A tale from the front:
A few years ago a colleague of mine had this incident in her parish. She had a baptized Christian in her RCIA group. He was divorced from his wife but had not remarried. The pastor insisted he needed an annulment. No matter that the chancery said that an annulment was not required in this case. At least not unless or until he wanted to remarry.
But the pastor’s word is law, on a local level. The insistence on annulment stood, and the man left RCIA, never to return. What would you do?
16 February 2011 at 5:50 am
In my opinion the way you presented this was DESIGNED to do damage while attempting to use the cover of seeming interest in addressing injustice.
16 February 2011 at 11:55 am
I can see that.
The poll was more of an afterthought. I think about using polls, but very infrequently. If I had taken more time to ponder using them, I’d try to give a lot more thought what to ask and how to word it.
The incident was long ago, and far away, and nowhere I’ve ever lived or visited, so the damage factor doesn’t seem much more than whipping up sentiment against a priest’s bad judgment.
Few things rankle me more than people getting chased out of the Church. It’s sad enough when it’s a gravely serious reason like abortion or authentic heresy or a person’s own anguished decision. When there’s no rhyme or reason, that strikes me as millstone and ocean territory.
So I’ll admit:
1. I have a bias
2. I think it’s appropriate
3. I’ll word my next poll more carefully