Catholic Excommunication

Roberta_in_AL: How common is this anymore?

Zanjan: I haven't heard of it happening in my region in 40 years but I know why. Members are more inclined to willingly walk away rather than fight the inevitable. They'd drift over to some protestant denomination or pack it in entirely.

Zanjan: That's true for all churches these days, not just Catholics.

Zanjan: Jesus didn't approve of divorce. So, if a couple does get divorced, they can never remarry - they have to stay single the rest of their lives. Usually made one re-think.

Generally, Christians don't honour that rule these days.

The giant midget: The Vatican has relaxed the rules on divorce and remarriage recently.
I come from a very religious Roman Catholic family with 3 priests and 4 nuns whitin the clan , I happen to be the black sheep of the family.
Divorce has always been a sin in the eyes of the gods for centuries where excommunication was the practice of the day.,it even led people into suicide with shame ,guilt and remorse due to it.
In modern times where separation and divorce is very common and socially acceptable but not in the eyes of the church and the gods till a couple years back
When I separated over 20 years ago it was a total surprise to my immediate family like the skies were going to break open and dragons would spit fire onto our family,
it was a very hard time for me to manage to keep my 3 young children living under my roof ,trying to keep their daily routines ,making sure that my business remained afloat and trying to keep my sanity and very small limited support from family and friends
After 18 months of legal battles I was officially divorced and had full custody of my children, that's were things get weird with my Catholic family,specially with the ones that are priests and their tactical approach on how to solve my sins because I was divorced and God would punish me
Forward 10 years when I met a recently divorced young lady 16 years younger than me , I had no idea that the age difference was also a sin in the eyes of God and family, we did the dating thing for a couple of years somewhat under the radar from our families, we still can't figure out why ,when we decided to liquidate our personal homes and incorporate into one home and combined both our own children as one big family. Early stages it's was a huge war zone and dealing with the constant protesting marching in the hallways front yard or wherever they could,about their civil rights and liberties even to the point that the kids were protesting their own protests,that it became comical, age difference among the kids was the main factors .
We announced that we were living together as a family to our folks , it didn't go that bad afterall
The skies didn't crack open, no animals walking in 2's to Noah's ark but it was still a sin living together as a non married couple.by my parents and the priest
We agreed to invite our families and friends for a BBQ in our house on a July long weekend were we had great food ,courtesy of my girlfriend contacts in our very ,very small town catering company, there was noway that we could have entertained 70 something people if we cooked ourselves, everyone enjoyed the great atmosphere of the countryside, the younger generation and several older folks enjoyed the pool also
Both our parents were somewhat at ease that we are happy but the gods can always punish us
We have been together a few years without any plans on marriage

My question to my family and my cousin priests is
It's a sin to divorce
It's a sin to live together
Which one is the bigger sin ????

Zanjan: Jesus didn't say said it was a sin to divorce - that would have been unjust, knowing how abusively some treat their partners despite being religious. One can't have a healthy relationship when they're brooding resentments. Jesus addressed the aftermath.

You know, England had a 1,000 year period with no divorce! Oddly, mariticide wasn't that common. Then again, England, for a time, practiced a rather brutal form of Christianity -if you broke the law, you'd be stripped naked and beheaded. They buried the head elsewhere to ensure this person's soul would never get to heaven.

Sorry to say that practicing extramarital sex is still a sin; on a scale of 1- 10, with 10 being the worst sin, I have no idea. You'd have to ask God. If it's any comfort, in my religion, God says mendicancy is #10.

Perhaps it's a good thing there's a more relaxed attitude - no point being anxious when moderns will do as they please anyway. One thing that's still problematic in our supposedly advanced western civilization - under civil law, single women have more rights than married women.