Contrite Church
- pope benedict's formal public apology in 2010 for the church's sex abuse scandals
... too responsbility for the failures of leadership
pope francis is amplifying church's renewal
leading the church on new paths
in the joy of the gospel, he outlines what he calls a new chapter for the church's journey in years to come
discarded the notes provided by teh bishops - wanted to write his own report
emphasis that realities are more important than ideas ... has to be continuing dialogue between them
theology has to be in coversation with lived human experience -- that's a core idea but it tended to be downloaded by benedict and jp2
ideas should not be detached from or used the obscure the actual realities of people's lives
America interview sept 2013: god is in history and in its processes
... god is to be encountered in the world of today
god is in the secular -- not divorced from those realities .. these are realities that the church has to confront
appreciation for the secular
- fits well with postsecualrity - the fact that we live in a seculary world nonetheless religon including cath have a lot still of public relevance not just for cathlicls but for society as a whole.
assumes respectful dialogue with difference
openness to the realities of others ...
not saying that the secular hasn't happened -- jsut that sec and relig need to be in a more engaged intraction ... can't just denouce the world
pope francis is very well suited to this postsecular sensibility
- communicative openness
"please pray for me"
- humble quarters
giving showers to the poor
openness to others and also an openness in terms of doctorine and the various issues of the church
not always emphasizing magis authority ... cites a range of sources ... in america interview - invokes lit and art
also extreme sensativity to the local realities
not just one church idea but local realities that have to be confronted
"not all discussions of dotrinal, moral or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the magisterium.
JG184 - neither the pope nor the hcurch have a monoplogy on the interpretation of social realities or the propsal of solutins to contemprary problems
.... dignity doens't have a monopoly on truth either!
contrasts with jp2 -- very storng with emphasizing magis authority
benedict: eeryone knows that the pope is not an absolute monarch.
... but it felt a little hollow
francis's opennes resonate with catholic interpretive authority
vantican ii - emphasis on honest debate -- no one is allowed to appropriate the churchb's authority for his ipion
... from the vatican ii documents.
resonate with the lived diversity of catholicism
.. in american cathlics 9 per ect are currently divorced
10% currently living with a partner
approix 20% of american lgbtq audults identify as catholic
50% of us catholics say thatthe church should recognize same-sex amrriages
57% support sae sex marriage -- first relgious group to meet the 50% threshold
even among those who are regular attenders of church would generally agree though they tend to agree with this
ireland recently legalized gay marriage by refferendum (2016)
CDF 1986, 2003 (massachsetts was legalizing gay marriage)
us bishops 2006
gay marriage in chruch teaching
- contravenes natural law (sexual complementarily) & god's law
benedict 2012 - marriage of a man and a woman is not a simple social convention but rather the fundamental cell of every socieyt. conseuqnetly, politices with undermine the faly treaten hujan dnigity ......... thread to humanity
church opposes lgbtq families ...
allowing lgbt parents to adopt does violene to these children
francis: disruptive discourse
2013 american interview
we cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage, andt eh use of contraceptive methods. this is not possibel -- the teaching is clear, but it is not necessary to talk about these thigns all the time.
... pope identifying the church's obsession with sexuality
francis: gay-attuned
- "who an I to judge"
- america 2013 interview
formal teaching hasn't changed, but upends the discourse by using "gay" etc.
there's also symbolically significant silences (very important)
september 2015 : us congress address: francis did not mention the increased legal and cultural acceptance of same-sex marriage as a challenge to cotemporary marriage.
joy of the gospel: does not identify the increased cultural acceptance of same-sex relationships or same-sex marriage as a negative cultural force
(gay friendly nod)
AM acknowledged the stability that same sex unions can offer.
he has not contradicted the influentional german gardinal reinhaard marx publicly stated view that the church shoudl not oppose sutructures is society that respect gay rights.
additonally, echoing another view expressed by cardinal marx, francis has stated that the church should seek forgiveness from gays and for how it has treated them.
"gay friendly pope pendit"
synod on the family
emphasis on "honest dialogue"
One general and basic condition is this: speaking honestly"
emphaiss on cathlics lived realities - pre-synod surveys
... this is amazing ... have always said that lived experience does not create doctrine
church officals noied the cutural inaccsisilbity of antural law reasoning .. not a very compelling argument. .. wanted more meaningful language.
synod: tensio between doctrinal ideas and lived realtiies
- findings fron pre-synod surveys of catholics lighlighted:
catholic experience of the hcurch has been out of touch, unbending or unrealistic regardig sexual ethids, eame-sex relationshis and contracepiton - england and wales
us surveys - need for greater effective teaching on key tenets of the faith
so us bishops very much emphasizing the church's teaching
natural law applies beyond the cathlic church, hence the proclamations the church makes are relevant to all people everywhere.
