Cleric supports legal provision on impotence

A Catholic priest says an institution of marriage is built on love and procreation; and there is no basis for one to enter into that Sacrament well aware that they are permanently impotent.

Commenting on the provision of the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Bill which provides grounds for annulling a marriage, Father Emmanuel Chimombo, who is acting publicity secretary of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), but granted the interview in his personal capacity, said God created marriage for population growth.

But Chimombo’s position runs contrary to the CCAP Livingstonia Synod’s general secretary the Reverend Levi Nyondo who said marriage is not only about bearing children.

Nyondo said when the church is marrying a couple, it is meant for the two to love and stay together, and having children is “just a plus and God’s blessing as He did with Abraham and Sarah who stayed for 100 years without a child”.

Chimombo, who emphasised his comments were personal because the ECM has not discussed the newly enacted bill, said the Catholic Church considers marriage as a Sacrament that has a number of effects.

The Catholic priest said any marriage is meant for the good of the spouses, adding whatever happens in it, must be good to the spouses and not harmful to one another.

The cleric said the church is supposed to support anything in the new law that protects the marriage institution.

He emphasised that if one is permanently impotent, that person would have no business to enter into marriage because the other partner may have other expectations that may not be fulfilled.

Said Chimombo: “If one is impotent, marriage cannot be there. If that impotence is by nature, that person cannot be allowed to enter into marriage.

Answering a question on the new law’s position where it makes it a ground for divorce if one knew had an STI at the time of marriage, Chimombo said where there is love, there is no reason one would harm a loved one deliberately.

On divorce, Chimombo said there are procedures the church follows using the Canon Law if there is consent from both parties, and all procedures are followed.

Chimombo, who said the Catholic Church was not consulted during the drafting of the bill, said the new law has some good elements such as giving parents obligation to educate their children and increasing the marriage age to 18 from 16.

But Nyondo, who agreed with Chimombo on the age and education issues, said when marrying people, the church does not look at whether a couple is going to bear children or not.

Said Nyondo: “As Christians, we draw our lessons from the Bible. Look at the story of Abraham and Sarah; they had a child after living together for 100 years without one.

“There are couples that have been blessed with a child after staying together for more than five years, and what if they had taken action within two years of their marriage to divorce? How many divorces were we going to witness? Who defines permanent impotent, anyway?”

Nyondo said if his church was consulted, they could have given their views on the divorce issue and many other issues.

He said marriage is about love and living together.