Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei 509

Indissolubility of marriage

Sr. Farley writes: "My own position is that a marriage commitment is

subject to release on the same ultimate grounds that any extremely serious,

nearly unconditional, permanent commitment may cease to bind. This im-

plies that there can indeed be situations in which too much has changed -

one or both partners have changed, the relationship has changed, the original

reason for commitment seems altogether gone. The point of a permanent

commitment, of course, is to bind those who make it in spite of any changes

that may come. But can it always hold? Can it hold absolutely, in the face of

radical and unexpected change? My answer: sometimes it cannot. Sometimes

the obligation must be released, and the commitment can be justifiably

changed" (Pp. 304-305).

This opinion is in contradiction to Catholic teaching on the indissolubility

of marriage: "By its very nature conjugal love requires the inviolable fidelity

of the spouses. This is the consequence of the gift of themselves which they

make to each other. Love seeks to be definitive; it cannot be an arrangement

'until further notice'. The intimate union of marriage, as a mutual giving of

two persons, and the good of the children, demand total fidelity from the

spouses and require an unbreakable union between them. The deepest reason

is found in the fidelity of God to his covenant, in that of Christ to his Church.

Through the sacrament of Matrimony the spouses are enabled to represent

this fidelity and witness to it. Through the sacrament, the indissolubility of

marriage receives a new and deeper meaning. The Lord Jesus insisted on the

original intention of the Creator who willed that marriage be indissoluble. He

abrogates the accommodations that had slipped into the old Law. Between

the baptized, a ratified and consummated marriage cannot be dissolved by

any human power or for any reason other than death".6

Divorce and remarriage

Sr. Farley writes: "If the marriage resulted in children, former spouses

will be held together for years, perhaps a lifetime, in the ongoing project of

6 Catechism of the Catholic Church, nn. 1646-1647, 2382; cfr Mt 5:31-32; 19:3-9; Mk 10:9; Lk

16:18; 1 Cor 7:10-11; Second Ecumenical Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes

on the Church in the Modern World, nn. 48-49; Code of Canon Law, can. 1141; John Paul II,

Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris consortio on the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern

World (November 22, 1981), n. 13: AAS 74 (1982), 93-96.