"I don' thin' that word means what you thin' it means..." and Irreconcilable Differences

Since there are now irreconcilable differences between what Holy Mother Church means by the word "marriage" and what the state means when she pronounces it, mayhaps the time time has come to divorce the sacramental ritual from the legal folderol completely.

Two separate ceremonies, and a couple who wish to bind themselves together 'til death do them part but have no interest or need for financial and ownership entanglements, (I thinking, for instance, of widow and widower couples who meet and fall in love in their twilight years and are free to contract a Catholic marriage, but would like to continue their current tax statuses, and not upset the heirs from previous marriages,) should be able to ask a priest to witness their sacrament, and he should be willing to do so without requiring of them a piece of paper from city hall.

The break-up, divorce, if you will, of an unholy alliance between the Bride of Christ and civil governments may be "morally necessary."

Just my thoughts....