Divorce Care
The St. Michael Divorce Care Ministry is geared towards restoration. It aims to provide a safe environment for Catholics struggling with the emotional hurricane which is the dissolution of a Catholic marriage. Regardless of how long ago this life-changing event happened – just a few months or 20 years ago – our immediate focus for members is to reach a place of healing, compassion, and acceptance. Once this has been achieved, our focus turns towards forgiveness and restoration. Heavy emphasis is given to the sacraments as conduits to reach each of these stages. To accomplish this, we work on removing any impediments to these sources of grace. Reconciliation, mass, and the annulment process are the pillars of our journey towards full restoration.
Group meetings are mostly online, with a few in-person social meetings if there is enough interest. We meet every Wednesday 7:30 ET from Sept to May. One-on-one meetings can be scheduled with Deacon Harbey at any time at [email protected].
Resources:
Surviving Divorce: Hope and Healing for the Catholic Family By Rose Sweet
Surviving Divorce was created to bring hope and healing to those who have experienced the pain and loneliness of a broken marriage. It is for the newly separated and divorced and those still struggling with issues many years later. It will help them answer their questions, restore hope, and begin authentic healing.
Baltimore Marriage Tribunal
Amoris Laetitia – Chapter 8
The Cardinal chosen by Pope Francis to present this document outlines 5 ‘attentions’ for the ministry to divorced Catholics mirrored in paragraph 300 of Amoris Laetitia. Cardinal Schönborn was the keynote speaker at the ‘Let’s Talk Family: Let’s Be Family’ conference at Mary Immaculate College (MIC) held on 13th July 2017.
Books to Read:
The Joy of Love by Pope Francis
Maybe you come from a happy family, a healthy family. Or maybe yours is a flawed family, a struggling family, a broken family. Maybe you’re scared to get married and have a family. No matter who you are, you are part of a family, and Pope Francis wrote this love letter to you. He addresses all the myriad realities of families today with compassion, hope, and encouragement.
Pope Francis sees marriage as a dynamic path to personal development and fulfillment. Instead of wasting energy worrying about our family struggles, we can find creative, transformative ways to offer truth, mercy, and hope to our loved ones. Love enables us to see, beyond all else, the great worth of a human being. With enthusiasm and joy, we can celebrate all that it means to be part of a family.
Annulment: The Wedding that Was by Michael Foster
Rebuilding After Divorce by Rose Sweet
You CAN rebuild after divorce. It just takes a blueprint!
Whether you’ve recently divorced or it’s been a few years, you can rebuild a life rich in faith, hope, and lots of love. But first you\’ll need blueprints, clear directions to make your house a home again. Where should you start? By laying a solid foundation that will hold up under the drizzle of daily life and any raging storms that may come. And the cornerstone of that foundation is Christ.
For over 20 years, Rose Sweet has brought her wit and wisdom to the separated, divorced, and remarried who often ask, “What is God’s will for me?”, “What about the kids?”, “Where do I stand in the eyes of the Church?”, or “Will I ever love again?”. These and many other practical considerations are addressed in a way that will both challenge and encourage anyone who has been divorced.
The Pummeled Heart by Antoinette Bosco
Marriage and the Catholic Church: Disputed Questions by Michael Lawler
It is an open secret that marriage is in crisis in the United States and that the marriages of Catholics are not significantly different from other marriages. In Marriage and the Catholic Church Michael Lawler confronts the difficult questions in the Catholic theology of marriage.
Lawler, among the leading Catholic voices on the theology of marriage, does not shy away from the difficult questions, but confronts them honestly, historically accurately, and pastorally. He highlights a Catholic approach to premarital relationships, to marriage, to divorce, and to remarriage. He examines the relationship of marriage and sacrament, faith and sacrament, friendship in marriage, divorce and remarriage, cohabitation, family, interchurch marriages, and the changing models of marriage in the Catholic tradition. The whole offers a fresh look at the Catholic theology of marriage for a new millennium.
A Road to Healing: Daily Reflections for Divorced Catholics by Lisa Duffy
When you are suffering after a divorce, it can feel like the pain will never cease. You are overwhelmed by feelings of guilt, shame and a sense of failure. You desire to fill the empty place left in your heart. You feel like there is no hope.
This book can help.
A Road to Healing: Daily Reflections for Divorced Catholics offers daily inspirations for every day of the year. Each reflection will help strengthen your faith in Christ as you walk down the road to healing. He will lead you through this time of darkness to a life of peace where you will rediscover hope. A hope that will open your heart to a life filled with joyful anticipation of what God has planned for you.
Divorced. Catholic. Now What?
A must read for divorced men and women, especially if you are Catholic, and the perfect curriculum for parish groups. This book is an indispensable tool for healing, no matter how long you’ve been divorced and is completely Catholic. Originally a successful program directed in parishes, “Divorced. Catholic. Now What?” provides answers to the difficult questions that Catholics face because of divorce, practical tools to help move past the pain and loneliness, and hope for the future.