“To oversimplify for just a moment, consider that if the Church substantially increased her pressure on those who publicly reject her teachings, with the result that such persons—and those who sympathize with them—would at the very least no longer feel welcome, the number of active Catholics in most regions would diminish dramatically. This would result in more vibrant and cohesive Catholic communities, centered on the parish, which would, in turn, produce a substantially larger number of vocations to the priesthood.”

Another effect of more vibrant and cohesive Catholic communities is a devotion to the sacrament of Marriage which includes finding divorce mostly unthinkable. The reason this would be true is that these communities would nurture and educate and grow in the love of the faith such that the men and women making up these communities would come into marriage differently, treat their marriage differently, and understand marriage differently than what we see in the Western world and what is existing more and more all over the world. Divorce is a plague and it is not of God. I agree with Dr. Mirus that careful consideration should be given to tightening our communities so that active Catholics emerge more strongly. This statement implies that active Catholics are somehow sitting back and I do not think this is true. In fact, I see more and more active Catholics and small Catholic communities stepping out. I think, however, banding these communities together more tightly, changes the landscape and targets the focus making things clearer.

Dr. Mirus’s article is worth the read especially as it explains how many Christians around the world are converting to Islam in order to get divorced and that cities and countries are trying to change laws to make divorce easier. Take a read here.