The privilege of living amongst the people is that sometimes they tell you in full trust: do you think that marriage is more difficult than the life in the monastery or convent ? And it's not only about this question but about many others....such as do you understand women more now ?
What makes me think is that the common people and the people governing the church live kilometres apart! The traditional priests still preach after reading books, the married priest has the daily living challenges to keep him on track!
Normal common people question a lot about the teaching of the church about many subjects such as contraceptives, divorce, cohabitation etc....What I find perplexing is that they have been bombarded with the same old view of the teaching of the church. When I start just giving them some information then they'll realise that before discussing or taking sides they have been already taken for a ride!! It's really disgusting that they picture divorce as if there is only one opinion from Jesus' lips and that's a no!!! Well there are many interpretations for that gospel. Marriage started many years (centuries actually) later and was not religious at all. The rich people had to make sure that all their property would stay in the family....
Who is going to give all this information to the people? The positive side is that the people don't take the clerics too seriously and that they decide silently in their hearts. Just looking at the consumption of contraceptives in Malta will prove this!
But I do think that the people need someone to show them that their choices are right after all. Because many people care about making choices according to some religious belief. We hope of starting fresh and honest discussions in our pastoral work.
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