From the Pastor - 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s readings are all about relationships. Among the many lessons we have learned from the global pandemic is the deep importance of the relationships and communities in our lives. Our families, neighbors, friends and parish family need us, and we need them to be our best selves.
St. Paul gives us simple instruction in our second reading from Romans to guide us in our dealings with others, reminding us what Christ Himself taught: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love is the overarching principal that guides us to be good stewards of our relationships.
In our Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus further refines this instruction on good stewardship of our relationships, even when they involve conflict. He says, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.”
Jesus teaches us to confront the offending person directly and discretely — with the goal of restoring the relationship if possible. This is how we steward our relationships even through rocky waters. Jesus also speaks to us of the power and beauty of community life. “If two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Christian stewards, God has designed us in such a way that we must help each other on the journey towards heaven. Let us take care to steward our relationships well. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2023
Pastoral Pondering
Last week I wrote about divorce and remarriage and mentioned briefly the role of the Diocesan Tribunal. I have worked in the Tribunal since 1994 and have been the Judicial Vicar of the Diocese since 2003. Even though the Tribunal is competent to process all the various types of cases under canon law, most people associate it most of all with marriage; specifically, petitions for decrees of marriage invalidity or nullity.
As noted last week, the Church’s understanding of marriage involves understanding the properties and ends of marriage. The following canons from the Code of Canon Law provide the Church’s understanding of marriage. These laws are rooted in the natural law.
CAN. 1055 §1. † The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring, has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament between the baptized.
§2. † For this reason, a valid matrimonial contract cannot exist between the baptized without it being by that fact a sacrament.
CAN. 1056† The essential properties of marriage are unity and indissolubility, which in Christian marriage obtain a special firmness by reason of the sacrament.
If a party impugns the validity of his or her marriage, it will generally be due to a defect in the understanding of one or more of these ends (c. 1055) and properties (c. 1056). Another common area of examination is the capacity of the parties to understand the commitment involved with marriage and whether he or she was free to do so at the time of the exchange of vows. In addition to these, an additional requirement when at least one Catholic is a party to a marriage, is that the marriage be celebrated according to the prescribed canonical form as indicated in the approved liturgical books.
The Tribunal of the Diocese of Charlotte generally processes about 300 cases per year. This includes both formal (requiring the full judicial process) and informal (established by documentary evidence) cases. Each parish is assigned an advocate to work with Petitioners in both understanding and engaging the process. Rod Brostrum is the advocate for St. Mark. Both Deacon Louie and Deacon Rich are often the points of initial contact for someone needing the services of the Tribunal. Since Father Carlson and I are officers of the Court, we generally do not get involved with the initial stages of cases. This helps avoid conflicts of interest as the process progresses.
The aim of the Judicial process is to ascertain the truth of the matter. Specifically, the question to be resolved is whether the marriage in question was, from the moment of consent, valid. This question is answered by the collection of evidence, including the testimony of the parties, witnesses and any documentary evidence that might be helpful. Again, the objective of the process is to find the truth. It is not to achieve a declaration of invalidity, although this is often the objective of those seeking the services of the Tribunal.
Marriage enjoys the favor of the law and, therefore, is presumed to be valid until the contrary is proven. At the end of the case, the judges of the Tribunal must decide the matter and answer the original question; that is, the marriage in question has been shown to be invalid from the moment of consent (constat) or to be valid from the moment of consent (non constat).
The issuance of a decree of invalidity frees a party to contract marriage anew. It has no impact on other matters such as legitimacy of children or other matters that are often addressed by the civil courts. The focus of the Tribunal is solely on the status of the parties to the marriage in the life of the Church.