April-May 1999
Issue 42

        'God no longer regards your offerings nor accepts them. You ask why? It is because He knows that you have broken your promise to the wife you married when you were young. She was your partner and you broke your vows before God. Yet He made you one with her. Why? So that you might have holy children. I HATE DIVORCE says the Lord God, it is cruel and violent'. (Malachi 2.13-16).

        'Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. Divorce is immoral because it introduces disorder into the family and society. It brings grave harm to the deserted spouse and traumatizes children' (Catechism 2384, 2385).

        'ANY MAN who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery; and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery' (Jesus Christ, Luke 16).

        Currently in America half of all new marriages end in divorce. Compare that with the Philippines where it is less than 1%. The American Catholic Church is complicit in this evil by granting wholesale annulments. 90% of all annulments in the world occur in the U.S.

        The Catechism says divorce traumatizes children. One need not look far to see the consequences of that trauma. For example: The teenage suicide rate in the U.S. is 35% higher in divorced homes. Abortion and teenage pregnancy are higher in divorced homes. Over 75% of federal prisoners come from broken homes. In the U.S. nearly 80% of black children are not raised in a two-parent household (either divorced or unmarried). Blacks are 12% of the general population but over 45% of the prison population. Right down the line our culture’s social pathologies (alcoholism, drug abuse, crime, etc.) are significantly higher among the children of broken homes.

        People like to talk about the 'hard cases', abused women, desertion, etc. But the fact is that in over 80% of divorces the spouses are on amiable terms and have simply found someone else or are tired of the same person. Divorce and abortion are destroying America.

Let's look at the chief factors in the divorce plague in the U.S.

1. Narcissistic Culture: Self-fulfillment is the goal of most Americans today rather than devotion to family and God. Look at all the self-esteem and exercise programs on TV. We want to look good and feel good-but we neglect our spiritual life. As a pastor the number one problem with the married couples coming to me was "I'm just not happy”. Our pursuit of happiness has superceded God’s will for us and our children. Both secular and religious culture (movies, books, self-esteem and prosperity theology, etc.) have long undermined the Christian principle that it is better to give than to receive. Jesus taught constantly that only in losing one's life does one find true life. Homosexuality and divorce always flourish in hedonistic cultures.

2. Women in the Work Place: From the 1930s to the present one finds that within 1 or 2 points the percentage of women working outside the home directly parallels the percentage of divorce. When there were 10% women in the work place there was 10% divorce. When there was 30% working there was 30% divorce. Now 50% working there is 50% divorce. Why? As women and men are placed in frequent and more intimate interaction with one another, spousal interaction and reliance is diminished, and adulterous temptations are encouraged. While there are many reasons for women having to work (paying our onerous tax burden is a major one) it is often simply a matter of placing material prosperity ahead of the welfare of children and marriage. There are many women whose husbands make $100,000 a year and yet they drop their kids off at daycare. Our culture has conditioned us to think that it is more important to buy our children things and send them to the best schools than it is to make sure they make it to heaven and have their emotional needs met.

3. Contraception: Contraception undermines marriage by reducing sex into casual recreation for self-gratification, rather than the mutual total self giving act, open to new life, that God intends. Pope Paul VI warned that contraception would make it far easier for people to break their marriage vows. Contraception usage provides for illicit copulation without commitment or love. Combine contraception with far greater interaction between the sexes and one has a recipe for infidelity.

4. Pastoral Cowardice: The vast majority of Pastors will simply not condemn divorce and remarriage except in the most innocuous terms. Divorce is like abortion. We all think OUR case is different! But guess what, God doesn't!

5. Legal Complicity: Catholic attorneys often make their living receiving nice fees for helping destroy marriages and families. What God joins together let not man put asunder. This means lawyers and judges also! If cooperation in abortion is an excommunicable offense, then why isn't complicity in divorce and remarriage?

        Our society marvels at the acts of violence like the recent murders at the Colorado High School. What do we expect from children after we’ve taught them by example that one of life’s most sacred vows is meaningless? That human life is expendable? This is what the liberalization of divorce and the legalization of abortion has taught this generation. What are we to expect when our president and congress say its okay to pull a baby’s body out of her mother’s womb, jam scissors in her head and suck her brains out? If it’s okay to get rid of your wife or baby, why is it wrong to get rid of anyone that causes us discomfort or inconvenience? What do we expect when our church leaders act like all is well and preach benign little homilies as Western civilization collapses around us? We’ve sown the wind and are reaping the whirlwind.

        Look at the devastation in our society. For the indulgence of our human passions we've given our children an object lesson in selfishness and begotten chaos into our culture. It's wrong. And no matter how many excuses we make, God hates it. He said so!

        May the prayers of our dear Blessed Mother Mary and the peace of our God the Lord Jesus Christ be with you always,

Jack Keene

Southern Papist Perspective is intended to be published monthly, but due to my work schedule, some issues may arrive closer together than others. If you have comments or questions, or would like to add someone to our mailing list, please address your correspondence to: Southern Papist Perspective, 334 Lakeshore Drive, Madison, Mississippi 39110 or Email misspap@iolms.com There is no charge for the newsletter.

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