Catholic Replies
Q. Who makes up the Prayers of the Faithful at Mass — the celebrating priest, the parish council, the diocese? — G.P., via e-mail.
A. The petitions for the Prayers of the Faithful are usually suggested by the Bishops Committee on the Liturgy and, according to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, are to include prayers “a) for the needs of the Church; b) for public authorities and the salvation of the whole world; c) for those burdened by any kind of difficulty; d) for the local community” (n. 70). The same paragraph says that “in any particular celebration, such as a Confirmation, a Marriage, or at a Funeral, the series of intentions may be concerned more closely with the particular situation.”
Furthermore, says the GIRM, “it is for the Priest Celebrant to regulate this prayer from the chair. He himself begins it with a brief introduction, by which he calls upon the faithful to pray, and likewise he concludes it with an oration. The intentions announced should be sober, be composed with a wise liberty and in few words, and they should be expressive of the prayer of the entire community” (n. 71).
Many of us have heard petitions, perhaps emanating from a parish council, that were neither sober, wise, nor brief, but those were contrary to the liturgical instructions quoted above.
Q. I have observed annulments of five Catholic marriages that were easily obtained. The reason given for granting them was “lack of intent.” Please explain how a diocesan marriage tribunal can prove lack of intent. — Name Withheld, North Carolina.
A. An annulment is a decree by a Church tribunal that what was thought to be a valid marriage at the time it took place was lacking some essential element that rendered the union invalid. Canon 1095 of the Code of Canon Law says that persons incapable of contracting a valid marriage include those “who lack the sufficient use of reason; who suffer from grave lack of discretion of judgment concerning essential matrimonial rights and duties which are to be mutually given and accepted; who are not capable of assuming the essential obligations of marriage due to causes of a psychic nature.”
“Lack of intent” is not a canonical reason, but it may mean that a person does not understand, or does not have the intention of abiding by, the rights, duties, and obligations involved in contracting a valid marriage. For example, if it can be shown that one party was forced into the marriage, or was opposed to having children, or thought that he or she could abandon the marriage at any time, or was psychologically incapable of making a lifelong commitment, those would be grounds for a decree of nullity.
A marriage tribunal will collect statements from those closest to the bride and groom at the time of the marriage to find out if they had any inclination that either of the parties really didn’t want to get married, but went through with the ceremony anyway. We have twice been asked by persons seeking an annulment to write something indicating that some essential element was missing on the day of the wedding. We declined both times because we thought that the parties knew exactly what they were doing, but they got the annulment anyway.
“Causes of a psychic nature” has played a major part in the explosion of annulments in America from a few hundred to tens of thousands a year. It should be noted, however, that perhaps 25 percent of those thousands were based on violations of canonical form, that is, the marriage was not contracted in the presence of a priest and two witnesses. This is a very objective type of case and tribunals have little discretion in their decisions.
Far more subjective are those cases involving psychological reasons and, while some of the latter cases are deserving of an annulment, others would seem to be based on shaky grounds. This was a concern of the late Pope St. John Paul II, who told tribunal judges in 2002 that they “cannot give in to the divorce mentality” and must vigorously uphold “the indissoluble nature of marriage.” He said that “an unjust declaration of nullity, opposed to the truth of the normative principles or the facts, is particularly serious since its official link with the Church encourages the spread of attitudes in which indissolubility finds verbal support, but is denied in practice.”
Q. How many really Catholic colleges and high schools are there in our country? That is, how many follow all the teachings of the Church? Could you name some of these institutions? – R.A.C., Massachusetts.
A. This is a difficult thing to do, especially with high schools, since things can change quickly with a new administration, board of directors, principal, or pastor. The National Catholic Register publishes each year a list of colleges and universities that are faithful to Church teachings. Wanderer readers are familiar with many of them, such as Ave Maria, Christendom, Thomas Aquinas, Magdalen, Thomas More, Franciscan University, University of Dallas, Wyoming Catholic, John Paul the Great, etc., all of which have retained their fidelity to the Church for many years and, please God, will continue to do so.
At the high school level, it is much more difficult to name institutions faithful to the Magisterium. Hardly a month goes by that we don’t read of a school that is ostensibly Catholic, but which honors persons who are proudly pro-abortion or in favor of same-sex unions. Sometimes these schools try to maintain their Catholic standards by, say, attempting to remove a faculty member who claims to be “married” to a person of the same sex, but they are often roundly denounced by the students and parents involved in the school.
Change of personnel can also change the direction of a school. Some years ago, a large Catholic high school in Louisiana was using our Catholicism Series in its classrooms, thanks to a very solid nun who was chair of the Theology Department there. However, when Sister retired, out went the Catholicism Series and in came a less orthodox series. We weren’t surprised since when Sister invited us to speak to the students by classes, we could tell from the questions they asked, and the disdainful looks from certain teachers at what we said, that a watered-down Catholicism was being taught by some of the teachers and that the situation would further deteriorate once Sister was gone.
So, the only way to determine the catholicity of a high school is to be closely involved in its culture and curriculum, and then to recruit other parents and alumni to make sure that it remains Catholic.
Q. Can one abide by all the Ten Commandments without grace? What about invincible ignorance? — R.M.V., North Carolina.
A. St. Paul says that God wants all persons to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4), which means that God must put into everyone’s heart a desire for the truth and a knowledge of right and wrong. A person who does not know of the Commandments would intuitively know that it’s wrong to murder, steal, lie, etc., and would try to live as good a life as God makes possible through actual grace, which God gives us to help conform our lives to His will.
Invincible ignorance is something which cannot be dispelled either because the individual is unable to secure adequate information, even after a reasonable effort, or because he simply does not know that there is a problem. In other words, the person is ignorant of his ignorance.
