Catholics who divorce are to be refused the sacraments.
Catholic Bishops spokesman Dr. Thomas Flynn has warned Catholics that they will be refused the sacraments if they divorce and live with a new partner as husband and wife. Bishop Flynn tells reporter Joe Little that most people from his home in rural Roscommon are opposed to divorce.
I would say the overwhelming majority will not be voting for change... they don't want to take the risk of something they don't know anything about.
Bishop Flynn also warns any Catholics who plan to divorce that
While their former partner is alive, they can never marry in the eyes of God
Father Bill Cosgrove, theologian and parish priest in County Wexford, provides some advice to Catholics on how they should make a decision on how to vote in the forthcoming divroce referendum, and explains how Vatican II allows Catholics full freedom to choose how to vote.
The Church of Ireland on the other hand has remained relatively quiet on the issue and says that legislation should deal with the rise in marriage breakdown and disagrees with the idea of writing conditions for divorce into the constitution. Church of Ireland Bishop Walton Empey says that the constitution is no place for such complex issues such as marriage.
Joe Little reports for RTÉ News on 9 November 1995.
