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For Erin Blank, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Star Wars Night was her return to Luzerne county from a galaxy far, far away (Lancaster)

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From W-B to South Bend, a new road for King’s College students

<p>DALLAS TWP. &#8212; Pope Francis has done it again, penning a lengthy piece rich with nuance that doesn&#8217;t change Catholic Church policy on key issues like divorce, but may substantially change approach to those issues.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a fascinating document,&#8221; Misericordia University Associate Professor of Religious Studies Joe Curran said of the Apostolic Exhortation &#8220;Amoris Laetitia,&#8221; or &#8220;The Joy of Love&#8221; released Friday.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s got a very conversational and pastoral tone,&#8221; Curran added. It&#8217;s also ecumenical, with extensive quotes from Martin Luther King and from an American protestant theologian.</p><p>And it borders on poetic. Curran cited one passage in which Francis wrote &#8220;young love needs to keep dancing towards the future with immense hope.&#8221;</p><p>Curran cited another passage, one of many regarding children, that suggests pregnant women not to be overwhelmed by concerns. &#8220;With great affection I urge all future mothers: keep happy and let nothing rob you of the interior joy of motherhood. Your child deserves your happiness.&#8221;</p><p>Most secular reports immediately focused on what the pope said about divorce. The Church has long denied Holy Communion to those who get divorced without a church annulment and then remarry. They are called &#8220;objectively sinful,&#8221; Curran said, yet in the document, Francis uses the phrase &#8220;irregular union.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s making a case for bishops and priests in the Church to be more flexible in the application of Church law when it comes to divorced Catholics,&#8221; Curran said. &#8220;He says we have been acting as though it is black and white. We can&#8217;t treat them as all the same; we have to look at the situation and the context and let people decide if they should receive Communion.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s a pretty remarkable shift in tone.&#8221;</p><p>It&#8217;s also in keeping with the overall approach by this pope, Curran added. Francis is very big on &#8220;discernment,&#8221; on people taking long and hard looks at themselves and their approach to the Church and others.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s saying that people should figure out where they are at in a dialogue with the Church,&#8221; Curran said, &#8220;as opposed to the Church telling them where they are.&#8221;</p><p>Francis has been practicing what he preaches, getting input from a wide range of people since he was installed, including holding synods with representatives from the conferences of bishops in various countries.</p><p>The exhortation may displease some conservatives, but it also will leave liberals unsatisfied as it reiterates the Church&#8217;s stance on gay marriage, Curran said. It is, like other writings from Francis, a change in tone, not policy</p><p>But &#8220;tone matters,&#8221; Curran added. &#8220;For most people contact with the church isn&#8217;t about doctrine, it&#8217;s about how it&#8217;s applied.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta></subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Misericordia professor: Pope’s stance on divorce “remarkable”