A Church of Ireland theologian has said "greater compassion and an increased readiness to come to terms with the realities of human life" are needed in Catholic thinking on divorce.
The Rev John Marsden teaches theology at the Church of Ireland Theological College and Trinity College Dublin. He writes in the current issue of the Furrow that the move to greater pluralism signified by the 1995 divorce referendum result should be welcomed by Irish churches.
Dr Marsden says: "The young woman who has the misfortune to marry a violently abusive husband has already suffered enough and should not be denied the framework of marriage for the subsequent expression of something as basic as her human desire for companionship and the expression of her sexuality.
He goes on: "Recognition of the frailty of human nature makes provision for divorce a sad necessity, though as in any other area of human life, the graciousness of God makes possible repentance and new life.
"Roman Catholic Church rightly prides itself on its teaching roles, but when it comes to divorce there is a surprising neglect of biblical teaching (both the Gospel narrative and Pauline literature in certain circumstances permitted divorce) or indeed any theological wrestling with how the biblical witness might be applied in modern circumstances."
If human compassion is "a sound starting point for a Christian theology", then Dr Marsden questions the Catholic bishops' pre-referendum statement praising people abandoned by their partners who give "an authentic witness of fidelity of which the world today has great need" by not entering a new union.
"Is this not a form of scapegoating which loads on to those who are already victims burdens they should not be asked to bear on behalf of society?" he asks.
"There is something missing in a theology that has become so focused on legalistic absolutes and a generalised discourse about the moral climate of society that it does not baulk at its actual implications for the human individual."
Dr Marsden says "all the Christian churches still have much to learn from liberalism's regard for the human individual. The individual rights tradition is "an important counterweight to too great a reliance on arguments based on conceptions of the common good.
"In matters pertaining to sexual morality such conceptions vary widely and assessing the ways in which limiting individual freedom of expression may have socially desirable consequences is fraught with difficulty.
He says the conviction about "the fundamental importance of human self-determination" is "central to modern democratic thinking where the fitness of human beings for liberty and selfgovernance is rooted in a positive view of human nature, which is supported by the Christian understanding of our createdness in the image of God."
Dr Marsden says that although the rights tradition "needs to encompass social as well as individual rights and to be set in the wider context of considerations of the human good, it should retain a central place in Christian ethics."
"In recent decades the articulation of concern for human rights has been a tremendous force for good internationally and this achievement needs to be built upon."