been denied same must be about Michael Schiavo being allowed to marry in the Church after having a long adulterous relationship, and ultimately [with the sanction of the court] killing his disabled wife through slow torture by depriving her of food and water. It was a miscarriage of justice, a crime against life, and now it is a sacrilege.
Is this a divine law or a changable cannon law? If it is just cannon law, does it then depend on the interpretation of the local church leadership? If so then maybe it is a valid marriage, even though in other areas the law would have been invalid, not that I particularly hope the marriage is valid. Indeed I think it is a bit of a scandal that this marriage was alowed to take place. I would have been in favor of changing cannon law just to stop it (though I know that would probably be impossible).
I think John Paul II took Christ’s call to imitate Him way too literally when he appointed all these Judases to the episcopate.
Billy,
JPII chose more than a few ‘bad’ men to be bishops, but all the evidence points to those as being unintended mistakes, nothing more.
He’s jolly well not a -real- Lutheran. He must be Elka.
I think this is one of those instances where the bishop is willing to bend over backwards for a quasi-Catholic, because God forbid that person leave the Church because some church official disagreed with how they live their life.
Makes me sick how we’ve got wishy-washy shepherds that do somersaults of logic to accomodate wolves in sheep’s clothing.
If he’s a Lutheran- why did he have to get married in the Catholic Church? Why didn’t he and his live-in just get married in the Lutheran Church? Was he trying to prove some kind of a point? Sheesh!
I think this is one of those instances where the bishop is willing to bend over backwards for a quasi-Catholic, because God forbid that person leave the Church because some church official disagreed with how they live their life.
I think this is one of those instances where the bishop prays to and worships the Other One rather than Christ Jesus.
Could be, BillyHW. Or maybe the bishop just lacks a spine. Heaven knows there’s a lot of that around.
THINK of how many this bishop could have instructed and inspired had he followed the teaching of the Church on this matter!
The press would have been all over it, and a true understanding of Godly Marriage could have been voiced to millions.
Instead, this.
It’s like standing on the battlements of Minas Tirith and watching the black cloud in Mordor grow until it blocks out the sun.
Sorry to sound so depressed, but I just commented on the other thread about the Vatican possibly being sued over the priest abuse scandal, and that’s no laugh-fest, either.
What shall the men of the West do? Including those peoples allied with, but not in full communion with, Gondor?