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20 Answers- Divorce & Remarriage
What God Had Joined...
What is the meaning of marriage?
What conditions can make a marriage invalid?
Is a divorced Catholic allowed to receive Holy Communion?
Why is it necessary to go through the annulment process before I can be remarried?
The sacrament of marriage is one of the holiest things instituted by Christ—a lifelong sign of the love between the Church and himself. But although marriage is by its nature a faithful and permanent union, because of human sin it sometimes fails to live up to that sign. 20 Answers: Divorce & Remarriage explains Church teaching on the indissolubility of marriage, and examines the pastoral and canonical realities for Catholics who wish to end their common life and marry another.
The 20 Answers Series from Catholic Answers offers hard facts, powerful arguments, and clear explanations of the most important topics facing the Church and the world—all in a compact, easy-to-read package. Check out dozens of other topics in the 20 Answers Series of booklets published by Catholic Answers Press .
What is the meaning of marriage?
What conditions can make a marriage invalid?
Is a divorced Catholic allowed to receive Holy Communion?
Why is it necessary to go through the annulment process before I can be remarried?
The sacrament of marriage is one of the holiest things instituted by Christ—a lifelong sign of the love between the Church and himself. But although marriage is by its nature a faithful and permanent union, because of human sin it sometimes fails to live up to that sign. 20 Answers: Divorce & Remarriage explains Church teaching on the indissolubility of marriage, and examines the pastoral and canonical realities for Catholics who wish to end their common life and marry another.
The 20 Answers Series from Catholic Answers offers hard facts, powerful arguments, and clear explanations of the most important topics facing the Church and the world—all in a compact, easy-to-read package. Check out dozens of other topics in the 20 Answers Series of booklets published by Catholic Answers Press .
- GenresReligion
79 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2016
5 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 3, 2017
I am now more than half way through the 20 Answers challenge. The goal was to read all 20 books in the 20 Answers series from Catholic Answers during Lent this year. Currently during lent 2017 you can get all 20 books for 50% off, an amazing deal, and you still have time to get them! This was another really hard read in this series. This book was hard because it speaks hard truths. Truths that many today would like to soften. Truths that for the most part the Catholic Church is one of the last holdouts in standing firm on, specifically the sanctity of marriage. Part of what makes this book so hard is that I doubt there is a reader out there who has not been touched by divorce and likely remarriage. How many of us do not have divorced parents, grandparents or friends? How many of us do not know a same sex couple who is married or planning on getting married?
Two quotes by Jim from the introduction should help show how he approached writing this book, and the value it has for us
"But not every remarriage can or should be recognized as a true marriage. Indeed, many first marriages ending in civil divorce are still actually valid, indissoluble marriages."
"It is my hope that this booklet will help equip Catholics and other Christians to validly enter into authentic marriages that are divorce-proof for life. By approaching marriage and the family as the image of Christ and the Church, may couples grow to appreciate and embrace the beautiful reality that their relationships truly are."
When my wife and I met and started dating two of her closest friends were going through divorces. In each case a spouse had been unfaithful, in one it was the husband and the other the wife. I am still amazing my wife was able to trust and start a relationship with all that was happening around us. And looking to today, I have friends going through divorce, some for the second or third time. How can I speak to them in love, and in truth and stand firm for what the Catholic Church teaches? This book goes a long way to helping us be able to answer some very tough questions. The specific questions Jim answers in the volume are:
What is marriage?
What specific attributes are inherent to the institution of marriage itself?
What purposes of marriage are essential in order for a marriage to be valid?
How does the Catholic Church view mixed marriages and marriages to non-Christians?
What is the Catholic "form" of marriage, and why is it important?
What other factors may invalidate a marriage?
Is there a way for an invalid marriage to be made valid?
What does the Church teach about divorce?
What about the so-called "exception clause" for divorce in the case of adultery?
What does the Church teach about after divorce?
May a divorced Catholic receive Communion?
Can any marriages be dissolved?
What is an annulment?
What are specific grounds for annulment?
What aren't grounds for annulment?
What is it like to go through the annulment process?
What about attending weddings?
What about same-sex weddings?
What are other offenses against the dignity of marriage?
What can a husband and wife do to ensure that their marriage is valid and divorce-proof?
As I stated this book is not an easy read, in part because it will arm us with the truth. And knowing the truth we might end up in the position of having some hard conversations. And in part it is hard because these truths are not always comfortable.
Having read 11 of the 20 books in this series, I can state that there is no fluff in these books. These books are also not just cold hard facts. They take into account the reality of the world we live in, the relationships, and friendships we may have. But they are written to give us the truth in short, quickly digestible packets. This is another of the harder reads so far but that is not a bad thing. If you want to know the Catholic view on Divorce and remarriage than this books with be the quick and easy Guide. And if you want to go deeper, Jim also wrote 101 Quick Questions with Catholic Answers: Marriage, Divorce, and Annulment, which is about twice the length of this volume.
This is a good book in a great series, I highly recommend both.
Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More and reviews of other books in the 20 Answers Series from Catholic Answers.
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2017 Catholic Reading Plan!
Two quotes by Jim from the introduction should help show how he approached writing this book, and the value it has for us
"But not every remarriage can or should be recognized as a true marriage. Indeed, many first marriages ending in civil divorce are still actually valid, indissoluble marriages."
"It is my hope that this booklet will help equip Catholics and other Christians to validly enter into authentic marriages that are divorce-proof for life. By approaching marriage and the family as the image of Christ and the Church, may couples grow to appreciate and embrace the beautiful reality that their relationships truly are."
When my wife and I met and started dating two of her closest friends were going through divorces. In each case a spouse had been unfaithful, in one it was the husband and the other the wife. I am still amazing my wife was able to trust and start a relationship with all that was happening around us. And looking to today, I have friends going through divorce, some for the second or third time. How can I speak to them in love, and in truth and stand firm for what the Catholic Church teaches? This book goes a long way to helping us be able to answer some very tough questions. The specific questions Jim answers in the volume are:
What is marriage?
What specific attributes are inherent to the institution of marriage itself?
What purposes of marriage are essential in order for a marriage to be valid?
How does the Catholic Church view mixed marriages and marriages to non-Christians?
What is the Catholic "form" of marriage, and why is it important?
What other factors may invalidate a marriage?
Is there a way for an invalid marriage to be made valid?
What does the Church teach about divorce?
What about the so-called "exception clause" for divorce in the case of adultery?
What does the Church teach about after divorce?
May a divorced Catholic receive Communion?
Can any marriages be dissolved?
What is an annulment?
What are specific grounds for annulment?
What aren't grounds for annulment?
What is it like to go through the annulment process?
What about attending weddings?
What about same-sex weddings?
What are other offenses against the dignity of marriage?
What can a husband and wife do to ensure that their marriage is valid and divorce-proof?
As I stated this book is not an easy read, in part because it will arm us with the truth. And knowing the truth we might end up in the position of having some hard conversations. And in part it is hard because these truths are not always comfortable.
Having read 11 of the 20 books in this series, I can state that there is no fluff in these books. These books are also not just cold hard facts. They take into account the reality of the world we live in, the relationships, and friendships we may have. But they are written to give us the truth in short, quickly digestible packets. This is another of the harder reads so far but that is not a bad thing. If you want to know the Catholic view on Divorce and remarriage than this books with be the quick and easy Guide. And if you want to go deeper, Jim also wrote 101 Quick Questions with Catholic Answers: Marriage, Divorce, and Annulment, which is about twice the length of this volume.
This is a good book in a great series, I highly recommend both.
Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More and reviews of other books in the 20 Answers Series from Catholic Answers.
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2017 Catholic Reading Plan!
December 14, 2017
Blackburn provides a lot of clarity to a complex and challenging component of Church teaching. Overall, I thought he did a good job cross-referencing, providing clear support for his answers, and addressed this topic in such a way that a Catholic going through this situation would not feel insulted. I also think this book did a nice job of describing God’s view (and ultimately the correct view) of marriage. That being said, I did think there were some opportunities for improvements. A minor issue I had with this book was there were a few formatting errors. There was a sentence where all the words were crammed together. There were a few times where he said “above” or “below” which didn’t make sense in the print format. A bigger issue I had with the booklet was there were several instances where the reader would have benefited from having a quick reference guide for some of the terminology. While I recognize that defining a valid marriage does take several pages, I think it would’ve been helpful to have a sentence or two summary at the end of the book with other things like licety. That being said, I still recommend this as an introductory resource for anyone who is trying to understand what the Church teaches on this topic.
May 2, 2024
A quick and helpful overview of the Catholic Christian teachings on divorce and remarriage published by a Catholic apologetics organization. Following a traditional catechism structure of question and answer, the book addresses 20 questions about the topic. A significant amount of the text is devoted to the conditions of what makes a marriage valid or invalid according to Catholic understanding. This makes sense, as the Catholic Church does not consider divorce of any marriage, simply the ability to annul a marriage that is considered invalid. The author did a good job tackling a complex and emotional topic, although I was still a bit confused at times and needed to review the material. The book serves as an introduction to the topic at right under 100 pages which includes a bibliography.
November 12, 2020
Clearly states what the Church teaches on these controversial topics.
April 2, 2022
Concise and comprehensive. A good quick read.
June 13, 2021
It's been a week since I finished reading this one, but what it taught me has come up again and again. This is so very important, especially if you want a valid marriage, to know what is taught in this book. For as short as it is, this is a great primer on something so relevant and important to most people, marriage, not jut divorce and remarriage.
August 26, 2016
I am in a bible study at a rehab hospital I live next to and it is a catholic hospital. in the chapel they have these information books on the beliefs of catholics on different subjects. This is the first one I picked up. I believe there are 12 in total, so I will be reading more of them. This one was interesting for me, some of the beliefs I don't 100% agree with but they made sense. Since I am not Catholic, I am trying to learn more about the background and their beliefs.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews