Catholic Separation Discernment Guide

Created as a resource for Catholic women, clergy, betrayal-trauma professionals, pastoral professionals, apostolate leaders, and others walking alongside families in difficult marital circumstances.

The Catholic Separation Discernment Guide includes a comprehensive assessment to help a woman carefully identify and document concerns related to safety, harm, children, betrayal, abuse, family responsibilities, efforts to seek help, and the results of those efforts.

A companion letter template helps her take what she has identified through the assessment and organize it into a clear request for pastoral and canonical guidance regarding separation under Canon 1153.

This resource supports thoughtful, compassionate, Church-grounded discernment. It does not determine whether a woman should separate or replace individualized pastoral, canonical, clinical, legal, or domestic-violence guidance.