He is either making this stuff up, or he was drinking when he said it. It is hard to believe that this guy is in the position that he holds. Then they wonder why so many have dropped out of the Church!

...not so much on leadership ability or even basic people skills but more on how conservative they are and how much they toed the party line. Guys like Burke, Jenky, and Chaput are prime examples of this. Though thankfully Burke was a little too naked in his power grab and got forced out of office by Francis.

This is an eternally held Catholic position. If your first marriage was not annulled, you are committing adultery per the Catholic Church -even if re-married. You can be divorced and receive the Sacraments, no problem. You cannot remarry and have sexual relations and receive the Sacraments (assuming divorce and not annulment). The only way you can remarry (sans annulment) and receive the Sacraments is in a sexless marriage.

This is NOTHING new and he was neither drinking or making it up. This is Doctrine.

Is that it ignores one simple fact: Marriages can fail.

The idea -- formulated and taught by a group consisting of unmarried men -- that all marriages are permanent is an ideal. There is much to be said for idealism. But in a clash between the real and the ideal, pride of place should go to the real. A bright young thing once said to George Bernard Shaw, "I accept the world as it is." GBS replied, "By God, you'd better!"

When my middle son got married, he and his wife had every intention of living together permanently. For a number of reasons, it didn't work out and they got divorced. He has now remarried, and this marriage shows every sign of lasting. So which is the real marriage: The first or the second? If you claim that the first one is, then you are denying reality.

Let me trot out an argument I have made before: The ministers of the sacrament of matrimony are the married couple. If the couple stops ministering to each other, is it not reasonable to say that the sacrament no longer exists?