JOHN SMEATON, DIRECTOR OF SPUC: Openness to children and marriage go together, says Catholic Church's doctrinal prefect

Thursday, 24 October 2013

Openness to children and marriage go together, says Catholic Church's doctrinal prefect

Archbishop Gerhard Müller, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has written a major article in L'Osservatore Romano on the subject of the pastoral care of Catholics who have divorced and remarried. Among other things, Archbishop Müller said:

“Today’s mentality is largely opposed to the Christian understanding of marriage, with regard to its indissolubility and its openness to children,” said Archbishop Gerhard Müller, writing in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. “Because many Christians are influenced by this, marriages nowadays are probably invalid more often than they were previously, because there is a lack of desire for marriage in accordance with Catholic teaching, and there is too little socialization within an environment of faith.”

Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, told LifeSiteNews.com:

"Archbishop Müller's article gives a lucid, robust and precise account of why the Catholic Church cannot bow to liberal pressures to weaken its discipline regarding marriage. We are particularly grateful to read the archbishop's clear statement linking openness to children to the validity of marriage. As Pope Francis made clear in his first enyclical Lumen Fidei, the life-bearing potential of heterosexuality is a prerequisite of marriage. Abortion, contraception, sterilisation and same-sex relationships are all therefore incompatible with marriage. This message must be made clear to legislators and policy-makers who claim to support marriage but at the same time support practices which are closed to the gift of life."

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About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 42 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.