... so that's why they get involved.
synod - gendered clericalism
- women comprised 10% of participants/auditors and none of them had women as voting particpants
gender differences matter!
2014 midterm report welcomes LGBTQ
3 paragraphs on welcoming homosexual persons
while also reaffirming church teaching
SSM could never be on the same footing
pressure should not be placed on the church to align its policies to coform
final report 2014 -- shorter 2 paragraphs ... use of more technical (church-speak language '' persons with homesexual tendaneices
framed the issue as a family problem
subsequent reports basically kept the 2014 language and tone
dec 2014 and june 2015
final report was somewhat welcoming
" the church's attitude lijek that of her mastr" offers boudless lvoe to all people with excpetion and regardless of sexual orientation
did not talk fo homosexual tendencies
but maintained a family members framing.
tendenies toward the status quo
reiterates the church's unequaivocal opposition to sae-sex marriage
rejeted pressure on the hcurch to change its teaching
the paragrpahs was paproved by 86 percent of the bishops wlel voer the 2/3 majority)
synod pushback agaisnt lgbtq inclusivity
- ssm poses a fundamental trheat to chruch taching on marriage and on sexual difference
outside fo the us and western europe support for sasm and esp gm is less prevelent than for contraception oor for divorce and remarriage
in the us and elsewhere , a less pastorially ugen tussue than diverse and remarriage based on the simple indicator of the incidence of lgbtq releative to divorced nad mrearried athlics
the churchs' own lcerical-gay cutlure -- ... gets translated into a phobic stance
closeted homophobia that is tranlatd back into condeming gay sexuality
intra-clerical struggle re hegemoniic masculinity/power
^^^ these are highly speculative but are based on various accounts
symbolic gains
the final report did not explicitly reiterate the "objectively disordered" phrase
even though it marginalized the needs of LGBTQ people, this ight be read as a mvoe away from the church's earlier focus on "homosexual acts"
could be seen as somewhat a positie -- wasn't as bad as it could have been ... the church is giving lower priority to the relatively private sexual acts of the LGBTQ individauls and couples and instead fighting the public debate.
turning a blind eye to gay relationships themselves
positive integration of difference
used jp2 familiaris consortio to say that the forms of exclusion currently followed regarding divorced and remaririage catlics be rexamined. reflect on the opporutnity to eliinat these forms of exuclusion
don't compartamentalize one group from another ... so surely this applies to gays at some level as well.
moral discernment
--- conscience matters
2016 - AM - realtities are not a trehat to catholic ideas
affirms the stability offered by same-sex unions
52, 301
129
bringing joy to others is at the core of the human vocaiton; it is a selfless joy of loveers who delight in the good of those whom they love
ongoing normalization of being lgbtq & catholic
us catholics say
65% say it is not a sin to engage in homosexual beahvoir
66% approe of lgbtq parents raising children
this process cannot be stopped and is extremely important
prri
2003 65% against GM
2013 53% against
2016 45% against
francis may not be causing this, but he is contributing to the perception
table of plenty
- plenty of change
- plenty of ambiguity (good thing - froom for dialogue)
- plenty of hope
- no turning back
sgignifiant symnboic gains in the solidifcation of an lgbtq-friendly catholicism
postivie affirmation of family syod 2014 midterm report -- they still qualify as part of the deposit of truth.
conscientious disceornment applicable to all in "irregular" situations
... but the irregularity matters mor eto someone's public identity ... contraception is in private .. being gay is more visible and that causes personal suffereing and issues
but all catholics are somehow irregular
catholicism
- many tables, many seats at the table
- a living tradition of doctrinal pluralism; an interpretive ocmmunity integraitong fatih, reason, and umane xperience
lgbtq and other catholics need to keep showing up
need to keep claiming thier o0wnrship of catholicis
... it's not by invitiation only!!
not alone among catholics
not always easy to do so - but as the synod highlighted, there are many doctrinal differences maong curch officals on these same questions/issues
no one person or group has a monopology on interpretive authority (except on women's ordination :-\)