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MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE Yesterday’s Gospel reading for daily Mass was Jesus’ instructions on marriage and divorce in Matthew 19:1-12. While there were many reasons for which the English rebellion against the Church occurred in the 16th century (not the least of which was corruption in the Church itself and its overlordship of England), the wholesale bloodshed throughout England began when King Henry VIII proceeded to divorce Catherine of Aragon (to whom he was lawfully married) contrary to Jesus’ command in Matthew 19:6, “What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” Yes, under Pope Leo X, Henry VIII gained the title of “Fidei Defensor” for his 1521 publication “Assertio Septem Sacramentorum” against the heresies of Martin Luther in Germany. But Henry VIII in disobedience willfully stepped away from grace.  Now there are a few caveats in all this. First, in cases of spousal or child abuse, in cases of drug addiction or alcoholism, AND in cases of persistent and continuing marital infidelity and sexual perversion, sometimes one spouse does cast asunder the marital bond through no fault of the other. And sometimes both spouses are equally guilty. Second, sometimes (as St. Paul points out in 1st Corinthians 7:15) one spouse is a non-believer and wishes to leave the marriage. “But if the unbelieving partner desires to separate, let it be so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound. For God has called us to peace.” Each of these unique circumstances deserves special consideration in the Church’s process for annulment. None of these situations invalidates what Christ commanded and of what Pope Clement VII reminded Henry VIII. However, broken marital bonds do occur as today’s now divorce-ridden society so sadly demonstrates.  As for what happened historically, there were plenty of secular motivations on both sides of the fence – Catholic and Protestant – in “merry old England” for the rebellion against the Catholic Church, not the least of which was the lust for English money and power by both Henry VIII and Rome Herself. But in all this Henry VIII never intended to establish a non-Catholic Church in England; he simply wanted to be its head. It was his son Edward VI who pushed that process forward, to be temporarily reversed by Catholic Mary I, who then was succeeded by Elizabeth I who in turn completed the process of the English separation from the Catholic Church. Yet in all this the new Anglican Church still recited the Apostles’ and Nicaean Creed that acknowledged One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Unfortunately, throughout all this (regardless that Anglicans used the same Creeds as Romans), plenty of blood was spilt by both Protestants and Catholics alike. The point is this: Henry VIII disobeyed an injunction in Sacred Scripture given to us by Jesus Christ Himself, and a command by the Pope consistent with that injunction. That disobedience ushered in a century or more of horrible bloodshed, and the hands of everyone – Catholic and Protestant – were equally soaked in blood. Lesson to be learned: disobedience can cause long-lasting and unintended effects down the road.