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Love is love, and celebrating that love is always right.
Love is love, and celebrating that love is always right.
Recently, as reported in various new outlets, Pope Francis softened the Vatican’s ban on blessing same-sex couples, saying that priests may use their discretion in giving such blessings, so long as they don’t imply a same-sex union is equivalent to a heterosexual marriage.
Recently, as reported in various new outlets, Pope Francis softened the Vatican’s ban on blessing same-sex couples, saying that priests may use their discretion in giving such blessings, so long as they don’t imply a same-sex union is equivalent to a heterosexual marriage.
The pope’s statement, in a letter released by the Vatican on Monday, marks a significant shift in the Catholic Church’s stance on blessing gay relationships. Its release comes on the eve of a major Vatican meeting that will consider possible changes to church teaching and practice on matters such as homosexuality and women’s ordination.
Catholic priests in Germany and some other northern European countries have for years held ceremonies to bless same-sex couples, in defiance of a Vatican ban. The issue has contributed to the deepening polarization between progressive and conservative tendencies in the global church.
Francis has taken a conciliatory approach toward gay people, without formally changing church teaching. He endorsed civil unions for same-sex couples in a 2020 documentary film, worrying many conservatives that he was signaling a liberalization of doctrine.
This month’s synod is a major part of Francis’ effort, after a decade in office, to consolidate his progressive legacy. On Wednesday, the opening day of the synod, the Vatican is also scheduled to release a new papal document on environmental concerns.
Francis’ letter was a reply to a letter from conservative cardinals, including U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke and Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, who raised questions relating to the synod, including how much authority it will have.
Among the cardinals’ questions was whether the blessing of same-sex unions can be consistent with Catholic teaching, which holds that gay people “must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity” but that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,” the inclination to perform them is “objectively disordered” and “under no circumstances can they be approved.”
In his reply, written in July, the pope noted that the church defines marriage exclusively as the union of a man and a woman, and “avoids any kind of rite…that could…imply that something which is not marriage is recognized as marriage.”
But he said that priests, acting out of pastoral charity and not as “judges who only deny, reject, exclude,” should aim to discern “whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or more people, that do not convey a misconception of marriage.” He added that such pastoral charity should apply even in situations “that from an objective point of view are not morally acceptable.”
The pope suggested that such blessings should remain an unofficial practice, writing that such exercises of “pastoral prudence in certain circumstances need not be transformed into a norm.”
Francis’ letter appears to mark a significant softening of the Vatican’s stance. In a 2021 decree whose publication he approved, the Vatican’s doctrinal office prohibited the blessing of gay couples, stating that God “cannot bless sin.”
The pope’s words are likely to inflame a controversy that has been running for years.
On Monday, Burke said he and the other conservative cardinals who wrote to the pope were concerned by his response, since blessing same-sex unions “suggests that homosexual acts can be good, that is, are not in themselves contrary to the moral law.”
Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, which advocates for LGBTQ Catholics, said that the pope’s reply “implies that the church does indeed recognize that holy love can exist between same-gender couples…This statement is one big straw towards breaking the camel’s back of the marginalized treatment LGBTQ+ people experience in the Church.”
In March this year, Germany’s liberal Catholic bishops defied the Vatican ban by voting in favor of adopting formal ceremonies to bless same-sex relationships. In late September, several priests held a group blessing ceremony for same-sex couples outside the cathedral of Cologne, Germany.
The Vatican has recently hinted at more flexibility on the issue. The doctrinal office’s new head, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, said earlier in the summer that he would consider the possibility of blessing same-sex relationships, as long as they were distinguished from heterosexual marriage.
Conservative prelates have warned that the issue could precipitate a schism, or a permanent split in the church.
When German bishops and lay Catholic leaders debated same-sex blessings in March, Bishop Gregor Maria Franz Hanke of Eichstätt warned against the proposed move, saying that he hoped “this step is not going to tear us apart the way the Anglican Church finds itself torn apart.”
Conservative Anglican churches, including some in Africa that include nearly half of the world’s estimated 100 million Anglicans, have broken off relations with churches that espouse liberal teaching and practice on homosexuality, including the Episcopal Church in the U.S.
