Whom God Hath Not Joined: A True Story of the Brother-Sister Vow

Whom God Hath Not Joined: A True Story of the Brother-Sister Vow

This is a story told with great simplicity and sincerity, of a woman married in civil law to a man who in the eyes of the Church was not her husband, of her gradual facing of the problem, and of the outcome—a brother-sister relationship and the Frater-Soror vow: “It is an almost impossible life that we have chosen, yet both of us feel truly alive for the first time in years.” This book does two things. It introduces us to real people (nothing is fictional but their names) and it sketches a spiritual and social approach to a problem constantly becoming more urgent and widespread. There is Claire herself, with her lively humor and high-spirited approach to the immense difficulties brought about by her own action. And there is John, with his calmer temperament whom one pities wholeheartedly at moments as his partner candidly describes her onslaughts on his peace of mind, whose appeal as a human character grows on the reader throughout. There is the delightful boy who serves Mass for his mother’s Communion of reconciliation with the Church and for his father’s first approach to the altar. There is the priest who so specially belongs to this family and helps Claire and John come to a penitential life, but a life filled with happiness and love for God in which they can beautifully raise their children as saints for Heaven.