News Item: : Don't Worry, Be Happy? When Catholic Apologetics Looks More Like Apologetic Catholics
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
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Saturday 19 May 2018 - 12:47:50

England's Lake District, July, 1981: During a long cross-country hike, my family came out of the heat of nearby fields and encountered the cool shade of this oasis of tables and patriotic bunting; all of which had been prepared for local villagers to enjoy a celebration of the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.

One Summer...

As a boy of just nine years at the time, the 1981 Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer seemed to me like something from a mystical fairytale.

When Lady Diana Spencer, the people of England's own Queen of Hearts, processed blushingly down the aisle of St. Paul's Cathedral, noble and dignified, yet at once shyly humble beneath her white veil, I thought that I would die of love. I guess I've always been a hopeless romantic...

That whole 7-day celebration lives on in my memory as a halcyon week of golden summer days, purple mountains, green hills and deep blue lakes; all topped off with a pageant of regal ceremonial and a high-tea featuring tarts made from strawberries and cream.

Yes, it seemed very heaven to me as a 9 year-old boy to be holidaying with my family in England's majestic Lake District, during that week of the Royal Wedding, in late July, 1981.

God rest him, my late dad and I rest at the roadside during a cross-country hike on the eve of the 1981 Royal Wedding. With the rest of the family, we were all back at our holiday digs in time to join 750 million people globally, in watching the memorable ceremony on television. Here's looking at you, kid!

When Marriages were Still Commonplace

There was that natural law ''something'' about weddings in general at that time, which still managed to captivate the imaginative wonder of good willed people everywhere.

Throughout the summers of my boyhood in the early 80's, I remember our Saturday games on the local field being frequently punctuated by the shout of ''Look, a wedding!'' This was always the cue for a gaggle of lads with messy hair and grubby knees to charge to the railings of the local church and watch awestruck as virginal brides emerged in tiaras, veils and flowing white gowns, on the arms of their proud and smartly dressed fathers, from Rolls-Royces, Bentleys or, at the very least, a stretched Ford Granada limousine.

Although lads of that age in those days would perhaps have rarely have admitted it, the concept of getting married someday to such princesses was one to which we all would have aspired.

And yet nowadays there is something sadly cynical in our culture about the very notion of marriage and life-long commitment. The typical British summer is now marked by far fewer weddings than in the past. We know some priests who do not witness a single marriage in their churches for 5 years or even more. Even when one does see a wedding today, there are few brides in white, and so many couples have already been married to someone else, or else have been living together with their upcoming spouse - now universally termed a ''partner'' in post-modern Britain (except in our family!) - for so long that their own children often make up the small party of bridesmaids and page-boys. At least, that is when the parties to the ceremony are of different genders...

CNA Reflects...

I was reading an article earlier this morning by the EWTN-owned Catholic News Agency (CNA). This was reflecting on the big news of today's ''Royal Wedding'' between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

From a Catholic perspective, the article ponders the fact that Meghan has already been married and has been civilly divorced from her husband.

The English canon lawyer, Ed. Condon remarks to CNA that, with the new head of the British Supreme Court pushing for ''no-fault divorce'' our nation has gone from one in which, as in the days of the abdicating Edward VIII, a person could not remain as monarch if they attempted marriage with a divorcee, to one in which the Supreme Court itself is pushing for ''no-fault'' divorce.

Condon thus concludes: ''So, it's the complete collapse of marriage as we see in America and the rest of the West.''

The CNA article then turns to Fr. James Bradley, a convert from Anglicanism, who provides some input on the constitutional issues and on the changing rules of the Anglican church.

Fr. Bradley's contribution to the CNA article turns next to Catholic teaching on the matrimonial bond.

It must be said that, at least at the outset, he does this very clearly and well. Alas, as a piece of Catholic apologetic, his conclusion does not look so clearly orthodox.

And so, there is a timely reminder that couples who make vows to one another are bound together in marriage before God. This forms a bond which cannot be broken in this life.

Fr. Bradley next quotes the clear teaching of the Catechism in CCC 1614, which sets forth the fact of the indissolubility of marriage.

Following from this, Fr. Bradley discusses the sacramentality of marriages between two baptized persons.

He also points out that, again in full accordance with Catholic teaching, Markle would not be free to marry if her first marriage were valid. If valid, it would need to have been declared invalid by an annulment, or declaration of nullity.

Again, Fr. Bradley acknowledges that, as it is part of natural law for a man and woman to make a life-long commitment to each other, then the Catholic Church presumes the validity of all marriages.

At this point, many Catholic readers, like myself, would perhaps be about to reach for the morning cuppa and move on to other duties.

Doing a U-turn?

However, Fr. Bradley then seems to do a spectacular back-step from all he has just asserted with this quite remarkable statement about Markle's earlier marriage commitment and subsequent divorce. He suggests: ''That having been said, we don't know any of the details of that union, or if a canonical process is under way regarding it. Catholics should, I would suggest, understand the royal engagement the same way they would the marriage of any two people they don't know personally: be happy for them.''

Whilst Fr. Bradley's first explanations have done so much to affirm the authentic Catholic teaching with regard to the foundational marriage bond, it does appear quite singular for him to then perform a sudden hand-brake turn to reach such a, ''Dont worry, be happy!'' type of conclusion.

In Liverpool parlance, he's ''done a uw-ey!'' And an astonishing one at that.

I do wonder sometimes whether Catholic Apologetics is not beginning to look a lot more like Apologetic Catholics...

Later today I will go about my duties, whilst motoring past local royal wedding street parties in the car. As I do so, whilst mentally noting that truth does not change with time, I will probably also find myself reflecting that 2018 is not 1981.

Ah, to be sure, that was a halcyon summer...

The road around Lake Derwent looking back towards the town of Keswick, during Royal Wedding Week in July, 1981. My parents, siblings and I walked right around the lake from Keswick and back again in time for tea. We spotted these fine vintage cars on the return leg, during the afternoon. Maybe it was the proximity of the Royal Wedding, maybe it was because I had just tried to quench my raging thirst with a can of ultra-dry Ginger Beer, but the events of that hot afternoon seem so clear in my memory as to have happened only yesterday. Ah yes, ''Mum I'm thirsty!'' seemed to be the very slogan of that holiday; as we hiked around Lake Derwent one day, walked to Watendlath on another, (made famous by Hugh Walpole), and reached the summit of Skiddaw before heading home. Looking back, it does seem like those were the last days of a culture that could still in any way be termed ''Christian England''. Please pray for our nation, for Harry and also for Meghan, and for the truths of Holy Matrimony on this day.

Our Lady of Walsingham - Pray for us!

Oh, good St. George of England - Pray for us!

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This news item is from Torch of The Faith
( http://www.torchofthefaith.com/news.php?extend.1684 )