Terry Mattingly on a recent Washington Post Story on Marriage, Faith and a Difficult Decision

Posted by Kendall Harmon

The essential question [the article explores is]: Is it ever justified for a spouse to divorce his or her mate when, via health or accident, that spouse suffers from dementia and/or some other similar condition or handicap?....

Year’s after Robert’s collapse, it is clear that he has stabilized in terms of his physical condition. He can talk. He remembers some things, but not others. His wife visits him frequently in his assisted-living home. There is no question that he is being taken care of, with loving attention.

Then a man from the wife’s past comes back into her life and that of her family. Eventually, they face the big question.

Page felt 30 again but was racked with guilt. “I believed my vows so strongly that they just kept ringing in my ears.”

She consulted her minister, who told her that by continuing to take care of Robert, she was still honoring those vows.
And that’s that. That’s all that we learn.

There is, in other words, no other religious content to the discussion....

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-WatchAging / the ElderlyHealth & MedicineLaw & Legal IssuesMarriage & FamilyMediaPsychologyReligion & Culture* TheologyEthics / Moral Theology

11 Comments Posted January 17, 2012 at 8:00 am

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