Anti-divorce Church group told to stop `hypocrisy’

ALBAY Rep. Edcel Lagman yesterday slammed the international Catholic lay ecclesial movement Couples for Christ for saying divorce weakens marriages.

“Let us stop the religious hypocrisy being spread by the ‘Couples for Christ’ that because of human weakness, the Philippines must not enact a divorce law but instead mend broken marriages,” said Lagman, principal author of the divorce bill that the House approved last month.

Lagman said it is “precisely because of human frailties like marital abuse, infidelity, and abandonment, among other mortal weaknesses, that marriages are totally destroyed beyond repair.”

In a manifesto earlier, the CFC said, “Rather than judge children from broken homes, our aim should be to protect them and the rest of the society from unpleasant consequences of homes broken by divorce.”

Lagman said that in considering giving the Sacrament of Communion to divorced and remarried Catholics, the exact words of Pope Francis in his footnote 351 in Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love) are relevant: “The Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.”

“Verily, absolute divorce rescues spouses who are embattled because of their human weaknesses and their suffering children from a house on fire,” said the veteran lawyer-lawmaker.

“Divorce affords offended spouses, mostly the battered and tormented wives, to regain their freedom, self-esteem, agency, and happiness even as there is a judicial decree on the care, custody, and support of the children,” Lagman added.

The opposition leader said the sanctity of marriage “does not institute an iron-clad union which fetters and imperils the humanity of spouses.”

Earlier this month, anti-divorce Rep. Rodante Marcoleta (PL, Sagip) said he would personally ask Speaker Martin Romualdez if the House of Representatives could again vote on the controversial bill because of questions surrounding the final vote when congressmen approved House Bill No. 9349 on third and final reading on May 22.

Marcoleta expressed optimism that the House leadership would accede to his request for the House to take another vote on the bill after the House changed the official vote the