AND SO WE ASK: WHO IS MAKING A MESS?

AND SO WE ASK: WHO IS MAKING A MESS?

I had no intention of posting anything but joyful Christmas messages these days but the following article is far too important to be overlooked at such a critical period in our Church.

A number of impressive critiques of Fiducia Supplicans (FS) have been written since Monday, December 18, when this Declaration from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was published. I am referring to those critiques that do not merely summarize this DDF document but critically take it apart for what its says, what it does not say and what it implies about “irregular situations” in relationships, especially same sex unions, to the great confusion of the faithful and of countless priests and bishops.

The words of Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, Special to First Things, and former archbishop of Philadelphia, in his piece, “The Cost of ‘Making a Mess’” are the very best of all those critiques. A man of great faith and clarity, of great love for the Church, he says of FS : “the document is a doubleminded exercise in simultaneously affirming and undercutting Catholic teaching on the nature of blessings and their application to “irregular” relationships.”

I need say no more about “The Cost of ‘Making a Mess’” because the archbishop says it all, beautifully, honestly, clearly. I might only note that the archbishop’s use of the expression ‘making a mess’ refers to words Pope Francis used at a World Youth Day when he told youth to “go out and make a mess.”

But we now ask: Who is making a Mess?

Read on…”The Cost of Making a Mess” by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput

One of the standards the Church uses to measure the quality of her leaders is a simple line from Scripture: “God is not the author of confusion but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33). So it was for Paul. So it is now. So it is for local pastors and bishops, including the bishop of Rome. Confusion among the faithful can often be a matter of innocent individuals who hear but fail to understand the Word. Confused teaching, however, is another matter. It’s never excusable. The transmission of Christian truth requires prudence and patience because humans are not machines. But it also demands clarity and consistency. Deliberate or persistent ambiguity—anything that fuels misunderstanding or seems to leave an opening for objectively sinful behavior—is not of God. And it inevitably results in damage to individual souls and to our common Church life.

I mention this for a reason. A Protestant friend of mine, a Reformation scholar, sent a text to his Catholic friends on December 18 with the news that “Francis has unleashed chaos in your communion.” He was referring to the text Fiducia Supplicans (“On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings”). Rome’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), led by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández—a close colleague of Pope Francis—had just released it that day. The document is a doubleminded exercise in simultaneously affirming and undercutting Catholic teaching on the nature of blessings and their application to “irregular” relationships. And it was quickly interpreted as a significant change in Church practice. Father James Martin, a longtime advocate for LGBTQ concerns, was promptly photographed blessing a gay couple in a New York Times article that noted:

Father Martin had waited years for the privilege of saying such a prayer, however simple, out in the open.

 

“It was really nice,” [he] said on Tuesday, “to be able to do that publicly.”

 

The pope’s decision was greeted as a landmark victory by advocates for gay Catholics, who describe it as a significant gesture of openness and pastoral care, and a reminder that an institution whose age is measured in millenniums can change.

The Times article went on to acknowledge that “The decision does not overturn the church’s doctrine that marriage is between a man and a woman.” Nor does it “allow priests to perform same-sex marriages.” But the dominant flavor and underlying purpose of the article were captured best by the various gay men interviewed who spoke of the Church “com[ing] around” to the legitimacy of same-sex relationships, and same-sex couples “claiming our space.”

Where to begin?

First, a key role of the pope is to unify the Church, not divide her, especially on matters of faith and morals. He has a similar duty to unify the bishops and not divide them.

Second, an essential task of a loving pastor is to correct as well as accompany. Blessings should encourage, but also, when necessary, challenge. People in same-sex and other non-marital sexual unions need a challenging accompaniment from the Church. Popes, bishops, priests, and deacons are called by their vocations to be prophets as well as pastors. Pope Francis often seems to separate these roles while Jesus himself always embodied both in his ministry. His words to the woman caught in adultery were not simply “Your sins are forgiven” but also “Go and sin no more.”

To CONTINUE: The Cost of ‘Making a Mess’ (denvercatholic.org): The Cost of “Making a Mess” | Charles J. Chaput | First Things