Courtney McGrailDear Editor, I am writing following Mary Kenny’s article ‘Divorce-remarried and the plain divorced’ (IC 06/11/14) in which distinctions are drawn between people who are ‘’divorced-remarried’’ and ‘’plain divorced’’ i.e. not remarried.
Also sympathetic treatment is encouraged for the ‘’innocent party’’.
Divorce is a reality for many and I feel we should not be categorising those, in a better or worse light, who have endured that painful experience.
To my mind they are all victims whatever the reason their marriage failed.
The majority of young people and the Church itself have fallen out of step, and whereas they themselves are not all marginalised by Church attitude on sexual orientation or divorce, their opinions of the Church are.
St Luke’s Gospel poses the analogy and asks who would not leave the 99 sheep in the wilderness to search for the lost one.
The Church’s task, it seems, is to leave the one and search for the 99.
Progress can only be achieved by an out-reaching and realistic dialogue toward understanding.
Where there are differences in opinion or doctrine they should be set-out in an open way.
We should take the lesson ‘’Neither do I condemn you’’ as our base, but the one immediately following ‘’Go and sin no more ‘’ sets out the challenge.
Yours etc.,
Barry Prendergast,
Knocknarea,
Sligo.