A Catholic News Agency article dated January 2, 2026 reports on rising divorce rates among couples over 65, termed “gray divorce,” citing statistics from Bowling Green State University showing a tripled divorce rate since 1990. The piece features commentary from Julia Dezelski of the USCCB Committee and Sheila and Peter Oprysko of Worldwide Marriage Encounter, who attribute the trend to empty nest syndrome, hormonal changes, and communication breakdowns. Their proposed solutions include marital communication techniques, “faith-based therapy” through organizations like MyCatholicDoctor, and renewed prayer life – all framed through therapeutic rather than sacramental language. The article ignores the ontological impossibility of dissolving sacramental marriage while tacitly accepting divorce statistics as inevitable social phenomena.
Canonical Apostasy in the Sacramental Betrayal
The conciliar sect’s analysis commits heresy by omission by failing to state the immutable Catholic truth that valid sacramental marriages cannot be dissolved by any human power. As Pius XI unequivocally taught in Casti Connubii: “The sacred partnership of true marriage is constituted both by the will of God and the will of man… Hence it is that matrimony as a natural institution, to confirm and elevate which Christ our Lord added the dignity of a sacrament, has no force or efficacy unless based upon the voluntary consent of both parties; but this consent is so necessary that it is not supplied by any human power” (Pius XI, 1930). The article’s presentation of divorce as a statistical inevitability contradicts Christ’s own words: “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (Mark 10:9).
Naturalism Replaces Supernatural Faith
Dezelski’s attribution of gray divorce to hormonal changes and empty nest syndrome exemplifies the conciliar sect’s reduction of sacramental mysteries to biological determinism. This echoes Modernist errors condemned in Pascendi Dominici Gregis: “They affirm that the chief stimulus of religious evolution is to be found in the religious sense, which is itself a fruit of evolution” (Pius X, 1907). Nowhere does the article mention the grace of the sacrament that perfects natural love, nor the eschatological dimension of marriage as a sign of Christ’s union with the Church (Ephesians 5:32).
The Opryskos’ advocacy for “sharing feelings” and “communication tools” constitutes psychological Pelagianism, implying spouses can save marriages through technique rather than sanctifying grace. Contrast this with the Council of Trent’s anathema: “If anyone says that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation… let him be anathema” (Session VII, Canon 4). The recommended “faith-based therapy” through MyCatholicDoctor and similar groups operates within the Vatican II paradigm of religious indifferentism, condemned in Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors: “Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true” (Error #15).
Liturgical Revolution’s Poisoned Fruits
The article’s silence about the Novus Ordo‘s destruction of sacramental theology proves prophetic. The 1969 marriage rite’s elimination of the velatio nuptialis (nuptial veil), references to Tobias’ exorcism, and the bride’s vow of submission created a desacralized ceremony indistinguishable from civil unions. As Michael Davies documented, the new rite omits 12 references to marriage’s primary end (procreation) and 10 references to its secondary end (mutual aid), reducing it to “love” alone – precisely the emotional foundation the article claims falters in old age.
False Shepherds Enable Demographic Collapse
The USCCB committee’s focus on therapeutic solutions while avoiding doctrinal condemnation fulfills Pius X’s warning about Modernist clergy: “They introduce doctrine more in accordance with the spirit of the age… and not by preaching what is uncomfortable” (Pascendi, 44). By contrast, true shepherds like St. John Chrysostom thundered: “Non licet vos esse – It is not permitted for you to dissolve marriages!” (Homily 12 on Colossians). The conciliar sect’s marriage “experts” commit formal cooperation with evil by directing couples to psychologists rather than demanding repentance and sacramental renewal.
Theological Suicide in Statistical Language
The article’s central fraud lies in treating divorce rates as neutral sociological data rather than evidence of mass apostasy. When Christ declared “from the beginning it was not so” (Matthew 19:8), He established that divorce statistics measure a society’s distance from God, not changing cultural norms. The 15.2% gray divorce rate represents 15.2% of elderly couples preferring eternal damnation to fulfilling solemn vows – a reality obscured by the conciliar sect’s therapeutic euphemisms. As the Council of Florence infallibly taught: “Neither can the bond of a valid marriage be dissolved because of hatred, quarrels, or the spouses’ inability to live together” (Session XI, 1442).
Conclusion: The Adulterous Generation Seeks Signs
This “gray divorce” analysis exemplifies how the conciliar sect has become what St. Pius X called “the most pernicious of all the adversaries of the Church” (Pascendi, 3). By replacing sacramental grace with communication workshops and canon law with statistics, the Vatican II establishment confirms its identity as the ecclesia adulterans – the adulterous church prophesied in Revelation 17:1-5. Only a return to the true Mass, valid sacraments administered by priests preserving apostolic succession, and submission to pre-1958 magisterial teaching can restore marriage’s indissoluble splendor.
Source:
Divorce rate rises for couples over 65: What do Catholic experts suggest? (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 02.01.2026