Continued 3

ruins his marriage, although married in a Catholic Church his wife was not a catholic, she remarries and has another child, a few years later Joe meets someone who helps him with his problems,  he commits to a civil union,  he now has two more young children, with his new partner, who is not Catholic although a Christian, Joe has a true conversion (He realizes what he has lost) in that all the errors/ sins he has committed come in upon him, he wants to recapture that which he has lost and return to the Church and in doing so wants his children to be brought up as Catholics, his partner is in agreement with him. 

He knows he cannot as he cannot receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation or partake of the Bread of Life, he is entangled in a sinful situation, in his heart he knows that he cannot leave his present family and he also knows that continence even if attempted is unrealistic for him and his new partner, if he is to maintain family harmony at this moment in time.