Letters to the Editor
Letter: Catholics misreading history, Protestantism
Archbishop Charles Chaput is concerned that Pope Francis' Synod on the Family in Rome risked "doing serious harm to the Catholic faith if it endorses changes to the church's practice ... on ministering to the divorced and civilly remarried couples."
The AP reported that 13 cardinals have also written to the pope "... warning that Rome could go the way of 'collapsed Protestant churches that abandoned core Christian beliefs in the name of pastoral adaptation.'"
As a divorced and remarried Catholic who refuses to go through the annulment process, both because of the hypocrisy of the process and the damage it can cause to families, I find the above interpretations of the Catholic prelates to be a serious misreading both of history and the current state of Protestantism.
Before popes imposed mandatory celibacy around 1,000 years ago, divorce and remarriage were accepted.
In 725, Pope Gregory II advised Boniface that there were circumstances in which a man "might have another wife provided he took care of the first one."
An inquiry of the makeup of the congregations of mainstream Protestant churches in Beaufort would find many have a significant number of former Roman Catholics who have sought sanctuary because of the Catholic ban on remarriage. I believe these former Catholics find the Protestant churches that announce that "all are welcome to communion" to be a more accurate reflection of Christ's compassion and forgiveness.
Charlie Davis
Fripp Island
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