In February, after the Church of England decided to allow the blessing of same-sex relationships, a dozen leading archbishops, mostly from the global South, called for a break with that church, the historical progenitor of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Write to Francis X. Rocca at francis.rocca@wsj.com
Click here to read commentary on the recent [March 15, 2021] Vatican statement regarding LGBTQ unions.
Click here to read commentary on the recent [March 15, 2021] Vatican statement regarding LGBTQ unions.
Despite that recent Vatican statement, believe it or not, there have been developments of thought in church circles—including the Catholic Church—about what's referred to as Same-Sex Marriage. Please click on the following to read the article: Recent Developments at the Synod on the Family, Vatican October, 13, 2014: More Mercy and Listening. After reading the article, you may want to read about the results of the Synod in the document published October 24, 2015. The only paragraph addressing same-sex marriage is paragraph 76, not the results that was hoped for.
Despite that recent Vatican statement, believe it or not, there have been developments of thought in church circles—including the Catholic Church—about what's referred to as Same-Sex Marriage. Please click on the following to read the article: Recent Developments at the Synod on the Family, Vatican October, 13, 2014: More Mercy and Listening. After reading the article, you may want to read about the results of the Synod in the document published October 24, 2015. The only paragraph addressing same-sex marriage is paragraph 76, not the results that was hoped for.
Please contact me regarding your plans to marry. I am happy to be of service to loving couples who seek to be joined in marriage.
Please contact me regarding your plans to marry. I am happy to be of service to loving couples who seek to be joined in marriage.
The First Dance
The First Dance
A Reflection by Elizabeth Muhmood Kane may be read by clicking on Bridal Musings
by Joshua J. McEwee
The recent synod in Rome is taking a decidedly different tone than many church statements in recent years.
The worldwide meeting of Catholic bishops on family issues has released a document calling for the church to listen more, to respect people in their various struggles, and to apply mercy much more widely.
SOME RANDOM QUOTES
SOME RANDOM QUOTES
In General:
· “It is necessary to accept people in their concrete being, to know how to support their search, to encourage the wish for God and the will to feel fully part of the Church, also on the part of those who have experienced failure or find themselves in the most diverse situations.”
“This requires that the doctrine of the faith, the basic content of which should be made increasingly better known, be proposed alongside with mercy. . .”
[Many may find the information at this website reflects a refreshing view by a Catholic Parish with Active LGBTQ Community.]
· Quoting Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium ("The Joy of the Gospel"): "The Church is called on to be 'the house of the Father, with doors always wide open ... where there is a place for everyone, with all their problems' and to move towards those who feel the need to take up again their path of faith."
· "Jesus looked upon the women and the men he met with love and tenderness, accompanying their steps with patience and mercy, in proclaiming the demands of the Kingdom of God. . .In considering the principle of gradualness in the divine salvific plan, one asks what possibilities are given to married couples who experience the failure of their marriage, or rather how it is possible to offer them Christ's help through the ministry of the Church,"
Regarding People described as Gay
The document also seems to frankly change the church's tone toward gay people: While it re-emphasizes church teaching against same-sex marriage, it also asks blunt questions of the wider church.
“Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community: are we capable of welcoming these people, guaranteeing to them a fraternal space in our communities?... Often they wish to encounter a Church that offers them a welcoming home… Are our communities capable of providing that, accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony?"
"The Church furthermore affirms that unions between people of the same sex cannot be considered on the same footing as matrimony between man and woman… Nor is it acceptable that pressure be brought to bear on pastors or that international bodies make financial aid dependent on the introduction of regulations inspired by gender ideology."
[Though the weddings at which I've been privileged to serve as officiant have been mixed-gender events, I look forward to the opportunity to meet with any couple seeking to prepare for marriage and to celebrate their love in marriage.]
Regarding Catholics who are Divorced and Remarried or Unmarried and Living Together:
"Realizing the need, therefore, for spiritual discernment with regard to cohabitation, civil marriages and divorced and remarried persons, it is the task of the Church to recognize those seeds of the Word that have spread beyond its visible and sacramental boundaries,"
Addressing specifically those who have divorced and remarried without obtaining annulments, the document states that their situation "demands a careful discernment and an accompaniment full of respect, avoiding any language or behavior that might make them feel discriminated against… For the Christian community looking after them is not a weakening of its faith and its testimony to the indissolubility of marriage, but rather it expresses precisely its charity in its caring."
