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News & Herald I
Volume 4 Number 8 • October
Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte
No Communion For
21, 1994
Catholics
Remarried Outside Church WASHINGTON (CNS) — In a let-
riage null.
world' s bishops the Vatican has
solutions.
ter to the
Catholics in invalid second marriages
Catholics in unsanctioned second mar-
who continue to live together as husband
It
Communion.
and wife cannot receive Communion,
repudiated pastoral efforts such as
those proposed last year by three Ger-
man
bishops,
who
said the law should
stand in general but exceptions could be
made in some situations for persons who in
good conscience believed their second
marriages were valid. Christ, the
To Conyers To
Find Peace, Faith, By
CAROL HAZARD Associate Editor
—
CONYERS, Ga. They slogged through mud under a damp, overcast sky
1992 letter to U.S. bishops, the late Archbishop James P. Lyke said, "In my judgment the authenticity of these alleged apparitions
is
in
grave doubt."
Church affirms
ings of those faithful in
Atlanta at the time.
riage situations."
Diocese of Charlotte.
successor, has refrained from
They came to this farm as they had a
F.
Donoghue, his making a
statement regarding the authenticity. "My is hands off," said Archbishop Donoghue, former bishop of the Diocese
dozen or so times before to be present for a vision of the Blessed Mother that is said to appear to a housewife and mother of two on the 13th of each month. The last public address was in May, and if the county has its way, there will be no more. (Rockdale County has imposed requirements effective Nov. 1 for gatherings of 500 people or more that would prohibit the assembly at Conyers.)
position
The foursome from St. John Neumann and Our Lady of the Assump-
although one would never find him there
tion churches in Charlotte
mingled with tens of thousands of faithful from as far away as Minnesota and Costa Rica, and marveled at the multiple growth in the number of people drawn to this little farming community 20 miles southeast of Atlanta. In an era rocked by violence and the 6 o'clock news rife with the latest assaults, batteries and murders, the news of pilgrims making a peaceful journey to pray the rosary, grow deeper in faith and possibly be changed by the experience
heard confessions in a cordoned section the morning of the purported noon ap-
doesn't seem to matter much in the secu-
doubt that his trip to Conyers in December 1992 was the catalyst for a miracle. Chirico visited Conyers with his wife who was wracked in pain from cancer. Jo-Anne Chirico underwent a radical masechtomy in 1 986. In 1 989, the cancer had spread to her liver. Treated with chemotherapy and drugs, the cancer would subside, grow and develop again.
lar world. Yet,
word has
spread.
The
young, old, healthy and infirm flock to Conyers to be embraced by the Blessed Mother and show their devotion to her. That's not to say she actually appears.
The Catholic Church has not
ap-
proved the alleged apparitions nor is it likely to do so within the next 50 or even 1 00 years and possibly never. In a March
of Charlotte. Like his predecessor, Archbishop Donoghue has forbidden priests to offer Mass at the site. Moreover, he has directed priests not to organize pilgrimages to Conyers nor to promote the site
from the
pulpit.
Such people "are not excluded from communion," it said. It added that the Church "is concerned to accompany them pastorally and invite them to share in the life of the Church in the measure that is compatible with the dispositions of the divine law, from which the Church has no power to dispense." It said a divorced Catholic can enter a valid marriage only if the Church, through its courts, finds the first mar-
come out of Conyers," Archbishop Donoghue said.
"A
lot
of good has
"People have changed their lives They re praying and going to church and experiencing conversions. I do think that is .
Some
say even more
Faith
And
happening, and that includes this group from Charlotte. Neil Chirico, a diaconate candidate from St. John Neumann Church, has no is
See Conyers, Page 2
Living together with no sexual relations
— sometimes
referred to as the
"brother-sister" solution
—
is
a tradi-
by the Church when serious reasons, such as the need to raise children, prevent the couple from separating. The letter argued that sound pastoral practice toward divorced-remarried Catholics must be based on the "objective situation ... that their state and contional pastoral solution accepted
dition of life objectively contradict the
union of love between Christ and his Church which is signified and effected
by the Eucharist." It
also cited "another special pasto-
people were admitted would be led into error and confusion regarding the Church's teaching about the indissolural reason: If these
to the Eucharist, the faithful
bility
of marriage."
The letter listed sympathetically some of the main situations for which pastoral exceptions to the Church law have been urged for those who believe in good conscience that they can receive
Com-
munion. It said, "This would be the case, for example, when they had been abandoned completely unjustly, although they sincerely tried to save the previous marriage, or when they are convinced of the nullity of their previous marriage, although unable to demonstrate it in the
See Divorce, Page
1
Justice Conference
Did you know that keynote speakupcoming Faith Doing Jus-
Divinity School
—
will delve into the
demands of our
of
ers for the
social
Conference can help Catholics incorporate faith and justice into their
Scripture and Catholic social teaching.
Father Hehir has served as director of
lives?
the Office of Internal Affairs and secre-
tice
'
happening."
letter said.
National Speakers Scheduled For
Some 20 visiting priests in folded chairs
pearance on Oct. 13.
and sufferirregular mar-
ecclesial
Even so, they go. Archbishop Donoghue acknowledges their interest,
To receive Communion, such couples must separate or, if separation is impossible, go to confession and "take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from
new
attention" to "the difficulties
Archbishop Lyke was the archbishop of Archbishop John
that a
union cannot be recognized as valid if the preceding marriage was valid," the letter from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said. "If the divorced are remarried civilly, they find themselves in a situation that objectively contravenes God's law. Consequently, they cannot receive holy. Communion as long as this situation persists." It cited the passage from Mark' Gospel where Jesus says anyone who divorces his or her spouse and marries again commits adultery. The letter was signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Vatican congregation, and approved by Pope John Paul II. It was dated Sept. 14, sent to bishops' conferences around the world, and made public Oct. 14. It called on pastors to give "special
wind whipped around them. But no matter. The weather didn't wet the spirits of these four pilgrims from the as the
j
Community
it
said.
the acts proper to married couples," the
"In fidelity to the words of Jesus
Faithful Flock
rejected private, nonjudicial
forcefully reaffirmed that divorced riages cannot receive
Charlotte pilgrims Ann Nickerson, Nancy Fields, Sharon Mayfield and Neil Chirico on the farm in Conyers, Ga., where the Blessed Mother is said to appear to Nancy Fowler on the 1 3th of each month. Behind them is the farmhouse with an "apparition Photo by CAROL HAZARD room" where Fowler says the visions come to her.
It
faith in light
Nationally renowned Immaculate
tary of the Department of Social Devel-
Heart of Mary Sister Amata Miller and Father Bryan Hehir will draw from experience as they lead discussions on the many tenants of faith and justice.
opment and World Peace for the United
Sister Amata
—
chief financial of-
States Catholic Conference.
Faith
Doing
Justice, a conference
for business people, parish leaders, parents, catechists
and religious educators,
Belmont Abbey College. Sessions will focus on practical appli-
Marygrove College in Detroit and former economist and education
is
coordinator for NETWORK, a national
cations of the principles of Catholic
ficer for
Catholic social justice lobby in
ington
—
Wash-
will explore the challenges
moving
faith into
creative and effective action
on behalf
and
possibilities of
of justice. tice
—
Father Hehir professor of pracand religion and society at Harvard
Nov. 4-5
at
social teachings.
Bishop William G. Curlin of the Diocese of Charlotte will celebrate the closing liturgy on Nov. 5 at 4:30 p.m. For registration information, contact Scott Spivak at (704) 331-1714.