Word: rausch
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Give Bishop Rausch an A for effort re his plan to avert divorce in Phoenix [July 16]. The Newark archdiocese has tried the same for five years with, at best spotty results. The fact is, the young and not so young lovers determined to marry are going to do so, come hell or high priest. Life's toughest act is to live permanently with another; the surprise is that so many marriages hold firm. This I do know: God will be more merciful to the divorced than Catholic...
...post-Vatican II style, the bishop's policy was developed through consultation, and has popular backing. Rausch was responding to outcries from besieged priests, troubled parents and Roman Catholics active in the influential Marriage Encounter movement...
...Phoenix rationale is straightforward. Marriage is a vocation. "You cannot become a plumber or an electrician in two weeks," remarks the priest who heads the diocesan tribunal. Bishop Rausch believes that lack of mature preparation is the chief cause of trouble. "We need to move our young people beyond romance or physical attraction to the sound foundations of love." It will take hard work, he adds, for Catholics to resist the trend to treat marriage and divorce casually...
...couple over the half-year, and may refer them to Catholic Social Services for special counseling. Catholics who marry non-Catholics must also follow the procedure. If a couple refuse to wait and get married by a judge instead, they must undergo the same process before a sacramental marriage. Rausch will insist on the six-month rule even when the woman is pregnant and the couple face social pressure to marry in haste. He thinks that in these cases it is all the more important to think things through. The six-month policy does not alter the traditional announcement...
...January, some parish priests tried it out in advance. One of them reports that of 17 couples, two decided to wait for further counseling and one pair called the wedding off. Other U.S. dioceses are inquiring about the Phoenix plan, and initial opposition among college students has quieted down. Rausch says that his mail is running 10 to 1 in favor...