Folia Canonica 8. (2005)
STUDIES - Grigorios D. Papathomas: An Open Ecclesial Communitarism: Dispar-Mixed Marriages and Adult Converions
DISPAR-MIXED MARRIAGES AND ADULT CONVERSIONS 159 At the moment of baptism, which here, let us stress, is performed for no other reason than to fulfil the marriage requirement - a requirement never previously existing in the Church - the candidate is asked whether he/she has come for baptism of his/her own free will, and he/she answers “yes” (sic), following which he/she is asked to make a Confession of Faith, “I believe in one God, Father,.. though it is clear to everyone that his faith does not issue from a free choice. This behaviour obviously abolishes a major parameter, that of the free voluntary, wilful, unforced and self-motivated adherence to Christianity and the Church of Christ. Thus, we are deceiving the candidate, God and ourselves. In such an environment of coercion, we abolish the freedom that is a conditio sine qua non for love, since the person being converted has seen anything but love in this environment lacking in freedom and authentic spirituality... Thus, the candidate only gets baptised in order to get married, following which he/she never goes to Church again, and oftentimes neither does the baptised spouse... Example 2: The Case of a Person that Professes another Religion Almost the same is true for this example, too; the only difference is that the “non-baptised” person is a Muslim, a Jew, a Buddhist, etc. The answer is always the same; this time, however, there is more meaning to it: “Marriage cannot be celebrated because you are a member of another religion, and not a Christian”! We are thus regressing, consciously or unconsciously, towards the distance past, even before the incarnation of Christ and the New Testamentary age, and we adopt the Old Testamentary practice of endogamy which totally deviates from the eschatological perspective of the ecclesial body, and directly contradicts the theology of the Church as explained above. Here, besides the practice of community endogamy, we must add the various ethno-cultural obstacles... Out of love, the member of the other religion decides to... convert and become Christian, either openly or secretly, only to make the celebration of marriage possible... However, things are far more complicated here, since, as previously explained, personal pressure is exerted, leading to double religious belonging. The member that converts to another Religion and gets baptised starts coming to Church, because he/she is now baptised or out of social obligation, but naturally also continues to go to the mosque, the synagogue, or the religious house of prayer. However, the other member feels compelled to do the very same thing, in a manner occasionally taking the shape of a mysteric and perichoretic participation. Thus we cause the religious syncretism of two communities with unpredictable interpersonal consequences, having an uncontrollable effect on the family... The two aforementioned examples, unacceptable from the point of view of the Church’s spirituality, can clearly explain why young couples end up avoiding