"As regards the possibility of partaking of the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist, some argued in favor of the present regulations because of their theological foundation, others were in favor of a greater opening on very precise conditions when dealing with situations that cannot be resolved without creating new injustices and suffering... For some, partaking of the sacraments might occur were it preceded by a penitential path -- under the responsibility of the diocesan bishop -- and with a clear undertaking in favor of the children. . . This would not be a general possibility, but the fruit of a discernment applied on a case-by-case basis, according to a law of gradualness, that takes into consideration the distinction between state of sin, state of grace and the attenuating circumstances."
Regarding changes to the church's annulment process, the document states that "various fathers underlined the necessity" to reform that process, which is used to determine whether a marriage was valid or not -- and, subsequently, if the parties could then be able to marry others inside the church. Giving several options for how the process could be reformed, the document cites specifically that such reform "requires an increase in the responsibilities of the diocesan bishop, who in his diocese might charge a specially trained priest who would be able to offer the parties advice on the validity of their marriage."
· The document also recognizes that marriages outside of the church and cohabitation are simply realities in many parts of the world that church cannot change. "A new dimension of today's family pastoral consists of accepting the reality of civil marriage and also cohabitation, taking into account the due differences… Indeed, when a union reaches a notable level of stability through a public bond, is characterized by deep affection, responsibility with regard to offspring, and capacity to withstand tests, it may be seen as a germ to be accompanied in development towards the sacrament of marriage… Imitating Jesus' merciful gaze, the Church must accompany her most fragile sons and daughters, marked by wounded and lost love, with attention and care, restoring trust and hope to them like the light of a beacon in a port, or a torch carried among the people to light the way for those who are lost or find themselves in the midst of the storm… All these situations have to be dealt with in a constructive manner, seeking to transform them into opportunities to walk towards the fullness of marriage and the family in the light of the Gospel. . . "They need to be welcomed and accompanied with patience and delicacy."
"Being open to life is an intrinsic requirement of married love… What is required is a realistic language that is able to start from listening to people and acknowledging the beauty and truth of an unconditional opening to life as that which human life requires to be lived to its fullest," the document continues… It is on this base that we can rest an appropriate teaching regarding natural methods, which allow the living in a harmonious and aware way of the communication between spouses, in all its dimensions, along with generative responsibility… "In this light, we should go back to the message of the encyclical Humanae Vitae of Paul VI, which underlines the need to respect the dignity of the person in the moral evaluation of the methods of birth control."
CONCLUSIONS
Restating the timeline of the two synods called by Francis for 2014 and 2015, the document concludes that it is meant to be used as a tool in preparing for the 2015 synod.
"The reflections put forward, the fruit of the Synodal dialog that took place in great freedom and a spirit of reciprocal listening, are intended to raise questions and indicate perspectives that will have to be matured and made clearer by the reflection of the local Churches in the year that separates us from the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of bishops planned for October 2015," it states.
"These are not decisions that have been made nor simply points of view," the document continues.
"All the same the collegial path of the bishops and the involvement of all God's people under the guidance of the Holy Spirit will lead us to find roads of truth and mercy for all," it concludes. "This is the wish that from the beginning of our work Pope Francis has extended to us, inviting us to the courage of the faith and the humble and honest welcome of the truth in charity."
MORE TO COME
The synod, one of two called by Francis on family issues for 2014 and 2015, has attracted wide expectation that it might change aspects of the church's family practices, particularly the prohibition against taking Communion for people who have been divorced and remarried without first obtaining an annulment of their first unions.
The final document is expected to be released to the public and to be used as the blue-print of sorts for the 2015 synod.
[This commentary relies heavily on the report posted by Joshua J. McElwee, National Catholic Reporter Vatican correspondent found at http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/synod-releases-document-new-tone-calling-mercy-listening.
His email address jmcelwee@ncronline.org.]
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