The new frame of mind of the Roman Catholic Church—its fresh awareness of living in a pluralistic world and its strengthened commitment to the liberty of man's conscience—is softening its historic opposition to easier civil divorce laws. In New York, the state legislature is about to enact, with Catholic acquiescence, the first reform bill since the 1787 passage of a statute that permits divorce only on grounds of adultery. Speaking through their Albany lobbyist, Charles Tobin Jr., New York's bishops made it clear that they would not use their spiritual authority to influence the votes of Catholic legislators, though they still question specific proposed changes, such as the granting of divorce after two years of voluntary separation.
The Rev. Joseph Hassett, S.J., professor of philosophy at Fordham University, assured Catholics that they could support divorce reform in good conscience, because civil law is made "not to uphold religious convictions of a particular group, but to promote the common good of all citizens." Lined up behind reform were New York's top Catholic politicians, from Senator Bobby Kennedy to New York City Council President Frank O'Connor.
What God Has Joined. The new emphasis in Catholic opinion is the distinction between civil and religious law, each of which remains valid in its own sphere. The Catholic Church believes that marriage is a sacrament instituted by Christ, when he said, "What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder." Catholics who have been civilly divorced remain in good standing in the church if they do not remarry. Remarriage, however, is forbidden while the ex-spouse lives.
The big out is the annulment, granted when the marriage contract can be proved in some way defective, and thus invalid from inception. Among grounds for annulment are impotence, refusal to have children, lunacy at time of marriage, coercion of one of the partners into wedlock, or some technical defect of the ceremony itself. French church tribunals, for instance, granted Napoleon an annulment from Josephine because the required two witnesses were not present at the marriage. Last year, the New York Archdiocese got 1,500 annulment petitions, of which it granted nearly half—mostly on the "technical defect" that the marriage was contracted before a civil authority or non-Catholic clergyman.