Divorce Attorneys
The Pension Concubines
|
|
Living in sin is bad enough without the government’s encouraging it, protested the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vienna, and if the Church had to break the law to stop it—the Church would just have to break the law. Ever since the war, thousands of Austrian couples have been living together without benefit of holy wedlock. Pensions, not passions, are to blame. Widows of public servants and war widows get a pension ranging from $24 for the wife of a streetcar driver to $80 for the wife of a field marshal—but the money stops if the woman marries again. The result has been a flood of what the Church calls “pension concubines.” Laymen prefer such gentle euphemisms as “life companions.” But however tolerant the neighbors, many Catholic concubines are unhappy about being cut off from the sacraments of the Church. Five months ago Vienna’s hard-driving Archbishop Coadjutor Franz Jachym vainly petitioned the Austrian Chancellor and Parliament to do something about it. The two most obvious solutions: 1) maintain widows’ pensions in the event of remarriage; 2) amend the Nazi-instituted marriage law that makes it illegal for a priest to marry anyone without a civil ceremony first, thus permitting “marriages of conscience.” Last week angry Archbishop Jachym returned to battle with a public petition and a threat. Titled “On Behalf of Those Suffering Pangs of Conscience,” the petition asked: “Shall the widow because she draws a pension of several hundrad schillings … be obliged to forgo the primitive right of marrying again?” If the state refuses to act, wrote the Archbishop, “the bishops [will be] obliged to … order the proper priest to perform the marriage in open contravention of the law.” |
Related Articles from Attorney for Divorce
EU backs gay man’s pension rights
Tadao Maruko's partner died in 2005 but the pension fund refused him a widower's pension and the case was sent to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The court ruled that refusing a pension was direct discrimination if the partnership was comparable to marriage. Mr Maruko's lawyers predict the case will have repercussions in EU countries where same-sex partnerships are legal. "I'm happy. It's a very important step," lawyer Helmut Graupner told the BBC News website. "This will help all those countries which have registered partnerships. It's the first time the ECJ has ruled in favour of same-sex couples."
World: Europe French church condemns new marriage law
The French Roman Catholic Church has condemned the government's decision to introduce a law to grant unamrried couples living together the same rights enjoyed by married couples. A statement by the French Bishops Council said the law would open the way for homosexual marriages. The Justice Minister Elisabeth Guigo said the bill known as the civil solidarity pact was needed to give legal protection to couples who cannot or do not want to get married. Correspondents point out that there are around two unmarried million couples -- gay and heterosexual -- who are regarded as singles under current law. The
Gay ’marriage’ law comes into force in UK
After years of campaigning, gay couples in the United Kingdom are now allowed to effectively get married. The civil partnerships are not exactly the same as heterosexual marriages because they involve signing documents, not saying certain words to each other in a ceremony. However they hold the same legal status. "That means that our relationships will be legally recognised and we'll be legally recognised and will be protected financially and legally and it means personally we can show our love and commitment to each other in public, in front of friends and family," said one woman planning to 'marry' her partner. In