Traditional Catholic Teaching

Appendix to Supplement A: Lesson 15

Appendix:
Three Questions About Divorce

From "The Question Box" by Rev. Bertrand Conway, CSP
Paulist Press 1961

Why does the Catholic Church absolutely prohibit divorce? Is it not cruel and heartless to compel a woman to live with a drunken, adulterous husband, who refuses to support her? Would it not be more reasonable to allow exceptions in certain cases, as all modern States do?

Our Lord's teaching that Christian marriage is indissoluble is clear. He said to the Pharisees who questioned Him about the lawfulness of divorce: "Have you not read that the Creator, from the beginning, made them male and female, and said, 'For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? Therefore now they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder." When the Pharisees asked Him why then did Moses allow divorce, Christ answered that the Mosaic bill of divorce was contrary to the primitive law of indissolubility, and was granted only "by reason of the hardness of your heart", (Matt. 19: 4 — 8).
St. Paul compares Christian marriage to the indissoluble union of Christ with His Church (Eph. 5: 24) and expressly states that death alone can dissolve the marriage bond. "For the married woman is bound by the Law while her husband is alive; but if her husband die, she is set free from the law of husband. Therefore while her husband is alive, she will be an adulteress if she be with another man" (Rom 7: 2 — 3). "But to those who are married, not I, but the Lord commands that a wife is not to depart from her husband" (1 Cor.7: 10 — 11).
The words of Christ and St. Paul are most clear. They stigmatize the remarriage of either husband or wife with a third person as adultery (Matt. 10: 11; Luke 16: 18); they declare that if a just cause for separation exists, the parties must remain single or become reconciled
(1 Cor.7: 10); they assert that death alone can dissolve the marriage bond (Rom.7: 2;
1 Cor. 7: 39).
Separation from bed and board is permitted for weighty reasons, as the Council of Trent teaches. The Church would consider continual drunkenness or adultery weighty reasons.
The State is no guide in the matter of divorce, as St. John Chrysostom remarked over a thousand years ago. He writes: "Do not cite the civil law made by outsiders, which command that a bill be issued and a divorce granted. For it is not according to these laws that the Lord will judge thee on the last Day, but according to those which He Himself has given"
(De Lib. Rep.).

Why does not the Catholic Church allow divorce on the grounds of adultery? Did not Christ Himself allow it (Matt. 5: 32; 19: 9)? I have been told it was permitted in the early Church and that even today some Catholics obtain a civil divorce.

The Catholic Church never allows divorce (separation with the right to many again) on the grounds of adultery because Christ absolutely forbade divorce with no exceptions
(Mark 10: 11 — 12; Luke 16: 18).
Neither of the passages cited in the question gives permission for divorce. "But I say to you, that everyone who puts away his wife, save on account of immorality, causes her to commit adultery and he who marries a woman who has been put away commits adultery" (Matt. 5: 32). "And I say to you, that whoever puts away his wife, except for immorality, and marries another commits adultery: and he who marries a woman who has been put away commits adultery" (Matt. 19: 9). In these passages Christ is clearly teaching that a man who puts away his wife for adultery does not cause her to commit adultery because she has already committed it and that one has the right to separate from the adulterous partner. If Christ had sanctioned divorce, He would have been plainly contradicting Himself.
The early Fathers unanimously taught that adultery never justifies divorce.
Hernias (160 AD.) writes: "If a man have an adulterous wife, let him put her away, and let the husband remain by himself. But if he put his wife away and marry another, he also commits adultery" (Mand., 4, 4).
St. Justin Martyr (165) writes: "Whoever marries a woman that has been put away by another, commits adultery" (1 Apol., 1, 15).
St. Clement of Alexandria (150—216) writes: "The Bible declares it to be adultery if a person marries another while his or her partner is still alive" (Strom., 2, 23).
St. Jerome (340 — 420) writes: "As long as the husband is alive, even though he be an adulterer... and is deserted by his wife for his crimes, he is still her husband, and she may not take another,..." (Epis., 55).
Catholic husband or wife, with prior permission of the Bishop, may simply separate from the party guilty of adultery. In rare instances, as a last resort, the Bishop may permit the injured party to obtain a civil divorce, in all such cases, however, both parties remain truly married. Neither may marry again nor keep company with the opposite sex.

Does not St. Paul permit divorce among Christians? (1 Cor. 7: 12 — 15)

In this passage, St. Paul is not discussing Christian marriage, but the natural marriage of the unbaptised, He plainly teaches that a marriage between two unbaptised persons may be dissolved, if husband or wife is converted to the faith, while the unbaptised party refuses to live with the convert in peaceful wedlock. He says: "If any brother has an unbelieving wife and she consents to live with him, let him not put her away.. . . But if the unbeliever departs let him depart. For a brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace" (1 Cor. 7: 12 — 15).
This is known in canon law as the Pauline Privilege. Before it can be used, the convert must find out:
1. Whether the unbaptised partner is willing to receive Baptism, for in that case the marriage remains intact.
2. Whether the unbaptised party is willing to live in peaceful wedlock without blaspheming the Creator; that is, without intending to pervert or tempt the Christian to mortal sin. If after due inquiry, technically called interpellation, these questions are answered in the negative, the Pauline Privilege may be used, and a new marriage contracted, which ipso facto dissolves the old. The laws governing this matter are found in canons 1120 — 1127 of the Code (Ayrinhac, Marriage Legislation in the New Code, 288 — 303).
Although natural marriage is in itself indissoluble, it can be dissolved by God, who permitted divorce in the Old Law and the Pauline Privilege in the New.