Church on divorce: Where’s compassion and mercy?

Congratulations to Joel Ruiz Butuyan (a fellow transplanted Virginian?)! I never thought I would ever see such a bold and straightforward piece as Butuyan’s highly informative and enlightening column questioning the lack of divorce law in the Philippines (“Guilty of adultery, concubinage, or bigamy,” Opinion, 11/2/15).

To those who have read it, I hope it leaves enough sense to seriously question why, oh, why do we treat divorce law as an outright “no-no” in this country? Butuyan drives home the miseries endured by those trapped in failed marriages because Filipinos have become totally subservient followers to the teachings, however questionable, of whatever religion they happen to be affiliated with. The Iglesia ni Cristo’s much vaunted “block voting,” which has exposed many politicians’ true colors, is one example. For Catholics, divorce in marriage is definitely a dirty subject to talk about, because their Church says so!

Born a Catholic (but not a die-hard, practicing one), I have often wondered: Did God really say, in connection with marriage, that what He has put together, let no one put asunder, as the Bible tells us? If so, does that mean that God prefers to see those men and women forced to suffer all the miserable and ugly consequences of a broken marriage, which columnist Butuyan so eloquently outlined in his column, rather than give them a legal chance to correct their mistake, so that they may free themselves from those sufferings, move on, and ultimately pursue their own happiness?

The way it is, the way we abide without question by what the Church says on divorce, doesn’t seem to make sense because why then (and this may stir up a hornet’s nest) does the Church also tell us that “God is wise and full of mercy”?

—JUANITO T. FUERTE, [email protected]