A prominent preacher of the Prosperity Gospel

is about to find that prosperity is fleeting...

Eddie Long on sabbatical as divorce proceeds

Is there ever a pile of issues here! Like other ministers railing against all things gay, it seems he's a bit conflicted about the issue himself. Now it's going to cost him his prosperity. Permanent alimony, at that end of the pay scale, will likely be quite a bit, particularly if he's losing his following...

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Founded on truth which can't be ignored

but applied with love and charity...

No Communion for Outlaws. But the Pope Is Studying Two Exceptions

"The ban on Eucharistic communion for divorced and remarried Catholics is increasingly contested and disobeyed. Benedict XVI is standing firm. But he is republishing an essay from 1998 that opens two loopholes, the second entrusted to conscience"

Heh. Outlaws. This is what happens when things are translated on the intertubes...

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Somewhat scary...

Could you be 'infected' by friend's divorce?

But I can see how it can happen...

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Somehow,

I expect it.

Annulment Crackdown?: Reports Appear to Be Rumors

They're ALL rumours. Even when one part of the Vatican says something, the Pope's spokesman will deny or modify what was said. Until something comes from the Pope, anything said about an issue is rumour. None-the-less, given the conservative nature of the Papacy, it wouldn't surprise me if it happens. God have mercy on the poor, divorced Catholic people whose suffering is being ignored by the Vatican...

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It may be true

but I expect that Rome would like to grant far too few...

Church says U.S. allowing too many marriage annulments

I suspect that the Vatican would rather err on the side of law than on the side of charity. While the Church is concerned about the 'flock', the structure of the Church is concerned with the structure of the Church...

(OK, that's a bit simplistic, but you know what I mean...)

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I find it odd...

though they're like anyone else, I guess...

Wife of televangelist Benny Hinn files for divorce

I'm amazed at the number of Christian evangelists/televangelists who go through a divorce. In this case I'll be interested in the property split and his finances.

Benny Hinn has been criticized, not just for his 'prosperity gospel', but for his very unusual (and some say heretical) interpretation of Christian teachings. Here's a great book about him: The Confusing World of Benny Hinn

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So tragic...

Pornography – and Marriage

"Most men, including doctors, have not the foggiest notion that the wives develop deep psychological wounds, commonly reporting feelings of betrayal, loss, mistrust, devastation, and anger at the discovery of their husbands' use of pornography, especially Internet use."

I know of one marriage, that of friends of mine, that ended because of the husband's addiction to internet pornography. It's so tragic...

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I don't know

There's just something... wrong.. about this article somehow...

Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off

Marriage seems a business, a job, and the particulars of marriage, children, home care, etc. are all just the same. I don't detect any feelings in this article. I think that's what most makes me feel icky about it...

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A good article

full of some tough things. There are some things I would dispute, but that's everyone's right. I have always been wary of the Church's position on a lot of things regarding marriage...

Breaking Vows: When Faithful Catholics Divorce

I know of a person who was almost destroyed when a priest whom he admired greatly, and who was his spiritual director, told him, when his horrible marriage collapsed and died, that the priest had had such great hopes for him, and that he had been on his way to becoming a saint, until he ended his marriage. What is that all about? 'You were doing so well holding together, by yourself, an emotionally, and slowly becoming physically, abusive marriage, that you were becoming a saint. Now that's over and you can never be one.' What a terrible thing to tell a person! It's outrageous, and set this person back emotionally and spiritually for years.

Our Church's position on marriage, when fully understood, may be valid and somewhat remarkable in our current cultural situation, but the Church's representatives have to learn that they're dealing with human beings and not robots. The Church has always been really bad at that, or at least it hasn't taught its priests and religious how to properly deal with these things...

As usual, the comments are interesting. As usual, reading them can get you more worked up than reading the article.

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And the only people pleased by this

are the lawyers...

Take My Kidney, Please

"Divorce settlements have always cost an arm and a leg, but as the shocking Batista case demonstrates, vital organs are now fair game. Can altruism ever be regulated?"

The author of the article claims that the donor is having a severe case of 'donor remorse'. I don't think it's that easy to say, particularly so many years later. In divorces there's usually a different attitude that drives it.

So very sad...