Catholic Cultic Control
It never fails to amuse me what a level of control that Catholic clergy holds over the faithful. The faithful realize it on some level, but not enough (it seems) to break away from a tradition they’ve held all their lives. It’s just easier to hold on, I suppose. I’ve been there with other things in my life.
A young woman who posts at LJ under the pseudonym “peacefulcelt9“ had this to say in a recent post:
We are definitely married, but only civilly. We have made a lifelong commitment to each other with the intention to have children, so I dont [sic] see the difference. But no, our marriage isnt [sic] valid. It pisses me off, but I say, why not get married again? Its only going to be a small thing, just immediate family, and only 10 minutes long or so, just the vows and blessing. Since we already have our wedding certificate, we dont [sic] have to do that part again. The priest usually has a double responsibility of the legal as well as religious officiant, but he has to only do the religious aspect for us. [source, emphasis added]
The bold portion is exactly what, in my mind, constitutes a valid marriage. No ceremony is described in the Bible, just the willingness to commit for a lifetime to the other person, described in Genesis and upheld by Christ. That is the commitment I made to my wife on the happiest day of my life: May 30, 2005. That is the commitment I intend to keep for the rest of my life. I refuse to let any church tell me that my marriage isn’t valid; the intent in my heart is the only validation I need.
Later in that post, she said “Im [sic] sure we’re going to be reprimanded by the priest for not getting married in the Church to begin with, because we are technically required to, both of us being baptized Catholics.” Why let a faith have so much control over you that you fear being reprimanded by one of its clerics?
A marriage is between a husband, a wife, and God. There is no need to drag any church into this, especially one that gets as involved as the Catholic Church does.
The Church is a human institution, not a divine one. They have no right to judge the validity of a person’s marriage anymore than I have that right. Romans 14 has many, many spiritual applications.
I suppose this is why I’m not Catholic anymore.
